Oct 31, 2006
Happy Halloween!! Boo! Scary! Owwwwwwoowwwwwwwowwwww! As a kid, I was always pretty indifferent to Halloween. Not sure why, but that's the way it was. My kids -- and virtually every other kid on the street -- would likely rank Halloween second only to the High Holidays -- Christmas and Doug Gilmour's birthday.
Have fun tonight, and above all else stay safe.
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The minor bantam Rangers scored with less than a minute left to win 3-2 in Ancaster last night. The game wasn't exactly a clinic of fast-paced hockey and precision puck movement, but on the other hand the Rangers played pretty solid in terms of the fundamentals -- Ancaster didn't get a lot of clean scoring chances and the Rangers controlled the puck most of the night, but also didn't get a lot of clean shots.
We were missing four regulars so we had Shane, Dylan and Andrew up from the AE team for the night and they looked right at home out there. Jake C. used his ample speed to beat an Ancaster defenceman in the outside lane and then cut hard to the net to tuck home the winner.
The first star of the game was the ref, who disallowed what Ancaster players, coaches and fans (and some Oakville folks too) thought was a goal.
No hockey tonight, then a practice tomorrow and then the team is off to Lake Placid for the Can-Am Cup, sitting atop their division in the Tri-County League, with seven wins, one loss and two ties. First is not a bad place to be, actually. As for Lake Placid -- 17 thirteen year old boys in the United States. What could go wrong?
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Home reno update: the en suite is done. The Pad man was the first person to use it, jumping in last night after the Ancaster game. He reports that it throws water in a shower-like fashion, which, when combined with soap and shampoo, will create the sensation of cleanliness. I can now confirm this to be true. Regular readers will know this project was necessitated by emergency. Yet another project, that has been more intricately planned, will begin in about two weeks. More on that later.
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A blog reader commented last night that it took him awhile to figure out what or who Pad is. OK then -- Pad = Patrick. We used to call him Paddy when he was young. His little brother shortened it to Pad and me and Laura followed. No one else calls him Pad -- he's Pat or Patrick to his friends. There's a longer version of this story buried in the archives somewhere. But this is all you need for now.
Oct 29, 2006
Oh -- wait till I get a minute to fill you in on the debacle with our house league jerseys. Incredible. Gotta run right now.
Oct 29, 2006
Busy weekend here, and for many of you too I'm sure.
Got home late Friday from the east coast and everyone was pretty much asleep, and then Chris and the Eagles played Saturday morning (3-3 tie) and I convened the rest of the division till early afternoon.
Off to Twin Rinks for lunch and Chris's Dick Decloe session, then home for about an hour before Pad had to leave for his home game vs. Brampton (a 2-2 tie).
Chris had a 6:30a practice this morning, made slightly less painful by the time change last night. 6:30a seems like a bargain when your body thinks it's 7:30a. Then Pad has dry land training and practice tonight.
In between all that we're hoping to let Chris decorate the house for Hallowe'en. Which is really, really close and we're really, really unprepared. It's scary how unprepared we are. (Get it? Scary? Hallowe'en?)
- - -
The weekend's score: games watched in person: five. Practices watched: three. Hanging out and killing time at rinks doing neither (dryland): one.
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When I was in Cape Breton we had a few hours to kill before our flight so I took my boss to Ben Eoin to meet Laura's folks and hang out. My boss has always been curious about why we always go to the same place every summer. Now he knows. Cape Breton put on quite a show -- there was sun, light rain, high winds whipping the bay, a rainbow and a bald eagle -- but the eagle and the rainbow weren't at the same time.
Laura's mom told him that it wasn't uncommon to see double rainbows -- a notion at which he scoffed. Needless to say, the irony police were on patrol when about an hour later, when were were driving back to the airport, we saw -- yes, a double rainbow.
But here's the cool part -- the main rainbow was a complete arc from horizon to horizon and I saw something I've never seen before. We could actually see where the rainbow touched the ground. It was about 500 metres in front of us and we could see through it and see the trees on the ground behind it. That's how we knew we'd found the end of the rainbow.
The bad news is there was no pot of gold or short demented Irishman (we looked). But now we know -- at the end of the rainbow there is a semi-abandoned light industrial warehouse. So, everyone update your myths.
Oct 26-27, 2006
Had a ball had the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles game tonight, watching the home team beat Val d'Or 5-3.
After the game I got to chat for quite a while with head coach and GM Pascal Vincent, team president Paul MacDonald, goaltending coach Vincent Riendeau, and a bunch of others.
Vincent was great to talk to and I listened a lot to him talk about what he looks for in kids. He has a very thick French accent but talks passionately about hockey and cares about his players and his team.
"For sure, every time," he said, "we will take a kid with good attitude and a big work ethic ahead of a kid with more talent and an attitude."
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Cape Breton is different. Here's one way how.
I arrived in downtown Sydney at 6:30p, and the game started at 7p. I checked in quickly and the gang of us going to the hockey game assembled in the hotel foyer. Figuring we wanted to get there for the opening faceoff I asked a man in the lobby if there were cabs outside.
"Yeah," he said. "But I have a bus. I'll drive you."
A mini-van?
"No, bye. A bus."
The guy had a school bus. We worried at first that maybe, like New York's famed gypsy cabs, this guy was running some illegal transportation gig in the underground economy of Cape Breton (they used to call that coal mining, but that's another story.) Anyway, there was some big convention of educators staying at our hotel and they were all trying to get to the university campus 20 minutes away but they ordered too many buses so my pal, Buddy (not his real name) was looking to keep busy.
About eight of us piled into his school bus and he ferried us to the rink. Gratis.
"Enjoy the game boys!"
We did.
Oct 26, 2006
I met former Leaf goalie Glenn Healy today, who told me he reads the blog regularly to stay sharp for his TV work. OK, I made that last part up. But I did meet him at a coffee shop at Pearson International and we had a nice chat.
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I know there are a lot of Atom red division players looking for last week's stats on their page on this site. It's not an oversight -- the red convener is ill and hasn't gotten the stats to me. When I see them, I'll update the page ASAP. Sorry for the delay.
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I'll be in Sydney tonight for a QMJHL game. Since my team in atom white is the Eagles, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles ownership invited me down for the game. I'm lying again. I'm down here on business, but one of the Screaming Eagles owners is a good friend of Laura's dad. We'll be cheering for the home team tonight.
Oct 26, 2006
It turns out Battleship Connor didn't break his leg after all. Good news for coach Mitch, to say nothing of his family!
