hockey blog archive jan10

Jan 29, 2010

It's a sunny, cold morning that will see me and Chris hit the road for Barrie and weekend tournament action with the Jets.

So, short posting today (although I suppose I could have used the time wasted on a GO train last night to do something longer, except that we were packed into the car like 10 pounds of sausage in a five-pound bag.)

- - -

I had occasion to chat in the last day with a pleasant young man. It was obvious from the circumstances that he was, or had been, a hockey player and I asked if he still played.

Well, yeah. Sort of, was the answer.

A former junior A player at tier 2, he had a couple scholarship opportunities in front of him to consider for NCAA.

Then, in a pre-season game, an errant high stick caught him in the face. There was a serious injury, time lost . . .

And now, he’s playing junior C to get himself back into shape, but as he said without prompting: “I had my shot. It’s over. It’s time to get an education.”

I dared to ask.

“Were you wearing a visor or a cage?”

He laughed.

“A visor.”

And what do you wear now?

“A cage.”

I asked if I could bring my son to meet him.

He laughed again.

The kids all want to wear a visor as soon as the opportunity presents itself. And that opportunity comes in junior. So, a midget player can wear a visor as a call up in a junior game, for example.

But just because he “can” doesn’t mean he “does.”

But just because the parents say “don’t” doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to.

I understand it’s tough.

And believe me, if you’re a 6-3 defenceman it’s harder to wear a cage than it is if you’re a 5-8 forechecking winger. And that’s because certain guys play certain roles and . . .

Well, if you’ve seen more than three hockey games, you know what I’m talking about.

I told my kid the story of the young man I met. I think it made an impression.

But one never knows, does one?

For the record, NCAA players wear full cages right through their scholastic careers.

In Canada, junior and university players can wear visors, and the pressure to do so is enormous.

At what cost? That is the question.

- - -

I think I’ll check out now.

I’m heading north. Another friend is travelling to Detroit to a minor bantam rep tournament. Others have league games.

Tomorrow is officially Hockey Day in Canada, but every Saturday in the winter carries that label in our house.

We’ll be driving safely and looking forward to boys splashing in the pool and snow tubing between games. It’s going to be cold in these parts; colder in Barrie, I suspect.

Stay safe. Stay warm. Chase the dream. Laugh and have fun. Wear a friggin’ cage.

Hug the kids.

Jan 28, 2010

The big news yesterday didn’t happen at a sporting venue or – with apologies to the president – a political gathering or speech.

No, the big story yesterday was the unveiling of Apple’s poorly named iPad (expect a Saturday Night Live skit skewering that moniker, and I won’t get into where it will go, which is obvious.)

The new personal computing/gaming device is bigger than an iPod, smaller than a laptop, and more versatile than the wave of electronic readers, like the Kindle, now entering the market.

At $500US, it is allegedly affordable for many in the market.
It will be a platform for movies, music, web surfing, gaming, email, etc etc etc, all wrapped in a very portable format.

And naturally, Apple is going to get richer selling content that is proprietary to the platform.

Do I want one? Um, not yet, I don’t.

I have a laptop that I lug everywhere, so I don’t see why I’d need an iPad, too.

It’s too big to hook on my waistband at the gym, so I’ll keep my iPod for that, thanks.

And I don’t understand how a lot of the content I might be interested in consuming on such a device – like magazines, newspapers, and books – will be available and formatted. Is it a subscription model for each publication? Is it an all-you-can eat monthly price model based on a basket of pre-selected publications?

I don’t know, and frankly, it appears neither does Apple. And neither do the gatekeepers in the world of old media.

Also, no one in Canada is talking yet about bandwidth charges and packages for this gizmo, and how that will smack your wallet.

The good stuff? Great graphics, touch-screen controls, web-capable, and 10-hour battery life.

The bad? Not compatible with Flash animation, meaning a lot of web content you are used to seeing won’t be viewable. Plus, it doesn’t multi-task – it can run only one application at a time, so you’d have to close and re-open things (unlike a laptop.) It also doesn’t have a front facing camera, which is bad for video conferencing which is getting bigger.

It seems certain that the device will drive up revenue for Apple just as iPod sales starting to show signs of flattening.

But I won’t be an early adopter.

The legion of iDiots can be the beta market and I’ll happily lay in the weeds, no doubt using the $500US to buy two Easton Synergy s17 hockey sticks or pay for 83 skate sharpenings.

Or something.

You can read more here on when you can find these things in Canada.

- - -

Mike Danton played his first game for the Saint Mary's Huskies last night. He scored SMU's only goal in a 4-1 loss to Acadia.

Read more here.

- - -

The Leafs are off tonight and so are we.

The weekend promises to be busy as Chris has a tournament up near Barrie and his brother has a pair of midget games and has been put on notice he may be called up for a junior game Friday night.

We’re trying to get our heads around the logistics, but it’s a good problem to have.

Jan 27, 2010

Faced with the prospect of two (2) consecutive weeknights without a hockey commitment last evening, some difficult propositions were considered.

We could stay home on an increasingly cold evening, light a fire and watch the Leafs lose.

Or, we could do something – anything – else.

We considered heading out en masse to see the film Avatar, but by the time I got home from work the 8:15p show would have been the only option and 11p seemed a little late for Chris to be exiting a movie on a weeknight.

So, Laura and I went out to dinner sans les enfants.

Going out to dinner – with each other, I mean – is something that gets talked about, gets put in the “good idea” file, and inevitably doesn’t happen.

She has her book club outings and I have business dinners, and then there’s hockey.

So when we get a free night we tend to stay at home, hang out in the kitchen and family room . . . and I think many of you know how that feels.

We went to a cool Italian place last night and had a nice meal and were still home by about 9p, which represents high adventure for a school night, in our world anyway.

Still, it was a nice break in the January Blahs.

- - -

Older son has exams this week but – presto! – he’s already done.

So he’s off for the rest of the week, and I think Monday is a PD day for the teachers – so Pad is sleeping late and spending his afternoons bending irons bars or whatever it is he does at BTNL.

Chris – who does not have exams and does not have the remainder of the week off – shuffles around the house muttering adjectives to describe his brother.

Chris will, however, get a mid-winter break starting Friday. He misses most of a school day because of a hockey tournament near Barrie, and then has the PD day on Monday, and next Wednesday is his school ski day.

Life’s hard.

- - -

Actually, life is hard if you have to dress up in blue and white for a living.

While I was enjoying the company of my bride over a glass of merlot last night, Ron Wilson was watching the SS Maple Leaf continue to founder on the shoals of the NHL.

A 5-3 loss for the good guys at home to the Kings, with an empty netter that we actually made it home in time to see.

Nothing much more to say.

Read more here.

- - -

Hockey Canada is convening a summit conference to discuss headshots in hockey. Good idea, too bad it wasn’t undertaken a little more proactively, but better late than never.

To its credit, Hockey Canada and the OHF last summer instructed officials to crack down on head hits by enforcing the rules that are already on the books.

As a parent, I’d rate the effectiveness of that as so-so at best, and egregiously inconsistent and ineffective at worst.

