hockey blog june09

June 30, 2009

A pre-Canada Day update . . . later.

I hope.

June 29, 2009

Well, I'd like to regale you with stories of my weekend, like how I finished the new patio, or worked on my golf swing with the kids, or took the boys to a movie, or strolled the lake front with Laura, or whatever.

The rains slowed down the patio project considerably, but I can report that some people in my house are not happy with the little tiny pieces of crushed rock (screenings, they're called) that now seem to be everywhere. The July 4 completion date will be a big challenge now. But I know Patrick is up to the backbreaking work that will be required.

Then I came down with a summer cold of the variety most heinous, and because I'm a guy that means it's automatically five times worse than any cold a woman would have to endure. I started feeling it come on late Friday afternoon and it's still here.

Yes, I'm miserable and so is everyone around me. Fortunately, they're co-workers.

- - -

Of course, being in a rink for three hours a night (7p to 10p) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night probably didn't help my cold. Patrick was attending a camp for what we were told would be mostly juniors hockey players and some midgets. (He'd fall into the latter category.)

What it actually turned out to be was four or five midgets, some juniors, some CIAU guys and a bunch of CHL pro players auditioning for the guy running the camp, who is a minor-league IHL coach. I'm told there was even a couple alumni there from the infamous Quebec fighting league.

Having said all that, it was a really great experience for Pad. (As I got a sense of who he was competing with out there, it was a little less relaxing for me, but the older guys were well behaved generally..)

For one thing, the pace and complexity of the drills and the intensity of the scrimmages was way beyond anything he had experienced before, so it was a steep but good learning curve. For another thing, he held his own. I'm not suggesting for a second that he lit the place up, but he didn't look like he shouldn't have been there. And when you're 15 competing against guys 22 to 26 who have been paid to play hockey, that feels like a win. At least it did to me.

He got knocked on his butt hard a couple of times over the weekend -- clean hits. He also had his share of good moments and he seemed to be having a blast. Generally, he seemed to have little awareness of the age/skill gap. They were hockey players, he's a hockey player, so, play hockey.

Sunday's scrimmage -- they would do drills for about 75 minutes, flood the ice and the players would hydrate and talk to their wives (there was even one baby in the crowd), and then they'd scrimmage for about 45 minutes before finishing up with a shootout or something similar -- was far more intense. No one was pulling up on their checks and if you decided to cut through the neutral zone to take a pass with your head down, you could expect an appropriate reward for that sort of bad idea.

One of the drills involved two players from each team attacking a net placed on opposite bluelines. Once you scored, you raced back, and the next two guys would go. The first team to have every pair of guys score, wins. The losers get to skate laps.

Pad scored the last goal for the last pair from his team to ensure they didn't have to skate laps. And at that moment it one of hockey's great universal truths was laid bare -- it didn't matter if you were 25 or 15. Everyone hates skating laps and they welcomed him like a hero.

What I took away from the weekend as a parent and hockey fan was this. These men are all good hockey players. Three or four were very good. And they are busting their butts to find a place to keep playing while they chase the dream.

And in that, they actually had a kinship with the fuzzy faced midgets who were there to test themselves, stay sharp and maybe get a leg up on the guys on the golf course or at the lake.

It's all about chasing the dream. Maybe for some of them the dream now takes them through places like Bloomington and Corpus Christi, but they still chase the dream.

And I'm glad my kid survived it.

- - -

So, that was my weekend. I don't recommend it but it worked for me.

The major fun activity at home involved switching the TV to CNN randomly, at any moment, day or night, to see if Michael Jackson's presence was there. Without a word of a lie, I did this maybe a dozen times, always announcing first that I was flipping to the MJNN (Michael Jackson News Network) and would anyone care to bet that the channel would not have some talking head reviewing the dead pop icon's life.

Every time, he was there.

Let's agree to move on.

Lacrosse practice tonight. At least the rink will be warm.

June 26, 2009

Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett die on the same day, hijacking the newscasts.

On Jackson, I'd say only that for all his enormous talent, he was a tragically flawed to the point of criminality. For sure, as an artist, he will be remembered on the highest plateau of the iconic greats in music -- The Beatles. Elvis. Sinatra. John Lennon. But in the hysterical reaction to his death, don't forget the dark side. Would you let your atom hockey team spent a weekend at Neverland Ranch? Neither would I. I've covered enough criminal justice to understand the difference between innocent and not guilty. The guy needed a Speak Out course. Sorry, but I wouldn't have walked across the street to see him.

Farrah was the all-American girl, or so we were supposed to believe. I had the red poster. I certainly would not wish her ill. 62 is too young.

You guys can find your own links to these two stories. They're everywhere.

- - -

Patio progress: the old patio is now completely out. Now comes the hard part. Excavating a new foundation for the replacement patio, moving in the crushed rock and sand. Levelling.

Why on Earth did I take this on?

- - -

The good news is I won't be dealing with it tonight. The flip side of that is that I'll be spending more than three hours at a rink with my older skater who is in a fairly intensive camp this weekend (hockey, not lacrosse) with three consecutive hours of ice three nights in a row.

I guess I won't have to worry about the humidity for that part of the evening.

- - -

The midget 1 Hawks beat Mimico Mountaineers 4-2 last night at Glen Abbey in a lacrosse game that was supposed to be played Wednesday night in the rolling alpine meadows of Mimico. Except the Toronto municipal workers strike means all the rinks in Toronto -- even those above the tree line -- are closed.

Calls were made and the folks in Mimico accepted the offer for us to host them, and it was on with the show.

Can you get fit in six minutes a week? The good news is that researchers say yes, you can. (And if you're moving 70 pound patio stones, it could happen even faster!)

The bad news is that very few of us would be able to, or comfortable with, the demands of those six minutes if forced to do it right.

But still, it sounds like a good idea!

Read more here.

- - -

The unrest in Iran continues, even if the glare of the world's media machine is now transfixed on southern California and a dead pop icon. You may recall earlier this week I pointed out that some of the Iranian national soccer team wore green wrist bands -- the colour of the Iranian political opposition -- in support of the protesters.

I guess it should come as no surprise that Iran has imposed lifetime bans on four of the players. No word yet on the other two.

The four will no longer be able to play in international competition. Read more here.

- - -

The fun and frolic of the NHL draft heats up today. Lots of big names in the mix as trade bait, lots of speculation about which kids will be taken when and by whom. If I was home, I might watch. But I won't be.

If you want to read more on it all, click here. The big Leaf rumour is Boston allegedly offering Phil Kessel for Kaberle and the Leafs' first-round pick. (Don't do it. No one ever won a cup trading away first-round picks.)

If you want to get some updates during the day to see if Brian Burke has successfully trade a game-worn Doug Gilmour jersey, Tomas Kaberle and a bag of coloured marbles to the Islanders to scoop up the first pick, click here or here.

If you want to check in over the weekend to see who got drafted and in what order, click here.

Spare a thought for me on the weekend. During the day, I'll be digging. At night, I'll be at the rink.

Enjoy your weekend. Hug the kids.

June 25, 2009

I had a boss early in my journalism career who was really old-school. He was also very good.

And whenever he sensed there was something more than what was being reported on a particular story he would exhort that his "news bunion was itchy" and tell me or whoever was in the immediate line of sight to shake the trees harder as surely some leaves will fall.

