Dec 31 - Too nice a day (or busy) to spend much time here but my New Year's "gift" to all is a single source review of all of the RBMT games in one file. Click on the RBMT 2009 navigation button to the left or follow this link RBMT 2009. I did not recreate the "Round Robin Standings" as that would be a little much, but if someone else has and wants them posted feel free to send them to me.

Happy and Safe New Year to All Most!

After the horrific news from Afghanistan, please take some time to direct thoughts, prayers and best wishes to our military serving there, their families and the civilians serving with them!

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Dec 30 - My Voice to Text must have been in the sauce over the holidays so I guess I dhould have proofread better! Fixed some.

I just hate it when I'm right but it happens so often I should be used to it. On Monday I watched a few games at the Richard Bell tournament, one of which was Frederikshavn playing against Hamilton. They handled Hamilton quite nicely and your fearless prognosticator made the call at that time that they would win the division. Here it is, Wednesday evening, the last of the tournament games is over and the champion of the minor midget AA division is none other than the aforementioned Frederikshavn . They defeated a very good Brampton team that had they stuck to hockey and not reverted to a typical Brampton style of play could have ended up differently. Frederikshavn  went up 2 to 0 quickly in the first period, suffered a few brain cramps as well as being the victims of some solid Brampton play and ended up giving up three goals before the buzzer giving Brampton the lead at the end of one. With no goals in the second, and well into the third before Frederikshavn  got the equalizer it looked like a fire wagon finish until Brampton got caught with a needless major penalty allowing Frederikshavn  to score the go-ahead goal and hang on to win. Other than thinking they were from Finland when they're actually from Denmark, I made apretty good call. Here's a picture of the victorious team. Congratulations and well done.

 

I had a chance to chat with several parents who billeted kids from different foreign teams that were here for the tournament Every one of them indicated that they had had a wonderful time with their charges and I made a point of thanking any of the folks I talked to for taking on the challenge. It is usually a great and memorable experience and while it does take extra work it really creates memories and adds to the enjoyment that the visitors take back from their visit to Canada and Oakville. It is unfortunate that every year it seems very difficult to find billets for these kids but I guess that is our new society. I understand one family took in eight young men for the tournament. My hat’s off to these folks and I suggest that they be eligible for some type of award.

RBMT summary -- since the cabal is not likely to publish anything (and the real workers on the tournament committee have already done enough), I have quickly put together what I hope is an accurate summary of the Oakville teams performance in the tournament.

Special congratulations to the four (by my count) champions -- the minor atom AA, the minor atom AE, the minor peewee AA, and the minor Bantam A teams. Four champions out of 15 divisions with the quality of competition that was available is a pretty good performance and these teams as well as all the others that participated are to be congratulated on their efforts. Sometimes it's one shift one goal that makes the difference between advancing in the playoffs or not making the cut. Anyway, here is my summary. It's a bit of a horror show trying to pull it off the "site", so if I have made any errors please let me know.

		Rd Robin W/L/T
Minor Atom	AAA	2 - 0 - 2	Advance - Quarter / Semis	Lost 3 - 1 to Barrie in Semis
Minor Atom	AA	3 - 1 - 0	Advance - Final	Champions - Beat North Toronto 4 - 0
Minor Atom	A	3 - 1 - 0	Advance - Final	Lost 4 - 1 to Burlington Eagles in Final
Minor Atom	AE	4 - 0 - 0	Advance - Final	Champions - Beat Barrie 3 - 2
Minor Peewee	AAA	0 - 2 - 2		Did not Advance
Minor Peewee	AA	4 - 0 - 0	Advance - Semis / Finals	Champions - Beat Dtoney Creek 3 - 2
Minor Peewee	A	3 - 1 - 0	Advance - Semis / finals	Lost 2 - 1 to Burlington Bull Dogs in Final
Minor Peewee	AE	1 - 1 - 2		Did not Advance
Minor Bantam	AAA	1 - 2 - 1		Did not Advance
Minor Bantam	AA	2 - 1 - 1	Advance - Semis	Lost 2 - 1 to Milton in Semis
Minor Bantam	A	4 - 0 - 0	Advance - Final	Champions - Beat Welland 2 - 1
Minor Bantam	AE	3 - 0 - 1	Advance - Semis / Finals	Lost 5 - 1 to Orangeville in Finals
Minor Midget	AAA	NA
Minor Midget	AA	2 - 1 - 1	Advance Quarters	Lost 6 - 2 Brampton in Quarters
Minor Midget	A	3 - 1 - 0	Advance - Semis	Lost 4 - 0 Meadowvale in Semis
Minor Midget	AE	1 - 2 - 1		Did not Advance

FSMT -- the schedule for the Frank Sabatino Memorial tournament coming up January 15-17 is now posted on the FSMT website. Now that everyone has recovered from the Richard Bell, they should be thinking about dropping in on the Frank Sabatino tournament to watch some great atom and peewee house league hockey. I understand the tournament is still looking for some parent volunteers, so if anyone is interested in contributing some time please check the volunteer section of the Frank Sabatino tournament website at www.fsmt.ca .

I have also posted links to the Frank Sabatino tournament website at the top of this page and have attached a downloadable copy of the tournament schedule as both a PDF and Excel file.

Team Canada -- was announced today and became an immediate topic on just about any sports station or sports talk show going. As with anything to do with hockey in Canada, there are always differences of opinion. I have posted the selection below for anyone who hasn't seen or heard it and while I haven't digested it in detail it seems like a pretty good selection. Clearly there will be differences of opinion on players (in my case I'm kind of curious about the rationale for some of the defense). However, we have about six weeks until the Olympics start which will give everybody lots of time to armchair quarterback the choices. -- how could they not pick Mike Green?

FHP -- to reinforce my credentials, it should be noted, that I have opened a couple points gap in the family hockey pool due to some astute player moves over Christmas. Stay tuned.

Team Canada

Forwards - Patrice Bergeron(notes), Boston Bruins; Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (alt. capt.); Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks; Dany Heatley, San Jose Sharks; Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames (alt. capt.); Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks; Brenden Morrow, Dallas Stars; Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets; Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks; Mike Richards, Philadelphia Flyers; Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks; Jonathan Toews(, Chicago Blackhawks.

Defense - Dan Boyle(notes), San Jose Sharks; Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings; Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks; Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks (capt.); Chris Pronger, Philadelphia Flyers; Brent Seabrook, Chicago Blackhawks; Shea Weber, Nashville Predators.

Goalies - Martin Brodeur(, New Jersey Devils; Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins; Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks.

 

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Dec 28 – First of all, I hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable Christmas. At the halfw2ay point between Christmas and New Year’s and since I have to go in to work for a day tomorrow, I thought I would try to get in a quick post. Fortunately, I have no plans to fly to the good old USA in the immediate future as after the “Nigerian” episode that has apparently turned into an airport disaster with terms like “pat down” and “cavity search” now worked back into the lexicon. Get there four hours early for a one hour flight – no thanks!

I know you are all waiting with baited breath and anticipation to learn how the 37 pound turkey turned out. There’s good news and bad news – several of each.

From a good news perspective:

• It did fit in the oven – the tinfoil was grazing the top element.

• It did roast in time at the higher heat level – actually it was done early.

• It tasted great.

• There was lots of “room” for dressing

The bad news:

• It did not thaw in time so I had to bring it up Christmas Eve, find a big new bucket to fill with water as it would not fit in the sink and the bathtub seemed inappropriate.

• When I tried to lift it out of the bucket the next morning it was full of water which a) made the squishy little devil exceptionally heavy and b) I then bumped all over myself in a flood to everyone’s hilarity.

• Getting a red hot 40+ pound bird (with dressing) out of the roasting pan to carve was an adventure I don’t care to repeat – bent forks anyone and

• I still have probably 15 pounds of leftover turkey that so far have gone into sandwiches and I have made a FULL crockpot (large) of turkey stew that should last another fortnight!