I’ve seen two penalties called for head hits in house league games this year – both against my own kid’s team. One was the proper call and the proper penalty was applied, the other was not only the wrong call (which I can live with, mistakes happen) but also resulted in the wrong penalty being applied against the player (which is inexcusable when there are two officials on the ice to sort things out and a kid misses the rest of a game because of it.)

Have I seen other house league head hits go uncalled? Yes. Many.

At AAA midget, I’d guess I’ve seen maybe six or eight such calls this year, and I have no argument with any of them. But again, there are many, many more that go uncalled and just as in house league, I’ve seen kids hurt from deliberate head contact with no call made.

So sure. Have a summit. Knock yourselves out (no pun intended).

But calling penalties after the fact isn’t going to stop kids from getting hurt. You have to change the behaviour that makes it happen in the first place.

There’s a reason why hitting from behind is considered a cardinal sin in hockey now – it’s because the penalty is severe. A hit from behind that warrants a minor penalty gets you tossed from the game, plus a one-game suspension. A hit from behind that warrants a five-minute major gets you tossed plus a three-game suspension.

Head contact? Two minutes plus a 10-minute misconduct.

The kids would rather play than sit. When you take away the only thing that matters – ice time – then, and only then, do you have a chance to get through to them.

I’d suggest making the penalties for checking from behind and head contact the same, and I’d suggest making them more severe. Two games for a minor, five for a major. Double them for a second offence. Third time, you’re out for the season and have to appear before an independent disciplinary committee before playing in the next season.

Any major penalty for either also gets the head coach suspended for the same number of games – because coaches have to be responsible for the conduct of their players, and coaches are the ones responsible for teaching players to hit properly.

If all that happened (and make no mistake, it won’t), are there any bets on how fast there would be behavioural change?

You can read more on the planned summit here.

- - -

Speaking of kids hitting each other, the 2^nd of four Oakville Minor Lacrosse Association registration events takes place tonight at the Pine Room at Oakville Arena, 6:30p to 9p.

The first session was on the weekend and there was a good turnout. Waiting lists are expected for some house league age groups, so get out and sign up your kids.

Two great developments this year – midget house league lacrosse has been reinstated as numbers warrant that division. I understand there will be a zero-tolerance policy on fighting in midget. Drop the gloves once and you are gone and you forfeit your registration.

Secondly, the association is introducing women’s field lacrosse for U11 ad U15 teams.

This is a very big deal and speaks volumes about the growth in the sport and the strength the association has in the community.

A lot of good people have worked tirelessly to get lacrosse on the solid foundation it enjoys in Oakville. As a parent I’m grateful for all their efforts.

And just FYI for parents who think lacrosse is rough. Over many years as a coach, trainer and parent in both sports, I’ve seen far more injuries in hockey than lacrosse. In fact, in my experience it’s not even close.

Click here for more details on registration and the association.

Jan 26, 2010

Patrice Cormier was banished Monday from junior hockey for the rest of this season, including playoffs. I don’t honestly think there was ever much doubt about the penalty in this case.

Much more important is what, if anything, will be learned in changing the way players compete at every level of the game.

In major junior hockey, the stakes are very high for young men like Cormier. Millions of dollars are on the line for the elite few who can expect to contend for jobs in the NHL, and young Cormier is one of them.

They play very hard. They push the envelope of what the rules allow. Sometimes, they make mistakes.

From where I sit, the issue of head shots needs top-down leadership from the NHL. If there’s a clear and consistently enforced zero-tolerance policy at the top, the other leagues will fall into line.

The bad news is that I think there’s about as much chance of that happening as there is of me winning a lottery this weekend.

There’s still way too much old-guard thinking preventing the NHL from acting to fix this problem – and it is a problem.

Read more here.

- - -

Last night I was settled into the big chair in the family room, watching TV with Chris. I was home early for a change, and there was no rink or hockey appointment to be met.

The news came on, with the voice carrying grim words about the carnage on Toronto’s streets this month (14 pedestrians killed in 14 days).

And Chris looked at me and said “why is there never any happy news on TV?”

Are you talking to me?

Um, great question, and one that has vexed better minds than mine in the news biz for generations.

In fairness to TV and newspapers, I think most of them go way out of their way to find good-news stories to tell about their communities. Kids raising money for Haiti. Or a success story in community housing like Habitat for Humanity. Or stories on any number of worthy causes like the Terry Fox run, to cite an obvious example.

And to be honest, sometimes they overreach and the stories fail to make any positive impact other than to make you turn to the person next to you and say “they think this is news?”

For the most part, stories of conflict are the ones that “sell.”

Natural disasters. Political unrest. Murder. Mayhem. Crime sprees. All are legitimate news. Don’t get me started about “celebrity” news coverage. I don’t care about Brangelina or LiLo or any of that mindless stuff – but millions apparently do.

Anyway, it’s an intangible feel -- news judgment -- that makes someone decide whether a story is Page 1 or top of the newscast – is this the story that people will be talking about tomorrow? Does it matter to their lives? Is it relevant? Is it interesting?

Sometimes, it’s obvious. Like Haiti.

Sometimes, it’s not – like Parliament being prorogued. On that one, I can’t help but feel that as much outrage as there is in editorial pages on the issue, Canadians simply don’t terribly care much. They are smart and they will draw their own conclusions about what it says about the leaders of various parties and conduct themselves accordingly at the polls. But overall, isn’t this weekend Hockey Day in Canada?

Anyway, I found it interesting that a bright 13-year-old would express exasperation at the landslide of bad news on TV – bearing in mind that he’d never stick around long enough to see the good-news soft features that inevitably follow.

Such is the nature of the business.

I read the news today, oh boy . . .

- - -

Gordon Lightfoot is one of the great Canadian songwriters ever. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who would say they don’t like any of his music. His words and songs often reflect a vision of Canada back at us, often warts and all. Well past his performing and creative prime, he still casts a long shadow in the music industry.

Reflect on this verse from “Did She Mention My Name” – a Lightfoot classic probably well down the list of his all-time best, but one I point out because it came on the radio the other day when Chris and I were driving home:

Is the landlord still a loser, do his signs hang in the hall

Are the young girls still as pretty in the city in the fall

Does the laughter on their faces still put the sun to shame

And by the way, did she mention my name?

There are lyrics, and then there are lyrics. And these ones are – well, lyrical. There are reasons why some guys write a blog and ride a GO Train, and other guys are considered troubadours and live in a mansion in Forest Hill.

I sang along with the song, imploring Chris to actually listen to the words. I’m not sure why, but I’d forgotten what a great, bouncy song it is. And in a town, in a province, in a country, where so many of us live somewhere other than the place we consider home, the song holds up well.

And you know what? Chris liked the song too. And I could tell he did because as soon as it was over, he asked me if I thought Arlo Guthrie’s classic Alice’s Restaurant is available on iTunes.

You’re thinking, “huh?”

That, friends, is a pretty heady question from the xBox generation and proof positive that someone is listening to me, some of the time.