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Oct 24, 2006
Well, our teams in atom white are officially final, which is a good thing for the convener to get out of the way. All the teams have had their kids at practices, one scrimmage and three games. So moving kids gets tough because they identify quickly with the team, the coaches, the kids, the whole thing. Moving them is generally no fun. But if it is needed, it's not avoided simply because it is difficult. I've had to do it a few times with teams I coached -- one time was tough, another time the parents on both ends made it much easier to deal with. They weren't aspiring to the NHL. One of those kids is back on my team this year, and if there had been a need to move kids, he would not have been part of the conversation. Anyway, now we can get on with the pizza parties and all the stuff that comes with making the kids feel part of a team. And feeding the coaches.
- - -
Leafs play the Sens tonight. Expect Ottawa to come out firing on all cylinders. Losing at home to the Leafs three weeks ago won't be forgotten.
- - -
Hockey
MOMS have their annual wine drinking contest open house
tonight. Actually, I'm not even sure if there will be wine. But don't
you think some things are just logical to assume?
- - -
A word about our wedding anniversary last week: first, I'm truly impressed by how many people actually read this space, and that almost as many actually believed that Laura received a hockey tape ball to mark the occasion. Some of you are really witty. In my defence, I'm bad, but I'm not that bad. But we still haven't found a hole in the calendar to actually go out or anything like that. There is a bottle of champagne in the beer fridge downstairs -- I'm pretty sure it's left over from last year's anniversary and it may survive to see the 20th anniversary in 2007. Saturday was wall-to-wall hockey, Rangers played Sunday, tonight there is a Ranger practice and the MOMS thing, tomorrow is Eagles practice, plus I have a big late-day meeting and Laura has book club, then Thursday the Rangers have dryland and I fly east on business and Friday night they have a long, late practice and I fly back then it's Saturday.
And then the cycle starts again -- Saturday is wall to wall hockey, Eagles practice at 6:30a Sunday, etc etc . . . But our 20th anniversary is only 51 weeks away!
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Word last week was that there is no spring field lacrosse next year, which is not good news in our house. Pad loves lacrosse as much as hockey, and field lacrosse especially ("I love the sound it makes when you hit people outdoors, dad") Ahem. Anyway, there are few things in life as fun as standing in a muddy field in St. Catharines in April in the driving rain watching young men chase a hard rubber ball and hit each other with sticks. The powers that be are moving the rep field season to the fall for a bunch of sensible reasons. And that will collide in a big way with the aspirations of some athletes like Pad who play both sports. Some rep coaches may cut kids some slack on one sport on another to accommodate the players. But weekends will for sure overlap with tournaments etc. for both teams. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. The good news is that some really outstanding people in Oakville are involved in our association, and I have no doubt they're trying to figure it all out right now.
Oct 23, 2006
OK Ranger fans. Just so you know, the minor bantam A team actually caught a break last night. While Hespeler was beating us, Burlington was beating Brampton. So, Brampton lost on consecutive nights. I'm not sure if there is any truth to the rumour that the Brampton coaches were scouting around for used tires.
Oct 23, 2006
Change is hard.
If change was easy, we'd all be wildly successful at everything we do. We'd see everything with unsquinting clarity. We'd never blink or flinch when life throw's the inevitable curveball. We'd just smoothly adapt and move on.
One of the biggest changes in minor hockey in years occurred this year with the CHA adopting the NHL-style rules on obstruction. We were warned in house league to expect a lot of penalties. We were assured at rep level we'd see a lot.
One need not be a Nobel laureate to understand that adapting to this change would be a key component to long-term success over the season. The change means not just a different way of calling penalties, or more penalties, or having better special team units to capitalize on, or fend off, odd-man situations. Those are part of it, yes. But the smart folks adapt their skill sets -- the collective talent on their teams -- to make the rule changes an opportunity, not a threat. They change their component parts and adapt their behaviour to make the most of their strengths.
In the big leagues, Exhibits A and B in this conversation are the Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers.
It's only coincidence that they played last week and as hockey fans know, Buffalo pasted the Flyers 9-1. Buffalo (8-0-0 at this point) has a roster of young, fast and disciplined players. Lindy Ruff is a smart coach and he uses the new rules to the advantage of his team's skills.
The Flyers (1-6-0-1) are in the worst crisis in the team's history and there's no easy way out for them. Slow, plodding, lumbering. These are the words used to describe the Flyers. They are built to compete for the Stanley Cup of 1995, not 2006. Just weeks after he got a contract extension, their coach has been fired. Bobby (Call Me Bob) Clarke, who is as close to a hockey deity as Philly has, resigned, basically admitting he's burned out and made bad decisions.
- - -
The new rules affect minor hockey, too.
Last night, the minor bantam Rangers lost 4-2 to a team they had beaten 9-1 only two weeks ago. Maybe Hespeler had a bad night two weeks ago and maybe they were missing a couple of key guys. But honestly, unless they were missing Eric Staal, it's tough to account for a swing in fortunes like that.
And this was 24 hours after the Rangers swaggered into Brampton and beat one of the toughest teams in the loop in their own house.
Last night, the Rangers took a lot of penalties -- roughly four for every one Hespeler took. Sure, there were questionable calls -- both ways -- and missed calls, etc. That's hockey. Unlike the NHL's Flyers, the Rangers are in first place, and the Hespeler loss was their first in league play. The have speed to burn up front, and defencemen who are big, but also mobile. So, everyone should climb in off the ledge, because I don't think we expected an undefeated season.
What the Rangers didn't do last night, as famously said by Kipling (who was not much of a hockey fan) was keep their heads when all about them were losing theirs. In the heat of a game, its a tough thing to do. As the seconds tick by and you're down two goals, intensity morphs into desperation and then finally frustration. And at that moment, you install a revolving door on the penalty box and listen to the Fat Lady sing.
The Ranger in my house felt pretty terrible last night and it seemed there was not much I said that made him feel better or gather any perspective. (I've somewhat altered my role as a hockey parent. He has a coach to tell him what he did right and wrong. My job is to be relentlessly positive -- pump him up, make sure he has fun, talk about the good stuff, etc.)
But sometimes your kid has to find the lesson himself.
There's bucket loads of talent on this team. They'll bounce back.
- - -
One cool thing from last night that I really liked. Down two goals in the third period, our coach pulled the goalie - with almost four minutes left. I thought it was a brilliant tactical move, plus it was wildly entertaining to watch. And we came close to scoring, and then got a couple of penalties and that was that. But still, it was cool.
Oct 22, 2006
Atom A Rangers -- Bracebridge Champs
Brandon, the tournament MVP, is show below. Very, very cool.
Meanwhile . . .
The minor bantam AE Rangers lost a 3-2 thriller in Rochester to get eliminated there. A strong showing by the AE team against A opponents.
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And the bantam A Rangers laid an egg tonight against Hespeler, losing 4-2. Ick. Really.
