March

Wayne@minorhockeyfan.com

Congrats to the Oakville Rangers:

 Minor Peewee AE Team

Midget AAA \team and now

Minor Peewee AA

And then there were three!

 Gold Medal OMHA Champs!

Mar 31 – But for a trip to Quebec City I would have had a perfect month. That is if you define a perfect month as a blog posting every single day. On an efficiency basis this does give me a 96.8% rating. As far as content goes – that is a whole other concept.

Flash – Spell check does not catch the wrong word. As all my golfing friends attest, you putt, not “put”. I might as well indulge in some self flagellation before it gets pointed out to me by the purists. What the heck – you got the point. I have left these minor blemishes uncorrected as testament to the fact that contrary to my own personal belief – I am not perfect (only 96.8%).

On the lighter side – once again likely infringing on copyright, some people can’t even sent out invitations to their own party without screwing it up. In an already “tense” situation, they “choose” to pour gas on the fire by “accidently” forgetting people. Funny who they “forget”! Besides that, whoever heard of an invitation being called “doc5 (3)” and then sent in a format that not all recipients even have the software to open.  A few folks have had a “chuckle” over that one. As the saying goes “Yesterday I couldn’t spell executive, and now I are one”!

GO Police - Some people just don't get it. The GO Cops were prowling my train again this morning and once again two people near me got zapped. The young lady in the same quad as me saw the cop coming and was busily digging through her purse mumbling to herself - where is it - where did I put it - but came up empty. When transit boy arrived the "story" had changed. Suddenly she had left her ID and purse with the pass at school and security had found it and she was going to pick it up . . . .

However, she could not explain why she had no ID at all, had no money, had not bought a single ride and by the way, she had also got dinged in December - Duh!

Slapshot – If there was any doubt in Leaf Nation about Brian Burke’s style of hockey it should have been clarified by the signing of 6’4”, 225 lb.  Christian Hanson out of Notre Dame college.  The young Mr. Hanson is the son of Dave Hanson – he of the tinfoil taped, black glasses trio of miscreants in my favourite hockey movie (the original – not II or III) Slapshot. Not a big fan of the “golden Helmet” look but is it my imagination or do these helmets look more like football gear than hockey – Maybe it is just the Fighting Irish Gold look that does it. See below - Hanson on the right (photo from AP)

Midget AAA – looks like a tough but hopefully good week for the Midget AAAs. They ended up splitting their first two games, losing to Hamilton last night and defeating the TO Titans this morning. They play again tonight (Tues.) at 7:30 against the “hometown” Eagles so good luck to them.

Worm – No, not me - The Conficker Worm is potentially expected to “activate” tomorrow on April 1. If it acts as some are indicating it could have serious impact on your PC – setting up mass URL surges – i.e., trying to force contact with 50,000 sites a day, slowing your PC down, blocking access to some sites. This is not an April Fool’s joke but rather the misguided efforts of some moron(s) who think they are funny or have “a cause”. Check that your anti-virus software is up to date and a full scan tonight just for the heck of it may be a good idea.

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Mar 30 – I not sure if I remember the context and content correctly,  but in Trudeau years Mr. Fuddle Duddle's mantra was either the government has no business in the bedrooms of the nation (or the other way around). It seems Mr. Obama believes the government has all kinds of business in the boardrooms of the nation. 

He has apparently punted Rick Wagoner as Chairman and CEO of GM – seems like this was a condition of their current 60 day reprieve. In Chryslers case it appears that a Fiat deal needs to be worked out in the next 30 days or (else)?  Are people taking this seriously yet? Looks like the Ford Honchos may be the smart guys if they can survive without the contingent deals.

OMHA – I am pleased to offer my congratulations to the Minor Peewee AAs, the third and final team to enter the charmed circle this year as OMHA Champions from Oakville. They managed to pick off Whitby in an extra game and in overtime to a 6 point series where they were tied at five going in. Well done! If you are really lucky you might even get a mention in the Beaver.

Not sure if we have ever had two concurrent champions from the same age group before (I am sure someone will correct me if we have) but the MP AA and MP AE have brought home two championships for this age group.  They are joined by the Midget AAA who are battling in the OHF Championships this week in Burlington. Good luck to them as well.

Eye of the Tiger (Woods not Stallone) – I tried to watch Arnies’ Invitational yesterday around a number of things including a visit to watch the Juvie Award Week Championships (more below). Just once I wanted to see the fairy tale fall apart and Tiger demonstrate he is a mere mortal, but it was not to be. All afternoon the coverage was so busy circling back to the big shots – puts he made to win this event I was getting dizzy trying to figure out if they were tape or whether he just changed his shirt a lot. Seems the formula is: Create drama at the 18^th hole. Have Tiger in contention. Build a story line – “big comeback”. Have the heartbreak fall-guy underdog. Set-up the impossible put. DRAIN IT for the win.

Yup – he did it again! It was only his sixth big win at Bay Hill – come on, give someone else a turn!

Awards Week – sounds like Sunday was quite a day with overtimes and shoot-outs. Wondered why the Juvies were running late but that is the best reason. Hope the good games continue all week. Don’t forget the food drive – it didn’t look too busy when I dropped in on Sunday? Congrats to the Juvie White "Gold" and Juvie Red "Blue" for the two games I saw. Actually, congrats to all four Juvie teams for not indulging in any of the shenanigans that can accompany the graduating class. I did not stop to talk to Al (as most of the Zebras have been poisoned against me)- but I wonder how many Juvie Red Awards Week games he has officiated. I would guess quite a few.

It is funny the reaction I get at the rink (and I must admit I am a bit of an SD in playing the game) but people do not know how to react. Whenever I go to the rink, there are three types of people I run into – and often I do know which group they were / are in. The ones who supported me, the ones who supported the cabal, and the ones who did not take any active position. I go to the rink because I enjoy it, I like watching hockey and over the years I have gotten to know a lot of folks on a casual basis. That does not mean I can’t have some fun while I am there. So, when someone says it’s nice to see you out here, I may reply “Well, you (the collective you) can run me out of the association but you can’t run me out of the rink” – the reactions are definitely entertaining.

Let me make it easy for some of you. Do not bother pretending to be polite because I have no time for your hollow hellos and artificial smiles and how are you's. To date I have been relatively polite but my politeness is wearing thin and I am a shallow person - I do not forgive and forget. At least I'm honest about it. Cabal supporters beware - Talk to me at your own risk!

The Other good news is we parked on the west side of the arena and our car did not get broken into. They must not have realized we were there.

Pogge Watch – Paul Hunter is headlined in the Toronto Star today as “Leafs “won’t throw Pogge under the bus””. Based on other comments attributed to Leaf management I think that’s because either they can’t find a bus or they tried and it went through the five hole.

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Mar 29 -  Awards Week is "on" today with the Novice, Minor Peewee and Juvenile Championship games. If you are off to watch, don't forget there is a food drive (I think).

Thumbs Up

The NHL - Now that we are getting down to a half dozen or so games and there are some playoff races, it seems the games are being dialed up. There are also the races to watch which also brings a little more excitement to what has been a lot of ho hum.

The Leafs and Pogge - How could one describe Toronto's goalie situation if one wanted to be harsh - 1 hurt, 1 suspended, 1 old and 1 no good! not a dynasty recipe. By the way though I still disagree with the coach dissing his players, especially the young goalie, in public. That of course just "eggs on" the media pundits who also seem to share my entertainment with alliterations as per the Sun - "Pourous Pogge Pulled". - Nice!

Thumbs Down

To Jennifer Jones and her Team Canada coming home from Korea without ANY medals. This is curling by the way. One of the few sports where Canada is / was / should be dominant. Not coming home whipped with our tails between our legs and no medals of any colour.

OMHAs

Minor Peewee AAA made it to the bronze medal game but came up on the short end of a 3-1 score versus Whitby. They can say they made "the final four".

Novice AAA - Provides more proof of why I hate this format. - Did I mention I hate this format? Our team went 4 and 0 through the round robin to get into the "qualifying" game - the old winner take all special. They Lost - They're Done - one potentially "bad" game and it is over. No series, no second chance. Ask those parents and coaches what they think of that format.

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Mar 28 – So far, two targets today (in addition to my usual), the Beaver and Wave hockey. I will post early as there is “lots to make and do “ today, but these two items are enough Based on my Beaver comments below and my predisposition not to point anyone to that other embarrassment I have posted the House League Awards Week Schedule here. I hope they had it right. Too bad they did not separate the mid week division games so that you could choose to watch all three for a division Red/White/Blue - a lot of parents / kids liked to do that.

Don't forget to bring Food Drive items!

Moved Schedule Up!

So here are my other two targets for today.

Beaver – I have had years of frustration with the Beaver as a “community” newspaper, despite the list of awards they will drag out. Friday’s paper is a classic case in point. The “sports” section – I am speaking metaphorically because there wasn’t one – consisted of one article on the Blades – spread over two pages among ads and a column filler on ball hockey registration. THAT’S IT!

Now it is hard to identify where the blame lies, with the Beaver for not being pro active in covering local sports or the local association(s) for not providing content. Let’s use my favourite whipping boys on this one, the cabal at MOHA. On the Rep side, a number of major events are in play, just over, or coming up. The Midget AAAs are going into the OHFs. I know they ran a blurb but is there no room for follow-up, a human interest piece on the team or players, the schedule? The Peewee As just lost a heart breaker 5^th game for the OMHA championship – where is it? The Minor Peewee AAA and Novice AAA teams are in OMHA championship tournaments this weekend – does anyone care? There are more but this will make my point for now. Surely they could have had something and don’t give me the old deadline story.

From a House League perspective, this weekend wraps the play-offs and the annual Awards Week program starts Sunday. Anyone who has attended this event knows it is a hugely popular week with local players and parents. Ya think you could have maybe run an article or posted the schedule? Apparently there is a food drive again this year but it seems it is being kept as a secret. With tough economic times, would this not be a good local plug to support the less fortunate?

Mack Murray used to do a great job of lobbying with the Beaver to get material in but . . . (further comment withheld). We used to regularly push stuff to the Beaver – often with little success but the current coverage from “Voted Ontario’s top newspaper three years in a row” is appalling. Especially in the context of their masthead statement – “Using Communication to build better communities”.

That ought to get my paper delivery cut off.