However, we had a great day, a houseful of 30 odd people, ankle biters that terrorized the decorations and the town. Noisy Christmas ornaments that were played over and over and over and over and a bunch of kids dancing with my hall Santa who now looks like he is regretting his career choice and needs restorative surgery. Tell me again why we do this – aren’t holidays supposed to be fun – restful and relaxing? By 11:00 PM Christmas night I was ready to voluntarily check myself into a sanitarium.

That was Xmas with Jane’s family. Then on boxing day I got to head of to my brother’s place in Mississauga to watch him pay the price. That was much easier (mainly because “our” side did not have any little critters present).

I am also pleased to report that I did not commit to any of the retail foolishness call Boxing Day. The last thing I wanted was to have to go out and face more people.

Richard Bell – As promised I have been out to a few games, yesterday and today and will likely try to hit a couple more tonight. On the whole things seem to be going well and the team is continuing with the Oakville philosophy of staying on schedule (actually early). Great job.

I watched the Rangers (Kitchener version) play the Moscow North Stars in an entertaining game where the K Rangers went up 2 – 0 and Moscow came back to tie before giving up two in the third to go down 4  – 2.

Opening puck drop.

I also saw Frederikshavn (Finland) destroy the Hamilton Reps 9 – 1 in a no contest game. It started out looking OK and then whoops! There were a couple of soft ones but there also were a few really sharps goals and there are some very talented players on that team. This is MM AA – a large group and while I have not seen the rest, I would not be surprised at all to see these guys playing on the 30^th. I think I will take in FoPs versus Oakville tonight as the FoPs folks have been here several times. Unfortunately most of the other international guys that I have not seen play are on deck tomorrow which I did not realize when I volunteered to cover the salt mine. Late scratch on that play – forgot – I’m watching the juniors.

Boo Boo – Far be it from me to post without some type of criticism so here is today’s. Brickbats and a lump of coal to whoever made the decision to schedule the two Minor Midget games into Maplegrove this morning. With all due respect to the scheduler (with a difficult and thankless job who was likely getting all kinds of “direction”) that is just wrong, especially when there were easy and obvious options. Both Maplegrove and Kinoak are small ice surfaces with the “suspect” solid wall at one end and marginal dressing rooms (look at how these are typically scheduled by the association – other than putting Bantam Red in Kinoak – doh!!). Rather than using these rinks we had in one year picked up ice in Mississauga to accommodate the ice crunch of Day Two and not risk problems.

However, if you are going to use these rinks does it not make sense to put the younger (smaller) no body checking folks in there if you can? Nod your head yes!

Soooo – this morning there were thirteen kick-off games between 8:00 and 8:30 AM followed by ten games from 9:10 to 9:30 AM. Kinoak got two  Minor Atom AE games. Good choice. Maplegrove got two Minor Midget A games? Should I also mention there were four other Minor Atom games in the early slot and  four more in the second slot. Two, the Atom As went to Oakville (still better for Minor Midgets) the rest were played at Ice Sports! Would it not have been better, safer, smarter to put one of these in Maplegrove? Nod yes again.

Oh, I forgot to mention all the Ice Sports MA games were AAA not AA, or A, or AE! Does that not reek of clearly (and in my opinion inappropriate) favoritism at the expense of fair play and potentially safety? Just for fun I counted the Kinoak and Maplegrove games. The list is below.

League	Home	Away	Location	Game #
Minor Atom AE	Barrie Colts	Burlington Bulldogs	* Kinoak	#68
Minor Atom AE	Port Credit Storm	Oakville Rangers	* Kinoak	#69
Minor Atom AE	Peterborough Nationals	Barrie Colts	* Kinoak	#70
Minor Atom AE	Burlington Bulldogs	Port Credit Storm	* Kinoak	#71
Minor Atom AE	Oakville Rangers	Peterborough Nationals	* Kinoak	#72
Minor Atom AE	Peterborough Nationals	Burlington Bulldogs	* Kinoak	#73
Minor Atom AE	Barrie Colts	Port Credit Storm	* Kinoak	#74
Minor Atom AE	Burlington Bulldogs	Oakville Rangers	* Kinoak	#75
Minor Atom AE	Port Credit Storm	Peterborough Nationals	* Kinoak	#76
Minor Atom AE	Oakville Rangers	Barrie Colts	* Kinoak	#77
Minor Peewee A-B	Oakville Rangers	Clarkson Hurricanes	* Kinoak	#145
Minor Peewee A-A	Burlington Bulldogs	Downsview Beavers	* Kinoak	#147
Minor Peewee A-B	Grimsby Kings	Oakville Rangers	* Kinoak	#149
Minor Bantam AA-A	Milton Winterhawks	Humber Valley Sharks	* Kinoak	#182
Minor Atom A	Welland Tigers	Meadowvale Mohawks	* Maplegrove	#53
Minor Atom A	Clarington Toros	Duffield Devils	* Maplegrove	#54
Minor Atom A	Lorne Park Ojibwa	Burlington Eagles	* Maplegrove	#55
Minor Atom A	Oakville Rangers	Duffield Devils	* Maplegrove	#56
Minor Atom A	Burlington Eagles	Welland Tigers	* Maplegrove	#57
Minor Atom A	Meadowvale Mohawks	Lorne Park Ojibwa	* Maplegrove	#58
Minor Atom A	Oakville Rangers	Clarington Toros	* Maplegrove	#59
Minor Atom A	Duffield Devils	Meadowvale Mohawks	* Maplegrove	#64
Minor Atom A	Burlington Eagles	Oakville Rangers	* Maplegrove	#65
Minor Atom A	Welland Tigers	Clarington Toros	* Maplegrove	#66
Minor Peewee A-A	Meadowvale Mohawks	Whitby Wildcats	* Maplegrove	#148
Minor Bantam AA-B	Mississauga Terriers	Oshawa Minor Generals	* Maplegrove	#185
Minor Bantam AE-A	Agincourt Canadians	Hamilton Phantoms	* Maplegrove	#219
Minor Midget A-A	Applewood Coyotes	Lorne Park Ojibwa	* Maplegrove	#284
Minor Midget A-B	Clarkson Hurricanes	Meadowvale Mohawks	* Maplegrove	#285

Take a look for yourself and draw your own conclusions. If I was out of town MB or MM I would not be happy about venue.

Hopefully I can get to see a bunch of the semis and finals on the 30^th and I will watch for updated tomorrow.

This and that

FHP – still in first – barely

Leafs beat Penguins at home – incredible

World Juniors – Third period Canada 5 – Swiss 0. – Green sweaters – Ugh!

Torch protestors – ridiculous – lock them up – protests not even relevant, just looking for media attention.

Music – As a transition out of Xmas today's selection is the Twelve Pains of Christmas

Write the words out yourself, I’m too lazy.

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Dec 24 – I have done a version of Twas the Night before Christmas before. But, here is another quick version for this year. Last minute panics, dead phone, electrical issues, bird challenges – so what – it’s Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas 

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through our house
Not a creature was stirring, not even the louse
The tools were all stashed in the basement with care,
In hopes that for a while they would please stay there.

The decorations were plastered all over the place

Such that Scrooge would consider our house a disgrace.

And mamma in her nightgown, and I in my jeans,
Had just settled down for a night of sweet dreams.

When down on the first floor there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Down the stairs to the kitchen I flew like a flash,
Flipped on all the lights and to the sink I did dash.

The moon on the breast of the thirty-seven pound bird
Set off all the alarms which was the ruckus we heard.
We looked out the window to see what was there

It was the guy from Bell telephone to do a repair.

With a little screw driver, so lively and quick,
He had our phone fixed like good old St. Nick.
He said it was the junk they installed on day one

And since it was theirs, there was no charge when done.

Back to the renos we went to get the place ready

For dinner tomorrow if the weather is steady

With thirty expected to show up for food

Not having things set would be considered as rude

 

The last job we had before we said quits

Was an electrical change that was giving us fits

When the switches were changed and I gave the breaker a flick

The whole house went down like it was hit by a brick

 

The receptacles we found were wired so bad

That it made no sense in any manual we had

But we figured it out and made the plugs work

If we hadn’t I know she would have gone berserk

And then in the distance I heard the pans clatter

It was time to make popcorn to put on the platter.

