Feb 28, 2006

• The end of another month. The winter seems to be flying past. Laura is miserable with a cold and fever and the rest of us are walking aimlessly around the house with remote controls in our hands looking for the second heat of men's two-man luge. (Where's my cow bell?) The Olympic withdrawal will give way to the Leafs tonight. I can hardly wait . . . What indignity will they deliver upon their fans tonight?

• Christopher -- he who hates to practice -- finished his guitar lesson yesterday and went outside, scraped the snow off the driveway and shot pucks for 45 minutes. Without anyone suggesting it. So I have one question: who are you, and what have you done with Chris?

• Does your wife ever do things that perplex you? Anyone who has ever met Laura knows she's the brains of our operation, and her mind never shuts down. She thinks about stuff all the time. She heads the hockey moms, she's on the lacrosse executive, school council, a book club and I think she's got a seat on the United Nations Security Council. But she has this thing where she'll be churning something over silently in her mind. For example, she's thinking: "If we have XX number of minutes between games on the last day of MOHA awards week and there's two sheets of ice going, and the Zamboni needs XX minutes to do the ice, and we need XX minutes for post-game award presentations . . . " OK, so all this goes on in her head, right? There's no conversation. The last thing she said to me out loud might have been, "We're having chicken tonight." Then suddenly she'll turn to me -- and I'm like reading a book or helping a kid with homework -- and out of the blue she says something like: "The Zamboni will have to wait five minutes." It's a very Zen-like thing. Tell your spouse the Zamboni will have to wait. Your spouse will think you're deep. And they'll probably talk very softly and walk backwards away from you.

• The Zamboni will have to wait. I want to hear this in actual conversations at the rink. Let's go. We've coined a phrase here. "Hey Brent, your team played great on the weekend." "Yeah, but the Zamboni will have to wait."

Feb 27, 2006

OK, so I was telling you late last week about all those different countries visiting this site, but for some reason Norway was gone. Well, the Olympics are over and guess what? Norway's back. Coincidence? Could it be that I'm being stalked by the Norwegian women's biathlon team? They carry guns, so let's hope not. Or, could it be that I'm not as entertaining as the Olympics, but I'm a close second? Er, maybe.

In addition to Norway, Colombia checks in for the first time, too. Maybe hockey is ready to really take off in Colombia. Maybe Cousin Pablo has found me. If so, time to move.

Feb 27, 2006

My mother did something last month and Laura was pestering me to tell you about it here.

Last month, CBC Radio marked Hockey Day In Canada by encouraging listeners to phone in and nominate someone as a hockey hero and tell a story explaining why. Entries selected for the air received a CBC Hockey Day in Canada toque.

So, as you might have guessed, by mom nominated me. But the interesting thing is she did it based on an event that happened more than 25 years ago, when I lived in Yarmouth, NS.

I was new in town (fisheries writer for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. Keep your jokes to yourself. It was a good job!) I didn't know a lot of people. So I volunteered to coach minor hockey. In those days all you really needed was a stick, skates and a loose pledge not to hurt the kids, and I don't think they enforced that last part too rigidly.

I was assigned a team of eight and nine year olds and I showed up at Yarmouth's old rink for my first practice with my new charges. A unique characteristic of Yarmouth is that it is literally surrounded by Acadian communities. French culture was, and I hope is still, very strong there.

It was our first practice so no team jerseys had yet been handed out. More than half my team were wearing the rouge-blanc-bleu of the Montreal Canadiens, all sporting the famous number 10 of Guy Lafleur.

As regular readers of this space will know, I am a loyal (if somewhat critical) fan of the blue and white. The Leafs are like a bad cold I can't shake. For better for for worse, usually worse, I stand with the Leafs.

So I'm standing in front of these boys in their Habs regalia and I'm still wearing my coat. I ask them cheerily who their favourite team is? "MONTREAL!" Favourite player! "GUY! GUY! GUY!"

"Boys," I said slowly. "We may have a problem."

I laid down the bag with my skates and pulled off my coat, exposing MY jersey, the Leafs blue and white.

The eyes were as wide as saucers and you could have heard a pin drop.

Then a lone eight-year-old voice, drenched in an Acadian accent that you'd never forget if you've heard it.

"MA GODDAMN!"

Me, and every parent in the room, broke up. It was a priceless moment way before Mastercard debased the idea of priceless.

I assured the boys I was one of them in my heart -- my grandmother was from nearby Digby County and there was lots of Acadian blood in my veins. (Later on my stay in western Nova Scotia, the late Terry Donahoe, who was then Nova Scotia's education minister, and Father Leger Comeau, president of the Universite Ste-Anne, made me an honourary Acadian in a very unofficial but well lubricated ceremony one evening at the Clare Acadian festival in recognition of my small but symbolic fight for French rights with some zealots apparently worried about the French assimilating all the anglos in Nova Scotia. I still have the Acadian flag they gave me. But that's a story for another day.)

I'd forgotten that story about the hockey jerseys until a tape arrived in the mail last week with my mom telling it anew on CBC Radio in Halifax. And enclosed was the black and white toque she won, which Chris quickly pounced on and claimed as his own.

Thanks (and hats off, so to speak) to my gray-haired mom for reminding me of that day.

Kids, and moms, say the darndest things.

Feb 26, 2006

Odds and sods on the last Sunday of February:

• Canadian Olympic officials boldly predicted 25 medals in Turin. We finish with 24. That's an exciting achievement and bodes really well for Vancouver in 2010. Where might that 25th medal have come from? Hmmm. Maybe the $94 million hockey team that under achieved to spectacularly?

• Me to Chris, actual conversation: "So Chris, would you like to play rep hockey some day?" "You mean be a Ranger?" "Yeah." "Nope." "Why not?" "Too much practicing dad. I'm all about the games." OK. Just asking.

• The Leafs, who haven't lost since the Olympics began, play Washington on Tuesday at home. Here we go again . . .  Actually, maybe they'll be better since some of the walking wounded have had a chance to heal up. Then again, Eddie's now two weeks older.

Feb 26, 2006

Well the morning after the Rangers final game started as a quiet one. Everyone but me slept late till a sun so bright that not even the blinds and curtains could contain it shook everyone awake.

Anyone who was at the game last night knows it wasn't the happiest conclusion to a series you could imagine and we were all still thinking about it a lot today.

Uxbridge was the better team and they'll give Caledon a good series. Good luck to them as they move on.

Eventually the kitchen came to life and the house filled with smells of bacon and pancakes and we did the Sunday morning routine of breakfast together that we haven't been able to do in a while. There will be homework and pucks in the driveway and maybe an outing to get much needed new (larger) lacrosse gear for Pad.

The Ranger brain trust is looking for a tournament or two for the kids, and on we go.

Feb 25, 2006

Pad's Rangers play Uxbridge tonight. It is a must-win, as they trail 2-0 in a best-of-five series. I'm pretty sure they'll win tonight, because that would mean we get to drive all the way back to Uxbridge tomorrow for 2:30p, which means leaving home around noon.

I'm happy to make that drive. Go Rangers. I'll update later with a result.

UPDATE: Rangers lost 5-3. Uxbridge jumped out to a 2-0 lead, then Oakville scored three times. Penalty trouble resulted in Uxbridge taking a 4-3 lead and a late goal completed their three-game sweep.

Somewhere there's a Corona with my name on it.

Feb 25, 2006

The Wings won game two of their playoff schedule 4-0 today over the HoundDogs. So we're 2-0 after two weeks. My goalie, Cameron Poirer was rock solid when he needed to be and the other key was passing. My kids were tossing the puck around really well and it created chances. There were some things we didn't do so great and we'll have to work on those in practice this week.

Next week we play the Flyers. We only played them once during the season and they beat us handily, 4-1. The Flyers are well coached and have a number of ways to hurt a team. And did I mention they already beat us? 

