hockey blog may09

May 31, 2009

It's Sunday and there's no field lacrosse.

I told Pad that I could spend some hitting him with a stick if that would help with the withdrawal issues.

He declined.

- - -

The Pens lost, but I really thought they deserved a better fate. But what I think doesn't matter.

As the Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom points out today, Game 2 is just as big, albeit more so for the Pens.

Read the game-over column here.

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The weekend's biggest upset, for all you Susan Boyle fans, was in fact, Susan Boyle.

The Scottish church volunteer finished second on the reality show "Britain's Got Talent."

Somehow, life will go on for all of us in the colonies but I know from the traffic on the links that many of you follow this one.

So . . .

Read more here.

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Stanley Cup finals start tomorrow night and it will be done before Canada Day, we promise.

Pad is picking the Wings in seven.

Chris is picking the Wings in six.

I'm picking the Pens in seven.

This is a total heart over mind selection. We'll see.

Let the mocking begin from other corners of the blogosphere.

Or kill some time while the boss isn't looking by reading this off-day story.

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A loyal correspondent and the best mother in law on the planet points out to Teamoakville that the New York Times has discovered why our family makes like lemmings off the cliff, like swallows to Capistrano, like (enough already!!) or like Nova Scotians missing Nova Scotia every summer and sprint back to the holy sod.

The author and his son discovered Daisy -- or whom I presume to be Daisy -- the moose that wanders Highland Links and really doesn't care whether you're putting, driving or walking.

You can read the Times story on golf in Nova Scotia here.

Below is a photo from a couple of years ago of an Oakville hockey and lacrosse player encountering Daisy at the famous Highland Links.

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Regular readers know that today is Hug Your Kid Day around here.

It's Friday, it's become the regular Friday sign off. Every day is a good day to hug your kid, but on Fridays -- before we head into all the silliness of the weekend and driving and games and travel -- it just made sense to me to remind people.

I only mention this before stating the inevitable because there was a piece in the New York Times this week about teenagers and hugs.

And the gist of it is this: for teens, hugging is hip. It's cool. It's something they like.

So, if you sneak up on an unsuspecting teen this weekend and he or she protests, you can point them to this story and proudly say that if the New York Freakin' Times says teens like to hug, then teens like to hug!

It's non-romantic. It's friendship and support. Boy-girl. Girl-girl. Boy-boy (Laura's comment after a season of watching boy's high school rugby: "They sure hug a lot.")

So shut up and give me a hug, ya' big lug!

Read the story here.

Then hug you kids and enjoy your weekend with them. We'll be at Glen Abbey all day tomorrow, then off -- NOTHING SCHEDULED -- on Sunday. Have fun!

May 28, 2009

Orangeville extracted some revenge on the midget 1 Hawks last night, taking a 7-2 decision at Glen Abbey. The win for the Northmen comes only a few days after the Hawks eliminated Orangeville from the provincial field lacrosse tourney in Brampton.

Oh well. Clearly, we have work to do on the box version of lacrosse.

Our boys now get a well-deserved weekend off before embarking on a busy schedule that will include consecutive weekend tournaments on top of the regular routine of practices and zone games.

- - -

I arrived at Glen Abbey just in time for the face off, sprinting up Third Line from Ice2Ice where I finally got to see some Swamp Hockey -- our improvised three-on-three rec league for family and friends. The kids were having a great time, as usual, and they looked good in the new jerseys.

I'll try to get organized to take some pictures one of these weeks.

- - -

I've read a lot of books and articles about Mount Everest and climbing. In our pre-children days, Laura and I were avid hikers and made it up such hills as Whiteface and Mansfield and Cape Breton's Franey without the aid of motorized vehicles.

So the headline this morning that a Canadian resident died on Mount Everest on May 21 caught my eye.

Frank Ziebarth was a German living in Alberta and he was only 29. He reached the summit of the world's highest peak and died on the way down.

He was attempting his climb without the aid of bottled oxygen.

You can read more here.

- - -

The Red Wings booted Chicago from the playoffs last night, setting up a rematch of last year's final. Predictions to come later.

I think my record now is 10-4.

Read more here.

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Mike Tyson's daughter, just four years old, died yesterday after a tragic accident at home. Tyson is never going to win any prizes as a thoughtful and compassionate guy, but there can't be a parent anywhere that doesn't pause over such a story. The kids are the sun around which our lives orbit.

Tyson's life has never been easy; many of the problems were of his own creation, for sure. You can read an account of the former heavyweight champ's trying life here.

If you really have time for a deeper read, this 1999 Esquire magazine story on Tyson will probably change forever the way you think of the man often characterized as an animal -- assuming you ever think of him at all.

Written well before the events of this week, it is as we say in the trade, a good read.

- - -

Let's end on a lighter note.

Sesame Street, the TV show that taught generations to count to three and then laugh like Dracula, turns 40 this year.

A gossip site has rather uncharacteristically assembled what it calls 10 Awesome Moments from Sesame Street, with accompanying video.

For my money, the Ladybug Picnic should be number one. I doubt my elder son even remembers.

But I am absolutely certain his mother does.

You find the story here.

May 27, 2009

Penguins win.

Blue Jays lose.

The ACC was hopping (or so I was told.) Read review here. (I got my own person review.)

How was your night?

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We have the triple header of lacrosse/three-on-three/~~women drinking wine~~ book club tonight.

Not really sure how we will make all this work, but it will involve relying on the kindness of others.

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When he moved out of the White House, George Bush had to leave public housing behind and downsize considerably.

President Obama, on the other hand, upgraded a tad to the White House.

Click here to see a gallery of homes of the presidents, after their time in Washington expired.

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I like to golf. I don't play as well as I'd like to, which probably puts me in the company of just about everyone who plays or tries to play the game from Tiger to my son Chris.

But having said that, there are two great barriers that golf has to deal with if it ever intends to grow its popularity (which is waning.)

First, cost. A round of golf on a decent course is not cheap, and memberships are beyond the reach of most people.

Second, time. To play 18 holes on a par 70 course is to basically abandon your family for the day. Assuming a 30 minute commute to the course, allow an hour before and after your five-hour (minimum) round. So seven hours of your day spent in the pursuit of golf.

I'm not sure what colour the sky is in your world, but that won't work where I live.

My kids are coming of an age where we can actually golf together, but that also brings point 1 back into play.

As a kid growing up in Nova Scotia I worked at a fairly high-end golf course, first a season in the club house running the locker room (washing towel, cleaning shoes and other major duties) and then on the grounds crew.

I met a lot of guys with families. There was generally a direct correlation between the quality of their games and the amount of time they spent at the golf course. Many of them had ex wives.

Hmmm.

Anyway, there's a story in today's Globe about an idea being pursued by an Englishman to create a version of golf to speed things up, called PowerPlay golf. It's an interesting idea.

I don't see it catching on.

But you decide. Read about it here.

- - -

Fairly lame offering today, I admit. Too many things going on.

See you at Glen Abbey tonight.

Or Ice2Ice.

Or the LCBO.

Or in front of a TV watching the Blackhawks trying to stop the inevitable.

Or . . . somewhere.

May 26, 2009

The NHL playoff schedule is really getting annoying. It seems pretty straight forward -- two conference finals, one game every other night. Right?

Wrong.

Better to keep the massive US television audience on their toes I guess than give reliable scheduling to the real fans of the game.

Action resumes tonight; the Pens look to sweep the Canes. I'm guessing Carolina wins this one.

Just a word about schedules -- according to the Globe and Mail, the NHL has changed its mind and will start the finals on Saturday if both conference champions have been declared.

Previously, the league was insisting on waiting until June 5 to start the finals -- giving everyone a chance to forget about hockey, turn off the TV, and wander off into the forest.

Saner minds apparently prevailed. Read more here.

- - -

Former Leaf Peter Zezel is reported to be gravely ill. with a rare blood disorder. He is only 44.

Read more here.

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Of the many useless things I link to here, one of the most popular -- even including Jen Jen -- is anything about Susan Boyle, the Scottish lady with the frumpy look who is making a splash as a singing sensation on Britain's Got Talent.

You will be happy to know that she has stormed into the final round and is now the odds-on fav to win the whole thing next week.

Her win this week was powered by her rendition of Memories, from Cats.

The judges have never heard me sing the entire score of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which at the very least would add a benchmark for the weaker performers to beat as well as trigger a pretty good test of the emergency evacuation procedures of any theatre.

But that's another story.

You can read about Susan Boyle here.

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Speaking of singers, Elton John and Billy Joel are performing together tonight at the ACC.

While some people will be dining out and attending and enjoying a night on the town, I will be ferrying to and fro' a two-hour lacrosse practice.

I'm not bitter. I never am.

- - -

I get a fair amount of email about that photo of Jennifer Aniston I occasionally link to -- and no, I'm not linking to it today. It's only Tuesday and if I did that, well, what would the rest of the week build towards?

But I saw a story in the New York Times about the Second World War-era phenomenon of pin up girls and it made me think of Jen Jen, among several other things I won't get into here.

The story is anchored around Donna Reed, who you might remember as Jimmy Stewart's co-star in It's a Wonderful Life. She was, in any era and by any objective yardstick (EDITOR'S WARNING -- TOTALLY POLITICALLY INCORRECT TERM COMING UP) a total babe.

Smokin' hot. A worthy candidate to be an Oakville hockey mom.