That was exactly how I felt from the moment I heard about the Mark Sandford fiasco -- the South Carolina governor who just simply walked away from his job for a long weekend, lied to everyone about it and then eventually fessed up to having an affair.

The thing with me is, I honestly don't give a rat's ass about the personal lives of politicians, as long as what they're doing isn't illegal or somehow in conflict with their elected obligations to the public. And given that this is 2009, not 1935, I'd be completely fine with a politician saying he or she is separating from their spouse. I doubt I would even bother to read the rest of the statement. Life is complicated. The more responsibility to carry, the more complex it becomes. Relationships fracture. It happens. Move on.

But this guy had to go and concoct a suite of lies to make a feeble attempt to cover his tracks. Sad, really, because it could have been handled much more simply. The truth is he was cheating on his wife with a woman in Argentina.

It is all further complicated, in political terms, because as a Republican congressman, Sandford voted to impeach Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal, noting at the time that Clinton was unfit for office because he broke his oath to his wife.

As Homer Simpson Public Relations Inc. might say at this moment: D'oh!

Maybe I'm giving US media too much credit. If the governor had said "me and the wife have split and I'm flying to Argentina to dump my girlfriend, too" I'm guessing People magazine, Fox News, Defamer.com and National Enquirer and a bunch of others probably would have chartered a plane to Argentina. So maybe he felt he had to sneak around in the shadows.

In Canada, I don't think the media would have done anything approaching that. But, he's the governor of South Carolina, not the premier of PEI. So, it's his problem and he should have been smart enough to figure out a better course of action.

Anyway, I know this is way off topic for the blog but it was one of those stories where I knew, like I said yesterday, things would unravel fast and like a wreck on the highway, I can't help but look.

Much transpired after the governor corrected the record to say he wasn't actually hiking in a state park, he was crying for four days in a hotel in Buenos Aires. (Easy mistake to make.)

Lest you or he think that will be the end of it, politics is blood sport and guys who get to be governor know that better than hacks like me. Read here about the lingering questions to be addressed. Start counting backwards from 100 now to see how long it takes for him to resign.

We now resume regular programming.

- - -

The patio project was delayed yesterday by sweltering heat, three-on-three hockey, and available cold beer.

I didn't really have much of a window between the end of work and the start of hockey to do anything even if the weather had been pleasant, so I didn't. And I thoroughly enjoyed my cool perch at hockey as official timekeeper scorekeeper.

There is a lacrosse game at 9p tonight that I'd like to get to, but I'd also like to finish ripping out the remaining patio slabs first, after which I may not feel like going to lacrosse anymore. Today is suppose to be a hot stinker of a day, I know for a fact there's beer in the fridge, so we'll have to see how that goes.

There's a strong possibility that there will be thunder and lightning storms this evening, in which case the best approach may be for me to stand in the back yard with a crow bar over my head and let nature take its course.

Laura can use the insurance money to get the patio finished professionally and sell the blog's rights to someone for a couple of bottles of Yellow Tail wine.

- - -

Today is the last day of school. To say that Chris is excited would be to say that Mark Sandford needs Spanish lessons.

I know I'm really old, but you never forget the buzz around the end of the school year. There's nothing quite like it. Summers seemed endless when we were kids, especially in the days before we had to find summer jobs and the days just seemed to float along endlessly in pursuit of nothing much but swimming, fishing, baseball, etc.

I hope your kids have a great summer. Keep them safe.

And since you will have the kids under foot all summer, you'll be glad to know there's no LCBO strike after all.

Read more here.

- - -

NHL draft frenzy in Montreal. Who will be drafted Number 1? (Tavares.)

Will Tampa trade Lecavalier? (Yes, I think they will.)

Do we care? Sure. It's hockey. It's Canada. Read more here.

June 24, 2009

Laura summarized her visit to the LCBO last evening:

:"I think just about anyone you need to talk to in Oakville is there."

People with carts heaped high with all manner of booze, apparently.

I guess some folks really, really need a drink after a day of GO Transit and all the other wonders of life in the GTA.

Read more here.

- - -

GO Transit and Union Station have created a new synonym for hell. It is Platform 27.

To the uninitiated a brief explanation. The lower the number, the closer the train platform is to civilization. Platform 27 is way out there, the furthest point south from venerable Union Station that a platform could be built without falling into Lake Ontario.

And that part doesn't bother me.

The longer walk isn't really all that long and frankly, I like walking and I like people watching. With my iPod on I happily plow through the masses, my earbuds sending the message that not only do I not want to talk to you, I especially don't want to listen to you. Now get out of my way.

And honestly, I am one of the more pleasant commuters.

No, the Toronto commute isn't all strawberries and cream. It's bloodsport on the best days and Platform 27, or hell, as I prefer to call it, has made it that much more miserable.

Brand-spanking new, the platform seems to be narrower that the older platforms. (When challenged on this point -- have I mentioned that I write a lot of emails to GO? -- their defence is that they made the platform "as wide as the property envelope allows.") They further claim the platform is as wide as all the other platforms. Hmmm. More homework for me or as they say in the biz, another data point to collect.

Anyway, all that reads a lot differently than saying, "the platform meets the building code." Which was what I was hoping to hear.

Now, bear in mind that a full GO train with no standing passengers -- all the seats are full -- holds 160 passengers. (I asked, as you will see below.)

So, a 10-car train has 1,600 passengers. And two trains arriving at Platform 27 at the same time thusly can unleash 3,200 mostly grumpy people -- all of them in my way -- onto the undersized platform all at once, trying to funnel into exit stairwells that are as undersized as the platform itself and in very short supply. If two,12-car trains converge, the number pushes 4,000.

(Hell is not a happy place. If you live in Halifax you might be in a crowd with 4,000 people once a year. I do it twice a day, five times a week. No wonder I'm the way I am.)

So, I asked GO Transit exactly what the maximum capacity allowed under the fire code is for the platform and stairwells in hell. I mean, 4,000 people on a train platform, very cramped, one train starts moving, someone slips . . . you do the math.

They dodged that question, saying the platforms were approved by the city as part of the permit process.

Again, "Hmmm."

So to them I wrote:

I invite you to join me on the platform any morning when two trains arrive there at the same time to savour the experience, generally only experienced by cattle at an abattoir.
I invite you to time how long it takes to get off the platform, down the stairs.
I invite you to make your way to the GO concourse in the event you need to purchase tickets.
I appreciate that GO is trying to improve some things and money is tight.
As a user of the system, (Platform 27) is not something that makes the transit experience better.
As part of my communication with the Toronto Fire Service, perhaps you could tell me what the maximum capacity is of a 10 and a 12 car GO train.
Multiplied by two, this figure would define the capacity of the platform and the exit stairwell. In my uneducated estimation, they are overwhelmed with pedestrian traffic and in the event of an emergency there would be multiple risks.
Thanks.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Basically, I was politely thanked for being a loyal customer. I am going to bring the matter to the attention of the fire service, but only because I also like pulling the wings off flies.

I will go to great lengths in pursuit of an "I told you so" moment.

- - -

OK. On the lighter side, a Vancouver artist named Dina Goldstein had the very clever idea to visually explore the whole "happily ever after" thing that supposedly follows fairy tale princesses after Prince Charming shows up and sweeps her off her feet.