Some time ago, Chris and I were again alone in the car, going to or from some rink I’m sure. And the Vietnma War-protest song Alice’s Restaurant came on in all its goofy glory and I turned up the radio and told Chris he had to listen to this story of the Thanksgiving dinner and subsequent garbage pile in a small, over-policed New England town.

And he loved it..

He enjoyed it so much that we sat in the driveway until the song (finally) finished and I thought, well, that’s that.

But obviously it stayed with him and even among the databytes of PS3 and iPods and whatnot, his young mind connected the storytelling of Guthrie and Lightfoot, and thus posed the question about downloading Alice’s Restaurant, which I told him to do and I’d happily pay the freight.

Cool kid, my boy Chris.

- - -

Indifferent. Pokey, even.

Yes, a reader actually wrote me and called my faltering dedication to the blog as “pokey.”

Does that make me Gumby?

Anyway, I warned you all a week ago that I wouldn’t be here yesterday. And if you care enough to complain, then you should care enough to mark your calendar.

As a peace offering, I will show you the MOHA midget white standings, rather immodestly being billed as the greatest division in the history of minor hockey.

Or something like that.

Six teams, four of them tied improbably for first place, and the others only two and four points back. With three games to play before playoffs, anything could happen.

Someone did a great job here.

See ya’ tomorrow.

Jan 22, 2010

Um yeah. Sorry.

It's not you, it's me.

Really.

I'll be back soon. Maybe Sunday.

In the meantime enjoy the weekend. Drive safely. Have some fun.

Hug the kids.

Jan 20, 2010

Late last week my Blackberry bit the dust. The trackball had gone wonky months ago but I was occasionally able to make it work and besides, how often do you really need to scroll to the left anyway?

But late Thursday the old unit refused to be fed anymore – it wouldn’t charge and that was the final straw.

As you can imagine this set of a chain reaction of physical symptoms -- cold sweats, constant reaching for an empty BB holster on my belt, actual uninterrupted conversations with family members and friends.

It was weird and unsettling and obviously had to be corrected.

After a quick scramble I received a new Blackberry the next day and aside from losing all the bookmarks on my mobile browser, life continued – only faster, as the new BB is, as they say, 3G, which means it runs on the fastest Bell network. (It also has a wifi option which means wherever I can connect to wifi – instead of Bell’s network – I can do so without incurring Bell data charges. So at home, it automatically cuts over to our wireless network, when I'm on the BB and ignoring loved ones, which is cool.

The keyboard is a little smaller, which is no small challenge for the thick-thumbed types like me, but I’m coping.

The old BB would quietly charge off a USB cable from my computer while I worked.

The new one will do the same except that the port to plug the USB cable into the BB is not the former “mini” USB plug, but instead the allegedly more efficient “micro” USB.

The thing came with one such cable, but I like to carry one in my briefcase too – so that I have one in the office, and one on the road (I can connect to the internet using the BB as a modem when I am on the train, or anywhere for that matter) and thus I don’t have to remember to bring one with me.

I went to the Bell store at lunch yesterday to pick up a second cable. They wanted $30 for a one-metre cord. I just about fell over.

When I verbally expressed my surprise at that price (in front of about six other customers) the two guys in the store looked at each other and shrugged and said “that’s the Bell price.”

I said, well, I don’t think I want one then. At least, not at the Bell price.

I then went to one of the store’s internet kiosks, brought up the Future Shop site and showed them the same cable for $19 (which is still too much, but anyway . . .)

Sheesh.

- - -

The Globe today captures with startling brevity the essence of Leafs’ fan frustration.

"You can only say bad so many ways."

Perhaps that line was delivered by the sports editor, pushing his Leaf beat writers to more poetic turns of phrase to describe our heroes. But perhaps they replied, showing their well-used thesauruses as evidence:

You can only say bad so many ways.

The words were inspired by the team’s loss in Atlanta last night in front of almost no spectators at all.

Read it here.

- - -

It is getting to be such that unless you have a good lawyer you may want to reconsider participating in hockey. Sometimes the sports pages look like the police blotter.

A GTHL player’s family is suing over a hit from behind. Click here.

Police are investigating Patrice Cormier’s head shot in the QMJHL last weekend. Click here. And there was the OHL incident last Thursday. And the Fanelli thing at the end of October.

One columnist even raises the prospect of perhaps making teams – including the coaches and general managers – liable for the actions of their players. Read that here.

One shudders.

I honestly don’t know what the answer is.

Clearly laying liability at the feet of each team sounds great but will lead to higher insurance and registration fees, one might reasonably guess.

It might also push some teams or even leagues out of business.

And if the liability extends to coaches and managers and other roster or organization officials, well, good luck finding volunteers.

Maybe if referees would consistently enforce the rules that exist now, it would help.

Maybe if associations educated players on the proper way to hit, it would help.

Every time one of these incidents happens, everyone stands around and frets and says that unless something is done, someone is going to get hurt – or worse.

Well, people are being hurt.

So, get on with it.

- - -

Wednesday is known as hump day. In our case, and for our kid, it feels like a mountain.

All we have to do is get him to the rink. He has to skate for three and half hours, with a break in between thankfully.

I’m sure he looks forward to Wednesdays. Me and his mom? Less.

I won't be home in time for Letterman's monologue.

Jan 19, 2010

The newspapers all said that yesterday was, statistically, the most depressing day of the year. All the holiday bills have come in, the New Year resolutions have been fractured, it’s dark and cold when you leave for work and dark and cold when you come home. And you sprint home as fast as you can to sprint out the door as fast as you can and your evening is spent in a cold arena from 7:15p to almost 10p, with no dinner.

Generally, I don’t mind the time in the rink, but in retrospect I might have opted for something more than an extra large Tim’s hot chocolate for dinner. It was just one of those days in a long string of such days.

No argument from me on the day’s label.

Oakville needs a snow day (but not for a couple of weeks. Too busy at work.)

- - -

Because the Leafs didn’t start until 8p in Nashville last night I got him barely in time to see them finishing losing the three-goal lead and then inexplicably manage to win with Kessel finally getting the monkey off his back.

Yay Leafs.

Read more here.

- - -

The Frank Sabatino Tournament wrapped up on the weekend and was, by all accounts, a great success. Congrats to all the kids and the volunteers for putting on a great venue for the kids.

Sounds like it was fun.

- - -

I have a friend in Ottawa who is one of the wittiest, smartest guys you’d ever want to meet. And he’s fond of occasionally spitting out his rules for life, which aren’t so much rules as they are things that occur to him that seem self evident.

One that has always stuck with me is his “no sweat pants outside the house” rule.

As a fashion statement, it’s hard to argue with him on this and I’ll take the step of adding pyjama bottoms and nylon track pants to the list, too.

Exceptions? Sure. If you’re young enough to wear pyjamas with the feet in them, then it’s OK to wear them to Loblaws with mom.

If you are heading to or from a rink or other sporting venue as a coach or player? Track pants are fine, and thanks for volunteering.

If you are actually intending to run or exercise and are en route to, or returning from this activity? Track pants and sweats are OK.

Otherwise?

