Dec 30 – A lot on the go today without worrying about blogging so here is a quick update.

RBMT wrapped up today. For those of you who have not found it or are lazy, here is a recap of where Oakville and the European Teams finished. The OMHA link to the tournament and detailed game results is here.

From the results above, looks like it is sucks to be Minor Atom or Midget but was pretty good to be in the Minor Peewee or Bantam age – just kidding – it looks like a great challenge for all. Five Championships, 1 Finalist, 6 in the Semis – 12 out of 14 – spectacular effort by our players. They are all to be congratulated and proud of their accomplishments. It is always tougher to play to a home crowd in these events as everyone wants to win for their parents, relatives and fans. Guess what? It does not always work out.

Looks like I was dead on in my assessment of the Norwegian teams. Both carried through and won their respective championships. Good for them. If nothing else this should provide encouragement for repeat visits. While it is difficult to assess in advance the caliber of the European teams coming over, I don’t think either of these teams would have been out of place in the next level “up”. It was interesting that I did hear some griping about that in my limited time at the rink. Regardless, congrats to them as well as their Finnish and British colleagues and our thanks for coming to Oakville. I hope they enjoyed their stay, the hockey and the hospitality of the folks who were good enough to take them in as host billets.

Given it is still “holidays” for me I will leave it at that and not slag anyone today. There is always the Leafs for that.

Back to top

Dec 29 - – I hope everyone has had (so far) a good holiday break. I know we have been busy with “project” work sprinkled through the holiday. Had one surprise but that’s not a blog topic. Carols are gone – thank goodness. Anyone want to buy an over-used 6 foot Santa – it is driving me insane. Thee highlight of our holiday break to date has to have been Jane and I playing cards with her sister and husband in one room, listening to our two young men and their to young ladies (the aforementioned Ringette sisters) playing "Catch Phrase" in the family room. It was totally out of control and can not be described but if you want a good game to play in teams, I highly recommend it. As you know no-one in our families is competitive - I thought they were going to come to blows - plus the clues, guesses and subsequent comments had us eavesdroppers in stitches.

The Junior games need a tune-up. I can’t watch a 15 – 0 game since that is not hockey and regardless of the “goal differential” rules, I don’t think it is necessary to run things up that badly. All morning the media has been using the GD as an excuse and why they had to do it, but if the skate was on the other foot I wonder if they would be so understanding?

The problem with a series of blow-out games (and supposedly there is another today), is that they take an edge off of the team and then when you suddenly come up against a real team – YOU GET BEAT!

Time to cut back the number of teams and only go with teams that prove they can at least be competitive. What’s wrong with an 8 team format. Two divisions, cross over semis and a gold and bronze game – Other than sponsor / gate revenue that may be lost.

RBMT – Went to watch a couple of the Norway teams in the RBMT today. Must have brought both of them good luck as they won their games quite handily (A and AE). I was especially impressed by the “A” team as they were a good skating club, cycled both the puck and their on ice positions well and played “heads-up” hockey. They were aggressive offensively and did not kill penalties by trying to ice the puck, but rather tried to make plays – it paid off with one short-handed goal and I don’t think they gave up any power play goals. While they were not a physical team they did not shy away from it and came away with a well deserved somewhat lop sided win. A nice disciplined team. The AE team while as expected were not as strong had one player (#16) who apparently plays on the Norwegian under 17 team and I think picked up a hat trick in the game I saw.

I heard quite a bit of “grumbling” about ice conditions, either because of the weather (tough to keep good ice in the older rinks) or because of the Tim Hortons free skates that preceded some of the games and really chewed up the ice.

I also talked with several folks who are billeting players and my pronouncement is still accurate. No one I know of who has billeted players over the years has had anything but a very positive experience. Yet, it seems to be very hard to find billets for the kids. I know it is an imposition to bring people into your home for several days during the holidays but for both parents and kids it is an experience and learning opportunity you never forget. However, talk to the hand!

Also sounds like a number of HL teams are doing well in Xmas tournaments – good for them - let me know.

Odds and Ends – I thought the NHL was hard on coaches – the NFL is right there as well - Cleveland, Jets and Loser Lions have all purportedly axed their coaches within 24 hours of the end of the season. As I say – if you are going to miss it, miss it quick! Maybe this is the way to go. Too bad the NFL is not like soccer so that Detroit could get relegated and a real football team substituted.

Miami - from doormat to playoffs - do I smell coach of the year?

New England - 11 and 5 and clean out your locker - do I hear whining?

Some interesting pigskin match-ups for next week-end.

Streaks – Chicago wins 9 in a row – I believe an all time franchise record. Ottawa loses 12 straight on the road – looks good on them. Is CH the next coach to go as Murray tries to protect himself again? Only the Shadow knows and he is not talking – yet!

Wounded Knee – was not the political demonstration / standoff in Feb 1973 but rather the last major Indian conflict when on Dec 29, 1890 US 7^th Cavalry (Custer’s former regiment) massacred over 150 Sioux men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. This action was supposed to be a round-up of “Ghost Dancers” who were considered agitators by the army but for “unclear” reasons ended up as a slaughter.

Back to top

Dec - 25 - 28 - Unofficial Black-out / No trade / No abuse period

Dec 24 – Twas the night before Christmas and . . . BAH HUMBUG!

Christmas Eve – Just for fun, I checked the “Today in History” file to see what mischief occurred on this “special” day. A sampling:

1948 – Perry Como show debuts – knowing that 1 in 8 million will get this – “Dear Perry, would you be so kind” – as to not sing.

1969 – Curt Flood challenges MLB reserve clause – tried to end slavery in baseball – leading to

1865 – KKK founded – enough said

1972 – Bob Hope does his last USO show for the troops in Vietnam – end of an era

1903 – England issues first vehicle licence plate – tax grab

1979 – Soviet tanks roll into Afghanistan – Merry Christmas.

Leafs – back to reality – goalie wars start

Juniors – look good – now the “real” games start

Legal Problems – This could become a real issue for me if it catches on! In Michigan, the Town Council has passed a bylaw against being annoying. Fine $100. According to the ABC News article – “The legislation prohibits physical violence in public places, insulting another person in a public place or harassing another person by telephone, e-mail or other forms of communication.” I suspect my blog would fall into the “other” category. I better hurry up and take my best shots before the Mayor gets wind of this or start a fund raising program to pay my fines. So much for free speech – who decides on annoying? On the other hand, maybe I can lobby to charge all the folks I find annoying – this might not be a bad idea.

Year two - In keeping with the version I sent to some of my volunteers last year, I thought I would go with Round Two.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a Moorehead was stirring, not even the louse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that great riches soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of who knows what danced in their heads;
And mamma in her recliner, and I in my wrap,
Had just settled down for a boring TV nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Peeked through the curtains (whose colours don’t clash).

The moon on the piles of fresh shoveled snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to the lights buried below,
When, what to my bleary eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, piled high with cold beer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be a trick.
Piled higher than mountains the cases they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Guiness! now, Molson! now, Labatts and Dortmunder!
Next, Coors! next Corona! next, Donder and I wonder!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now drink away! drink away! drink away all!"

As dry heaves that before the projectiles fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, block out the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of empties, and the fat guy too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The stagger and clatter of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney the fat guy came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all covered with eggnog and soot;
A bag full of mugs he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes – they were bloodshot! his dimples were scary!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was covered with . . you know;

The stump of a doobie he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a big round belly,
That shook, when he coughed like a mountain of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right ugly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A squint of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know he needed some bread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; with coal like a jerk,
Then sticking his finger upside his nose,
And blowing a raspberry, up the chimney he rose;

He crawled to his sleigh, to his team gave a tickle,
And away they all flew like a misguided missle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he cruised out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.

Back to top

Dec 22 – Two more shopping days. Most men are now starting to at least think about it.

Blood Donor Clinic - Canadian Blood Services will host a Blood Donor Clinic Wednesday, Dec. 31. It will be held at Oakville Place, 240 Leighland Ave. from 11:30 a. m. to 3:30 p. m. Contact Canadian Blood Services at 1-888 2 DONATE (1- 888-236-6283) for blood donor clinic information, eligibility information or to book an appointment. Hopefully you and yours will not have to avail yourselves of this service, but it is a painless relatively painless way to make a meaningful contribution. GO!. Given my onset of Mad Cow – someone call / write whatever to remind me to go. It’s New Year’s Eve so you get to replace the body fluids anyway.

