An experiment of the serious and sentimental variety

It's been over a day since Team Canada claimed men's hockey gold to set a new world record for most gold medals earned by the host country and closed out the Vancouver 2010 Olympics on a ridiculously high note, and I still cannot find the words to describe this feeling. The smile literally has not left my face since that glorious moment when Sidney Crosby eluded Brian Rafalski, received a slick, no-look pass from the corner from a tumbling Jarome Iginla, and slipped the puck through Ryan Miller's waiting five-hole for the game winner just over seven and a half minutes into overtime; the image of him throwing down his mouthguard, stick, and gloves with an uncontainable, exhilarated authority forever etched into the minds of Canadians.

The condo complex across the street from my house erupted in a simultaneous roar that echoed throughout the empty streets of my neighbourhood in suburban Calgary. I jumped up off the couch, eyes wide with disbelief, screaming at the top of my lungs; pure euphoria. I hugged my father and we high-fived, my hands, previously curled into tense, perspiring fists touched those of the calm and collected former goaltender beside me, who had introduced me to the sport as a child and then again as a young teenager. Afterwards, we sat there in a comfortable silence as the team did a victory lap around the ice, passing a giant Canadian flag between them. The greatest prize ever to be claimed. In a split second, Crosby, the twenty-two-year-old phenom, became my generation's Paul Henderson, our Mario Lemieux; securing national glory in the sport we call out own. He may play in the United States; he may have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins; but on this day, in this moment, with twenty-six million sets of eyes on him, he epitomized everything that is Canadian.

These Olympic games did so much more than introduce the world to a new Canada, a new sense of unbridled Canadian pride and patriotism unrestricted by unwritten behavioural codes or regional and national borders. They were about so much more than showing off our nearly unsurpassable hospitality and tolerance, our innate quirks and unique charm, our landscape so inconceivably and ethereally beautiful, or even the wondrous abilities of our athletes to the world. These games, an easy target for the international media's pointed critiques that literally and metaphorically kicked us when we were down, became a unifying force strong enough to link together a nation so geographically expansive and seemingly disconnected in so many ways.

From the moment Alexandre Bilodeau soared down Cypress Hill and claimed this country's first gold medal on home soil to be shared with his disabled brother Frederic, to Joannie Rochette's balls-out skate in honour of her recently deceased mother, to our women's hockey team showing the IOC and the world how Canada celebrates victory, these Olympics provided so many lasting memories that will be shared by Canadians for years to come. Stories that will be told and retold, each time documenting the series of events that saw us begin with our heads hung and our collective tails between our legs, only to slowly rise from the ashes, stronger than ever, to the tune of a spontaneous rendition of 'O Canada.'

It feels like an understatement to say that I'm proud to be Canadian. To live in a nation so free of strife, amongst a people with seemingly limitless potential for greatness. And I don't ever plan on leaving without force. This Fall, my travels will take me to Ottawa, and despite never having been there, I can already tell that I will love it just as much as I do the city where I was born and raised. How could I not? It's Canada. It's home.

Shea Weber has a message for Germany...and Russia

Shea Weber has broken many things with his heavy slapshot in his NHL career--Martin Erat's leg, Jordan Tootoo's foot, panes of glass--and now he can add Olympic twine to that list. In today's qualification game against Germany, which Canada won handily by a score of 8-2, Weber's second period goal caused some confusion when the puck left his stick with such velocity that it flew past German netminder Thomas Greiss in a blur and ripped right through the net, leaving a hole surrounded by what appeared to be black rubber singe marks. It was originally thought that the puck went wide until a stoppage in play allowed for a review, which showed the puck soaring under the cross-bar and exiting through the back of the German net. Don't believe me? Here's the video:

Shea Weber has a message for Germany, and more importantly, Russia: Shea Weber eats nets for breakfast.

He is gonna score goals and no pansy-ass piece of twine is gonna stop him. His skill and sheer force cannot be

stopped by man nor his constructions. I'd like to see the great Russian shot-blocking machine Anton Volchenkov

step in front of one of these babies. It'd probably make a hole right through his leg.

I'm totally scared shitless about playing Russia, by the way.