Anyway, it seems Donna actually saved hundreds and hundreds of the letters that American GIs sent her during the war, which is find of sweet.

And the simple, respectful prose of the letters, sampled in the Times story, harkens to an era we can scarcely remember let alone relate to. A letter from a 20 year old to a starlet today is just as likely to start with "Yo, biatych!" or something equally clever.

So to read a line penned by a Marine sergeant saying "I think you're swell" is a bit jarring and reassuring all at the same time.

Donna Reed died nearly 25 years ago, but clearly she understood how important she was to morale during the war.

The story is a nice read, and you can find it here.

- - -

Regular readers know that I watch the New York Times closely. That's because it's a really fine news site/newspaper.

The editors care about getting things right, which I respect. They understand what they do, and the relationship with readers, is based on trust.

If National Enquirer reports on something, you kind of shrug. If the Times reports on it, you pay attention. Or at least I do.

One of the ways they buttress that trust is by having a public editor, sort of an ombudsman who explains the inner workings of the Times to readers and occasionally smacks reporters and editors around. It's called accountability and it's a good thing. I suspect you can always find the public editor in the cafeteria because he's the one sitting alone.

Anyway, this week's missive from the desk of the ombud is particularly entertaining.

You can find it here.

- - -

Two child-related items.

First:

My older son is reaching an age where preliminary conversations take place about future career options. He's a very good student actually, and he particularly enjoys and excels in math and science. And as every guidance counselor will tell you, that's a good thing indeed. So, we've been talking up things like engineering, naturally.

For his part, he has expressed only one single desire. He does not want to sit behind a desk.

Fair enough.

As part of his high school course load, he took a course last year in basic automobile mechanics. It was really an introduction to the internal combustion engine, the basics of minor repairs, etc. It was an elective meant to broaden his otherwise top-heavy math and science load.

The thing is, he really liked it. He loved working with his hands.

So he said, maybe I'd like to be a mechanic. We said, that would be great (his grandfather was a machinist) because good mechanics have a job for life and make good money.

Then I said, why just fix cars? If you're good and math and science, why not design cars?

And that piqued his interest and that was about as far as that conversation went.

But this next story is all about careers that make you use your hands, and how just because a kid's parents went to university and work in a cubicle doesn't mean the kid has to. And it makes sense.

Maybe the trend of the last 20 years to try and force everyone into an arts degree for four years and then a management trainee job wasn't the best strategy.

Some of the most successful people I know in our town are tradespeople -- electricians, contractors, etc or otherwise self employed by using their hands -- and I think most people would love the lifestyles they have.

Anyway, a long introduction to this story, which I will make my kid read.

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Second child-related item:

Text-messaging may be bad for your kid's health. It is reported that the average US teen sends or receives about 2,300 texts a month. I'm here to say my kid is north of that number.

Anyway, parents like me should not be surprised to read that the possible consequences of this behaviour include anxiety, distraction, sleep deprivation, and repetitive stress injuries, among other things.

While not condoning non-stop texting, I will point out that when we were teenagers there was no end of things -- listening to loud music being one example -- that were going to kill us.

We're still here, and we have the added benefit of ruined hearing, which means we don't have to listen to Eminem when our kids play it on long drives to lacrosse games.

You can read the text message story here.

- - -

Congratulations to my buddy Brent, and to Lisa too, for their election to the MOHA board.

Good additions. Good luck to all and thanks for volunteering.

May 25, 2009

I'm going to keep it brief today. Too many things to do in the real world, I guess. But first, a quick recap of the weekend.

The midget 1 Hawks lost their semi-final 7-4 to Halton Hills, setting up an appearance in the bronze medal game.

The 1993 cohort of Oakville lacrosse, I'm told, only won a medal on one previous occasion, as novices many years earlier (before my kid played). Only four or five players from that novice roster are still among the numbers on the midget roster today. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Before the game, it was abundantly clear to all the kids and parents that everyone really wanted to beat Oshawa and get a medal. Because as midget-age players, this was it.

This would be the final game of field lacrosse many of the boys would play. There's no field program for intermediate. Hockey and other interests will drag them in different directions.

They would get to stand together one last time on the big field in competition and then move indoors for the box season to finish up their minor lacrosse careers.

The game with Oshawa was extremely close and hard fought. Oshawa played an excellent game of patient ball control in the face of Oakville's sturdy defence. Our attack could best be described as streaky and opportunistic. We have a core of guys who can bury the ball on attack. We have a core of guys who can lay you out flat out flat on defence.

After regulation time the score was 4-4, which is very low scoring for field lacrosse.

The game would go to two four-minute straight-time halves. The first half yielded no goals.

The second half was shaping up the same. With 40 seconds left, Brian Cole did what he's done all year and played sniper, burying the go-ahead goal. Oshawa called a timeout to regroup for the final seconds.

Oakville won the draw and the final seconds were basically a footrace with the Oakville guys sprinting and passing to kill the clock, which they did.

Everyone said the same thing of this team, the core of which has been basically the same for five years now.

"Finally, a medal."

To be among the top three in Ontario is a great achievement, and at midget 1 -- the oldest, biggest and toughest level of minor field lacrosse -- it is a wonderful statement about how far this group travelled. Personally, I felt best for Lorne and Bob and Hunter and Jeff, who have stood on the sidelines with these guys for years, teaching and waiting for them to discover that they have what it takes to beat the likes of Six Nations and Orangeville and Oshawa. And finally, they did. In all three of those games, Oakville broke a game open to win, instead of the other way around.

Congratulations to all the boys, to the coaches and well done to the parents who have been a big part of the team.

- - -

Just as an aside, a personal highlight of the weekend. (Hey. It's my blog.)

Early in the semi final game, one of the speedsters on Halton had the ball and was positioned one-on-one against #39 from Oakville. From the sidelines and from the field, his teammates implored him to "take this guy. You can beat him."

After sizing up the defender for a moment, the Halton player made his move.

The photos below captured that moment, first the challenge, and then when the Halton player went airborne backwards after getting hit head on. He ended up flat on the turf.

Apparently #39 had other ideas about who could take him. The Oakville bench went nuts.

The next time he went one on one with #39, he passed the ball.

- - -

Halton Hills went on to win the gold -- congratulations to them. They play very well -- hard, fast and clean. They are worthy champs for Midget A. Peterborough took the silver.

- - -

The midget 1 squad was just one of six Oakville teams at provincials and all six made it to the final four playoffs on Sunday. I'm not sure if any other minor lacrosse association was so well represented on the final day, but regardless it was a great day for Oakville lacrosse.

In Novice A, Oakville won silver.

In Novice B, Oakville won silver.

In Novice C, Oakville won bronze.

In Peewee A, Oakville lost the bronze game 5-4 to Toronto Beaches.

In Bantam A, Oakville won bronze.

And in Midget A, well, you know that story. Bronze.

Six teams, five medals. Congratulations to all the Hawks players and coaches; congratulations to all the winners and medalists on all the teams.

And thanks to our hosts in Brampton. It was a great day with wonderful weather and a friendly, festive atmosphere as cheers and groans exploded from all around the sprawling Sandalwood Sports Fields complex.

My days of spring field lacrosse are, sadly, over. But what a finish.

- - -

As noted above, the Oakville lacrosse program has served notice that it has the foundation in place to be a powerhouse for years. Strength in novice, peewee and bantam bodes well for the future.

And as also noted, the midget Hawks know full well that early success does not give you a free pass to future success. The 1993 kids -- the old men of our program -- qualified numerous times for the field provincials, but after novice they never again played in a medal game until yesterday.

So here's a toast to the smiling faces below of the Novice 3 Oakville Hawks -- proud representatives of the future of Oakville lacrosse. Here's to their great 6-5 win over West Durham on Sunday. And here's hoping in the years ahead they find the magic of sports alchemy to turn bronze into gold many times!

Well done Hawks!

May 24, UPDATE

More tomorrow, obviously.

But it was a good day all in all.

May 24, 2009

I got home from Montreal just in time to change and then run to Brampton, where the midget 1 Oakville Hawks were facing off against Orangeville in the first elimination game of the 2009 Ontario field lacrosse championships.

Orangeville beat us 7-6 a week ago in Kitchener at qualifiers, so the Hawks knew what to expect.

It was a great game. A 4-1 Oakville lead soon turned to a 5-4 Orangeville lead and the teams entered the fourth quarter knotted at 6.

Then, as they did a week ago against Six Nations, the Hawks found something down deep and reeled off six goals in a row to pull away. Orangeville scored two late ones, but the result was in the bag, a 12-8 win for Oakville.

So at 1p today they play Halton Hills in a semi final -- a win sends them to the goal medal game.

In a good picture from last night's game, the look on long pole/middie Bryan Heggum's face tells you that he didn't come to lose as he rushes the ball down field.

Good luck today guys.

- - -

May 22, 2009

Anyone go to the MOHA AGM last night? Anything interesting happen?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

- - -

Last night I was in a pub on Crescent Street in downtown Montreal, eating inappropriately and watching the Canes-Pens game with some folks from hither and yon. A good time was had by all. It was a beer-related incident.

Montreal is a great city to visit at the best of times. If you happen to be here on the day that spring truly breaks wide open -- 30 degrees, blazing sun, and the best-dressed women in Canada (outside of Glen Abbey, I mean) struggling to get away with as little clothing as possible in a gusty, humid wind -- well, you are fortunate indeed.