My favourite from the collection is this one, with Snow White shown barefoot with four kids in diapers in a cluttered, sparsely furnished living room while ol' Prince Charming enjoys a beer and some chips while watching what appears to be polo on TV.

Brilliant, really. Cut the number of kids in half, put the US Open on the tube and that could be me in 1996. Snow White still has the rosy cheeks, so clearly she's making an effort. I'm sure the prince appreciates that.

You can can read more on the artist, the concept and see more images by clicking here.

I'd like to see Snow White as a hockey mom, with a set of goalie pads over her shoulder, dragging a bag through slush and pushing the little brother's stroller.

Maybe that will be the sequel.

I hope you day is happily ever after.

June 16, 2009

And thus it was that Jim Balsillie's dream of prairie dogs on ice in Hamilton was thwarted by a bankruptcy judge in Phoenix, who, to a layman like myself, seems to have acted prudently and with little interest in blazing a new chapter of case law that may well have had far reaching implications for all North American pro sports leagues.

In fact, he said his interpretation of the law didn't allow for the sale to Balsillie.

A learned friend predicted the demise of the JB bid as soon as the judge starting piling all the matters to be considered into one bucket. So it feels like the end of the road on this particular NHL-comes-to-Hamilton story.

But on the other hand, if you think that then you've probably never met Mr. Balsillie who doesn't give up easily.

And you can read more on that point here.

- - -

We have a relatively light week around home in terms of athletic pursuits, generally because of high school exams.

The midget 1 Hawks have a two-hour practice tonight and that's it for the week for Pad. The team is even forgoing the usual hour of running that precedes practice. Whether the extra available hours will be dedicated to scholastic achievement, well we won't know until we see the marks later this month.

Chris has both hockey and a lacrosse practice, and both are scheduled for the same time on the same night. I suspect he will miss hockey to attend the final house league practice of the season in advance of the wrap-up this weekend. But again, we'll see.

- - -

Speaking of house league lacrosse, even as I type this room is being made in our garage to store the boxes of trophies and t-shirts which have become the ubiquitous symbols of the end of lacrosse house league play for as long as Laura and I have been involved.

Laura is sort of the pope of Gala Day (now Gala Weekend) and handles ordering the t-shirts, the hardware, and marshals the army of volunteers young and old to staff the arenas with announcers, kids playing music between periods, and helping coordinate the handing out of the loot.

I'd like to say the disruption on the home front is temporary, but since I just got the leftover trophies and shirts from last year moved out of the garage on the weekend, there's no reason to think this year will be much different.

And truthfully, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Instead of having a single Gala Day where all the teams play a final game, this year the house league teams will play a true tournament starting on Friday night, with the format producing finalists in every division for championship games on Sunday.

I hope the weather is great (even though we play inside, the good weather brings its own buzz to the games and the weekend) and we'll see how the new format works out.

- - -

Speaking of lacrosse, the novice 3 Oakville Hawks took top honours in Shelburne on the weekend, dumping the hosts to win the tournament title and thumping Six Nations 10-2 along the way. A very impressive showing by the young Hawks, who as usual have a lot of smiles to go with those nifty new hats and the spiffy trophy. Congratulations, guys.

- - -

The US banks got their bailouts. It seems some customers are now getting theirs.

Some US banks are so anxious to get delinquent credit card accounts settled that they are willing to make deals to clear off liabilities at deep discounts.

I'm not sure you'd get the same deal in Canada, but it's an interesting sign of the times, nonetheless.

Read more here.

- - -

Gee, I didn't see this coming.

As breaking news, put it in the same category as "sun rises in east" and "Kinoak Arena cold in January" and "Blogger Woefully Uninformed."

Brett Favre is considering playing another year.

Wow. Stunning.

This guy has had more farewells that The Who, for cryin' out loud.

Enough.

Read more here.

June 15, 2009

You are all no doubt by now familiar with Jim Balsillie's plans to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move the team to Hamilton. If you are so inclined you can sign up to get updates on the court fight and other things at a web site called Make It Seven ( www.makeitseven.ca ), so named because the Hamilton move would mean the NHL would then have seven Canadian teams.

Playing on this theme, there's now another site out there for Leafs fans. Sort of.

A guy named Roger Jolie has announced that he's made an unsolicited bid for the Leafs, offering $396.5 million for the team, conditional on the franchise being moved to the AHL and thereby lowering the number of NHL teams to five.

Naturally, he's started a web site called Make It Five ( www.makeitfive.ca ).

Mr. Jolie wants to move the Leafs to the AHL, he says, so the team will be competitive.

Visit the web site to read more.

It kind gives a whole new interpretation to Go Leafs Go!

- - -

You may be aware that the election results in Iran are being greeted skeptically in some quarters, the suggestion being that the incumbent hardliner rigged things to keep his job.

I thought that only happened in Nova Scotia politics.

Anyway, a funny take on that spectacle here, where it is suggested that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins to win the Stanley Cup, and was now also the poet laureate of England.

How are you enjoying the new rules forcing customers to pay five cents a bag at grocery stores? Not sure what it's like at other retailers in Oakville but in Toronto, if you stop at a convenience store and grab a couple of magazines and three Diet Pepsis, it's five cents for the bag.

Go to a pharmacy for deodorant and three Diet Pepsis, it's five cents for the bag.

Stop at the bagel shop at St Lawrence Market for bagels and three Diet Pepsis . . . five cents a bag.

In downtown Toronto, someone is making some money off me because I don't stock reusable bags in my office and even if I did, the odds of me remembering to bring one with me are low.

On my Oakville shopping trips for groceries, I'm not doing much better but I'm getting lots of exercise.

That's because the trunk of my car has lots of reusable shopping bags, and I'm absent minded enough to leave them there when I walk into the store. When I approach the checkout I remember that I need them and run back out to the parking lot.

And then I run back into the store.

Because these bags hold way more stuff than five cent plastic bags, anything that you buy that can be crushed, will be crushed, adding to the joy of grocery shopping.

But I'm protecting the environment. Right?

Like Kermit said, it's not easy being green.

- - -

We got a jump start on Grading presents for the boys yesterday with a trip to the happiest place on Earth.

No, not Disneyland.

Golftown!

Last summer I (apparently) told Chris that this would be the year he'd get his own brand-new clubs. The time came to deliver.

There's something about new sports equipment that brings out the kid in all guys and Chris was very excited with his modest, entry level set of sticks. They're shiny and cool and perfectly designed for hitting golf balls.

Pad --already warned that in light of other money spent on his athletic pursuits his present would be more modest -- got a new golf bag. It's also very cool and meets the critical prerequisite of matching the head cover on the driver he bought for himself last summer. That one club cost more than Chris's new set, I think.

Anyway, we took the new toys to the parking lot and removed all the plastic wrap and whatnot and then roared off to a driving range to hit the first balls of the season.

Oddly, the long winter months of inactivity didn't improve our games one bit. But the boys looked good, and that's important too.

We'll start squeezing in more range time in the days ahead but plans for me to join the Senior Tour will wait for now.

- - -

A quick lacrosse note:

As previously reported, the Oakville Hawks field lacrosse teams recently enjoyed the best weekend in the history of the program, winning five medals at the provincial tournament.

