March 29, 2010
I gather that Black (Ice) Forest Bakery and the Sun Valley Dental Centre Vipers put on a game for the ages on Saturday night in the minor bantam white final at River Oaks.
As previously noted, both coaches in this one are friends of mine – and in fact, they are very good friends with each other. Only a week before the championship game, the two were actually on a golf vacation with their boys together.
Anyway, a titanic battle was scoreless after regulation, with Black Ice eventually prevailing 1-0 in overtime.
A couple of classy side notes: first, when Brian told me the score, his only editorial comment on the game was that he felt terrible for Rick and the Vipers because there really deserved to be two champions. I know he really meant it, too.
The second thing is that before the game, the coaches arranged to order 32 ball caps for the kids, half which said Champion, the other half read Finalist.
I thought that was a really nice touch for the boys.
Congratulations to both teams. Sorry I missed the action.
- - -
We had a blast in Prescott – we didn’t win the championship or anything, but there were a lot of laughs and some good hockey. Our guys went 1-2 and played well enough to win all three, including a 2-1 loss to eventual champions Don Mills.
The local folks treated us like royalty and there was always someone with a smile to answer questions. The weather was cool but sunny, the driving easy, the dinners late and filled with laughing.
A personal highlight of the weekend occurred early in our final game Saturday night. If you’ve ever attended an NCAA hockey game, then you know some of the student chants in some rinks can get very creative.
And thus it was in Prescott, too.
One section of the stands was filled with a vocal group of locals and after a hit right in front of them early in the game they latched on to Sens #2 as an apparent favourite. Whenever he touched the puck, they chanted “Arnold, Arnold.”
When he went off the ice, they yelled “We Want Arnold.”
The rest of the team and coaches were finding it tough to attend to the game because they were all laughing pretty hard whenever the chants started up. Our #2 was left just shaking his head trying to figure out what was up with the fans.
Anyway, when Toronto scored a powerplay goal in the first period, #2 was on the ice and then the chant became “Not Arnold’s Fault! Not Arnold’s Fault!”
It was very funny. When we arrived for the team meal later that night, the team took up with the chant again in a very silly moment.
It was a long drive but a fun time and I’m glad we went.
And thus the 2009-2010 midget AAA season ends for us – a fun ride, an educational experience and an opportunity to make a bunch of new friends. It was rewarding on all fronts.
- - -
While I was away I missed my bench duties with an Oakville Timbits squad in the Erindale IP Festival. I'll get back on the ball with those guys now.
- - -
A busy day for me so I have to cut it off there for now.
On the long drive home yesterday listening to #2’s music I pondered how many of these drives we’ve done over the years and the miles logged in search of hockey and lacrosse. The answer is many, many, many.
As parents we don’t often stop and think about how many more there will be, but that’s exactly what I thought about yesterday and the unsettling answer is: far fewer than I’d like.
Savour those road trips with your kids. They’re meant to be fun. If you have to listen to rapper Jay-Z, well, that’s a small price to pay for time with your kid.
Maybe when the tournament trips end we’ll have to start going to baseball spring training or something.
I hear that’s a good time, too.
March 26, 2010
OK. I lied.
I wasn't going to write today but I heard about the goings on in MOHA's midget house league white division and I had to post something.
This particular division -- otherwise known as The Greatest Division in the History of Minor Sports -- wrapped up its playoff schedule on Wednesday night.
Going into the final three games for the six-team loop only two teams had no chance to advance to the championship game, which meant all the games meant a great deal to someone. Further, the two teams that had been eliminated were the 1st and 3rd place teams from the regular season. Go figure.
Anyway, a scenario existed where it would be possible that there could -- could -- be a four-way tie for first after the playoff schedule finished. (Under the rules, each team played each other once and the two teams with the best records would advance to the final.)
So. Guess what happened?
Four of the six teams finished tied for first with 3-2-0 records. Amazing doesn't cover it.
And it gets better.
By the time the dust had settled and the team of accountants and actuaries had finished up with the calculators working out the various tie-breaker scenarios, two finalists were determined.
And those two teams were the 5th place and 6th place team from the regular season. Last and second last go to the final.
I love it!
And even better, the 6th place team actually lost their first two playoff games and then ran the table to secure a place in the final.
It had to be a thrilling night for all concerned and the real winners, regardless of what happens in the final, are the boys and coaches who made it all happen, and the parents who supported them all winter. (Not to mention a convener somewhere who presided over the most balanced division I'm aware of!)
Congratulations to all concerned on a great competitive season, the likes of which I've not heard of before.
And good luck in the final!
- - -
For the 6th or 7th time this spring, they played We Are The Champions for an Oakville Ranger team, as my pals on the minor bantam A Rangers dumped Uxbridge 5-2 last night at Glen Abbey to take the OMHA crown.
I've known a bunch of these kids since Timbits and I simply couldn't be happier for them and the coaches and parents.
My understanding is that the parents were almost as excited about winning the OMHA title as they were about avoiding another drive to Uxbridge this weekend.
Way to go guys. Congratulations.
- - -
The OPJHL final between Oakville and Kingston is turning into one for the ages.
The Blades won last night in Kingston 4-3 to take a 3-2 series lead and they could win it on Saturday night at Joshua Creek Arena.
Every game has been decided by a single goal and three of the five have been in OT, including one double OT game.
- - -
Meanwhile, in lacrosse news . . .
I'm told that plans to resurrect house league midget lacrosse in Oakville -- a division that has been dormant for several years because of low registrations and the tendency of those who did register to treat the games as an MMA training ground -- may be in jeopardy because there's not enough house leaguers signed up.
I know a dedicated a well intentioned group of parents spearheaded this worthy drive to get the midgets back on the floor and they're hoping there will still be some kids come out of the woodwork to bump up the numbers.
If you or someone you know is interested in midget house league, visit the association contact page here for info on getting in touch with someone, or drop me a note and I'll make sure it gets to the right person. You can reach me here.
- - -
Hey -- the Leafs win in OT again. Cool. It's almost like a real hockey team, but without the bother and worry about playoffs! Read more here.
- - -
OK -- now I'm done.
I'll be loading down the car with the larger son and driving to Prescott shortly. Enjoy the weekend. Get out and support house league Awards Week. Have some fun.
As I said yesterday, hug the kids.
March 25, 2010
Heading into the final weekend of March I’m tempted to start talking about taking off snow tires and other rituals of spring. I already managed to remove the Christmas lights from the house last week – something that takes a lot less time than putting them up, at least at our place.
But given that Pad and I are off to eastern Ontario tomorrow for yet more hockey, I think I’ll wait at least another week. We spent most of the 1990s living in Ottawa so we know how fickle the weather there can be – cracking blue sky one moment, fierce ice storm the next, then a heat wave.
We’re off to something called the Leo Boivin Midget AAA Showcase (the words “midget showcase” almost always put me in mind of diminutive folk in a display case with their noses pressed up against the glass) and we’re told as far as season-wrap parties go, this one is a show stopper.
Leo Boivin is a hall-of-famer from Prescott and the namesake for both the tournament and the rink it is played in – and, I suspect, a bunch of other stuff in Prescott. He was famous for being hard-nosed and delivering bodychecks that would loosen the dental fillings of his opponents, and word is that the aura around the tourney is more or less a tribute to his style of hockey.