And me and my colleagues were so blessed as we risked neck injury walking to a downtown office tower for a meeting.

I'm sure lots of Canadian cities had great weather yesterday.

But this is Montreal. Awesome.

- - -

For most of the last 24 hours my Blackberry has been pelted with automated emails from GO Transit pointing out one major delay after another on the Lakeshore West line. I can't say I'm missing that too much. I hope they get it figured out by Monday.

Canadians have been travelling by train since before this place was called Canada.

You'd think we'd have it figured out by now.

- - -

Speaking of AGMs, I have one of my own here in Montreal today as well as a board meeting and then the National Newspaper Awards tonight. A quick business meeting over brunch in the morning and then I'm hopping a plane back to The Land of Stationary Trains to catch what's left of the weekend with the family.

Yes -- lacrosse is again on tap.

Pad and the midget 1 Hawks open the provincial field lacrosse championships with a game today at 1p and another tomorrow at 2p. They'll be playing Halton Hills (very good team) and Peterborough (also very good.)

I'll be missing both of those games but will arrive home in time to shoulder the inevitable early-morning Sunday game.

And as Maxwell Smart used to say . . . "and loving it."

Chris has a 5p game tomorrow night and I will be at that one, too.

- - -

Speaking of lacrosse, Canada's first professional field lacrosse team makes its home debut tonight at BMO Field.

The Toronto Nationals is a team with deep -- very deep, in fact -- connections to Oakville lacrosse through ownership, management and players. Not to mention fans.

Field lacrosse is one of the great sports in the world. It combines the speed of hockey with the athleticism of basketball and the brute physicality of rugby. If you've never seen a game, now's your chance to see it being played by some of the best players in the world.

Read more about the big home opener here. Come out and support the team!

- - -

This is going to have to hold you for a while. My schedule this week has meant a lot of extracurricular news and info consumption has gone by the boards, so I have no interesting links.

I could talk about the miracle of Montreal cab rides, the miracle being anyone survives one.

Or I could talk about that crash you heard, which was the Toronto Blue Jays returning to Earth finally.

Or I could talk about the NHL playoffs, but most of you are far better analysts than me on that issue (and my wife says you don't want my opinion on the NHL.)

But for now there are documents to proof read and meetings to attend and hands to shake.
It's really spring now. Get outside. Have some fun. Toss a ball with the kids. Go to a driving range. Go fishing. Take a walk.

And after the events in Woodstock this week, you don't need me to remind you. But I will.

Hug your kids.

May 20, 2009

I am happy to report that the young Six Nations athlete injured Monday evening in a game with Oakville is out of hospital and recovering fine, with a concussion and whiplash, but recovering nonetheless. Great news.

To clarify yesterday's post on this matter, the Oakville Hawks joined the Six Nations team around the injured player as he was being attended to at the invitation of the Six Nations team. That stands as the classiest thing I have seen at a sporting venue in years.

The more typical reaction in midget lacrosse would have been for someone to mumble "we're gonna get that guy" who delivered the hit. Or for there to have been an instant melee.

Six Nations did exactly the opposite -- openly acknowledging that it was a clean hit that had an unfortunate consequence. Their invitation to Oakville to join their team with their friend was an amazing act of sportsmanship; it says no hard feelings. It says it's part of the game and we all know it.

Get well Daulton. See you up and around soon.

- - -

A correction to yesterday's post -- unfortunately for Six Nations its loss to Oakville knocked them into a three-way tie and they lost on the tie-breaking formula. Three teams advance to provincials from the west -- Orangeville was first, Oakville second, and St. Catharine's was third. Six Nations missed out on the goal differential by 0.01. Ouch.

- - -

<Sorry. Inside Baseball coming up.>

Yes. Yes I would. I'd post the bail.

But not before a long speech about community and inclusiveness. On the other hand, I'm going to be in Montreal so I wouldn't build a legal strategy around me on this one. Any former member of the executive should be welcome at the MOHA AGM as an observer at the very least. Someone else can argue about voting rights.

- - -

The Red Wings look very, very good. As does their goalie, who I spend considerable time maligning. Pens and 'Canes tomorrow night. Maybe a sports bar in Montreal. Maybe steak frites?

Maybe . . .

I'm missing all manner of stuff at home over the next three days. I think they're going to cope without me though. They usually do and things are cleaner as well.

- - -

Landscaper alert. If anyone knows a good, value-priced landscaper please email me. We're sussing out some sodding and stuff in the mess that passes for our backyard. I'd do it myself but ~~I'm lazy~~ I don't have a RotoTiller.

- - -

Ghostbusters 3? Who ya gonna call?

Read more here.

- - -

Notwithstanding that I have a very low opinion of Barry Bonds ("dick") and Roger Clemens ("dick") and their steroid-using coterie ("ibid") I also have no doubt that about 99 per cent of athletes who use steroids never get caught. Some of them are no doubt really nice guys just looking for an edge. Others are blessed with personalities such that if they were standing in my driveway with a flaming spear stuck in their chest I'd ask them to go bleed somewhere else.

All of which is an intro to --- the very best steroid story ever -- EVER!! -- that broke last weekend in Belgium.

Those Flems -- and that's what people from Belgium are BTW, they're Flemish. (A sidetrack here for a minute -- Monty Python once had a skit about what people from Belgium should be called. The winner of the contest was "Miserable, Fat, Belgian Bastards." This is how I amused myself as an adolescent. Sad. I know.)

Anyway.

The best ever -- EVER!! -- steroid story comes from Belgium at last weekend's national body building championships. The competition had to be scrapped because all 20 contestants fled -- ran away -- when anti-doping doctors showed up to conduct tests.

I just have this picture in my mind of all these lumpy guys greased up in oil running away like school girls fleeing a boy wielding a can of worms or something.

You can read it here. I'm fleeing to Montreal.

May 19, 2009

I could take a few paragraphs to frame what happened last night in the fading sunlight of the BBQ season's first long weekend, but you can take all that flowery prose as given.

Simply put, the midget 1 Oakville Hawks played Six Nations last night in their third game of a very long day. A win would send them through to the provincial championship tournament next week as one of the three top teams in southwestern Ontario. A loss would mean they could all sleep in.

I have been driving my kid to lacrosse games for years. It is a tough, draining, physical sport. There's no gliding in lacrosse -- stop moving your feet, you stop moving. Anyone within 10 feet of the ball can be hit at any moment, regardless of whether they have the ball. That make for some interesting collisions, often when you're not expecting them.

Six Nations is consistently along the very best. They play hard, clean and with a high level of technical skills mixed with tremendous inherent talent for the game.

The last time the top 1993 Oakville cohort beat Six Nations was back in novice, I was told. Almost too many years ago to count.

To play Six Nations is to understand where you fit compared to the best.

Last night, the Hawks won 7-6 in a terrific match with several lead changes. The result could have gone either way. But for once, our guys found a way to win when things got tough. For the guys who have coached these kids for so many years, it had to have been a great moment.

The kids were all banged up and exhausted from the long day, so I'm not sure if the full impact of their accomplishment sunk in. But they played great and got the result they needed. And next weekend, they won't be sleeping in, but instead will do it all over again in Brampton at the provincial field lacrosse championships among the best teams in Ontario.

Well done guys. An extra ice pack for everyone!

- - -

The game also featured one of the scariest moments I've seen on a lacrosse field. A young Six Nations attacker was on the receiving end of a hard, clean hit and went down very hard and stayed down. One of the dads on the Oakville team is a doctor and ran to the spot immediately.

Parents and players on both ends of the field looked on with genuine concern as the boy was virtually motionless.

Eventually word trickled back that the young man was probably OK, but an ambulance had been called as a precaution, which was obviously the right thing to do.

Both teams sat quietly on the sideline while the Six Nations coaches and the Oakville doctor staff tended to player.

As the ambulance pulled up, the Six Nations kids quietly walked over to where their teammate was and they took a knee, as we say, to keep him company and send him off with support.

Moments later, they were joined by the Oakville players who took the same pose.

Thankfully it seemed the young athlete was not seriously hurt. The image of all those kids kneeling around the player as the EMS crew did their work was very compelling and said a lot, to me at least, about sportsmanship and priorities.

My understanding is that in spite of the result of Sunday's game, Six Nations also made it through to provincials, so maybe we'll play them again. Hopefully with that injured player back in the lineup.

- - -

As parents, the scary context for all of the above is that today is exactly one year since a midget athlete from the Toronto Beaches club was killed during a game in the 2008 provincial field lacrosse qualifying tournament.

Again -- we're all glad the young man from Six Nations is going to be OK and we hope he has a speedy recovery.

- - -

I understand the Oakville Hawks program had a pretty good weekend, all things considered. All three novice teams qualified, as did peewee 1, bantam 1 and midget 1.

Good luck to everyone next weekend.

Go Hawks!

- - -

The MOHA annual general meeting is this week -- Thursday night, in fact, at town hall. And if you have a kid in minor hockey in Oakville, you should go. And when you do, you should do two things: say thanks to all the volunteers, and vote for Brent Scarrow to join the board.

I don't have all the names of all the candidates for the board vacancies, but Brent is one of them and he's as good as they come in terms of his commitment to minor hockey and doing the right thing for the kids.

I'm sure the MOHA exec will be shattered to learn I'm not coming to the AGM. I have a business trip. I know most of them and I'm quite comfortable asking questions at the AGM, which some folks are not. And that's a shame -- it's your association and my belief is that those folks on the executive are happy to have people ask questions.