Productivity – Local construction trades take note. On November 26, The Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai was essentially gutted by fire and terrorist violence. Or at least that is the impression we got through the media and pictures.  On December 31, they reopened to guests with all five restaurants being booked to full capacity as well. Twenty-four days! In beautiful downtown Canada, it seems to take two years to get a house built or six months to redo a kitchen. What’s up with that. Pictured on reopening.

New Senators – I guess I couldn’t ski well enough to get the call. As clearly I am not a political hack or famous journalist which appears to be the only way to get the golden retirement in the Red Chamber (not to be confused with the Star chamber, despite their auras). Let’s see $134 Gs, indexed to inflation until they reach 75 or retire. I hate to break the news but they would have to retire from their retirement because that is what they have been given. Would someone please explain the “value” of the Senate in our current political system – not how it was intended (as the poor man’s equivalent of the House of Lords) but how it is actually disfunctioning? Santa Harper clearly was making a list and checking it twice but I don’t think he took naughty or nice into the equation so much as party cards and credit cards.

Odd Jobs – I think Andrew and Dad Contracting Ltd. have made a significant dent in the job jar. At least I hope enough to keep the GC off our backs over the holidays. Remember they are called holidays, not workadays for a reason. No blog yesterday is the GC's fault - she made us work too hard and I was too tired and uninspired to scribe.

Decorating – Now I have finally figured out why I have so many storage bins filling up my basement – they’re full of decorations. Last night "the Town" went up complete with street lights, a train that goes into the mountain, an ice rink, a flying Santa and who knows what else besides all the buildings. I just lost half a room to this new development and am quite certain that there was no building permit issued.  Clearly the King of the castle has been demoted to “below the salt” status for those of you who understand the medieval caste system. The Town’s only one item, there is stuff all over the place. I have lost track of the Santa count – I think the one playing the cello put me over the top. I have been left with no choice but to put my Les Nessman lines on the floor to protect some space and post an appropriate keep out Grinch sign – Bah Humbug! The prices we pay for a turkey dinner.

Gifts (no thanks) - I know a number of you are out there trying to decide what to get for the blogger who has everything. Well, just to help you with your list of what bnot to get that person, let me remind you that the blogger in question is not, I repeat NOT interested in Burger Kings arresting new fragrance in men's cologne - Flame. Gifts of Flame will be ungraciously rejected. Who's the "half baked" yahoo who came up with this one?

Blatant Plug – This could be construed as a blatant plug for my employer but so what – they pay the bills. In the realm of - Did You Know?

•   CTR sells more than 2.3 million units of lights annually—that’s more than 15 million metres of lights, equalling approximately three trips from Toronto to Santa’s workshop in the North Pole!
• CTR has sold more than one million rolls of wrapping paper so far this year. That should wrap a lot of presents!
•   More than 50 per cent of Canadians have an artificial tree, and more than one-third of Canadians have at least two Christmas trees in their homes. CTR sells more than 160,000 artificial Christmas trees every year.
•   The most popular ornament sold at CTR is the snowflake, with more than 750,000 snowflake ornaments sold every year.
•   Animal ornaments such as polar bears, deer, owls, butterflies are also very popular. The number one selling animal ornament is an organza butterfly!
•   Each year, more than 60 per cent of CTR customers purchase energy-efficient LED lights, instead of standard incandescent lights.
•   CTR sells about 60,000 inflatable holiday characters—such as Santa, snowmen and penguins—each year, equalling approximately 360,000 feet of holiday characters. That’s equivalent to 198 times the height of the CN Tower.
•   If you’ve still got gifts and décor to buy for the holidays, you’re not alone. Last year, about 19 per cent of Canadians admitted to being last-minute shoppers, according to canadaone.com. More than two-thirds of the people in this group are men, and are likely to shop on Christmas Eve. 

Today in history provides two important automotive firsts:

First, fortunately for the Oakville yuppie crowd in 1900 Daimler built a new model car and named it after the daughter of the designer – Emil Jellinek – his daughter’s name – Mercedes!

Second and much later, in 1952 the first Corvette was produced – a production ready prototype. It made its public debut at the GM Motorama show at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on January 17. The first production models were rolled out in June of 1953. Just over 300 Corvettes were made by hand that year and only about half were sold. The other half were given away to GM execs or VIPs – not a bad perk. The “Vette was supposedly modelled after a Jaguar and named after the small fast warship used extensively in WW II. What red-blooded male has not wanted to have one. I can still remember during my summer in California (’69) the guy on the corner who ran a service station had two mint ’58 hardtop convertibles – one red and white and one blue and white and was the envy of the ‘hood.

That’s enough for today – I get jealous just thinking about them.

Back to top

Dec 20 – Four more days for Christmas Shopping. Three more and then I can start – you don’t want to rush into it. Besides, the stores are not as crowded, it’s men only and merchants are desperate. All in all a great plan.

Tim Hortons Fun – Through a miscue and apparently some production house blunders ( and now out of businesses) the kids in the last Sidney Crosby commercial had not got the pictures they were promised. One of the moms contacted me as she apparently did not know what else to do. When I contacted TDL they were very apologetic and quickly followed up to resolve. Derrick got me the autographed pictures and the Timbit sweaters and this Saturday I got to give them out to some very exited kids and parents. It is a great picture. If you get a chance to see it I think you will agree.  I made arrangements to have the parents meet me at Glen Abbey do I could watch a couple of Tyke games. Lots of fun watching the little guys.

It seems even at the Tyke level we come across strong as a number of the teams have been entering tournaments and winning convincingly – sometimes unfortunately too convincingly. I will have to watch these guys as they are the last wave of the Moorehead / Butler IP dynasty.

Snow – when I made the plans for the rink this morning I was not planning on the storm. My resident driveway cleaner was still in bed when I went out and discovered that the Town had decided to build a mountain range at the end of my driveway. Thanks a bunch. Without benefit of a helicopter we clearly were not going anywhere until it was shoveled so guess who. Once you are on the high side of 50, this is no laughing matter – especially when you’re out of shape. By the time I finished I was sweating buckets and making plans to move to Florida. Of course in the middle I had to take a break to help push a neighbor out of a snowdrift. That’s good for the heartrate too. I guess I should at least be thankful they ploughed our street.

Winter Classsic – Coming up at New Year’s – the outdoor game between Detroit and Chicago. The big refrigeration truck that is making the ice was shown in the news but NHL.com has a great time lapse video (when it works) showing the field / rink preparations. Snow – clean – more snow – clean – more snow – fun to watch – the boards are up.

Home reno – continues – panic to get stuff done and ready in time to decorate before “the family” arrives. Rewire this, paint that, change that – I thought this was the holiday season – not overtime for slave labour. Andrew and I were out at (dare I admit it) Home Depot – not Xmas shopping but light switches, receptacles, crown moulding, sandpaper, 4” X 8” X 8’ – wow, won’t they look good under the tree.

Poor Elvis – In 1957 will relaxing at his recently purchased Graceland Mansion, Elvis got his draft notice. He ended up spending most of his time with a tank battalion in Germany and was discharged as a sergeant.

Big Goals – In 1983 Montreal had a reare double feature with a big game in which Guy “the Flower” Lafleur picked up his 500^th goal and Steve Shutt scored his 400^th. The game was a 6 – 0 rout of the Devils.

Back to top

Dec 19 – Missed yesterday – told you it would happen as the schedule ramps up and my enthusiasm spikes down. You must be sick of the current tune so I will change it.

Nightmare on GO Train Street Track – soon to be a major motion picture. But at least I got home. With the cancellations flying and tempers flaring we may have a new phobia to deal with – “Train Rage”. Canadian Tire was good enough to announce a 12:00 noon shutdown. I hung around for a while to clean up a few things but left the office at around 1:45. I got home at 4:15 and consider myself lucky.

I got to Union with time to spare to catch the 2:43. When I got to Union is was to join the waiting packed horde of lemmings watching the yellow “Wait” notice on the schedule board. Being the wily commuter and schlepping three bags I did not want to get either left behind or shoe horned into SRO space. So I took the gamble and went up to track 5 where the train “usually” is scheduled. It was delayed but I guessed right and got on with a prime seat. The train left about 20 minutes late, jammed and with people trying to push in through the doors. I heard at least one loud push and shove argument with suggestions that “we take this downstairs and settle it” – Ho Ho Ho – Merry Christmas. The trip was also a slow milk run stopping everywhere and just to top it off we had a passenger emergency that held us up. I don’t know if it was a medical issue or a brawl but it cost me time. - I finally got into Clarkson at around 3:45.