Well, according to my friend’s rules for life, otherwise you may be a loser and you might want to consider shopping for a home on wheels and a rifle rack for your truck.

“Sweat pants worn outside of the house are generally a sign that you’ve given up on life,” he once told me, watching in despair as some guy scrambled out of a vehicle into a Mac’s Milk.

“Honestly. Put on some pants.”

The Sartorial Police Division of Teamoakville generally agrees with my friend, recognizing that there will be exceptions occasionally to any rule.

But with all that in mind, we bring you the stars of stage and screen paddling about their lives in public in <sigh> sweat pants.

And nope. I don’t think they look good.

Click here for the photo gallery.

- - -

Head hits and junior hockey are back in the news after a particularly scary pair of incidents.

Windsor Spitfire player Zack Kassian was suspended indefinitely by the OHL for a head hit on Barrie’s Matt Kennedy last Thursday night.

And on the weekend, OMJHL star Patrice Cormier of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies was suspended indefinitely for a devastating hit on Quebec’s Mikael Tam that left Tam convulsing on the ice and hospitalized.

Regular readers know where I stand on head hits – and not just the ones in pro and major junior hockey, either. Minor hockey officials are too slow to make the right call on head contact even in house league and more needs to be done to correct the epidemic of head contact.

Read more here.

- - -

File this one under “I Beg to Differ.”

A report in London’s Daily Telegraph says a new study suggests that having kids will actually lower your blood pressure.

Hmmm.

I’d like to see the math on that one. Then again, maybe not.

In the meantime, read more here.

- - -

I managed to not blog again on Monday, so I’m starting to feel a little like Johnny Carson, who famously didn’t work Mondays.

I do work Mondays, I just don’t always do this (and next Monday is looking doubtful already.)

Anyway, for the loyal readership at various school boards across the GTA who, for some reason, are usually the first to mock and complain when I don’t show up – I was busy.

Sorry.

But here’s hoping we all get that snow day sooner than later.

See ya at the rink.

Jan 15, 2010

So, a week ago the Leafs get kicked around by the Flyers and lose 6-2.

And last night they beat the Flyers 4-0, with a goal called back on top of that.

I dunno.

The hockey coach in me thinks that Ron Wilson can be excused for wanting to push his own head through the drywall.

The Leaf fan in me is mildly amused that they won a game.

You can read all about it, here.

- - -

Every company – and every association, for that matter – has a culture. Is it acceptable to play ping pong in the boardroom? Is it acceptable to never wear a tie, except for really important meetings where you know the other guys will be wearing ties?

Does the culture of the workplace reflect the behaviour and values of the leadership, or is it the other way around?

I worked in a place once where one of the owners routinely brought a German shepherd to work. The rest of us were not encouraged to bring police dogs or any other pets.

I’ve also worked in places where I’ve seen the most senior people in the company running out to pick up pizza and cokes in the middle of crisis because it was the best way, at that moment, to support the people dealing with the problem.

There’s no right answer beyond saying that probably a workplace should function in a way that is successful for the corporation and its community while creating challenging and productive careers in a positive working atmosphere where people are given equal opportunity to succeed in ways commensurate with their skills and record of performance. (If Jay Leono shows up and wants your job, however, all bets are off.)

(I just made that up, so don’t yell at me if I’ve missed some nuance of political correctness.)

Anyway, there was an interesting piece in last Sunday’s New York Times about workplace culture – an interview with a guy who made a gazillion dollars selling a company he created to Microsoft. He sold it because he lost control of the culture and he hated working there – and it was his company.

If you manage people, you might find it interesting too.

Click here.

- - -

The Frank Sabatino Memorial Tournament, one of the most fun house league hockey experiences you’re likely to find, starts today at rinks all over town.

Approximately 40 red-level atom and peewee house league teams from Windsor to Ottawa and all points in between will be hitting Oakville for this one. Congratulations to the army of volunteers for pulling it together and good luck to them and the kids over the next three days.

This event incorporates skills competitions and other fun things that (in my experience) are typically found only at higher-end rep tournaments. To say the players (and parents) get excited and have fun is an understatement.

Safe travels to all the visitors and again, good luck to all.

You can find the tournament schedule here.

- - -

Every year at this time when I mention the FSMT, I get email from parents whose kids play house league white and blue. And the question is as inevitable as a May golf tournament for the Maple Leafs: Why is there nothing like this in Oakville for our kids?

I know from where they speak.

Allowing that it takes a lot (really, really a lot) of volunteer horsepower and a lot of ice time to host a tournament like this, I do hope someday the excitement and experience of this event can be replicated for the MOHA white and blue house league teams from our town.

Finding appropriate tournaments for these white- and blue-level kids, where they can be competitive in non-contact divisions is a challenge I know from experience.

Perhaps the opening of the new four-pad rink later this year north of Dundas will open up enough ice that an event like that could at least be considered for some time down the road.

- - -

If someone can teach me and my older kid to play poker by Sunday, I’d appreciate it.

The junior team he skates with is having a fundraiser and even though he’s not on the regular roster, his appearance is mandatory (as is mine as his driver.)

I’m told that his role may be to act as a dealer.

I’m afraid to think what mine could end up being.

How someone who does what I do for a living could reach my stage of life without knowing how to play poker is a matter for another day.

But I think it has something to do with time spent in rinks.

Suggestions on learning fast are welcomed.

- - -

I just want to say that there are lots of guys who have spent many more hours in the good cause of minor hockey than me (and some of them have blogs too.)

I think I’ve done my share and then some, but if you want to see the folks who really pile on the time, go check out the Sabatino tournament, to cite one example.

Anyway, in all my years and hours around hockey and rinks, as a coach my single biggest worry, by a long shot, was messing up the schedule and telling the kids to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Since 1997 – which is how long I’ve been doing this, every year – it has happened exactly once. A mistake was made interpreting the complex algorithms of the MOHA practice spreadsheets and my guys were an hour later than they should have been for a practice, way back in novice. Every time I think of it, my stomach still turns. (There was another time when MOHA scheduled my team for a Jan 1 practice and the rink was closed. But that one wasn’t my doing.)

This week, a new low.

Chris missed a team practice this week because of parental incompetence. It wasn’t that we went to the wrong place at the wrong time.

We.

Just.

Didn’t.

Go.

I really, really hate it when I do that. Yes, work is busy and yes, there’s always tumult in our house. But really.

(I’m saying “I” and not “we” because after more than two blissful decades with my astonishing bride I’ve learned some things, and one of them is that tossing her under the bus with me on something like this, on the cusp of an otherwise great weekend is a really bad idea.)

Hockey is a shared responsibility but blame is a man’s burden.

My bad.

- - -

I will spend the weekend atoning for this sin by attending games, practices and a poker thingy with large, loud young men possessed of the strength and life skills to kill me if they so desire. I hope all they do is take my money.

I hope you are able to get where you’re trying to go on time, safely, and that when you get there it’s the right place.

If you remember to take your kid with you, give them a hug.

Have a great weekend.

Jan 14, 2010

A long, late evening of practices last night so a quick post this morning – my commute being better used for staring into the dark than typing.