For example, it’s not uncommon at tournaments for there to be a local rule where a fighting penalty gets you ejected from the tournament. There’s no such rule for this one.
Anyway, we’re looking forward to the weekend as a last hurrah for the season. The goal is to have some fun, play/watch some hockey, and get out of town without any injuries or suspensions.
I’m a man of simple needs.
- - -
All of which means I’m going to miss a lot of house league action in Oakville as the MOHA Awards week kicks off at 8a Saturday at River Oaks. Over the weekend, 23 championship games will be contested, with six more to follow during the following week.
For the uninitiated, Awards Week is sort of a collision of the Stanley Cup finals and Mardi Gras, creating an atmosphere that is electric for the kids, exciting for the parents and occasionally nerve wracking for the coaches.
I mentioned earlier this week that two of my best friends are facing each other as coaches in the minor bantam white final and I’m very disappointed to miss it as we’ve travelled so many of the miles together with the 1996 cohort.
There are honestly no two better guys and true believers in the goals of minor hockey than Brian Metler and Rick Stevens – I’ve coaches with and against both of them – and I know the kids are in for a heck of an experience on Saturday evening. (6:30p start at RO, good seats still available but hurry.)
Good luck to both teams.
As an aside:
Brian, all the things Rick says about you are, generally, exaggerated. Except the part about the parent scouts in the stands wearing headsets, which seems a bit intense.
And Rick, Brian has nothing but nice things to say about you and hardly seems bothered at all by the way you use wing-mounted infrared cameras on flights of our national flag carrier to film other teams’ practices as you prep each week. It seems perfectly rational. Sort of.
From Tyke Blue to Midget Red, and all points in between, I hope every player and coach comes away with an experience half as great as some of the ones I’ve been lucky to have during past Awards Weeks.
Good luck to all. Click here for the schedule.
- - -
PS – bring a non-perishable food item to the rink as a food-bank donation on your way into Awards Week, or make a cash donation to the food bank to one of the volunteers at the door.
We’re lucky that we have a community that doesn’t turn its back on those in need. Lead by example.
- - -
I don’t have a lot to add to the hub-bub surrounding the return of Tiger Woods to the golf tour. His fall from icon status happened while we were at a tournament on US Thanksgiving weekend in Kitchener, and the story continues to build and unfold as we prepare for a final tournament at the other end of the province.
Someone on TV said recently they will still be in awe of all the things he can do on a golf course, but they won’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth off the course. I think that about sums it up.
But his return to Augusta is going to be big in ways we’ve never seen around a sporting event. The head of CBS News and Sports predicts that other than Obama’s inauguration, it will have no news coverage equal in the last 15 years.
So, get ready for a lot of Tiger, or unplug from the world.
If in the course of the next few days you’re looking for a fairly definitive and lengthy review of all things Tiger – his impact on the game, on TV, on the economy of sports, and much more – get a REALLY large coffee and take a look at the New York Times Magazine piece on the world’s most recognizable athlete.
Click here for a weekend-worthy read.
- - -
I don’t expect to be around the blogosphere tomorrow but you never know. I may report in on the weekend if anything interesting happens on the road trip, but more likely I’ll just wait until Monday. One of the quirks of this tournament is that other than knowing that we play at 4p Friday we have no clue when our other games are.
Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
So, hold a thought for me in the company of 18 or so midget AAA hockey players this weekend.
If you’re on the road too, drive carefully.
Enjoy awards week and good luck to everyone.
Hug the kids.
March 24, 2010
Every spring in Canada, the ice and snow slowly recede. The days gradually get longer and the sun sits higher in the sky, suddenly making the inside of your car a lot warmer, even on short drives, than it would have been a few weeks ago.
Leaf fans gather around calendars to start betting pools on the exact date of their team’s mathematical elimination from playoff contention, pitchers and catchers report to spring training in advance of their baseball teammates, a lots of Oakville kids do themselves, their organization and their town proud in playoff action.
And just as inevitably, some cop somewhere will write up a ticket against a bunch of kids for playing street hockey. And yep, it’s happened again, this time in Montreal.
Read more here.
- - -
I didn’t see the game but the Leafs lost to Florida last night, and even worse, the Sens won again, their 2nd in a row. We knew the Leafs were going to miss the playoffs, but that fact was only helped along by knowing Ottawa was foundering too.
Oh well.
- - -
In local matters:
The Oakville Blades resume their OPJHL junior A final series with Kingston tonight at Joshua Creekl. The Blades lead the series 2-1 after dropping the opener 4-3, then taking the next two in OT, also by 4-3 scores.
The minor bantam A Rangers are in the driver’s seat tonight at Glen Abbey, where they need just a tie to win their OMHA final with Uxbridge. The Rangers pulled ahead in the series with a 2-0 road win Monday night in Uxbridge. Good luck guys!
- - -
March 23, 2010
During our final Timbits weekend, one player on our squad became the first of his cohort to complain about a referee, returning to the bench after his shift to complain that a player on the other team had pushed him and he should have been penalized.
My first reaction was mirth – this was the very first time these guys had taken the ice with referees, and for the purposes of the game, the refs were really just ornaments. There was no enforcement of offside or icing, and we didn’t really expect to see any penalties.
Nonetheless, this youngster found something to complain about and to that I said simply, get used to it.
My more considered advice to him was that even in Timbits, hockey is a contact sport and while we don’t want full-on bodychecking, there’s nothing stopping a player from being aggressive and pushing his way through a crowd to get to the puck, or to get into the clear, or whatever. You have feet. Use them. Keep moving forward.
And that’s exactly what he did for the rest of the game. He was well within the boundaries of acceptable contact. He simply went out and competed hard for his piece of the ice, just as other players on both teams do.
After the game he told me he couldn’t wait for what he called “full contact” hockey. Remember, this is a six year old using the term “full contact” to me.
It was one of those things that make you go “hmmmm.” There’s no denying that many kids love running into other kids.
In Canada, most minor hockey organizations prohibit bodychecking until peewee – about age 12, even in rep.
There are loud voices for and against this – some say letting kids bodycheck early allows them to learn the fundamentals of the skill while they are young and not really capable of doing too much harm. Others say that introducing it earlier than peewee emphasizes development of a non-skating and non-puck skill, to the detriment of the player’s “skill” development. (I think proper bodychecking is a skill as important as shooting, but stay with me . . .)
I think both sides of this debate are best left locked in a suburban hotel meeting room on a hot day in June to argue their points to their hearts’ content.
I come down on the side of fun. What makes the game “fun” for the most kids?
Right now, I think having kids learn to skate and develop puck skills without having to worry about the one, maybe two guys on the other team who have the requisite coordination, aggression and timing to deliver a decent bodycheck is probably better overall for the kids, up to about age 12.
Both of my boys have always been among the largest kids on their teams. But neither was known as particularly aggressive or nasty -- guys who used their size to tactical, physical advantage. (Laura will tell you that equation changed considerably with the elder son when his skating, speed, and coordination caught up to his size and desire and she now spends much of his games with her hands over her eyes. He’s 16 and plays rep, and at that age and level, the hockey can sometimes be very physical, which the boys enjoy enormously – usually more than their moms. Every rep parent has seen this same movie at one time or another.)