The Wave – Now I am not one to challenge free enterprise but the Wave activities do amaze and confuse me – sometimes not that difficult to do but today’s email was an interesting reminder. Here’s access to the program they are promoting “Original Six House League”

The Wave is advertising a full program winter house league for ages from Tyke through Peewee ($595. Returning players $495). That’s fine but! This is in direct competition with BLOMHA (in the Alliance) and MOHA (OMHA). Right or wrong, there are rules surrounding minor hockey programs and associations operating under the auspices of Hockey Canada (as do MOHA and BLOMHA). One of which is very strict direction on participation in “outlaw” leagues. Basically if you participate in an outlaw league you are ineligible to play in or are suspended from the so called official minor hockey programs. My information suggests that the Wave Original Six program is an Outlaw League under HC definition. There is nothing that stops anyone from choosing to play there if that is what they feel is best but officially you can’t play in the Original Six AND MOHA/BLOMHA. There is also an official “suspension period” if you play “outlaw” and want to return to the sanctioned leagues.

The issue is when parents place their kids in both – there is nothing to stop them and then what happens if they are “caught”?  An excerpt from the official Hockey Canada communication is repeated below.

Local associations were asked to submit information on non sanctioned leagues operating in their area and I have no idea if The Original Six” was reported or not.

Sanctions

Membership in Hockey Canada from those individuals that have participated (knowingly or

otherwise) in "outlaw" programs will only be accepted based on the following schedule:

Outlaw League Participation Length of Period of Ineligibility for HC Programs

·         0-5 Exhibition Games/Games - 3 months from last outlaw league participation

·         6-10 Exhibition Games/Games - 6 months from last outlaw league participation

·         More than 10 Exhibition Games/Games - 12 months from last outlaw league participation

If a participant makes the choice to participate in these programs, they must understand

the ramifications of that choice and whether the league/team folds, whether

released/suspended/fired the individual will only be eligible to register with legitimate

teams under the Hockey Canada umbrella based on the schedule above.

In addition to the official issues, the presence of additional leagues like this starts fragmenting the player base for existing associations which starts to impact the efficiency and potentially team structure of their leagues if it cuts into the registration base.

The other issue is “What if the outlaw league seems to be offering a better program than your official association”. Do you enter your tyke age player here, take your chances and run the risk of facing a year suspension if you want to move back to the Hockey Canada fold to play travel hockey?

I would suggest that the OMHA, the Alliance, MOHA and BLOMHA (and the Burlington Rep Hockey Club – OMHA) need to publish / post an official statement / position on their response to anyone who played last season in the Original Six (not eligible for OMHA/Alliance for 09/10) and what will be the action taken if they are “caught” playing in both / two leagues.

That is presuming the locals even understand it. The sad thing here is forget the “rules” – what’s is in the best interests of the kids playing hockey. There are enough rules now to choke a horse – HC, OHF, OMHA/Alliance, LOR, local association. .  .

This ought to get me off of the Wave’s email list

Novice AAA - Congrats - they are 3 - 0 in their first three qualifier games and will be in tomorrow's qualifier game.

Minor Peewee AAAs - Live and death to make the Bronze game.

Penthouse to Outhouse – Cujo goes from the ride to the rescue hero / first star in the Washington game to the bum who got pulled after four of the first nine shots go in against Buffalo. Such is the fame and fortune of pro sports and the Leaf Nation – the two are mutually exclusive.

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Mar 27 – got back from Quebec City  last night – probably in time to throw up some content, but without the energy. Watched a bit of the Habs game, heard that Steve Mason had notched another shut-out (outstanding) and called it a day.

Travel fun – turns out that Air Canada “Jazz” flies regional jets to QC. On the way out we had a luxurious Bombardier CJ100/200 – two seats on each side “Challenge” one is that these seem to be kids car seats that someone has decided would work well in a plane. No problem if all you fly are little people but they just do not work for someone my size. They also do not have “dividers” between the two seats so it becomes a turf war with your partner for space. That lead to my second challenge – I got paired with a disguised sumo wrestler. When then talk wide-bodied, I thought they meant the planes, not the people in them.

Fortunately it was just over a one hour flight with the tail winds or I would have had to create a news bite. As it was, I needed a winch and chiropractor to get out of the seat. The only saving grace was I had the aisle and could lean into it, only to get whacked by the flight crew and service cart every time they / it went by.

Quebec City is famous for its fine cuisine. Unfortunately, that fame had not spread to the strip mall eatery we favoured with our patronage for lunch or to the delightful airport cafeteria food we chose as our evening fine dining before climbing back into another regional jet to get home (at least on the return I talked them into an exit row so I at least had leg room.

All of this for a one hour meeting - Another day in the glamorous life of the jet-set.

Late posting tonight.

Peewee AA – Went to watch the Peewee AA tonight versus Ancaster in their Tri County finals with Ancaster. In your typical first to 6 points series, both teams came in at 3 points with a win and a tie. Rumour has it that it was a good game for Oakville as they won 4 – 0 to take a 5 to 3 point lead. Can’t comment a lot on the play as I spent most of the second and third period yakking.

Minor Midget AA – were on the ice for after the Peewee AAs so we hung around for a while to watch what could be all she wrote if they lose. Oakville carried the play in the first period but Brampton had gotten one goal early to take the lead and unfortunately the same thing happened early in the second to put Oakville down 2 – 0. Both teams were skating hard and playing with emotion so there were a few (relatively equal) trips to the box with the potential to get testy if the score got any wider. We left so I hope the young men stage the big comeback and I can read about it tomorrow.

Midget AAA – The Midget AAAs are off to Burlington come Monday to try to make their statement at the OHF Championships. The form of these events is a pretty extensive schedule running all week. Hopefully their being almost at home will work to their advantage. The schedule is posted with the attached link or via the Click on the AAA above.

Minor Peewee AAAs- Not a headline start for them as they dropped their first two games. Not sure if this is a mathematical elimination from the Gold game yet but it must be close!

Novice AAAs - Off to a great start in their SCTA qualifier week-end with wins in both of their Friday Games (St. Catherines and Hamilton). with a four team division they are set to play St. Catherines again as well as a game versus Burlington. Looking good to qualify for Sunday's qualifier - is that enough qualifying comments about qualifiers?

March Madness - While I said I would not mention it again, it is interesting to note that on this day in 1939 Oregon defeated Ohio State to win the first ever NCAA men's basketball tournament. The madness has been around for 70 years - not too shabby if you are a roundball fan - I'm not.

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Mar 25 1/2 - Decided to go and cheer on the Peewee As in their bid to capture an OMHA Championship tonight.

This series had been a "homer" series with the home team winning each of the first four games - up until tonight. Unfortunately, Stouffville was the better team on the ice tonight and deserved the win. They scored the only goal in the first and went up 2 - 0 in the second before Oakville got a two man advantage and managed to pick up one goal to get back in the game. Stouffville put on a sustained flurry late in the second period and picked up a goal to go to the final break up by two. Oakville tried to get back into it in the third and scored a late goal to make it 3 - 2 but could not get the equalizer. They end up as Silver medalists and have nothing to hang their heads over. The Stouffville team is a good skating team that moved the puck well, generally played smart hockey and generated a lot of offensive chances. It was a fun game to watch regardless.

Congrats to both the Oakville and Stouffville young men. Too bad some people missed it.

Mar 25 - Leafs pull off an interesting win last night that had a little of everything in it. A lethargic first period, an Ovechkin goal, a rookies' first goal, a late goal  ahead goal, a disputed empty net goal to tie, an ejected goalie for bumping a ref, a lop sided overtime, an old guy coming in off the bench to save the game in regular time and overtime and then stopping all the big guns to give the team a shoot-out win. It was almost worth watching and I was until I got a call with one minute left in overtime and missed the rest! A very interesting and amusing call but I'll leave it at that for now.

Peewee As - Good luck tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I can add a third member to the Champions club.

Quebec City - Time for the prototypical - let's fly to Quebec City tomorrow, have lunch, meet with the Ministry and fly home. An expensive but necessary way to do business. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how glamorous travel is. I hope it's a good lunch as I can figure out what it will cost per bite. I may even be too tired to "blog" on return. There goes the streak - potentially broken again.

Weather - Some of my colleagues are on a road trip out west which means stranded in Winnipeg with snow. South of the border the Dakotas are a bit damp. In my business, we take a dim view of water or moisture of any type getting into our tanks. If you think that "Oil and Water" don't mix, Water and Gas is even worse. That being the case, would you have any concerns about buying gas from the ND station pictured below? I would.

Tonight's sprinkle is nothing compared to these guys.

Curling - Did anyone notice the Worlds Women's curling championship in heading into the weekend playoffs - in Korea of all places. Other than the Inchon peninsula and where they filmed the M.A.S.H. episodes do they have ice? Colleen Jones has made the playoffs but Denmark could be tough. Clearly it is a headline event - find it in the paper or on the news?

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Mar 24 - A low key day other than it looks like I'm off for a day trip to Quebec City on Thursday. Prep and trip may mess up my blog schedule but I do have bills to pay. So today looks to be another apropos of nothing days.

Some interesting items afoot with the cabal. Will let the dust settle a bit before I decide about commenting here. It is amazing how quiet people try to keep things in an open and honest communication environment.

Minor Atom AAA - apparently won their Bronze medal game but it seems that for some reason the OMHA does not feel any need to post that information??

Goalie blues - You can't go far in the playoffs without solid goaltending. Much as I hate to say it, my Stanley Cup Wings are heading for an early golf game unless their is some type of "miracle" coming between the pipes. .Osgood has been Osbaaaad and does not look to be making the big turnaround. He took ove from Hasek last year - I am not seeing relief this year?

Leafs and Caps tonight - hopefully another opportunity many opportunities for Ovechkin to showcase his entertaining style

At the so called Skills Competition

Speaking of which Tiger Williams says it's great so I guess that settles the controversy once and for all - it is still on the TSN Sportscentre lead in topics.

Bosh hits the spotlight in a less than positive manner. This type of press will likely not help his alternate career as a fill-in weatherman. When was the last time a "good news / good guy" story hit the wires on a profile Toronto athlete.

Habs for sale - what else can go wrong for this storied team in their centennial celebratory nightmare year.

Slow day - When the Sports event for this day in history is Peyton Manning being born - you know it's a dud.

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Mar 23 - The dreaded Monday. But at least I noticed for the last week I have been pretending it was May in my dates - wishful thinking? I have not commented on the unfortunate young man who lost his life at the Clarkson GO Station (my station) on the weekend. Another of those senseless tragedies that no one anticipates until it happens. It appears there was some horseplay or fooling around that lead to the accident. Guys - the train always wins. Don't even think about it. One of the unfortunate aspects of a situation like this is that it is something the "survivors" will live with for the rest of their lives. You can not turn back the clock and all of us can point to examples.