Oct 22, 2006
Stunning, if not unexpected news from the NHL -- Bobby (Call me Bob) Clarke has resigned as Flyers general manager, and Ken Hitchcock has been fired as coach. With only one win to show for their first eight games, including a 9-1 humiliation last week at the hands of the Sabres, big moves were inevitable. Read more about it here.
Oct 22, 2006
Atom A Rangers beat Tilsonberg 4-1 to win the Bracebridge tourney. Their second tournament championship of the season. Well done guys.
Oct 22, 2006
AE minor bantam Rangers tied Rochester 0-0 and play Burlington today.
- - -
The atom A Rangers beat Shelbourne 5-1 in the semis at the tournament in Bracebridge, so they earn a rematch in the final against Tilsonberg, who beat them 2-0 on Friday.
- - -
A big win last night for the minor bantam A Rangers, beating Brampton in their own house. Brampton always ices tough teams and as expected, this game was a good one. It was the most consistent overall outing for the team against a strong opponent this year. Matt McL played with a bum leg and scored three times. Chris G scored one of the prettiest goals you'll see, rushing from our end and unleashing a slapshot from the blue line that was still rising when it hit the top left corner. Jake C. added the fifth.
A couple of things jumped out at me last night -- Jack Gillis's left leg, and Jack Gillis's right leg. He made at least four highlight-reel kick saves, two of them in the third, to hold the lead. He played great.
Also, the power play unit of McLaughlin, Cussen, Goodhew, Sayers and Germano scored three times.
The result puts the Rangers in first place, still unbeaten in league play, one point up on Brampton with a game in hand.
They play Hespeler at home tonight.
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One of my favourite Oakville minor athletes suffered a possible broken leg in football late last week. Battleship Connor will be watching football for the rest of this season and will have to cheer his minor bantam red hockey team, the Renegades, on from the bench for a few weeks. They'll miss him. His injury sounds a lot like Pad's broken leg last spring. Anyway, Connor was supposed to start at QB this weekend and instead he's hanging out on the sidelines, lookin' cool and smiling for the babes, which he does very, very well. His mom is the incomparable Star -- so we can rest assured he'll get five-diamond care and eat like a king. Get well soon Connor!
Oct 21, 2006
OK, Reagan has checked in. The minor bantam AE Rangers are in Rochester, NY, competing in an A-level tournament. They dropped a 4-1 game last night to Cambridge, ON, and beat Port Credit 6-2 today. So they are more than holding their own. They play a New York state team tonight. Go Rangers!
Oct 21, 2006
OK, first some results.
The atom A Rangers lost 2-0 last night to Tilsonburg, last year's BB OMHA champs. You have to watch out for these teams from small centres. My scouts tell me they had three or four kids of AA or AAA calibre. If you play rep hockey, you know this story well. The Rangers shot from the outside but couldn't penetrate and a very good goalie dined out on them.
This morning, apparently they solved both the penetration problem and the goalie. If you play rep hockey, you also know this story -- in their second game, they beat Midland 16-0. Honest. No team enjoys being either end of that score (admittedly, I'm sure it was less fun for Midland.) But the game officials didn't let the clock run in the third and the game dragged on and on and on and . . .
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No word from the bantam AE team in Rochester. Reagan must have lost BB service.
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This morning in HL action, the two undefeated atom white teams -- including mine -- both lost. My guys went down 4-3. But it's a good result for the league, a lot of close games and apparently an even distribution of talent. Praise be to God. Hopefully the coaches will all hug, sign off on their teams and we can all finally take the casts and leg braces off the kids we're trying to hide from each other.
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Sometimes in life, you leave things behind and often, you have to wait for opportunity to knock to get them back. You can leave behind your innocence, or your friends, a job, or a even a way of life.
Or, sometimes you just leave behind your Epi-Pen in the dressing room, like Pad did at practice last night. And it's not opportunity that comes knocking on a dark, wind-swept autumn night. It's your coach, returning your Epi-Pen.
Patrick says thanks.
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Brampton tonight for the minor bantam A Rangers. Big game. Big, big, big. Brampton is always tough. Should be interesting.
Oct. 20, 2006
Speaking of on the road, the bantam A Rangers now have the schedule for Lake Placid, where they will compete in the Can-AM Cup next month. They open the tournament Nov. 2 vs the West Chester, PA, Quakers, and then the next morning take on the Greenwich, CT, Wings. Later that evening, they Masconomet Black Bears, from Boxford, Topsfield, Middleton, Mass. Two of those three games will be on the 1932 Olympic rink. On Saturday, the boys get to skate on the 1980, miracle-on-ice arena against the Red Bank, NJ, Generals. To say they are excited would not begin to describe it.
Oct 20, 2006
Rangers, Rangers, Rangers on the roads near and far.
The atom A Rangers are off to Bracebridge for a tournament this weekend, and minor bantam AE Rangers are going south to Rochester, NY, for a tournament, too.
Pad and the rest of the bantam A team are in Brampton for a tough test tomorrow night and then host Hespeler on Sunday. The Brampton matchup should be a good one and first place and an undefeated league record are on the line.
Meanwhile, I'll be at Kinoak tonight for an atom HL practice, then at Maplegrove first thing on Saturday for convening/coaching duties till late morning. Pad has a practice tonight, also at Maplegrove, at 9p. Nothing punches a hole in your Friday night light a practice that doesn't end till 10p.
So, two practices tonight, four games tomorrow, and a game Sunday.
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Many of the kids on Pad's team are also volleyball players for their schools and its during volleyball and basketball and track and cross country that you see a payoff of all this hockey. Obviously the kids all go to different schools. That means they compete against each other when they represent their schools. But with that competition comes a level of fun and respect for the opponent that is hard-wired into the kids because the guy on the other side of the net or court or racing you down the field at track is often a guy that you were lacing your skates up with at practice the night before, or hugging after he scored a goal, etc. It's brilliant really, and this "shared experience" isn't the exclusive domain of rep athletes -- house league kids get the exact same experience because minor hockey and lacrosse and soccer are such melting pots for the neighbourhoods of our town. The friendships I made in the locker rooms and arenas and gyms of my youth were forged in fire and never go away. More than 30 years later I can close my eyes and see the faces of the guys I played bantam rep hockey with in a very small, very old rink in rural Nova Scotia. Randy. Tim. Jim. Steve. Stevie. Brian. Dale. The nicknames -- Squid. Slink. Simple. Art. Professor. Kids like Pad and Chris don't know it yet, but these are some of the best days of their lives with teammates and coaches and teachers and mentors they will remember forever.
Glory days, boys. Glory days.
Oct 18, 2006
A solid 4-0 win over Woolwich last night for the minor bantam A Rangers, pushing their record to 5-0-1. The Woolwich goalie started a bit shaky but was outstanding in the 2nd and 3rd periods, and kept the game from becoming a rout. I thought the Oakville defencemen stepped up and had a strong effort last night -- good decision making with the puck in our end, setting up the breakout properly, giving Woolwich nothing -- nothing -- in the middle in our end. Woolwich players spent a lot of time getting up off the ice last night. I thought Charlie B. had a very good night.