A rather brilliantly written story is in the latest edition of the Oakville Beaver, with photos of four of the five medal-winning teams.

And you can read it by clicking here. And you should.

- - -

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, is terminating school books in his state's schools in favour of an investment in digital technology. As is the case with most revolutionary change, the trigger for this is cost control. But on many levels it also actually makes some sense -- kids consume virtually all of their non-school information from digital media. So why not school, too?

A lot of states and provinces will watch this one closely. Read more here.

- - -

If you want to know more about John Gardiner, the man who runs the GTHL (28 years and counting) the Sunday Star carried a long feature profiling the man behind Canada's largest minor hockey league.

You can read it here.

June 14, 2009

So, it turns out the answer to the question asked so many weeks ago -- actually first asked more than a year ago -- by my friend in Halifax (Do you really expect Pittsburgh to beat Detroit in a game 7 at the Joe?) is, um, yes.

Yes. Yes, and you can read an excellent Wings-coloured perspective on the evening here.

The Penguins were the better team in Game 7. And the Penguins beat the defending champs four times in five games to claim the Cup, no small feat that, not to mention doing it in the Wings' own barn in the biggest game 7 the Joe has ever hosted.

For our part, we huddled in the family room -- all four of us in one place -- for the entire third period.

With the Wings down 2-0, I predicted to the boys that the team to score the next goal would win the game. I was convinced that if Detroit could score once, they would find a way to win.

The pressure was relentless, and literally five seconds before the Red Wings finally got on the board, I said out loud to no one in particular, "Pittsburgh better do something here because Detroit is going to score."

They did, and Chris turned to me without missing a beat and said "Dad, there's a blog entry there."

Indeed.

The other half of my Kreskin routine didn't hold up as Detroit, try as they might, could not find a way to tie the game.

So my prediction of the Pens in seven games held up, but the real winners here were the fans, treated to prehaps the best final series since the Flames' wild ride of a few years ago.

The other funny moment was with about a minute left and I said out loud, "Man, could this be any closer?"

Again Chris answered. "Yes dad. It could be tied."

Right.

- - -

Our weekend was less eventful than I hoped.

The midget 1 Hawks won the opening game of the St Catharines Midget Lacrosse Showcase, beating the host team 6-5 in a terrific game Friday night.

But yesterday produced a pair of one-goal losses -- first to Akwesasne 7-6 on a last-minute goal, and then 4-3 to a stubborn Clarington squad, 4-3. A tie in either game would have secured a spot in a semi final, but it wasn't to be.

So I'm sitting in the Sunday sun with the Sunday Star, drafting emails to get a jump on my Monday and pecking in this space listening to the quiet.

- - -

The MOHA board lost two directors on Friday, both of whom take a considerable amount of management expertise and corporate horsepower out the door with them. While no one is irreplaceable, guys like these who are willing to volunteer their time and professional insights don't come around easily and there is no question MOHA is poorer for the loss.

Full disclosure, I consider both of them friends. Also, I should say for the record I don't know the person whose emails triggered the resignations. We've never met.

I'm not going to get into the why and wherefore of the departures except to say a childish and churlish and public attack on one led the first guy to say, this isn't what I signed on for, and he resigned. The target of the attack, a veteran board member, also decided to resign.

There are quality people on the board of extraordinary insight, talent and dedication. No one on the board -- not a single one -- should ever have to put up with what happened Friday. Collectively and individually they deserve much more respect.

June 12, 2009

What a morning. In terms of weather, practically perfect. It's shaping up as the type of day where after a day of work you come home, linger in the backyard and water the garden, maybe sit on the patio and read a bit, listening to the birds and the breeze in the trees.

- - -

Except of course for that fact that tonight is Game 7, so there'll be none of that -- last one to the remote control loses!

The papers and TV sports channels are full of statistical overview of game sevens past and present, home and away, left handed coaches vs. right handed coaches, cities once famous for building cars vs. cities once famous for making steel.

All of it rubbish. Because in one game, anything can happen.

The probabilities all tilt in Detroit's favour -- home ice, defending champs, they've hugely outscored the Pens at home, etc etc.

On the Pens side, they can point to a drubbing of their own -- the way they dismantled the Caps in Game 7 in Washington a few weeks ago.

These are the games careers are defined by. No one ever worked out in a gym in July dreaming of the January road game in Tampa. No, the dream is always -- always -- of the finals. Of Game 7. And a chance to define yourself forever.

The last time a visiting team won the seventh game of an NHL final was 1971 (remember the Pocket Rocket's goal?)

Maybe it's time for another.

Maybe Detroit will have something to say about it.

Maybe the garden and the book and the summer breeze can wait one more night.

- - -

Patrick and I will be late for the game -- midget lacrosse in St. Catharine's tonight (and all day tomorrow.)

But we will get to it eventually. This weekend is also the penultimate weekend for house league lacrosse before the new and improved Gala Weekend. More on that next week.

- - -

Speaking of lacrosse, the Oakville Beaver had a nice story on our friend Brian Kruse this week. You can find it here.

- - -

Regular readers will know that both my sons regularly participate in minor sports, not just as players but also as game officials. Chris is a hockey and lacrosse timekeeper. Patrick can be found as a lacrosse timekeeper and also as a referee.

They are typical of the kids you will find doing these jobs around the rinks and fields. Usually they are between 12 and 16. They get paid little. And without them, the games wouldn't be played.

So now I'll ask this question to all the coaches and gate swingers out there: Have you ever had a sharp exchange with a ref or timekeeper? Ever yelled at a ref? Raise your hands if you never have.

OK, you in the back with the hand up. You're lying. Put your hand down.

Chirping at the ref is an almost rote process in minor sports. When my son first started refereeing I worried about how he would handle it. I used to tell him I was staying to watch the games he officiates so that I could yell at the people in the stands who yelled at him.

I don't anymore (usually. But don't act surprised if you are yelling at my kid and I challenge you to get off your fat ass, learn the rules, take the courses, become a level-two certified game official AND develop the ability to run for three hours calling three straight games. I have done it before and I'll tell you, it's a show stopper. There's no snappy comeback for that one.)

My kid has had great mentors in refereeing in Oakville, so he's lucky. Our current president and the one before him are (were) both refs and he's worked with both of them. So, mostly he finds it amusing because he knows he's the ref, he's in charge and in 95 per cent of the games he does, he knows far more about the rules than the people chirping at him.

(Parents, BTW, are even worse than coaches, unfortunately. Hockey parents whose kids take up lacrosse often come to the rink possessed of a righteous confidence that even though they've never seen a game, the fact that their kid just got laid out like a tuna on a Wedgeport dock must mean something illegal happened. And they yell and scream and generally put their ignorance on display for all to admire. If you're smart, admire it from afar.)

But not every kid carries that type of confidence onto the floor, or ice, or field. And not all of them cope as well with the overweight guy chirping from the bench about missed calls, or call it both ways, or . . . you get the idea.

So, eventually the kids ask themselves: Would I like to get up on the only day all week I get to sleep in and go to a humid (or freezing, depending on the season) rink and listen to the ignorant masses hurl abuse at me while I'm giving an honest effort to do the best I can while learning to be an official, or, would I rather sleep in?