This moment may end up being the only real memorable one for Team Canada at these games, provided Babcock

doesn't nail Crosby to the bench in some epic shootout with the Russians; so lets savour it, shall we?

Russia tomorrow.

Pray for us.

Long time no blog--Olympic edition

Canada's international hockey supremacy seems to go through peaks and troughs, much like my blogging tendencies.

Prior to 2002, the men's Olympic team hadn't won a gold medal for fifty years. After that, the tournament titles and medals seemed to come with ease once again: the world cup in 2004, five straight world junior championship titles, world championship titles, world under-eighteens, women's world championships, the Spengler Cup--you name it, Canada won it. That all changed about two years ago, however. Canada lost back-to-back world championships to the Russians and women's world championships to the United States, and then there was this year's loss to the Americans in the gold medal game at the world juniors and other tournaments like the world under-eighteens in which Canada did not meet expectations.

Now, Canada finds themselves in sixth place at the Olympic tournament, on home ice, after falling to the Americans last night in a back-and-forth affair where mistakes proved to be too many and too costly. Despite out-shooting and out-chancing the Americans almost 2-1, uncharacteristic gaffes by veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur and defencemen Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer cost Canada the game, combined with Ryan Miller's other-worldly performance in the U.S. net. The stars seemed to be aligned for the United States: fifty years since they had last beaten Canada at the Olympics, and thirty years since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" team won the country's only gold medal in men's hockey.

Canada is now left searching for answers after going 1-1-1-0 and accumulating just five of a possible nine points in the preliminary round. Much like four years ago in Turin, and eight years ago in Salt Lake City. Who plays with Crosby? Who starts in goal? What's wrong with the powerplay? We should've chosen Green/Bouwmeester/St. Louis/Lecavalier/Jordan Staal/Stamkos/Smyth/Insert-name-of-Canadian NHL-player-here!

Sure it can be argued that Canada was the victim of some bad bounces last night against the Americans, maybe even that they were subject to some questionable officiating, but for two games now their defensive game has looked shaky and they have been consistently out-worked in their own zone. It's nice to see Doughty, Keith, and Seabrook, and Weber rise to the occasion when Pronger and Niedermayer, and to some extent, Boyle, struggle, but it would be even nicer to have them all on their game, all on the same page.

Today's practice supposedly focused primarily on defence and special teams, an area of this team's game that has irked me, specifically the power play. In the final minutes of the game against Switzerland, Canada had a golden opportunity to take the lead and win the game on the powerplay, but Babcock deployed the "Sharks unit" instead of putting Crosby, arguably his best player, on the ice.

The Shark line and the powerplay unit made up of Heatley, Marleau, Thornton, and Boyle has been largely ineffective with the exception of Heatley's four goals and Marleau's one. Thornton has zero, and just one shot on goal in 48:38 of ice time. The purpose of all three of these players making the team was the supposed "instant chemistry" that is purportedly essential in a short tournament like the Olympics. Why not go back to the Getzlaf-Heatley-Nash line that has been so effective in the world championships? This line does not have to be kept together.

Another qualm I have with the line combinations is the constant rotation of wingers on Crosby's line, partially because it makes me feel like I'm watching a Flames game but also because I fail to see any real faults with the original combination of Nash-Crosby-Iginla. Iginla had a hat trick in the first game they played together while registering under ten minutes of ice time, and Nash has been one of Canada's best players through three games. Why change that? Kent points out the futility of chemistry in these games and in the sport altogether over at Five Hole Fanatics, so can we assume that there are just too many players on this team not playing well enough to create chances and score goals? Canada's highly-touted depth has not yet been much of a factor in this tournament, and it remains to be seen if it ever will be.

Finally, we have the goaltending conundrum that seems to have emerged after Brodeur's shaky performance in goal. During the game against Switzerland, he was the victim of a perfect shot and a deflection off of a teammate's skate, and was unbeatable the rest of the way; there was no question that he would start the game versus the Americans. Sunday night was the complete opposite.

Brodeur created the bad bounces for himself by making bad decisions with the puck and finding himself out of position on more than one occasion, and now the job falls to Luongo who, although not tested against Norway, looked solid in the Canadian goal while the rest of the team struggled to find their legs. I'm usually the last person to support Roberto Luongo given my NHL allegiances, but Brodeur's performance last night in such an important game was unacceptable, and Luongo deserves an opportunity to better him; we all know he is more than capable, especially based on his stats leading up to the Olympic break versus Brodeur's numbers.