Making the toffee is my job, no one else can do better

If you don’t believe that, I’ll have them send you a letter

 

When that job is done we really are set

The only thing left is the tables to set

Time to relax and sit back for a while

And greet everyone with a wink and a smile

The schedule was tight, no one knew if we’d make it

At the end of the day we could always have faked it
But it all got done and as we fade out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

 At the risk of being politically incorrect, to all of our friends, relatives and hockey colleagues, may you have a safe and Merry Christmas and a prosperous and Happy New Year or the appropriate best wishes for whatever holidays you choose to observe.

I hope to see you at the rink and wish everyone good luck in their Xmas tournaments. Check out the Richard Bell, get ready for the Frank Sabatino Memorial and if I can temporarily steal their motto:

Play Hard, Play Fair, Have Fun!!

By the way - I am back in first in the FHP but promised not to gloat! It is the new, gentler me (for however long that lasts).

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Dec 22 – last day at the office pre Xmas (and just in on the 29^th for the rest of the year). Do you know how to spell “Ghost Town”? It seemed especially cold this morning – likely partially due to the wind chill. The good news is that yesterday was the Winter Solstice (great for witches and warlocks or Druids to visit Stonehenge) meaning that we have survived the shortest day of the year and they will start to get longer again. I am looking to that as a hopeful sign of Spring and warm weather!

Now my big decision is whether I go out tomorrow and do my Christmas shopping a day early or should I wait until the regular time and go out on Thursday as usual. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

FHP – fought back into a tie for first (I picked up a point, Andrew only ½ a point to knot things up). I may escape holiday humiliation if my guys can just hang on for a couple of days. The schedule is pretty light until the 25^th so I might get lucky.

Who cares – I mentioned earlier my “collection” of Canadian tire vehicles. Each year our Gift Box includes a limited edition special vehicle and I now have 14 of those plus a few other special occasion or Petroleum items. While not a great shot, here they are. Most in their original packaging which apparently makes them more valuable to collectors. A couple, “the boys” opened and played with years ago. Most of the vehicles are small banks as well, with the little key attached to the undercarriage to open them.

 

This year’s “old” vehicle was the 1061 Chevrolet Pick-up with the “Yardwoorks” riding mower in the back. Besides being non authentic as original equipment (Yardworks did not exist then), it is bad that 1967 is now considered as an old car (that’s only 42 years ago. I remember “us” buying a new 1960 red Ford Falcon and having a 1954 Dodge (I think we bought for $20) as a second family vehicle, and after that a '64 Ford Galaxie 500.

 

Reno Wars – it is going to be close! The last “planned” wall coat is going on the dining Room today (I hope in my absence). We (Andrew) is trying this “don’t try it at home” trick where you paint the walls then you paint again with a lighter colour mixed in with a glaze and a special pattern roller. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out. Either it will be a nice look / touch or I have visions of a panic repaint in the works. Time is now a big factor as there is trim work to be done and we are at Zero hour – 3! Tick, Tick, Tick.

Once the brushwork is done the creeping Christmas décor has to be expanded to these rooms so I think folks are starting to panic. The town also has to be set-up which is a major undertaking in and of itself. This will be especially challenging as the Town has moved to a new locale (the front hall area from the family room) and I believe there have been some new structures and fixtures acquired since last year – including a school house. I am not sure if a security roster has been considered, let alone set, to keep the roaming toddlers from playing Armageddon with it on Xmas day. Fair warning, no one better mess with Jane and Andrew’s Town!

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Dec 21 – four days until Christmas means three days until I start my Christmas shopping. There is no use going out too early and risking buyer’s remorse if you come up with a better idea later or if your purchase goes on sale. Personally, I think we should all defer our shopping and gift giving until after Xmas so that we can take advantage of Boxing Day Blowouts and January inventory panics. Could be a challenge explaining that one to kids but adults should have no issue. You could either “upgrade” you gifts for the same money or go cheap! As with most if not all of my brilliant ideas it is not likely to happen – the retail lobbyists won’t allow it.

Don Cherry – interesting Coaches Corner on Saturday. You can watch it here if you missed it Saturday and form your own opinion.  Link (if this link doesn’t work you can go in on the CBC site and find it). The post event media coverage of it also in my opinion shows the “slant” of the local rags. First, I think Mr. Cherry was rather “tame” in his response having seen him get lit up on other less “personal” topics or affront. I was somewhat disappointed as a “full-on meltdown” is always fun to watch. That notwithstanding, since the National Post published the offending comments as the lead paper in breaking the story – with the hyper headline, we can see their editorial slant. The Star played up Cherry’s response as really going after Tator which I think was over dramatized whereas the Sun’s response was more along the lines of Tator getting what he deserved without implying histrionics on Cherry’s part. Thumbs Up to the Sun, Thumbs down to The National and The Star.

Turkey Trouble – For those of you following my culinary capon capers, things are looking up. At least from a pan perspective. I have completed a trial run with the frozen fowl and determined that it will sort of fit into our large roast pan (17.5” X 13.5”” at least to the point where it won’t fall out. Obviously the lid is a non event and I will boost Alcan stock with all the aluminum foil we will need to use to channel any juice run off and cover the carcass to avoid too much drying out. I forgot to actually test the “loaded” pan in the oven so I hope it will fir. I know we are OK on the sides, but I hope we don’t wun into a low bridge scenario.

So you want to know what 37 pounds of turkey looks like. Here are test shots both lid and lidless! The bird is now resting comfortably in the decompression chamber Fridge thawing out as it apparently will take four or five days for this to happen. Fortunately, we have a “beer fridge”. Unfortunately now there is no beer room. Stay tuned for additional exciting episodes of ?

 

With the lid - not a happening think1

Sans lid - could be tricky but we think it's a go for roast-off!

Steelers Win, Steelers Win! – at the expense of the Cheese Heads. Brother Scott in Stratford is in mourning. Great throw – great catch to end the game with a TD and convert to win.  Remember – two feet in for a fair catch, regardless if the ball is out of bounds. Great shot!

 

A classic he who has the ball last wins encounter. Too bad – Too Little – Too Late. Seven and seven won’t get in done in the AFC even for a wild card as I think half of the conference is at 7-7 and the Steelers are third in their division. Ergo – the defending Champs will not defend. Parity is a horrible consequence for dynasties.

FHP – DISASTER – I have been knocked off of my lofty and long standing perch atop the standings by none other than the young upstart live-in contractor. Over the week-end my guys “sucked”. I think I had more playing and ended up losing a half point – A HALF POINT – to skid out of the tie and into second place. This coming just before the Xmas break so that all the relatives I am hosting who will be filling their faces with my food and beverages can gloat at my expense. It’s just NOT fair. I must admit that Andrew has been very laid back in not rubbing my nose in his success. Maybe it is because he is afraid I would turf him from his comfortable – no coat lodging and bottomless refrigerator so he just wants to play it safe. Little does he know I can’t toss him out until all the reno projects are done. Until then like “Cherry” I will just have to suck it up and take it – remembering those fateful words “he who lives by the sword must be prepared to die by the sword”.

But wait! I am only ½ point back and a couple days to go. My slumping stupor stars could get hot and re-establish my supremacy! Please!

Tiger Watch – the “family” Christmas card circulating is some ugly humour – but it will go on and on. Apparently, there is a joke web site with hundreds if not thousands of jokes if anyone has nothing better to do.

Music – go traditionalist with one of the all time best / most played Christmas songs from The Bing. Crosby that is and White Christmas. Everyone has to have this on either vinyl, tape, disc or dhip somewhere. I think I saw somewhere and am too lazy to look it up that the White Christmas rendition by Bing is the best single of all time. The song was written by Irving Berlin – supposedly in 1940 and first performed in public by Crosby on the NBC Kraft Music Hall radio show on Christmas Day 1941. Part of the songs early success was judged to be the images of home it provided to servicemen during the war years but it has been popular ever since – almost 70 years!

It has also been over 30 years (Oct 77) since Bing packed 'er in after a round of golf!

White Christmas “42 Version”

 

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,

Just like the ones I used to know.