It's a short debate and the kids quit. They quit in droves every year and replacing them is difficult and time consuming as officials have to be trained, certified, and carded for various levels.

And like I said, without them, there can be no games.

(Adult game officials are an entirely separate conversation. The vast majority of them are terrific guys and I love being on the bench because good ones add to the fun of the game in the way they handle things, engage the kids, find simple teaching opportunities for a rule, etc. When I look up and see those guys in stripes on my floor or ice, I smile because I know the kids are going to be safe, I'm going to have fun and it's going to be a good hour well spent. Others, not so much. A few are complete dicks who shouldn't be allowed on the ice or floor. But that's a topic for another time.)

All of that is a rather windy introduction to a story in today's Globe about youth referees and how finding, training and retaining them is a challenge.

The Globe story correctly points out that for the kids, mentoring and league support are critical. I'd add that educating the bench staffs and fans on appropriate conduct would be good, too.

Yelling at a tyke hockey player who can barely stand up to skate faster or be more aggressive on the forecheck is useless.

Yelling at a young ref to smarten up, or take a look at the game he's missing, or other sarcasm is just as useless. He or she is also learning to official, just as surely as the tyke player is learning to play.

You can read the Globe story here.

- - -

A follow up from last week. A week ago Wednesday night, the midget 1 Hawks lost in Acton to Halton Hills. While waiting for the kids to emerge after the game, I came across a pile of fridge magnets from Halton Recreation -- phone numbers, hours, etc. I took one (because we always need fridge magnets.)

I put it on the fridge, and my intention was to leave it there until the Hawks beat Halton, which I figured could be some time.

On Saturday afternoon last week, Oakville beat Halton Hills 6-3.

Oh.

On Sunday, Patrick was where he often is -- opening the fridge door -- and he spotted the Halton magnet. "What's this?"

I explained the story and he snorted.

So I took the magnet down after three whole days. But I'm thinking I'll put it back up for provincials in July!

- - -

We'll be on the road to and from St. Catharine's this weekend, which aside from the many chances to point out construction work and value of an engineering degree to my math-and-science-studying kid, also means we will be bumper to bumper with large segments of the lunatic fringe.

There are other tournaments in other sports all over the place this weekend, so lots of you will be on the road, too.

I can never say it enough. Let the moron in the purple Civic with the day-glo wipers and the neon light-illuminated under carriage have the 12 feet of pavement in front of you.

It. Just. Doesn't. Matter.

Drive safe. Arrive alive. Arrive late if that's what it takes.

Cheer for the kids. On both teams.

(On this point, I had an interesting moment last Saturday morning in Brampton. We were playing Guelph and I was sitting in the stands near the centre. Oakville lost. I was largely alone, closer to the Guelph fans than to the Oakville parents. At the end of the game, the ref looked up and locked eyes on me: "Who was the player of the game," he asked. "We need to pick an MVP." I didn't hesitate. "Number 5, blue (Guelph)," I said. "He was terrific." The ref looked at me suspiciously, maybe thinking I was picking my own kid or something. "It's OK," I said. "I'm from Oakville." He smiled, grabbed the mic, and named number 5 Blue as the MVP. Two Guelph parents thanked me on the way out. Not sure for what, but they agreed he was their best player in that game I guess. Turns out he scored four goals. I knew he was good!)

Enjoy the weekend. Don't forget to hug the kids.

If you're in a really good mood, hug a ref too. But do it before the game, as they get sweaty and smell really bad the later in the day it gets.

June 11, 2009

A bit of a hectic stretch on the home front right now, as the silly season of the end of school is fast approaching.

Chris is off on (another) school trip today (with the band this time; Chris is a cool guy is shades with the sax) to explore the educational and musical gifts of Canada's Wonderland. Yes, there's much to be learned at Drop Zone and the other stomach-churning rides, not the least of which will be the bus ride across the top of the GTA to Vaughan.

Laura is going along as she almost always does to be a parent volunteer. I'd rather volunteer to clean Lake Ontario than take on Wonderland with Chris and his buddies, so good luck to all of them.

At the other end of the day, Pad has the Abbey Park High School athletic awards banquet, which has triggered a lot of activity to find him appropriate clothes. The dress pants he wore all winter to Oakville Ranger games look like they were worn all winter to Oakville Ranger games, not to mention the fact that he's larger than he was last fall. The major challenges were find pants long enough in the leg, small enough in the waist (grrr) and loose enough around his thighs.

I gather it wasn't easy.

They managed to secure appropriate garb, plus a new shirt and new tie and off he'll go tonight to eat and laugh and look back on the school's successes (and otherwise) on the fields, rinks and tracks.

At the end of next week, he'll be halfway through high school.

Geez. How did that happen?

- - -

Last night we had three rinks in less than three hours which created logistical challenges. Chris had hockey ("I scored a goal dad.") and lacrosse practice and Pad and the Hawks had a midget 1 game at Glen Abbey with Brampton.

The Hawks didn't look good and Brampton scored first and the Hawks later tied. It went on like this until into the third when Brampton opened a 5-3 lead.

The Hawks finally came to life over the last 10 minutes with some disciplined defence and good offensive pressure, knotting the score at 5-5 with about 90 seconds to go.

With 30 seconds left, Oakville took its first lead of the game and that's how it ended.

I'd guess the coaches were happy for the win but less than thrilled with route travelled to get it.

Back in action starting Friday evening in St. Catharine's at the Midget Showcase tournament.

- - -

Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor and former vice presidential candidate, unloaded on David Letterman for comments he made in a top 10 list which she interpreted as an attack on her family.

Letterman, never one to sit quietly, takes up the challenge.

You can read about the fuss here. I'm a Letterman fan so I find it all interesting.

Also, just FYI, Letterman has overtaken Conan O'Brien and the Tonight Show in the ratings, after generally trailing that show for years under Jay Leno.

Interesting. I'm generally incapable of staying awake long enough to watch either of them.

- - -

For those of you feeling a little drift toward minimalist these days, this New York Times piece by author Pico Iyer might be of interest. I'll warn you it's a little tough to sled into the guts of the piece, but it's an interesting perspective from someone who made a decision to live life differently.

Without knowing the details of his life, it's hard to compare circumstances.

I have not yet said to Laura that I'd like to move to Japan and sweep the floors in a Buddhist temple for 10 months a year, but who knows what career turns lie ahead?

On the other hand it's hard to picture a guy at a temple putting down his broom at the end of the day and rushing out to a minor hockey practice or lacrosse game somewhere.

In theory stuff like that sounds occasionally appealing. Until Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals is upon you and you discover the monks don't have cable and encourage you to be one with the crackling shortwave radio feed from Detroit.

At which point I'd be gonzo, Alonzo, to the nearest Japanese sports bar, urging my monk buddies to not wait up and to be sure to feed the Koi fish and handle the sweeping chores until I return.

Sorry guys.

Just as an aside, I've actually been in a Buddhist temple in Kyoto (no one asked me to sweep the floor) and I caused a major ruckus. Me and two colleagues travelling with the prime minister of the day had some down time and went to see this landmark. It was every bit as serene and lovely as you would imagine.

And then my hulking, red-headed visage was spotted by a tour of Japanese school girls (I'm not kidding) who came running over shaking their cameras and yelling "picture! picture! Me too! Me too!" They wanted to touch my hair and pose for photos with Godzilla, apparently.