Mad Cow – now enters the picture as of course this was the day I forgot to take either my cell or crackberry with me and therefore had no way of contacting the Moorehead Limo service with my ETA. It is amazing how dependent we get on these things and how Murphy’s Law automatically kicks in. Arriving at Clarkson I forked out $0.50 to Ma Bell and Andrew was good enough to crack up the Jeep and come get me (despite all my smack talk in the Hockey Pool – where I have widened my lead). While waiting I got to laugh at all the Yahoos playing slalom or stuck in the GO lot. Summer tires and hot foot accelerators DO NOT get you anywhere.

With the rinks all closed I guess it is sit home and watch Lassie reruns tonight.

Grinch tries to steal Christmas - It seems Big Brother is not impressed by some Maritimers attempts to generate business and are attempting to stop it. Some Antigonish innkeeps are selling drinks for $1. Hoping to attract more customers. The government does not like this as they are concerned it might cause University students to increase their intake! Having once upon an eon been a member of this cult, I don’t think they need to worry – we can manage to increase consumption in any number of ways without penalizing the innkeepers. Also having been officially inducted into the “Order of Good Cheer” (I have a certificate somewhere) this action would be unconstitutional.

Mice get even – While I apologize for my sick sense of humour, the Star reports that “Mice get blame for fire that massacred 100 cats”.

“The $250,000 fire is still under investigation by the Ontario Fire Marshal's office, but shelter manager Ruby Richards said preliminary reports indicate it started in the ceiling and may – a sad irony for the cats – have been sparked by mice chewing through electrical wires.”

As the grudging owner of a demented cat, I do not mean to make light of the situation but I couldn’t help myself.

Sundin – signs with Vancouver. Somewhere there is someone who cares. Please let them know. Circle Saturday, February 21 on your calendars for #13s visit to ACC. Hyperama here we go. Yawn.

Last moon landing – In 1972 Apollo 17 splashed down to end the last moon landing mission. As various pundits would have you believe these landings never really happened and were simply a US Cold War propaganda stunt maybe it doesn’t matter. Starting with Apollo 11 there were 6 successful moon landings and one aborted mission. Astronaut Tom Hanks used his failure in Apollo 13 to launch a so so movie career!

Birth of the NHL – for all of you hockey mavens, in 1917, four (of the five) teams in the fledgling NHL play their first two season games. The Canadians beat Ottawa and the Montreal Wanderers beat the Toronto Arenas. 91 years later and nothings changed! Yeah I know – before the Leaf Nation tars and feathers me, Toronto went on to win the Stanley Cup that season (3 – 2) in a series against the PCL Vancouver Millionaires (maybe that’s why Mat signed with Vancouver).

Back to top

Dec 17 – Lists – Can be a bit of a snooze or actually interesting (for some). In my AM commute I switch between the Fan and Q107 depending on my mood or what is going on in ye olde world. This morning Q107 had a list of all time “best selling” singles. Not a surprise that Bing Crosby’s White Christmas topped the list – he also had number 3 in Silent Night. There is some controversy as to whether Elton John’s Candle in the Wind has sold more, but I am sticking with Bing. The “biggie” cut-off seemed to be 10 million. A surprise to me was that one of my all time favourite songs was in the exalted list – Procol Harem and “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (1967). No doubt a sympathy vote for my complexion. However, when the Monkees (I’m a Believer) and the Village People (YMCA) make the list you start to wonder. Check out the lists, as reported in that certifiable encyclopaedia (Wikipedia)

Sigourney Weaver - Ready for more Aliens? Apparently it’s “in the works. At the time this was one of the best “scary” movies going and it is still well worth a watch / rewatch. Weaver’s character  – Ripley became a classic and to some extent stereotyped her. Released in 1979, the first Aliens is now almost 30 years old. The ETs will have graduated college and settled down to married life (in Oakville) by now. I think a number of them have evolved into hockey parents.

Canadian Idol cancelled for '09 – blame the faltering economy – Can you hear me CHEERING!!! Just another 50 or 60 of these sorry excuses for TV shows to go and maybe they will air something worthwhile – reruns of Mork and Mindy, Rin Tin Tin, The Rifleman, Branded, My Favourite Martian, Sergeant Bilko, Jack Benny . . . . .

Things are getting so bad in TV Land that I actually watched the Leafs last night thinking I would be able to chortle away as they coughed it up in regular time, choked in overtime, fluffed it in the shoot-out, won!  Blast that Jason Blake, but it figures that the Leafs would have to resort to ballerina tactics to pirouette past their opponents. Number 13 is supposed to announce tomorrow who he will honour with the pleasure of his company. Yawn. Pick New York. That way no one will notice an he can get that vacant intern job at Vogue.

Hockey Pool – Back in first after laying a severe beating on son #2 last night. Outpointed him 49.5 to 21. Great way to crush his spirit and take command. Tomorrow is another day.

De Plane Boss – De Plane! Not Tattoo and Mr. Roarke, but in 1903 Orville and Wilbur (actually just Orville) took flight in the first recognized “heavier than air - power flight”. The flight lasted all of 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. With a number of additional flights between them that day, Wilbur had the controls for the longest – 852 feet in 59 seconds. Sometimes it doesn’t seem any faster today and there is no record of them being cancelled or bumped and they did not lose their luggage.

Back to top

Dec 16 – Fill the Net got Filled. It seems that I am getting scooped on a number of topics on a regular basis by the Oakville Patriarch blogger. Seems he gets to do his blogging earlier in the day while I have to do mine usually in the evening after a hard day in the salt mine. I guess I will have to make up for the temporal disadvantage with quality content. Could be tough. Just kidding – don’t want to start “Blog Wars” – not unless there is money  in it. Having said that I will still congratulate Nelson and his gang of thieves elves on their great work in rounding up goodies for the less fortunate. If you were not there or have not seen the pictures on that “other” site, I understand that Joe Baldin and his Minor Bantam Bozos Superstars were a big contributor. Somewhere over 700 individual toys and over $600 in cash was collected. Again, well done and congrats to all involved. I have posted one shot here and stuck the photos on another photo page Click here to see what I received. Anyone with other pics or a caption for these can send it / them to me. wayne@minorhockeyfan.com .

Hockeytown USA - Unfortunately, my Red Wings are sponsoring their own version of “Fill the Net” – it’s called “play Osgood”.  It’s tough to dis a guy with two Stanley Cups rings but I think I could have played goal and won in some of those games. Detroit has a great club and is still strong but they would be invincible with a stellar guardian of the Hemp Hut. Losing to the lack lustre Avs featuring Raycroft in goal last night is a classic example. Score 3 – 2 Avs, SOG – Det. 36, Avs 27. See a trend here?

Russia’s KHL – Will the league grow and prosper – clearly there are two minds on this one. Interesting story in the Star talks about how prospects (most) still view the NHL as Mecca. What is interesting is a 16 year old making $20,000 a month playing for his club team (not KHL). Read the article here. Don’t think our Major Junior guys are pulling down that level of coin either over or under the table.

Wanderers not wanted – Interesting development in my downtown office building. Our floors are all access controlled – i.e., you need your electronic ID badge to open the doors. Common with most buildings, our washrooms on each floor are in the central elevator corridor that opens to the lobby area on each floor. You can take an elevator to this lobby area but need a card to get into the floor proper. However, you could answer nature’s call without an ID card. NO MORE – the electronic locks are being added to the washroom doors as I scribe. I am not aware of any security incident that sparked this lockdown but I am sure there was a trigger somewhere. Being the cynical SOB that I am, you have to realize that these electronic locks will now allow “the employer” should they so choose to electronically monitor the frequency and duration of your personal biorhythm! Hmmmm, is that an intrusion on my personal rights and freedoms. I don’t care for myself, but those paper perusers better take note. I see another opportunity for the “snitch” line. And to think I used to do some of my best work there.

1773 – The Boston Tea Party. A bunch of Massachusetts colonists (Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty – they took   time off from the brewery) disguised as “Mohawk Indians” boarded three British vessels in Boston harbour and dumped 342 chests of tea overboard. This act lead to the Coercive Acts Act by the British which was punitive to Boston and the colonies in general and was a major trigger for the American Revolution that lead to the good old USA.

