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German Foreign Office Posts 'Travel Advisory' After Beating Canada In Olympic Hockey

Offer hot chocolate to ease the pain.
Kevin Poulin of Canada stops a penalty shot by Dominik Kahun of Germany during the Men's Play-offs Semifinals at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on Friday in Gangneung, South Korea.
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Kevin Poulin of Canada stops a penalty shot by Dominik Kahun of Germany during the Men's Play-offs Semifinals at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on Friday in Gangneung, South Korea.

Slapshots fired!

After Germany beat Canada 4-3 in a stunning men's hockey upset Friday at the Olympics in PyeongChang, the victorious country's foreign office posted a playful note on social media to remind its citizens to tread gently around Canadians for the time being. After all, Team Canada had just lost its chance at the gold medal.

"Travel advisory: Germans in Canada should exercise a high degree of empathy. Be nice, don't gloat, give hugs, buy rounds of hot chocolate ... Just imagine how you would feel if Canada beat us in soccer," the German Foreign Office tweeted playfully.

Travel advisory: Germans in Canada should exercise a high degree of empathy. Be nice, don't gloat, give hugs, buy rounds of hot chocolate.

Just imagine how you would feel if Canada beat us in soccer 😱

πŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺ ❀️ πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦#CANGER@TeamD@CanadaFP@GermanyInCanada@KanadaBotschaftpic.twitter.com/0HlHoxMA7E

β€” GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) February 23, 2018

Soccer - or football, as it's more commonly known around the world - is by far the most popular sport in Germany. And the Germans are really good at it, having won multiple World Cups, most recently in 2014.

Canada and Germany have faced off twice on a soccer field, in 1994 and 2003, in friendly matches and Germany won both games soundly, according to Yahoo Sports.

Canada responded to the tweet with a diplomatic, but equally teasing tweet of its own.

Thanks @GermanyDiplo. Congrats on your first shot at gold! We remember our first gold medal match in #IceHockey like it was yesterday... 1920 to be exact. #PyeongChang2018pic.twitter.com/3rKIonBGDN

β€” Foreign Policy CAN (@CanadaFP) February 23, 2018

"Thanks @GermanyDiplo. Congrats on your first shot at gold! We remember our first gold medal match in #IceHockey like it was yesterday ... 1920 to be exact," Foreign Policy CAN returned.

Canada played for its first Olympic gold medal in ice hockey in 1920, when the sport was added to the Winter Games. It has since won 15 medals in hockey, nine of them gold, at the Olympic Games.

In contrast, the game against the Olympic athletes from Russia will be Germany's first-ever shot at Olympic gold: the country won bronze in 1932 and 1976 (as West Germany), Marketwatch reported. They're guaranteed at least silver this time around. Their men's hockey team didn't even qualify for the Olympics in Sochi, according to Global News.

We are following @GermanyDiplo's advice and WILL be buying rounds of hot chocolate* for Ottawans! Location, date and time: @Bridgehead at Sparks & Metcalfe, Monday, Feb. 26, 8-9am. (*up to 50 β˜•οΈ, first come first served) https://t.co/L3Ftd19AwL

β€” GermanEmbassyOttawa (@GermanyInCanada) February 23, 2018

The travel advisory tweet inspired Germany's embassy in Ottawa, which later tweeted it would be giving out free hot chocolate to 50 people at a coffee shop in the city on Monday.

"We are following @GermanyDiplo's advice and WILL be buying rounds of hot chocolate* for Ottawans!" the embassy posted on its account.

This is the kind of sportsmanship the Olympics are all about.

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