If I was going, I'd ask (at least) two questions.

First, I'd ask for an update on the association's reserve, which last year I believe topped $1.1 million. Given that it was conservatively invested, I'm sure even with the ravages of the last few months, it has likely held up well. A year ago we were told various things may be considered for using this money as they were put before the board. At the time, I voiced a concern about a non-profit like MOHA accumulating a large reserve and possibly attracting attention it did not want. The treasurer of the day basically acknowledged that risk.

So, a year later, how's that goin'?

The other question I'd ask is if the association would consider either paying for some spring rep tryout ice time (from our million dollar reserve, perhaps) or, failing that, dial down the charge so it is done more or less on a cost-recovery basis rather than a money spinner.

For example, it's not uncommon for 50 or 60 kids to show up at a some of the initial tryouts. Often half of those kids may attend up to four sessions. At $10 per kid, per session, the tryouts actually become a revenue source (though I have no idea about the allocation of the revenue.)

I'm not suggesting for a second anyone is doing anything wrong with the money. What I'm saying is that there's probably a chance to either eliminate the tryout fee altogether -- maybe for the first session or two -- or lower it considerably.

If the association didn't have a million dollars in the bank, it would be a moot point.

But they (excuse me, we) do, so it's not a moot point. It's our money. Why not spend a sliver of it on the first two sessions on tryout ice in each age group? We can afford it.

On the other hand, maybe there's a really good reason why not to -- tell us that, too!

So, like I said, I won't be there. I'll be in Montreal.

But, show up.

Vote for Brent.

Ask those two questions for me. Ask your own questions -- questions drive new ideas. New ideas are good things. Fill the room with new ideas -- the board and executive will thank you!

And take a minute to say thank you to all the people who work hard to make minor hockey run. The executive. The board. The coaches. The conveners. The schedulers. The refs. The office staff. All of them. There are some outstanding people to thank.

It's hard work. It is almost entirely thankless. Which is why if I were there, I'd also say thank you while also asking my annual series of dumb questions.

Since I won't be there, I'll say it now. Thanks. Thanks for the hours and hours of work. My family appreciates it.

May 18, 2009

The midget 1 Oakville Hawks lost a 5-4 heartbreaker to Orangeville yesterday on a last minute goal at provincial qualifiers. It was a great game to watch but we all nearly froze off our titanium shafts and lacrosse balls. The wind was relentless so the clear sunny sky was little comfort.

Back at it tomorrow morning early against St. Catharine's.

Below is a picture of Hawks 'keeper Brennan Donville and an unknown defender thwarting a Northman attacker.

After Sunday games, all three Hawks novice teams have qualified for provincials and one peewee team is also through. It will be end of day tomorrow before bantams and midgets know where they stand.

May 17, 2009

A quick hello on a sunny Sunday to make some guesses on the third round of the NHL playoffs:

Pens vs Carolina: Sid is on a roll and Malkin finally showed up. The 'Canes have much going for them, especially in Cam Ward, arguably the best goalie in the playoffs so far. But I like the Pens. In six.

Wings vs Hawks: Everything on paper says this shouldn't be close -- it should be a blow out. But the Blackhawks have been playing with intangibles working their way as their youngsters play an energetic style in front of a veteran goalie who missed the memo that he was done. A great, fast transition, solid goaltending -- their challenge will be on defence, and whether they have the depth to cope with the Wings' attack.

Detroit has the depth and the experience. They have great defence, iffy goaltending and depth in their attack which hits harder than people think and flies out of its own end.

Momentum and the intangible "nothing-to-lose" factors go to the Hawks.

I'm going out on a limb and calling the Hawks here. In seven.

You can read a more informed set of predictions here.

- - -

Pad and I are out the door shortly for Kitchener and field lacrosse provincial qualifying. Laura and Chris have plans to map out a reno project for his room, and then we'll all reconvene for a late dinner. The weather looks good, if a little cool but no worries about that. At least we'll be dry!

- - -

Speaking of RIM, Gary Bettman says he'd prefer to see Phoenix move back to Winnipeg over southern Ontario. Apparently the reasoning is that Copps Coliseum is 30 years old and not up to NHL standards.

Hmm.

It could also be that -- eventually -- selling a new franchise into southern Ontario or Toronto would mean hundreds of millions in franchise fees to the current owners -- money that they wouldn't get from simply relocating a team into Hamilton.

North America doesn't have a lot of remaining untapped markets where new teams would succeed. Southern Ontario is, however, a no brainer.

But I'm just guessing.

Read the latest here.

- - -

It is the style for kids today to wear these big skater hats -- sort of oversize baseball hats with big brims -- and leave the gold sticker on the brim with the size on it. I don't know why, they just do.

In the car en route to Glen Abbey yesterday with Chris I offered to remove the sticker for him.

"No thanks dad. Society wants that sticker off. I'm leaving it on. I'm a rebel, dad."

Oh. OK.

Carry on.

- - -

It was payday for the timekeepers yesterday at house league lacrosse. I'm guessing the line at EB Games today will be out the door and down the block. I asked Chris if he wanted to donate his earnings to the family gasoline fund.

He laughed at me.

- - -

The New York Times has a regular travel feature called "36 Hours in . . ." -- name the city.

In today's paper, it is Toronto that gets the treatment, and Tee-Dot comes off pretty well.

You can read it here.

- - -

After today, the major league baseball season will be at the quarter pole and to my surprise, the Blue Jays are in first place with the second best record in all of baseball. I'm happy to eat some crow here as I forecast a long and ugly summer for the Jays.

Then again, it's not over yet.

- - -

Speaking of home renos . . . are you a do-it-yourselfer?

In tough economic times, it's not unusual for people to delay projects or to try to make their dollar go further by doing things themselves.

An interesting story here that basically advises . . . don't try this at home.

- - -

Tomorrow the midget Hawks have three games so I'm gone all day. Which means I may or may not be typing here.

Enjoy the holiday. I'll be on the road at 7a to Kitchener.

May 15, 2008

Welcome to the May two-four weekend. Is it just me, or does it seem early?

- - -

The editorial production team at teamoakville is moving a little slow today, because of workload issues and overtime hockey having kept three of the four of us up too late last night. Pad and I watched the 'Canes win in OT over the Bruins; Laura slept on the end of the couch pretending to watch.

With the 2nd round complete, I pushed my prediction record to a clean 9-3; save for the Carolina overtime upset I came within a whisker of a clean sweep of round 2.

Having said that, my wife told me last night that no one reads here to listen to what I think about the NHL playoffs; she said people prefer to read about me putting hand sanitizer in my hair at the gym instead of hair gel, or breaking up fights between parents at lacrosse games, or hazy childhood recollections of touchstone moments, or links to pictures of hot women. (Hey. It's Friday. Say hi to Jen.)

To which I replied, um. Well. They can get their own blogs!

Anyway, to get back on point, the eastern conference final will feature Carolina losing to Pittsburgh and Detroit playing Chicago, which I am not yet prepared to call. I need to do some homework.

To read about what happened in Boston last night, click here.

As for the Red Wings, I could feel the sense of relief that they won all the way from Detroit to my house and well, "relief" is not the emotion the defending champions should be channeling. My doubts about the Wings are growing, although they are less about Chris Osgood now than they are about the ability of the Wings to score some goals.

Click here to read about what went down in Hockeytown. The first line of the story is bang-on.

I'll do conference final predictions sometime between now and Sunday. Probably.

- - -

When I was a kid in Nova Scotia, Victoria Day was not the big deal it is here. I don't recall anyone calling it the May two-four weekend. Teens (or at least, me) didn't run off camping and swimming. The ice is barely off the lakes in Nova Scotia and the trees have yet to sprout leaves.

Spring comes later in the Maritimes, if it comes at all. Often, the seasons there break down into two categories -- winter, and six weeks of bad snowmobiling. So on May 15, it was simply a long weekend.

When we lived in Ottawa, it was no big deal either. The proximity to Quebec generally made celebrating the birthday of a dead British monarch a bit unseemly for many residents. Everyone was happy for the day off, but nothing particular was celebrated.

In Oakville, we were a bit taken aback by southern Ontario's enthusiasm for Queen Victoria. Fireworks on the street, that sort of thing. It was entertaining for the kids, and added a festive element what with the rocket's red glare and whatnot.

It will come as no surprise to regular readers that the only red glare I expect to see this weekend will be slash scars from lacrosse sticks.

A full day tomorrow as usual for the clan at Glen Abbey with refereeing, time keeping, coaching and playing. (FYI The Buzz host Six Nations tonight at Glen Abbey at 8p, and it should be a good one.)

On Sunday and Monday, the midget 1 Hawks are in Kitchener to begin play in the provincial qualifying tournament in the top division with games against St Catherine's, Burlington, Orangeville and Six Nations. (Pop quiz: One team on that list has a heritage that includes inventing lacrosse; another acts like it did. Name those teams!)

We will be playing at the lovely RIM Park, part of NHL wannabee owner Jim Balsillie's legacy to the cities that host his hand-held empire. Naturally, the weather is scheduled to be cold.

No matter. As Yoda might say, having fun we will be.

We will also be on the highway a lot and we will be careful to avoid the crazy people. If you are travelling this weekend or boating or whatever, have fun but stay safe.
These weekends are the canvas upon which we get to draw the broad outlines of the things that one day will be our kids' colourful memories of youth. So, keep them safe and make the memories happy ones.