Anyway, all of this is a windy introduction to a story on yet another study on bodychecking, this one suggesting that introducing it to players younger than 12 doesn’t result in more injuries.
All of which is fine and good. The question I keep hearing from parents at rinks or in emails to me here, is what’s the point of bodychecking at all, beyond say AA and AAA rep, where there’s an outside chance a small number of players could progress to higher levels of hockey – whether it’s junior, university or maybe, perhaps, possibly even pro?
Does bodychecking add anything to house league hockey? Does it add anything to AE or single A?
Again, hmmm.
Me, I think it does. I think it’s elemental to the game and the way the game is meant to be played. In Oakville, we’re lucky to be able to offer non-bodychecking options in virtually every house league division, too. And as the boys get older, the skill level in the non-bodychecking divisions gets higher and higher – simply because some pretty skilled kids aren’t interested in risking an injury in their one hockey game a week.
I have an open mind on the topic, and given that more house leagues are going with no-bodychecking rules it’s a debate that is not going away soon.
Anyway.
Click here to read the story.
- - -
And now, for some useless trivia.
I have long admired the work of singer Paul Simon, perhaps more for what he has done since Simon and Garfunkel than that duo’s impressive collection. Simon, to me, ranks as one of the top songwriters of the last 50 years and that he is also an accomplished solo performer puts him in a class with McCartney, Neil Young, Springsteen and very, very few others.
Mother and Child Reunion was a hit single for him way back in 1972. I always liked the song and never paid really close attention to the lyrics, assuming that it had something to do with the reconciliation of some family dispute. Or something.
Well, it turns out that the song is actually about Paul Simon mourning the loss of his dog, which had been struck and killed by a car in New York.
Anyone who ever lost a dog knows how he felt. (Ask me to tell you about Pepper sometime. Bring your Kleenex.)
Anyway, Simon found himself sitting in a Chinese deli staring at the menu. One of the items was a chicken and egg dish called the Mother and Child Reunion (get it? Chicken. Egg. Mother. Child?)
And that’s what he was singing about – that as bad has he felt, the Mother and Child Reunion was only a motion (to the waiter) away.
Huh? What?
Weird. But true.
- - -
Pad has his last midget practice of the season tonight before he and his team head off to Prescott for a season-ending tournament.
Season-ending tournaments always make me a little nervous, often best left in the category of “It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time.”
In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of one I’ve attended in recent years that didn’t surface some kind of long-simmering intra-team dispute.
So, I’ve got that to look forward to I guess.
Because I’m going to be away I’m going to miss a lot of Awards Week games next weekend and I regret that, not least of all because two of my best friends are coaching teams that will face each other in the minor bantam white house league final. I would really like to be there for that one. Oh well.
In the meantime, two hours of ice tonight!
March 22, 2010
You’ll have to be patient as I ease back into this thing.
- - -
Topping to the local hockey news, the midget AAA Rangers and the atom AE Rangers both copped OMHA championships on the weekend. The older guys now advance to the OHF tournament, where I’d have to think they are among the favourites. They are a very, very good team.
The atom guys probably advance to a very loud pizza party or something similar. Good for them, too. It’s an outstanding accomplishment and a memory to last a lifetime.
- - -
Speaking of such memories, the Timbit season concluded on the weekend and hats off to Adele and Ann and the rest of their team who made the trains run on time and gave the kids a weekend they’ll not soon forget.
You have to member these guys don’t get to play real games during the winter – they get one informal scrimmage a week on a third of a sheet of ice.
So being turned loose on the big ice at River Oaks with real refs and music and announcers and screaming fans – well, suffice to say it blew their minds.
And mine.
A big thank you to the many MOHA volunteers who helped out on Sunday, and to Tim Hortons for their continuing support of the kids.
Tims donated coffee, hot chocolate and medals, and every player took home a lovely Sidney Crosby puzzle, too.
Both of my guys are Timbit grads and I still enjoy the vivid recollection of Christopher following the Erindale Pre-Tyke Tournament, his first taste of tournament hockey, and a good one in that his team won their final, beating another Oakville squad 2-1.
On our way out the door, one of the tournament volunteers asked him if he had fun.
He replied: “It is the greatest day of my life!”
It was, too. And he wasn’t the only one. That’s the reaction we try to get from the kids on a weekend like the one we just had.
Anyway, that big rumble you felt in the distance on Sunday around noon was the Oakville Blue Thunder taking to the ice to meet the Oakville Orange Crush in Timbit action.
Was it a good game?
Let me just say that years from now, when the rinks of River Oaks have returned to the Earth as dust and memories of all of us are long gone, elders will still bow their heads and speak in reverential tones about the battle that took place on the big ice at River Oaks.
It was one for the ages. Blue Thunder 1 Orange Crush 1. As it should be.
Take a moment to say hi to the smiliest bunch of hockey players you’ll ever meet.
Blue Thunder!
March 19, 2010
. . . annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, we’re back.
Sorry. March Break made it easy for me to ignore the blog because I was busying lying on a beach and skiing and hiking and . . . OK. I did none of that.
Mostly, I worked from home, as Laura did.
Oh, and just like last year I got sick, though not nearly as sick as I was back then – it was just a Man Cold. A bad one with a fever that would have killed most mortals, but I shook it off.
So Chris enjoyed a week of sleeping late and video games and pizza and buddies over to play video games and eat pizza.
Pad also slept late, skated, and nearly took up residence at BTNL.
Speaking of which, BTNL has a special plaque on the wall where they post the names of athletes who successfully clean-lift two plates – which I think is about 225 pounds.
A clean lift is where you lift the barbell from your waist to under your chin in one motion.
Pad – who also empties two or three or 10 plates a day – managed this feat late last year and this week they added his name to the plaque.
The name in front of him, the last guy to do it? Some guy named Sam Gagner.
I said, if you’re looking to find a reminder of why you push yourself like this, there it is.
- - -
Timbits gala day at River Oaks is Sunday and a gala time will be had by all.
It seems like just yesterday that we were doing the evaluations and trying to prevent the boards from falling on us or the kids. And now the season is all but done.
There are more talented and energetic dads and volunteers than me, and it is a credit to those guys that these kids have come so far in six months.
There were kids who literally could not stand up on skates. And now they’re flying around the ice like so many blackflies, and just about as hard to catch.
If you have a minute on Sunday, swing by and cheer on the most fun group of kids in Oakville hockey.
- - -
The minor bantam A Rangers lost 1-0 in Uxbridge last night, so that OMHA final series is tied with each side marking a win. Game three is Sunday, 6:10p at JC Red. Go Rangers!
- - -
In between Pad’s workouts and practices and my cold and conference calls, we tried to go to a movie yesterday, but Pad vetoed the idea, saying he had a night off and he’d rather just hang out at home.
Fair enough. We bought a mess of ribs and had a nice evening.
But if we had gone to a movie, we would not have gone to see Repoman, a sci-fi futuristic thing about guys who come and repossess the artificial organs of people who fell behind on their obligations for that nifty new liver.
And because I am twisted and bent in ways I won’t get into here, it immediately put me in mind of an old Monty Python sketch about two guys who go to claim organs from people who signed organ donation cards. They didn’t care if you were still alive and in need of the parts – you signed the donation and they want it. Now.
