Miss Canada Puts an ! on Her Nation's Hockey Passion

Believe it or not, Canada's official national sport is lacrosse.

But the Great White North's national obsession is, beyond doubt, hockey. So much so that its parliament has moved to give it equal billing.

Canada is the driving force behind making the annual year-end World Junior Championship the high-profile event that it's become. And when its 20-&-unders win it, the players become national heroes.

And if anyone ever had a notion that Canadians didn't take every opportunity to express their love of the game, their representative in this year's Miss Universe contest shattered all doubt:

Chanel Beckenlehner, 26, didn't miss any details:

• The Team Canada logo;
• A peacock's array of hockey sticks;
• Lace-up leggings atop high-heeled skates;
• Token shoulder and elbow pads;
• A goalie stick;
• A goal;
• A skirt symbolizing a stone wall in front of the goal;
• A wig made out of a goal's netting;
• A Stanley Cup crown; and
• A working scoreboard.

Before anyone accuses Beckenlehner of going 'way over the top, she didn't even come close to the most garish costume ever to see the light of day in the history of this pageant.

That dubious distinction would go to -- who else? -- a Miss USA contestant last year, who paid tribute to that bastion of American culture, the Transformer franchise.

Clearly, Victoria's Secret has had a serious influence on runway extravaganzas, which has given new energy to beauty pageants.

As if they'd ever go out of style.

For the record, the rest of the world's entrants were more understated, which wasn't that hard to do.