Hockey fans of the world are making their way to Canada for the IIHF World Hockey Championship. I was sitting next to a German fan on the plane on my way to Quebec.

Stereotypes are based on something, and I now know whom the stereotype of Germans is based on. It’s a hockey fan with a long hard rock hair, leather pants, an oversized national team sweater, and a posse of five.

At the passport control, the immigration officer asked another German fan to delete the photos he had snapped a few seconds earlier. Unfortunately, the language barrier had no Checkpoint Charlie. Fortunately, he, too, had his posse close at hand, and everything was settled in a peaceful manner.

One of the people in the group then blurted, “don’t worry, he’s Finnish.”

Funny, I used to say my misbehaving friends were Swedes, until I married one.

From now on, they’re German.