Forgive me readers, but I had never seen a hockey game before Thursday night, at the Beijing Olympics. The closest I ever came was watching The Mighty Ducks as a kid. Before you denounce me as un-Canadian, I should point out that I am not, in fact, Canadian. I’m originally from Wales, and have lived since 2014 in Hong Kong, where I was hired last year to be The Globe and Mail’s Asia correspondent. A resident of the tropics from a country without a strong ice hockey tradition might sound like a lousy reporter to send to cover an Olympic…