Playoff Updates - Not much to report - I'll trim the chart later. Seems the OMHA site links react really "weird" you don't always end up where you think you are going.

Peewee As are now 2 - 2 with Stouffville. The good news is that so far this has been a "homer" series and game 5 is Wednesday at Glen Abbey. Go Rangers Go!

Mnior Atom AAA - I guess no one cares enough to post the Bronze game.

Minor Peewee - This division is quite the story. Not only did all four teams advance into the playdowns, but so far the is one Champion, one Finalist, one pending Championship series - all tied up and one (AAA) going into the OMHA Championship Tourney weekend. Maybe someone should recognize this group.

Walt - As folks have noticed, former Leaf Walk Poddubny passed away this week-end. He was only 49. Walt was never a superstar (he had one 40 goal season) but he was a hard working "honest" hockey player. What most don't know is that he struggled financially even after an 11 year career in the "modern" era and was going to do some type of book / series / article about some of the "traps" in the NHL. His knees were shot but he could not even afford the surgery to try to "fix" them. He did not make it. Could have been a very enlightening whatever.

Fighting in Hockey - As I watch the Devils / Flyers game out of the my eye, they are putting on a demonstration to support the no fighting faction. So far in the first period, three fights, no good reason and not even good fights. They are not even giving fighting majors just a bunch of roughings. Of course it is on TSN with American play by play and colour so it is almost unwatchable.

Records - A sad day in hockeyland. On this day in 1994, The "Great One" (II) scored his 802nd goal. This gave him one more than my hero, "Mr. Hockey" Geordie Howe. That's where Gretzky got his #99 - it was a tribute to Geordie. While I will not dispute his ability, I do not believe relative to his era and the game, there has ever been any better all around player in any sport than Mr,. Howe. He could beat you at any aspect of the game and did not need a Dave Cement Head to look after him - ask Lou Fontinato (if he can remember that is). That does not even cover longevity and class both on and off the ice.

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Mar 22 - "OMHA Weekend" continues.

Midget AAA tied North Central to make the Gold Medal game on the tie-break - Defeated York Simcoe Express in overtime to win the OMHA Midget AAA Championship

Minor Bantam AA lost their series with Newmarket and end up as Finalists - good season

Minor Peewee A lost their series with Orillia and end up as Finalists - good season

Minor Atom AAA - Noon Bronze Medal game not posted at 6:30 - great efficiency.

 

SCTA

Minor Peewee AAA - Beat Hamilton 3 - 0 in their SCTA qualifier game to move on to the OMHA championship tourney.

Playoffs - Interesting twist in that Oakville's Steve Mason helped Montreal's play-off hopes by leading his team to a win Over Tampa Bay. Tampa (with the Mighty Leafs victory) was only one point behind the Habs for the eighth and final play-off spot. The Blue Jacket win kept them there and leaves Montreal hanging by a thread. As expected, the media is now starting to carve on Bob Gainey and speculate on his demise should the Bleu Blanc et Rouge not make the dance.

Hockey History - All you hockey mavens should know that today in 1894 marked the first Stanley Cup Playoff Championship. The cup provided by Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord of Preston and the16th Earl of Derby was awarded to the Montreal AAA team who defeated the Ottawa Generals in a special tournament. Looks like even in 1894 AAA teams had tournaments to decide championships. The cup had been given to a Montreal amateur team in 1893 but was intended for a challenge series - hence the tourney.

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Mar 21 - It seems that updates are a challenge for both Tri-County and the OMHA since some get updated and some don't. Regardless we will put up what we can.

• Midget AAA - are playing North Central tonight - whoever wins goes to the Gold medal game - loser to Bronze.Goal differential favours Oakville in a tie.

• Minor Bantam AAA are unfortunately eliminated.

• Minor Bantam AA - looks like they got knocked out by Newmarket and end up as OMHA Finalists.

• Minor Peewee AAA - Won their division and play in tomorrow's SCTA qualifier game - winner goes to OMHA finals - loser goes home.

• Atom AAA - did not make it to the qualifier game in their SCTAs this weekend.

• Minor Atom AAA did not make the Gold medal game - they did make it to tomorrow's Bronze medal game.

Leafs & Habs - Careful Bob - 2 to zip for the Leafs after one. OH Oh! not good for the centennial celebration. The boo birds are out in Montreal.

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Mar 20- "OMHA Weekend" - This is probably the week-end with the most championship "stuff" on the line. With the tournament style events and playdown series in process, one could sit and do continuous updates. Not going to happen. You don't pay me enough.

However, for my Friday post before I start my Friday evening veg, here is where they stand in the Tournament" events

OMHA Finals

Midget AAA - Oakville lost first game 4 - 2 to York Simcoe Express - play at 8:00 PM

Minor Bantam AAA - Oakville has finished today's two games - lost both

Minor Atom AAA - Oakville tied first game 2 - 2 with Burlington - play again at 8:00 PM

SCTAs

Minor Peewee AAA - Oakville has finished today's two games - won both (St Catherines and Brampton)

Atom AAA - Oakville ha finished today's two games - won one and lost one

Ovechkin - Take note, I am going to disagree with the iconic Don Cherry. I support Big 8's celebrations as I believe he is trying to inject some fun and enthusiasm into the game (as a 23 year old), and not stuck in the stone face traditionalist rut. I don't see this a taunting or boasting to the other team. Just watch him in action - heaven forbid - the kid is having fun - fun is contagious and that is the type of attitude and enthusiasm that will help draw them thar Americans to the game (that plus some good fights). So get off the kid's case.

The "Hot" Stick ((Remember - he scored this goal #50 on a 1 on 3, not a 3 on 1!). Ya think some of these complaints are from "green" (with envy) people?

Leafs - I really hate to admit this but I am actually cheering for the Buds to beat the Habs. Montreal and Gainey are in free fall and it will be interesting to see where this train wreck of a season ends for them. If Toronto wins, old BG has got to be wondering how safe he is for how long.

March Madness - Is apparently on. Other the my fanatic niece - who cares. Unless something extraordinary happens this is the last you will hear about it from me.

Leave - Turns out that Chez Moorehead has been rented out tomorrow for a bridal shower. Do not look for me there. I have not yet sunk so low in looking for things to do that I hang around bridal showers. I won't even risk hiding upstairs sorting my sock drawer.

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Mar 19 - Long day at the office leads to short blog at night. Some folks are likely thrilled about that. Besides that, the mighty Leafs are on again tonight and how could you not watch these streaking sensations - Easy!

MOHA - Get your nomination forms out - the hunt is on for nominees for President, Treasurer and Directors. Quick now, you need to sign up before April 10th. I am sure they will be watching this closely. Already the rumours are flying. With all the "appointments" from last year and expiring terms they are going to need a lot of candidates.

OMHAs - At this time of year, all week-ends are big week-ends. Besides the silly tournament formats that lend themselves to week-ends, the series formats typically have teams travelling longer distances so they try to do back to back games on back to back week-ends. That being the case, if people post stuff properly there will be a big difference in the look of my chart come Sunday night or Monday. Hopefully with a lot of nice green checkmarks beside Oakville teams.

Signs of Spring - Today was the official start of spring - defined as me sneaking out at lunch, sans coat for street meat.It was a bit nippy waiting for my custom cooked delicacy but well worth it. Preferred delicacy:

• ! large well cooked spicy Italian sausage

• 1 fresh foot long sausage bun

• Hot Mustard

• Hot Sauce (not ketchup)

• Onions

• Olives

• Lather with sauerkraut

• Garnish generously with sliced pickle (you can pick off and eat separately).

Eat carefully - it tends to drip and watch you don't burn your tongue on that crucial first bite (it is OK to add some grated cheese if the vendor has it but they often don't.

Two favourite locations - south west corner of Yonge and Eg and the "breezeway" between Union subway stop and Union Station.

Wash it down with a Coke Classic - full meal deal, all food groups for $4. Can't beat it. (The Surgeon General has advised that this meal could be dangerous to your health).

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Mar 18 - Just for the heck of it I will leave the St. Paddy's theme up for another day or so. However, I will kill the "on load" music. If you want to hear it anyway just click the "Whiskey" button. If you are using Firefox, it may not have started automatically anyway but it does on explorer. Some propeller head might want to worry about that but I can't be bothered. For the theme, we Irish folks deserve more than one day a year so I am extending it.

Kudos to Ron McLean - who has been to the hospital a couple of times to visit with my colleague's son. That is very thoughtful and I know much appreciated by the young man and his family. I think Jason Blake's "agent" was in to see him today with a sweater etc. I presume it is a Leaf's double nickel. Sounds like the young man is making progress. Good news.

Time off - I was going to take time off from blogging today as I am still trying to get over the trauma and shock of another Leaf victory. A come from behinder no less with Cujo denying five of six shoot-out chances. I watched most of the game from the end of the first period on and particularly in the third and overtime I have to give the Leafs credit for "hustle" in what could be considered a nothing game. The young guys are playing to win and the "old" guys are playing well too. I wonder if having GM BB in the box "observing" and thoughts of next year had anything to do with it? Ya Think!

Skiing - Is this year's ugly poster child. It seems to me that skiing accidents have been more prevalent this year with either avalanche fatalities, tree crashes, out of bounds "lost" and now even dope slope tumbles. If I cross skiing of off my participation list, I am running out of things to do.

Count - While it was nice of the Oakville Beaver to finally carry some content on the Ranger OMHA playdowns, it is too bad they can't count (or whoever submitted it can't). The lead "Five local teams in OMHA finals" has me somewhat confused as my count is eight teams are qualified for the finals. Language purists will likely argue that since the "tournament" style final events have not started yet, it is literally correct to say five are "in". However, that is not the impression that will be left with the brain dead readership. but then again . . .

Chart moved - I have put the OMHA tracking chart at the top of the column and will leave it there until the dust settles.

The Nets - It has been 7 years since young Brittanie Cecil died in 2002 after being hit two days earlier by the puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets NHL game. It did not take long for the spectator netting to become a fixture at almost every rink - regardless of size and level.