And don't forget to hug the kids.

May 14, 2009

Eight seconds.

In less time than it takes to butter your bagel, the Washington Capitals became toast.

The hype proved to be hyperbolic; the reach a little too far. This round of of Crosby vs. Ovechkin goes to the guy from Nova Scotia, but most certainly there will be others.

The Penguins picked up right where they left off in Game Six, a game in my opinion they should have won running away, they were that much better than the Caps.

And as surely as a hammer eventually drives the nail down, Washington had no answer for the pounding they took in the first 30 minutes last night.

Ovechkin has nothing to hang his head about. He looked like one Capital who came to play. How different might the game had been if he had scored on that early breakaway? We will never know.

Crosby scored -- again -- from what now must be called his "office" -- low post off the left shoulder of the goalie. Eight seconds later, a weak goal made it a deuce and the end was nigh. Read the game over story here.

Read an analysis here.

In spite of the anti-climax of the evening it was still a great series. Pens in seven, I said.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Two more game 7 matches tonight.

- - -

Meanwhile, I was at Glen Abbey for midget 1 lacrosse as the Oakville Hawks tangled with the Mountaineers of Mimico, always a tough outing as the lads from the west edge of Toronto train hard in the high alpine meadows of the Mel Lastman Range that looms over the craggy northwest shore of Lake Ontario, where the Blue Goose Tavern looks down on the bucolic valley below. OK, OK. I have no idea why they have that name. Mimico is some of the flattest land in the GTA. You can watch your dog run away from home for three days. .

Nonetheless were we hoping for a better game than the one on TV in the rec centre foyer.

It wasn't to be, although both teams played the first period with some jump and spark.

Unfortunately, one period was all they would play.

A problem with the glass on a penalty box door created a playing hazard. And even though Glen Abbey has two playing surfaces, the same problem ruled out turning the midgets loose on that floor.

How can it be that a building has two rinks, and neither is deemed safe for play for these guys?

So, the game was called after one period and a 0-0 tie on the board. The only good news is that it is a relatively short drive to Mimico -- if we had been hosting Orangeville, that would have been ugly.

Two hour field practice tonight, rain or shine.

- - -

Chris was at three-on-three hockey.

"How did it go," I asked.

"Well, I scored a goal, but we got beat epically."

Sort of like Washington I guess.

- - -

Best compliment I have received this week, from a lacrosse dad who dropped off Chris earlier this week:

"You have the cleanest, tidiest garage in Oakville. You can actually fit two cars in a two-car garage!"

Thank you. Thank you very much.

I'm fairly certain The Beaver will be doing a series on the great garages of Oakville. I'm hoping to be shortlisted.

As long as no one looks at the lawn in the backyard, I'm good.

- - -

I'm a little twisted, I will concede. So this story kind of fascinates me.

What's more fun than a barrel of polio? How about a trunk full of Ebola.

A Winnipeg researcher is accused of trying to smuggle the deadly Ebola virus across the border into the United States.

Luckily, the gentleman in question followed standard Haz-Mat protocol for moving deadly materials -- the vials of Ebola were in plastic bags, wrapped in tin foil, stuffed into gloves.

Yep. That's just what it says in the manual of operations, chapter 4, "Moving Deadly Stuff."

Read more here.

- - -

Maybe she was waiting for a room to open up at a mountain resort in Mimico?

Police say a woman was asked to leave Pearson Airport this week after she apparently lived at the airport for the last month.

Yuck.

Read it here.

- - -

Caveman porn?

An archeologist in Germany has found what is believed to me the oldest known depiction of the female form -- a 35,000 year old carving described as bordering on the pornographic.

I wondered how that worked before Al Gore invented the Internet. For sure, some hairy guy in a bear-skin robe was standing in a cave, saying "no, no. it's art!"

You can read the story here.

May 13, 2009

I have an errand to run today in the Kensington Market area of downtown Toronto -- normally a pleasant, 15-minute walk from the University subway line through Chinatown. Great part of the city.

Today, however, we are warned that a significant portion of the relocated population of Sri Lanka may be doing what they can to make life miserable for the rest of us, apparently in the belief that this will inspire politicians 350 miles away to take measures to end a horrible civil war on the other side of the world that no one has been able to settle for years.

My errand may have to wait.

- - -

What won't wait is Game 7 of Pittsburgh-Washington tonight, the culmination of a series already labeled a classic. And tonight's finale promises to be one for the ages.

The midget 1 Oakville Hawks will be playing the the Mimico Mountaineers in front of the custodial team and a few moms at Glen Abbey tonight, as virtually every dad will be huddled around a TV -- whether at home, or in the hallways of the rec centre.

I'll be at the lacrosse game, but at a distant, future family moment -- a graduation, a wedding, something -- I will complain vociferously about having missed the third period and inevitable overtime of this one.

Chris has hockey tonight, but at least he will be home in time for the conclusion.

The game will be Sidney Crosby's first Game 7. It won't be his last. He and Ovechkin have put on a show that is going to go down in hockey history as the best second-round playoff series ever, and certainly one of the best series of any kind in recent years.

Too bad it wasn't for the Cup. As Ovechkin said yesterday: "It's going to be unbelievable."

Read an excellent pre-game scene-setter here.

- - -

To the surprise of no one, Boston beat Carolina last night, forcing a Game Seven in that series, which they will win.

To the surprise (and consternation) of more than a few, Anaheim beat Detroit last night, forcing a Game Seven in that series, too. For purely selfish reason, I want the Ducks out. A Detroit-Chicago conference final will mean earlier bedtimes for everyone. Canadian productivity will benefit from the absence of west coast games. Plus, I predicted the Wings would win.

So, go Wings.

- - -

Hockey wasn't the only thing worth watching last night. The "previous channel" button on the remote was smoking as we flipped back and forth between hockey and the Blue Jays.

Roy Halladay went the distance in front of 43,000 fans as the Jays whipped the Yankees 5-1. Mid-May and the Jays are still in first place?

No one saw this coming.

Read more on the big win here, in details by the Toronto Star's baseball writer, Oakville baseball coach and fully engaged hockey dad here.

- - -

To end today, something deep, then something frivolous.

First -- deep.

Do you like stuff? You know -- "stuff". New Callaway irons? Graf skates? New sneakers? Blu-ray DVD? Graphite shafted hockey and lacrosse sticks? Lagostina cookware? Little plastic clips for chip bags? A beer fridge in the garage? An SUV? Colourful plastic shell casings for Kleenex boxes?

OK -- I could go on and on here. You get the idea.

Me? Guilty. I have and like stuff. Less stuff than some, more than others. I have my share.

There's a video -- which you can see online -- called "The Story of Stuff" and it's one of those scare-you-straight things about the perils of consumerism and the dangers it poses to the environment.

Naturally, it's being embraced by some and trashed by others, but a fair number of US schools are showing it and . . . well, it's one of those ahead-of-the-curve things that you're going to hear a lot more about in the weeks ahead.

If you want to read more about, you can click here.

If you want to go to the web site for the video, you can click here.

And if you want to sit and watch the video now, well, here it is. Hal -- roll the tape. It's about 21 minutes long, so get a coffee.

- - -

OK, now for something light.

I was going to link you all to the picture of Jen-Jen in nothing but a necktie, but I've decided to save that for religious high holidays and the Leafs making the playoffs.

But having said that, there's nothing wrong with a little entertainment value in this site, especially if it's connected to sports.

So, like what if Life -- the web site of the iconic magazine brand of the same name, famous for its wonderful photos -- ran a photo gallery called, and I am not kidding here: 29 Hot Sports Fans: The Women.

Is that a link I can interest you in?

You guys are so predicable.

So, after you finish your asparagus -- the video above -- you can have some dessert.

And you can do that by clicking here starting with Victoria's Secrets models at a basketball game in Miami. Because, like, that's what they do.

May 12, 2009

Wow. I have no idea who's going to win the Pittsburgh-Washington series but it has been hands down the best hockey I've seen in a couple of years.

It hasn't always been pretty but it has always been exciting and last night was yet another chapter.

Having carted my kid to Glen Abbey for team photos and then gratefully taken an offer from someone to get him to Maplegrove for a two hour practice, I actually got to watch some of this one.

Naturally, I missed the OT because of the return trip to MG, but the third period alone was worth a season of watching the Leafs.

Game Seven. Wednesday night (just as there's a three-on-three hockey game and a lacrosse game vs. the mountain men of Mimico.)

It will be a great one.

Read more here.

- - -

"To infinity, and beyond!"

-- Buzz Lightyear, astronaut, from the film Toy Story

The new Star Trek movie is by all accounts a runaway hit. A great yarn spun over startlingly vivid special effects. Me and the boys will be going. The Star Trek franchise is almost as old as manned space flight. But only one of them continues to inspire and awe.

When I was a kid, the Apollo space missions were an endless source of fascination for my young mind.

The race to beat the Soviets to the moon was exciting in it's own horse race kind of way; but the larger inspiration came from the men and the machines and the adventure.

It was just about 40 years ago that NASA landed on the moon and the implied promise was, to quote a movie that I've seen probably 700 times, "to infinity and beyond."

Buzz Lightyear notwithstanding, me and millions of other kids watched that implied promise fade away like so much smoke after a rocket launch.