Elsewhere in our division Saturday, the Wolfpack came up with a big 3-2 win over the Vikings, the Flyers dropped a close one to the Eagles 3-1, and the Lumberjacks hung on to beat the Wranglers 2-0 with an empty net goal. No word on the Gators-Sharks in the late game.

Feb 24, 2006

Do you have a hockey player in your household who aspires to play rep? Do you have a hockey player in your house who plays rep already but wants to prepare for spring tryouts? If you answered yes to either of these questions, check out the Mitron spring hockey school flyer here.

Mitron is MOHA's high-performance hockey program. There's a spring hockey school from April 2 to 6, and/or April 10 to 13.

There are also pre-tryout clinics April 2,3, 5,6, and/or April 10 and 12. These clinics are intended to help prepare rep players and high-end House League red players for rep tryout camps.

Keith Murray is the head of hockey development at MOHA and you can contact him at 905 825 5635 for more information.

You can download the registration form here.

Feb 24, 2006

I've mentioned before the company that hosts this site equips me with tools to monitor traffic. I can tell which pages are the most popular (none), how many people visit (Hi Mom!!), and where they come from and what they're looking for (references to Norway?). In that spirit, I offer two funny observations.

First, both of my regular readers will know that in recent weeks I've alluded to special motivational techniques with my minor atom team to get them ready for the games. I haven't said what they are. Someone actually bothered to search my site with a key word string to try and find that information. Now I'll NEVER tell!! (Kidding.)

Second, I'm wondering if this is the United Nations of Hockey blogs. Here's a list of the home countries of visitors to this page in the last month:

So, my question is: Norway used to visit. Where'd Norway go? Did I make too many pickled herring jokes? Are they busy watching Olympic nordic skiing on TV? Kjersti!!!! Come back! We'll always have Newmarket!! Back to top

Feb 24, 2006

Well I'd like to say that when Pad walked through the door last night at 11:10p the sting of the overtime loss had been cleansed by a post-game Gatorade, hot dog and a silly movie on the 80-minute drive back to Oakville from Uxbridge. But it wasn't and he looked on the verge of tears if anyone said so much as a word to him. The Rangers were up 5-3 and it just got away from them. When it comes to kids, this is not a forum for criticizing. More than learning how to win, they're learning how to lose, because frankly any idiot can win but true character is exposed when things are tough. I sat on the edge of his bed and told stories of big games I played years ago that were lost in overtime. If you play hockey, you're going to lose some games (see Team Canada men's Olympic entry, Exhibit A). But I don't think I made him feel any better and that of course made me feel worse. He played basketball before his hockey game yesterday (Abbey Lane lost) so he was just dead tired. I hope he felt better this morning when he woke up -- I was up and gone early today. The Rangers play Uxbridge at home Saturday night at 7p at Maplegrove. I will do my part to ensure they win. 

Meanwhile, my minor atom white Wings play game two of their playoffs, against the HoundDogs. They won last week, as did we. We take nothing for granted against any team in our loop. It's just too competitive. More motivational techniques are in the works.

Feb 23, 2006

Oh. The peewee AE Rangers are in Uxbridge tonight. I  can't make it but I'll post the result later. Go Rangers!

UPDATED: Rangers lost 6-5 in overtime. Not a happy scene in Uxbridge and a long ride home.

Feb 23, 2006

Some of you asked why I was so slow to comment on Team Canada's loss to Russia on Wednesday. Well, while the rest of the nation was gripped by the hockey in Turin, I was in a tiny gym in Oakville watching Pad play (briefly) for Abbey Lane Public School in his first school basketball game. They lost, but in the brief time Pad played he had two rebounds and forced a turnover. He tried his best, as did his teammates.

As for Team Canada, loyal readers will remember that I wasn't impressed with the lineup from the start. How, I asked, can you leave home or designate as taxi squad members the likes of Eric Staal, and Sidney Crosby, and Jason Speeza? Yes, Team Canada really needed Shane Doan and Kris Draper I guess.

Most of the people who bother to read this thing every day are actively involved with young people -- coaching, volunteering, parenting. It's exciting work. Why is it exciting work? Because young, talented people create energy and excitement. They change the temperature of the room when they walk in. They inspire and excite old guys like me to want to help them.

Maybe Team Canada could have used that. I'm told they actually played OK vs. Russia. I didn't even bother to tune into the replay last night. Just not interested. $94 million US in payroll and they went 3-3 in six games. Commenting more would just be piling on, but remember how upset everyone was after losing the bronze medal game in Nagano back in 1998? This time we didn't even get close to playing for third place.

On the other hand, Cindy Klassen is a role model the whole country can cheer. This young woman has won four medals, volunteers in her Mennonite church and did a mission to Mexico last year to build homes for the poor. It was hard not to be moved watching her race yesterday when CBC split the screen between her gold medal dash to the finish and all those cheering school kids back in Winnipeg. Energy!

That was the moment from this Olympics I'll remember. That's what Canada can be proud of. Maybe the millionaire hockey players flying first class back across the ocean will see her race. And wonder.

Feb 22, 2006

Caledon eliminated Georgetown last night in OMHA peewee AE action, three games to one. Caledon won the last two games 5-0 and 3-0. They await the winner of our series with Uxbridge.

Feb 22, 2006

March Break is just around the corner, as is MOHA/Hockey MOMS Awards Week. Which always puts me in mind of the off season. Because hockey season pretty much started the last week of August and Awards Week for MOHA ends April 1. We all need a break to recharge our batteries and do our taxes.

Bantam rep lacrosse tryouts start April 3. So I'm really looking forward to kicking back and enjoying the off season this spring. Both days of it. Go crazy, everyone. More info on rep lacrosse tryouts at this link:

http://www.oakvillelacrosse.com/2006_tryout_sked.htm

I don't see a link for spring Ranger tryouts on the MOHA site. If anyone else sees it, let me know and I'll post it, too. They will be in April.

Feb 22, 2006

This morning, a story of sacrifice and dedication. A story of commitment to the team and the bigger picture.

Matt McLaughlin and Grant MacIntosh won't be on their school's ski trip tomorrow. The schoolmates and Ranger peewee AE teammates have a key playoff game Thursday night in Uxbridge that doesn't start until 8:15p. It's going to be a long enough day without a ski trip and to their great credit, they know it.

It's not easy for 12 year old boys to take a pass on a school ski trip. For Grant and Matt, who have spent countless hours working on their snow ballet routines over the winter months, Thursday was to have been their first opportunity to show off the flips and moves learned from Danish snow ballet choreographer Lars Hedstaand, not to mention the sequin-encrusted spandex suits lovingly prepared by their moms for the occasion. All that will have to wait.

OK -- I tease gently. But I am mightily impressed by the maturity of the decision. A lot of kids would have tried to do both and showed up at game time with nothing in the tank. Classy move, guys.

Feb 22, 2006

On another topic, speaking of classy moves, my good friend Dave Santangeli is going to be the coach of the inaugural MOHA atom AE team for 2006-07. It's not official yet, but apparently it's a done deal. I coached Dave's oldest son, Mike, with Pad for a couple of years starting way back in novice, and he helped me with the legendary Big Blue Machine in the initiation program a few years ago with Chris and what was THEN his youngest son Will (Dave has since added a third hockey player to the family, ensuring MOHA's initiation program will be active for years to come and Dave will be standing in rinks longer than me.) Anyway, he's a great pick for starting up a new program. Organized and thoughtful, Dave shows up prepared and treats the kids and parents with respect. Legions of house league parents owe him their thanks for his work as convener in atom, minor peewee and minor atom over the last three years. And he coaches, too -- an atom red championship and minor peewee finalist appearance on his resume. Glen Lacoste, who I don't know, is apparently the atom A coach for next year. I hear he's a really good guy too. So, congratulations guys and good luck.