Back to top

Dec 15 - As expected, Holiday schedules and prep work are creating havoc with my normal plans. Probably a good thing as I don't want to run out of cartoons before Xmas. Not sure if folks like the background "carols" or not but I really don't care.

Tyke misconceptions = Quoted from the Beaver – “Scoring 34 goals while allowing only five, the Oakville tyke AA Rangers won the championship at the 17th annual Bob Giroux Memorial Tournament in Brampton”.

Congratulations to the team, I am sure it was well deserved success. However, this article reinforces the confusion that MOHA allows to exist around the Tyke Ranger teams and that has caused significant parent issues this year, especially around “AP” players. Since no one else seems to want to share this information, read on:

The two Tyke “Ranger” teams can and do play under the Ranger banner, are managed within the MOHA Ranger system and are treated “like” a rep team. Essentially this is to provide a precursor to Novice level rep hockey, where three rep teams are iced at the AAA, AA and A level.

They ARE NOT rep teams in the eyes of the OMHA, MOHA’s governing body. The OMHA does not recognize rep hockey below the Novice (8 year old) level (regardless of what some folks would like to think).

They ARE Select teams. This is a distinction the OMHA supports that is simplistically an intermediate step between rep and house league level play. It is not a level of play broadly supported by the MOHA as the tiered house league system (Red, White and Blue) essentially provides enough progression between entry level house league play and rep levels.

Select teams play under a number of different regulations, again as set out and enforced by the OMHA with additional regulations applying to pre Novice play (AKA Tyke). One of the key differences for Select versus Rep teams is that Select teams are not allowed to AP players (i.e., have identified Affiliated Players who can be called up to play for the team if the team is short players).  Rep teams can have an approved list of AP players who meet the affiliation qualifications and can play for them. Select teams can not.

This is not a new “rule” but rather has been in place for many years (read the book) and should have been well known to all involved. Referring to the Tyke teams as AA or AAA is a misnomer, adds confusion and why they were previously identified (or at least we tried to) as Tyke 1 and Tyke 2. Unfortunately, egos get in the way of common sense and reality.

Let's leave it at that for now but I hope that things have been made right for those involved.

RBMT International Teams – The Richard Bell Memorial Tournament (RBMT) is rapidly approaching – Dec 27 through 30. For the first time in a number of years I can actually go and watch some games without hassle or time pressure since I won’t be tied up with it. I always enjoy watching the international teams that come in. They typically are well disciplined teams who come to play. While their skill levels may or may not match the division, it is always good to see how “others do it”.

This year the Minor Bantam English National team is back (3 years in a row), plus two Norwegian and one Finnish team. They are always seeded into the Oakville pool so that the local guys get to play them. For anyone wishing to watch the head to heads, here are what I think are the game times – I got them off of the MOHA so you may want to confirm there are no changes.

Minor Bantam AA - Dec. 28 - Oakville Rangers vs England              River Oaks B       3:10 pm

Minor Midget AE - Dec. 28 - Oakville Rangers vs Hasle/Loeren/Gruner    Ice Sports 1         8:15 am

Minor Midget A - Dec. 28 - Oakville Rangers vs Manglerud Star   River Oaks B       5:50 pm

Minor Midget AA - Dec. 28 - Oakville Rangers vs FoPS Forsa         Glen Abbey Blue              8:00 am

Looks like I have to choose between England and Finland.

Hockey Pool – Disastrous news - Omnipotent has sink back to second – I got 1 lousy point Sunday versus 14 for Andrew – That was enough to TEMPORARILY knock me off my perch at the top. FYI - Jane and Shaun have been relegated to the supplemental pool as non competitive. Andrew and I are duking it out and he is going DOWN!

Avery – to Russia for a tune-up with Ray Emery – then guess what - The Leafs! – Remember you heard it here first. At $3.85 M US per year for four years (idiots), Dallas is going to want to move him. Even a buy out would be hugely pricey. Enter the cap-room, playerless Leafs who need something / anything that resembles a hockey player AND a fan draw. Even if it is a train wreck. Coach Wilson probably thinks he can manage him and if not the big BB can step in. Stranger things have happenec in the big smoke. To make it work though we will have to find him a local starlet he can date and dump to fuel the controversy. Should be Canadian – wonder if Pam Anderson will be available again and set up an UFC Contest with Tommy Lee.

Secret Service – Late breaking news, the U.S. Secret Service has today announced that they have introduced a new Presidential Protection Device (PPD) – The Shoe Screen – (see photo. Apparently while members are absolutely prepared to take a bullet for POTUS, they draw the line at shoes. As one insider was quoted “have you actually smelled some of those things – Yetch”. Apparently the Shoe Screen will now be a standard device at all POTUS events supplementing the new and improved bullet proof wall designed for BO.

   George - DUCK!

Boston Legal – I finally got around to watching the last episode of Boston Legal last night – nothing else on – more later). While not necessarily the best episode even with the high point of Denny blasting the Chinese take-over squad with paint balls it did have an interesting thread that I wholeheartedly agree with.  John Larroquette (Carl) launched a suit charging networks don’t target to people over 50. Being in that group and looking at what is being promoted as new and exciting shows is enough to make one queasy. There are more mindless “reality” shows or challenges or searches going on then you can count. Having to watch the commercials last night because of a quirky PVR I was dumbfounded at both the number of these shows being promoted and the tripe they provide as trailers to hook the apparently mindless androids who watch them. Now that I’m all caught up on CSI, 24, and BLs gone I have no interest in any of the “popular” stuff. This from an individual who is proud to say he has not watched one single episode of any of the survivor editions or for that matter any reality show.

Movies and Sports – I guess that is what I’m reduced to and even those are pretty slim pickins..

Back to top

Dec 13 – Ringette - missed posting yesterday as we were off to Guelph last night to watch our nieces play ringette. Ringette! Blue stick, White stick, Red stick – donut not a puck – sticks with no blades - must pass over blue line, Only three allowed in the prescribed offensive zone – what a game? Heather plays for Guelph and Mandy for London so the two sisters were playing against each other. So who do the parents, Aunt and Uncle cheer for? Definitely not the zebras. Almost pulled off the non event as each got a goal and with a couple minutes left it was tied 6 – 6. Then Mandy’s team scored and Heather got a penalty and that was all she wrote. Both used to play as kids but this is a “senior” ladies league for any age. While it is popular in some areas, it does not seem to be on the Oakville menu. Maybe I should start a ringette league and compete for Town ice.

NHL prospects – As a web guy it seems I still have a chance for a pro career. Just look at Brett Leonhardt. The Caps website producer got the call to dress as the team’s back-up last night and participated in the warm-up when their call up was delayed. Yes he had played relatively high level goal but what a day that must have been. Stranger things have happened and he could easily have ended up in the game. However, back to the keyboard and Java applets.

You know a hockey parent when: The following is circulating again but is a good tongue in cheek account of hockeyphobia.

1.       You base the next purchase of your vehicle on whether it will hold six kids, six sticks, and six hockey bags.

2.       You know the location of every Tim Horton's within a 600-kilometre radius.

3.       You know every kid on every team your child has ever played on ... but don't have a clue who his school mates are.

4.       Your spouse waits until you decide where to sit and then chooses a spot on the opposite side of arena.

5.       You ground your kids for a week (except for hockey practice).

6.       You can rationalize spending $159 on a stick for a nine-year-old but won't spend $5 on a birthday card for the wife.

7.       When someone asks how old your children are you respond, "I have a '94 and a '97."

8.       You take out a home loan to pay for all the equipment and expenses.

9.       You know a few five-year-olds who are good but "lack focus".

10.   You have had kids ask if Christmas is "home or away."

I particularly like number 9 as I have seen this too often.

Paid Coaches – According to the “Our Game” web site and the three part series that was just run, the average “salary” of a GTHL AAA coach is $25,000 with $15,000 being identified as the low end. Are the GTHL teams getting better coaches because they are paid or is this simply a function of the political pressure cooker that exists for the profile AAA teams in the G? Read the article “Big bucks behind the bench in the GTHL”. This site which is buried in the CBC site contains input from a variety of folks including our local Ron Kuipers – “The Equipment Guy”. Have to keep an eye on this URL and see what pops up. As far as paid coaches go, I have typically been against it for a number of reasons, probably not the least of which is being a minor hockey traditionalist and that you got involved for “the love of the game”, not the love of the green. But times are changing and from what I have seen with a lot of situations, coaches should be paid – not just for their coaching acumen, but to compensate them for what they have to put up with from both parents and, or associations that don’t support them.