Where the tree-tops glisten,

And children listen

To hear sleighbells in the snow.

 

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,

With every Christmas card I write,

"May your days be merry and bright,

And may all your Christmases be white".

 

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,

Just like the ones I used to know.

Where the tree-tops glisten,

And children listen

To hear sleighbells in the snow.

 

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,

With every Christmas card I write,

"May your days be merry and bright,

And may all your Christmases be white".

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Dec 18 – Friday of the week before Christmas and in the office today you could tell that mentally people were starting to “check out”. A number are off now until the new year and I noticed traffic was lighter on the GO Train this morning. That just means you can be more comfortable and likely have a seat to wait out the inevitable delays. I plan to work Monday and Tuesday next week, take the balance of the week off, Go back in to deal with an issue Tuesday the 29^th and then stretch out some time off and not go back until the Wednesday of the first week in January. I find that my break seems better if I grab a couple of days in January.

FHP – I dodged a bullet last night as both Andrew and I lost half a point and are still tied at the top. He had more guys playing than I did which I though doomed me but he must have hit some plus / minus issues and Thornton had a big night for me. Tonight I have more players in so hopefully I can reverse that trend. I live in dread of the abuse I will take (not in a Speak Out sense) if I fall from grace.

Richard Bell Memorial Tournament – has a great turnout of teams – a record high 138 teams as per the article in the Beaver (including a number of European teams – especially interesting with a Minor Bantam team from Moscow). This does not happen by accident as it takes a lot of work and perseverance to get teams in general and especially those from across the pond. Kudos to Dana Harvey and Ron Millichamp who I understand have done the lion’s share of the work. I plan to go out and watch a number of games – especially with our foreign guests (and to annoy the cabal) and I hope that a lot of you do as well to recognize and support the great job these folks have done. Then you can come out and enjoy the house league fun at the Frank Sabatino Memorial Tournament from January 15 – 17, 2010 (check the site ( www.fsmt.ca ) and I will post the schedule here like the RBMT when it is available.

PC Work – I am a bit late posting tonight as I have been busy trying to “tune” my PC with some utility upgrades and fixes. Over time and with a bunch of surfing you end up with less than optimal performance despite whatever hardware you run and you really do need to give things a “tune-up”. The question is whether I want to upgrade to Windows 7 as I have heard a lot of good things about it, we have upgraded Andrew’s notebook and desktop to it and he “swears” by it. My concern is the reload I would need to do as you can not “upgrade” from XP or XP Pro to Windows 7 you can only do that from Vista which I refused to go to as a bad system. On my PC I would have to do a full reload from scratch which means “all programs” which is a pain in the lower back and at this point I am not sure all would live happily under 7. Knowing me, and my propensity to play with toys, I suspect it is not a question of “if” it is only “when”. Sounds like an Xmas holidays project which may interrupt my blogging.

Leafs – listening to the Leafs game on 640 as I work on my PC since I have not got my cable hooked up yet (another Xmas vacation project) I thought the Leafs were putting up a fight. Sounded like a great first period BUT – they play three. I don’t know where this will end up but The Monster is now in based on “the other guy” giving up 4 goals on 6 shots to turn a game into a rout. Sure, the story will be that VT was interfered with on the first goal but I am now sure how you explain #2 – other then OOPS, I forgot to stop it as I dropped a long shot into the net. That type of collapse is why they are going nowhere and NOT making the play-offs.

Turkey – not the Leafs – the real one we have to cook. This weekend is D Day in terms of figuring out if or how we are going to cook the 37 pound ostrich turkey. I will be running a test fitting for the roast pan to see if a) we can at least park it in their and build a foil catch basin around it and b) will the S. O. B. even fit into the oven. If not we may have to keep it as a meat-weight in the freezer and go shopping for plan b – a normal bird. Stay tuned for exciting news for enquiring minds.

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Dec 17 – A lull in the action, so instead of running around the countryside doing this and that, I can stay at home and get roped into decorating those portions of the domicile currently reassembled from the reno wars. Apparently a real “firefight” broke out last night at chez Moorehead as my poor old mitre saw decided to catch fire while “the boys” were working on putting quarter round down in the kitchen. Other than the saw which has been classed as a fatality, there was fortunately no other damage. U will admit it was a Canadian Tire MasterCraft product but it was lower end and with Andrew’s projects over the last few years both inside and out, had seen an awful lot of action. May it R.I.P.

Now I have to work on replacement mode and I can guarantee that will entail a significant upgrade. I know for things like simple quarter round I used to just use a plain old mitre box and back or mitre saw. Apparently though that is not good enough for the current generation of craftsmen. It seems that they need the big boy toys to do anything these days.  Looks like I may have to finish this one myself or shame them into doing it the old-fashioned way.

Leafs – tumbled back to earth last night. Clearly because I was not parked behind their net to be humiliated and could not watch as we were out. So! Instead of being tied for a play-off spot, with the loss they are shown in 14^th position in the conference even though they are only 4 points back of #8 Florida. It is the 6 teams ahead of them not just the four points that are the real killer.

FHP – DISASTER – I am now TIED for the lead with Andrew who gained half a point while I dropped a half AND he has more guys in action tonight then I do. This is not good. Bragging rights over the holidays or even worse, for the rest of the year could be slipping away. The King is Dead – Long live the King!! The new scoring system is finally kicking in – clearly to my disadvantage.

However, you have to accept that their chances have improved. The Stats guy has their probability up to 7.6% (except that this is a 4.4% drop after last night's shellacing).

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Dec 16 – Back late from Waterloo and visitation. Doubt if I will make it to 93 but I guess the closer you get the more you want to.

Play-off bound? - As Leaf playoff euphoria sweeps the nation, there are a lot of us “experts” who will create a major upsurge in P&G’s fortunes by buying soap to scrub all of the egg off of our phases. Just to stay on the Wild Side let me repeat, “it will not happen” unless “hell freezes over”. With the current state of the weather, that may not be such a great analogy.

The holiday season plus stuff are making it challenging to stay on top of getting things posted. However, hit or miss I will do my best to keep something going. My biggest challenge (since Andrew apparently has the renos under control) is to figure out how to roast my baby ostrich – disguised as a 37 lb. turkey. For you metric “new math” folks I think you just divide by something like 2.2 to deduce that this is a 16.8 kiloton kilogram bird. No wonder they can’t fly. I am still looking for that “roasting” container and cooking instructions to avoid taking the caveman bonfire and spit approach. I guess I will have to measure my oven to see whether (pan or not) the sucker will even fit!

I have been asked by a colleague to take a picture of the critter and send it to him as his wife does not believe in monsters. I think I will use a carpenter’s rafter square for perspective.  Look for it in a future edition.

FHP – Danger, Danger. My lead has evaporated such that I am only one lousy point ahead of Andrew. This is not good. The only good news is that you know who has sunk to fourth place and she is definitely NOT happy about that. The problem is that based on my roster, I do not have any brilliant fix quick ideas. Maybe the boys will catch fire and I can pick up some ground. I would not like to go into Xmas without the lead!

Blue Jokes Jays – I don’t think the Halladay move out of Toronto has really caught anyone by surprise, but you have to wonder what this is going to do to the spectator franchise. How much interest can you generate for a club that in all likelihood is not going to contend in a tough division and basically no legitimate hope for a wild card. They are “rebuilding” – but they are not the Leafs where basically I could don the equipment and they would likely still put sell-out butts in the buckets. Depending on how things go, without the struggle for three and then give Doc the ball, you will have to be either a die hard Blue Jay fan (whatever that is), a rabid ball fall wanting to watch the visiting teams or very tired of sorting your sock drawer to spend bucks at the concrete convertible. Remember when they lead the league in attendance, drew over four million a year, stuffed the 500s? Will they get close to 2?

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ISP issues – it seems that there may have been a number of issues (and maybe still are with my site due to an ISP interruption and subsequent issues on reloading. I have “reloaded” again with content that has gone up since the beginning of the month in hopes that whatever the issues were that they have been corrected. It is tough enough trying to find time, energy and content at this time of year without “Technical Difficulties”.