If Canada is to medal in men's hockey at these games, they have certainly taken the hard road there. This tournament was supposed to be about redemption. Canada was supposed to come into Vancouver, on home ice, and avenge a seventh place finish four years ago in Torino, and it'll likely be nothing short of a miracle if they manage a better result this time around. I don't know what it is going to take to get this team and this country back on top. They have the talent, without question, as do other countries in this tournament, but the desire and commitment seems to come in fits and starts, which perhaps explains the perplexing problem of Canada's wavering dominance at the international level.

Up Next: Canada takes on Germany in the qualification game on Tuesday, and will face Russia in the quarter-final on Wednesday, should they advance. I'll be over here crying into my pillow if you need me.

Go Canada.

Flames look to do what Canadian juniors couldn't, shoot for sixth straight win in Minny

I blame Canada's loss in the gold medal game at the World Juniors on two things:

1) Nothing rhymes with six (ie: "drive for five")

2) Pepsi. Damn you and your stupid cheer.

Really, I can't whole-heartedly defend an undisciplined Canadian squad that seemed to have trouble executing their game plan and took shifts off at crucial times. They just didn't look all there too many times during this tournament, and it cost them. Perhaps something can be said of injuries to top defencemen and questionable officiating, but those are petty excuses. If anything, this loss reminds us that winning requires equal parts hard work, skill, and discipline; gold medals have to be earned, they are not simply awarded based on pedigree.

I give the Americans full marks for playing an opportunistic, well-rounded game and exposing Canada's weaknesses; they've finally banished their WJHC demons, winning their second gold medal and beating Canada en route to both tournament titles. With the loss, Canada remains tied with Russia with fifteen golds. And if you weren't already pissed about that, watch this video of the American players celebrating in their dressing room after the game. That'll do it for you.

Canada's goaltending and defence simply hasn't been up to snuff at the past two World Junior tournaments. They can't rely on their offence, specifically Jordan "The Messiah" Eberle, to bail them out every time they find themselves down by a goal or two in big games. Even in wins against Slovakia and Switzerland, Canada lacked that authoritative dominance that we've seen from them in the past, and it was certainly nowhere to be seen against the Americans, despite two inspiring two-goal comebacks.

A silver medal is nothing to be ashamed of, but in a sport and a tournament where it's gold or bust, this one stings.

Not only do we have to put up with Edmonton's Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, who will undoubtably suit up for the Oilers next season, but we also have Vancouver's first round pick in '09 Jordan Schroeder (who the Flames passed up on in favour of defencemen Tim Erixon, much to my chagrin) to contend with.

The Flames' prospects, on the other hand, didn't fare so well in this tournament. Greg Nemisz collected one meagre point, a goal against the Americans in a losing cause. Joni Ortio struggled on a disappointing Finnish squad that failed to earn a medal and Tim Erixon was injured after taking a hard hit early in the tournament. However, he still collected three points in five games and was a +3.

We'll let you have this one, America; you earned it. We'll be sure to show you a thing or two about hockey in Vancouver. Zach Parise could very well be eating his words in little more than a month.

For a tongue-in-cheek, unabashedly chest-thumping take on the USA's gold medal victory, check out The Two-Line Pass.

Alright, being that this is a Flames blog, I suppose I should write something on the team in question. The Flames secured a 3-1 road victory over the Nashville Predators last night, good for a season-high five game winning streak and first place in the Northwest division. They played a textbook Sutter-hockey road game, a fairly conservative attack combined with well-executed shut-down defence, and got goals from slumping forwards David Moss and Olli Jokinen before Langkow sealed the deal with an empty-netter. After nearly a month of the exact opposite, games and wins like this are a welcome sight. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love boring hockey. Defence first, smart, grind-it-out games are truly a pleasure to watch. Win or lose, if the Flames continue to play this way on a consistent basis, I'll be a happy camper. I'm not going to deny the fact that this team still needs offensive help, but if Kiprusoff and the defence continue to operate at the level they have been in recent games, the need may not be as urgent as originally thought.