The initial article on paying volunteers is a good read as it talks about the Victoria Minor Hockey Assoc. now paying a director of hockey operations $25,000 for an org that had dropped to 200 kids and is now back up to 400. Compare that to Oakville’s 4,000+ and start doing the math. I love the quote "It's not something you can do with a regular nine-to-five job," Guess I should have known better.

 Sucker that I am, I have signed up on the site to see exactly what that will lead to. As they say – curiosity killed the cat. Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

Fill the Net - I hope lots of you contributed. I am looking forward to hearing how well things went.

Back to top

Dec 11 – Happy Anniversary to Jane and condolences for having put up with me as long as she has - I won't tell you how long - guess!

Dead computer – day started off well – I come down first thing to check my email (and hockey pool status) and discover the dreaded black screen with an ominous error message in block white letters – “Non system disk – disk error”. Immediate reaction is Aw S**t, hard drive gone – when was my last back-up! So skipping my morning Java, I tried a number of tricks and finally with a bios reset brought it back to life. Hopefully all OK but with a “system may be overclocked” I’m not sure that is the case. Note to self – full back-up tonight. Another note to self - this is the first PC I have owned of "dozens" that I did not spec out and buy myself - have chat with propeller head son!

You know how low you’ve sunk when – you get an email Christmas card from the Régie de l'énergie. In my mail today I got the message header “Régie de l'énergie : merci de votre collaboration et nos meilleurs vœux pour la période des Fêtes”. Basically a “Thanks for cooperating and have a happy holiday. It really isa sad state of affairs when the only Xmas card I’m likely to get this year is from the Quebec Government and only because by law I have to send them information and money.

Fill the Net – Kudos to Nelson Pavao and his St. Hilda’s Peewee Red hockey team (plus his son’s team?). Nelson came up with this idea last year and has been a big supporter of it as well as getting his team involved.

FILL THE NET

Friday & Saturday December 12^th & 13^th Glen Abbey Green

Sunday December 14^th Joshua Creek Arena & River Oaks

Every year during the holiday season the Minor Oaks Hockey Association with the help of our local community partners collects unwrapped toys for families and children in our community so that they too can feel the joy of opening a new toy on Christmas morning. This year we will be taking our Toy Drive to a few of our local rinks. We ask all Coaches, Conveners, Parents and Players to spread the word. Collection stations will be set up at Glen Abbey on Friday December 12^th from 6:00am to 10:00pm & Saturday December 13^th from 7:00am to 7:00pm.  Collection stations will also be set up at Joshua Creek Arena on Sunday December 14^th from 7:00am to 12:30pm and all day at the River Oaks Community Centre by the Shooter Pads.

We are hoping to get great support from all players from youngest to oldest.

Thank You in advance for your kindness and generosity.

A special thanks to everyone that will be involved in helping us.

Click here for a pdf download of the poster

Get out to the rinks and give generously for those less fortunate. Go Eagles Go! ( and Wolf Pack and Gators and Knights and hound Dogs Etc., Etc., Etc.)

 Limit raised - take notice folks, the Ontario Small Claims court has increased their limit to $25,000 from $10,000. It now makes it much easier and more lucrative to sue people - sans expensive shyster bills. The limit goes up in January, just in time to seek redress for all those holiday slights.

Edward VIII Abdicates - Hope this is not a reflection on my anniversary but in 1936, Eddy renounced the throne to run off with his true love the notorious divorcee Wallis Simpson. But for this little episode, Lizzy would not likely have ended up at the front of the succession line and Chuck wouldn't have been waiting 60 years for a real job.

Back to top

Dec 10 – Good thing the economy is so strong!

Labour groups seek 'immediate' $10 minimum wage 

Dec 10, 2008 04:03 PM

Tracey Tyler
LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER
A coalition of Ontario labour groups is vowing to report Premier Dalton McGuinty to the United Nations unless he takes steps by early next year to close the "gender pay gap."

The Equal Pay Coalition is calling on the McGuinty Liberals to bring in emergency legislation to immediately boost Ontario's minium wage to $10 an hour.

Above headline in the Star threatening to report Ontario to the United Nations if we don’t immediately boost the minimum wage to $10. Let’s see – in March 2008 Ontario minimums went up by $0.75 to $8.75 an hour. A 9.4% increase. Another $1.25, another 14.3% or an aggregate 25% increase in 9 months – annualizes at 33%. I imagine I will get at least that much in my annual review. I also imagine that most small and services business struggling to get by in a very difficult environment can’t wait to absorb this type of cost increase – let alone the domino effect of structured wage worlds. Some people might want to get grounded in reality. Let them go to the UN, one way on their dime. Oh yeah – it is not a dime anymore (reference to pay phone costs). I had to use a pay phone the other day – idiot me forgot BOTH my cell and Crackberry and needed to make a call - $0.50? When did that happen?

Thank You GO – there are some days the no drive – use GO is a good thing – like this morning. I zip into work on schedule – even had a seat. A colleague who lives in Oakville had to drive. He left at 7:00 AM (first mistake – too late) and it took him over five hours to make the trip. Missed meetings, stress, unhappiness. As expected I had no sympathy for him.

Free Enterprise is Dead – This is particularly disappointing as the unequivocal evidence is coming out of a high profile US situation. The law says that a governor can nominate an individual to fill an unexpired Senate term. It does not say how he picks an individual or that he can’t “sell” it. Yet everyone is all over Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois for apparently trying to make a buck. What is this world coming to. I had my bid in and was hoping for a positive resolution before all this nastiness blew up. What a shame!

ABC News – I believe the New York Times claimed it contained “All the news that’s fit to print”. For simple minded people like myself, www.abcnews.go.com is an interesting way to catch a bunch of stories and even some real news. In the cut throat world of read me first or only, the networks really play the field in terms of what they plug. Second only to the British Tabloids I would suggest this and competitive US sites are nowhere close to the staid Canadian press (even including the “radical” Toronto Sun).

Just for the “heck” of it here is the current rolodex of ABC.com news stories – You tell me – What’s the audience profile?

1.       Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Is 'Senate Candidate No. 5', Says He Did Nothing Wrong

Chicago Rep. says will cooperate fully with the Blagojevich investigation.

2.       Curveball: GOP Puts Auto Rescue in Peril

A growing number of GOP senators say they won't go along with Dem, WH deal.

3.       The Color of Health: What Mucus Tells You

Do the shades of mucus and phlegm reveal anything about your cold?

4.       1 in 9 U.S. Kids Use Alternative Medicine

A national survey reveals high use of supplements among the younger set.

5.       'Tis the Season... to GPS the Baby Jesus?!

Churches, homeowners using technology to foil December pranksters.

6.       WATCH: Liquid Relief for Colds

7.       WATCH: Me-Ouch! Surgery Saves Cat's Face

8.       WATCH: Lingerie: The New Traffic Hazard

9.       Cardinal: Madge Causes 'Impure Thoughts'

Chilean Cardinal criticizes pop star for causing "an enthusiasm of lust."

10.   PHOTOS: Beliefnet.com showcases 10 amazing stories of courage, generosity and faith.

11.   PHOTOS: Less Than Perfect Star Husbands

Winehouse can blame "her Blake" for their failed union.

Just a typical day - something for everyone, and we wonder how the US can elect dead people?

Nobel Prizes – In 1901 the first Nobel prizes were awarded, five years after the death of Alfred Nobel who endowed them. As the inventor of dynamite and other explosives it is interesting that the Nobel prizes promote peace as one of them is the Nobel Peace prize. This year each Nobel prize carried a cash reward of about $1.4 Million and the traditional gold medal.

Back to top

Dec 9 – Slow day in blog land or maybe I have too much on the go to worry about such subtleties as what topics I want to pick. Maybe, horror of horrors I may be being weakened by the Xmas spirit of goodwill and have decided to mellow out – not likely. Whatever, today has been your typical forgettable day:

• Up at 6:00 AM roaming around a dark and quiet house to get ready for work

• Foraging for coins for the Oakville bus to the GO station as somehow I never have change.

• Trying to remember if my schedule prescribed a “jacket” day or not.