So –A very short post tonight as I just got back from a meeting and am running out of hours in my days. I doubt whether I will get anything posted tomorrow as I unfortunately have an out of town funeral home visit to make.

Dec 15 – A highly entertaining game. If you watched the Leaf game or the highlights you can see me sitting dejectedly in my seat after Kessel’s goal as my colleagues and Andrew celebrate. I made the sports highlights, or low lights depending on your perspective. Andrew did comment that he could get used to these seats and the casual dine in and drink with bevies waiting for your return in the dining room. The seats behind the net are great for watching the action in “your” end but not quite so good at the other. I have to admit it is a tough schedule though,  trying to get into and out of the Platinum lounge in time both before the game and between periods to not miss any action. Especially if you get caught chit chatting. We got caught inside polishing off our post dinner snack and waiting for refills in the first intermission and missed the quick goal to start the second. Those empty seats were us! Shameful.

Don’t try this at home – While I think Andrew has done a great job in putting up our Christmas lights (especially so since that means I did not have to), there is no way one would even want to try to compete with the French family pictured below. Not even Clark Griswold’s could compete with this.

Photo: PASCAL ROSSIGNOL/REUTERS
People visit the Colson family's home in Anhiers, near Douai, northern France. For the past 20 years the Colsons have decorated their house to look like Santa Claus's home and more than 50,000 visitors come annually from all over France to see it, and to donate money for charity

Music - I think I have posted it before but if I have to put up with Christmas Carols I may as well go with ones I kind of like.

This song has been sung by a lot of people over a lot of years and versions, but here are the Irish Rovers.

Christmas In Killarney The holly green, the ivy green VERSE: The holly green, the ivy green The prettiest picture you've ever seen Is Christmas in Killarney With all of the folks at home It's nice, you know, to kiss your beau While cuddling under the mistletoe And Santa Claus you know, of course Is one of the boys from home BRIDGE: The door is always open The neighbors pay a call And Father John before he's gone Will bless the house and all Our Hearts are light, our spirits bright We'll celebrate our joy tonight Is Christmas in Killarney With all of the folks at home REPEAT VERSE BRIDGE: We'll decorate the Christmas tree When all the family's here Around a roaring fire We will raise a cup of cheer There's gifts to bring, And songs to sing And laughs to make the rafters ring Is Christmas in Killarney With all of the folks at home REPEAT VERSE BRIDGE: We'll take the horse and sleigh all Across the fields of snow Listening to the jingle bells Everywhere we go How grand it feels to click your heels And dance away to the jigs and reels It's Christmas in Killarney With all of the folks at home REPEAT VERSE Is Christmas in Killarney With all of the folks at home

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Dec 13 – I have decided to post a Sunday night “Special” as I will not be available Monday. Hard as it is to reconcile based on my cheering pattern and blog contents I will be at the ACC watching the Sens (hopefully) mercy the Leafs.

Just to rub it in, I will be in the “sushi” seats with platinums on the glass – first row behind the net. Look for me on the tube. I will be the one cheering wildly as the red light strobes behind the Leafs. I have not seen the tickets so come to think of it I am not sure if we are behind the Leafs home end or the other guys. Who cares, it is a nice night out and especially so since it is not on my dime – I couldn’t afford it.

I just hate it when I’m right – but since it happens so often, I should be used to it. As I predicted, the Star series ended up with an article on how to fix the game – Article - notably absent was any suggestion that the zebras need to take any ownership . While I agree that the groups covered (parents, players, coaches) have an opportunity to improve, it is ludicrous to gloss over the zebra nation as having no contributing part to the state of the nation and an opportunity to contribute to making things better.

I found it almost equally as appalling that the GTHL did not get raked over the coals over the revealations on “repeat offenders” that came out of their files. One could speculate that the long term association between John G and Lois K, plus the fact that the GTHL allowed access to their info may have afforded them a gy. I would also have to speculate on whether there could have been any privacy intrusions on the data that was released. Net, net, I would also suggest that associations can be added to the list of culprits who need to accept some responsibility for the state of the game.

I was also pleased to hear that “Grapes” shared my opinion on the increase in calls as apparently he made the same observation as I did regarding enhanced focus on the offense contributes to more calls – doh – rocket science it is not.

Poor old Don was taking quite a pounding in the media today by the head shrinking who had tagged him as the villain. It was good to see HNIC come out in his defense especially based on some of their contract history – could it be that he is a golden goose for them!!

Anyway, I got so “P____d off” at the Star omissions that I sent off a letter to the sports editor. As I doubt that they will ever run it, I have reproduced it below. The problem with these letters is that you have to keep them so short it is difficult to make a cogent argument. They often just get used as filler anyway. I have also packaged the five installments of the series into a .pdf file if anyone wants it. Here it is.

Letter to Editor

The Star is to be commended on the series presented on the challenges in minor hockey. There are “nutballs” in every walk of life, but as the iconic Canadian pastime, hockey is always under the microscope.

Where I take exception to your series, is in your exclusion of commentary on one of the principal factors that can contribute to or reduce the challenges faced every day at the rink – the on-ice officials. On the contrary, they are held-up as an expert source on the problems.

By omission, the implication is that the on-ice officials are beyond reproach and not worth considering as a concern. As a former minor hockey volunteer at all levels (and with all certifications) including eight years of executive experience with one of the largest minor hockey local association in Canada, I can tell you that such is not the case. Officials should come under the same scrutiny and expectations as other groups.

I have seen on-ice officials come to the rink “planning” to toss coach “X” or to intentionally call a specific game misconduct that evening and guess what – it happens. I have also seen officials goad players (already hot) into escalating their offense and then delighting in “ringing them up”. Hardly a role model – but they are to the junior refs working with them. The officials policy of policing their own and being the “authority” that signs off on the game sheets leaves the players and coached with limited recourse.

I absolutely support the concept of increasing severity of punishment for repeat offenders. However, the caveat that underlies all of this and that is a major topic in and of itself, is the quality and consistency of officiating. Everyone needs to share responsibility.

A Minor Hockey Fan

Right Again – The house of cards known as Tiger Enterprises is crumbling. The sponsors are now starting to beat feet (Accenture), especially now that he has “indefinitely” suspended his golfing career. Pre-nup or Re-nup notwithstanding, there are likely not going to have to be any Tiger Tag days, but, the current slide may knock him out of the billionaire class and knock him down into the mass of undistinguished multi-millionaires.

Bantam AAA – Beat Burlington 3-2 tonight in kind of a ho-hum game. I was disappointed that I didn’t see any of those “rabid / maniacal” fans – players – coaches that supposed are over-running the rinks. Just for the heck of it, I sat in the “Burlington” section for two periods as a colleague of mine has a son on the team. He played pretty well.

Richard Bell – the post Xmas big event is coming up. For those of you who want to review and, or plan your attendance by team, or division or rink or whatever and want to avoid the horror of trying to piece together a schedule from Sports Manager (love the doubled rinks*), I have attached an Excell schedule file that you are free to use to sort and slice and dice anyway you want. Sort it, print it, pore over it, highlight it, send it to your friends. Just another friendly service from your local outcast. By the way, I make no warrantees re accuracy and, or possible changes as I just pulled this info off the site. Schedule – 12/13. Looks like some interesting teams and schedules. See you at the rink somewhere, sometime.

Anyway, time to practice my cheers for tomorrow – is it Go Sens Go?

I seem to be having some stress reading pdfs in my browsers – either Explorer or FireFox. May have to consult the propeller head gurus on this one. If you have trouble and want any of the docs, just email me wayne@minorhockeyfan.com and I will send them to you (and I won’t tell anyone).

Music - you will have to wait. Don't have time to plan that one yet as apparently I need to do Xmas tunes of some kind for the balance of the year. Bah Humbug!