Which reminds me of a story that illustrates what a lousy coach I am. Back when Michael Santangeli played with Pad on the Novice Red Gators, we had a record that would charitably be described at mediocre. A review today of the roster shows 12 of the 16 kids from that team are now playing rep, either in Oakville or in the GTHL. I've said it before but it bears repeating: Once kids get away from me, they improve almost instantly!

Feb 22, 2006

FYI all you house league parents -- MOHA is actively considering moving from two levels of house league in the younger divisions to three -- red, white and blue. Before you all start gasping and reaching for the cardiac paddles, the reasoning makes some sense: with 20 minor atom teams this year, to use an example, 10 white, 10 red, some teams only play each other once all year. Not much fun for the kids and coaches if you like competitive rivalries. Also, there are so many new kids moving into Oakville who have never played before but want to join hockey at the age of eight or nine or 10, the range of skill in white at the start of the year was basically from borderline red to total newbie. So the newbies never get to touch the puck.

Now there will be many and compelling arguments on both sides for and against the idea and to Wayne Moorehead's great credit he's asking for a lot of input. I'll get into all that another time. Suffice it to say, change is not a bad thing -- creating ways for less skilled kids to have more fun is a good thing. Parental egos (YOU THINK MY KID SHOULD PLAY BLUE??!!!) will be an issue more than kids' egos. Anyway, more later on that. My only suggestion is that instead of red, white and blue, maybe -- just maybe -- it should be red, white and taupe.

Feb 20, 2006

Random thoughts from the ride in on the train:

• Until they prove otherwise, the evidence would suggest Team Canada sucks. Meanwhile, the Leafs are in ninth spot (although they have not lost a game since the Olympic break began.) Pat Quinn coaches both teams. Discuss among yourselves.

• Everyone -- OK, just me and Laura -- still shaking our heads about the Uxbridge mess yesterday. Looks like there will be a Thursday night game in Uxbridge, which everyone was trying to avoid. (They don't want to come to Oakville on a school night, we don't want to go there, but now we're running out of time to finish the series.) Ugh. Can't imagine I'll be able to be there, which is a double ugh.

• I didn't mention how much fun the Wings had with Dick Decloe and his coaching staff at Twin Rinks yesterday. Decloe played pro in Europe and I think was on the Canadian national team back before the pros took over (and a fine job they're doing too!) But he connects with the kids really well and tricks them into learning technical aspects of hockey -- like the mechanics of shooting -- while making it a lot of fun. He understands that there's more to making a nine-year-old tick than yelling at him to skate the lines. We split the 90-minute session with Allan Pritts and his Eagles team. It was a lot of fun and I think most of the guys learned some things.

• It was more fun than the 6 a.m. practice my team has tomorrow, for example, where I'll probably yell at them and make them skate the lines.

Feb 19, 2006

Well. How do I put this? Maybe something like this:

Half a tank of gasoline for my car: $30

407 Tolls from Neyagawa to Brock Road, and back: $27.36

Gate fee for two adults at Uxbridge Arena: $8

Showing up for Game 2 of our Peewee AE series and finding out AFTER the warmup that the OMHA didn't contract any referee or linesmen for the game: PRICELESS

It's true. We drove all the way from Oakville to Uxbridge, about 111 kilometres or so, and didn't get to play. So we drove back. There are so many jokes here that perhaps you should just write your own. For example:

• The referees didn't call anything today. It was like they were invisible

• Our team prepared well, but they just didn't compete today

• Our kids were flawless -- no one made a mistake during the game

Here's some of the action from today:

I could go on and on. But that's life. This was not Uxbridge's fault -- if you've ever seen an OMHA playdowns game contract, it clearly states that the OMHA is responsible for contracting game officials. And if you forget to do it, it's a tricky hole to climb out of. Because the officials have to be from out of town. So, you can't just conjure up a trio from the arena's backroom. Compounding the problem is the fact that Canada was on TV playing hockey in the Olympic tournament (losing again). So I'm thinking that not a lot of referees lying on the couch at home were likely going to jump up and sprint to Uxbridge for a bunch of peewees on two minutes notice.

Using the figures I cited above, times the 17 families on the Rangers, it works out that the OMHA owes us $1,111.12. We'll round it down to an even $1,100 though, because we're not greedy.

For what it's worth, the Uxbridge parents and team officials were mortified and very apologetic, which was a nice gesture, but it is not their fault. The OMHA books referees. It says so on the contract.

Feb. 19, 2006

Very lazy Sunday morning which will soon give way to a busy day. Chris and the Wings have 90 minutes of ice with Dick Decloe and his team of instructors at Twin Rinks and then almost immediately after that we hit the road to beautiful Uxbridge.

It's a cold day but the sun is shining. We'll crank the tunes and enjoy the drive and the next chapter in our tour of southern Ontario and hope the boys can carve a better result than last night.

Nothing new to report from the Olympics in the early hours. The men's hockey team play Finland today, the women play for gold against Sweden, and both curling teams are in danger of missing the medal round. I'll be back later with the scores and highlights from Uxbridge. Go Rangers! There are pics from last night's game here.

Feb 18, 2006

Pad's Rangers lost 5-2 to Uxbridge to night, including an empty net goal. The game was much closer than the score indicated and it was a one goal game for most of the night. The game was clean and fast and well officiated, I thought. Except for some confusion when the referee called a penalty shot against Uxbridge and then after a huddle, reversed the call. The score was 2-1 at that point, so it was a pivotal point. Anyway, Uxbridge deserved the win so the Rangers will have to play harder tomorrow.

I also thought Adam Garrie played well for us.

Feb 18, 2006

The Wings beat the Eagles 4-3 in yet another nail biter today in the first game of the MOHA minor atom white playoffs. We led 3-0 at one point and then went for coffee. When we got back, it was 3-2. We got another, then they made it interesting late in the third. My goalie, Cameron Poirier played very well, and Jordan Karrys was huge on my blueline. Brendan Garvey scored our first goal and played his best game of the year when we really needed it.

The Eagles are a good team (they beat us two weeks ago) and are the second seed in our pool (we're the first seed) so we knew this was going to be a real test.

In the game before us, the Hound Dogs, who we beat 7-2 last week, were behind 5-2 to the Flyers when I got there and they ended up winning 7-5. Quite a comeback!

The Gators tied the Wranglers 3-3 and the Wolfpack came close to tying the Lumberjacks, losing by one on a late goal. The Vikings and Flyers played after us, so I don't have a result yet. It's going to be an interesting month.

In other hockey news:

• The powerhouse Swiss national team beat the Team Canada NHL all-stars 2-0. Gallons of ink will be spilled on this one, so I won't pile on. Just remember the national crisis in 2002 after Sweden beat us in the preliminary round. Canada ended up with gold.

• The Leafs are still unbeaten during the Olympic break. Are they awesome? Go Leafs Go!!

• Pad's Rangers are on the ice tonight at 5:40p at Ice Sports OAKVILLE ARENA vs Uxbridge. I'll update that one later. OAKVILLE ARENA. OAKVILLE ARENA. Thanks Wendy for catching.

Feb 17, 2006

As you are no doubt aware, Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot an elderly Republican lawyer in the face last weekend in Texas. As Jon Stewart of The Daily Show calls it, THE-VICE-PRESIDENT-SHOT-A-GUY-IN-THE-FACE-GATE.

Anyway, an FM radio show in Seattle, the Bob Rivers Show on KZOK-FM, did what everyone else was thinking and wrote lyrics to Aerosmith's song "Janie's Got a Gun" and put the whole thing to music.

If they ever do a Nobel Prize for Parody, this is the winner.

Click here to listen (Windows Media Player.)

Feb 17, 2006

Weekend scene setters coming up, but first, the news.

Caledon beat Georgetown 3-1 last night in the first game of their peewee AE quarterfinal. Elsewhere in OMHA unprovincial peewee AE playdowns, Stoney Creek swept Simcoe in three straight. Sarnia (who Oakville played and beat in Chatham at the Silver Stick) has also advanced.