Life Magazine would put out special editions after the most important missions and to this day I still have two of them -- the Apollo 8 edition marking the first manned orbit of the moon in 1968, and the of course the Apollo 11 edition with the now wonderfully politically incorrect quote: "One small step for man . . . " (Imagine slipping that gender-bender past the PC police today?)

Anyway, the wild success of Apollo made everyone on Earth bored. Going to the moon became like going for groceries, or so it seemed. Naturally, it never was that simple (see Apollo 13 for more info), but the public is fickle. Been there. Done that. Next!

Political will evaporated and with it money.

And since then, manned exploration of space has taken civilization about the same distance as a drive from Oakville to Windsor -- about 200 miles straight up to the International Space Station. Lots of great things have happened in that lab over the years, but not a single one of them has thrilled the collective masses with the wonder of a grainy image of a man on a ladder on a dusty moon.

And inspiration is a big part of what space exploration should be about.

This little observation was triggered by the new Star Trek and yesterday's repair mission to the Hubble Telescope, which at first glance would appear to be about as boring and mundane a task as the space program could come up with. High-flying, high-priced repairmen making a house call to extend the life of what is, for sure, a technological marvel.

But still, it's a repair mission. Read a little more deeply and you understand that this mission, however, is so fraught with risk that NASA already has another shuttle on the pad ready to launch a rescue mission if this little adventure goes horrible wrong, which is considered such a reasonable possibility that a backup was prepared.

I hope that it doesn't come to that, but it makes me wonder what it would take to get the attention of people.

And it also makes me wonder when the world -- not NASA, not the USA, not Russia or China, but the world -- will grapple with space travel beyond our neighbourhood.

In the four decades since man walked on the moon, and the original Star Trek teased us with science fiction's view of the future, we're still only 200 miles from home.

The current generation of space shuttles will soon be grounded, replaced by cooler, hopefully safer models. But what's in store for NASA beyond the pickup truck missions of ferrying people and equipment to the space station or repairing expensive kit?

You can read more about the mission to fix the Hubble here.

you can read about the final gasps of the Shuttle program here.

Maybe I'm a chorus of one but it sure would be nice to see governments embrace something inspirational and

transformational, spawning technology and innovation and discovery that we'd all benefit from.

Right Buzz?

May 11, 2009

It's true. I didn't write a syllable here all weekend and yet somehow, the world kept on spinning. I think there's

a lesson in there somewhere.

The theme of the weekend for us was sleep.

Saturday -- remember, that odd day of sunshine, wind, rain, hail, thunder and virtually every other meteorological event? -- was totally and blissfully consumed with house league lacrosse. I spent the entire afternoon, from about 1p till 6p, at the rink watching games, talking to parents, coaches, conveners, watching Chris keep the time on one floor and Pad and a parade of his teammate referee on the other, and then helping coach Chris's team.

But first, we all slept. No one had to be anywhere until noonish and while I woke at a ridiculously early hour, it just felt good knowing I didn't need to be anywhere. Especially knowing that on Sunday I would be up early to hit the road for Brampton and field lacrosse.

So, a nice slow start to the day. A fun afternoon at the rink. It was all good on the eve of Mothers Day 2009.

And then a piece of news that disappointed and gladdened the heart all at once.

A few miles away in Brampton, the weather was even uglier than ours. Torrential rain. Hail by the bucketful, literally. Flooding.

So much rain fell on the Sandalwood sports fields that the water was up to the bench seats on picnic tables in some corners, and well up your leg in others. The city promptly closed the fields for the weekend. There would be no field lacrosse on Mother's Day.

Translation: We could sleep in again.

I'm not sure how things are in your house, but we're in the middle of a fairly significant sleep deficit right now. Pad in particular has been run off his feet with various things, as have his parents getting him to those things. Chris has had more than a few late nights.

The chance to sleep in on consecutive mornings -- no alarms other than the noisy birds outside the window -- was warmly welcomed.

When eventually we rose on Sunday, we all bowed and scraped in mom's presence with presents. I made her my eggs Benedict, which I make entirely from scratch and which may be the greatest breakfast you could ever have (her opinion).

I went for groceries and we both spent most of the afternoon working, me with laptop on knees watching Tiger chew up Sawgrass and the Wings chew up the Ducks.

We topped the day with another great meal. It was a good day.

- - -

Um, I don't have a lot more to offer you today except to say that the Canucks are performing more or less exactly as I expected they would.

The Hawks can finish them off tonight and Pittsburgh can do the same to Washington, at home no less.

Should be a great evening of hockey. Me? I'll be at lacrosse practice!

- - -

You have to read all the way to the bottom of this story to get to the part where Mike Milbury calls Jim from RIM an "arrogant buffoon" but it's worth the drive if for no other reason than to hear someone other than me ask exactly what it is that PJ Stock does on Hockey Night in Canada.

Milbury is clearly a pro-establishment commentator, a former player and general manager. I wish I had seen it, because it sounds like a really good rant.

May 7, 2009

The Oakville Hawks midget 1 lacrosse team travelled down Thunder Road to the Badlands of Orangeville last night for a game against the perennially tough Northmen. The game, we parents figured, would provide a measure of the squad's box skills, as they have notched two wins against weaker teams and lost one blowout to a better one.

It was an uneventful drive into the rolling hill country north of the GTA, but the summer road work season is in full swing and we passed lots of crews Working on The Highway.

At 8p when we arrived for the 9p game the sun was starting to set with quiet A Darkness On The Edge of Town already evident. Tony Rose Arena was buzzing with activity, a bantam game just starting as we arrived and all the local dudes and Girls in Their Summer Clothes hanging around to cheer on their classmates.

The team would need its share of breaks but no one was counting on Orangeville being Lucky Town, and the game started with the Northmen executing an offence they were Born to Run and scoring less than a minute in.

Things settled down after that -- the Hawks tied the game, the Northmen popped two more. Defensive lapses can make you Your Own Worst Enemy.

It seemed we trailed by two most of the night -- every time we closed the gap to one, Orangeville would score, and if that's your strategy you'd better be Countin' on a Miracle or you will be facing a Long Walk Home.

The third period was terrific. Good hard, clean lacrosse. Physical but not dirty and after the thrashing the team took last week it was clear maybe they were understanding The Price You Pay for success.

We scored a couple of goals on fast breaks, burying the ball from Point Blank range, and it was clear to all of us on this night, the Hawks had No Surrender in them.

They started the third down 6-4 and walked off the floor with a 6-6 draw that felt almost like a win. Watching the boys on both teams play so hard in the flower of their youth, it felt like Glory Days.

Pad was the first guy out of the room (for a change!) and we left the rink and walked Out in the Street where the evening air was warm and damp and everything felt good.

The man on the radio said it would shower overnight but Friday would be nice and mild, so Pad and I enjoyed the ride home, chatting and laughing and listening to his tunes, looking forward to the weekend and Waitin' on a Sunny Day.

- - -

Springsteen apparently played last night at the ACC. Honestly, I haven't given it a thought. My concert reviewer said she and my ticketholder and the rest of the posse had a good time.

I had nearly forgotten to mention it.

You can read a review of the show here.

- - -

More NHL playoff action last night, two more series knotted up as the Hawks and Wings square things up with the Canucks and Ducks. This is terrific playoff hockey. Good thing there are no distractions.

- - -

The Jim-from-RIM vs. The NHL battle is now promising to be a full-tilt major-league sports Battle Royale.

Get an analysis of the latest twists and turns here, and get a straight-up news story here.

- - -

It's Mother's Day on Sunday. Make sure you call home and do whatever else you do to say an annual thanks to the person who will always take you in when no one else will.

Not sure what my mom has planned for Sunday but I hope the weather is nice so she can putter in the yard or sit on the deck with her tea.

My boys' mother cheerfully reviewed the weekend activities and noted that I could probably spend five straight hours tomorrow at lacrosse, what with the alignment of the boys' timekeeping, refereeing and playing schedules.

Oddly, I think she's looking forward to that.

Sunday, Pad plays a pair of field games in Brampton -- one early in the morning, one late in the afternoon. We'll try to hold the Mother's Day parade somewhere in between those. For those who care about such things, click here for a celebrity review -- some famous women talk about their moms.

There are no ice rinks in the forecast this weekend, so that's good, I think.

We're now fully immersed in spring, so get out of your house and enjoy it. Wander to a park, go watch a soccer or baseball game. ~~Sit in front of a TV for hours and hours watching playoff hockey.~~

Watch out for all those kids on bikes racing around everywhere.

Be nice to all the moms, and hugs their -- and your -- kids.

Have a great weekend.

May 6, 2009

Two exciting NHL games last night -- both went to overtime, both surely represent promises to extend those series to six or seven games. But the only game that counts in the NHL will start playing out in an Arizona courtroom today. Will Jim Balsillie's gambit to take control of the Coyotes and move them to an unnamed, "under served" southern Ontario hockey market prevail?

Seriously, who knows?

Much ink and terabytes of digital storage will be chewed up as this one unfolds.

All I can do is point you at a couple of interesting things to read.

Like this piece, by TSN NHL insider Bob McKenzie.

Or this one, written by the Globe's crack team of -- business writers. (It's interesting that as the sports story becomes news, the news guys come in and the guys in the Toy Department -- as the sports sections at daily newspapers are called in the trade -- miss out on the page one bylines.)

Which isn't to say there isn't some good analysis in the sports section. Click here for one such read.

Much more to come on all of this.