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Happy St. Paddy's Day

Mar 17 - Silly Me. I thought the Tri-County folks would put all the updates on their site. I guess they don't like the Minor Peewee AEs as that is the only one they haven't posted. So while I was sitting waiting for it I never bothered to check the OMHA site. Guess what - it is there and the good guys are up 2 games to zip. Go Rangers Go! Thanks to the (identity protected) reader for bringing this to my attention.

In protest I am converting all my links in the chart to the OMHA site and abandoning Tri-County! I should have known better!

Chart moved to top

It's Guinness Time - As some of you may have noted it is March 17 and St. Patrick's Day. Time for all you pseudo Irish to run around drinking green beer and pretending you are Irish because someone gave you a shamrock pin. Erin go bragh. As a simple test if you can't translate this you either are not Irish or don't deserve to be

Irish Humor

What do you call an Irishman who knows how to control his wife?
A bachelor.

Definition of an Irish husband:
He hasn't kissed his wife for twenty years, but he will kill any man who does.

Courtship is a time during which the girl decides whether she can do better or not.

Dinny was standing in the street the other day when an English chap came up to him and said,
"I say old chap, could you show me the way to the nearest boozer?"
Says Dinny, hopefully, You're looking at him."

An Irishman who had a little to much to drink is driving home from the city one night and, of course, his car is weaving violently all over the road. A cop pulls him over.

"So," says the cop to the driver, "where have you been?"
"Why, I've been to the pub of course" slurs the drunk.
"Well," says the cop, "it looks like you've had quite a few to drink this evening".
"I did all right," the drunk says with a smile.
"Did you know," says the cop, standing straight and folding his arms across his chest, "that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?"
"Oh, thank heavens," sighs the drunk. "For a minute there, I thought I'd gone deaf."

Avery - While the debate rages on about Sean Avery, I watched the New York / Philadelphia game on the weekend and have to report that Avery was a major force for the Blue Shirts. He scored two power play goals (not sure if they were on penalties he drew) and was an all around pest and distraction to Philly who spent more time in a "get Avery" mode than playing hockey and they paid the price for it on the scoreboard and in the W/L columns. For the most part Avery stuck to playing hockey and did not look out of place. For some reason it seems Broadway agrees with him and sets the stage to say - Watch out for this club, they could be better than you think.

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Mar 16 – Rumours on the demise of 24 Hours continue to originate (from me) as all of my paper boxes were empty this morning at Clarkson GO. All boxes on both sides. Fortunately there is a box outside of my building at Yonge and Eg that still had a few so I know they did publish for this morning. Good thing they were there or my daily routine would have been disrupted. Metro in to TO – 24 Hours out from TO. We shall see.

Curling – I suggested via email to a Winnipeg” colleague that his Manitoba boys better bring their A+ game if they wanted to stand a chance against the Martin Machine. Stoughton caught a “flat” hoard and beat him but the Albertans were a different story. 10 to 4 after 8 and good night. Is Martin that good or Stoughton that bad. Last night a little of both but more on the martin is that good front. They just don’t seem to miss. In fact they seem to take offense with themselves when they make a “good” shot but don’t get the so called extra bonus – for example playing a double peel on guards, making the double but then not being happy about where their shooter ends up. Alberta’s success last night as it was all week rested on two things. First, their front end was almost flawless in making the shots to setup the ends. That usually put John and Kevin in a good spot to finish the end with reasonable shots at a deuce or steal while putting the pressure on the opposition with tougher shots. Second, Martin is a superb strategist and shot maker in his own right and was hot as a firecracker. Tough combination to beat. As the one commentator noted. “How do you beat these guys if they never miss”?

Too bad Don – your Buffaloes bit the dust.

Ranger Update – On the road to Mandalay the OMHAs. The past weekend has tightened the net on a number of teams and their pilgrimage towards an OMHA title. A few have fallen by the wayside after valiant efforts. A number are still in the hunt. Here’s a quick recap on the current “survivors”.

At the “moment” there are still eleven teams in the hunt. Way to go guys.

I have tried to update all the links but am getting some funny responses from the OMHA web site. We will get it straight!

OMHA Finalists or Pending SCTA Qualifiers

Dreamweaver – I chickened out!  My mindset for the weekend was not there to spend hours on a software learning curve. Power and ease of use do not necessarily go hand in hand so I deferred my plunge into the abyss. The plan may be to go find a “Dreamweaver for Dummies” book and some templates I can steal. Otherwise this could be a much more painful process than I had anticipated.

Tamils - Apparently the Tamils were loose again tonight. It sounded like some type of massacre was going on as I went from the Subway to Union Station. You could hear all kinds of screeching going on up on the street but fortunately they had not invaded Union like they did last time. Speaking of massacres:

My Lai – one of the most shameful incidents in U.S, military history took place on this day in 1968. A U.S. platoon led by Lt. William Calley brutally killed somewhere between 200 and 500 men, women and children during the Viet Nam “conflict” – it can’t be called a war remember. Supposedly all in the hamlet were identified as active VC or VC sympathizers. Originally the military tried to cover it up, but when it broke it was a huge scandal. Calley ended up as the only one convicted of any crime and he ended up serving about three year of what was originally a life sentence.

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May 15 - 2 -

Congrats to the Midget AAAs who defeated Halton 5 - 1 in their qualifier game and now move on to the OMHA Championships.

Congrats to the Minor Atom AAAs who defeated Halton 3 - 2 in their qualifier game and now move on to the OMHA Championships.

May 15 - May do multiple updates based on whether I get postings on this weekends events.

Brier - Lead with curling, as that is what I had hoped was the big event yesterday. Unfortunately Howard and most of his foursome had one of those days that proved they too have feet of clay. Stoughton won, by grabbing an unheard of 4 in the second end and despite missing three opportunities for a deuce with the hammer hung on to win.

Today's match-up of Martin and Stoughton can be a great game but after the two head to head games that Martin and Howard played Thursday, Friday, I was really looking forward to round three. Those two games were two of the best curling games I can remember watching. Since Jane's team is now out it looks like I can cheer for Martin unopposed.

Someone I was speaking with made fun of me for watching this "boring" game! How can you say that. It is fun to watch, has strategy to it, requires a lot of skill (and at the clubs, you can drink while playing). It doesn't get any better. Try it sometime. Let me know if you are interested and I'll see if we can put a friendly "spiel together.

SCTA - Three of our four contestants this weekend have made it to the Sunday qualifier games - Win and off to the OMHA Championships. Lose and go home. Congrats to the Midget AAAs, Minor Bantam AAAs and the Minor Atom AAAs. Condolences to the Peewee AAAs who had a rough time.

• Midget - Oakville versus Halton 1:00 PM Bayshore Arena (Grey Bruce

• Minor Bantam - Oakville versus Welland 9:00 AM Main Welland

• Minor Atom - Oakville versus Halton 12:00 PM Joshua's Creek Arenas Red

 

Bad news just in - The Minor Bantams lost 2 - 1 to Welland and are OUT.

Tri-County - OMHA Final series are underway with mixed results, leaning to not so good. Orillia is always a tough competitor and they are proving so once again as they have moved to a 2 - 0 game advantage over the Minor Peewee A squad. Every game is now a do or die! Let's go guys.

The Peewee As have fared better against Stouffville in their Final by spitting their first two game. Looks like another tough series.

Brodeur - got the win, has the tie (with Roy) now lets get another and put Roy in the rear view mirror. not in a big hurry for him to past my guy Sawchuk in the shutout department. however, it will likely happen. He does deserve it.

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May 14 - Quick update with "current" games in. Unfortunately it looks like the Peewees are close to if not Kaput!

Brian Kilrea - has announced he is retiring from the Ottawa 67s bench at the end of this season. As the iconic Jr. A coach, Kilrea has a long list of accomplishments but one that most people are not aware of is that he played one game for my Detroit Red Wings in 1957 - 58 season. No wonder I like him. I believe he also scored the first goal in Los Angeles Kings history in 1967. however it is for his exploits and longevity as a coach he is recognized and has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Here are some of the amazing coaching stats for Kilrea as posted on the OHL site.

Brian Kilrea – By the Numbers:

• 2,156 – Kilrea has coached in more games than any other coach in CHL history

• 2003 – Kilrea was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003

• 2,000 – Kilrea coached in his 2,000th game in 2007

• 1,000 – He became first coach in CHL history to win 1,000 games in 2003

• 757 – He set a CHL record with 757 career wins in 1997

• 621 – Kilrea coached 621 players during his 32 seasons behind the 67’s bench

• 32 – Kilrea coached the 67’s for an unprecedented 32 seasons

• 12 – Kilrea’s 67’s won the Leyden Trophy as East Division Regular Season Champions 12 times – 1976-77, 1977-78, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-96, 1996-97,

• 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2002-03, 2003-04

• 5 – Kilrea won the Matt Leyden Trophy as OHL Coach of the Year five times – 1980-81, 1981-82, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 2002-03

• 3 – Kilrea’s 67’s won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champions three times – 1977, 1984, 2001

• 3 – Kilrea’s 67’s won the Hamilton Spectator Trophy as OHL Regular Season Champions three times - 1977-78, 1981-82, 1996-97

• 3 – Kilrea’s 67’s won the Bobby Orr Trophy as Eastern Conference Playoff Champions three times - 2001, 2003, 2005

• 2 – Kilrea won the Memorial Cup with the 67’s in 1984 and 1999

• 1 – Kilrea was presented with the Bill Long Award for Distinguished Service to the OHL in 1994

• 1 – Kilrea was named the CHL Coach of the Year, which was later renamed the Brian Kilrea Award, in 1996-97

Quite the record.

Try-outs - I see the other site has been "repaired" to provide actual try-out dates now. Interestingly the format has been changed for this spring, reverting to the "sequential" or fully tiered format that had been used in earlier years and then changed to a "grouped" approach for the last couple of years.

Both approaches have their merits (and drawbacks). It is curious that it has been changed back as the "coaches" had at least on the surface indicated they felt the former "paired approach" gave them a better assessment opportunity to compare players. Were they just paying lip service to the previous VP or is this another change for change sake.

As an example, what I liked about the combined groups was that it set-up more of a "work together " requirement for coaches as basically the AAA / AA teams were picked together from one set of common try-outs so that the AAA and AA coaches could see all of the players together and resolve together who best fit where. It also made it a little harder for Players to "cheat" on where they ended up or "where" or for "whom" they wanted to play.. Even if they did not "want" to play AAA, they still had to go out for the combined try-outs. MOHA "says" that every player is to play at the level where they belong?