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Dec 11 – Merry Xmas to all and “hoark” – such are the joys of GO Train travel! I was on my way home from our office Christmas festivities when what to my wandering eye did appear– a guy sitting in the upper deck of my GO Train suddenly simply leans forward and pulls a Linda Blair. His head did not spin around and there was no black garbed Satan slayer nearby, but he dealt with the gusher requirement quite well. No warning, no nothing, just an interesting clean-up job for the night crew. Upchuck complete he simply settled back in his seat with a sigh of relief to enjoy the rest of his journey – I am not even sure he was conscious of what he did – probably a Leaf fan troubled by their recent relapse. This stellar performance occurred as we were approaching Port Credit and lead to a quick evacuation of the “upper deck” by most of the passengers. Some disgusted, some laughing but no one hit the passenger alarm. Just another day on the train for us jaded travellers.

Reno’s continue – on the Xmas / reno challenge countdown. Came home last night to find the new laminate floor down in the kitchen – looks great.  My resident contractor and his henchman have done it again. Main floor is now rounding into shape – dining room reclaimed – cosmetic work here may be deferred until post turkey, foyer painted, wallpapered and light replaced, bathroom fixtures replaced/replumbed, new floor laid and room painted, halls up and down painted and crown moulding installed as well as new upstairs fixture installed (as noted) , kitchen painted and new floor laid. STOP!!! We have to get the pieces back together as someone I know is itching to get decorating (Xmas that is). Two weeks to go until the 37 pound turkey trauma and 400 house guests. That means –

Anniversary – today is Jane and my wedding anniversary. I believe we are celebrating tonight with a dinner of my left over chilli! It can’t get any better than that. I will keep people guessing on the number of years but they are adding up. Hint, It was after the Leafs won their last Stanley Cup but before geodie Howe took his first front office job with the Red Wings. Isn’t it great how I can link hockey into just about everything! Not sure Jane would agree.

Being the hard nosed emotionless business person that I am, we chose to get married in December because – I could get the full year tax break. Since changed but back then, in the horse and buggy days, you could claim married status for the whole year and only had to claim your spouse’s post nuptial earnings – such a deal! Come to think of it I am not sure why we picked December as up in the hinterlands (as currently evidenced) you could get some really ugly weather. Maybe Jane remembers?

Toronto Star – the minor hockey series continues with a slam at coaches. While it is true that there are some “hot heads” out there, there are also a lot of good ones committed to providing a service to the kids – for the huge $$ they get paid – certain GTHL Club Coaches excluded. While it is almost trite to say it, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Unless you have been behind a bench in competitive situations, it is easy to sit back and be critical. Belabouring one or two individuals performance does not and should not tar everyone (three covered in the article). Again, I go back to my repeat offenders escalation policy. That is where more work is needed to improve on the situation.

Citing how many calls were made in a year or blaming coaches for a third of the problems is deceiving. I will wait until the series is over to possibly make more detailed comments but you have to remember where 99% of this data is coming from and that is game reports provided by the on-ice officials. I think my views on some referees are well known – it is a large part of why I am sitting here and not where I used to be, but it is a case in point. It is some not all referees, the same as it is some (a small percent) not all of the other groups. There are bad apples in every group parents, players, coaches. administrators AND referees so let’s keep that in mind when we consider the source of some of this info. I can quote chapter and verse where the referee and none of the other groups were the issue, but at the end of the day, guess who gets suspended and “blamed”? Guess who gets to sign the gamesheet and essentially put themselves beyond reproach or blame? Guess who gets to “brag” about they “rung-up” so and so? It gets even more challenging when the fox is put in charge of the henhouse to reduce separation of duties, and conflicts of interest. Let’s see if The Star and their resident experts have the knowledge or “stones” to deal with this as well as simply blaming the usual suspects. They are running out of instalments – so surprise me.

Tiger – No comment despite the opportunity of the court injunction story – don’t care. Although, the “story” he was considering quitting golf to save his marriage was curious. Class difference – Jack dodges commenting on the situation. Enough said for saying nothing.

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Dec 9 – ISP Problem - Yes I did write content yesterday and Monday. Yes I did post Monday and try to post Tuesday. No it did not get there and Yes my site was down. No it was not any form of censorship or Internet attempt at good taste, it just seems my ISP had a server issue that just happened to hit my site. At least that is their story and they are sticking with it. Since it happened before the “storm” they cannot claim it was weather related. If it is simply a server, what happened to the department of redundancy department that is to make sure this does not happen. I have been happy with the service my guys have provided – up until now! However, I don’t wish to provide my loyal followers with any more reasons to pass on checking in so – FIX IT!

Tiger – I have tried to swear off of this one but I just can’t help myself. It is like the Eveready Bunny that just keeps going and going. First a suspect accident, then the initial infidelity expose, then the “alleged” hospital incident, then the expanded harem claims, then the mother-in-law story, then the “nude photo allegations. . . . Now the media / sponsor “deathwatch” is starting. Go back to my posts – you heard it here first, the Tiger is going down (leave that alone). Apparently prime time commercials featuring the exalted one have been pulled and only a Gillette spot has run since the crash and that had its last airing two days after the vehicle issue.

Winter – Yes it snowed but so what. We have bus cancellations again for schools, moaning and complaining about the snow and rain, gridlock galore etc. guess what, this is Canada, it is mid December – what a surprise! Get the silliness over with and get on with winter – that means spring is closer – I hope. I won’t bore you with the “when I was a kid” stories but when I was a kid, snow was a challenge, not an excuse. Our buses always went unless the police actually closed the roads and they did not do that very often. If the bus got stuck, we were all expected to pile out and push it out. Try that today and all you would hear is “lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit”. Wimps!

FHP – I goofed. I forgot (apparently – although I thought I did – someone must have my password and is sabotaging my line-up) to put all my players in last night and had a couple of guys riding the pines who should have been in, including Mr. Cammalleri in Montreal who coulda, woulda, shoulda got me some points. Needless to say I did not get any sympathy from my poolie colleague, in fact quite the opposite. That little faux pas let Andrew gain half a point on me so I am now only 2 points ahead of him. The others are still lost in the dust and no threat (despite one of them having made 23 roster changes so far). I have made 2 – to drop long term injury guys. As Kenny says “You need to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em”!

Tomorrow – is the dreaded “Office Christmas Party” so it is unlikely that anything will get posted tomorrow or if it does it would likely be incoherent (more incoherent than usual). I think these events are somewhat of a dying breed as even with our team I seem to feel a diminished sense of enthusiasm / spirit. We will see.

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Dec 8 -- a slow day in the blogging world. Strangely, I have not heard back on or received any pictures from the "fill the net" event that was run this past weekend at the rinks. Typically, by now, the resident promoter has provided some information on how things went as well as a picture or two that I am happy to post. Hopefully, all went well, there were lots of contributions and items were received and will make a bunch of boys and girls happy this holiday season. If you missed your opportunity to contribute here, there are lots of other charities that are still looking for support so feel free to donate. We have our office Christmas function list Thursday and as usual arguing the secret Santa gift exchange with all of the gifts/toys going to the shelter we are supporting this year. Separately we run a Christmas drive on the floor and thanks to the generosity of a lot of people typically have a good all of Staples and other things to provide as well. I particularly enjoyed our bake sale today where I got to purchase a neat some items that I had no clue what they were but was assured they were a delicacy. Just in a small group we managed to raise over $100 on this alone.

When things aren't going well, you just can't catch a break. Example, Tiger Woods mother-in-law becomes the latest paparazzi item. I think I swore off this topic yesterday, so I will just leave it at that. I typically listen to Q107 in the morning and today they've peaked my interest in an item they are going to run over the next two days -- I think it is referred to as the 10 most embarrassing moments of 2009. Each of these items has some type of audio clip associated with it as clearly pictures won't work well on radio. Based on the teaser, I can guess why couple of the events will be but I am curious as to where they will go with this. You can catch it on Derringer in the morning.

What happens when you don't sign an autograph -- ask Rick .Vaive. An interesting story about the illustrious Mr. Vaive not signing an autograph for Brendan Shanahan years ago and what happened when Shanahan met up with him on the ice in Buffalo. Shanahan was 14 at the time when Vaive refused to sign an autograph for him in what sounds like rather unpleasant terms and Brendan carried that memory with him until he met up with Vaive on the ice years later. And people think I carry a grudge! Check out the story here.

