The Countdown Is On!

With a major winter storm streaking up the Eastern seaboard, summer seems like a warm, pleasant dream of some far away place. But today I was nicely reminded that at least spring, the precursor to summer, is just around the corner (albeit a long lengthy one). Spring training is set to start February 14 when the pitchers and catchers of eight major league baseball teams report to camp. The remainder of the pitchers and catchers will report to their respective camps by February 18, one day before the position players of seven teams report. Games are set to begin on February 26 when four major league teams take on US college teams. By the end of that week, the spring training season will be in full swing. Three short weeks after that, spring officially begins and three months after that, we will be into the heat of summer and talk of the pennant races.

A Sport Rejuvenated

From the depths of nothingness comes a season saved and a sport rejuvenated. The only question is: can the powers that be prevent history from repeating itself?

Prior to the start of the NLL season, the players and owners had trouble reaching a CBA and the commissioner Jim Jennings announced the cancellation of the season. I previously commented how disgusted I was by that and in fact, I even went as low as to suggest the NLL wanted to be like the NHL. In a way I’m sure it does, or at least did before their lockout/strike/work stoppage/cancelled season (whichever term suits you best) as the NHL was king in Canada and was growing increasingly more popular in the United States. After the CBA was agreed upon and the season was resurrected from the great beyond, a bad taste continued to linger in my mouth.

Now that the season is heading into its sixth week, despite the scars that remain (the absence of the Arizona Sting and expansion Boston Blazers), the pre-season fiasco is almost forgotten. The action’s more intense and with the dispersal of talent from the Arizona Sting, there is even more parity in the league. This is evidenced by a third of games so far being decided by a single score (7 of 21) with five of those games being decided in overtime. Last year, only eight games in all saw an extra frame. Attendance is also up more than 800 fans per game over this time last season but I suspect that is due to the fact that Colorado, the team with the best fan support last season, has played three home games while San Jose, the worst for attendance, has only played one home game.

The cancelled season made me think long and hard about renewing my season tickets in Buffalo but now I am glad I did. After a slow start in their season opener at HSBC, the Bandits came back in the second half and made the game exciting. They gave the fans hope for a huge come from behind win but Rochester was able to hold off the charge and win it 14-9. The second home game for the Bandits saw an extremely spirited affair with lots of hits and scoring. John Tavares electrified the crowd by scoring his 596 and 597th career goal to take the all-time goals scored lead. That game was exactly what lacrosse is all about: tough physical play with lots of scoring. It renewed my excitement in the game and followed by the high scoring, high intensity games last Saturday night, it gave me hope that this type of game is becoming the norm.

These high quality games are reminiscent of the 1999 season when there were only seven teams in the league. Over the past few seasons, some people have been complaining about the NLL being watered down by expansion and now that theory seems to hold water. The degradation of the league has been so slight and so prolonged that someone fairly new to the sport, as I am, could not see the seemingly subtle changes. This year with two less teams (I guess technically only one since the new Boston Blazers team has yet to play a game) the league seems to be rejuvenated; the games are more intense and the goals more spectacular.

Hopefully Jim Jennings is paying attention to the action on the floor so he can see that right now less is more. Although growing, the talent pool of great lacrosse players is still relatively small. The time for expansion has ended, at least for now. Lacrosse as a professional sport has reached the minds of the youth and the minor league organizers and the sport has begun to grow at the grass roots level. The seeds have been planted and now it is time to sit back and watch the talent grow. After all, talent can’t be forced it must be nurtured and allowed to blossom on its own.

Playoff Bound

As a follow up to my previous post, the Kitchener Rangers officially became the first team to clinch a playoff spot in the Ontario Hockey League Saturday night. Kitchener beat Belleville Friday night and Sudbury Sunday afternoon while Owen Sound lost to Plymouth Friday and Sudbury Saturday. In the past, teams that clinched early lost some motivation and by the OHL finals, they were on the outside looking in. Kitchener now has the difficult task of staying sharp for their remaining twenty games to prevent the possible breakdown.

This Weekend Has Playoff Implications

With about 2 months left of the OHL season, not too many teams are focusing on the playoffs just yet. The Kitchener Rangers are, perhaps, the lone exception. Playing in the host city for the Memorial Cup means that the Rangers have already secured their spot at the national tournament but that has not stopped them from playing for the OHL title.

The Kitchener Rangers are currently the top team in the Midwest Division, the Western Conference and the entire Ontario Hockey League. They are performing so well that they have a chance to clinch a playoff spot this weekend. For that to happen though, they will need to beat the Eastern Conference leading Belleville Bulls tonight and the basement dwelling Sudbury Wolves on Sunday while they will also need the Owen Sound Attack to lose at least one of their two games this weekend. Or, if Owen Sound loses both of their games and Kitchener wins at least one of theirs, Kitchener will be playoff bound.

Whether they clinch this weekend or not, the Kitchener Rangers will be a part of this year’s OHL playoffs. They lead their conference by eleven points over the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds and after making some trades prior to the deadline, are looking like they will end the season on top of the Western Conference. If the Rangers do end up in the OHL finals, the team representing the Eastern Conference will automatically get a spot in the Memorial Cup irrespective of who wins that series. Whether Kitchener can remain focused to continue their success is yet to be seen. These last two months will show what kind of character the Rangers have.