In my opinion, the assessment and playing level placement process does not work as well in the tiered try-outs and in addition, over the two plus weeks a kid could get cut four different times (I've seen it happen) if for some misguided reason he shows up at the AAA try-outs and starts the process of getting cut down through the system. (AAA - AA - A - AE - House). A lot of folks don't really know how try-outs work and what to expect. Having only three tryouts per level suggests (probably) correctly) that most if not all of the decisions have already been made before the players hit the ice and people are simply going through the motions. If this is the case, just say so.

Try-outs are a huge topic, a contentious topic and a stressful time for a lot of people. At the end of the day, you just hope that the kids have had a fair opportunity to be assessed, that a "release" is communicated properly and that the right kids make the right team for the right reasons. Unfortunately this does not always happen.

NHL - Pens emulate Leafs in the afternoon game. Carry lead into third, cough it up and lose in a shootout. 4 - 3 to the Sens. Battle of the Titans.

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Mar 13 – Friday the 13^th but since no one is superstitious who cares – except maybe GO Transit.

Iron horse ride – For some reason this morning’s 7:03 Express had either square wheels or was exploring a new and lumpy track. The ride could best be described at times as “bone-jarring”.  This type of ride was not normal and it was interesting watching a number of people furtively looking around to see if others were concerned or noticed something out of the ordinary – they did and it was a conversational buzz. The “bumps” were often enough and hard enough that they made it difficult if not impossible to read the paper, let alone do the puzzles. Not sure what that was all about but it was not normal?

Then to add insult to injury they send out an email to everyone advising that tomorrow all single ride fares increase by $0.25 with appropriate multi fare and pass increases as well. Happy Recession!

SCTA’s – Four of these lovely “events”  are running this weekend – did I mention I don’t like them, including Oakville hosting the Minor Atoms. Efficient updates don’t seem to be their strong suit but at press time (my blog posting - 7:30 PM) here is where we stand. Remember, top two in each pool (usually five per pool with a full round robin) advance to the qualifier games Sunday with the two Sunday game winners qualifying for the OMHA Championship event.

Remember this is only what the SCTA has managed to post to date, not what is actually complete.

You can use the “AAA” links above to easily check for updates.

ISS – The International Space Station seems to be quietly going along as one of the world’s longest running and most expensive construction project.  (No one has a “real” estimate but numbers like $100 billion are common). There does not seem to be much conversation about either the value to be derived from this expenditure or the practicality of maintaining this type of presence in space. As one of my eclectic topics this shows up today because of a news article that said the current ISS crew had deployed to the Russian Soyez lifeboat due to the danger of space debris impact. Apparently there was a concern about the potential impact of a piece of “junk” around 1 cm in size. 1 cm and it could have penetrated the station with fatal decompression! Three comments from this:

1. Cancel my ISS travel booking

2. With the recent satellite collision and resultant debris fields, how much more risky is this becoming and

3. Why are we doing this – I can figure out a much better use for $100 Billion!

Supposedly it gets scrapped in 2015 anyway?

Sign of the times – Is it just me or is anyone else seeing “inventory shrink”. My perspective on visiting stores (employer take note – this is not a Canadian Tire comment), is that retailers are cutting back big time on inventory to try to reduce operating costs in a tough market, This is a dangerous but maybe necessary tactic in some areas but lower inventories mean less selection means lower sales means lower inventories means . . . out of business. Lower sales means less production orders means fewer jobs means less sales means . . . downward spiral. Not sure where the bright spots are here.

Paper wars – based on a limited example of the above, is the free daily “24 Hours” headed down the chute? My morning GO Train ritual involves grabbing a copy of 24 Hours and Metro from the paper boxes at Clarkson GO to scan the headlines or supposed news. For the last week or so there seems to have been a dwindling supply of 24 Hours while Metro is there in copious quantities. This is at roughly 6:50 AM so it is not likely that they are all gone.  Is it a carrier issue? Is it a just in time inventory issue? Is 24 Hours about to go Dodo? Enquiring minds want to know as I may need to make alternate puzzle arrangements.

Dreamweaver – To try or not to try, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outdated FrontPage,  or to take Dreamweaver against a sea of problems, and by creativity end them. – sorry Bard!

This week-end may be the tipping point. It’s loaded. It runs. It’s got more bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at – that is – if you can find the stick and that is questionable.

I just remembered I can probably practice on my secret Cogeco web space (did you know email account packages from Cogeco come with personal web space!!). If I am a real masochist I may even post the URL so you can all laugh at my pitiful efforts (assuming I can even get that far – this is heavy duty stuff). You never know, there could be an Ebay ad – “Adobe Web Premium Suite – Never Used – Too daunting for Neophytes”.

Another Tip of the Day – Since my blog comments seem to be finding their way to the mad mutilators of the other site, here is another suggestion. Instead of having everything as an attached doc to download, save or open, don’t ya think some folks may just want to read the data on line, and or may not have resident software access. POST IT ON A PAGE. I think you still have enough pages you aren’t updating anyway so you can modify one of them if you haven’t figured out how to add them yet.

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Mar 12 – Heading for a second consecutive Friday the Thirteenth – but hopefully a better weather week-end. It is also the lead-in week-end to the for some dreaded March break and the second year of house League Hockey play-off hiatus. As VP I was not in support of the week’s interruption but it seemed to be the majority sentiment so we did it. As a coach, the last thing I wanted was a break during the play-offs and a chance for other things to claim my charges attention – especially when with one boo boo you could be done!

I wonder how many folks have revisited their “normal” March break travel plans in view of the current economic situation? With the most recent “threat” from Chrysler to hasta la vista Canada, the ongoing lay-offs and market articles consistently predicting more and extended gloom and doom a lot of people I have talked to are having second thoughts about a lot of “spending plans”.

For anyone that is interested there is a fair whack of rep hockey going on this week-end (including the Minor Atom AAA SCTA Qualifying Week-end – have I mentioned I don’t like this format?). Click on the links for the schedules but I may be too busy watching curling to keep them updated.

Tonight’s Martin versus Howard (Ontario Branch) is for first place in the Tim Hortons Brier and the lead-up schedule could not have been set-up any better if it was rigged (as it likely was). I really don’t care who wins tonight or over the week-end, I just want to see some great curling and I fully expect it will be.

Ron Wilson ripped a strip off of poor old Howard Berger the other night and I think you need to “blame” or “credit” both parties. Wilson for going off half cocked and Berger for lighting the fuse with an “instigator” question. I have taken more than my fair share of shots at the Leafs a la suggesting tanking is the route to go etc. However,  that is not being fair to the players. I never went on the ice playing to lose or even being OK with a loss (as was pointed out to me recently). By no stretch of the imagination could I ever have been mistaken for an elite athlete (as was also pointed out) but anyone who is competitive playing a competitive game plays to win. They play for the team, for their fans, but most importantly they play for themselves and self respect. If they don’t they should hang them up. So, much as it pains a Wings fan to say it – Go Leafs Go!

As a quick aside, I can report that my colleague’s son is making slow progress day by day with a lot of hope for a full recovery. Keep all fingers, toes and assorted body parts crossed and think positive thoughts.

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May 11 – Must be mid-week as there are some interesting tidbits in the news that I figure must be filler. While there is no shortage of the random horror and violence stories we have a few misguided items.

Only in Quebec – Time to sit down and watch an entertaining evening of Obituary TV? Apparently a Quebec group has received a broadcast license for an “obituary” channel where you can pay to post obits, sympathy notices, hospitalizations etc. You have got to be kidding! Sorry folks, I prefer to avoid these types of situations like the plague. I cannot fathom anyone wanting to sit and watch this. Talk about communication proliferation and senseless media fragmentation. Having said that it will likely be a huge success as people tune in to make sure they are not featured on it.

School Daze – Again the bureaucrats are messing with tradition. A number of boards are planning to have school start BEFORE Labour Day! How can this be? Aren’t there rules against this. Just because Labour Day is late this year the powers that be want to screw the kids out of summer holidays just so they can squeeze in all their desired PA days and still make the academic count. Kill the PA days – we never had any. How can you have your summers over beach party bash on the Labour Day week-end if you are already back at school. Simple answer as a student – just don’t go. The first week is usually a joke anyway.

OLG – catching flak over buying 22 Mercedes as prizes instead of supporting “local” iron. Easy solve on this one – ask the winners what they would prefer! Bet I know the answer. Remember, OLG is trying to pick prizes to promote sales which means giving people what the want – cash or Benzs’ Lay-off (no pun intended).

Too much – Celebrity Buzz is always good for a laugh (and I know some of this is serious stuff). So, after I finish my Metro Sudoko and Crossword on the GO Train (and given their on time record I generally have lots of time for that), I must admit I do scan the silly celebrity headline page (only because it is right next to my puzzle page). Today’s headline caught my eye – “Rihanna & Brown recording a duet?” What is it, a Sparring Match Rock Video? Talk about dysfunctional, and, or, hype to promote themselves. Only in Hollywood. Anywhere else, one or both would (should) be in jail.

Hockey – Need to make some random hockey comment to stay on message. If you pulled all the “fighting” related content from the last few days you would have a lot of dead air and blank pages. Probably an improvement.  The changes (or enhanced enforcement of current rules) are not bad. They won’t stop fighting but hopefully will get rid of some of the really stupid stuff. An extra 10 minute rest misconduct is not a big disincentive for a thug. Sort of like suspending a kid from school for a day for a snowball fight.

Here's a hot flash for you. The Star reports that "Study links checking to fractures in youth hockey" - Quelle surprise. A contact game will have more injuries than a non contact sport so I'm not sure what they are trying to say but read it anyway. My POV is that as long as body checking is part of the game (and it is), it should be included from day one, taught and managed properly and not emphasized as a transition that turns into a OK - now it is fine to hit them - Go get 'em.

That Other Site - Guess my PowerPoint slide comment hit home as it is gone. However, if you are going to replace it with "links" or downloads" on the page for the division schedules - YOU NEED TO HOOK THEM UP! Typed labels don't do much. .(fish in a barrel again). Send them to me and I'll post them - then at least they'll work.

Sir Paul – One of my all time favourite musicians. Twelve years ago today(1997), McCartney got the double tap from Liz (sword not hit man) and became Sir Paul. With true British arrogance, he could only have three tickets to the event and therefore could not even take his full immediate family (Linda and the kids). While both Lennon and McCartney are credited with being the musical genius behind the Beatles and all four had previously received MBEs, McCartney is the only one of the four to pick up the Sir. Part of the no nod to Lennon may have been the fact that he returned his MBE in 1969 as a war protest and was killed in 1980.