The Rangers play tomorrow and Sunday vs. Uxbridge after another practice tonight. We're all hoping for a good and entertaining series. We've played them before -- once, way back before the leaves turned colour -- so it's hard to know how much they've improved vs. us. In that game, they won 3-2 on a late goal.

Meanwhile my Wings open the playoffs tomorrow against the Eagles -- the Eagles beat us on the second last week of the season 2-1 and there's no reason to expect tomorrow's game will be anything but very close. And yes, secret motivational techniques will be employed.

The minor atom white house league playoffs will run in two pools. You can follow the standings here.

• Canada won four medals yesterday and just now won another (bronze) in women's snowboard cross. So, I'm guessing maybe the plan to win 25 medals is closer to back on track, but still aggressive. On the other hand, if Canada can double its medal output every day like it did on Thursday, then by Monday Canada should have 64 medals!! I think I'll call Janet Gretzky and see if she will take that bet.

• Speaking of Janet: good news for Wayne, but Janet is likely going to have to testify. And it will be messy -- testifying against a friend is no fun I bet. But hey, she bet $5000 on the Super Bowl coin toss and won, so she has that going for her.

• The Leafs haven't lost this week. Great going guys!

• Oh, and no miracles yet. Actually, nothing even close.

Feb 16, 2006

OK, a question apropos of nothing.  I got a nice letter from a gentleman who said he's the archangel Michael (I think John Travolta played him in a movie a few years ago) and he's looking for some ink on the Second Coming of Christ. Seriously. He's even willing to perform a miracle for me, personally, to prove he's legit, as he put it, "in the comfort of your home." Cool!

To be clear, he's not actually offering "a free miracle card" per se, the sort of which I could use in an upcoming Lotto 649 draw, for example. He's telling me he can make something really specific happen for me. And on the biblical scale of miracles -- parting the Red Sea, for example -- it's not a biggie. It's more of a garden variety miracle, a you'll-know-it-when-you-see-it kind of moment. I don't want to give too many details. Obviously, we have quite strict rules here at The Canadian Press about accepting freebies. So, taking even a smallish miracle would be way over the line. Because then everyone else here might start cashing in miracles and you don't even want to think about what sort of stuff would start going on if journalists get free miracles. (Although the Dick Cheney-with-a-gun-thing was a gift from the news gods, I think the general consensus is that one was a miracle sent from the great beyond by Johnny Carson for late night TV people.)

Anyway, I digress. If YOU had a chance for a miracle or two, what would you pick? Are you a big global player -- world peace? An end to disease or all children's illnesses? Or something closer to home -- a cup for the Leafs, cure for your slice, or maybe that new 5-series BMW?

Just being offered a miracle made my day! In the event my resolve weakens on the CP no-freebies policy, I'm entertaining suggestions here.

Feb 16, 2006

Pad had a long day yesterday and he was so tired when he came in from hockey practice after 8p last night I felt bad for him.

But the school band was awarded a gold medal at the performance in Markham so they qualify for the national competition in Ottawa in May. So he was pretty pumped.

Given that he started his day with basketball coaches yelling at him as he performed "suicides" running drills, and ended it with coaches yelling at hockey practice, he had a pretty thin tolerance by the end of the day for practices and yelling coaches.

That said, he was up early today for another 7:30a basketball practice, with saxophone in hand. He was smiling when I dropped him off.

• How about Team Canada? I wasn't impressed with what I saw in that game Wednesday, but if my memory is right I think that they started the 2002 Olympics with a 5-1 loss to Sweden. But between the Gretzky gambling story and now the Steve Moore lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi, there's lots of distractions. How about the USA tying Latvia? Those Latvians. A powerhouse.

• Canada has four medals after five full days of competition. The Canadian Olympic Committee predicted we'd win 25 in total. I'm guessing Canada is behind schedule and expect to start hearing questions about Canada's plan to "own the podium" in Vancouver in 2010. AFTERNOON UPDATE: Canada won a pair of silver medals Thursday -- in men's and women's long track speedskating pursuit, and a bronze in women's skelston. And Team Canada is thumping Germany in hockey. So, a much better day for Canada, at least so far.

• The ride in to Toronto today was marred by what Jerry Seinfeld would call a loud talker. A woman on a cell phone who apparently thought everyone wanted to hear her conversation. If you've ever spent any amount of time on a GO Train, I think you'd agree it's safe to say that no one wants to listen to you, me or anyone else. There are no formal rules, but the number one informal rule is, SHUT UP. Actually, I think it's SHUT THE F*** UP. Especially in the morning. Anyway, she ended what was a mindless and banal conversation before risking having someone toss her from the train like a sack of mail. Yeah, yeah, I know. But trust me, everyone in that car felt the same way.

Feb 15, 2006

Regular readers will know that Pad loves music as much or more than he loves hockey and sports. Today, he gets both.

His school band is off to Markham to perform for some kind of adjudication panel in an effort to qualify for a national band competition in Ottawa later in the spring. He and the rest of the band have been working very hard and they're all fairly pumped about it. I hope they do well. The music program at Abbey Lane is outstanding. (Pad plays tenor sax in the band and he's a pretty good guitar player too.)

But before he goes to Markham, he had a 7:30a basketball practice. And when he gets home from Markham, he has hockey practice.

In between, Chris has power skating tonight as well.

I've got a a six hour meeting today, which seems like a bargain compared with Pad's day.

I have a feeling I'll be eating pizza tonight.

And before I disappear into that meeting, Canada is leading Italy 7-2 in the third. The question being, how did Italy manage to score twice?

• In honour of the Rangers' coming series with Uxbridge, here's today's fun fact about Uxbridge: Uxbridge Township is in the midst of a year-long celebration of its bicentennial. I can find no information on whether a Tall Ships Parade is planned, but I'll keep you posted.

Feb 14, 2006

Happy Valentine's Day.

Here's the schedule for the peewee AE Rangers series with Uxbridge:

The link to the page where you can follow this series and the Caledon-Georgetown slugfest is here.

You can learn more about Uxbridge here.

Today's fun Uxbridge fact: Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote 11 of her 24 books in Uxbridge, where she moved with her husband, a minister. If you're into her books (um, I'm not) it's much closer than Cavendish, PEI.

Feb. 14, 2006

The hockey breakthroughs with Chris come along in small steps. Chris, as I have said before is bright and funny, just not goal-oriented.

Saturday morning when we had an hour of extra ice before our noon game I had a deliberately unstructured practice. Boys with pucks skating and shooting mostly. We did a few drills, but mostly I wanted to watch. The coaches would pull a player aside for a minute, work on shooting technique for a minute or two, then send them back out. When I did this for Chris, he reported to me after practice that "Dad, my shooting is really coming along now." Well, I'm glad to hear it, said I.

Then he got a goal and an assist in our game at noon. (Must be the coaching. )

Anyway, last night, Chris and I were at River Oaks where Pad had a practice. Chris asked if I would get him some time on the River Oaks shooter pad. I said we had a perfectly good paved driveway, bucket of pucks, and hockey net at home that he barely goes near. Use that first. Then get back to me about the shooter pad. OK, says he.

He reappears two minutes later with a bag of popcorn.

"Will you shoot pucks with me tomorrow after work?"

"Sure pal. You bet."

"OK."

Feb 14, 2006

• There was general consensus that the medals being awarded at the Turin Olympics are not attractive, as far as that sort of thing goes in the whole Olympic medal design genre. That being said, we do hope the Canadians manage to win a bunch of the DVD-lookalikes. You tell me.

:

Feb 13, 2006

• One day to go till Valentine's Day, boys. Yes, it's a contrived Hallmark holiday. Yes, $5 is a lot for a greeting card. (Consider making your own.) Yes, you'll be sorry you ignored it if you do.