• Head out “bootless” through the snow as a) weather report was wrong and I don’t know where the h**l my rubbers are anyway – if the mad basement cleaners haven’t tossed them.

• Get to the office and find out just about everyone else is late or in a foul mood about their “horrendous” commute.

• Two morning meetings get delayed but no problem we will just reschedule into the afternoon with the other two.

• Remember today is “gift box” day and while that is a wonderful thing, it means I have to schlep it home on the GO Train.

• Get home to find I have to make dinner – thankfully find some leftover Chilli and stale bread.

• Realize there is nothing on TV and only one unwatched CSI episode on my PVR.

• Check my emails and find several Nigerian businessmen can’t wait to pay me big money as their local rep as soon as I show some good faith and on and on and on. . .

Just your typical Tuesday.

On the news front:

Bobby has caved in to Iggy – probably realized he was going to lose and bailed. Golly – no more Rae Days. The economists are heart broken.

Tom Cruise wants to “sing”! No problem – strap him into a Tomcat and let him sing all he wants. Looks like he had the wrong role in Valkyrie Let’s see – a Nazi war movie scheduled to open on Christmas Day – Is it just me?

Bond, James Bond has cleared over $500 M so far for Quantum of Solace and none of it is mine – Yo Andrew – we were supposed to go see this!

Good new, Bad news – Tony Kubek wins the Ford Frick award and will be honoured in the Hall of Fame ceremonies. Good because I guess Tony is a deserving recipient – I remember him more as a ballplayer for those d**n Yankees than a broadcaster. Bad because it mean Tom Cheek did not win. I would really have liked to see Tom win as Mr. Blue Jay for so many years and a great broadcaster. At least Tony is still alive to enjoy the honour – maybe next time for Tom.

Schenn hurt – Just what the powerhouse Leafs need. Yes injuries are part of the game but is this an indication that the Leafs were asking too much too soon from this young man. Watch the games – a defenseman doesn’t get to float around playing nice nice – they get pounded. With all due respect to the young Mr. Schenn – is a teenager ready for that.

Even a slow day in history so I will refer back to the Crimean War. On this date in 1854, Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published just 6 weeks after the event in the Battle of Balaklava (and no this is not about fighting over baked apple desserts or knitted hoods). 600 British cavalry proved conclusively that you shouldn’t take swords to a cannon fight. They were led by Lord Cardigan who did get a sweater named after him.

Besides that I needed to change the cartoon.

Back to top

Dec 8 – I just hate it when I’m right! Looks like Dion will be getting an early boot (frozen) and a lump of coal for Xmas as the Liberals – especially Iggy apparently can’t wait to get rid of him. I expect that Iggy hopes that this will improve his chances for the brass ring if he can be appointed interim leader and have all the time prior to the convention to work on his coronation plan. Meanwhile the Libs get an opportunity to play differently in the coalition game and pass off all the negatives to Dion.

The Pool – After bitter infighting and a few strategic moves Omnipotent has retaken the lead from Team Ramrod in the Moorehead family pool. This looks to be a hard fought battle through the season as TR thinks he can challenge the superior skill of Omnipotent. The other two participants may as well sent in their regrets as they are done like dinner.

Rock em, Sock em – I will admit to being a Don Cherry fan, an admission that won’t surprise many people. While he can be opinionated, bigoted, old-fashioned and obnoxious (traits I admire) you can look past the window dressing and hear a number of things that ring true. His Canadianism (new word), support of our troops, and his “good” hockey advice for kids are a few. Having said that, he is launching Rock em, Sock em XX this week. Twenty years of producing hockey highlights (including fights) and I think I have all but one somewhere. They have graduated from a bare-bones VHS tape with basic editing and spliced segments to the current fully produced DVDs. No matter how you slice it, that is still 20 years of games. Go back to the earlier ones for classics - like the Probert bouts.

Bills bomb – quelle surprise! – While promoters did everything they could to sell-out the dome, I hope no one bought the seat because they wanted to watch a good football game. Apparently the Bills days of “squish the fish” are just a memory as the dolphins (no powerhouse themselves) had no troble with the bisons. A new way of dashing Bills expectations – instead of “wide left” it is now start the season 4 & 0 and then go 2 & 7 and get a solid grasp on last place in the division.

My Steelers on the other hand snatch victory from the jaws of defeat from the hated Cowboys  (remember I’m of the Terry vs Roger ilk). As the Steelers were saying, the Cowboys were so smug with their lead and time winding down they just had to do it to them. 2 TDs in the closing minutes  – ya gotta love it! 10 and 3, much nicer than 6 and 7!

Dakota – not a great place to live – the apartment building - not the state. For Quarrymen / Beatles fans this was not a great day as John Lennon was shot and killed in 1980 – Twenty-eight years ago today – again the obligatory – time flies mention. If I recall correctly, there was a lot of speculation shortly before this that the Beatles were going to get back together again. John Chapman ended those possibilities by shooting Lennon four times in the back in the entrance hallway of the Dakota. Lennon had autographed an album for Chapman earlier that day. Between Lennon and McCartney they have created some “timeless” classics. One of my favourite Lennon songs was off the 1971 Album – “Imagine”

I have embedded Imagine to play once automatically when you open this page (at least for a couple days). It works in some browsers - e.g., ie but not others - e.g., Mozilla Firefox. Play it directly if you want -  Click to Play Imagine - you can even "shudder" sing along! How does that song go "Only the good die young".

John Lennon - Imagine lyrics

Imagine there's no Heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

Back to top

Dec 7 – The couch did not fit down the stairs and is now resting comfortably on my back deck in the snow waiting for another "dump" run. My back on the other hand is wrecked – again. Who is the idiot that designs these things! and, or stairwells that will not accommodate them

Xmas Cartoons - Just for the heck of it I will post my Xmas cartoons in a photo gallery for you. Anyone with a favourite, send it along for consideration. Not intended for young children or those folks who are still "believers".

Bill Lankhof – GTHL – I had sort of panned this series earlier but in today’s (Sunday) Sun Mr. Lankhof does a wrap up article that I think is very good and is a commentary on opportunities for improvement in hockey (especially Rep everywhere. It should be a required read. He sites ten commandments to fix major problems and while you may not agree with all of them they are well thought out. Read the article here. Meantime hopefully without infringement I will bullet the ten points:

1. Restructure the GTHL. (Management / board / influence)

2. Make all teams non-profit organizations.

3. Enforce code of conduct for parents.

4. They're coaches. Not gods.

5. Limited open borders. (limit imports – support local)

6. Limit hockey seasons.

7. Budget Control.

8. Free the slaves. (get rid of perpetual card)

9. Promote political will, community spirit.

10. Remember the kids.

Credit:

Motto should be 'Remember kids' kids'

Here are 10 commandments to fix the major problems in minor hockey in this town

By BILL LANKHOF, TORONTO SUN

Shatner – From Starship Captain to mad cow disease. Quite the transition but I enjoy the outrageous shenanigans of the Boston Legal crew – especially Denny Crane (Shatner) and Alan Shore. Their off-side stereotyping and exaggerated pokes at issues are sometimes too close to the truth and, or hilariously funny. They have tackled a number of “sensitive” topics with humour but also substance – NRA, Alzheimer’s, Gay Rights, Abortion, Free Speech, Government oversight – kudos to them! Unfortunately the series is ending with a two hour episode on Monday night. This is another one of those series on DVD that I have been playing catch-up on with my “retirement” and as usual the “better” programs get dumped. What’s next?

Bambi – A neighbor was generous enough to supply us with some venison steaks. Jane would not consider either cooking or eating them. I think she had trouble even looking at them. So Andrew and I – having been left to our own devices last night fired up the old BBQ in the snow and did a number on Bambi – very tasty with peppers and onion. All traces were removed by the time Jane got home so she is none the wiser.

“… a date which will live in infamy…” – an easy call on today in history. Books, Movies, Mini-series – there has been all kinds of media on this event. While no one evers knows what the “could have been” might be, there is no telling what changes there would have been had the three American carriers been caught at Pearl that day as the battleships were. Which way does the evaluation go – A huge failure on the part of the Americans and their intelligence networks to get caught flat footed the way they were, or brilliant tactical work by the Japanese to pull it off?

Back to top

Dec 6 – The Honeymoon’s over - ask the Leafs. By the way - vote for your favourite Xmas cartoon - more to come.