- - -

I mentioned here the other day that my boy Chris is a bigger fan of Ovechkin than of Crosby. And while I made him sleep in the garage for a night to repent this dissing of a Nova Scotia icon, I understand from where he came on this.

The kids all love Alexander the Great. He plays the game the way they would play it, if 12 year olds could be blessed with the size and talent to play just a single, magical night on NHL ice.

And that is to say, he plays with genuine passion and enthusiasm, a boy's joy at being free from something as mundane as French homework to careen around the ice and crash into things.

You can't fake what Ovechkin brings to the rink. It's not better than Crosby, it's just different and more child-like (not to be confused with childish, which it is not.)

Anyway, the Globe's Roy MacGregor makes this point far more eloquently than I ever could in a column that appeared in Wednesday's paper.

It's a nice piece of writing and you can find it here.

- - -

As for Crosby and the Pens, the young captain got some support last night on what so far has been a one-man show for him this series, as the Pens won 3-2 in OT to get back into the series. I didn't see a minute of it but the post-game talking heads said it was another thriller. Read more here.

Meanwhile, in the other 3-2 overtime game, the 'Canes continue to give the Bruins fits, this time with a win that puts them up 2-1 in that series. What a spring so far . . . Read more on that one here.

- - -

And now for a faceoff of a different kind. A New York woman is the recipient of the first face transplant in the United States. Medical technology is fairly amazing.

Read more here.

- - -

In Brampton last night, the midget Hawks beat their hosts 7-2 in midget lacrosse action. Things will be tougher tonight in Orangeville.

- - -

Tonight at the ACC, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will take to the stage and unleash two and half hours of rock and roll that will inevitably leave 22,000 people gasping for air, emotionally spent and entirely renewed in their devotion to the gospel according to Bruce.

He commands that they listen, and listen they shall. Everyone listens to The Boss.

Some 75 kilometres northwest as the crow flies, the Oakville Hawks midget 1 lacrosse team will enter a smaller venue with a smaller audience and tangle with the always formidable Northmen. Game time is 9p and there are lots of good seats available.

My half of the tickets we happily landed months ago for Springsteen has been handed over to one of our good friends. And our rocking night out of a nice dinner followed by one of those concerts we'd always remember has become something of a version of a girls night out, four of them in all, a sort of book-club-cum-Bruce-appreciation night.

We don't have a lot of rules in our house, but generally we always try to make sure at least one of us is at the kids' sporting events. It's the Law of Asymmetrical ER Probability. Roughly explained, it is that the probability of your kid ending up in an ER with a sports injury is inversely proportional to the number of parents attending (fewer parents = higher probability) and directly proportional to the distance away from home the game is played (the further away, the higher the risk.)

IE: if Pad plays in Orangeville and neither one of us is there, it's a sure thing he's coming home with a cast on something.

So, guess what that means? I'll be in Orangeville for a 9p start that will inevitably mean 9:15p. There's a wiff of a chance that I'll be home before 11:30p, but I'm not counting on it. Last summer Orangeville decided to play three 20 minute periods and it felt like we were there all night.

Having said that, I'm sure the concert will be a good one. Another couple of parents on the team (not to mention one of Pad's teammates, too) have tickets and looked at me like I had a hole in the middle of my forehead when I said I was foregoing Bruce for midget lacrosse.

"You're a good dad," he said. "Chump."

Sigh. Yes. Yes, indeed.

It didn't bother me until the ride in this morning on the train, and the station I was listening too -- old guy rock on Q107 -- was tormenting me with Springsteen classics and chatter about the promise of a memorable night ahead.

Laura's booking dinner for the crew at Biff's or somewhere equally chic. I'll grab a cold overdone hotdog at Tony Rose Arena and a warm Diet Pepsi.

But the fact is there will come a time when my kids will have run out of games for me to watch. And that's why I'll pass on Bruce and drive to Orangeville. I'll let Pad control the tunes on the drive and we'll listen to Kanye West and Linkin Park and whoever else he wants.

Would I rather be at Bruce? Not really. I'd rather be able to do both. But, pushed to a choice, I'll take the game.

Bruce and the band will have to get through this one without me. I'm pretty sure they're up to it.

May 5, 2009

Do you ever wish you could be in the room when a certain specific piece of news is delivered to someone, and that news is sure to trigger a reaction?

Like when Doris Day found out Rock Hudson was gay?

Or when Bill told Hillary there was a little detail on the Monica thing she needed to know?

Or when Gary Bettman found out Jim Balsillie had provided the Phoenix Coyotes with $17 million in debtor-in-possession financing as the team entered bankruptcy yesterday.

Bettman must have literally hit the roof -- and if you've ever met the guy, you'd know that the ceiling would be a long way up for the intense but diminutive NHL boss.

By ponying up the dough to finance the Coyotes through bankruptcy, Balsillie has put himself at the front of the line of people the courts must deal with in discharging the Phoenix situation. And you don't have to have invented a portable communications device to know that increases significantly the possibility of moving trucks headed for southern Ontario.

I thought Bettman was smart. He doesn't want any of the teams to move, and Phoenix is in serious financial trouble. He really doesn't like Jim from RIM either, having thwarted two previous attempts by the Waterloo billionaire to buy NHL teams and move them.

So, if I was the NHL commissioner (and come to think of it, it kind of has a nice ring to it), I'd be making sure I got twice-a-day briefings from two groups: the Phoenix ownership and Alexander Ovechkin's orthodontist.

On the former, I'd want to know every bump and tickle of what was happening. I mean everything. And given that the NHL was paying their bills, that's not a lot to ask.

The prospect of a Chapter 11 filing had to -- had to -- have been discussed and contemplated.

And for $900, the league could hire a really good insolvency lawyer for one hour to have a conversation that would take 90 seconds.

- - -

<The Teamoakville Players present an entirely fictional and hypothetical portrayal of such an encounter>

Gary: "Phoenix might file Chapter 11."

Lawyer, looking at his manicure: "That will be $900 please."

Gary: "After you give me advice."

Lawyer: "Oh."

Gary (exasperated): "So what steps do we need to take to protect the NHL owners' position?"

Lawyer (brushing dust off his shoe): "Agree to provide debtor-in-possession financing if they file. You'll be the senior creditor in the proceeding and effectively control the outcomes and probably the franchise. The judge gets to decide, but seriously dude. Cough up the DIP money."

Gary: "Oh."

Lawyer (standing up): "That will be $900 please."

<Sound of desk drawer opening and cheque being signed. Fade to black.>

- - -

It is completely and totally unimaginable to me that such a meeting -- or one something like it -- never occurred. Smart CEOs -- and Bettman is smart -- plan for every possible bounce of the ball. But I guess stranger things have happened. Maybe the Phoenix ownership made a deal with someone that the NHL didn't know about? Maybe Gary didn't know the severity or timing of things in Phoenix? The only thing for sure is: I dunno.

Regardless of what happened, I would have loved to have been there when Gary got the news. You know the Bugs Bunny cartoon where steam comes out the ears of Yosemite Sam? <I'm gonna KILL that rabbit!!">

It would be a lot like that -- characters portrayed in the same scale, actually -- but with someone else's name used in place of the rabbit and without the facial hair, unless Gary's sporting a playoff beard.

This is now officially one be royal mess for Bettman. Jim put up the money for the DIP. Everyone -- including and especially the NHL -- has to deal with Jim now. He's not just at the table. He paid for the table.

A news story summarizing the events, thus far, can be found here.

A very good analysis of it can be found here.

You can sign up at Balsillie's web site here.

Expect news on a 1-800 number for season's tickets at the Copps Coliseum soon.

- - -

The Canucks rained on the Blackhawks parade last night with a 3-1 win that wasn't as close as the score makes it sound.

Bummer. I was hoping for a better game. Read more here.

- - -

I'm off to beautiful Brampton tonight for midget lacrosse and I'm looking forward to that.

More importantly, one more sleep til Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band blow the roof off the ACC.

And Craig, you better sit down.

I'm not going. I have a ticket, but when the band launches into Badlands someone else is going to have to stand on the back of the seat in front them and punch the air and sing and spill beer on the woman in front of them and live in a moment that is 25 years old and brand new all at the same time.

Bitter? No. I'm not bitter. I'll explain this all tomorrow.

Did I mention I have a ticket? I did?

But no. I'm not bitter. That would be wrong.

Does anyone have a TicTac?

May 4, 2009

There are nights when you really have to insist on control of the remote control and last night was one of them.

Washington beats Pittsburgh 4-3 and Crosby and Ovechkin each score three times.

Wow.

Living in the Toronto area as we do we've lost touch with quality playoff hockey.

In spite of the Caps taking a 2-0 lead in this series, you can't help but think this one is far from over as the series swings back to the Igloo.

Read more here.

- - -

Chris, I found out last night, didn't know Sidney Crosby is from Nova Scotia.

Well.

I'm pretty sure having spent a night sleeping in the garage, that's a lesson he's going to remember for some time. Worse still is that he said he likes Ovechkin better! (Actually, what's not to like? The guy's a human highlight reel and all the kids love him. Sorry Grapes..)

But watching Ovechkin last night, he kind of reminded me of someone.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it . . . but then the penny dropped.

Jaws -- from the old James Bond movies.

See if you can guess which is which.

- - -

Your daily world o' sports Swine Flu update:

A Mexican soccer player was suspended for pretending to cough on an opponent, apparently regarded as a hostile act.