My friends found this wildly amusing to say the least, as did I.

And when our paths cross now (the colleagues, not the school girls) we still wonder aloud as to whether there are pictures of me in dusty scrapbooks or under fridge magnets in the Empire of the Sun, the large red-headed Canadian the likes of which they had never seen.

Anyway, read more here on The Joy of Less.

June 10, 2009

What a game. Game 7 Friday night at the Joe.

A friend and fervent Wings fan said at the outset of this series when I predicted the Pens would win in seven: "You really think the Pens can win game 7 at the Joe?"

It's a very good point.

It's also true that the Wings have never won a Stanley Cup final Game 7 at the Joe, or anywhere else, since 1950.

So I think while the Red Wings have a big advantage as defending champs with home-ice working for them, the Pens will play with a "nothing-to-lose" abandon.

Either way, fans win.

It was a big night for folks in Cole Harbour, NS. Sidney Crosby gets a Game 7.

Read more here.

- - -

I learned the ~~dark arts~~ craft of political reporting in Nova Scotia and I covered the Nova Scotia legislature during a time where me and the entire NDP caucus could meet for coffee in a golf cart.

So it was with more than passing interest that I flipped around the channels last night watched the New Democrats cruise to a majority government win in Nova Scotia's general election. The new premier-to-be is Darrell Dexter, now the 2nd best known guy from Cole Harbour, NS.

I've been gone from the legislature for almost two decades -- I could be regularly found back then sitting on the stairway outside the premier's office, pecking away on an old Texas Instruments TRS-80 (the Trash 80 as it was known) waiting for John Buchanan to come out and not answer questions. The players are all different now, but my colleagues say the new premier is hardly a raving leftist lunatic.

The risk when a new bunch take power isn't usually with the guy at the top or his inner circle and top cabinet picks. The risk is in the lower ranks of cabinet picks and the back benches and the caucus. Is there enough horsepower in the ranks to govern and get things done?

Nova Scotians presumably figured they had little to risk in electing the first NDP government east of Ontario. And they shall soon find out if that was true.

Read more here.

- - -

Americans are discovering what many Canadians have long known to be true. The beaver -- or as we say here, The Beaver -- the rodent that is one of our most enduring and iconic national symbols and in large measure the reason why people bothered to settle Canada in the first place, is also a colossal pain in the ass.

Flooding from beaver dams is becoming a big problem as beaver populations rebound and encroach on urban areas.

A hint to our American friends: they make great hats!

Read more here.

- - -

The midget 1 Hawks host Brampton tonight at Glen Abbey while Chris has both three on three hockey and a lacrosse practice. Busy night.

June 9, 2009

I'm sitting at Dorval -- opps, Pierre Elliot Trudeau -- Airport, waiting to jump back to Toronto, in time to fight rush hour traffic, watch my wife run out the door to some book club thing, pick up Pad from work at Ice2Ice and then watch bits and pieces of hockey.

The weather here has been considerably less hospitable this trip compared to last, unless you really enjoy End Of World rain storms, in which case this was the place to be this morning. An old man with a long beard and a big wooden boat sends his regards.

I had a wildly uneventful evening which was good considering all the things on my plate this morning, but that's done for now. I suspect I'm going to be back here soon.

That, of course, is assuming I can find my car in the maze that is the Terminal 1 parking garage at Pearson.

En route to my flight last night I passed several nomads wandering the cement desert who claimed that three of their four children were born in the Pearson garage. They said the fourth was born and largely educated in the back of a minivan stuck on the QEW between Trafalgar and the Ford plant.

You have to love the GTA.

Anyway, perhaps something more enlightening tomorrow.

For now, back to Toronto and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Later that same night . . .

MONTREAL -- Ok, so there's no hockey game tonight.

Sue me. I'm too focused on patio stones or something.

But the good news is I'll be home to watch the tomorrow night with the boys.

Good night!

June 8, 2009

I'm back to work and missing deadlines already -- fortunately, it's just the blog that's late.

- - -

No more calls, we have a winner.

The patio stones have been claimed and will soon be exiting the property. Which means I'm actually going to have to come through with the new patio.

Yikes.

- - -

A rather unique circumstance this week, at least in my experience. The blog had readership in the last 48 hours from four of the five continents (not counting the big icy one at the bottom of the planet.)

The only place I'm reader-free is South America.

Weird (that I'm getting traffic from the EU and Australia and Asia, not that South America has yet to check in.)

- - -

My guess is that there's a pretty good chance the Stanley Cup is going to be won in Pittsburgh this evening. I'm going to be on an airplane so I expect to miss the game.

But Detroit looks like they're ready to end this.

- - -

Sunday was quite a day for sports, if that's your thing:

Tiger Woods, who already won Arnie's PGA Tour stop when he returned from his leg injury, yesterday birdied the last two holes to win The Memorial tournament, which is Jack Nicklaus's baby. Read more here.

Roger Federer won the French Open, finally completing the career slam and tying Pete Sampras for career Grand Slam wins. In a classy move, Sampras said that Federer had already established himself as the best tennis player in history. Read more here. You can read what Sampras had to say here.

Roy Halladay won his 10th game of the season and pitched his 2nd straight complete game as the Jays dumped KC. Roy is, by a wide margin, the best pro athlete competing in Toronto these days. Read more here.

It was hard to get away from the TV -- The French Open was on at 9a and then the Jays were at 1p and then the golf at 3p.

Luckily, I was allowed to leave the house and get groceries (my all-time favourite thing to do to relax! -- not) and help a little bit with some garden stuff and then clean the inside of Laura's car. So my TV watching was pretty limited.

Cleaning the inside of a car after hockey season and lacrosse season was a bit of a archeological expedition but at least it's done.

You can find some very weird stuff under the seats in cars.

- - -

Speaking of Roy Halladay . . .

The Oakville A's senior rookieball went undefeated in five games in a tough 16-team tournament in St Thomas on the weekend, beating Cambridge in the finals.
The team competes at the AAA level in the Central Ontario Baseball Association loop.
The team lost in the finals last weekend in the Mississauga North rookieball Tournament losing to the hosts Mississauga Tigers and currently sit in second place right behind the Tigers in league play.
One of the coaches passed along the photos, and yes, I like the first one better.
Team members are;
Matt Stone, Carter Pauley, Jordan Gamble, Tanner Elson, Tyler Sagl, Ethan Hammond, Luke Raczywolski, Mitchell Howie, Jacob Schuurman, Andrew Macgrandle, Noah Sinker, Paul Costin...Not pictured are Grant Patterson, AJ Sachdev and Sam Gastin.
The team's coaches are Allen Elson, Richard Gamble, Terry Howie, Ron Sagl, not pictured are coaches Drew Hammond and Troy Patterson.

Congrats, guys.

- - -

There's an interesting piece from the New York Times on blogging, and to me it had a couple of zingers.

First, the idea that people start blogging because they think it will lead to not having to work because their sites will become so popular.

Ha!

Second, about 95 per cent of blogs are not updated more frequently than every three or four months, and most have a very low readership.

Hmmm.

I didn't start doing this to get rich or avoid a real job -- and mission accomplished on that score.