If there's one team that can beat us at our own game, it's the Minnesota Wild, coincidentally Calgary's opponent tonight (6PM, Fan 960). The Wild fired fourty-five shots at Kiprusoff in a 2-1 overtime victory at the 'Dome the last time these two teams met. At the time, the Flames were mired in a near December-long slump, so it'll be interesting to see if they can resume their typical levels of dominance against a struggling Minnesota squad trying to avoid a five-game slide. Both teams played last night, and the team that proves most able to overcome fatigue throughout the game will undoubtably come away with the two points.

The Flames got Cory Sarich back from a nineteen-game stint on IR last night against the Preds, and according to the Flames' website, he won't suit up tonight. However, there is no mention of Craig Conroy's injury, so I suspect they may have confused the two. Jason Jaffray, called up from the Heat to fill Conroy's vacated skates, had two shots on goal in 5:25 of ice time. Dion Phaneuf appears to be a-okay after leaving Saturday's game with an apparent arm injury while former Flame Owen Nolan will likely sit this one out for the Wild. All signs point to Kiprusoff starting his second game in as many nights, and why not, he's 24-7-4 against the Wild all time. Line combinations appear unchanged for both teams.

Finally, never one to keep his mouth shut, Theo Fleury lets us know how he really felt about getting cut by the Flames, putting down Craig Conroy and Darryl Sutter in the process, and gives us his take on the Flames' playoff chances on his blog. He also offers up a trade proposal, sending Robyn Regehr packing in favour of some offensive help for Iginla. Pretty sure that one's been done before, but you be the judge of that.

Given the un-televised nature of tonight's game combined with the fact that I'll be at work, I will likely miss most if not all of it. Scream profanities at your computer/radio for me.

Go Flames Go.

Post-game party: Superskills edition

While I have been slacking in the blog department, the Flames have been winning; quite a bit actually. After that not-the-best-but-we'll-take-it effort that resulted in a win versus the Oilers on December 28th, the Flames have rattled of three straight home victories against the Kings, the Oilers again, and the Leafs, putting together solid, near sixty-minute efforts in every one.

I missed the game against the Kings and two periods of the New Years' Eve tilt versus the Oilers, but from what I've heard/read, I have little to no complaints about either of the victories other than the fact that McElhinney missed out on his first career shut-out, thanks to Sean Horcoff. Ass.

The game against Toronto had its sloppy moments, as was to be expected from a team playing its fourth game in five nights, but I was pleased with the overall effort and the result. Jonas Gustavsson kept the Leafs in the game after the Flames found their legs midway through the first period and fired thirty-five shots his way, their second straight game totalling thirty-plus shots. Toronto's Wayne Primeau returned to Calgary for the first time since being traded to the Leafs in the offseason; he had one assist in the game before promptly getting injured. That's the Primeau we know and love!

On a more serious note, Dion Phaneuf also went down with an injury and did not return for the third period after being tripped/slew-footed by Matt Stajan and falling awkwardly. The tight-lipped Sutters have kept any information regarding the injury top-secret as usual, but Phaneuf was reportedly seen leaving the 'Dome with his arm in a sling. Not good. The good news is that Cory Sarich has been skating since December 29th and participated in the Flames' Superskills competition this afternoon, which I was lucky enough to attend. Craig Conroy was also MIA for today's festivities, as he is also "banged up" according to the Flames Insider. Curtis Glencross is also nursing a "slight injury," as per the same source. Must be a side-effect of his awesome-ness against the Leafs last night. Staffan Kronwall also participated in a few events today (including shooting acuracy, which he won, hitting all four targets with only five shots), which likely indicates that he will fill in for Phaneuf on Tuesday if Sarich isn't quite ready to go, which in turn would probably see Pardy get promoted to the second pairing with Giordano. Maybe the Flames can use him as a forward on the first line with that wicked accuracy...

Jokinen and Bourque didn't participate in a lot of events either, but they were dressed, which has me wondering if they are also feeling the effects of this tough schedule. No word on any potential injuries affecting either player as of yet.