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Mar 10 – Took a quick look at Dreamweaver last night (part of my spanking new Adobe Web Premium Suite) and it is aptly named. People are dreaming if they expect a new and improved site anytime soon but it does look like I have found something to occupy my time – a lot of it! Looking at a blank page on the left and a bunch of hieroglyphics on the right called "code" is somewhat daunting for the faint of heart. CSS (cascading style sheets instead of frames and templates could be tough. I may actually have to do the unmanly thing and look at a manual!

Photo Shop is not so bad it looks a lot like my prior version and Illustrator I have not even attempted yet.

The whole whack of other stuff Fireworks, Flash, Pixel Bender, Soundbooth etc, etc, etc are untouched. Adobe Acrobat Pro / Distiller I have on my Office notebook so I am good with that. Academy Awards, Clios, Golden Globes, Bessies, here I come!

Logos – People should be proud of and protect their logos as part of their image. As one who has been criticised for being critical of the reigning cabal, here is a positive suggestion. Stop using those low res, grainy, non colour correct logos (Ranger and MOHA shields). Take some of that money you are desperate to spend, go to a legitimate graphic artist and get proper hi-res, colour corrected vector graphic images made in several formats suitable to different uses. Then keep them on file and use them properly (this should include logo specifications including colour codes). What I see on stuff is embarrassing and wrong. If I was the NHL/NHLPA I would take you to task (or take away the logo) for the way it is being used and presented. Besides, if you are going to get the fancy (more expensive) new sweaters, don’t you want to get it right?

Curling – there have been some unbelievable shots in the Brier and watching these elite men’s teams is a treat. I especially like the ‘triples – either as scoring or kills. My only problem with the Calgary draws is I can’t seem to stay awake at night to watch the end. Morning is either too early, I am too old, or both so I missed the big Glen Howard shot last night but I did see the earlier triple kill against Kevin Martin. Hopefully under their weird play-off system I will get to see two head to head Alberta and Ontario matches. I already know Jane is cheering for the Howard clan (Ontario branch not NB brother) so just for controversy I will likely have to cheer for Kevin. Hurry Hard!

Just saw replays of Howard's shot on TSN. It was a dandy. Reminded me a lot of my high school curling shots. Only difference was I usually gave up three.

FHP – Seems the bragging rights are wearing thin in “The Pool”. Even with my big guns out of the line-up I am still outpointing the opposition who now take a very dim view and respond viciously to even the most innocuous of enquiries. A simple “Were your guys playing last night”? leads to a stream of vulgarity. There is even talk going around that I will be banned from future events or that a handicapping system of some type will be directed against me. Ah, the price of success. It’s lonely at the top – especially when there is no one close.

SCTA - schedules are up for all four SCTA qualifiers this weekend - Midget, Minor Bantam, Peewee and Minor Atom locally for the local favourite. Click on the AAAs in the table above to go right to the schedule and standings page.

The Pony Arrives - On this day in 1964 the first Ford Mustang rolled off the lines. Lee Iacocca (with ford then before becoming Mr. Chrysler) was one of the prime movers to promote and sell the 'stang. What a lot of folks don't know was that the Mustang was just a juiced up and reskinned Falcon - remember those pedantic things (we had one). The base price was only $2,368, but on average buyers dropped an extra grand in to gussy them up.

Time to go watch curling.

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May 9 – A Monday. Not just any Monday but the one following the switch to DST. Statistically this is a dangerous driving day. It turns out that it is not a good transit day either – let me count the ways:

• Once again, it is dark when I leave. I was just getting used to being able to see where I was going.

• Get to GO and surprise, surprise, my 7:03 Express is cancelled – wait for the 7:13 milk run

• 7:13 jammed – the joy of standing all the way to Union (with multiple stops) – makes it tough to do the soduku and crossword puzzles.

• Arrive at Union and watch ignorant human behaviour taking over – you would think that passengers who had enjoyed seats while we stood would let us get out of the way first – WRONG! You almost need hockey gear to protect yourself from people jumping up and elbowing in to the flow to get off three seconds faster. Funny enough, it seems women are the most offensive on this one as they seem to feel they have a divine right to butt in. They also seem to have no comprehension of the transit code of alternating lines.

• Finally fighting my way down from the tracks to the concourse I find it is backed up as a sea of humanity as someone apparently over the week-end decided to go through the exit door without bothering to open it so that one set of doors is blocked off just to plug things up more.

• However this does not stop the kamikaze runs of the cross flow banshees who are headed for the east side exit.

• Finally I get to the subway and an uneventful ride to Yonge & Eg.

A typical Monday start!

Leafs – Clearly I am not Coach material! My assessment is the Leafs must really want to lose. Otherwise why not start Gerber against Ottawa. The old “I’m going to show these guys” hype. Instead, they come up with a wishy washy story about back to back games and workload hooey. Gerber is so thrilled to be back in the NHL he’d play a hundred in a row. Now I don’t know whether I want to cheer for Cujo to play hot and stone the Sens or play like another Red Light Rasico - speaking of the Blue, Blanc et Rouge!

Meanwhile Montreal continues to self-destruct in their centennial year. Bye Bye Guy. Hello Bob. Not sure this was a surprise to anyone as it is now mad dash to the play-offs time and GMs willl try anything to motivate or shock the troops out of a funk.

Software Bloat – I got delayed tonight as I was installing a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4 – Web Premium Edition. Microsoft has stopped with FrontPage after the 2003 version and eventually I will have to switch to something else. I got a chance to pick up this Adobe bundle relatively cheap (thanks Andrew / Student pricing), as it contains Dremweaver and a whole bunch of other apps including updated Photo Shop and Illustrator applications. I got involved with web software when I redid the MOHA site about five years ago (I shudder when I look at it now) and have stuck with FrontPage ever since. FP served its purpose well in getting a neophyte on line with templates etc.

However, this Adobe suite is like handing the F18 keys to a Sopwith Camel jockey but I need something to stay occupied and we will see what the learning curve is like. If I ever get “converted”, I figure you will notice on my site. Meanwhile we will set-up the old “test environment”.

My point was this simple install meant loading 8.8 gigs of application software on my PC. 8.8 Gigs! I have now officially lost perspective. My first hard drive was a 30 Mbyte RLL drive that I thought was huge and wondered what I would put on it? I would need 293 of these simply to hold this software which is now provided on 2 DVDs. The PCs get bigger and faster because the software gets bigger and more complex because the PCs are bigger and faster and so on and so on . . .

At the end of the day, most people need a simple word processor, a spreadsheet and an image editing package to play with their digital pics. All the rest is overkill. But, the boys must have their toys!

Try-out time approaches. An interesting note on the CBC "our Game" site. "The Coach cut my son because he doesn't like me" you might want to read this! It does happen. What kind of goofy notice is on the "other" site. A pps slide? That really works for a lot of people! Brilliant!

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Mar 8 - Update - Good News and Bad News.

The good news is that I can advise the Minor Bantam AAs beat Tecumseh 2 - 1 in Game 5 to advance. The bad news is that the Minor Atom AEs lost in overtime in Game 5 to Whitby and get knocked out. The other bad news is that Burlington beat the Minor Midget AAA in today's game so that neither Oakville team survived this weekend's silly tournament.

Tri County Semis Final Count - 5 In, 4 Out.

Mar 8 - Quite the hockey week-end in the Tri County loop and it is not over yet. Today's post is an early combined Sat / Sun as it has been a busy week-end and I am not happy about losing an hour of sleep.

Playdowns - So far it is good to be a Minor Peewee Ranger. All three of the Tri County Teams have made it to the OMHA finals. Congratulations. My memory and sources say this has never happened before and if the Minor Peewee AAA team can come out of the SCTA silly weekend it would be an unheard of four for four.

Specifically congrats to the Minor Atom AA who lost a tough five game series to Burlington.

Both the Minor Bantam doubles and the Minor Atom AE are going to game fives today. Good Luck guys!

Count 4In, 3 Out, 2 Pending

SCTA - mixed results so far on the SCTAs. The Minor Midget AAA made it through their pool to a qualifier game today. They play Burlington this afternoon with the winner advancing to the OMHA finals. The Bantam AAA had a tougher time and did not make it.

Pool standings after the round robin are presented below.

Next week-end is the big one with four events on the go - Midget, Minor Bantam, Peewee and the Oakville hosted Atom AAA event.

Baseball - This is normally the time of year when we do the family spring training trip with "the Boys" (the OLD boys that is). For a number of reasons we did not do that this year but just for the heck of it I watched some baseball yesterday - The Netherlands upset the Dominican Republic and US / Canada. The US / Canada game at SkyDome Rogers Centre was well attended, had a lot of fan enthusiasm and was a good game. An interesting concept the "World Games" but not sure if it will really catch on.

Curling - Among the wealth of sporting events on the go the real curling has started with "The Brier". Now the Tim Hortons Briar, I have watched it since it used to be The MacDonald's Brier (with the Export brand so prominent and the sponsors between..

This is a sport where the guys on top can stay on top for a long time - The Ron Howards, Kevin Martins etc can appear year after year with their teams and can they ever curl. When they actually miss a shot almost regardless of how difficult it is they seem surprised.

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Mar 6 - TGIF - While it may sound like a broken record this has been a long and difficult week on a number of fronts. The balmy weather today did help this morning / evening and it was nice to have daylight both leaving and returning to the house. Maybe it is my imagination but even the GO Train seems less crowded these days. Is it the weather, Reading Week / March Break or have enough people lost their jobs that it is even noticeable in the transit world?

Playdowns - The usual quick update based on the scores available.- Actually Ha Ha - no update as there are a bunch of games this weekend that will sort out a bunch of the series.

SCTA Qualifiers - are a bit of an update challenge as they don't seem to be in any rush to post the scores.

Minor Midgets tied Welland 1 - 1 in their 8:45 game this morning but the 2:45 game has not been posted yet (it's 7:30 so I suspect it is over but if I suggest they are sloooow then the schedulers get mad).

The Bantam AAA apparently are keeping all the games a secret as nothing is posted yet. Great customer service attitude we have here.

These events have ten games each on Friday and Saturday and two on Sunday. You would think they could post them in some kind of timely fashion just in case somebody actually cared!