• In Peewee AE playdown action yesterday, Orangeville beat Ancaster, leaving them tied with Georgetown for the final spot in the quarterfinals. The tied each other in the round robin and whatever the tiebreaker rule was it worked against Orangeville, because Georgetown advanced. So Caledon and Georgetown get to beat each other's brains out in the next round while we're driving to Uxbridge. And back. And forth. Devoted peewee hockey fans can follow the progress of the quarterfinalists here.

• Laura reports that while I was off with the boys watching the Raptors, she in fact did not sit around reading. She did laundry, prepared a great meal, and worked for a couple of hours helping prepare for awards week for legions of grateful coaches and conveners. Details of awards week are spilling out here. The Raps won in a laugher, BTW.

•  Final regular season standings for minor atom white are up, here. I'll do a playoff page once Allan Prits and I figure out how we're going to do that. The regular season stats will stay where they are and there will be a separate playoff section of some kind.

• I'm not a hunter. But if I ever decide to hunt, remind me not to go hunting with US Vice President Dick Cheney. Sheesh. Nice play, Shakespeare.

Feb 12, 2006

Well, I'm taking a break from the usual Sunday afternoon routine where I do all the office work and reply to all the emails that I didn't get to during the week to blog random thoughts for a few minutes.

• I'm really proud of my Wings hockey team. Have I said that enough? OK. I'll move on. But they lost their very first game four months ago 5-0 and then went on and lost only twice in the next 16 games (including a win over the team that thumped us that first day.)

• Chris had a buddy sleep over last night and they actually stayed asleep until 9a, a minor miracle. As of this moment (2:15p) they are still in their PJs and the PS2 is smoking.

• Pad is out in the driveway as I type, pounding pucks at a net. He is a very goal-oriented guy, and very competitive. He loves to work as part of a team and he hates to lose. The homework is done. And he's out in the driveway pounding pucks. 150 a day. Every day. It's the playoffs.

• Speaking of which, a quirk of the OMHA unprovincial playdowns is that after a team progresses past a certain point, it can't go back to the Tri County league playoffs. Pad's team has crossed that point. They never lost a league game on the ice all year, but they won't be formally acknowledged anywhere as the best team in Russel Peewee AE. That's OK. The OMHA playdown is more fun. So, if they want to keep playing hockey they better keep winning!

• So, we now know the AE Rangers are playing Uxbridge in the next round, five games maximum, first team to get six points wins. We played Uxbridge way back in September in the very first game the peewee AE Rangers ever played, at a tournament in Newmarket. They scored with 30 seconds left to beat us 3-2. (Pics from that game are here.) A quick check of Google maps shows that it's about a 90 minute drive from Oakville to Uxbridge. Fun!

• The Leafs suck. Blow 'em up. Ninth place going into the Olympic break.

• I wrote here last week that I am a bit superstitious about pre-weekend rituals. Anyway, since the course correction I made in my preparations, Pad's team is 2-0 -- including a must-win game last night -- and the Wings also won in their most impressive game of the season. I'm not telling what the course correction was until the mojo has run it's course.

• Me and the boys are off to see the Raptors play Portland tonight. Pad is on Abbey Lane Public School's hoop team and the boys -- like all boys -- love going to a big-league event. Admittedly, the Raptors barely qualify. We'll be watching a pair of teams destined to miss the playoffs, eat $6 hotdogs and marvel at the inanity of the Dance Pak. But we'll have a good time, mom might steal some time to sit quietly and read at home, and life goes on.

Feb 12, 2006

Sunday morning update. Caledon beat Flamborough 10-3 last night. So they finish first in the pool and will play whoever finishes third in a series in the next round. The 2nd place team -- and until told otherwise I'm convinced that is us -- will play Uxbridge.

Feb 11, 2006

Peewee AE Rangers beat Ancaster 3-2 in a spectacularly entertaining hockey game. We jumped to a 2-0 first period lead, they fought back gamely. We went up with about five minutes to play in the third. The kids played hard and they deserved the result they got. Game pics are here.

The Rangers are assured a spot in the next round -- the OMHA unprovincial quarter finals. The sledding gets tougher with every step. From my read of the tea leaves, if Ancaster wins tomorrow vs. Orangeville, they advance. If Orangeville wins, then they advance. Caledon is already through. Caledon plays Flamborough tomorrow and if they win they lock up first the pool. If they lose, we finish first.

The first place team will play the third place team in the next round. The second place team -- probably us -- plays Uxbridge.

It's been a long day -- a three-rink day is draining. Witty and entertaining copy will have to wait for another day. But it was fun and hey -- we won!

Feb 11, 2006

Canada won it's first gold medal of the games literally as I was writing the entry below about the Wings.

Click here for medal standings .

Here's the story from Canada's national news agency:
 

Feb 11, 2006

The Wings were kind of an unstoppable force today, downing the Houndogs 7-2. As I said to trainer Chris Thompson after we were up 7-1, I felt like a passenger on the Mars mission because we've never scored like that before. We had a 9a practice courtesy of a parent who donated the ice time, and then we all went to breakfast. And then I figured we'd be tired and listless for the noon game. I was wrong. The special motivational techniques I employed actually worked. The kids came out hard and basically put the game away in the first period. Chris even scored a goal! The Houndogs are coached by a good bunch of guys -- they obviously just didn't have access to Wendy Bell's chocolate cupcakes before the game. We finish the regular season in second place. Playoffs start next week.

And by the way -- hat's off to Ryan O'Dowd, who in addition to having a very cool name, scored twice today. Ryan moved to Oakville from New Jersey last year and is playing his first year of hockey. He never ice skated before this season. His first goal Saturday -- his first of the season, his first ever -- was almost coast-to-coast through the other team. It was a thing of beauty. I hope he's staring at the ceiling tonight thinking about it when he goes to sleep tonight. Because I will be! (Ryan is our captain for next week!)

Feb 10, 2006

First off, the weekend scene-setter. As I've mentioned before, the peewee AE Rangers play Saturday night at Twin Rinks (7:30p) vs Ancaster. No ifs, ands, or buts. They have to win to move on to the OMHA unprovincial quarterfinals. Ancaster is clearly playing far better hockey than it did during the season and have knocked off some good teams in the preliminary round. We've never played them -- remember, we're playing up a level from where we were all season, so these teams are all new to us. Should be a good game.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Orangeville lost last night to Flamborough 4-2, which given the way things have gone so far has to be considered a bit of an upset. It's good for us that Orangeville lost. So the standings now are:

Three teams advance. Caledon is already through I think. (Only us or Ancaster can finish with eight points. They others can't. Caledon already has eight, so they are through.)

One more thing Ranger fans: if we win Saturday night and fiesty Flamborough beats Caledon, we finish first and get home ice advantage in the next round. Of course, if we lose, we're will likely be out.

Just FYI, the peewee Ranger A team was swept by Brampton in its quarter final, two game to none. Lots of great kids on that team. Pad had tons of fun and learned a lot in his seven games this year as a call up to the A team.

And the peewee AA Rangers beat Georgetown 3-2 last night, in Georgetown, to keep their playoff series going. Georgetown leads the best of five series 2-1. Go Rangers!

Meanwhile, Chris and the Wings play at noon tomorrow. There's a pretty strong possibility that our game won't have much impact on the final standings for us (Janet Gretzky is betting we finish second.) So we're going to go out have have some fun and keep it light and loose. We have some ice time at 9a for the boys before the game that a parent donated, so we're going to do some shooting and positional  work, and then head to McDonalds for a bad breakfast. I'm looking forward to the day. Special motivational techniques will be invoked during the game to pump up the fun factor!