Anyways, as I said, I did attend the Flames skills competition today; I wasn't fortunate enough to get my favourite seats (the place was actually pretty packed), but the ones I did get were still pretty good. Here are some of the photos I snapped:

The 'Dome: pre-game atmosphere at 11 AM on a Sunday

Johnson and Jokinen discussing breakaway strategies. Robyn Regehr, Nigel Dawes, and Jay Bouwmeester were two-for-two in the breakaway relay against Curtis McElhinney. Kipper doesn't do Superskills.

Puck control relay

Prust and Pardy about to face off in the puck control relay, doing a little trash-talking for good measure.

Bouwmeester and Johnson helping out with the shooting accuracy contest

Bouwmeester with one of the minor hockey players participating in the competition...lucky little brat. He's going to remember that for the rest of his life.

Team photo

"Jerseys Off Our Backs" draw winners; unfortunately I wasn't amongst them.

This was my third year attending the Superskills competition and it was enjoyable as always, especially since the Flames have been winning lately. The whole group was loose and having fun, despite being tired and a bit worse-for-wear. It's a great opportunity for fans to get up-close and personal with the players and tickets are only ten dollars, I highly recommend attending next year if you haven't already.

This and That:

I think I also gave the last Nike hockey commercial a shameless plug on this blog, but I can't get enough of their new one featuring Jarome Iginla, Dion Phaneuf, Jordan Eberle, and Jayna Hefford from the Women's national team. I get chills every time Eberle says, "With five seconds left, Destiny panics."

Canada beat Switzerland 6-1 this afternoon en route to its ninth straight appearance in the gold medal game

at the World Juniors, and now waits on the winner of the Sweden vs. USA game later this evening. If I'm

not mistaken, Greg Nemisz is still without a point; a disappointing showing for the former Flames first

rounder, to say the least. He's had his chances, including several of the point-blank variety in this game, but

can't seem to finish, which is what the Flames desperately need now and going forward. Team Canada will

take on the winner of the Sweden vs. USA match later this evening in the gold medal game on Tuesday.

Given the way they performed against the Americans on New Years' Eve, I'm rooting for the Swedes.

As you all know, the Canadian Men's Olympic team was announced on Wednesday. All the debate seems to

have died down now, so I figured I'd throw in my two cents. I have very few qualms with this team; the fact

that none of the Flames' defencemen made the team was mildly surprising, but given the team's play for most

of December, Steve Yzerman and Co. couldn't have been too impressed with what they saw, and looked

elsewhere to fill out the roster. As I pointed out last summer, the Team Canada brass has no shortage of choice

in defenceman, most of them up-and-coming like Doughty, Keith, and Seabrook, which makes the three

Flames blueliners expendable, even if they are more experienced in international competition. I would have

liked to see Mike Green on the team, as Canada was lacking offensive production from their blueliners in

2006, but no matter how many times Bruce Boudreau tries to defend him, he still has a reputation for suspect

defensive zone play, as does Phaneuf (the latter has been far too inconsistent to merit serious consideration

for the team since day one) Much like Brian Burke and Team USA, Steve Yzerman opted for a younger,

more versatile squad than the veteran-laden one that disappointed in Turin. Both appear to be building the

young foundations for a 2014 team, if the NHL decides to continue participating in the winter games after this year.

Scott Niedermayer is as good a choice as any for captain; Yes, he's thirty-six and his play hansn't been great on an

Anaheim team that finds itself in the Western Conference cellar, but he's won four Stanley Cups and every

tournament, international or otherwise, there is to win. He's a leader and a winner, plain and simple, and

nobody can fairly claim otherwise. I haven't seen Patrice Bergeron play enough to judge his addition to the

team, but I'm sure he has something to offer, as he has played with Crosby in the past at the World Junior

tournament. This team is relatively young, fast, and talented with just the right amount of grit. There aren't

quite as many superstars as the 2002 team had, but there is arguably more talent and more youth here than

on the 2006 squad. In little over a month, we will find out once and for all if it is a winning combination.

Up Next: The Flames hit the road for a mini two-game trip starting in Nashville on Tuesday (Sportsnet,

6PM). The Flames are 1-1-0 versus the Preds this season, with the road team winning in both meetings.

Go Flames Go.