On offence, I'm going to single out Matt McM, who may be the best pure goal scorer on the team. The thing is, last night I don't think he scored. But he made some really wonderful passes to linemates. With his speed, adding creative puck movement like that multiplies the creation of scoring chances and even a dummy like me can see it. There were some pretty goals (one on a pure end-to-end possession that looked like the Rangers running their breakout drill in practice) and all the forwards played hard. But for some reason Matt's passing caught my eye.
Blair W. recorded the goose egg in a solid night in the cage.
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If you tuned in to TSN last night you saw the Sabres humiliate the Flyers 9-1. It was a startling exhibition of everything that is wrong in Bobby (Call Me Bob) Clarke's world with defencemen who have the size and mobility of concrete bridge footings up against the speed of Buffalo. The Flyers actually failed to get a shot on goal on a penalty shot. My Christopher was focused on bigger issues, pointing out that Buffalo was wearing their circa-1970 jerseys. "Man, they should stick with those. The new jerseys stink!" Amen to that.
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If you coach, have you ever had a moment where you felt a little sheepish because you lost it with a referee or blasted a kid a little too hard for some reason? Stand behind a bench long enough and it happens, even to the most mild-mannered people. Coaches are only human too (in most cases.) Well, compare your record to this baseball coach, who was convicted of corruption of minors and criminal solicitation for offering one of his players money in exchange for throwing at an autistic teammate during batting practice to force the kid out of the lineup. The coach was concerned that the nine-year-old autistic child wasn't as good as other players and he wanted to win the playoff game. I have no witty punch line for this one -- it's just sad.
Oct 17, 2006
So, I said to her this morning, "19 years."
She said, "That's a really long time."
She's right. It also feels like the blink of an eye.
Because I'm a romantic, we'll mark the occasion by watching the Rangers put their unbeaten league record on the line vs Woolwich at Oakville tonight. I sincerely hope the Rangers do not go in cocky. Woolwich is 0-5-1 compared to the Rangers 4-0-1, but Woolwich has not been blown out by anyone, in fact three of their losses were very close.
- - -
Given the recent hemorrhage of money to deal with the bathroom debacle, we are not exchanging "big" gifts today (I'm pretty sure the 19th is the "ball of hockey tape anniversary") but I figured I should get something. Last night, we were watching a TV show and Sting was on. Personally, if Sting was playing in my neighbour's garage across the street, the only reason I'd go over is to tell him to close the door and unplug his lute. But Laura likes him, so I thought I'd look to see what his latest CD is and maybe give her that. Well. Sting's latest work is a 23-track collection of 16th century Elizabethan songs. ("ALRIIIGHHHTTT!! Everyone give it up for Sting as he performs his new hit, From Thenc I Went to the Landgrave of Hessen!!!") Thanks Sting. We'll pass on this one. I think I'll surprise Laura with a weekend trip to Lake Placid next month. Yes. That's exactly what I'll do.
Oct 16, 2006
We have no hockey tonight.
I think I need a minute to gather my emotions. I have nowhere I need to be after work. Of course, Laura's the president of the parent council at our kids' school, so she won't actually be home with me. But it was a nice thought.
- - -
Tomorrow, the minor bantam Rangers are back on the ice for a home game vs. Woolwich, I believe. And the game is over at a reasonable hour, which is a good thing for those kids driving to Oakville from Elmira, which isn't exactly next door.
- - -
How was your weekend? From Friday night to Saturday night, I saw seven hockey games in person. Two minor bantam Rangers, one minor peewee AE Rangers, three house league atom white and one house league atom blue. Plus I saw a good portion of a the atom A Rangers last night, and a Ranger minor bantam practice, and an atom AA practice.
I need to get a hobby.
- - -
My buddy Dr. J scored his first goal as a rep hockey player over the weekend, in GTHL atom A action. Way to go, dude.
- - -
Chris had his birthday party at Twin Rinks yesterday afternoon. Assorted 10 year old boys playing shinny, having fun, and eating their weight in pizza afterwards. Kids, as we all know, can be enormously cruel and mean. But they also have the capacity for acts of kindness and generosity of spirit that regular readers will know that I find personally uplifting and rewarding in ways I can never express. It speaks to a job well done by a parent or parents, and that good citizens are being constructed before your eyes. One of the reasons I coach and convene is simply to have a ringside seat on these events when they happen, because they are powerful and frankly inspirational. And my point is . . .
OK. So there was a kid on the ice at Chris's party who tried skating once when he was three and didn't like it and never went back. He wanted to skate at the party. We rummaged through our hockey tickle trunk in the basement, found skates and a helmet, grabbed a stick from the garage and he was set. He hit the ice with a smile as wide as the sky. Challenged, but not afraid or at all feeling sorry for himself as a human pylon as the other boys whizzed around. Once the scrimmage started, he mostly tried to stay out of the way. Until the other kids decided he needed to score a goal, whereupon they moved him via a human cocoon of little boys to a position in front of the net and delivered unto his stick the puck which he then buried into the net. And then he promptly fell down. And the others ringed him on the ice and banged their sticks and cheered and they all laughed and the joy of the game and the joy of the moment swept over them all, and me too. That kid could not move the length of the ice without falling 10 times. He never stopped smiling once in 50 minutes.
Oct 15, 2006
Tied Burlington 2-2 last night, so the minor bantam Rangers are still unbeaten in league play at 4-0-1. Practice tonight.
Oct 14, 2006
Having managed to get through Friday the 13th without breaking a mirror or getting mauled by a black cat, we lurched into the weekend this morning delivering Pad to his volleyball game and Chris and I to house league hockey.
Three exciting and close games again this week, with my Eagles prevailing 4-3 over the gritty Lumberjacks. First star of the game for me was the goal post -- actually, both goal posts, which were dinged by the LJs late in the game with a shot that ricocheted off both posts. Mitchell Anderson was a monster for my team, with a goal and three assists and a dominating day at centre ice. Alexander Marchand also had a goal and three assists, and my big American import, Ryan O'Dowd scored twice -- on the same shift.
- - -
Pad and the Rangers spanked Hespeler last night 9-1, paced by Matt McM's four goals and two each from Jake Cussen and Justin Burzycki. Cam Sayer scored the other. We're in Burlington tonight, instead of sleeping peacefully in front of a fire and the Leafs-Flames game.
More later . . .
Oct 13, 2006
Do you suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia? Then today is not your day. Good luck with that.
- - -
It was interesting to watch Paul Maurice last night try to argue after the game that the glass was half full. The Leafs blew a 6-3 third period lead and lose in a shootout to the Devils. Entertaining game, but ugly loss. Or should that be, butt-ugly loss.