It's Official!

Despite what many may have believed before, it is now official: John Tavares is the best player there ever was in the National Lacrosse League, statistically speaking. Last Saturday night, Tavares netted his 597th career goal to surpass Gary Gait’s career record of 596. He did this by scoring his fourth goal of the game at 13:08 of the third quarter in the Bandits win over the New York Titans. Even though Tavares now holds the all-time scoring records for goals, assists and points he is not finished. This season is only 3 games old for the Bandits so Tavares has 13 more in which to increase his totals and given the good young talent coming into the league in the recent past, he might need every last one of them to lengthen his reign. Now that Tavares has finished that business he can focus all his attention on leading Buffalo to the Champion’s Cup final. Congratulations, JT and Let’s Go Bandits!

*Picture courtesy of NLL.com

Third Times A Charm For Team USA

With the previous two match ups between Team USA and Team Canada going to Team Canada, the women's U18 squad from the United States was looking to end that trend and defeat Team Canada in the first ever Women's World U18 Championship. At the outset of the tournament, it was expected that the two North American countries would face off for the gold medal and that is exactly what happened.


Team USA went 3-0 in round robin play with two 11-0 shutouts, one against Russia and the other against Switzerland, and a 6-2 victory over Sweden. In the qualifying game, they rolled out to an 8-0 win against the Czech Republic to earn a spot in the gold medal game. Team Canada had an equally easy time in their round robin play as they beat the Czech Republic 11-2, Germany 10-1 and shutout the disappointing Finland team 17-0. They put Sweden away in the qualifying game 7-1 to reach the gold medal game against Team USA.


In the gold medal game, Team USA got out to an early lead and never looked back. At the end of the first period, Team USA was up 2-0. The second period was again dominated by Team USA, at least on the scoreboard, as they increased their lead to 4-0 until a late goal by Team Canada made it 4-1 going into the break. Canada came out in the third period strong but after an early goal by the Canadians, Team USA shut the door and took the game 5-2.


The bronze medal was awarded to the Czech Republic after they defeated Sweden 4-2. Germany finished fifth after beating Finland 4-1 while Switzerland dropped Russia 4-1 to finish the tournament in seventh position.

Double Gold

Over the weekend both World Hockey tournament’s ended with Team Canada winning gold. First on Friday, the U17 tournament finished when the team from Ontario shut out Team USA, 3-0, to earn gold in London, Ontario. Two other teams from Canada faced off in the bronze medal game with the team from the West out scoring Team Pacific 9-6.

The highly touted U20 tournament wrapped up in Pardubice, Czech Republic on Saturday with Team Canada winning their fourth straight gold medal by scoring in overtime to defeat their tournament nemesis, Sweden by a 3-2 score. Canada’s man behind the mask, Steve Mason, earned most valuable player of the tournament with his unbeaten record. The team from the USA, who was undefeated in round robin play, lost two straight in the playoff round, including the 4-2 loss at the hands of Team Russia in the bronze medal game, to finish out of the medals.

The pressure will be on Team Canada in next year’s U20 tournament as they play host to the World in an attempt to make it five in a row. Before all that though, beginning tonight, Calgary, Alberta will be the site of the 2008 World Women's U18 Hockey Championship.

Go Balls

Amongst a sea of red, a sign is visible as it adds a comic relief to the otherwise blue coated concrete of the second level seating at the once popular Skydome (now just another concrete eyesore of Toronto’s landscape that was renamed the Rogers Centre when Canada’s media mogul Ted Rogers and his Rogers Communication Inc. purchased the building). The sign reads Go Balls in encouragement for the Ball State Cardinals football team as they play in their first International bowl game against the Scarlet Knights from Rutgers University.

The domed stadium has not been treated to such an exciting atmosphere since the Blue Jays captured their second consecutive World Series. The Rutgers fans seem to far outnumber those supporting the opposing Ball State University as the lyrics of their fight song “The Bells Must Ring” are heard clearly above the seemingly quiet din of the Cardinals cheers. The beer lines are the only things longer than the side-lines while the anticipation of opening kick-off reaches its peak as the school’s marching bands take to the field one after the other adding to the pre-game drama.

Once the game begins, the Scarlet Knights don’t disappoint their minions and quickly take control of the game as they “march to another score”. Rutgers ends the first half of the game up 24-9 and has no intentions of letting up in the second half. Ray Rice runs for a Rutgers school record 280 yards complete with four touchdowns in his eighth straight game rushing 100-yards or more (another school record). Rice also becomes the fifth player in the history of NCAA Division 1 football to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season as he leads Rutgers to a dominant 52-30 victory and their second consecutive bowl game win.

As the gatorade splashes over the coaches at the end of the game, the chant of "one more year" echoes throughout the building while the Ball State portion of the 31,455 fans make the long walk up the stairs. As a junior, the star of the game, Ray Rice, has the option of entering the NFL draft and hence forefeiting his last year of eligible play in NCAA sports. But that question will have to wait, for now, he will enjoy every moment of the victory for that sparkling grape juice will taste even sweeter out of the International Bowl. Congratulations Rutgers, your flag will definately fly high tonight.