Post-game Party: Progress

Progress isn't always pretty, but it's invariably encouraging.

Last night, Rene Bourque and Miikka Kiprusoff threw an unwilling and broken Flames squad on their backs and led the charge in a 4-1 victory over the Oilers, the Flames' first in three games and only their fourth in the month of December.

Despite the end result--two points and ever-important provincial bragging rights--the dark cloud surrounding this team has not entirely dissipated. The Flames were outshot 16-5 in the first period and were fortunate to escape the opening frame in a 1-1 deadlock. The final shot totals favoured the Oilers 35-24 in a game where they blocked eighteen Flames shots. The Flames also totaled fifteen missed shots at even strength--a disturbing trend that shows no signs of stopping. Besides getting outshot by a team with only a marginally better Shots For/Game average (28.3 for the Oilers compared to 27.0 for the Flames), the Flames also lost the faceoff battle to the Oilers, winning 42% of the draws compared the 58% for Edmonton. I know I said that the faceoff debate seemed like a moot point a little while back, but since this awful streak of bad hockey began, faceoff percentage just jumps out as another glaring weakness of this team. Again, they got beat by a team with only a marginally better faceoff winning percentage--46.6% for EDM vs. 46.2% for CGY. Essentially what I'm saying is that the Flames were lucky to come away with a win against the second-worst team in the league, despite the lop-sided score.

All that aside, this game showcased excellent bounce-back performances from three players who struggled mightily Saturday night against Vancouver--Bourque, who was -2 against the Canucks, Jokinen, who was benched for all but two shifts in the third period, and Kiprusoff who allowed four goals on thirteen shots in the first period. The newly configured line of Bourque-Jokinen-Dawes combined for six points against the Oilers and was a combined +5. While the new top trio of Glencross-Langkow-Iginla didn't exactly shine, Iginla was still involved in the game physically, dropping the mitts with the Oilers' Ladislav Smid in the third period. Also, kudos to Dustin Boyd, who registered his first career NHL fight when he tangled with Andrew Cogliano early in the first.

We needn't be reminded to take this victory in stride; a much tougher contest awaits this team tomorrow night at home against Ryan Smyth and the L.A. Kings (7:30PM, Sportsnet). Given how hard they made the game against the Oilers for themselves, it'll be a huge challenge that I'm not feeling all that optimistic about, especially given the fact that the Flames have lost three straight at the 'Dome. I'm leaving California today, so the Kings and I have separated for the time being, citing irreconcilable differences. Really, I was just trying to make the Flames jealous; it didn't mean anything, promise ;)

After missing three Flames games and catching only snippets of Canada's three World Juniors' games, I'm not a very happy hockey fan. Upon my return to the Great White North, I will do my best never to miss a game again. Ever.

I did manage to catch two periods of Canada's 8-2 win over Slovakia on the flight home (thank goodness for Westjet and their mini TVs); Canada was impressive once again, showcasing their pure offensive skill and breaking a previous shut-out record in the process. However, the game was not as much of a blowout as the score indicates; the shots ended up 35-27 in favour of Canada, and if Canada hadn't scored three goals on their first four shots of the game, it may have been a different story.

Slovakia has an above-average team that isn't afraid to play physical, and they made life miserable for Canada's defenders and penalty kill on a few occasions. Greg Nemisz was held pointless yet again, despite playing with Windsor teammates Ryan Ellis, Adam Henrique (albeit injured), and Taylor Hall, who had a hat-trick in this game, which can't be doing much for the nineteen-year-old's confidence. Hopefully he finds a way to put some points on the board sooner rather than later, being that this is such a short tournament.

Oh, and there's also the small matter of the Canadian Men's Olympic team being announced tomorrow morning at precisely ten o'clock, with TSN's preview show airing at nine-thirty. Stay tuned for the inevitable debate on which media type's projected roster was more correct and the glorified self back-patting that will surely ensue. Everyone and their dog likely has a pretty good idea of what the finished product will look like, and I'll be shocked if there are any major omissions or surprise add-ons akin to the Crosby-Bertuzzi debacle of Gretzky's doing in 2006.

L.A. tomorrow and Edmonton the day after that. Let's see if the Flames can close out 2009 in style.