And because it’s Friday and still March Break, I think I will leave the blog at that today.
Get out to a rink and cheer on the kids. More on awards week later, but this is a pretty important time of year for the house leaguers. At the same time, lots of Ranger teams are still chasing OMHA and Tri-County crowns.
Good luck to them all and safe travels.
Enjoy the games. Play hard. Hug the kids.
Click below to see a less than enthused organ donor.
March 12, 2010
Patrick got to see a pretty good hockey game at the ACC last night with the Leafs winning another OT game as Phil Kessel scored on Tampa to give the home side the win and send the faithful into a frenzy.
I guess it’s good they had something to cheer about.
Read more here.
- - -
In case you’ve been under a rock, you may have missed the story about the Oakville toddler at the centre of a $100 million lawsuit by celebutard Lindsay Lohan.
She alleges that e-Trade’s use of the name Lindsay for a baby deemed to be a milkaholic is a deliberate attempt to make fun of her.
To which I say: so?
I have a weather beaten soccer ball in my garage that is more talented than Lindsay Lohan, who, BTW, has been treated for substance abuse and is named “Lindsay” and makes a living off of being in the entertainment news.
If not for the tabloid press and paparazzi web sites keeping her name in headlines for her nightclub outings, she would be wearing a badge with her name on it and finishing every sentence with “ . . . and would you like fries with that?”
Read more here. But I’m in the Oakville kid’s corner.
- - -
Interesting piece in the Globe today on the head-hit issue that won’t go away. The NHL’s complete failure to deal with Matt Cooke’s cheap hit on Marc Savard has set the stage for what could be a very ugly rematch between the two teams – Boston and Pittsburgh – next week.
Fans in Boston – never the most gentle of hockey fans to begin with – are apoplectic that no one on the Bruins took on Cooke after the hit and the team is convulsing somewhat under the pressure to extract a pound of flesh from Cooke. I can’t wait to hear Don Cherry on this one.
The NHL created this mess. It will be interesting to see how it handles it.
Read more here.
- - -
A serious moment -- if you are among the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who donated money to the relief efforts after the terrible earthquake in Haiti in January, you may want to read on.
The Canadian government promised to match funds raised from donations by people like you -- and that commitment left the feds on the hook for about $129 million.
So, guess how much of that money your government has doled out to help Haiti, and to whom?
The answers are, none and no one.
Read more here.
- - -
My devotion to this blogging thing is waning a bit. So, maybe it’s good that March break is nearly upon us. It won’t be a complete break, but it will be a rest. I won’t be here every day.
I have two fairly vivid recollections of last year’s March break – the first one being how it started, with me coming down with the Really Bad Flu on the opening weekend of the break and being unable to move for the entire week.
That was fairly small potatoes compared to the other thing that resulted in Laura having to jet home mid-week to Cape Breton and help out on the home front – a story we are all very glad concluded happily.
Here’s hoping that this year’s break for my family and yours is less eventful than all of that and happy, healthy and fun in the bargain.
Lots of Ranger teams are still competing in OMHA series, so get out and find a game to watch and a team to cheer.
Drive/fly safe. Hug the kids.
March 11, 2010
In the fog of morning (in my head, not outside, where another bright orange sun is peeking over Lake Ontario) I have little to say, and what I have to say is not worth your time or mine.
I was up too late with Older Son at a hockey practice, where it is clear that after months and months the dads are either running out of things to say, running out of patience with one another, or simply tired of the long season. Or some of all of it.
All I know is that I didn’t get to bed until well past midnight and for a horse my age that considerably slows my gait in the morning.
Younger Son has a 9p practice tonight and (I suspect) I will again be at the rink, though for a shorter time.
And then we’ll do it again on Friday night.
- - -
Perhaps the most important story of the day Wednesday was news that Sidney Crosby’s stick has been recovered during inspection of bins from Vancouver headed for Russia.
I’m sure it’s simply an accounting error or something that resulted in the mispacking of the most important piece of Canadian sporting memorabilia to come down the pike in a generation or two.
Read more here.
- - -
While one of us is at Maplegrove enjoying a 9p minor bantam practice, Older Son will be at the ACC enjoying something almost as skilled – the Leafs-Lightning game. Pad received a pair of good tickets for Christmas and oddly he has opted to take the young lady who gave them to him. As opposed to taking his brother. Or me. Or his chauffeur, mom.
I sense a sea change in the pecking order.
You can read a tee-up for the game here, where the Leafs will try to extend their one-game winning streak.
- - -
My friends on the minor bantam A Rangers open their OMHA final against Uxbridge on Sunday evening at Glen Abbey blue, 5p.
Now, if the game had been on the green rink it would have been slightly closer to my house, but it’s still pretty darn close and the time is about a humane as it gets.
So I may actually get out to this one. Maybe I’ll bring an octopus to throw on the ice.
- - -
The NHL’s making lots of friends these days.
The new proposal on head hits will make it illegal to attempt to decapitate a player if he doesn’t see it coming. But will remain perfectly within the rules to attempt to decapitate a player if he has a chance of seeing you coming.
Secondly, the league has declined to suspend or otherwise discipline Matt Cooke – who has already been suspended twice for head hits – for what he did to Boston’s Marc Savard last weekend. The rationale was that the league didn’t take action against Philly captain Mike Richards for a near identical play earlier in the year, so it was better to be consistent that to penalize Cooke.
Utterly brilliant.
Savard may well miss the rest of the season – about 20 games – because of a hit he couldn’t defend himself against laid directly on his head. Cooke keeps playing. Yes, that seems fair.
Read more here.
I like tough, physical hockey as much as anyone.
What I don’t like is cowardly thugs and hit-and-run artists.
If you watched any significant portion of the recent Olympic men’s hockey tournament, you saw a tantalizing glimpse of the game the way it is meant to be played.
Tough. Fast. Generally disciplined. No room on the ice for goons.
(The only failing grade I’d give the Olympics is that it was played on NHL-size ice, as opposed to the larger Olympic standard. The NHL had a chance to correct that problem over the last 10 years as most NHL rinks were rebuilt, but didn’t do what it should have done.)
Anyway, no one missed the goonery and blind-side hits in what may have been the best hockey tournament ever held, and yet there were still many big hits and tough hockey.
The NHL doesn’t get it.
March 10, 2010
Here’s an obligatory follow-up to yesterday’s rant on head shots. The NHL seems to be coming down on the side of drawing a distinction between blind-side head hits, and garden-variety, full-on head trauma.
How terribly progressive.
They don’t get it.
Read more here.
- - -
Dear Michael Ryder:
Thanks so much for wiping out your own goalie in overtime. It’s like you knew what we were thinking!
We know it’s a cliché, but we literally couldn’t have done it without you.
You might want to consider getting some flowers or hockey cards or a steak dinner or something for Tim Thomas. Maybe a beachball!! LOL.
But trust us -- he’ll get over it. We know, because we used to watch Bryan McCabe do the same thing every night!
Anyway, thanks for the two points. And hey – we’d appreciate if you keep the chatter about the draft lottery to a minimum. It’s becoming a pretty touchy subject around here, if you know what we mean!
Best regards,
Leaf Nation.
Read more here.