Second, more on Wayne Gretzky. This story, as I predicted earlier (not that you need to be Kreskin to know that) isn't going to go away and Wayne is going to be the centre of the story in Turin. Stephen Brunt of the Globe and Mail suggests here that Wayne should stay home. Damien Cox of the Star says here he should go. He's going. Expect this story to grow, and grow, and grow. 10,000 journalists gathered in one place for two weeks will see to that.

Third, an interesting bit of Oakville-related political drama. Newly elected Halton MP Garth Turner (who writes a very good blog, BTW) tells this morning here of basically being taken to the parliamentary woodshed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. If you know anything about how Ottawa works it won't surprise you. If you don't, it might. Either way, it's worth reading. It's makes my day yesterday look like a piece of cake in comparison. The gist of it is that Harper doesn't care for Turner's opinion that newly minted Tory Industry Minister David Emerson should resign and run in a byelection, because of the small matter that he was elected as a Liberal just more than two weeks ago. As prime minister, Harper gets to decide who's right. My friend and former Oakville resident Les Whittington of the Star writes about it here.

Feb 9, 2006

A rare afternoon update. As bad as I might think my day is, I bet The Great One's is worse.

It's difficult to imagine how a news story out of New York that uses your name and words like wiretaps doesn't put you off your day.

It is also hard to imagine that the distraction from all of this is going to be great news for the Canadian Olympic hockey team.

As we say in the news biz, this story has legs.

Feb 9, 2006

• Well, the day got off to a great start and it's not letting up. I suspect I'm in for one of "those" days. All part of the grand tapestry of life blah blah blah. Let's just say the most meaningless words in the English language are: "GO Transit regrets any inconvenience."

• Yesterday I mentioned the NHL gambling scandal, which unless you live under a rock you've heard about already. This is going to follow every Canadian hockey player to the Olympics. And it is especially going to follow the icon of icons, Wayne Gretzky. Cam Cole, one of the country's top sports writers, explains why here. It's required reading for Canadian hockey fans.

• The big hit of the week in our house is the discovery by Pad and Chris of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I was (and still am) a huge Python fan, dating back to when I was 12 or 13 and discovered these guys and their very silly BBC show. The movie, which is 31 years old and holding up well, was a big hit with the boys, mostly because it's very silly and juvenile and fun. I haven't heard that much giggling in the house since I said I was going to give up beer for lent. Make room on the couch boys. Dad wants to watch, too. . .

Feb 8, 2006

Opps. Almost forgot. Saturday is the final day for 2006 lacrosse registration. 10a till 2p at Glen Abbey Recreation Centre. Some divisions are filling quickly so, get there early. Details on what you need are here. And a point of clarification: please read the following sentence carefully.

All registrants are required to bring a copy of their birth certificate.

Now, what that sentence means is that if you are registering your child, you are required to bring a COPY of your child's birth certificate. A copy. To leave behind. With the registration form. And your cheque.

To do this, insert the birth certificate into a the photo copier, usually face down -- but conditions vary, check for instructions -- and then push the big green button (colour may vary, check for local instructions).

Photo copiers come in many shapes and sizes and often look like this, the Canon iR1600, a fine machine perfect for making copies of birth certificates. That can be left behind. With the registration form. And your cheque. Thank you.

Feb 8, 2006

Cold February morning, some this and that as I ride the GO train downtown:

• As previously mentioned, the Hockey Moms dance, once dead, has been resurrected. Circle Saturday, April 22 on your calendar. The venue is the same as the last couple years -- Le Dome. No silent auction this year, but there will be a live auction performed by Toronto Argo linebacker Orlando Bowen, who I'm told is very, very entertaining. And if the bids don't go high enough, maybe he will shove someone's head through a wall until it does! Now THAT'S entertainment! Music for the dance provided by Dynasty Disc Jockey Services. Tickets are $60 per person, including meal and two bottles of wine per table. I'm told I'll be there. As usual, the spectacle of a large, uncoordinated, white man dancing should be enough to fill the room with curious onlookers of the ilk who rubberneck at car wrecks and loyally read tabloid news.  It's always a good time, the money goes toward paying for the ice and trophies for awards week.

• The Leafs won last night. I'm, like, giddy. We're number eight! We're number eight!

• The Rick Tocchet story is ugly. Hockey doesn't need a problem like this one might be -- especially in the US. Innocent till proven guilty. But still, unsettling development for the game.

• As previously noted, Pad's team lost Friday. Chris' team lost Saturday. The Leafs lost Saturday night. Are you superstitious? (Not sure? Go here and try this test. I scored 30 which is lower than I figured. Let me know how you did if you want.) Superstitions are not unusual among sports fans, athletes and coaches. It occurred to me Sunday morning that something had recently changed in my weekend preparations -- an innocent oversight. I made the necessary correction and Pad's team won Sunday night. And then the Leafs won. Do I believe that this adjustment means the Rangers, Wings and Leafs will now all march to championships? No. Do I believe that if I had not corrected this, they would have had no chance? Yes. I'll tell you after the season what the course correction was -- sooner if the magic doesn't hold.

Feb 7, 2006

UPDATE: Caledon 5 Orangeville 0

So, as they say, you do the math. OK, I know you're lazy. I'll do it. But the point remains the same. We have to win Saturday to get to the unprovincials. (It's a long story, but the OMHAs are not the provincials. So we'll call them the unprovincials.)

Ancaster also beat Milton. So Caledon is through with a game to go. Congratulations to them.

Four teams still chase two spots.

As Al Davis would say, "Just win, baby."

Feb 7, 2006

Anyone want to drive to Caledon tonight to watch them play Orangeville? If you do, well, get help.

The Leafs are on the tube tonight playing Atlanta, the one team Toronto has owned this year. The Leafs have won six in a row versus the Thrashers, including all three this season by a margin of 18-2. But as we in the Leafs' "the-cup-is-half-empty" Club like to say, that was then, this is now.

The Leafs blue line, such as it is, will be missing Klee, Berg, Khavanov and Colaiacovo. So, Belfour should be in for another fun night.

After tonight Toronto play a Friday-Saturday home-and-home with the Rangers before everyone who matters toddles off to Turin. The Leafs are in eighth place in the eastern conference, 23 points behind Carolina, 20 behind Ottawa, 15 points behind the Rangers (remember when the Rangers were always the Hapless Rangers?), five points back of New Jersey and one point up on Montreal, two up on Boston, and three up on Atlanta.

Feb 6, 2006

We have a new government today. Democracy is pretty cool and very taken for granted. If you ever have the opportunity to be in a country where they have no choices, you'll appreciate democracy a lot more when you get home.

A minority government is not necessarily a bad thing, either. It forces people and parties with different ideologies and ideas to work together and compromise or pay a price politically.

Like the song says:

"I want to be the minority
I don't need your authority
Down with the moral majority
'Cause I want to be the minority"
 

Yes, it's Green Day. I couldn't resist.

There will be many challenges ahead for this government, not the least of which is a possible Quebec referendum if Premier Charest's Liberal government loses the next Quebec election. A federal minority government of any stripe would be severely tested in such a circumstance. My guess is that we'll have another federal election before then.

Stay tuned.

Feb 6, 2006

Time to review the playdowns and where the AE Rangers stand.

Caledon and Orangeville didn't play this week, so nothing changed for them. They play each other tomorrow in a game that matters.

Orangeville also plays Flamborough on Thursday and Ancaster on Saturday. So a busy week for them.

Caledon finishes up Saturday against Flamborough.

Georgetown plays Milton next weekend, we play Ancaster.

So, here are the standings with a week to go:

If we win our game against Ancaster, the Rangers advance to the next round, probably with Caledon and Orangeville. Even if Georgetown beats Milton, they will finish a point behind us if the Rangers win.

Georgetown could still move on if it beats Milton and either Orangeville or Caledon have a very, very bad week.

Ancaster also still has a shot -- they have three games left and need to basically win all three. Regardless, the head-to-head game with us next weekend will be important for them, too. If they beat Orangeville and Milton, then the winner of the Ancaster-Oakville game will advance -- not Georgetown.