FHP - It is a good thing I have posted a huge lead on the field as my guys ( MY BIG GUYS) are dropping like flies. Between Ovechkin and Hossa I have over 500 points listed day to day (Hossa out Saturday for sure) without going IR which means I can't replace them on my roster without dropping them and that folks - ain't gonna happen! I also did have Nabokov on my team (I brought him in from Brodeur when he went down) but now he was on the DL as well. No problem here though, I managed to scoop up Brodeur again so that should work out. The other good news is that with my lead I can probably bench my team and still win but no one will come groveling with their capitulation speech yet.

Luckless Leafs - Watching last night's game it was funny to see the Leaf's can't even set-up to lose properly. They end up with Gerber playing the "game of his life", apparently the Blue and White suits him better than the Senators and while they showed sparks and did get shots, the Caps without Ovechkin just did not seem to have the spark. If they keep this up the Leaf's will still miss the play-offs (as per usual and as per expected) but will also lose a chance for one of the plum draft picks. I must admit, you could have easily taken my money on a Leaf's bet last night. Let's see what happens for Mr. Gerber in game 2. People seem to have forgotten that he actually was a pretty good goalie. So what does this do to the Leafs next year. The fearless one puts out another prediction - Toskalla GONE, CUJO GONE, Pogge - welcome to the Marlies, Gerber #1, somebody new #2.

Pill Poppers - will be pleased to know that on this day in 1899 the German Patent Office issued a registration on behalf of the German pharmaceutical company Friedrich Bayer & Co. for the brand name "Aspirin". The "career" for acetylsalicylic acid was off and running.

Last quick check - No SCTA updates - sheesh!

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Mar 5 – An update and then I will drop it, as it is a personal matter and not really up to me to comment. The young man I mentioned yesterday was seriously hurt and required extensive back surgery yesterday. He will require extended rehab but we hope it will lead to a full recovery. While I have no information on the circumstances of the injury, I would suggest that all of you hockey parents remind your kids to respect the danger they pose to others in questionable situations and that they remember to protect themselves with heads up hockey to avoid putting themselves in an unnecessarily dangerous situation.

From Sarge on Hill Street Blues – “Be Careful Out There!”

Playdowns – Congrats to the Minor Peewee AAs on moving to the finals with a three game sweep of Brampton.

2 I, 2 Out, 5 Pending

Face Book etc. – had an interesting meeting with our agency today on a number of media items and one of the topics that came up was the incredible presence  the social media is gaining in our lives and in the overall use of media in general. Between Face Book, Twitter, Plaxo . . . there are a number of growing internet communication “forums / publish points” that are now being used more and more by corporations and individuals to get their message out and most importantly to them, to a well targeted market. They know who you are and what you do because you have effectively profiled yourself on the Web. Add in messaging and blogs (other than mine) and the traffic is incredible. I think that one of the numbers was that 25% or 1 in 4 households has someone on Face Book.

Fun on the Go Train – No not the spiffy new GO Train Green carpets sprinkled around Union Station for no apparent reason. This is the Ticket Police. Apparently all the criminal elements take the upper deck on car to from the East end of the 5:34 Lakeshore West train. Tonight the truculent ticket testers blitzed my car. One starts at each end in a good blitzkrieg move to pinch off any runners. As a model citizen I of course had my pass. However, the boys were taking no prisoners today. The seat in front of me, the seat behind me and the seat beside me all provided fodder for the ticket books at I think about $200 a pop. The funny part? All three were women. All three had the same “it’s in my other purse story and NONE OF THEM SEEMED TO CARE that they had just blown a bunch of dough. I guess times aren’t tough when you head west out of the big smoke. If I pulled this stunt, Jane would shoot me.

A reminder – Funny things trigger memories. In the Commons Harper accused his Liberal counterpart of engaging in the "the biggest exercise of suck and blow I have ever seen in Canadian history." Clearly this challenge was stolen locally as I have fond memories of a certain rep coach accusing a certain VP of engaging in a similar practice. That lead to an even more interesting question. There is no question that expression does get your attention. Contest opportunity – name the two combatants?

“Not Criminally Responsible”! – Sorry folks but I don’t buy this one. This references our Greyhound Bus beheader which has to be one of the most brutal crimes in Canada in a long time. He goes the padded room route and gets to be reviewed each year to see if he is “safe” to be released into the community. Give me a break! How would you like it as the joke goes – Hello der, I’se yoah new neybah. Call it what you will but lock him up and throw away the key.

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Mar 4 – Tuesday night - not a good hockey time. The friend of mine / colleague I sometimes referenced here, whose son plays in the GTHL (Bantam AA) is facing the hockey nightmare. While I do not have much information and refuse to speculate his young man was apparently checked in a playoff game and suffered an as yet undetermined (at least to us) back injury. A crack or fracture of some type that was deemed serious enough to have him moved from Credit Valley to Toronto Sick Kids hospital. Hang tough Dom. Our thoughts and prayers are with you hoping this is going to work out. Frank – he’s a tough kid – things will be fine.

Playdowns – Updated – condolences to the Minor Midget AEs who ran into a tough Brampton Squad. Kudos to the Minor Atom AAs fighting back to 2 – 2 with Burlington.

1 In, 2 Out, 6 Pending

SCTA Qualifiers – The game schedules are finally up for this week-ends qualifying events. Links are on the AAA levels in the table above.

Leafs – Have finally figured out the draft issue. You need to tank to win. So, dump your #1 and #2 centres who are your second and fourth offensive point getters. Get nothing back to play now. Second round picks may or may not work out someday. Shelve your goalie for repairs and admit you have nothing by bringing in a retread who can’t make it on a team that is arguably playing worse than the Leafs and get ready to soldier on. For you Leaf Nation fans, buckle up for a long season finish. You better hit the LCBO to drown your sorrows – on second thought, you will probably need a Texas Mickey. Pull up the Leaf site and check out the stats for what’s left – points, +/- etc. It is not going to be pretty.

Fly on the wall – the team to watch now in terms of fun and games is the Rangers (New York version – not Oakville). They have added a number of people without so far “dropping” and when you consider one of them is Sean Avery this could get really interesting – in the room, on the ice and in the media.

Based on my lead, I’m not into a long blog tonight.

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Mar 3 – Today’s episode – A walk down memory lane.

Harness Pile-up – A big pile-up in one of the feature races at Woodbine yesterday. The race favourite Warp Speed went down while sitting third spilling eight horses and their drivers. Fortunately it looks like there were no serious injuries. Having been involved in harness racing in the past, I have some appreciation of the sport and the risks inherent to racing. Having owned and helped train horses for years (with my brother in law) I was used to the speed, bikes, race environment etc., or so I thought.

As a University student I volunteered to represent Wilfrid Laurier University in the National University Harness Driving Championships – no one else wanted to so I got the gig!

The Ontario Championships were held at Western Fair Raceway in London (love that first turn!). Given that none of us were officially “licensed” harness drivers it was not a pari-mutual event, but owners were given generous purse money to enter their horses for us yahoos to drive. Needless to say we did not get the cream of the crop but it was an experience I’ll never forget.

I was not sure how Jane and her family were responding to this plan (Headline - idiot son-in-law snuffed in hoof attack) but my school buddies thought it was a hoot and all showed up to cheer me on. . . (beverages were involved)

The qualifying heat was ho hum. Pretty well matched and I finished second to qualify for the final.

For the Ontario Championship final, by the so called luck of the draw, I got an interesting claimer called “Goldies Hit”. A competitor (who went on to become a successful professional harness driver – Steve Cochrane) drew “Yellow Bee”.

My horse had never gone faster than 2:14. - Yellow Bee had just won in 2:08. Hmmmmm.

Time for the Big Event - IN THE POURING RAIN.

There is nothing more fun and dangerous than inexperienced drivers racing suspect horses on a muddy tight corner half mile track in the pouring rain!

I get to the barn to check out and warm up my horse and what do I find? Oh Oh - This is not good or for the faint of heart. Parental discretion advised.

In addition to the standard harness and bridle (blind with a shadow roll) my trusty steed needed to be equipped with:

•  Brace bandages all around (bowed tendons)

•  Knee boots (keep from hitting knees – cutting and tripping)

•  Shin boots (keep from hitting shins – see above)

•  Bell boots (protect hooves from chips and cracks

•  Not one but two head poles – both with burrs (to try to keep horse going straight – not bearing in or out)

•  Martingale strap (to keep her from throwing her head up)

•  A tongue tie (to keep her from swallowing her tongue), and finally, last but not least

•  A big padded “can” to go under her throat (this is to keep her head up so she does not tuck it down, cut off her air, choke and fall down – this part is serious stuff – it also typically means the horse is a puller, desperate to race on the front end and doesn’t sit well in a hole)

In short, everything but the kitchen sink and I looked for that. This nag should have been at the glue factory not the track.

As if this was not bad enough, they then informed me that they did not have a mud sheet (a sheet that goes down from the horse’s tail to the race bike to keep the mud, slop (and other brown stuff) from flying up into the driver’s face. Hard to see with mud splattered goggles – let alone trying to read your stop watch to rate the race. Wonderful. Of course at this point my pride and stupidity keep me from bailing.

So we hook her up and off to the track we go.

I am told that when I made my appearance, a hush fell over the crowd. The in-laws almost went into cardiac arrest as they knew what all this gear meant. I would hope Jane was also somewhat concerned (she never said).

Anyway, we turn in behind the starting gate. Six total strangers in the final. Not sure of the (in)competence of the others and head for the starter’s pole. You have not lived until you are sitting 2 feet off the ground, 1,500 pounds of horse butt/tail in your face, feet in the stirrups up both sides of the horse, swishing through the mud and rain at 30 plus miles an hour with someone’s wheel six inches on either side of yours and your horse pulling to beat hell. Fun Wow!

I had the lovely two hole (out of six wide) and managed to drop in second off the gate and into the first turn. Right behind Yellow Bee who somehow had drawn the rail. Hmmmm

Coming out of the first turn SC driving Yellow Bee throws on the binders to get a breather and save his horse. Goldie is busy trying to climb over him. Her nose is right over his shoulder and she is trying to pull my arms out of their sockets while wheezing like an asthmatic vacuum cleaner. Much more of this and several things could happen all of them very bad. We get to the quarter in 0:35 (at least that is what I think my stopwatch said) and I yelled at Steve to either pick it up or I’m coming over top. That scared him a bit and we hit the half in 1:07. Heading into the backstretch, my arms are so numb I didn’t think I could hold her in any longer and by the sounds I’m hearing I figure she’s about to choke down - not a good plan. No choice but to pull and go for the park job for the last three eighths. I got as far as within a head on the outside but couldn’t put him away and Yellow Bee won by a head in 2:10 in the mud. Last half in 1:03. Goldie and I faded a bit in a tight group at the wire and finished fourth, beat a length.