- - -
The Oakville Blades and Georgetown Raiders are engaged in what is shaping up to be a titanic OPJHL semi final series. The Blades won 5-4 in OT last night at Oakville Arena in front of about 400 folks.
The Blades lead two games to one, and all three games have been one-goal games. Game four is tonight in Georgetown.
- - -
Because it’s almost springtime and because everyone needs a distraction as well as context to put your life into the insignificant context of the universe:
If, as a kid (or even an adult) you ever took time to lay on your back and stare up at the night sky, you’ll appreciate this time-lapse film. Just imagine that every one of those stars has planets around it.
And just imagine there’s some kind of life on even one-one thousandth of them.
OK?
If that’s the case, I bet there’s still a line up at all the Tim Horton’s on those planets. Click to view something really cool, and for really, really cool, go full screen by hovering your mouse over the window and click on the full-screen option in the lower right corner. It was filmed on White Mountain at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii.
I think I'd like to go there.
This is for my buddy Evan. His dad better make sure he sees it!
- - -
For those of you who read the intro to the previous item and thought I was going to link to a photo of Jennifer Anniston wearing nothing but a necktie, sorry.
But, you talked me into it. This is for the business teachers in Peel region.
Click here.
- - -
Way off topic, but . . .
Far be it from me to tell people how to drive, but if I were behind the wheel of a Prius that was accelerating and wouldn’t slow down and the brakes didn’t help, I would:
- Put the vehicle in neutral
- Navigate safely to the shoulder of the road
- Turn off the vehicle
- Call for assistance
- Play Brickbreaker on my Blackberry until help arrived.
You’re welcome.
- - -
“Are you going away for March Break?”
That would seem to be the most popular conversation starter these days as primary and secondary schools play out the string before heading into the break next week.
Our answer is the same as always – no.
We save our travel budget for summertime. Unlike so many of our friends and neighbours, we don’t have a cottage, or a relative with a cottage, or a friend we don’t have any compunction about imposing upon with a cottage. So as regular readers know, in the summer we head east at some point to stare at East Bay, or North Bay, or the Northwest Arm, or some other salty body of water with a geographically specific name. And yes, that’s where we impose without compunction upon relatives and friends.
We have no plans for March Break at home beyond relaxing. The boys want to sleep in. Laura wants to read. I want to putter and go to the gym and I’ll have to work a bit – but the wonders of technology make that easier than it used to be. A blessing and a curse, that is.
And there will be hockey.
March 9, 2010
One of the scariest things you’ll ever see in sport is a hockey player lying prone on the ice after taking a shoulder or elbow to the head. It’s scary enough when it’s a pro.
It’s far more stomach churning when it’s a kid.
As a coach and trainer I’ve seen far too many such incidents.
One of the most heartbreaking was a few years ago when a young house league player took a hit and was down on his knees waiting for the cobwebs to clear. Within seconds, he was up on his skates and in a ball of tears and frustration, he skated not to the bench, but to the gate by the dressing room, throwing open the door, hurling his gloves off and crying uncontrollably.
He wasn’t crying because of the pain, although I’m sure it hurt. He was crying because it was his third concussion and he knew exactly what the injury was – and what was ahead of him.
This was a player who already had to convince his mother that it was OK for him to play, that hockey is safe, and that he wasn’t risking long-term injury by exposing himself to another possible concussion.
I think he eventually played again that winter, but I think he’s out of hockey now.
And between then and now, there’s been a fair amount of talk but little substantive action to deal with head shots.
Last summer, the OHF directed officials to crack down on head contact. I’ve seen little evidence in the games I see – and I typically see about eight minor hockey games a week – that there has been any big change.
In fact, I could write 10,000 words on calls that weren’t made, ranging from cross-checks to the head, to punches to the head of a player already lying on the ice, to shoulders and elbows to the head.
Game officials have a tough job and if you ask them (and I have) why a particular incident wasn’t worth a penalty, it usually boils down to the official trying to adjudicate a mix of intent (was the head targeted?) or liability (did the injured player bend over, or lean into the hit, or otherwise do something to put themselves in harm’s way and is therefore the author of his own problem?)
The answer, at least for minor hockey, seems perfectly clear to me and that is take almost all discretion out of the call. If you make contact with an opponents head – whether with an elbow, shoulder, fist, stick or foam bat, intentional or not – you’re getting two and 10 (which brings a one-game suspensions). On the ref’s discretion, as in checking from behind, it could be assessed as a major, and the suspension would be three games.
I would argue that for a 2nd offence of head contact the player is automatically suspended for seven games in rep, five in house league.
Third offence? Turn in your jersey.
Yeah, it sounds harsh.
Have you ever held a kid's hair out of his face while he’s vomiting after taking a head hit? That’s pretty harsh, too.
I’m back on the head-hit soap box today because the NHL brass are meeting at a tony resort for their winter meeting and head hits are on the menu.
You can expect a number of things to happen: 1. a lot of golf will be played. 2. cigars will be smoked. 3. nothing much else will happen.
If you want to see an example of what the NHL is taking its goo old time dealing with, here’s Matt Cook’s hit on Marc Savard from Sunday night. Go to the 1:10 mark of the video.
And you can read more on the NHL meeting here.
- - -
My friends on the Rangers peewee AAA team took the silver medal at the Ontario Winter Games on the weekend, marking another strong performance from the group who can count themselves among the province’s elite teams in that bracket.
My correspondent reports:
The Oakville Rangers Peewee AAA hockey team battled injury, adversity and suspension to win silver, as in silver medals, this past weekend at the Ontario Winter Games in men's hockey event. The Rangers were one of eight Ontario peewee AAA teams vying for gold, silver and bronze medals at the three-day event in Gravenhurst, Ont..
The boys opened the tourney with a 5-2 loss to the eventual gold-medal winners the Toronto Marlies. They followed that game up with a key 2-0 win over the London Jr. Knights and then a 5-0 blanking of the Soo Jr. Greyhounds. That win sent them into a semi-final match-up against the Vaughan Kings and the team was full value with a 4-1 win. It was on to the gold medal game and a rematch with the Marlies, the number one-ranked peewee team in Ontario. The Rangers battled hard but lost that final game 4-2. The boys were well-deserving of the silver medals hanging around their necks at the end of the game.
Members of the team are goalies Scott Smith and Michael Bullion, defencemen Matt Spencer, Andrew Burns, Mitchell Prentice, Misha Song , Cameron Mackenzie and Mark Bzowey, forwards Sean Kohler, Sean Courage, Oliver Chau, Ashur Elliot, Andrew Dumaresque, Jesse Barwell, Sam Vasilaros-Wilson, Josh Kosack and Cole Buchan. Team coach is Duncan Harvey, assisted by Paul Harvey, Reggie Nasu and Kevin Gomes. Kirby Dumaresque is the trainer.
Smile and say cheese boys! Congratulations.
March 8, 2010
I spent an unusual amount of time asleep this weekend, so whether interesting things unfolded while I was crashing, I just don’t know.
I do know from Twitter and Facebook updates that several Oakville Rangers teams have advanced to the OMHA finals, so congrats to all of them.
I don’t have the time to quote chapter and verse on everyone, but making it even to the semi finals is a big deal, so getting to a final is wonderful. Good luck in sealing the deal, teams!
Otherwise what little I saw of the Academy Awards last night was like watching paint dry and the Leafs . . . well, they won in Ottawa.