- - -
Weekend for us starts tonight with a Ranger road game in Hespeler (ah, the joy of the 401 on a Friday night . . .) and then Pad has a school volleyball tournament in Milton tomorrow morning while Chris and I have Atom house league action tomorrow morning, followed by his weekly skating session with Dick Decloe in the afternoon followed by another Ranger road game, mercifully next door in Burlington, tomorrow night.
Then there's dryland training for Pad on Sunday morning followed by Chris's birthday party at Twin Rinks followed by a Ranger practice Sunday at 4p. After that, the weekend is all ours, baby!
- - -
Ensuite bathroom reno: Day 2,465. OK -- today is the 16th day since the old bathroom was ripped out and I'm told that by the time I get home tonight, it's all over but the painting (which will happen Monday) and cheque writing, which is already happening. The guys doing the work have been great and cooperative and helpful. But I just want my damn shower back.
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Oct 12, 2006
Let the record show in snowed today in Oakville. Sheesh.
Oct 12, 2006
Some people have asked some questions, (what's a blog, why blog, who reads you, what's your favourite colour) so a word about this space and blogs in general . . .
First, this isn't really a pure blog -- I don't have a feedback section (I know way too much about libel law to go down that road) and I don't have permalinks to specific entries and all of that. It is what it is. But I welcome feedback, I post on stuff, and I call it a modest little blog.
There are a lots of blogs out there -- more than 35 million in what the hard-core bloggers call (what else?) the blogosphere. According to people who track these things, about 75,000 new blogs are created every day, or almost one every second. Most enjoy the loyal readership of exactly one person -- the author, and maybe his parents. More than half of them disappear in three months. Less than half of those that survive are updated more than once a week.
I've been doing this for about 10 months. It started as an outlet for my observations (I see stuff, and I like to write) around our rinks and town, to tell funny incidents from my life which I know holds a lot in common with many of you, and as an easy way for our families back in Nova Scotia to keep tabs on stuff in our lives.
My traffic is modest, but it is a loyal readership and it is growing (Google hasn't called yet, but they will . . . ) The number of different people (called unique visitors) coming here regularly is in the low four figures and this month collectively they will view pages on this site about 30,000 times. (big-league blogs would have unique visitors in six figures, so I'm very East Coast Hockey League, if you get my drift.)
But just the same, more people now read this space in a day than read it in an entire month when it started less than a year ago. That's kind of fun for me knowing someone's out there besides my dad and Laura. (But as Laura says, who ARE these people?)
Anyway, I like the email I get -- good and bad -- and I try to answer people who take the time to write. So, drop a note sometime. And no, I won't publish your email here. I protect my sources!
The things that get the most reaction when I write? Hmmm.
The biggest one was last April when the team I coached won the championship. Like the Rhinestone Cowboy, I got cards and letters from people I don't even know. (Well, email anyway.) A lot of people followed our story here for months and apparently got a big kick out of us winning (and me going on about it. "Why it seems like only yesterday. I remember that we . . ." EDS NOTE: ENOUGH, OR MAGUIRE WILL EMAIL AGAIN! )
The other big one, more recently, was the entry about me putting hand sanitizer in my hair at the gym.
So the lesson is people like reading about happy kids and slapstick. Works for me.
Stay in touch. I'll see you at the rink.
Oh. My favourite colour is blue, by the way.
Oct 12, 2006
Pad seems to be returning to normal, so I'm glad one of us is. I still can't breathe. He's on the ice tonight, after band this morning and a volleyball game after school.
- - -
New York is an amazing city and weird things happen there all the time. Yesterday's events were both tragic and startling given who was involved and the time of year and recent history with planes and skyscrapers and everything else. It was the first thing both my kids mentioned to me when I walked through the door last night. And what's really weird is that there was actually palpable relief in America that it wasn't something more dark and sinister. It was plenty dark enough for me, thanks.
- - -
OK, so this morning I'm ready for a conference call with my boss and some important guys in various parts of the country and we've got files open and briefing documents and we're pumped and we're ready and we dial in to join the call and no one's there and while we're waiting the phone company treat us to . . . You're the One That I Want from the Grease soundtrack. Man, talk about losing your edge in a hurry.
- - -
So, Google is paying US$1.65 billion (with a b) for youtube.com. Hmm. Here's my plan: the second -- and I mean like the very instant -- Google decides it needs to own a pipeline to a suburban Toronto hockey/sports/stuff demographic, I'm selling. And, for less than youtube got, too. I figure maybe $300 million, plus some stock. And then, I'm gonna build my own damn rink. And there will be no 6a practice allowed. Ever. I'll even let the Rangers keep their tires on site. I'll be all about the little guy. Wait and see.
Oct 11, 2006
Atom Red and White stats are now up, house league fans. Blue coming shortly. We'll have a system in place soon and it will run like, um, clockwork. Yeah. Clockwork.
- - -
Interesting minor bantam Ranger practice last night -- let's just say, this is where the rubber hits the road. Or in this case, ice. Coach Bob has introduced tires as a workout tool. It's amazing all the things you can do with a tire when it's not attached to a car. Some older Ranger players were watching the practice and remarked: "The players are going to hate this." So far, they don't. But their training just got ramped up.
- - -
Pad is down with something similar to what hit me on the weekend -- two volleyball practices and a hockey practice in one day tipped him over the edge. Chris had a 6a this morning but he and several other of my Eagles were scheduled to run in the Halton Cross Country finals today so they skipped practice. And then the cross country meet was gassed because of lightning. Argh! (BTW, I was at practice hacking and wheezing and had to work extra hard because my assistant coach broke his toe and can't put a skate on for six weeks minimum. This is not good.)
- - -
One last note from practice. The boys seemed a little lethargic today, even handicapping the performance for the early hour. This was brought into clear focus when we were doing half-ice suicides (goal line to centre, back, repeat till you puke). I have a severe head cold, can't breathe and I was able to do more of these than anyone on my team (although it's a good thing Jacques broke his toe, because he'd do more than me easily). Anyway, I told the kids that me out-skating them with a head cold and two very bad knees is a sign of the apocalypse ("Hey coach, what's a popsicle eclipse?") and we would be doing more and more and more skating in the days ahead.
- - -
Oh, and you should know that the automatic sliding doors on the new rink at Glen Abbey don't work at 5:30a. So, if you walk up half asleep figuring they will slide open just like the doors on the Starship Enterprise a split second before you walk into them . . . you'd be wrong. Then you kind stare at the building and try to figure out how to get in. (Turn right, use the old-fashioned door with the wood block holding it open. You're welcome.)
Oct 10, 2006
I know there are a lot of house league atom kids impatiently looking for stats and standings. They are coming -- I promise. Soon.