The Mike Danton-as-college-freshman athlete story isn’t going away.

Today, a former Mount Allison University athletic director assails the move, noting that only in university hockey are the rosters dominated by men not recently out of high school. A typical CIS roster, according to him, ranges in age from 22 to 26, which some same challenges the purpose of college sport.

This gentleman would prefer to see rules in place that make it a requirement for university team rosters to more closely mirror the school’s student profile, which is typically students from ages 18 to 23.

I think the other part of the issue with Danton (aside from his conspiracy to murder conviction) is that he is a former NHLer, and some feel that should disqualify him from playing university hockey (and I agree with that.)

Anyway, more on all of it here.

On the other side of the ledger, many Atlantic university coaches said yesterday they had no issue with Danton playing. This story casts some interesting perspective on it all.

- - -

NHL referee Stephane Auger will not be disciplined by the NHL for what Alex Burrows alleged the ref said and did in a recent game.

At the same time, one can’t help but think the echo from this one is going to bounce through NHL arenas for a long time.

The Globe has an interesting story with the view of former NHL ref Paul Stewart’s view on the fuss – which basically boils down to: what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Stewart says run in among refs and players are as old as the game, but they are almost always sorted out on the ice among the participants, and Burrows going public was a breach of that protocol, or jungle law, or whatever you want to call it.

Anyway, it’s an interesting inside-the-striped shirt view of the mess.

Read it here.

- - -

I have been watching with some fascination the extraordinary spectacle of Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien and NBC. If you are not a fan of late-night TV silliness, then you probably don’t care.

I am, and I find it wildly entertaining.

That Conan O’Brien – who is having Johnny Carson’s time slot ripped out from under him – can go on TV every night and mock his NBC employers is making for some of the best late-night monologues in history, and not just on NBC.

David Letterman is all over this, Jimmy Kimmel did his entire show the other night dressed up as Leno, etc etc.

It’s quite a train wreck, really.

Read more here.

- - -

I ran into a minor bantam house league coach on the train last night. We exchanged tournament stories from the holidays and I asked how his team was faring.

Not so great, was his reply.

He sighed.

At this age, he said, it’s hard to talk the kids.

I think the coach was close, but slightly off the mark.

At this age, it’s sometimes hard to get the kids to listen (unlike Timbits, where the enthusiasm for literal execution of a coach's instruction creates its own special challenges).

We agreed it’s still fun to go to the rink.

And then I left for the rink.

- - -

Spare a thought in your day for the people of Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere devastated to an unimaginable level by this week’s earthquake.

For all my complaining about the likes of GO transit, I don’t have much to complain about after all.

There’s lots of information around on helping out with even a small donation.

Give it some thought.

Read more here.

Jan 13, 2010

Maybe I’m wrong (it happens all the time.)

But I think Mike Danton, 29-year-old former NHL player and convicted felon, getting clearance to play hockey for Saint Mary’s University is Grade A stupid.

I’ve never met Danton, who pleaded guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in 2004. And I’m all for giving guys a second chance.

But.

Who thinks putting a 29-year-old on the ice in university hockey is a good idea – except maybe the Huskies, back in my home port of Halifax?

I just think this is dumb. Maybe you’ve picked up on that.

As my friend Roy says in his column today, a little common sense might be the best solution.

Click here.

Others may or may not recall that Danton is no stranger to Halifax, where he skated with the Barrie Colts in the Memorial Cup in 2000, when he was known as Mike Jefferson. That Colts team was renowned for bad behaviour to such an extent that it was fined $5000 by the CHL for the boorish way it conducted itself (and Jefferson/Danton was a part of it) during the national anthem of their opening game in the Memorial Cup that year (they, lost, BTW.)

Jefferson/Danton was also the guy who, at the same tournament, said that Brad Richards (later a Stanley Cup winner and Stanley Cup MVP) wouldn’t last five games in the NHL. Click here for some more on all that.

OK, so maybe Danton won’t be a great scout later life.

Go to university? By all means. Great idea. Right now, there's nothing in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport rules that would prevent Danton from playing. He is awaiting clearance from Corrections Canada.

Play hockey at university against kids a decade or more younger?

Dumb.

- - -

Alex Burrows is a hockey player with the Vancouver Canucks.

Stéphane Auger is an NHL referee.

Burrows has basically triggered a s**tshtorm of massive proportion by alleging that Auger told him before a game Monday against Nashville that he was going to make him pay the price for making the ref look bad by “overselling” a penalty in a pervious game and faking an injury.

In the game Monday that Burrows is complaining about, Burrows was assessed two penalties – one at a critical point in the third period which led to a Nashville 5-on-3 advantage on which they scored the game winning goal. Burrows was also assessed a 10-minute misconduct with seconds left for verbally unloading on Auger.

After the game, Burrows – emotional and angry – told the media his side of the story. And there is enough detail in his version, not to mention video of Auger talking to Burrows before the game, to lend very serious credence to the story.

The NHL slapped Burrows with a $2500 fine for his remarks, which is akin to me or you being asked for a twoonie.

Auger, on the other hand, is now in a very uncomfortable spot and regardless of what he or others may think, he’s got some explaining to do.

People with far more intimate knowledge of the way officiating works in the NHL – read this piece at TSN for a flavour of that – will tell you that officials aren’t supposed to settle scores at the rink. But they do, and everyone knows it.

The question now apparently is whether Auger – if he actually did anything – crossed a line. Or, whether Burrows is a whiner and is getting what he deserves.

I don’t know.

But the amount of attention it’s getting suggests the old “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” routine.

Read more here.

- - -

For the record, GO Transit is not the only government-owned agency that has trouble commanding my respect.

This week, the good folks at Oakville Hydro – which is owned by the town, although I dare you to find any reference to such accountability on their web site – disconnected the power at our house for a few minutes while they changed meters.

No problem, right? Maintenance has to be done, etc etc.

Wrong.

There was no advance warning of the work, they didn’t bother to ring the door bell to say they were about to the pull the plug, and as a result a lot of open documents, etc, that Laura was working on – she works from home – were gassed, sent into the great ether, never to be seen again.

She got off easy.

Another guy on our street was in the middle of a web-based meeting when Oakville Hydro made his morning go zap, and, triggered his alarm system at the same time.

Lovely.

We have contacted them to ask why they think this is a good way to treat customers.

More later as they respond. (Or don’t, which will send me to plan B.)

- - -

I’m a week early, but good luck to the Oakville Ranger minor bantam A team who will compete in the International Silver Stick finals in Newmarket Jan 14-17.

This Ranger team is enjoying a banner season and advanced after winning the regional Silver Stick qualifier in Woodstock.

We have lots of friends among the 1996 cohort. Good luck Rangers!

- - -

At the other end of the scale, the Leaf season continues with all the spark, intensity and fun of the Donner Expedition.

Meanwhile, Boston watches with interest as Taylor Hall’s chances of becoming a Bruin get better with every game.

The Leafs’ record right now is actually worse than it was at this point last year.