I'm not sure what the tie-breaker formula is but I'm guessing whoever wins the head-to-head game, that's the tie breaker.

So, bottom line is the Rangers have to win. A tie or a loss is no good. You can check scores during the week at http://www.minorhockey.net/playdowns/index.asp?id=204

Three teams advance to the next round -- provincial quarter finals.

Feb 5, 2006

The Rangers beat Milton 5-0 tonight in Milton. The game was fairly close until early in the third and we just kind of pulled away. The shots probably favoured us 40 or 45 to maybe eight. Milton just didn't have the horsepower, but they were a game bunch and good hosts. Pics from the evening are here.

But.

The refereeing of the game was so suspect, so tilted in favour of Milton, that even the Milton coaches and some parents expressed their wonder at the folly of it all. Oakville had six or seven penalties before Milton got one. Milton had two kids tossed for hitting from behind -- one of which as an appallingly weak call. Oakville had a kid tossed for a hit from behind, again on a weak call.

Now, here's the thing. If you want to call a tight game, I'm fine with that. The key is consistency. An Oakville kid shoves a Milton kid hard in our crease after the whistle, he gets two minutes. OK, fine. Milton does the same thing, no call. Again. And again. And again. There was just no consistency, the kids on both sides of the ice were confused as to what was fair game and what wasn't and the result was a third period that could not have been more boring and listless if the Milton Home for the Aged had stormed the ice pushing their walkers around while arguing over who would get the extra helping of pudding at dinner.

A good referee is so important in a game -- the guy who did my House League game on Saturday was excellent. But when a ref decides he/she has to take centre stage, run for cover.

Anyway, the right team won. Ancaster is next. More on that later. Super Bowl and Corona beckon.

Feb 5, 2006

And if you haven't heard, our own Bob Langley, dad of the peewee AE Rangers' Brody, is the minor bantam Rangers A coach for next year. Shawn MacIntosh (Grant's dad) will again guide the AE Rangers, also at minor bantam.

Congratulations to both gentlemen and best of luck in the months ahead!

Feb 5, 2006

OK, so take a look at the front of the Weekend Oakville Beaver today. There's a huge picture of Oakville resident Ron MacLean on the set of Hockey Night in Canada, apparently in conversation with Pierre Maguire of The Canadian Press. At least, that's what the information under the picture says.

In fact, MacLean is talking with Pierre LeBrun, hockey writer at The Canadian Press (where I work.) Maguire is the very talented hockey analyst at TSN and NBC. If you look at these two photos, I'm sure you'll be able to see how The Beaver made such a mistake.

                                    Pierre LeBrun                                Pierre Maguire

They're practically identical. Separated at birth maybe? To my knowledge Maguire has never been on HNIC, and LeBrun is a regular. I don't know Maguire, but LeBrun -- in addition to being perhaps the best connected reporter covering the NHL, is also a terrific guy.

Our connection to the Beaver: Pad used to deliver the Beaver on our street but his hockey and music schedule killed that. The girl who took over from him is the girlfriend of one of the players on my team (yes, apparently some 10 year olds have girlfriends now).

Feb. 5, 2006

Super Bowl Sunday. We'll be in Milton for a Ranger game when the rest of you are watching the opening kickoff, but we should be home by 6:30p or so. NFL is not a big part of lives, but we'll watch to see if Mick or Keith have a wardrobe malfunction during the halftime show.

Rangers have to win today after the Georgetown Massacre on Friday. I'll update later.

Feb. 4, 2006

After Pad's practice today we all ended up under the same roof at home late on a Saturday afternoon, which is rare around here. No games or practices or elections or meetings. The weather outside is grim and is apparently going to stay that way for sometime.

So we did what a lot of families do -- lit a fire, gathered in the family room, and watched Hockey Night in Canada the Green Day DVD from their live package, Bullet in a Bible. All I can say is, wow.

Besides sports, music is a major common theme in our house. There's always music playing. Both boys play guitar, Pad plays tenor sax. Laura and I can plunk out a tune on guitar. We think it's important to expose the kids to all kinds of music and they're reached the age where they now return the favour. So, it's not weird that we'd all sit down to watch a movie of Green Day in concert (because I think we could all sing the words to the entire American Idiot CD if we wanted to. Be we won't.)

If you have any hockey players who like Green Day (and as a parent you're willing to come to terms with the F-Word, which they hear more on the ice and in playgrounds than perhaps you're willing to admit) then they will love this CD/DVD from a live Green Day concert at Milton Keynes in London last year.

The music is intense. The crowd (65,000) is large. The band is passionate and enormously talented. Billie Joe Armstrong is more animated than anything Pixar could dream up. We really enjoyed the concert video. Perfect for a winter Saturday.

And now, back to Ron MacLean . . .

Feb 4, 2006

Just got home from the Wings game -- we lost 2-1 to the Eagles in a very, very good game. Back and forth action all the way. And unlike the earlier post about the Rangers, the Wings all showed up ready to compete hard. I'm very proud of them. We didn't lose the game, the Eagles won it, so all credit to them.

With the loss we drop out of first place with a week to go before playoffs. But to paraphrase what Arnold Schwarzenegger said at the end of the original Terminator movie, we'll be back!

Feb 4, 2006

Georgetown 7 Oakville 1

There's no way to pretty this dog up. It was ugly -- unless you're from Georgetown. They dominated from the start and never looked back. Matt Reagan played well but got no support.

Sometimes, there's just no way to make something look good, no matter how hard you try. This is one of those days. There are other game photos here. I have no doubt our guys will bounce back tomorrow in Milton. Go Rangers.

Feb. 3, 2006

Hard to believe, but the annual MOMS MOHA Awards Week is right around the corner. This year's festivities are planned for March 26 to April 1 at the Dominion Twins Rinks.

The MOMS website has lots of details at http://www.minoroaksmoms.ca/awards_week_2006.htm .

Feb 3, 2006

I wasn't there, but the memorial service for Gary White was yesterday in Oakville. I'm told that people who showed up almost an hour early couldn't get into the main room and two other rooms were used where overflow mourners could listen to the service. There were many young people there, and more than a few MOHA house league jerseys.

Gary's wife Jeanette was apparently terrific -- strong, composed and grateful for the support of the community. She remarked that Gary had said he wasn't sure he wanted a service because he didn't think anyone would show up. The hundreds attending in three rooms enjoyed the irony of that.

This weekend all around Oakville, more people will be out selling the white bracelets to raise money for the trust fund for Gary's two young kids. Many individuals and teams have already stepped up, and their support is appreciated. For those who will contribute in the days ahead, thank you in advance.

For people wishing to donate directly to the trust fund, contributions can be made through any Toronto Dominion Bank to branch #1020, account #6463395.

Feb 3, 2006

I'm told that some parents who endured the entire Peewee AE Rangers 6a practice on Wednesday were looking for more colourful, detailed reportage on the discussions that morning.

Given that I know there are minors reading this blog, specific information relating to Jon Bon Jovi's apparently self-professed "issues" will have to remain the subject of Google searches and conjecture by Oakville hockey moms.

But if you want to see a review of Brokeback Mountain from the perspective of a witty, somewhat cynical guy (no, not me. I haven't seen it) go here and scroll about halfway down the page.

We now return to regular programming.

Feb 3, 2006

Big hockey weekend in our house. And since today's a PD day for teachers, everyone was still asleep when I crept out of the house around 7a this morning. So they should be well rested!

Pad's Rangers play tonight in Georgetown and Sunday in Milton. They need to win twice to continue to control their destiny. For more info scroll down a couple of posts.