- - -
We had a nice Monday -- great turkey, lots of time with the kids, me hacking and wheezing through this miserable bug I have. Chris and Patrick barely emerged from non-hockey pursuits from noon Sunday through all of Monday. Sometimes kids just need to change channels and 36 hours or so to ride bikes, play PS2, watch a movie, sleep in, etc., seemed to be good tonic for them.
The channel snaps back onto hockey for Pad tonight with a practice -- the first of six consecutive days on the ice for him.
Chris has a 6a practice tomorrow but he's not going to be there -- he has to run in the Halton cross country meet later in the morning and Laura tells me a 5a cattle call for hockey would be too much to expect. So, I'll be going alone I guess.
- - -
And now, for a musical interlude: we've been listening on the weekend to Sam's Place, the new album from The Killers. The verdict is in and I . . . like it. I'm not sure I like it as much as their 2004 debut work, Hot Fuss, but it's starting to grow on me. I usually have to force feed myself a new album for a while to find out if it has staying power on my iPod playlists. After a weekend of The Killers, I can say this one does.
- - -
As previously reported, Wayne Moorehead, MOHA's VP for house league, is running for town council, presumably to fill in the hours of spare time he has. Anyway, you can learn more about him and why he's running at his site, www.wmoorehead.ca .
Oct 9, 2006
Blog readers gleefully point out that if I bet the kids' education fund on my baseball playoff picks, then I'd better be hoping for a Lotto 649 win soon. Luckily, I don't bet much. If you made bets based on my predictions, you're an idiot.
Here is what I predicted, with the actual result in brackets:
Yankees over the Tigers (Tigers win)
Twins will beat the A's (A's win)
Mets over the Dodgers (Met win)
Padres over the Cards (Cards win)
So, obviously, my prediction of the Yankees beating the Mets for the Series can't come true.
I'm now picking the Mets to beat the Tigers. Conduct yourselves accordingly.
Oct 9, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving from the management, editorial team and tech support staff at Teamoakville. Yes, yes, I know the blog was quiet yesterday. As I mentioned Saturday I've caught a bug so after the two hour trek back to Oakville and a trip to the grocery store and some house cleaning, I fell asleep in the family room, warmed by the glow of the TV, while Laura fell asleep on the sofa in the living room, warmed by the Saturday Globe and Mail.
Nonetheless, there's lots to talk about.
Before I get into all that a couple of noteworthy things to say about the Rangers. First, Jason Carlucci broke his arm in the 2nd game of the tournament. Everyone associated with the team wishes Jason a speedy recovery so he can get back on the ice with the team as soon as possible. Get well Jason!!
Second, Brody Langley -- yeah, the coach's kid! -- scored the game winner in the second game with two seconds left. And he did it on the weekend he was celebrating his birthday, which is a heck of a way to celebrate. And the guy in net, Blair Weyersberg, was also marking a birthday. So, well done guys -- it's worth mentioning.
After
being eliminated the Rangers headed back to their cottages on Rice Lake
for the evening meal of -- well, you name it. It was pot luck and it was
plentiful.
But before I get to that, a few words about my journey from Oakville to Peterborough. The Cussens are a wonderful family. Smart, well-mannered, witty -- loved by all. Nancy and Sam needed a lift and they travelled with me and Chris, and bonus!! -- Nancy knew the way. Cool.
I could go on and on about shortcuts and rolling farmland and fall foliage and whatnot. I could say that when people around us were speaking French, I knew we had gone too far east. I could say Nancy's shortcuts did seem all that short. But that would be both wrong and a playful exaggeration. What I will say is this --- if the Lewis and Clark Expedition had been the Lewis and Clark and Cussen Expedition, we'd still be looking for the Pacific.
Anyway,
back to Saturday night. The idea was team building and there was lots of
that, what with chasing the goat, eating a lot and replaying every shift
of the last game.
The cottages we were at were on a lovely property and to the right here you see Chris walking on the dock at about 10a Sunday morning, when not a lot of other creatures were stirring in the compound that I could see. Anyway, it made for a nice picture.
The night before -- for our party -- there was a massive, bright, howl-like-wolf full moon, which may explain some of the behavior. Actually, I'm kidding on that point. Everyone had a good time but it was more a marathon than a sprint. There was too much food to eat for it to be anything else.
Eventually, Coach Bob gathered the boys around the fire for a little
team building exercise. Each of the kids
had
to talk about something they appreciated in one of their teammates.
That's Bob on the left with the rapt attention of the Bantam A Rangers
and assorted hangers-on.
It's safe to say -- well, I'm hoping it's safe --- Bob does things differently than most coaches these kids have had to this point and he repeatedly turns back to them to define their expectations of each other and then he helps them get there. I have a feeling the road to "there" will involve a lot of skating, a lot of high-intensity workouts. Wait and see.
After
the team building, the parents all ran for fresh beers and then there
was a talent show -- nominally it was to be staged by the Rangers but
not everyone participated.
There
was a very funny skit, the punch line of which was a kid falling over
dead at the sight of Wally, the beloved team trainer. This is Wally,
making the second silliest use of Sam Cussen's Roots hat that we saw all
night.
Christian Carlucci -- older brother of Ranger Jason, who broke his arm
in the first game Saturday and is lost to the team for a month or more
-- was the most talented musician by a long shot. He can really play.
But some of the other Rangers stepped up and showed what they can do. Pad and Blair Weyersberg did a duet -- without vocals -- of Nivana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and they both also just jammed and played some solos.
Even my younger son Chris got into it, impressively (in my view) playing a good chunk of Green Day's Jesus of Suburbia on his new red guitar (right).
There was also the bizarre sight of Chris and Cole Munden singing Johnny Cash songs in duet on the karaoke machine. Here is the photographic evidence, below.
And several of the Rangers exhibited a very special talent for building pyramids, which I thought was a skill lost with the demise of the ancient Egyptians but apparently lives on in Oakville and perhaps points to exciting futures for some of our team members as contractors for rich, dead Egyptians or maybe in the exciting and growing field of recycling and waste management.
Anyway, the kids all stayed up much later than they would have There were many other photos, a good portion of which can be seen on picture portion of the team's web site, here.
Oct. 7, 2006 -- UPDATE 2
The Rangers lost 3-0 to Cobourg this afternoon, so we'll be back in time for the NFL pre-game show Sunday. I managed to catch the plague or something, so I'm not feeling all that great, which kinda fits in with the way the game went for the Rangers. In fairness to Cobourg, they played very well -- no one has scored on them in three games.
Oct. 7, 2006 -- UPDATE 1
The Rangers beat Peterborough this morning 3-2, bouncing back from a loss last night. They play again at 4p.