Jan 12, 2010

The revelation yesterday that Mark McGwire used steroids while breaking the single-season home run record back in 1998 is surely the most shocking news to hit the sports pages since we discovered that Tiger Woods likes girls.

I have no strong feelings about McGwire one way or the other, beyond the obvious that he knew what he was doing was wrong and he did it anyway, which the case in almost every instance of malfeasance in the history of the human race.

He claims he took steroids to help heal more quickly from injuries, not to increase his strength. Hmm.

And I guess that his physique took on cartoonish proportion was just a side effect of all that good health.

Another side effect was that he got very, very rich, and BTW, you paid for that part.

Well done Mark. American Hero.

Read more here.

- - -

As part of a continuing series, I could author 500 words here on my commute home last night. Suffice to say that a switch failure somewhere around Clarkson had the GO trains, VIA and the odd freight train figuratively stacked up like pancakes.

I left Union station around 6p and wandered through the door around 8p, so it was something of an ordeal.

The good news in this circumstance was that I was on a warm train, not freezing on a platform. And I spent most of the time watching a movie on my laptop – something I normally wouldn’t bother doing on a commute but I was a little concerned I might be on the train for a long time so I figured it would kill the time.

As usual, GO Transit apologizes for the inconvenience.

- - -

Mike Liambis – ‘member him?

The former junior hockey player and member of the Erie Otters was suspended from the OHL forever for his hit on Oakville native Ben Fanelli of the Kitchener Rangers last fall.

Liambis surfaced a few weeks later in the IHL as a member of Bloomington, IL, Prairie Thunder.

Last week, Liambis received his first suspension as a pro, getting tossed for five games for a hit from behind in a Dec 29 game. Although there was no penalty on the play, the player that Liambis hit suffered a ruptured spleen and spent four days in hospital.

Read more here.

- - -

Speaking of Fanelli, he’s back in Kitchener living with his billet, attending school and doing light workouts. He’s not skating yet, but he hopes to be by the end of the month.

Fanelli’s recovery has been remarkable and it’s great news to hear he’s doing so well.

Read more here.

- - -

Sorry for not being here yesterday but I was busy being long winded and boring on other fronts.

I feel a little like I’m caught with some sort of seasonal blogging disorder, so until things get more interesting I may – may – not be a daily correspondent in this space.

I mean, there are only so many ways to say “I stood in a rink and got cold” and I’m feeling like I’ve exhausted many of them.

The Olympics are just around the corner, the Leafs are still not going to make the playoffs, and my boys’ teams continue to play, so I’m sure something interesting will happen sooner or later. When it does, I’ll let you know.

PS – and this is really for the benefit of my sons who were too lazy or disinterested to fill out that hockey pool form back in September – I’ve now moved into third place in the Peewee Ranger pool. I’ll be running the Leafs any day now (and honestly, what would they have to lose?)

Later.

Jan 8, 2010

Leaf coach Ron Wilson teed off on the team, its best player, the media, and anyone else within shouting distance on Thursday.

Yeah, I get it.

Everyone gets frustrated when things go poorly and the Leafs suck, in spite of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Burke assuring the faithful that this team could contend for a playoff spot.

My guess?

The simple fact – laid bare in Philly two nights ago – is that this team is bad.

It will be an embarrassment of epochal proportion if the Leafs finish in the bottom five and Boston manages to get the first overall draft pick, courtesy of that trade the Leafs made for Kessel.

Burke is under huge, enormous pressure to avoid that, let alone the playoffs. That, right now, is the priority for the Leafs – do not, under any circumstances, allow Boston into the lottery for the top pick.

If Taylor Hall becomes a Bruin, Burke will never live it down, even if he manages to build a Cup winner. It will become a resume point forever.

And that, friends, is why Coach Wilson feels like his head is in a vice and acts accordingly. If someone is chewing on your ass, then you’re going to chew on someone else’s. In theory, that should mean the Leafs will chew on Buffalo tonight, but don’t count on it.

Further, friends, that is also why Kessel – caught in a slump right now -- is a lightning rod for what’s wrong with the team. He’s the source of the pressure on Burke. Burke is the source of the pressure on Wilson. Wilson is the source of the pressure on Kessel.

Repeat cycle until amused, or, pull wings off flies.

It must be a party atmosphere in the Leaf room right now.

Read more here.

- - -

The hand wringing in the wake of the loss to the US in the World Junior final is subsiding.

Good thing, as perspective is everything.

There is – in my mind at least – no question that the better team won. But people! Breathe deeply.

First of all, it was just a hockey game with teenagers. Save the heart medication for Vancouver.

Second, this was not a genuine test of our best teen players versus their best teen players.

As loyal hockey fans and people who relentlessly prowl the Internet when you should be working, some of these names may be familiar to you:

Tavares? Stamkos? Evander Kane? Tyler Myers? Michael Del Zotto? Matt Duchene? Ryan O’Reilly? James Wright?

These guys were all eligible for the World juniors, but are otherwise busy becoming millionaires in the NHL.

If you put Canada’s 22 best teenagers against anyone’s, it’s not even close.

If you put Canada’s 22 best non-NHL teenagers against anyone’s? It makes for a great tournament.

Good on the US for their win.

But, don’t panic.

- - -

An interesting read in the Globe today on the state of Canadian university hockey and why so many high-end midget and junior players in Canada don’t even consider trying to stay at home and fight for the university glory of the Toronto Varsity Blue or the SMU Huskies or Alberta Golden Bears.

One word: scholarship money. (OK, that’s two words. It’s Friday.)

Read more here.

- - -

I will actually be attending both my kids’ games this weekend, owing to a fortuitous window in the schedule.

So, I will be happily in the stands at Glen Abbey Blue on Saturday afternoon, bare-chested (as is my custom) with my face and torso painted teal (as if anyone has that much teal body paint) and adorned with Jet logos and slogans.

Well, maybe not.

But I will be there and open for the usual ridicule people throw my way at such events.

I’m looking forward to it.

Otherwise the weekend holds the usual array of to and fro, as I’m sure it does for you.

The roads are greasy. If you’re on the streets or heading out of town for a tournament, take care.

Have fun. Embrace winter because it’s here for a while.

Hug the kids.

Jan 7, 2009

I don’t have much for you today, so get back to work.

The Leafs got thrashed by the Flyers last night, which given the dismal state of hockey in Philly is about as much commentary as you really need on the state of things blue and white.

In fact the entire Eastern Conference is something of train wreck this year. Beyond the top five teams – New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston and Buffalo, there’s little to get excited about, unless you’re running the Leafs and hoping that the fact that a .500 record is good enough for 8^th right might mean you could still slide into the playoffs.

Don’t count on it.

You can find more on the Leaf game here.

- - -

For the record, I was wrong last night when I said we had two practices.

We had three.

Pad had one workout with one team at 5:15p, Chris had a practice at 5p, and Pad had another at 9p (with dryland at 8p.)

Laura did drop off for both boys for the early sessions, and given that one of them was at Iceland in Mississauga she got to fight the rush hour traffic on the drive home.

I went right from the GO station to the rink where I watched the end of Pad’s first practice and then took him for a bite to eat before dropping him off at Rink 2 for the second part of the night.