Chris and the rest of the minor atom HL white Wings take on the Eagles. The Eagles are coached by one of the best guys in house league, Allan Pritts, who in addition to coaching also does all the stats for our division. It's a big job and Allan has done it very well for two years. And he also always brings a tough team to the rink. The Eagles have been at or near the top of the standings all season and my guys are going to have to work very hard. We're looking forward to a good game and we'll be preparing hard at practice tonight.

The bummer in all of this is that it's doubtful I'm going to make it from Chris' practice in Oakville to Pad's game in Georgetown without endangering the lives of innocent bystanders. Chris and I could bail out of practice early to try and make the 7:30p start in Georgetown, but that's not a great example to set for the rest of the team.

And Chris would rather watch George Bush's State of the Union address than go to a Rangers game, so there's that to consider too.

Laura will send real-time scoring and game highlights via Blackberry if I can't make it. Tune in tomorrow for results and highlights.

Feb 3, 2006

The Leafs are in Washington tonight and host New Jersey tomorrow. They really need to win both of these. The leaky Leaf ship has righted itself a little (four out of six possible points in the last three games) but two of those games were shootout losses and those suck the air out of the room faster than a flash fire.

I heard Bill Watters on the radio this morning say that four out of six points would land a team right around eighth place -- the final playoff spot. Actually, winning four points out of six all season would get an NHL team about 108 points and a much better finish than eighth. Maybe Bill meant the rest of the season.

Feb 2, 2006

I'm told that the MOHA board recently passed an important rule change for House League next year. House League teams will be limited to one protected player per team, aside from the son/daughter of the coach. The spot will go to an assistant coach's/trainer's child. Sponsor's can no longer get their child on a specific team by assigning their sponsorship to a specific coach's team.

This has never been a big issue in levels where I coach, but I get the drift. I presume the intention is to avoid what I will politely call strategic clustering. A group of parents/kids sticking together through coaching and sponsorship arrangements, year after year. That can complicate the draft process, especially if there are a bunch of high-end players in that cluster.

A funny story on this point -- at this year's minor atom white draft I declined to protect my own son (sorry Chris.) It's not as harsh as it sounds -- Chris had broken his arm the week before the draft and the timing of his return was uncertain. The generous consensus of the room was that I was allowed to protect my trainer's son and my assistant coach's son instead. Much laughter ensued. (Chris was de facto protected because no one else was going to take him anyway and I took him at the appropriate level in the drafting process.) At the same time, I also don't think any of the white-level coaches were denied a chance to coach with the guys they wanted to coach with, and no one else thought anyone was trying to stack the deck.

The temperature of these issues at White level HL is lower than it is at Red and we're really fortunate to have a good group of folks coaching in our division. But just the same, Reggie Nasu figured it was the first MOHA draft he'd seen where a dad didn't protect his own kid.

In lacrosse, the drafting process for house league is way less formal, usually worked out at a table in the Thirsty Penguin over beer and chicken wings, based on who could be coerced into coaching/convening and in many instances who kids asked for as coaches. And it generally works out pretty well. But MOHA is much bigger and things get trickier as the scale increases.

Feb 2, 2006

As a public service to AE Ranger parents and fans, here's an update/analysis of where things stand in our pool of the OMHA playdowns. First, the standings:

Remember, three teams from this pool will advance. With the exception of us, these are all Harrison AE teams -- a level higher than we played. The only teams in this pool from Harrison that had winning records in the regular season are Caledon (22-2), Georgetown (21-1-2). So, one might expect them to be among the favorites to dominate.

Except something funny happened on the way to the OMHA quarter finals. We beat Caledon, and Georgetown has lost twice (to Caledon and Ancaster, who were 7-15-2 during the season) and was held to a tie by Orangeville (8-13-3 regular season) who also beat us. Caledon is probably right where they expected to be. Orangeville is on a roll. Ancaster has to be feeling good about themselves; Georgetown has already lost more games in the playdowns than it did in the entire regular season.

So, Georgetown only has two games left and has just three points. It has to win both games to have a good chance of advancing. Which is to say, when the Rangers play them tomorrow night in Georgetown, they will come at us very, very hard. They won't be looking to risk a third loss. Georgetown's other remaining game is against Milton (6-15-3 during the season).

So, my deep analysis is that there are five teams now competing for three spots. Flamborough (11-11-2 regular season) would need to beat both Caledon and Orangeville in its final games to have a shot. Milton is in a similar predicament and both teams would need a lot of help from other teams to move up.

The Rangers play Georgetown and then Milton on Sunday. They will do themselves a lot of favours by winning both games.

You can see game results at http://www.minorhockey.net/playdowns/index.asp?id=204 .

Feb. 1, 2006

After a period of thoughtful reflection, Laura today announced she would not run for the leadership of the federal Liberal party. She thanks her many friends who have offered support and encouragement, but her intention is to focus on her work with the Minor Oaks Hockey Moms. And her book club. And Abbey Lane Public School's parent council. And Oakville Minor Lacrosse. And the Peewee AE Rangers. And her job.

Feb. 1, 2006

A non-hockey entry: In case you haven't noticed and in case you care about these things, there's less than two weeks till Valentine's Day. If you want a good idea for a music CD to give her, buy her (I'm assuming we men aren't getting presents) David Gray's latest, Life in Slow Motion.

Gray has been a bigger deal in his homeland of Great Britain for longer than he has here -- and in fact you may never have heard of him. But this album is terrific -- as is the one that preceded it, White Ladder, that spawned an international hit with the single, Babylon.

Gray spins terrific, introspective, lyrics and the music is deeply layered -- his work on the piano is outstanding. Unlike White Ladder, whose occasionally stark, depressing portrayals of life sometimes have me searching for something tall to leap off of, Life In Slow Motion is a little less dark and naval gazing. Yes, she will like it.

If you're feeling more risque, try Canadian indie band Stars. Juno nominees last year as best new band, you'll like the familiarity and fun of their Nightsongs album. It's pop. I bought the album on iTunes after seeing the video for the single Your Ex-Lover Is Dead (you can view it here. The song's not nearly as depressing as the title. No one dies.) Laura likes the single, hasn't seen the video (which takes a while to load, so be patient) and has yet to sign off on the rest of the songs. But since I introduced her to The Killers last year and insisted she listen repeatedly to Green Day's American Idiot, and she loves both of those now, she cuts me a lot of slack on the music I drag home and drop on the floor in front of her.

Except for Belle and Sebastian. And maybe Laura Cantrell. She didn't like what that cat dragged in on those two, but she never gave them a chance, either.

Flowers and wine are a good idea with the music. How much wine -- a single bottle, or directions on where the LCBO truck should deliver the crate -- is a personal choice. (Beep, beep, beep . . .  "Back it right in to the garage boys . . ." )

What I'm Listening to This Week: Dire Straits, Making Movies; Jackson Browne, Late for the Sky; and the Stars. (And so is Laura, since she listens to whatever I put on.)

Reading: Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (Al Franken)

Laura's reading A Year in Provence (Peter Mayle).

Feb. 1, 2006

Welcome to a new month. If winter has dog days, these are them. Up at 5a this morning to take Pad to hockey practice -- but only the second 6a slot the Rangers have endured this winter. Pad -- unlike his brother -- is never a problem to get motivated for practice. Even when he was very young, he loved to get up while it's still dark to go to the rink. Admittedly, his enthusiasm has dimmed a little for the hour of the day, but he still is very motivated.

The chatter among the brave parental souls who hung in for the entire session today was varied. Bon Jovi (apparently hot to hockey moms.) Gay cowboy movie. (Also apparently hot -- to some.) Bill Murray (still very cool.) The Leafs. The weather.

Pad was one of the first guys out of the dressing room, which is rare. His motivation was that today is a school ski day and he and his Grade 7 classmates from Abbey Lane were off to Snow Valley. He missed the bus because of practice, but Laura was planning to go anyway and drove them. Last report: conditions excellent, everyone having fun.

Chris has Cindy Bauer tonight. We'll be falling over each other later trying to stay awake.