And while there are days when I have nothing much to offer, I offer it anyway because for better or worse, I have some -- a few -- fairly loyal followers (not to mention the odd collection an transcontinental surfers no doubt looking for news on Jennifer Aniston.

Anyway, the NYT piece is interesting for the insight it offers into other's motivations and you can read it here.

You probably come here for the local sports, good deals on used patio stones and tales of hand sanitizer in my hair. But whatever brings you, thanks for stopping by.

June 7, 2009

My week off is coming to a close but the rest away from GO Trains and work was good. I got a lot of things done around the house and virtually ignored work email.

And somehow, the world kept turning without me.

- - -

I'm home and able to do a short Sunday update because the midget 1 Hawks didn't qualify for a semi final game in the Brampton tournament.

The boys lost a 5-4 squeaker to Peterborough on Friday evening. The Lakers are a traditional powerhouse and if not for some fairly uneven officiating in the third period we might have taken this one. It's fair to say that over the years that's worked in the Hawks favour from time to time, so on balance, that's life.

On Saturday morning the team looked awful losing to Guelph and with an 0-2 start, no one was looking forward to playing Halton in the afternoon game. The Bulldogs have beaten us twice already this year.

I missed the game, but the Hawks controlled it from the start and won 6-3, based in large measure I'm told on the play of goaltender Dustin Zegil, who was named player of the game.

Our final game, last night vs. Barrie, was a 7-2 rout for the Hawks and the game was not as close as the scoreboard would suggest. The Barrie squad became increasingly frustrated as the game went on and started taking numerous cheap shot runs at players after the whistle, behind the play, etc.

With about three minutes left the refs, wisely sensing they had a powder keg on their hands, called the game and sent everyone off.

The best entertainment of the evening was the chirping back and forth between some of the moms from each centre.

Kids' sports sure make us all do strange things.

- - -

Chris's team lost a close one yesterday after carrying a 5-4 lead into the third. We had a short bench and just ran out of steam.

- - -

After the Friday night Hawks game Pad and I went over the Glen Abbey to see the Buzz play Welland. We weren't so much interested in the game as we were in being there for the pre-game ceremony honoring Brian Kruse.

It was a very nice moment and there was a big crowd.

A bagpiper played after a short tribute to Brian, followed by a moment of silence. Players and fans were all given stickers with "BK" on them to wear for the game.

Brian, president of the Buzz, was always the guy in the box with the mic welcoming fans to "Live from the Hive, it's Buzz lacrosse."

The Buzz roared out and scored just 18 seconds into the game and never trailed en route to an easy victory.

Brian would have appreciated the moment.

On Saturday, every house league game was preceded by a moment of silence in Brian's honor, and all the kids were sporting BK stickers on their helmets, too.

I had the duty of reading the tribute and leading the moment of silence at one of the bantam games, and for me it was much more than reading words off a page.

Brian was Patrick's first lacrosse coach; he was a referee mentor for Patrick; he was a friend and colleague in lacrosse to me and Laura and we both served on the OMLA board with him; he was Patrick's "boss" last summer when Pad volunteered at Buzz games helping work the gate and do the 50-50 draw.

To us, he practically was Oakville lacrosse. And like many others, we're going to miss him around the rinks.

- - -

Chris arrived home in one piece Friday from his week in the north country on a school trip. He had more fun than I can really describe with any justice here. He wanted a shower, pizza, and to put on his PJs.

The larger concern of his mother and I is the number of bruises and fly bites he has -- if someone from children's services sees him they're apt to think we've been whacking him with a stick.

But the truth is the rope ladders and rope bridges and diving towers and sand lot baseball games and . . . well, you get the idea. There was ample time for him to acquire trophy bruises. And he did.

We're glad he's home.

Mom says he can't leave the house in shorts until the bruises are gone.

In September.

- - -

On Friday night, late after the Buzz game and the Hawks game, after the pizza and showers and the chattering excitement of the tales of the north country, Chris disappeared to the place he goes when he's tired but not ready for bed.

I went up to our room and there he was, propped up on our bed with the TV on, the iTouch beside him and the PSP game unit in his hands.

The happy place.

- - -

A final note of silliness from my week of home repair.

The rivet gun I had to buy to complete the overhaul of the work on the rain gutters had to be a self-taught skill. The unit came with instructions in French and Spanish, but not English.

My ability to read French is pretty good, but the words in French describing the fundamentals of riveting were a bit beyond my level.

Trial and error worked things out.

- - -

The next project will be to get rid of the patio stones -- a couple of dozen that are 18 or 20 inch squares -- and replace it with interlocking paving stone.

This will be quite an adventure.

In the meantime, if anyone wants some old patio stones -- they're in good shape and I'm sure an afternoon with a power washer will make them look new again -- they're free for the taking. Email me if you want them.

- - -

June 5, 2009

A busy couple of days, so late and/or limited and/or no blogging.

Wednesday night the drive to Acton wasn't worth it, but the boys lost 8-3 with an empty net goal -- a much more respectable outing against one of the top teams from Ontario.

Thursday was spent up on the roof engaged in DIY home repair. If you drove by, I would have waved.

All in all, it was a riveting experience -- literally.

I was repairing/replacing down spouts from the eaves troughs and had to invest in a rivet gun. Somewhere, my old metal shop teacher from junior high school would have been proud. Or maybe scandalized, I'm not sure which.

Pad and I -- still solo last night -- hatched another plan to do The Keg and a movie. But then both the guys I coach HL lacrosse had to bail out so even though my kid was in a different postal code, I had to go practice. And then Pad got an offer to time keep at three rep games, and well, so much for boys night out.

Laura got home last last night to find the house . . . well, she found the house.

She said this morning that a family of four could have lived off the food she swept off the kitchen floor, but that was a wild exaggeration. I'm thinking two people, tops.

We saw the third period of the hockey game together and all wondered how Chris was making out. He arrives home in an hour and he'll get a big hug, and not just because it's Friday.

- - -

The midget 1 Hawks and several other Oakville teams are in a big tournament in Brampton this weekend so we'll be on the road a lot. If you are among those on the road, drive carefully.

And hug your kids.

- - -

The Oakville Buzz play Welland at Glen Abbey tonight. Team president, the late Brian Kruse, will be honored before the game with a moment of silence and the OMLA plans other things to honor him as well in the days ahead. His funeral will be Monday.

Kids, take a minute this weekend and hug your parents.

It's a two-way street.

June 3, 2009

Brian Kruse, one of the driving forces behind minor and junior lacrosse in Oakville, has passed away.

The lacrosse association is a small, very tight group of dedicated people and it is not in the least exaggerating to say Brian was the guy who set the tone for the way the organization worked. He cultivated participation; there was no "my way or the highway" with Brian. Everyone's voice was heard.

I never once heard him say a bad word about anyone. He was endlessly patient and generous with his time. He was a mentor to many in the association, including our young lacrosse officials, including my son.

Brian was always smiling and he was a familiar face in every rink. He served the Oakville Minor Lacrosse Association in many capacities, including coach, referee, scheduler, vice president of rep, president, and president of the junior Oakville Buzz.

Anyone who has participated in Oakville lacrosse in recent years owes Brian an enormous debt. He was among a group who picked the organization up when it was failing and made it work. He recruited people and coaches and referees. The player enrollment swelled from 200 to 800.