Update on the Action in London, ON

The World U17 hockey tournament is quickly coming to a close. Team Ontario, at a perfect 4-0-0-0, is moving on to the semi-finals to face Team West, the second place team from Group B at 3-0-0-1 while in the other semi-final game, Group B leading Team USA (3-0-0-1) faces off against Team Pacific (2-0-1-1), who just squeaked in by taking one of their games into overtime before losing. Both semi-final games will be played today with the first game between West and Ontario beginning at 3:00 PM and the second game scheduled for 7:30 PM. The winners of these two games will go on to play for gold at 7:30 PM tomorrow night, live on TSN, while the losers fight for third place at 1:00 PM.

In other action, Germany finished the tournament in ninth place with a 2-0-0-3 record by defeating the winless Slovakia team 5-1 this morning. Slovakia finished the tournament at 0-0-0-5. Later this afternoon Team Quebec (1-1-0-2) battles the team from the East, Team Atlantic (1-0-0-3), for seventh place while Russia (2-0-0-2) looks to finish in fifth place this evening as they take on Finland at 7:00 PM. I am not sure how successful this tournament was for the organizers but there was some exciting hockey played and I am sure the rest of the games will not disappoint either.

Who’s Johnny?

As the reciprocal to the words shouted to announce one of the best lacrosse players of our time, “Johnny Who”, the title is what Oshawa Generals fans are asking these days. Of course the Johnny being referred to is the OHL player, and nephew of the lacrosse great of the same name, John Tavares.

Since Tavares took a hiatus from the Generals, the endless supply of hard working players the Generals have came to the surface and showed themselves, the league and the world that they are more than just a one man show. Even with the OHL’s leading goal scorer, Brett MacLean, out of the lineup (slight concussion suffered in the Dec 13 game against the Brampton Battalion), Oshawa found ways to win hockey games. Upon Brett’s return, they have looked like a team destined for a springtime trip to Kitchener and the Memorial Cup.

As for Tavares, he is showing the World not only his amazing offensive skills but also his lack of toughness and defensive play as well. In the game against Sweden a couple of days ago, he dazzled in the offensive zone but whenever a Swede got close to him along the boards he would fall like a marionette that had his master hastily abandon the reigns, whether he was hit hard by a body or lightly tapped with a stick.

Hockey is a game of both offense and defense and with John Tavares out of the lineup, Oshawa has perhaps, lacked in the offensive category but has compensated more than enough defensively. In the end I am sure the Generals will be glad to have Tavares back in the lineup but I think the past five games have shown the kind of team the Generals are and with a bit of luck and more hard work, they could definitely come out on top in the Ontario Hockey League this year.

Canada Jumping for Joy

The title of this post was the title of a story in one of the major newspapers in Toronto this morning (the Toronto Star I believe) about Team Canada’s 4-2 victory over Finland in their qualification game at the 2008 IIHF World U20 Hockey Championship. With this win the Canadians face an unbeaten Team USA Friday afternoon to decide who will go on to play in the Gold medal game.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t give a second thought to a headline but when a team wins in a game it never should have played in, I don’t see how anyone in Canada or any Canadian involved in or following the tournament can be jumping for joy. With the talent of the players on this team, they should have gone undefeated throughout the round robin to earn a bye into the semi-finals. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad they won and hope they can muster enough to beat what could be the best junior team to ever come out of the USA and get the chance to play for gold but I just don’t see how anyone can be overly excited by the win.

I am not trying to take anything away from Finland but to me the game was nothing more than a formality. I just hope that Team Canada used this extra game to correct the mistakes from their loss to Sweden and iron out any remaining wrinkles because they will be facing two more tough teams in the USA and either Russia or Sweden (for either the Gold or Bronze medal) and if they hope to bring a medal back to Canada, they need to be at their best. Go Canada!

Sports During the Holidays

Too many sporting events to watch does not leave much time for posting. This will be a short post for the same reason, as the Oshawa Generals are currently on the tele. Each year as most Canadians prepare for Christmas, a select few hockey players are preparing to represent their country. Boxing day this year, as always, saw the Canadian Juniors begin play at the IIHF World U20 Hockey Championship and also saw the first game for Canada at the Spengler Cup. While the World Juniors are getting ready for the exciting qualification round the Spengler Cup has already been awarded to Team Canada for the eleventh time.

This year, the World U17 Hockey Challenge is also taking place. It began on December 29 in London, Ontario and surrounding area and will end January 4, 2008, one day prior to the World U20 tournament. Canada has fifty-fifty odds of winning the U17 as it has five teams competing: Pacific, West, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic. Local Rogers stations have some games televised, including the Bronze medal game at 1:00 PM on January 4, while the Gold medal game is being shown live on TSN at 7:30 PM.

To top off the plethora of sports events, the CHL has resumed play after their Christmas break and the NLL season has finally begun. Colorado beat Calgary 10-9 at the Pepsi Center on Saturday night.