Wilson – benches Kaberle and then rouses the boys for an 8:00 AM forty minute / no stop skate. Can you hear the whip crack. The question now becomes is this Wilson’s style on his own coming out or is it the tag team efforts of the W/B or B/W regime deciding who is slated for road kill and who they will keep. As a dedicated disaster in progress watcher – stay tuned to this one as it is not going to be happy holidays for some folks in Leaf Land. By the way a 40 minute 8:00 AM practice is not punishment – what about a 6:00 AM at Kinoak.

Helpful Hints – Today’s lesson is on Hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are those quick little navigation options that you build into your web pages (or documents) that let you zip from one spot to another. If you are going to re-use my pages you really should learn how to do it. It is really simple and it is quite frustrating to users to see their little mouse courser change to a hand (indicating a link) and then nothing happens when you “click”! I have embedded a hyperlink here that will open MOHA’s Calendar Winner page in a new window (I don’t want you to leave MY site. So for all you aspiring webmasters

Step 1 – set a bookmark to where you want the hyperlink to take the surfer. In this example highlight “Oct-08” (by the way it is MOHA not Moha). Then go to [Inser] [Bookmark} FP will suggest a name or add one and click OK

Step 2 – Highlight what you want to hyperlink from. Right click and select [Hyperlink] or go to the [Insert] [Hyperlink] and then in the dialog box pick “Places in this document”, select the bookmark you created and click OK.

Simple task but based on how some other stuff looks – forget it!

Moving day – The new stuff arrived today so it is moving day on for a number of things. Biggest challenge was relocating the projector and hence accompaniments from room A to room B and re-hook-up everything.

Projector – Receiver – Cable box / PVR – DVD – 6 speakers. Final task – repaint the “screen” wall (I have conned Andrew into that tonight.

Then move this 700 pound sofa bed couch anchor out of Room A and hopefully to basement. Not sure if the old back will stand up to that let alone the “will it fit” question. TBD.

Decorations – the Moorehead abode is almost done from an external perspective – courtesy of Andrew. The old man has no interest in crawling around on ladders, over roofs or along the ground plugging in enough lights to drain Darlington. Andrew on the other hand, with encouragement from the matriarch has lit the place up. This year’s innovation are the runway lights. With lights along the driveway I just hope no low flying aircraft with easily confused pilots mistake our driveway for 28L and park their 767 in the garage. Apparently there are still some finishing touches to go on but we need to raid another Canadian Tire store to make it happen. The Plan B – Inside! I shudder to think! So far I have talked folks out of the 6’ singing Santa but apparently the cello playing Santa has been smuggled into the house. BAH HUMBUG!

Hockey Pool – I may be able to resurrect this topic as I am now only 1.5 points out of first having gained over 30 points last night. Getting ready to restart the family smack talk. As long as my guys stay healthy I have a good shot at retaking the lead.

Halifax Blast – In 1917, the French munitions ship Mont Blanc exploded in Halifax harbor in the largest pre atomic era blast. The French ship had collided earlier with another vessel and a fire had started with the 2,300 tons of picric acid that formed part of the cargo. In the blast, over 1,800 people were killed, 9,000 injured and most of the north end of Halifax was destroyed including over 1,600 homes. Not a real good plan to park munition ships in the harbor – ya think!

Back to top

Dec  5 – Late post as predicted given all the “stuff” going on in December.

Office “fun” - Thursday was our office Christmas event with a divisional meeting, “potluck” lunch, secret Santa and evening get together. Somehow a number of years ago I got conned into making and bringing “chilli” and I have been stuck with it ever since. You can’t imagine the fun of schlepping crowd pleasing quantities of chilli on a jammed GO Train. I felt like a pack mule with 1 sports bag containing our slow cooker, 1 sports bag continuing the good old Rubbermaid bowls of chilli and assorted utensils (including Santa hat and my normal briefcase. People really make an effort (NOT) to get out of your way or be helpful when they see you toting all this crap – Merry Christmas fellow GO Trainers. May you suffer SRO, long cold waits and continual harassment by the ticket police.

The event itself was fun with a lot of different dishes to try based on people bringing in ethnic or cultural homemade favourites. I am not sure where my chilli fit in but it seemed to go over well. As one of my colleagues says – “I made the gringo version” – as I always tone down the spiciness a bit for this event.

Karaoke – building on my party notes from above, I have determined that a) Karaoke, booze and office parties do not mix and b) I can’t sing. Enough said, Don Maclean and American Pie will never be the same and I won’t listen to it again without cringing. No one reminded us it was like 8 minutes long but I will never forget.

Avery gets 6 games plus anger management (should be mouth management). Just to clarify my earlier post, I have absolutely no use for or respect for this guy and I believe his comments and behaviour were way out of line. My comments were towards what I call inconsistent and ineffective disciplinary action by the league in considering a verbal “off the wall” comment versus some of the absolutely disgusting and physically dangerous if not life threatening behaviour  that goes on relatively unchecked.I would like to think “frontier justice” would have taken care of Mr. Avery against Calgary that night (and it sstill might). Casting back to the good old 6 Team 120 player NHL a) Mr Avery would have got hospitalized for his remarks and b) it would never have happened since this clown would not have been playing anyway.

Dion  / Coalition / Camera problems / Bob Rae – people can demonstrate all they want this process has been embarrassing. You almost have to ask yourself if the munchkins in the Liberal party are doing everything they possible can to discredit and humiliate Dion, even at the expense of looking like Canada’s own Sarah Palin. Maybe he wants a gig on SNL but the long range strategists for the Liberal party seem to be operating with about a 6 minute time horizon here. The last thing they need right now is a general election where the populace can a) blame them and b) see no effective leadership. Harper on the other hand does not want one if his demeanour makes it seem like he “arrogantly” forced it and is seen as not having a plan. At the risk of oversimplifying, we need the break to January since we need to have some idea of what the US is going to do a la Big Three, before we head down what could be a conflicting, expensive and useless road.

Mumbai –the terrorists apparently used  crackberries to help in their attack. I told you these things are dangerous.

LCBO  - Announces price cuts on booze. Yahoo – stock up for the holidays on cheap hooch! Oh Oh, wait a minute sample price change - "A French cognac is being reduced to $799 from $979, for example, according to a list the LCBO supplied”. Like this is reeeeally going to help me. Way to go guys – support the fat cats. What about knocking my bottle of Old Sailor down to $1.99?

History – staying with my alcohol them, today in 1933, the 18th amendment to the US constitution was ratified ending prohibition. Like that had really stopped drinking. All it did was let the bad guys have another way to make money. Remember folks – you can not legislate people away from vices. It’s been tried before. This was also the day in 1945 when one of the most “celebrated” Bermuda Triangle events took place. A squadron of five Avenger torpedo bombers on a 120 mile hop reported in that their compasses had gone out, they did not know where they where and subsequently disappeared / ditched. A Mariner S&R plane sent to look for them also disappeared. Six planes and 27 men disappeared with no trace ever found. Spooky.

Back to top

Dec 3 – He’s back. Paul Maurice has pulled a Punch Imlach and returned for round two with the team that originally turfed him – the Hurricanes. At least he will know where everything is. Too bad he was AWOL when they won the cup.  Is it still double dipping time for him on the Leaf’s deal? I hope so. Based on the “you can never go home again” theme, it will be interesting to see how he does – especially with Ron Francis as “associate coach” – a first coaching role for the former Hurricane.

The economic slump is starting to hit home in the local sports world as the Blue Jays cut 24 front office jobs yesterday (none baseball ops related). How would you like to MC a good-bye lunch one day and then get the good bye yourself the next day – Ask Will Hill. It seems that the Jays have followed an interesting approach. At a time when it will be tougher to wring sponsorship dollars out of advertisers and sponsors, some of the people who do that seem to be the ones they chopped?  As a macabre twist of fate, the cuts were announced only hours after Ted Rogers passing.

It Worked – I managed to stall long enough using a number of excuses so that Andrew went out and recruited some additional help for Andrew and Dad contracting assignments at the Moorehead residence. The dreaded crown moulding project is underway sans moi and we will see how it turns out. I may get fired over this neglect of duty.

Chilli night – One of my excuses was that I have to make chilli tonight for my office “pot luck”. I made the mistake of doing this one year and have been coerced or voluntold into this ever since. While I don’t have a big issue with making the chilli, as a GO Train commuter it is a royal pain in the keister getting this delightful dish to the office without creating an environmental incident and having to bring the MOE into the picture. Therefore if you see me tomorrow carefully lugging an obviously heavy “Tim Hortons” sports bag, it is not hockey stuff but rather chilli in transit. Stay back!