Meanwhile, the Atom White Eagles won their season opener in dramatic fashion, 5-3 with an empty netter over the Flyers. We popped a short-handed goal with 90 seconds left to take the lead. This one could have gone either way. Much work to do in the weeks ahead, but a good start for the boys.
Oct. 7, 2006
Pad's Rangers lost 2-1 to Waterloo on Friday. Pad got tossed on the second shift of the game for a hit from behind, which means he misses the 9a game today which means he is not happy.
CSI: Peterborough recreated the crime scene and reports he was jobbed. Pad's skates apparently got tangled up with another kid's stick near the boards and Pad started falling. He put his hands out to break his fall on the boards. Waterloo player skates in the way, Pad pushes him into the boards.
A dubious call but I've seen worse.
Especially since I wasn't there and didn't see this one at all, but hey, it's my kid and my blog.
Anyway, when Pad starts falling you usually hear people yelling "TIMBER!!" which should be warning enough to get out of the way.
But it is what it is.
They play Peterborough this morning, I'm sprinting out to convening duty and my Eagles' first game.
Oct 6, 2006
As I write this we haven't yet officially celebrated Chris's birthday -- the Ranger is still in bed, which is a cool trick given that workmen are coming in and out of the house and up and down the stairs like Hannibal with the elephants.
Laura and Pad hit the road mid day for Peterborough where the Rangers square off at 5p vs Waterloo. At 5p Chris and I will be hitting the ice for his practice, followed by boys' night at home. Up early on Saturday for atom white convening chores, followed by a sprint to Peterborough to catch the Rangers' second game of the day.
FYI for Ranger fans: Waterloo is 2-0-2 in league play, including a 5-0 win over Hamilton, and 6-1 win over St Thomas.
- - -
I don't know who those guys were in Ottawa last night dressed in blue, but what have they done with the Leafs? On second thought, leave those guys where they are and keep the old Leafs locked up.
Oct 5, 2006
I thought the ceremony honouring Hap Day, Red Kelly and Borje Salming at the ACC last night was very well done. Classy and emotional -- bagpipes and The Maple Leaf Forever always do the trick.
I would also have thought that maybe it would have inspired the Leafs to play better. I thought they looked pretty flat. Settle in for a long winter.
- - -
The bigger news on the home front was Chris getting his birthday present. He and Laura headed for the music store and returned with a shiny new candy-apple red electric guitar. (The actual birthday will be celebrated on Oct 6, in the kitchen, like it always is.) Chris has been taking lessons for three years and he can actually play. He has wanted his own electric guitar ever since the moment three years ago and Pad got one for his birthday. Our basement rec room is now starting to resemble the showroom at Long and McQuade -- three electric guitars, three acoustic, and a saxophone.
Care to guess what my boys will be doing at the Ranger talent show in Peterborough on Saturday night?
- - -
A footnote to the birthday -- Chris was born on the day Tiger Woods won his first tournament as a pro. I did not get to watch on TV. Efforts on my part to nickname Chris as Tiger lasted about a day.
- - -
Games that count in house league atom white and blue start this weekend. This is a big deal to the kids because, well, it's hockey. But it's a big deal to conveners like me because we have to quickly determine if the teams are balanced OK. The wrinkle this weekend is that because it's a long weekend, a lot of kids are away so we won't really be able to tell much from the results. But we'll all have fun.
- - -
Bathroom reno update: things are starting to move along now -- new sub floor done, new pot lights in, new exhaust fan in, drains all moved and shower stall roughed in, insulation and vapor lock done. Today is supposed to be Drywall Day. So, Happy Drywall Day. And then tomorrow it's Fiesta del Tiling. Lots of tile and grout and whatnot.
My hope, however misguided, is that the ensuite may actually take on practical service by the weekend -- but not for showering. What the contractor neglected to tell us was that the glass for the shower stall will have to be custom fitted and cut, and that will take another week or so.
We're coping. After two weeks without the ensuite, not having it starts to feel normal. Four years ago we ripped out virtually all the carpet in the house and put in hardwood. Now THAT was a hateful experience. On day two of that project I just wanted to stop. It felt like it would have been simpler to bulldoze the house and live in the rubble, than, every night for a week, empty two or three rooms of ALL furniture and pile everything into two or three other rooms (on top of what was already in those rooms.) So we got to move the entire contents of our lives (and we have a lot of crap) twice. Because 24 hours after you moved it into that room, you had to move it back. That pretty much left the furnace room as a place for the family to hang out.
My advice for people considering a project like that is either sell the house and start over, or, if you really, really have to rip out the carpet and install hardwood, send the money directly to the divorce lawyers and cut out the contractor as middleman.
Oct 4, 2006
Why is it that at the first hint of a strong breeze in the Gulf of Mexico -- at the first whisper of a notion of an idea of a tiny chop on the water -- apparently imperiling all those oil rigs sucking crude oil out of the ocean floor, the price goes up like a sherpa on Everest.
Or, whenever some kid in the Gaza throws a rock at a tank, commodities trader start screaming "international instability" and gas prices at the pump spike faster than a thermometer in a Texas parking lot in July?
But, if like yesterday, the price of crude falls more than $2 a barrel, nothing happens at the pump. Nothing. <Insert sound of crickets chirping.>
Oct 4, 2006
OK, let's play follow the family meltdown. See if you can connect the dots and solve the family crisis:
Christopher turns the big 1-0 on Friday.
On Friday, Pad has to be in Peterborough for a Rangers' tournament.
Chris has a practice Friday night.
We've booked a cottage in Peterborough Friday and Saturday night (weeks ago, before the house league schedule was known).
I hate missing Ranger games.
Atom white hockey season starts Saturday morning at 8a.
I'm the Atom White convener.
Chris plays at 9a. I hate missing Chris's games.
Oh yeah, I coach Chris's team.
Pad and the Rangers play in Peterborough, also at 9a Saturday morning.
Did I mention I hate missing Ranger games?
Did I mention that Chris's birthday is Friday?
- - -
OK, that Laura and Pad should go to Peterborough and Chris and I stay in Oakville is obvious.
But what you need to know is that Chris is REALLY REALLY not happy about the family severing into two camps on his birthday. And I have to give the kid credit, he's a heck of negotiator.
When we said that we'd celebrate his birthday as a family on Saturday (the day after his birthday) in Peterborough (and I promised parades, speeches from local dignitaries, etc.) he got REALLY REALLY mad and told us, no, we'd celebrate his birthday, on his birthday, RIGHT HERE IN THIS KITCHEN JUST LIKE WE ALWAYS DO.
I'm not sure how many of you negotiate contracts or deals as part of your life. I do sometimes. And there are some people that put a final offer on the table and well, it's final. Doesn't matter how long you wait, or what else you do, it's final.
Chris is one of those guys.
At that point Laura and I exchanged panicked glances.