I went home and changed and then went back to the rink to enjoy the spectacle of a two-hour practice.

When we got home Letterman was already on and 6:15a came way too early today.

And tonight, another two-hour practice for the elder son.

- - -

There was much conversation last night among dads about the junior final.

The synopsis of all that?

It was the coach’s fault. If he had pulled the struggling Canadian goalie in the first period, when his shakiness was evident, the game may – may – have ended differently.

But, that’s life.

- - -

All that talk of goalies led to a discussion of another era when – as kids – we were able to name every player on every team. Pre-1968 or the post-expansion 12-team loop. Most of the evening was passed with dads tossing out names of goaltenders from that era, to the point that it was as if we all suffered from an odd form of Turret’s Syndrome.

The first ones were easy.

Crozier. Worsley. Bower. Giacomen. Cheevers. Hall.

Things got gradually more obscure as the flow drills continued on the ice below us.

Next week: Off-wing forwards (right hand shots that played left wing, left hand shots that played right.)

Arrive early. You won’t want to miss it.

- - -

As part of its quest to lower the standards of the Baseball Hall of Fame to those of the Hockey Hall of Fame, baseball writers yesterday elected Andre Dawson to the hall, and just missed elected Roberto Alomar.

Neither decision makes sense to me.

In fact, I think having journalists cast ballots to pass judgment on people they covered as part of their jobs is patently absurd.

Perhaps we should have the Parliamentary Press Gallery vote on cabinet appointments or Senate reform?

And don’t even get me started on the hypocritical morality play where sports writers get to decide that what baseball players did off the field, or their personalities, or whatever, plays any role in determining whether their on-field achievements are among the greatest in the game’s history.

Think Pete Rose.

Think Mark Maguire.

Think Barry Bonds in a couple of years.

I know lots of sports writers, many of whom are a lot of fun on road trips or dinner parties. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with them being the arbiters of eternal greatness.

Read more here.

- - -

To end today, an obituary on a guy who had a remarkable run of bad luck many years ago. It will serve you well to consider the week that Tsutoomu Yamaguchi endured beginning Aug 6, 1945, the next time you think you’re having a spell of bad luck.

Mr. Yamaguchi, who died this week at the ripe old age of 93, survived not one, but two atomic bomb attacks from the US forces in Japan, the only such nuclear attacks by man on other humans (so far) in history.

He was in Hiroshima on business on Aug 6 and was severely wounded. He returned to his home, in Nagasaki, the next day and was there on Aug 9 when the second bomb fell.

Sheesh.

You can read his remarkable story here.

Jan 6, 2010

Well, getting to work was a bit of a challenge today as, in the aftermath of Canada’s overtime loss to the USA last night in the gold medal match of the World Junior hockey championship, people streamed en masse to the CN Tower to fling themselves to an early demise.

Fortunately, the prevailing winds pushed the disconsolate Canucks back onto their perches and no one was the worse for wear.

A bit of hyperbole, yes. But expect to hear much worse in the next 48 hours on this loss.

As I said yesterday, it was never a sure thing and the notion that a country with 300 people should be able to find 22 teenagers capable of a good game of hockey has occurred to me more than once.

Also, after winning five years in a row, the pressure to win becomes a black hole and consumes all who enter. You can’t, as the cliché says, win ‘em all.

Read more here.

And finally, a bit of a home-spun wisdom handed to me more than three decades ago when, as a university student ~~playing~~ paying my way through school by writing part-time for a Halifax newspaper, I had the chance to interview Howie Meeker.

Meeker, for the benefit of younger readers, was Don Cherry before Don Cherry. Back when Ward Cornell was the gold standard for the hockey host.

He and Dave Hodge (now of TSN fame) did a weekly frick and frack between periods of Hockey Night in Canada back when HNIC still turned up twice a week, Saturdays and Wednesdays.

And as big as Don Cherry is now, Howie Meeker’s ubiquitous exclamations of “gee whiz!” were just as famous to Canadians, many of whom were living in the early days of cable TV with something like 12 channels, and none completely devoted to sports.

So, for a kid and hockey fan to interview Meeker was akin to staring into the soul of hockey’s deity. The crumbs of wisdom from his plate would feed a hungry nation. Or, at the very least, me.

This was the late 1970s and Canada was still traumatized by the Russians and the experience of the 1972 Summit Series. Seriously, we were.

And to all that – and to all other international pretenders to hockey glory – Meeker said simply “hogwash.”

(A brief aside. I interviewed Meeker in a Halifax hotel. The most vivid recollection I have of that meeting was realizing that whenever Meeker would say “gee whiz” or “holy cow” on HNIC, in real conversation without a TV camera, he used considerably more colourful language. That was very cool. He never once said “gee whiz” to me.)

Meeker told me that Canada’s place atop the world of hockey would be secure for decades. For sure, he said, the USSR and Sweden and Finland and some other European countries produce some fine players who are as good as any anywhere. He said the US would become a bigger source of high end players as time passed (this prediction coming a mere weeks before the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics and the Miracle on Ice.)

His reasoning for Canada’s position at the top was simple.

The USSR, he said, have 25 excellent hockey players who are capable of glory on any given day, as does Canada.

The difference is Canada has another 25 underneath the first group, almost exactly as good. And there are 25 more behind them. And then another 25. And another. And another.

Canada, he said, could ice four or five teams that would be as good, or almost as good, as any other team on the planet on any given day of the week.

No other country, he posited, produces such depth of hockey talent, year in and year out. Sure, other countries will enjoy their moments in the sun and great for them that they do, as it makes us keep our edge.

But, in essence, he said hockey is Canada, and vice versa (well before it became a slogan on a t-shirt).

And history has proven him right.

You can be sure that the Swiss juniors who upset the Russians in the World Junior quarter finals will not return home (those who actually live in Switzerland, that is) to glory and riches.

But I bet Canada’s silver medalists will be feted in every hometown that spat them out from sea to seas to sea. And they will inspire hundreds and thousands of kids to want to wear the Maple Leaf and spend a Christmas away from home some day soon.

There is no shame in the loss. Nature sets forest fires upon rich woodlands for a reason.

Less than a year to next year’s tournament in Buffalo!

- - -

My most grateful moment of the game was that not once, other than during Pepsi commercials, did I hear that stupid, contrived cheer thought up by some MBAs in a boardroom somewhere.

I love some Pepsi products. But don’t tell us how to cheer.

- - -

ESPN is betting that 3D television is the next big thing. I’m not sure that we’re ready for Terrell Owens in our living room, but hey. Bring it on.

3D sports TV. Another reason to never leave the house.

Read more here.

- - -

One of the grand rituals of the “away tournament” – a minor hockey expedition involving food and lodging away from home – is bowling.

Suffice to say that when the history of my coaching/training/convening experience is fully documented and bound in gold leaf and deposited at the Hockey Hall of Fame, the chapter on my bowling excellence will be brief.

I take part to provide comic relief to others, in the way that the Leafs talk about making the playoffs.

