TORONTO -- My favorite part of this job is sitting in empty stadiums and arenas. We get to arrive early, and we get to stay late. Bookending a big event with two different kinds of silence -- the calms before and after the storm -- gives you a fuller feeling for the game. Those silences, how they are broken and how they are restored, can tell you so much about what might happen and what did. Tuesday night was the first time I saw Canada and Team USA play hockey in person. I've watched them battle on TV however many times, and each time I've wished I were there. I've had more than my share of fortunate experiences, but I still wanted so badly to watch my country, which happens to be hockey-obsessed Canada, take on the U.S., which happens to be better than us at every other sport. It's hard to explain to Americans why these games matter so much to us. Imagine our countries were brothers, one big and one little. The big one has everything he might want but a single beautiful,...