Coming back to the barn, I’m ready to kill anyone in sight. Cochrane for almost putting me over him or the hub rail. The owners, for sticking me with this beast. The Track and ORC for setting it up etc. I’m covered in mud head to toe and have no feeling in my arms. As I get back to the paddock area, the owners come running out, all smiles!

Their first comments – “What a race” We’ve never seen her race like that” “Can you come back and drive her next week?” “You just took four seconds off of her best time and in the mud!”

The answer “No”. However, there are events in life you will never forget and I remember this like yesterday even though it was over 30 years ago (October 14, 1977). Steve went on to win the National championship at Northland’s in Edmonton and became a solid driver on the Jockey Club. Somehow I think that was supposed to happen.

While cleaning boxes in the basement, I came across an old clippings file that the Canadian Trotting Association had sent out to us and I had totally forgotten. It had a shot of the 14 of us and a clipping shot (too faded to use) of the finalists.

Here he is. The handsome devil in the back row at the left with helmet and whip in hand is moi!. Steve is front row right. Even before the race they knew enough to keep us separated.

Greg Westlake – Who is this guy? He does not seem to get much notice at home (Oakville) but he should. A star offensive player on Canada’s sledge hockey team. Greg scored the winning goal against Norway as time was running out to earn Canada the World Championship.

 Greg got his hockey start as a goalie in the MOHA (and was a pretty good one). A little more local recognition from certain areas would be nice. He seems to be getting noticed by a lot of other hockey people.

See his picks for Canada’s 2010 Olympic team on the Hockey Canada site.  Picks

Playdowns - Not much to report. Condolences to the Novice AA who ran into a strong Orangeville squad. You had a good season guys.

Count 1 In, 1 Out, 7 Pending

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Mar 2 - For those of you who thought winter was gone - think again. Sample of one but I thought this morning felt like one of if not the coldest days of the winter. Maybe it was because I have had enough cold or maybe those couple of warmer teaser days changed my expectations. Regardless, I'm not liking it anymore.

Grapes - Poor guy is under the gun again. While I did not see Coaches Corner on Saturday apparently it did not sit well with some folks. Chris Zelkovich  did not think much of it as noted in his Toronto Star article. Unfortunately positive comments on Steve Mason seemed to set it off. It's funny that if Cherry is so "disliked" it is interesting that he generated opinions and responses. This article already had 59 comments when I looked at it tonight. Check the other stories - they are lucky if they get any.

Fifth Estate - I did watch the Fifth Estate piece on violence / fighting in hockey last night and thought it was pretty wishy washy. You can watch the episode on-line in case you missed it. I guess this is the kind of "hard hitting" journalism we are going to lose if the CBCs is cash strapped.

Playdowns - No big new news other than a number of the series are hitting decision points.

Brodeur - Much as I am a Sawchuk fan and will hate to see his record go, I have to respect what Brodeur has and is doing. Not only does he pull off a shut-out last night, his 100th regular season, it was his second in three games since coming back from surgery. Way to work your way back in gradually. It isn't that he is a young, resilient guy either - he is just good. As a related point, I have no issue with him passing Patrick Roy with the most wins ever, as I am not and was not a Roy fan.

Get Serious - some people are pretending that the Leaf's recent "hot" streak puts them in contention for a play-off spot and should be buyers, not sellers at the deadline. Even Burke was getting testy (what a surprise) with the media. Sorry folks - don't see it, not happening - it's golf time. Book your tee-offs now.

It's a scam - it must be. Since the Roll Up the Rim promo started I have probably been to a dozen Tim Hortons and most of them several times. I am an extra large DD customer, the lifeblood of their franchise and what have I won so far - NADA! They must have a special screening technique they use to give the "special" cups to less loyal customers they are trying to move along the user continuum - Awareness, Trial, Repeat, Conversion. Come on guys - slip me - a loyal user - one of those 10G prizes.

Logos - I get a kick out of logos (frustrated Art Director) and did not Realize that The Hockey News had been printing and running a favourite logo survey across different leagues. While some (myself included) are tired of the "goofy" caricatures used in House League, these teams may be readily agreeable to letting theirs be used. Not like those tight fisted, greedy NHL SOBs.

Who could resist the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (actually I could but it goes with the gold)

Or for a bit more thuggery, the Amarillo Gorillas (now there's my kind of logo and I am sure Grapes would approve)!

The Kelly Green Gorillas - has a nice ring to it.

Check them out here

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Mar 1 - Two months down and on the road to March Madness for you roundball fans - I have no interest in it but it is a rite of Spring, as is March Break. Sheridan, or at least Andrew is on his break this coming week.

Playdowns - Congrats to the Minor Peewee AEs in their "straight sets" victory over Uxbridge. They now move on to the OMHA finals - Our first qualifier. Back to the count - 1 In 8 Pending. No info posted yet on the PM A Southpoint tilts this weekend.

SCTA Qualifiers - Start next week-end with both the Minor Midget (Hamilton) and the Bantams (Guelph). Apparently the comments I made about this playoff format has annoyed some people. Too bad. I still think it STINKS! Good luck to our guys regardless. Maybe someone else will get the "bad breaks" this time.

NHL - Currently traumatized. The Leafs - undefeated in six, another overtime win. My Wings "smoked" 8 to zip by Nashville. It must have been a full moon or their was something in the air. My advice - Get it out of your systems now boys - the play-offs are coming and the Buds won't be in them. You must remember that the Leaf's overtime win was against the poster child for dysfunctional teams this year - the Sens. As for my Wings, last night they were represented by their alter Ego, The Dead Things!

Curling - Must apologize if folks think I took a shot at curling. I did not mean to as I really enjoy watching quality curling and had a lot of fun as a "not quality" curler years ago. I would like to get back into it but there is a minor problem. I am a bit of an "A" type personality and have to "skip". Clubs do not work that way. Typically you have to join as a Lead (when you are theoretically young enough to be able to sweep your butt off), then as people die off you can progress through Second, Vice and finally as you join the Octogenarians you achieve "Skipdom". I can't handle that.

However, I was watching Team Canada versus Quebec last night up until Team Canada stole four. That just should not happen at that level. If I had been the Quebec Skip, I would have pink-slipped the team and brought some folks out of the crowd to finish up.

GYHL Flat Fee - Getting mixed reviews. Older "players" who go on their own and paid five bucks now will get ripped (I never thought of that one). Another concern is that GTHL will no longer provide security at rinks since they are not collecting their pound of flesh. Another good point. I don't think the debate is over on this one yet. Latest Star Article  You have to wonder why the GTHL honchos don't simply budget their fees for the year and allocate out to their clubs like a registration. The Clubs could then provide parents with one consolidate (HUGE) budget. Some people might be surprised at the true accounting of fully loaded costs.

Almost Missed This - Look out Hockey World. I am not sure who is most at risk but the NHLPA has appointed Buzz Hargrove (former CAW President) as their new interim Ombudsman to replace Eric Lindros. They did not pick him for his hockey savvy as he admits to never playing hockey in his like. What's up with this one. An Ombudsman is supposed to be impartial. I would find it hard to buy that Buzz does not have a "union" bias?

Olympic Countdown - For those of you marking your calendars, the IIHF has released the Olympic hockey schedule. Hopefully on Feb 28, 2010 we are all sitting down at 12:15 PM PST (3:15 PM EST?) to watch the Gold Medal Game between Canada and TBD.  Full Schedule

The "Mick" Retires - Not today, but today in 1969, Number 7 hung up the cleats. While not definitive I think that this was sort of a transition period for baseball from the grand or games of high livin', hard drrinkin' etc players to the current pro "business" game. Reading Mantle's biography you know he did not qualify as a choirboy and folks may recall the controversy around his lever transplant attempts before his death from liver cancer in 1995 at the age of 63. The Yankees of his era were quite the powerhouse with M&M (Mantle Maris) and a number of other hall of famers in and out - 12 American League Championships, 7 World Series wins.

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Feb 28 - An early post today as I plan to have some time for myself. Another month shot - We are now two months into 2009 and it seems like it just started. Hitting March also means you are really ramping up to ramp down in hockey. HL Play-offs under way. Rep teams either moving on or done. NHL deadline almost here leading to their run to the play-offs. It also means you better be well into planning for next year.

Playdowns - Today looks to be a busy day for games so remember this is an early post and you may want to "click the link above to check for current updates on your favourite team. I have other stuff to do today.

NCCP - All you Intermediate coaches out there who were told you are good for life on the certification program - They Lied! - You are dead unless you refresh / recert before next season (myself included). It is going to sneak up and bite you unless a) people start planning now or you go somewhere else for it (not a bad idea). A number of centres have figured it out (check the OMHA Coach Clinic list)

You can always pick up CE credits at other events but you need to plan now as I will predict a mad panic come fall and roster time. Whatever your choice plan / do it now and get it out of the road.

FHP - I have not mentioned this for a while and I know some of you are curious as to the status. Probably hoping I have gone down in flames. Not Happening Folks. I am posting the current stats (at great personal risk I might add) to reinforce that Team Omnipotent truly is! Sorry! I think folks are working on their concession speeches. As they say, when you are as great as I am it is hard to be humble!

Sports Movies - There was an interesting article on www.canoe.ca today regarding a list of the best sports movies ever. I have not given the list a lot of thought but on the surface I agree wholeheartedly with #1 Slapshot and #2 Caddyshack. I have both on DVD and will rewatch whenever I need a laugh. I will have to give some thought to this as the list does not go back that far (Is Rollerball a sports movie?) and I know I disagree with some. Here's the Canoe list.

Not being a big roundball fan, I would knock Hoosiers down the like, but having said that I would add "We are Marshall". I thought it was much better. Any Given Sunday has to move up based on Al Pacino's classic motivation speech / rank. Kingpin has to go - you can't count bowling as a sport. Rudy is just sentimental trip - not a sports movie.

They also don't have The Longest Yard (original) and one of my other all time favourites "Brian's Song" about Brian Piccolo, Gale Sayers and da Bears should definitely be on the list. That one is a must watch. Maybe I will do my own or maybe there should be two lists "Current" last 15 years - "Oldies" over 15 years oago? Any suggestions let me know. Wayne@minorhockeyfan.com

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