Anyway, the New York Times carries a piece on how the recession has revived bowling as a pastime,

Yep. And it’s upscale bowling too, where I suspect unkempt hockey dads in old turtlenecks and frayed Levis would not necessarily be welcome.

Read more here.

- - -

Two practices tonight. One tomorrow night. Another Friday night. As I said to Laura last night, see you Saturday.

Jan 5, 2010

Like most of the rest of the hockey-loving country, I fully expect a significant portion of our household will be sitting in front of a TV tonight watching the Canada-US final of the World junior championships.

We’ll cheer for the home team, but I won’t be at all surprised if the Americans win. They should have won the New Year’s Eve preliminary game and surely they learned a thing or two from that experience.

Maybe the Canadians did, too.

But with any luck, it will be a crackerjack game.

Read more here.

- - -

The last of the Christmas decorations were removed from the house last night. The tree is down. The season is over.

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.

- - -

Since I had little or nothing to do with the above, it seemed only fitting that I should do something to help. Anything.

And when Laura told me we needed some groceries, I said no problem. I can pick up a few things after I drop off Pad for the Monday-night practice he has weekly with a junior team. No problem. The rink is in the middle of nowhere (by my standards) but people live there so there must be a grocery store nearby by.

Ha!

It was the most frustrating experience I’ve had in all of 2010. After driving for ~~what seemed like hours~~ a little bit, I found a no-name store hat looked like a grocery store, and, in fact, was a grocery store. But it was a grocery store stocked with goods “from away” as it were, for newer Canadians.

So, for example, when I asked where I might find pudding (those little snack sized things that go in school lunches) I was greeted with a series of friendly but confused looks. No less than three people were brought in to consult on this request. Eventually, they showed me they actually did have pudding, but it wasn’t chocolate and Chris was never going to eat it, so I returned to the car and drove on into the night.

I eventually found a grocery store, and then promptly forgot to pick up one (1) of the things on an admittedly short list.

I was welcomed as something less than a conquering hero upon my return home.

- - -

The Team Canada juniors are not the only hockey team figuring out how to deal with a strong American squad.

Last night in Timmins, the Team USA beat Team Ontario 2-1 to win the World U17 Hockey Challenge, with a couple of Oakville boys in the Ontario lineup. Still, a good showing.

Read more here.

- - -

The Leafs will host Florida tonight starting a busy four-game stretch. For the Kool-aid drinkers out there (I’m not one of you) even you would have to admit that the Leafs need to win at least three of four to entertain any notion of making the playoffs in the weak Eastern conference.

I’m sticking to my early-season prediction that the Leafs cannot make the post season.

But I’ll probably tune in some time between periods of the junior game, or when I have to get up anyway to meet the Pizza Hut guy at the door.

Your game-day Leafs’ tee-up is here.

- - -

Tiger Woods – you remember Tiger Woods? Golfer, saviour-in-waiting . . . that guy?

Anyway, the Thanksgiving-to-New Years holiday romp wasn’t particularly festive for the world’s greatest golfer and the new decade isn’t going to start a whole lot better.

The new Vanity Fair features a two-year-old portrait of a shirtless Woods pumping iron, looking for all the world like a guy in a prison yard, complete with tight black hat and menacing gaze.

The article is no lob wedge either, recounting in sometime lurid detail some of his escapades, and also raising questions about performance-enhancing drugs.

And you can find the whole mess right here.

- - -

No hockey tonight in our house! The first hockey-free date of 2010. Back at it Wednesday night, starting a run of five consecutive days in rinks.

Jan 4, 2010

Happy New Year.

- - -

There's been an interesting story making the rounds in the last week about the Edmonton Oilers attempting to stiff a Calgary restaurant owner out of a healthy chunk of a five-figure booze-and-food tab, and unfortunately, some rather boorish behaviour to go with the story.

The Globe recounts some of the details here, as well as offering something of a lament for the parsimonious ways of hockey players, relative to some other pro athletes.

I have trouble imagining Pat Quinn is happy about his team getting this type of ink.

- - -

An interesting conversation/debate held in sporting households is around the value of an education, especially if there's a chance you're talented enough to get someone else to pay the bills for that education. I hear from parents all the time on this issue -- hockey, lacrosse, football, soccer, track. Everyone looks longingly to the south.

In hockey, the conversation is further complicated by the lure of major junior hockey -- generally considered the preferred route to a pro career for a very select few.

Experienced hands will know that when it comes to NCAA vs CHL, one cannot have his cake and eat it too.

If you suit up for even one exhibition CHL game -- the CHL being the QMJHL, OHL and WHL -- then you forfeit your NCAA eligibility. If your name is on a CHL game sheet, your NCAA dream is done.

The reality is for most players, neither option is ever going to be in play. But for a few hundred each year, it is.

A newspaper story this morning points out that a big chunk of the Team USA squad at the world junior hockey championship -- more than half -- is college material, while Team Canada is 100 per cent CHL product.

But the story also forwards the notion that within a few years, more and more of Canada's top hockey prospects will opt for a combined hockey/education experience.

I'm not so sure.

The USA is producing more and more good hockey players and scholarship positions are tougher and tougher to get for Canadians down there. Also, the perception seems to be that most NHL GMs think the OHL is a better proving ground for pro prospects, so the Sidney Crosbys of the world will likely continue to follow the road.

But it's an interesting read, and it will be fodder for a debate in a household or two, I'm quite sure.

You can read it here.

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Speaking of which, Canada will have its hands full tomorrow night in chasing a 6th straight world junior title vs. the Americans. This one is no tap in. Read more here.

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Still with hockey, the AAA novice Oakville Rangers lost 3-2 to Burlington in the finals of the Golden Horseshoe Hockey Tournament. Settling for silver is no shame for these big guys, who took a 7-0-0 record into the final game.

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A brief teamoakville film review:

Laura and Chris went to see Avatar. Laura said it was the best film she's ever seen, so those of you sitting on the fence about believing the hype can take her level-headed assessment to the bank. She adds that you should be sure to see the 3D version.

At home, Chris, Pad and I screened the Blue Ray version of Inglorious Basterds the other night. It is a rollicking, albeit violent, World War 2 fantasy, a kind of "what if" scenario played out over more than two hours. We liked it, but it's not for the young uns.

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The wind-swept carcasses of abandoned Christmas trees lining the neighbourhood streets stand sentinel to the reality that we are into the maw of winter now.

The glossy celebrations and indulgences of Christmas are behind us and the decorations are either down, or nearly down.

I was out the door at 6:40a to greet a cold, raw dawn that didn't offer a even a sliver of daylight or optimism.

Thusly, I missed what I am sure was a tortured start to the school week for the boys after two weeks of sleeping in, staying up late and generally living the life of Riley. It was, I'm certain, no picnic either for Laura who did so much over the last two weeks to make sure me, Pad and Chris had a great Christmas that I am sure she would like a week off to recover from our vacations.

As she said to me ever-so-affectionately the other evening, "I want you all out of my house."

January and February are the cold, dark months, there is no doubt.

Monday night will find me in a rink watching a practice. I hope there's something warmer in your immediate future.