Brian represented the interests of Oakville at the provincial level and was held in great respect.

Brian left too young and there was so much more he would have contributed, that is certain, just as it is certain that this is a profoundly sad moment for minor sports in Oakville.

The kindnesses he extended to me personally included an emergency supply of juice boxes on a hot day, supplying circulating fans for the benches on a sweltering Saturday, sprinting to a rink on short notice to fill in for a missing referee, and many other similar acts of friendship to me and others, and more importantly, for the kids.

My very sincere condolences to his family. I hope when the darkness of these next few days and weeks lifts, they find comfort in knowing Brian made such a difference in so many lives and was held in such high regard.

We will all miss him.

- - -

Pad and I had our steak dinner, the two of us watching the hockey game after he got home from work.

Even though it was late, it was still fun.

And we both had the same thought: How's Chris doing?

Radio silence from the north country. We take that as a good thing.

For more on the Pens-Wings, click here.

We actually spent a lot of the evening flipping back and forth from the hockey to the baseball, because Halladay was pitching and won his ninth.

Fun night with my kid.

- - -

Want to know how much dirt there is in two yards of dirt?

Technically speaking, a lot. Enough to block one side of my driveway. Enough to make the neighbours stop and look and think to themselves, "that pile is going to be there for weeks!"

It is estimated that one cubic yard of soil weighs between 2,100 and 2,700 pounds.

I had two yards of triple mix delivered and dumped in the driveway at about 9:30a this morning. And for the rest of the day, I was Joe Dirt.

The delivery didn't come in one of those candy-ass yellow bags. It's a lot cheaper to just have it dumped, plus the motivation to move it is greater.

So I went at it with great enthusiasm if not a lot of skill, but I gradually started lifting the base of the flower beds, which I had been recently told were in sad shape.

I had to break at 11a to take Pad and some buddies from his Civics class to downtown Oakville -- more on that in a minute.

I was back home around 1p and by 2:30p was done -- including raking of the beds and cleaning the driveway.

Pad was relieved, because he thought this would be his chore.

Next time, bud.

- - -

The class assignment the kids had to do is a project on a local charity, with the emphasis on local. So while many large, worthy charities have a local presence, the kids had to zero in on something very locally oriented.

They settled on the Lighthouse Program for Grieving Children, which I have to confess I have never heard of before Pad mentioned it to me.

As the name suggests, the program helps kids deal with the loss of a family member or friend, which sounds like incredibly challenging, valuable and worthwhile work.

I dropped the four boys off at the downtown location on a side street south of Lakeshore and then I drove to nearby Tannery Park to wait for the text message to fetch them.

They came out about 45 minutes later, smiling and talking. They said it went well.

I asked what was the single, coolest, most interesting thing they saw or learned.

All four boys, at the same time, said: "The Volcano Room!!"

This, as you might deduce, is a room for kids to let out their frustrations physically. Equipped with a punching bag, padded jousting things and other such devices, it made a big impression.

I can wait to see how the project develops.

You can learn more about the Lighthouse Program here.

- - -

Pad and I are off to Acton for a road game tonight as the midget 1 Hawks take on Halton Hills, thus far in the calendar the toughest team we've seen in box lacrosse.

Tomorrow brings another trip to a hardware/gardening centre, this time for grass seed and materials to fix some rain down spouts.

Ah, leisure time!

- - -

June 2, 2009

The day started early as I was up to finish with Chris's preparations for his school trip to the north country.

He packed all the usual things -- flashlight, bug juice, assorted shorts, shirts and jeans.

But this adventure will be remarkable for what he didn't bring -- namely, anything electronic (other than a camera.)

All gaming devices and iPods and portable DVD players are forbidden for this nature outing.

Chris suggested it pushed the bounds of child abuse for him to be expected to go the best part of four full days with no Internet access.

Which led to a conversation about how when I was a kid (I actually said that) there was no Internet, as Al Gore had not yet invented it.

I might as well have said there was no oxygen in those days for the look he gave me.

And then it occurred to me that Chris cannot recall a time in his life when the Internet was not as key to the household as cable TV or phones or lights.

And then it occurred to Chris that his father is really, really old.

And for that piece of sarcasm, I wish him well tomorrow morning when he participates in the mandatory morning Polar Bear Dip at the camp. Man up, buttercup!

Given the weather lately, it will be a true polar experience.

When I was a boy, we didn't need hot water.

Luxury!

- - -

Chris's big concern over the trip was that the camp was apparently used as the set for a Jonas Brothers movie.

If the Jonas Brothers came to my house, I wouldn't know who they are.

If they sang one of their hits, I wouldn't know the song.

But Chris knows them and he thinks they're wusses. And he wants no part of staying in the same cabin they once inhabited.

So there.

- - -

I got home from taking Chris to the bus and Pad was finishing up the hot breakfast I made him before we left, because that's the type of dad I am. Just because mom's away doesn't mean the risk of malnutrition or poisoning goes up right away. Sometimes it take two or three day to get to that stage.

Anyway, Pad says: "So, it's just you and me until Friday?"

Yep.

"Sweet."

Sweet indeed.

Tonight's agenda included sprinting him to BTNL for training then off to the new Star Trek movie and dinner at The Keg afterward, followed by the last half of the hockey game.

But, life intrudes.

Pad has to work at Ice2Ice tonight.

So, it will be BBQ steaks and Caesar salad and the hockey game after work and after BTNL.

Which is still a pretty good deal.

- - -

The best line from Monday goes to Justice Bruno Cavion, presiding over the trial of a woman accused of assault for throwing scalding hot coffee in the face of a fellow GO Train commuter at Union Station:

"Either she's insane or she's evil, one or the other," he told her lawyer.

Amen brother.

Some of the things that happen on the GO Train station platforms and in the stairwells would be considered torture even at Abu Ghraib prison. I'm sorry that this gentleman had to endure such abuse.

I'm thrilled the judge smacked down this self-absorbed twit for her behaviour.

You can read the whole story here.

- - -

My hectic schedule today has meant I have not had time to do a read of my usual information sources, so I'm going to sign off now.

If the Pens don't win tonight, the season is all but over.

Enjoy the evening. To members of this household hither and yon, enjoy yourselves and stay safe.

June 1, 2009

A good friend said it last night, and he's right.

The Penguins must feel like they're living in the movie Groundhog Day. Last year's final seems to be repeating itself.

And the mystery of what PJ Stock does continues on Hockey Night in Canada.

Read more here.

- - -

A new era in late night TV starts tonight. Jay Leno gives way to Conan O'Brien on the Tonight Show. At the same time, Leno will launch a new talk show in September, at 10p.

Read more here.

- - -

Today is Day 1 of the Greenbriar Bachelor Days -- Laura ran from the house to a waiting cab (I had to stay and get the boys to school instead of drive her to the airport) and that was that.

Chris heads off to the wilds of cottage country on a school trip tomorrow morning, and then it's just me and Pad to keep the Swiss Chalet delivery guy in business.

We think we're up to it.

I warned you blogging would be iffy this week. So far, it is.

- - -

Oh -- one other thing.

Cool guys don't look at explosions. They turn around and walk away in slow motion.

Here's the proof.

May Archives and other older, stale-dated material here