- - -
The minor bantam Jets dropped a playoff game on Saturday, so there will be no awards week game for Chris and his teammates.
But having said that, some things can’t be measured in wins and losses and goals and points, and Chris had a lot of fun this year, as did we.
I can’t believe how fast the season flew by. A couple more weeks and it’s over.
- - -
We had a great Timbits session yesterday, great in that the young guy who was named “player of the game” in our little weekly scrimmage clearly wasn’t expecting the honour and just about flew out of his sneakers with excitement.
One of the dads in Timbits also happens to be in charge of hockey development for the OMHA and he wrote a piece in this month’s OMHA magazine that references his experience in Oakville Timbits and offers some great coaching advice for all of us.
I’d put a link here to the story, but I can’t find one.
But take a look inside your latest Hometown Hockey when it shows up.
- - -
Who is the greatest basketball player ever? Many, if not most, would say Michael Jordan.
Who is the greatest golfer? It probably comes down to three names (off-course distractions notwithstanding): Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Tiger.
Hockey? A short list may include Gretzky, Howe, Orr and Lemieux. It may soon include Crosby, but he has a long way to go yet.
But what about baseball?
No less an authority on baseball than Willie Mays recently wondered in an interview why you rarely hear a debate on who is the greatest baseball player ever.
It’s a great question given that the boys of summer are now in spring training, and it’s all the more interesting because Willie Mays may well be the answer to that question.
I actually remember when I was a kid my dad telling me to pay attention to Willie Mays when he would show up on TV playing the Expos, and he’d run through the litany of The Catch and the Say Hey Kid and all that and no, I didn’t really pay much attention.
But the numbers don’t lie. Willie Mays was and is great and he should be celebrated while he’s still around.660 homers. .302 career average. 3283 hits. Twelve gold gloves. Two MVPs. World Series champion. Yeah, he could play.
So, you’re probably wondering why I’m riffing on Willie Mays, given my general indifference to baseball.
Well, again, back to my dad.
When I was a teen, my dad handed me a book called Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever, by Satchel Paige. Paige may have been the greatest pitcher in baseball history. Because he was black and born in a certain time and place, we’ll never know for sure the answer to that. He wasn’t allowed to compete in the majors when he was in his prime. And even when he did get into the majors in 1948 at the age of 42 – 42!!! – he pitched for four and half seasons, finishing with a 29-31 record and an ERA of 3.29. Remember, he was 47 when he finished.
Anyway, Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever was a seminal book in my life. It opened my eyes to the ugliness of racism but also the wonder of a great talent and where it could lead.
And what does all this have to do with Willie Mays? Well, for one thing, all the things that happened to Mays because he was great never happened to guys like Paige or Josh Gibson or other greats of the "Negro Leagues" as they were called.
And also, well, because Willie Mays knows a thing or two about greatness.
And in this month’s GQ, there’s an interview with Willie and he tells a story about when he and Satchel Paige crossed paths, when Mays was a young man.
The story is short but is awe-inspiring, and, apparently true.
There’s greatness, there’s Best Ever, and then there’s Satchel and Willie.
Click here to read it. And if you’re a sports fan, read it all.
March 5, 2010
Another Friday and another week that flew by is almost behind us.
A number of readers have offered up stories of unhappy dealings with Oakville Transit, and I guess I should say thanks – misery loves company.
Laura returned from her road trip late yesterday afternoon and immediately settled into a relaxing routine of rushing out the door to drive Pad to BTNL, restocking the fridge, tidying and wading through the email that piled up while she was away.
I was at the office until almost 6:30p so I went from the train to BTNL to pick Pad up and then we all spent a good portion of the night staring at one another in a catatonic stupor of fatigue.
Laura won the award for most tiredest and least complainingest.
- - -
Because it’s Friday, some silly things for your weekend – not necessarily as silly as messing (again) with the words to O Canada, but silly nonetheless.
This first little piece of video from the fertile mind of a young film student imagines what Toy Story might have been like if Quentin Tarantino had been the director.
It would have been different, that’s for sure.
In fact, it might have been Inglorious Toyz.
Click below to roll the video.
- - -
The second Friday Folly is from the web site Funny or Die, and is quite a production. Dubbed the Presidential Reunion, the skit imagines President Obama being visited at the White House by several of his immediate predecessors.
Fans of Saturday Night Live will recognize Will Farrell as George W. Bush, Dana Carvey as his father, Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton, Jim Carey as Ronald Reagan, Dan Ackroyd as Jimmy Carter and Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford.
The real kicker is that it’s directed by Ron Howard. The video is more of an anti-Republican, anti-Big Banks political action statement than anything else, but it has its funny moments, most of them courtesy of Will Farrell who is absolutely devastating as Bush Junior, and from Dana Carvey as Bush Senior.
Click below to view it.
- - -
The Oscars will be presented on Sunday night to honour a bunch of films I haven’t seen. At least, I don’t think I’ve seen them. I don’t pay much attention to award shows except maybe for the opening monologues.
Part of the tradition is that high-end advertisers give expensive swag to horribly rich people, which really doesn’t make much sense but, that’s entertainment.
One story making the rounds Thursday was that Sarah Palin got to go through the swag suite and . . . well, apparently you can take the girl out of Alaska, but you can’t take the swag out of her hands. Or something.
The New York Daily News, which has never exaggerated a story or got anything wrong ever, has more details here.
- - -
For the first weekend in many, I don’t think I/we have any pressing engagements on either Friday or Saturday night. No hockey road trips to Buffalo or Collingwood. No dinner parties. No work commitments. Nothing. Don't call. I'm not leaving the house.
There’s a minor bantam practice tonight, but it’s relatively early and I’m hoping to attend.
There’s a playoff game for the same group tomorrow.
There’s more BTNL. I’m sure, and there’s Timbits (who thankfully don’t play at night.)
There’s a Level 2 lacrosse referee’s re-certification course for Pad, plus a junior A poker thingy to raise money for the team.
I’m probably missing some other stuff but it all feels rather manageable for a change.
Enjoy the weekend – the weather is supposed to be sunny and close to double digits both days. A mere two years ago almost to the day, we were all digging out from a big snowfall. So, no complaining.
Check the MOHA/Sportsmanager web sites to see where various Ranger rep teams are doing battle this weekend and get out to see a game. The kids love a crowd, and don’t forget your cowbell.
Drive safely. Hug the kids. Fire up the barbeque. Spring is coming.
March 4, 2010
Yes, I took a day off yesterday. From the blog, not from work. Work and life got in the way of this stuff and I can’t say I missed it!
I’ve been playing single parent for like, 36 hours or some other heinously enduring period of time. I don’t think I’m very good at it.
The evening schedule last night was a bit of a doozy.
Before leaving work I got a text message from Pad. He and another fairly dedicated student athlete were trying to get from Glen Abbey to southeast Oakville via Oakville Transit for a training session at BTNL.
In short, the bus slowed down and then sped away, so they never made it to BTNL, which pissed them off mightily and I can’t say I blame them.
Because for all the tax dollars that get poured into transit, and for all the lip service that gets paid to making sure we try to raise good kids who work hard and respect the system and do things other than sit on the curb outside Blockbuster Video, and all of that, when they get treatment like this it becomes hard to have a rational conversation with them about mutual respect.