Go Flames Go.

Game day musings--Habs@Flames

Mike Cammalleri will play his former team for the first time tonight as the Habs take on the Flames at the Saddledome tonight (7PM MT). Cammalleri joked that he would try and get Jarome Iginla to pass him the puck during tonight's game. The way Iginla's luck has been going so far, it might just work. Jaroslav Halak will start in goal for the Habs, who signed Marc-Andre Bergeron and called up defenceman Yannick Weber today to fill the Andrei Markov/Ryan O'Byrne-sized hole on their blueline. Bergeron is 5'9". Make of that what you will.

Mike Keenan and Anders Eriksson appeared on TSN's Off The Record yesterday afternoon. Once I stopped laughing and overcame the urge to curse at Eriksson for committing a ghastly turnover in the defensive zone, I settled in to witness one of the most forced exchanges of praise between two people since Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Iron Mike went on to say that Robyn Regehr's comments "surprised the Hell out of me," and that Regehr had been very supportive of his coaching style earlier on in the season. Later in the show when Keenan was asked what member of the Flames was saddest to see him go, he replied "Craig Conroy." I don't know if Mike read either of the Calgary newspapers after his dismissal, but I seem to recall Conroy doing some trash-talking of his own.

As if Americans don't already think we're collectively off our rocker, CBC has spawned a Dancing-With-The-Stars type reality show featuring the likes of ex-NHLers Tie Domi, Bob Probert and Claude Lemieux and figure skaters Jaimie Sale and Marie-France Dubreuil called "Battle of the Blades," which is taped at the abandoned Maple Leaf Gardens. You know Canadians, including myself, are eating this shit up with spoon. I was positively giddy watching Ron McLean's forced comedy ( and no, he isn't any more entertaining when not being perpetually interrupted by Don Cherry) and Kelly Hrudey's awkward advances on the figure skaters. Last night's episode saw the pair of Kristina Lenko and Bob Probert eliminated, and as a result each can now disappear back into relative anonymity.

Milan Lucic signed a three-year extension with the Bruins today, which means three more years of this:

As you know by now from previous posts, I have been enamored with this kid ever since I saw him play in the Canada/Russia Super Series in 2007. I even picked him in the first round of my playoff pool last season and took a serious razzing for it, but he's a good, strong power forward with good hands, built for the playoffs. In my defence I was tied for first place for a few days before taking a nosedive to second-last, but I digress. This signing fuels further speculation that I may be a closet Bruins fan.

The Calgary Herald rolled out the "What's Wrong With Iggy?" headline today, two games into the season. I think that may be a new record.

It appears that Team Canada's goaltending tandem at the 2010 Winter Olympics may not include the names Brodeur and Luongo. It is early days yet, but both star goalies have struggled to start the season, posting 4.03 and 4.55 GAA, respectively. Cam Ward isn't doing much better, with a SV% of .891 and a 4.04 GAA. That leaves Steve Mason and Marc-Andre Fleury to duke it out for the job. Steve Yzerman and Team Canada management are expected to start scouting prospective Olympic candidates in the near future.

O Canada! Support our Olympic athletes in style

When you think Team Canada Olympic apparel, fleece and unsightly sweatpant/sweatshirt combinations are probably the first items that come to mind, right? Well not this year, my friends. It seems that Vancouver 2010 has inspired HBC to get their act together and produce clothing that Canadian athletes and supporters will be proud to wear come February. I'll leave it up to you blogosphere folk to judge, but I am absolutely in love with the Olympic collection, especially these red mittens (pictured above). The net proceeds from the purchase of these totally adorable mittens goes towards supporting Canadian athletes, and they're only $10.00! I can't wait to get my hands on, or I suppose in, these! Here are a few other pieces from the collection that I really like:

I love this chunky knit sweater with the moose and maple leaf pattern, it's so kitschy and unabashedly Canadian. The long-sleeved henley tee and the black short-sleeved "True North Strong and Free" tee are perfect for layering and the parka and hat are quintessential for keeping warm on those chilly Whistler slopes or in the crowd at GM Place while cheering on Canada's gold medal hopefuls. I think it is safe to say that The Bay will be the sole beneficiary of my next pay cheque!