Cobourg Clowns - While there are pretty limited details available, probably for obvious reasons, it sounds like two Cobourg coaches and a parent (dad) had an overdose of stupid pills to go with excess beverages while at a tournament in New York state. I am presuming they are all from the same team which makes it even worse but after seemingly creating a ruckus in a bar and being asked to leave they took exception to police intervention and instead of retiring to do battle another day they decided to take on the officers. Results predictably is a number of charges and some more bad hockey press.

“…after deputies with the Erie County sheriff's department encountered what they described as a “bar full of belligerent, obnoxious, intoxicated Ontario men visiting the hotel while in the area for a kids' hockey tournament.”

Hopefully, these guys get turfed by their local Association but in this day and age they will probably be promoted. Read the limited scope here. And people wonder why we end up with a bad reputation.

Holiday schedules -- as I start to look over my calendar for the next couple of weeks it becomes somewhat suspect how many evenings I will be either home in time to conjure up some content or even if I do make it home in a reasonable hour whether I will feel like doing so. That being the case, it is what it is, and I will do what I do. Check back on a regular basis to see what I have posted and let me know if you hear of any exciting news.

Reno Updates - arrived home tonight to find the kitchen emptied, the lights down and the ceiling painted. Just the floor and walls to go! Given we are hosting Christmas dinner for a cast of thousands on the 25th (17 days away), I hope everyone has their schedule under control??

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Dec 7 – This past weekend has been a cornucopia of hockey articles in the local rags. Both the Star and Goat & Snail caught my attention with some good reading.

Give me your brain – once you are done with it of course as reported in the Globe & Mail. That is the request of some Canadian researchers to NHL players or other high intensity players who have “had their bell rung” either very well or on a repeated basis. They want to dissect these brains to determine and assess the damage caused by concussion inducing blows.

The link to the article is here, but one of the facts cited that frankly surprised me is that young hockey players are regularly taking blows to the head with the same concussive impact as college football players (not sure about NFL but I doubt it) This is a scary though, not just because of the absolute severity but also because of the fact that I will wager the average hockey helmet is neither designed or fitted to provide the same protection as the football bucket.

Violence & Slurs – in minor hockey was the Star’s contribution with their series. Happily, it is based on GTHL results but you have to ask yourself if the OMHA and our local association behavior is any different. I do take exception to the Star Scribes painting everything “black”. As you read through, the increase in the number of calls can also mean more focus in being brought into enforcing the rules to try to reduce the infractions. Most people are aware of the old adage that in the workplace says – “What gets measured gets done!” There is no hint of that in this article. What I would fault “management” on is the apparent lack of any program to curb re-offenders either through escalated suspensions or the old “see you later”. While I am sure the GTHL mavens would suggest they do this, some of the selected numbers printed don’t provide much support.

Minor hockey referees fear for game, own safety Day two (Sunday) - article was more of a slant to the challenges referees face. You can read it here Essentially, the focus is that there is less respect being afforded to officials and more violence being directed towards them. A GTHL comment suggests that on-ice behavior is often a reflection of an off-ice issue being played out in the game. Weaker article today (Sunday). Let’s see what Monday offers.

Crackdown urged on head injuries Day three – (Monday) – I have a hard time arguing about head checks and the damage they can do. Everyone should be working to protect against any of these hits and any coaching staff should come down hard on any player who shows an inclination to go melon hunting. You only have to see one case of the “results” to become a believer. Again though the article has to recognize part of the increase in calls is based on rules emphasis not necessarily an increase in the offense. Article

I have .pfd ‘ ed the three articles in one file here if anyone wants a hard copy.

New complaint – as a follow-up to my complaint on “hating” the fun of installing toilets, I had forgotten how much I despise wall papering. I helped out with one final partial strip yesterday and just about lost it – doesn’t stick, doesn’t match, doesn’t cut properly and edges curl – a good job for someone else.

History Dec 7 – A day that will live in Infamy- 68 years ago marks they Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour with tragic loss of life but heralding the U.S entry into WWII which did likely saw lives in terms of hastening the overall end.

Dec 7 will also be famous as expansion day for Tiger’s harem. I am not sure what the “outed” count is )alleged 9 so far by ABC News) but it is heading up. Jack and Arnold can likely relax now as the “sure” successor to their title as the gentlemen kings of golf has self destructed and I can not see him ever recovering the respect that those guys earned. You also have to wonder how his golf “game” and crowd persona will be affected. Frankly, I would expect some of the big name endorsement guys to bail even though none have yet that I am aware of. Maybe they will be polite “non renewals that conveniently expire “soon”.

At the risk of offending, I did hear on “line” that I think sums it up well. Love the play on words – hope you get it!

“First he was a Tiger, then a Lion, but now he’s just a Cheetah!”

NFL – Done like dinner. My world Champion Steelers are finished – stick a fork in them, they were beaten like a rented mule . . . etc,. etc., etc. They could not even beat the lowly Raiders straight up even though they had a prohibitive spread. Fade to black on that one – no pun intended. Now my challenge is who do I cheer for as my “back-up” for the balance of the season and hopefully through the play-offs.

Music - low key, just want to post a song I like. As a big Beatles fan, both before and after the break-up, I will go with a Paul McCartney and Wings song - Mull of Kintyre. 1977 song where the title is the description of a location in Scotland.

McCartney quote on how the song came to be: "I certainly loved Scotland enough, so I came up with a song about where we were living; an area called Mull of Kintyre. It was a love song really, about how I enjoyed being there and imagining I was travelling away and wanting to get back there." Due to the November timing of its releale, the song became somewhat of a Christmas favourite - internationally successful.

Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea

My desire is always to be here

Oh Mull of Kintyre

 

Far have I travelled and much have I seen

Dark distant mountains with valleys of green

Past painted deserts, the sun sets on fire

As he carries me home to the Mull of Kintyre

 

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea

My desire is always to be here

Oh Mull of Kintyre

 

Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen

Carry me back to the days I knew then

Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir

Of the life and the times of the Mull of Kintyre

 

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea

My desire is always to be here

Oh Mull of Kintyre

 

Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain

Still take me back where my mem'ries remain

Flickering embers grow higher and high'r

As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre

 

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea

My desire is always to be here

Oh Mull of Kintyre

 

Mull of Kintyre...

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Dec 4 – You know you have hit the bottom of the barrel when a lead online article from the “respected” Goat & Snail paper is all about watching the World Cup draw live!  Clearly I am not a soccer fan and this type of insipid foolishness may be part of the reason.

I would congratulate the Leafs on their fine showing last night if it was not at least partially at the expense of one of Oakville’s own – Steve Mason. Unfortunately Mr. Mason appears to have been bitten by the sophomore jinx although no one wants to call it that yet – so I will.

Mr. Hitchcock is not the most tolerant of coaches so watch this situation. I hope Steve shakes it off and gets back to last year’s form. You have to remember, he does not exactly have a Stanley Cup contender playing in front of him.

Ice – surprise, surprise, boys and girls must get their proportionate share of ice times. It only took two nights and over six hours of debate to come to this conclusion at the Toronto Council session. Somewhat surprising is that the vote was not unanimous. At 36 – 2 you have to wonder why there were two councillors who voted against it. I am not aware of any wards that are “male” only, so what were they thinking? Maybe they play in the men’s leagues in prime time that are now going to be bumped. That essentially the detail but here is the Star article.

Countdown – now that we are “well” into December, the holiday countdown and frenzy is definitely on. Lights are the least of my concerns. Other than trying to complete the reno craze, there are about a dozen bins of festive trappings that are supposed to make their way up from their basement hideaway and disperse themselves throughout the house. I have been informed that the “family room” is ready to go and the living room is next. Soon to be followed by the dining room, hall and kitchen. The good news with my office move is that I now (hopefully) have a safe haven from all the holiday hoopla as long as I can repel any invaders.21 days until Christmas, 20 shopping days until Christmas leaving me 19 days until I have to start my shopping and Xmas prep.