Short or missing posts – It’s the time of year where activity expands to fill more than available space. Recognizing that I am not getting paid the big bucks to write this trash, I suspect it may suffer in frequency, length and consistency over the next few weeks. As always, that will be a silver lining for some but I will try to keep the really awful stuff coming.

Transplants – it was 41 years ago in 1967 that Dr. Christiaan Barnard completed the first successful human heart transplant. The recipient, Lewis Washkansky, lived for 18 days until he passed away from double pneumonia a complication brought on by his body’s reduced immune system. Better drugs and techniques make this almost a common procedure today but I remember how everyone was reveted to the regular updates provided out of South Africa at the time. It was one of those “huge” news / human interest events.

Back to top

Dec 2 – One of those days where work gets in the way of doing nothing – the dreaded review / planning meetings from 8 – 5. As if that isn’t bad enough, it seems the TTC wants to challenge the GO for service vagaries  as for the last two days I have enjoyed a subway outage that has made me miss my GO trains. Since I was not there I will bet they were on time.

Xmas – Hopefully there is some humour in Xmas as I will try to find some of my holiday cartoons. This will likely be offensive to some but that is my mission anyway.

Got home to find Andrew had done his duty and put up the outside lights. I think this was to appease his mother and stall off the inside decorating while the domestic contractors hopefully get to the stuff we pooched on the week-end. Seems 12 foot lengths of crown molding are in short supply (or at least what we were looking for). Might be just as well as I am not sure how good my compound 45 degree angle cuts would be. Trial and error could go through a lot of wood.

Monitor envy – We were at Shaun’s for dinner the other night and I had to drool over his new monitor, a modest 25” flat screen that is obviously required for him to work productively at home. Thanks HP. This thing gives you eye strain roving from side to side, throws off enough heat to roast the Christmas turkey and likely draws enough juice to strain the Bruce Reactors. Even so it is not enough as he has his dwarf 19 inch set up as well for true wide screen – multi screen vistas. I find it weird to see a PC montage carried across two screens but I guess I’m just old fashioned.

GTHL Day 3 – Here is the link to the third installment. Click I ended up disappointed in the piece as I think it ended up as more op ed than detailed investigative stuff. I was probably looking for the real “dirt” Basically it was GTHL headed for red ink Registrations down – ethnic groups not buying in. Chances slim of going anywhere and it is expensive (yawn).

I will though reprise the pyramid numbers for all you zealots to keep in mind and to level set for you.

·         Playing in the GTHL last year       40,000

·         Playing at GTHL AAA level            2,000

·         GTHL grads in OHL this season    75

·         Grads drafted by NHL in 2008     7

·         Draft picks who played in NHL this year 1 (Alex Pietrangelo)

Avery-itis – “Caution – not for young readers” Now let it be known that I  am not a Sean Avery fan and that were I coaching against him I would likely end up in front of the league discipline committee for “encouraging” one of my players to “tune him up”. I find some of his antics hysterical if not juvenile and some just plain mean / stupid. However, having said that I would defend his position against the league on this one. He has been suspended indefinitely (gossip says 25 game range)( for inappropriate comments he made in an interview.

"I'm really happy to be back in Calgary. I love Canada," the Stars forward said. "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds.

"I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight."

While it is easy to figure out the context on this one, I find it hard to find the league feeling it can moralize on an individual’s free speech comments with indeterminate suspensions while rationalizing 1 to 3 game suspensions for what I would argue borders on criminal acts of aggression. Maybe they want to “protect” him from Phaneuf? Let's see how the tiny perfect commish plays this one out - I smell lawsuits.

Nuclear Age – In 1942 Enrico Fermi achieved the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in the U.S.’s top secret project in a lab under the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. His early work was in his home country (Italy) which he fled in 1938 when he was given permission to go to Sweden to receive the Nobel prize. He was not a big fan of Mussolini's fascist regime.

Back to top

Dec 1 – Welcome to a new month. As we slide into the “holiday season” it would be nice to focus on positive items and events. However, they seem to be few and far between in what is getting reported by the ink stained wretches.

Dave Frost – hot on the heels of his acquittal, Frost is busily self promoting as the #1 Bad boy of hockey with – you guessed it – a blog. I won’t give you the URL and I will not be visiting it but you can read more about him / it in a Rosie Dimanno piece in the Star. Click here  then wipe it from your mind.

Read Ms. Dimanno’s piece and then give your head a shake. The game does not need this.

Snowmobilers beware – Pit Martin has apparently died as the result of a snowmobile accident in Quebec when his snowmobile broke through the ice. While the sleds are fun, they can also be very dangerous in a number of situations, icy lakes and unfamiliar terrain being two of the key dangers. Martin was a long time NHLer who was one of the guys going the other way when Chicago dealt Esposito, Hodge and Stanfield to Boston in what could be called a somewhat one-sided trade.

If you can’t lick em, join em – The Obama Clinton match-up. Somehow I can’t see this one lasting. As Secretary of State. HC would have a lot of profile and I’m not sure she and BO agree on foreign policy. It would also cramp Bill’s style as he has become a money making machine on the lecture circuit and with events – both for himself and as a fund raiser. This would mess-up his “foreign” opportunities because of real or perceived influence issues. Stay tuned on this one.

Use the “stupid” defense – You have to shake your head at the situations NFLers get themselves into. Maybe it is only my perspective but it seems that there are more football players who seem to end up in the news on the wrong side of the law than any other sport. With some hockey players we used to say he played too long without a helmet, maybe in football they play too long with a helmet. The recent list of offenders is extensive and I won’t go into them here, but guns and violence now seem to be a prerequisite as part of the “pro” arsenal. The Giant’s Plaxico Burress is the latest “victim” of self destruction after apparently accidentally shooting himself in the leg at a Manhattan night club.  Aren’t you supposed to check your gun at the door? If the weapons charges that are being tossed around are pursued and he is found guilty it could be off to the hoosegow with at least a 3 ½ year sentence – bye bye career. Come to think of it, if the penal system played their cards right, they could come up with a heck of a football team. And we thought Burt and The Longest Yard was a stretch. These guys could be competitive in the NFL.

GTHL – Part two – Check out part two of three in this series in the Toronto Sun.
Executive Summary – Ethnic families and youths are not embracing the game the same as earlier generations of young Canadians.
The lost generation
'Stagnant' registration is a concern
By BILL LANKHOF

Only in Canada – Lose the election, get essentially dumped by your party and guess what – you could become Prime minister! At least according to the coalition plotting and subsequent media reports. Which part of “you are not wanted” is he having trouble with. I have heard of game shows prizes like “Queen for a Day” but this would be ridiculous. Does everyone get a turn? Somehow I don’t see this one coming through.

SCTV is coming – In the guise of a MOHA Town Rep Town Hall / Information meeting. As a public service announcement I will tell you it is happening this Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the Town Hall Atrium (7:00 – 8:30 PM) since I don’t think many of you will see it on the MOHA site and I don’t know if it was advertised.  I would love to do an over under pool on the turn out for this event . Check who attends - If you exclude the morbidly curious, brown nosers, self congratulators and required attendees, the number likely would not need both hands to count.

Here are the “topics”

·       Progress since the beginning of the season

·       Key focus areas until the end of the season

·       Parent Surveys

·       Coach Selection Process and Timing

·       Open forum to share ideas

·       Misc

While at first blush it may seem like a good idea, the first four items could be covered in more detail and to a broader audience via a newsletter and, or posting to all parents (do only rep parents deserve this attention?). As for the last two items – look out! Make sure somebody takes notes – especially if some pointed questions are asked – the answers would make great reading. We know they won't be because parents do not wish to expose themselves and risk the "infamous" black balling of their kids by being seen as a problem or raising anything contentious. I am almost tempted to go – wouldn’t that create a stir. I wonder if I would be ejected as an undesirable? Hope you at least get coffee and donuts.

Super Mex - Lee Trevino was born today in 1939. A great poor boy makes good story he was a riot to watch in his heyday playing against Palmer, Nicklaus, Boros, Rodriguez, Watson, Snead and others. He always had a line or a quip and never took himself too seriously.

Back to top

Back to top