Because they were at the bus stop on time. They stepped forward toward the curb as the bus approached. THE BUS SLOWED DOWN. And then he drove off.
You can bet two things happened.
I warned my kid that I have to deal with stuff like this every day of my life, so he better get used to coping with it. It’s not fair or fun, but it happens.
Second, I’m going to be in touch with Oakville Transit and I’ll cc everyone I can think of. Idiots.
Anyway, Pad knew the plan was for me to feed (what else?) Swiss Chalet to Chris. And since he was stuck in Glen Abbey thanks to Oakville’s incompetent transit service, he was going to want to eat sooner than later.
And while he rarely eats such stuff, he wanted some too. So, before I left the office I went online and ordered dinner for the boys to be delivered, because that’s the kind of special, detail-oriented dad I am.
When I got home both of them had finished eating. Pad was still in a black mood, basically holding the view that had it been anyone other than a couple of teenage boys standing at that bus stop, the bus would have stopped. I can’t say I would have come to any other conclusion.
But I didn’t have time to work on my plan to bring Oakville Transit to its knees.
Chris had a band concert at his school so he and I ran out the door to get him to school for 6:30p.
Upon arriving at the school I was told the concert was going to go until 8:15p (previously I was told it would be 7:30p) which was fine. Except I had to get Pad to the Hershey Centre by, um, 8:15p.
So I did what any hockey dad would do.
I told the kid with the saxophone he was walking home from the
concert in the dark.
Or he could take the bus!!! LOLOLOLOL. As if!
I made arrangements with another parent to drive Chris home and I ducked out after he finished his three songs.
I whipped home and got Pad and we hit the road for his cherished Wednesday night two-hour skate with the Sens. I dropped him off, promised I’d return, and then drove back home, lest Chris be abandoned at home until almost midnight.
An email war had broken out at work and I dove into the middle of that. By the time I surfaced it was just after 10p. Time to tell Chris to get in bed and watch TV and then race back to the Hershey Centre.
I got there with enough time to catch about 15 minutes of “dad chat” to make sure I hadn’t missed any team bulletins. I told Pad before drop-off not to shower – just change and hustle out so we could get back home fast. He could shower at home.
To his credit, he did get out fast. We got home at about 11:25p and he was tired and still pissed off about the bus. This guy can carry a grudge like a 90-pound backpack, which I’m pretty sure he inherited from my mother. Chris was almost asleep.
Me? At this point I realized I hadn’t had dinner yet.
I rummaged through the fridge and found leftover ribs! Score!
Pad was drinking (yet another) protein shake and I asked if he wanted some ribs. Unfortunately, he said yes.
I tossed them in the microwave to heat them up and started pondering Plan B for me.
Grilled cheese, I figured. Actually, it sounded pretty good. Except . . . no cheese slices. I’m not sure how a house that leads Oakville in grilled-cheese sandwich production ran out of cheese slices, but I’m pretty sure it was or soon will be my fault.
Pad was now in the family room eating ribs. Letterman was on.
I’m in the kitchen wishing the clock would slow down and making a fried-egg sandwich, which was a pretty good analogy for how I felt.
Fried.
I made toast, slapped the thing together and had a big glass of milk while watching Jerry Seinfeld on Letterman.
It was past midnight.
Laura sent a text saying she had arrived at her hotel at the other end of the province and she called shortly after that. We agreed it was a long day.
We also agreed that it was good to have friends to step up and help with drives when you really need them. We agreed we would combine as an axis of evil to ruin Oakville Transit, and then maybe go to a movie on the weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice, too.
I hope your day was less hectic and you didn’t rely on a bus to get you anywhere.
March 2, 2010
And life goes on.
Got home last night and not only were the Olympics over, but there wasn’t much worth watching on any of the sports channels either.
Leafs are on tonight, though.
Not sure whether to cheer about that.
- - -
My buddies on the minor bantam A Rangers swept Grimsby aside to advance to the OMHA finals against an opponent to be determined.
Hockey analysts tell me they are likely to face Uxbridge, who have a two-game lead over East Gwillembury in that semi final.
Ah, memories of Uxbridge.
Way back when Pad played for the peewee AE Rangers his team played Uxbridge in a quarter or semi final. It was 2006. We drove all the way to Uxbridge on a Sunday afternoon during the Turin Olympics, on a day when Canada was playing Sweden in hockey. Someone in the OMHA forgot to book refs for the game (the OMHA books out-of-town officials in the playdowns), so we got to drive all the way back home with nothing to show for the day but 407 tolls and a missed Olympic experience (Canada lost, so maybe it was best we were in the car.)
Hard to believe that was only four years ago, because it feels like a decade ago.
I hope the 2009-10 minor bantams have a better experience in Uxbridge than we did!
- - -
If you want to read a couple of perspectives on the Olympics – and not entirely friendly ones, either – well, read on.
The first one is from a writer with the Kansas City Star, who says he has attended every games since 1976 and – I’m paraphrasing – has never seen a more jingoistic, less inclusive, more insensitive staging of the event in his experience. Some might suggest he slept through the LA games in 1984, but everyone is entitled to an opinion and here’s his. The money quote:
Yes, every host nation cheers
lustily for its native Olympians. But never in my experience to the
extent that we saw here, where the rest of the world's athletes were
little more than drink coasters at the party.
And then there’s this view, from a writer for The Associated Press, which says the Vancouver games will be remembered, but for all the wrong reasons. Zeroing in on the tragic death of a Georgian luge athlete in a training accident on the eve of the games’ opening, the piece sees little difference among events like the murderous terror attack on Israeli athletes in 1972, the deliberate bombing in Atlanta in 1996 and this year’s tragedy at the luge run. The money quote:
The Vancouver Games opened with grief, and they end under a shadow as everlasting as those cast by the hooded assassins of Munich and the midnight thunder of Atlanta.
- - -
OK, now that you’re good and annoyed, something lighter.
Sometimes during some events at the Olympics it’s really easy to forget how close the athletes are. This was brought into stark focus on Sunday by Devon Kershaw, the Canadian cross-country skier who finished 5th in the 50km men’s race, but was only 1.5 seconds behind the leader. That’s a very close race.
In events where the athletes don’t compete all at once – like downhill skiing – it’s even easier to lose sight of the competitiveness.
(Just as aside, Teamoakville heartily endorses having all 40 or so downhill competitors starting the race at the same time. We’re not sure it would be a fair test of athletic prowess, but it sure would be entertaining. The Americans already have perfected this concept in family sedans. They call it NASCAR.)
Anyway.
The New York Times took some sample results from individual, timed events and plotted the results on a chart, then they added a audible tone to represent each athlete finishing. So, you can press the “play” button and hear how close the athletes who didn’t win anything were to getting a medal.
To me, the effect was startling.
The best one is men’s downhill racing. There was the winner – Dieder Defago of Switzerland – and in the next 1.5 seconds, there were 21 other finishers. So, the guy who came 22nd (which is like, welcome to Loserville, population, you) was actually only 1.5 seconds away from being a national hero and millionaire.
You can click here to find the chart. Press play on the buttons on the left side of the chart (cleverly labelled “play”) and turn up the volume on your computer.