Add to the list of never did – The Oakville Waterfront Festival. Now it is scrubbed, a victim of . . . finances . . . and will lose its place on the bucket list – that’s OK with me as I never had it there. I had the impression it was artsy / crafty / culturish and I don’t do that. The other aspect was it sounded like a good excuse for a bunch of young people to get all liquored up and make total asses of themselves. I’m not up for that either so I guess I won’t miss it.

Must read – it sounds like the Toronto Star has some interesting articles coming out starting on Saturday about unsettling behaviour in minor hockey. The Star has run multi part stories before on minor hockey with an interesting perspective. This one is a five parter on the rise of racial slurs and violence in minor hockey. Here is a link to the intro tease article. Seems they did an extensive review of GTHL games to come up with their content and conclusions (article).

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Dec 3 -- today was one of those "out of office" days with meetings with our financial services people. While it did save on the commute, and I got home at a more reasonable hour, it did take some time to catch up with the days e-mails and phone calls. That being the case I don't have much time or information to create a very interesting post this evening. My excitement for the day was coming home and lending my expertise to my in-house contractor in installing a toilet in our downstairs washroom. Among my various "trade" duties or skills, be it painting, electrical, carpentry or plumbing, my least favorite task is installing toilets. They never seem to fit right as advertised, and always seem to need a variety of finicky adjustments for water flow and flushing. Clearly out houses were much easier to install, but maybe a little more of a challenge to maintain.

The price of infidelity -- apparently hovers somewhere around $60 million if you happen to be a prominent golfer and want to maintain appearances. I keep saying I don't really care about this particular story and yet I have commented on three days in a row. Enough already, stop. However, some of the jokes are rather humorous, and I don't think they will stop for a while. While not a joke Justin Parnevik's comment about club selection was kind of funny.

If it wasn't for bad luck there would be no luck at all -- at least according to the Maple Leafs and the Monster. While everyone is putting on a brave front, there clearly has to be a lot of angst in Leaf land with respect to their goaltending situation. Burke’s comment about always looking to improve in any position clearly suggests they are on the market. Meanwhile McDonald gets the start tonight moving up from his number three role on the depth chart. With their big win over Montréal and relatively decent performance in their last five or six starts, the playoff plans are starting again.

However, you have to admit that the Leafs are really making progress as the last time stats were published the prognosticator (not me) was predicting that they had a 1.7% chance of making the playoffs. Due to their phenomenal play over the past few games there has been a significant improvement in their chances, as the Sports Club Stats has increased their probability to 2.1%. Way to go Leafs! After tonight, it may zoom even higher. Check them out here.

That's all -- like I said today was not a promising day for content so I've cut it short and improbably so desperate I might even watch the leafs game. Besides that, with Ovechkin out along with the other injuries that have stacked up, I am taking a beating in the hockey pool and if not careful will likely lose the lead. That kind of abuse I don't need.

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Dec 2 – The new Leafs are a dynasty! Shutting out the mighty Habs on home ice! They are going to go all the way! THUD. Now back to reality.

Part of that reality is trying to figure out what's up with the Monster. After the late camp heart rate "scare", everything was supposed to be hunky-dory. The incident after the first. In last night's game in Montréal has got to be raising a lot of question marks with team management, as well as throughout the league as I believe Gustavsson is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Besides his ability as a goaltender and his value to the organization, you have to wonder how "safe" it is for him to play a high stress/high activity position in pro sports? We will see if more surfaces on the situation.

Tiger – is “profoundly sorry” – or so the story goes. Another squeaky clean bites the dust and this is a biggie. My “sick minded” colleagues are already sending me pics of the new Woods family Christmas Card and you can bet it is not flattering. I have shown admirable restraint by not posting it here but then again I have heard that Tiger has a propensity to sue people and I have no interest in going down that road. Just what did he expect? Love the voice mail that has been on the news. That is a definite “Oh, Oh”! As per my earlier comment, the tragic shooting of four Washington cops and subsequent take-out of their alleged killer is already yesterday’s news – Tigergate will go on for months!

CT Money - it was very inconsiderate of Mr. Woods to create a media storm the same day as the story broke on my employer’s Canadian Tire ‘Money’ coin. This is not an official Canadian Tire pronouncement but I do have a real affinity for Canadian Tire ‘Money’ having grown up with it for more than 50 years. The new one dollar coin is an interesting item and has really generated a lot of media interest across the spectrum from “isn't this great” to “the sky is falling - they are doing away with Canadian Tire paper ‘Money’. Not the case, read one of the articles. Fortunately, I already have one of the coins from an initial limited issue. It will be carefully filed away with a bunch of my other "Tire" trinkets. Hopefully, all you will race out, spend well over $25 on the weekend to get your own keepsake.

No solution -- despite 3+ hours of "debate", Metro Council was apparently unable to reach resolution on the equity ice issue last night. Not a surprise. Open debate on a contentious/political issue with a forum this size and all the vested interests and egos on the table is not conducive to reaching any decision. You have to wonder why this particular matter wasn't resolved in committee and a simple resolution put forward. At the end of the day, no one can really argue (and shouldn't) the merits of equitable ice time. What is needed is the mechanism to make it happen (Oakville's formula being one example) and then simply go do it. What may be the issue here is who actually has what control at what level over the so-called city owned rinks that are managed on an arms length basis. Supposedly the matter will be brought forward again this evening and "resolved". Let's see what happens tonight.

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Dec 1 – Canadians should be proud. The Grey Cup made the pregame show on Monday Night Football – if only for a little tongue-in-cheek poking at the penalty call. I think the comment was somewhat along the lines of you lost a championship on that – can’t you count. They showed the clip with the miss – portrayed it as the “win” then the Oh- Oh – penalty – redo for the win. All as the precursor to the undefeated saints taking on the Pats in the Superdome. I watched until half time (only dozed off once) and it looked like The Saints are for real. They were handling the Patriots pretty well and continued on for a win.

MLG – coming back to life? Thanks to $20 Million from the government – aka – our taxes. However, I would rather see some tax dollars go here to create a useful facility in a historic “hockey shrine” like this than blown on a bunch of other pork barrels. In this case, I would actually rather see some additional funding slated for this and take a chunk of the load off of the Ryerson students who are currently targeted for one third of the hit at an incremental annual fee of somewhere around $160? That is a pretty steep hit.

With the types of restrictive covenants that MLSE put on the sale of this facility there are still likely lots of wrinkles to work out or things that could go wrong but a 2011 opening sounds pretty aggressive. It will be challenging to see what type of internal changes need to be made to make the building usable as well as satisfy everyone’s needs / conditions. I may have to enrol as a part-time Ryerson student to get access to the old lady. Depending how they finish it off, it could be well worth it. Consider it like a health club membership.

FHP – The lead is shrinking – I am only 3.5 points ahead of Andrew (37 to 33.5) but in a rotisserie scoring league I understand that as you get deeper into the season it is tougher to make gains (or losse) – or at least I hope so. My Star, the crazy #8 from Washington seems to be operating under a self destruct program. Suspended for boarding after coming back from an injury and now tossed, possible injured and potentially suspended for a knee on knee major. This is not going to help my stats. Meanwhile I am sticking will my picks – other than the gone for three months guys, while the folks pursuing me are wheeling and dealing. Hardly kosher. To make it worse, I almost forgot to update my roster to get guys off my bench who are playing tonight. Definitely not a good idea.

Volunteers Eh! – ran across an interesting “Northern Times” letter (to the editor I think) on volunteering or as it comes out being “voluntold”. Seems like the sunny south of the province isn’t the only challenging place to be a voluntold. Seems buddy who wanted to just be a volunteer and help out took a coaching course, then got hit with a “Speak Out” and to “ice the cake” got peremptorily drafted into a Trainer’s clinic. Sound familiar? Read this one for a smile. What other sport – volunteer role could you get away with this. As a side comment, it seems like the NOHA is taking the “trainer for every team” rule seriously – good for them.

Ice at City Hall - The Toronto Council is meeting with ice allocation as an agenda item this evening. Apparently the GTHL has pursued an aggressive Email campaign pushing for a January Deferral - i.e., until schedules are over and play-offs start. Did not work! Let's see what comes out of tonight - $140 versus $300+ can create conversation.

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