I think it's a safe bet that the other guy immediately fell to the ground, writhing and holding his leg.

Read more here.

- - -

If you coach long enough there are two certainties. You're going to coach some good teams and you're going to coach some bad ones. Getting the bad ones to compete hard to be, on their good days, a good team is a coaching challenge but come playoff time it is almost always worth it.

As noted here before, anything can happen in the playoffs, especially if the obvious underdog is properly prepared and works hard to exploit the weaknesses that even the best teams inevitably have. It's finding those weaknesses that's sometimes the tricky part.

This next story is all about David beating Goliath. Now make no mistake -- according to the story, the big guy is going to mop the floor with you seven times out of 10. But those other three times?

Well, if you do it right they'll put you in the Bible, dude.

The New Yorker has a fairly long take on the David and Goliath thing. Load up the slingshot and fire away here.

- - -

Deserved or not, the French -- and I'm talking about the country here, not francophones generally -- have a reputation of being a nation of elitist and rude folks. Late night TV has mocked them for years.

But, they sure know how to eat and apparently, they also know how to sleep. And add to that the fact that they don't really care if sleepier, less well fed people think they're elitist and rude.

Sorry, but sounds to me like they've got something good going on.

You can read here about the French setting the standard for eating and sleeping. No 6a practices for these folks!

- - -

Tiger Woods returned from nine months on the shelf earlier this year and promptly won the Bay Hill Classic, Arnie's tournament and one of the gigs PGA pros like to attend because, well, it's Arnie's tournament.

He hacked around Augusta for three of four days and still almost won. Last weekend, he gave away some shots on the green that the real Tiger wouldn't have and he still almost won.

He's clearly not playing his best golf, but to use his terms, it looks like his B game is better than just about everyone in the field on any given day.

This weekend is the Tournament Players Championship, the most important tournament of the year aside from the four majors, and the toughest field of the year including the majors. There will be a lot of Tiger talk on the TV sports shows.

Esquire magazine, of which I have been a loyal fan since some 35 years ago my dad bought me their special sports issue and raised my awareness of what real sports writing could look like, did an interesting thing this month.

It presented four short essays by some fairly serious writing talent to comment on Tiger's return to action.

They are not all fawning "gee he's swell" takeouts on Tiger. One pretty much reviles the guy outright. But all are worth the time to read if you are a fan of the game, if not necessarily Tiger.

The first one, here, is basically I Miss Earl.

The second one, is The Opposite of Hope.

The third one, is In Awe of Tiger Woods.

And the final one, written BTW by former National Post writer Chris Jones, who is about as fine a feature writer as you're about to find anywhere, is called My Vacation from Hating Tiger Woods. I like this one the best.

- - -

Yesterday -- May 4 -- was Star Wars Day. I kid you not. Their slogan?

"May the Fourth Be With You."

That's pretty funny, actually.

Read more here.

- - -

No sports tonight for us. No rinks or fields or practices or drives or suicides or pushups or squats on sprints . . . oh, never mind. You get the idea.

I have no idea how we'll pass the time.

But, more importantly, two more sleeps till Bruce.

And on that note I'll mention that folk legend Pete Seeger's 90th birthday was marked by a sold out concert at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, featuring the Boss and a long, long list of other stars who know they stand in that man's shadow.

Seeger wrote so many songs that you know the words to it's hard to know where to start. But Where Have All the Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, Turn Turn Turn, and well, many others. And no -- he didn't write We Shall Overcome, but he played a big part in making it an anthem of the civil rights rallies of the 1960s.

The word icon is rolled out in my business too often, but in this case it applies. The guy stands for something.

Read more here.

May 3, 2009

I'm entering a fairly heavy period at work so the recreational writing will take a back seat to work things, at home, on the train, etc.

Sunday was lovely, huh? And Laura and I both spent most of it working and cracking the whip on homework, except for the hours I spent in a lovely cold rink. But my elder son can now pack up his gear for the summer just as the junior son will start a weekly three-on-three league this week.

Meanwhile, we made some calls and have found someone we trust to come look at our lawn, which after years of steadfast refusal to carpet bomb with chemicals is now in critical need of care. More on that another day.

Me and my laptop will be working for two hours tonight at a midget lacrosse practice, and later this week the boys have back-to-back road games, including Thursday night with the coveted 9p start in Orangeville.

The NHL playoffs continue and since you all apparently know how to use a computer you don't need me to point directions. But I will make the pithy observation that it's interesting to note that all three teams that swept their first round series -- Detroit, Vancouver and Boston -- have now already been beaten on home ice in round two, handing the home ice advantage over to their opponents. The likely outcome of that is that we're in for some long series.

- - -

If you want to read a nice story on Oakville kid, Abbey Park student and Marlies hockey player Stuart Percy, who was a first rounder in the weekend OHL draft, then click here.

- - -

I've made no secret of my excitement over the Blackhawks and their terrific young stars. In much the same way I have been slightly generous to the Habs in recent montn, a strong team in Chicago is good for hockey. People in Chicago really know hockey and it's good they have a team to get excited about.

A Globe columnist offers a good overview on this theme today, which you can find here.

- - -

I'll be back when I can. Enjoy the weather today. Apparently the rest of the week is grim.

May 2, 2009

The OHL priority selection draft took place yesterday and a number of Oakville's young men got some attention.

Stuart Percy, a defenceman with the Toronto Marlies of the GTHL and an Oakville native, went in the first round, 15th overall, to the St Mike's Majors.

Ben Fanelli of the Mississauga Senators of the GTHL went in the third round to Kitchener.

Oakville Ranger goalie Chris Festarini -- I was Chris's last house league coach a million years ago -- went in the fifth round (Erie Otters), as did Cooper Rush, a towering defenceman with the GTHL Mississauga Senators (Ottawa 67s).

Another Ranger, Braedan Russell, went in the 9th round, selected by Kitchener, as did Mark Luzar, a big kid with the GTHL Mississauga Reps, who was selected by Brampton.

Another Oakville Ranger, Ori Abramson -- an import from North York I believe -- went in the 15th round to St Mike's.

Apologies if I missed anyone playing in the GTHL or other OMHA centres from Oakville -- I don't know all the names 100 per cent of the time. There's one GTHL name I'm not sure about so I won't say he's from Oakville until I know!

Nonetheless, congratulations to them all. We know a fair number of these kids, their parents, etc, and it must be exciting for them all. The priority selection is a big day on the calendar for the graduating minor midgets. Countless hours of work led these guys to yesterday's result.

To those not drafted -- don't panic. There's lots of way to keep the dream alive. Just keep working hard.

So, three Rangers -- two from Oakville -- were drafted, as well as four other Oakvillians in the GTHL.

The Toronto Marlies -- Ontario champs and a perennial powerhouse -- had 13 players drafted, while Daniel Catenacci from York Simcoe was the top overall pick.

Read more here.

- - -

I spent most of my Saturday afternoon in a rink -- ice, not lacrosse -- so I don't have a lot of colourful commentary from house league lax to report.

Worse still, hockey is keeping us away from field lacrosse this weekend -- and it's sunny and warm! Arrghh!

The hockey schedule will ease up considerably after today, and given the change in weather that's coming, that's fine with me.

- - -

The Oakville Buzz won Friday night, 5-4 over Guelph. The crowd was apparently a lot smaller than the one for the home opener.

I'm told that in spite of the score, the game wasn't a great one to watch if you like playmaking and passing as penalties and fighting were the order the night.

- - -

I told you the Canucks can muck things up. And last night they did, blowing a 2-0 lead and losing 6-3 to Chicago.

The Canucks have now allowed more goals in the first two games of this series than they did in four games against St. Louis. And they've been outscored 9-5 in the last four periods.

Read more here.

- - -

Giddy-up!

A Canadian horse wins the Kentucky Derby in what is being called one of the greatest upsets in that race's long history.

Read more here.

- - -

May 1, 2009

Welcome to May. In honour of the date, I will be holding forth at the usual parade of the neighbourhood's military might, lest those expansionists in West Oak Trails or River Oaks decide it's time to annex Glen Abbey.

A show of strength! A parade of poorly conditioned dads with old hockey sticks! Moms in Lulu clothes!

Yes, I know. I need a hobby . . .

- - -

Well, I almost hit one of the park last night -- predicting the Canucks (whom I still think will eventually lose) could find a way to muck things up, as much as I want to see the lone Canadian team left progress deep into the playoffs.

And they tried, finding a nifty way to blow a three-goal lead before escaping with their lives.

Read more here.

More games tonight.

- - -

Remember when your kids bugged you to get a dog?

Remember when they promised that they'd love it forever and always get out of bed to walk it, rain or shine?

Remember how that turned out?

Well, you're not the only one. America's most famous puppy is getting his morning walk OK. But the girls are staying in bed.

Read more here.

- - -

Everyone is talking about the ~~artist~~ virus formerly known as swine flu. Whatever you call it, it's a headline hog (no pun intended) these days.

But context is important. Lots of people get various flu bugs every year and some of them die. In Canada, typically 3500 or so die from the flu annually. Usually the very old and the very young and New York Islander fans.

Anyway, my point here is that there's a lot of things you should be more afraid of than swine flu.

Like traffic on the QEW. Or, Lindsey Lohan. Or, the Leafs.

Or, in this example, red meat.

Red meat leads to all sorts of nasty things, which is really too bad since that's what's on the menu here tonight.

But . . . I . . .just . . . can't . . . help . . . myself.