- - -
I’m going to spend the rest of the day pretending I’m excited that the NHL is back.
I hope your day is more productive.
March 1, 2010
My goodness. What to say?
All I could think was – what if we had lost? The post-game celebration from one end of Canada to another was such that the magnitude of the catastrophe if Sidney Crosby had not scored seriously gave me pause.
But he did score, adding to a reputation and resume that few in hockey can equal and he’s only 22. The next 16 or 18 years of his career are going to be something to watch. World junior champion. Stanley Cup champion. Olympic champion.
Canada, say hello to the captain of Team Canada 2014.
There was no talk in the final four or five days of the failure of Own the Podium. Canada won these games, finishing first overall with 14 golds, more than any country has ever won in a winter Olympics. Yes, the US won more overall medals, but gold counts more (not my rule, it’s the IOC’s). we win. The hockey game was just an exclamation point.
There are too many heroes to count. Too many great moments, even for a cynic like me.
It was exciting to be able to watch the game with my family, to see my kids enjoy a truly defining moment in Canadian history that they can call their own.
I said to Laura that if we were really good parents we would have piled on a GO Train and taken the kids to Yonge Street, where tens of thousands celebrated the hockey win.
She looked at me as if I were mad.
I guess we’ll save that trip for the Leafs’ Stanley Cup party (which is why I suggested it in the first place, the likelihood of such a Leaf win in my lifetime becoming so remote that I wanted my boys to experience what a major league championship feels like up close.)
No matter.
I stood over the barbeque last night cooking ribs and listening to the sound of car horns and shouts, even in the wilderness of Glen Abbey. I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them.
And that made me wonder.
Could this win be bigger that Team Canada 1972?
I posed the question via email to near two dozen loyal readers, some of whom, like me, are old enough to remember Paul Henderson’s dramatics of that September. I would have been almost exactly the same age then that my son Chris is now.
Some of the people I asked are younger and would have no personal recollection of 1972. For them it was learned history – sort of like reading about D-Day and watching grainy video.
The results? Not a single person rated yesterday’s Olympic gold as larger or equal to 1972.
Almost everyone touched on a few common threads.
First of all, in 1972 most of English Canada had two channels – CBC and CTV. So, it was a hard game to avoid. Second, there was no Internet or cell phones or text messaging. Fewer distractions.
Next on the list was the political climate of the time. The Soviets were truly enemies of Canada. It was the heart of the Cold War. Nuclear missiles were literally pointed at all our major cities. US-Soviet relations were bad and we played for the US in the political arena. It was Us against Them. Not just in hockey. In everything.
Another big point was that even though we were the biggest hockey fans in the world, we knew practically nothing of the Soviet hockey machine. Very quickly names like Trekiak, Kharlomov, Yakushev, Maltsev, Lebedev, Kuzkin and Mikhailov became part of our vocabulary. But they were a mystery to us.
You can be very sure the Soviets knew every single thing about Team Canada.
And 1972 was eight games played over a month. The suspense and urgency grew over those torturous days. It wasn’t a simple afternoon in front of the TV. It was a shared national experience that took four weeks to play out and scarred us all for life.
Anyway, to a person, the respondents in my small survey were not willing to cede top spot in Canadian hockey history to the events of Feb 28, 2010.
One of the best responses brought to mind what former Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung said when asked 40 years ago to evaluate American democracy. From a culture where things are measured in thousands of years, he answered coyly: “Too soon to know.”
And that was my favourite reply from my survey. “Time will tell.”
Time will tell whether Sunday’s win over the US will mean as much to a generation of young Canadians that have no personal connection to September 1972 as that series does to us older folks.
They will define it on their own terms, as should we all. Blessedly, it's a question with no wrong answer.
Canada winning Olympic gold -- in hockey, in Canada, in overtime, to set a record for Olympic gold medals, is an achievement for the ages. It wasn’t quite The Miracle on Ice because we were expected to win. But as we all know, being expected to win, and actually winning, well, those are two different things.
But, make no mistake about it. A great mythic torch of hockey supremacy has been passed from Henderson (1972) to Gretzky-Lemieux (1987) to Crosby (2010).
And you can be sure it drives the rest of the hockey world nuts.
- - -
Eds note: The following is a true story:
As we sat in the family room waiting for the OT to begin, I gave my prediction.
Crosby would score the winner, I said. I have three witnesses.
Chris looked at me as if to say, come on. More details.
So I added: It would be a rebound. It would be from the left side. It would be at 8:52 of overtime.
It wasn’t a rebound, but it was from the left and I came within a whisker of nailing the time.
I am officially retired from prognostications on OT now.
All of it except picking Crosby was, of course, a guess.
But picking Crosby seemed a no brainer (even though Rick Nash was the best player on the ice Sunday.) Crosby was due.
- - -
The other guy who went from superstar to legend yesterday was Steve Yzerman. The Canadian general manager built this team, picked the staff and coaches, picked the players, and carried the pressure of the country’s expectations with him every step of the way.
The guy's career already ranks among the elite of the elite, the very best in the history of hockey. And now this. Are you kidding me?
PS -- I wouldn’t want the job in 2014. How could you possibly top yesterday?
The only person I felt bad for was Brian Burke, who has been through so much in the last month. The US general manager and Leaf boss said he was grateful for the distraction the games’ tournament provided for him.
I cannot imagine.
- - -
Yeah, we watched the closing ceremonies.
The best part was the bit of comedy on the front end when they welcomed the missing component of the caldron and Catriona Le May Doan finally got her chance to light the flame. That was brilliant and well done.
The rest of the show was sort of over-the-top camp, poking fun at virtually every imaginable Canadian stereotype. I wonder if people watching around the world understood as the giant moose and beavers paraded around the stadium that it was supposed to be funny, or whether the Chinese viewers or Australians thought we were celebrating our icons?
"Look ma! The Canadian love giant amphibious rodents!!"
The only thing missing was Monty Python’s Lumberjack Song.
Neil Young – long, long one of my heroes (my parents can attest to how much time I spent as a teen with over-sized headphones over my ears listening to his music) – performed Long May You Run, a song he said 35 years ago was about his first car and his last girlfriend.
Everyone in Vancouver reacted to one line: “We found things to do in stormy weather, long may you run.”
Indeed.
- - -
The rest of my weekend seems like a blur now.
We watched a good minor bantam hockey game on Saturday. I spend a chunk of Saturday and Sunday with the Timbits. Went to a dinner party Saturday night and caught up with a friend who I used to cover the Nova Scotia legislature with many, many years ago.
We laughed and laughed and laughed over old war stories and got an invitation to visit Dallas any time we want. It might be fun, too.
Laura prepared a great meal last night and all I had to do was throw it on the grill.
Chris negotiated the terms of agreement to wear to school today Pad’s Team Canada jersey that he wore in Lake Placid a couple of seasons ago. I don’t think any punches were exchanged.
When Michael Buble showed up dressed as a Mountie, my time in front of the TV was waning. When Nickelback showed up, I was pretty well done.
On the ride to work this morning I deleted the cow bell app off my Blackberry and deleted the VANOC results app too. There are no events to come.
For an Olympic cynic, I sure enjoyed the last couple of weeks, but life goes on.
Leafs play Carolina tomorrow night.
We now rejoin regular programming, already in progress.