Sooooooo . . .
The compromise is that we're celebrating Chris's birthday, on his birthday, right in the kitchen like we always do. (I have to admit, the kid's good.)
However, in honor of interest-based bargaining (where everyone wins something) as opposed to position-based bargaining (where Chris wins and we all lose) we added one wrinkle:
We're going to celebrate at breakfast, not dinner. (Hey, would you like cake and ice cream with your corn flakes?)
Then Laura and Pad are going to Peterborough and me and Chris are going to stay behind for his practice and game. And THEN we're going to Peterborough, where I expect we'll celebrate the birthday all over again.
But not, I hope, at breakfast.
- - -
The Rangers are going to have a talent contest Saturday night in Peterborough. I'm going to take pictures. I'm going to review the show. I'm going to name names. It's not Vegas boys -- what happens in Peterborough will not stay in Peterborough.
- - -
Want another GO Transit rant? Come on . . . you know you do!
I had to leave work early yesterday because something came up that required Laura to be in two or three places at once and even as talented as she is, she wasn't going to pull it off.
So I ran (literally) to make the 4:47p express train, which left Union Station at the appointed time and then got just east of Mimico and stopped over a small gorge on a bridge. For 45 minutes.
So much for rushing home to help.
Eventually the train lurched forward -- "Hey, we're moving!" said the woman across from me.
"Yeah, but it could simply be the bridge collapsing and we're sinking into the river," said I.
The six most meaningless words in the English language continue to be:
"GO Transit apologizes for the inconvenience."
Or they could also be: "The Leafs will make the playoffs."
- - -
Hockey that counts starts tonight. Sens and Leafs on TSN. Paul Maurice seems like a smart guy with a great sense of humor. He may need it.
- - -
Oct 3, 2006
The Tri County standings are now online. Sort of.
The sites are active, but they are not up to date.
You can view the Smith minor bantam A standings here.
The Harrison minor bantam AE standings are here.
The Atom A standings are here.
You can navigate through all the Tri County standings here.
I've added buttons for standings to the Ranger home pages on this site.
And remember -- I already know they aren't up to date, and no, I'm not the guy who updates them.
Oct 3, 2006
I've said it before but it bears repeating: drag yourself out of the house some weeknight and go watch a Rangers game. Any Rangers game.
Pad's team had dryland training at River Oaks last night and the minor atom AAA team was playing Brampton. Highly entertaining hockey by a bunch of very skilled nine-year-olds on both sides.
Among the reasons that you should attend a Rangers game sometime are: there will be kids on the ice you know (unless you're the guy in Egypt who reads this), it's free, it's entertaining, and really, you need to get out more.
I only saw half the game -- dryland finally ended -- and there was no score at that point. I did notice Reggie Nasu on the bench. Man, that guy is always at a rink somewhere.
- - -
NHL hockey that counts starts tomorrow night. And that means if you're doing things, like for example, participating in a hockey pool, you need to have you picks done. Soon. As in by tomorrow at abut 6p. If you were in a pool. Some people do. And tomorrow would be the deadline.
- - -
I saw a Dennis Miller routine on TV the other night and he made a really good point. In the Miss Universe pageant, have you ever noticed that someone from Earth always wins?
- - -
Baseball playoffs start today, which is why even in Canada the start of hockey season will be on the inside pages of your sports section. The IT team at teamoakville was up all night running simulations and we are now ready to predict:
Yankees over the Tigers
Twins will beat the A's
Mets over the Dodgers
Padres over the Cards
And then . . .
Yankees beat the Twins
Mets beat the Padres
And then . . .
Yankees beat the Mets.
Now, if Randy Johnson isn't up to snuff, that could change things.
And the Mets don't have Pedro, but I'm thinking they should still win in the NL. Unless they don't.
And all bets are off if Tiger Woods shows up to play for the Dodgers (or anyone else), because you can't bet against Tiger, even in baseball.
Oct 2, 2006
I go to one of those gyms in a downtown Toronto office tower. I hop on the Stairmaster and by the time I get off, I look like a drowned rat. But I feel better for it and I sleep peacefully at my desk afterwards.
Anyway, the clear plastic dispenser for hair gel looks EXACTLY like the clear plastic dispenser for hand sanitizer. And you have to have the eyesight of a Navy SEAL sniper to read the labels.
So, I'm just saying, smart guys really pay attention to that sort of thing. 'Cause it would be WAY dumb to put hand sanitizer in your hair and then have to have another shower.
Not that I'd know. I'm just saying.
OK?
Oct. 2, 2006
A couple other scores from the weekend:
The Atom A Rangers lost 4-2 to Hespeler. Eventually, they knew someone would score on them. They're still off to a good start.
The Bantam AE Rangers thumped Stoney Creek 5-0. The core of this team is apparently the team that won the OMHA peewee AE championship last year, so a good start for this version of the Rangers.
- - -
Just FYI, the Tri County league standings are not yet online. As soon as they are, I'll post links. They were still inputting schedule data on the weekend and the divisions don't look right yet online so, it may be a few more days till the bugs are ironed out.
- - -
The IT department at teamoakville.com was busy this weekend building pages for Atom house league standings and stats. Red division is here. White is here and blue is here. White and Blue start games this weekend in between large helpings of turkey. The Red teams got out of the gate this past weekend.
- - -
Last night Chris says to me, "Dad, is it true that Hockey Night in Canada might move to TSN?" I said it was possible, but not this year. His opinion is that Saturday night hockey belongs on CBC -- he doesn't like the TSN hockey crew as much as he likes Ron and Don.
- - -
My favourite sign from a weekend sports event: Yankee fan holding up sign at the Jays-Yankees game Saturday: "I found Waldo. Where's Boston?"
- - -
Bathroom reno enters the reconstruction phase today. Or at least, it's supposed too. I'm reliably told our work in this area is proving inspirational to others and that Mike and Nancy will use his 50-50 draw earnings for a similar project at the palatial Cussen estate. And while I'm at it, how is it that this guy wins every other 50-50 draw? 50-50 means you split the money with the team, not that you get to win half the time. Where's that phone number for the auditor general . . .
Oct. 1, 2006
A new month starts with Ancaster tonight at the Twins, 4:30p start. If you're looking for yesterday's posts, they are in the September archive here.
- - -
Later that day . . .
Rangers won 5-2. Matt M. fired a hat trick, or had four, depending on who you're talking to. Jake Cussen had one. Or two. I'm not sure. Big Eric (Purcell, not Lindros) had a strong offensive performance, rushing well and even getting a breakaway.
The game had the life sucked out of it by minor penalties -- the new rules were called tight and it was a steady parade to the box all night. Ancaster had two guys in the box in the first minute. 32 minutes in penalties in a 40 minute game.
Pad had two and he's still not really sure why.