Absurd Goalie Monday: Don Head

After a week off, the AGM this week focuses on a goalie who stayed to his amateur roots for longer than most in order to play in the Olympics. After that, he took another less taken road by going out west. This week, the profile of Don Head.

Starting in the Junior B system with the Weston Dukes during the 1950-51 season, Head would move forward during the 1951-52 with the Toronto Marlboros for 37 games, winning the Dave Pinkney Trophy for goalie with the best goals-against average for his team. Head would return to Weston for the 1952-53 season to end out his junior career.

Going the amateur route with Senior Hockey, Head played for the Stratford Indians from the 1953-54 season until the 1955-56 season, playing in a total of 74 games over that span. Head moved to the Windsor Bulldogs in the 1956-57 season, where Head would go 30-17-3 in 50 games, six wins by shutout. During the 1957-58 season, Head moved to the Chatham Maroons of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association and would play there for two seasons for a total of 96 games. Returning to Windsor for the 1959-60 season, Head used it as a tune-up for his role for Canada in the Olympics.

Head would pilot the Canadians into a solid position in the Olympics, going 5-1-0 in the seven games he played in, but they were upset by the United States, relegating the Canadians to take silver.

Starting in the 1960-61 season, Head moved onto his pro career with the WHL's Portland Buckaroos, where Head went 38-23-9 in his 70 games, then going 10-4 in the playofs to help Portland to the WHL title-- the Lester Patrick Cup. Head would win the WHL's Rookie of the Year award and Outstanding Goaltender Award for fewest goals-against on the season.

Portland would trade Head to the NHL's Boston Bruins ahead of the 1961-62 season, where Head would play in 38 games for Boston, posting a 9-26-3 record. Head would also spend five games in Portland that season on loan, going 3-1-1 in those games.

The Bruins traded Head back to Portland before the 1962-63 season, where Head would rebound from his NHL downside with a 43-21-6 record in 70 games, then 3-4 in the playoffs-- which was enough for another Outstanding Goaltender Award. Injuries hampered Head for the 1963-64 season, playing in only 16 games and having a record of 6-9-1; but Head would get back to play a majority of the games for Portland in the 1964-65 season, posting a 26-20-4 record in 51 games played, then 8-1 in the playoffs; helping Portland to another Lester Patrick Cup as champions.

Head's workload would decreased starting in the 1965-66 season, playing in only 36 games and finishing with a 20-12-3 record, sharing an Outstanding Goaltender Award with teammate Dave Kelly. During the 1966-67 campaign, Head played in 44 games for Portland, going 26-13-5, then 0-3 in four playoff appearances.

Portland traded Head to the Seattle Totems before the 1967-68 season, where Head would go 23-19-4 in 46 games and then posting an 8-1 playoff record to help the Totems to the Lester Patrick Cup, the team's second in a row. Back for the 1968-69 season, Head played in 44 games for Seattle and compiled a record of 22-13-4 (0-4 in the playoffs), while in the 1969-70 season; Head went 8-10-2 in only 20 games with the Totems. The 1970-71 season would turn out to be the last for Head, going 4-7-3 in 16 games before he would hang up the pads for good.

Head was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame thanks to his time and achievements with the Buckaroos.

Though he had a cup of coffee in the NHL (which resulted in a Sports Illustrated cover....sort of) and Olympic glory, Head's contribution in the the semi-pro side of things made him a memorable aspect of Pacific Northwest sports lore. Though it might not be the big time for most, Head make the most of it and succeeded quite well due to it.

Absurd Goalie Monday: Mike Moffat

Talking about going with a hot hand into the end of the season and into the playoffs, that's what this AGM did right out of the gate. However, through some happenstance and just mental drain, he was not able to fully have a lasting career. This week, the profile of Mike Moffat.

Moffat made his mark on the junior scene starting in the 1979-80 season with the OHL's Kingston Canadians, going 7-7-1 in 21 appearances, then losing one of the two playoff appearances he had. Moffat jumped into the starting role in the 1980-81 season, playing in 51 games, finishing 33-21-3 while going 6-6 in 14 playoff games. During the 1981-82 season, Moffat played in 46 games for Kingston, pacing himself to a 19-21-4 record, then 0-1 in four playoff games.

However, the peak of the 1981-82 season was Moffat's selection to the Canadian World Juniors team and being the starting goalie. Moffat would go 3-0-1 in four games on the way to a Canadian gold medal. Moffat was named Best Goaltender in the tournament and to the All-Star Team in the tournament.

A draftee of the Boston Bruins in 1980, Moffat was called up after the 1982 playoffs by the Bruins and he was thrown into the cage immediately, going 2-0-0 in his two games of the 1981-82 season, then posted a 6-5 record in 11 playoff games with the Bruins. During the 1982-83 season, Moffat only played 13 games with the Bruins and put up a 4-6-1 record. The other half of that season, Moffat was with the AHL's Baltimore Skipjacks, going 5-8-3 in his 17 appearances.

The bulk of the 1983-84 season saw Moffat in the AHL with the Hershey Bears, playing in 30 games and finishing with a record 8-13-4, while also going 1-1-1 in four games of action with the Boston Bruins. Staying in the AHL in the 1984-85 season, Moffat was playing for the Cape Breton Oilers and would lose the only game he played in. After that, he announced his retirement from professional hockey.

Hockey wasn't done overall for Moffat, as he would go to play Canadian college hockey with Wilfrid Laurier University in the 1985-86 season, finishing with a 5-1-0 record in six games. During the 1986-87 season, Moffat took his turn at the Canadian National Team in hopes of trying out for the 1988 Olympics. Moffat went 2-3-1 in six games and did not play beyond that stint, retiring for real after that.

It wasn't until later that it was made public that Moffat wasn't able to handle the nerves and pressure professional hockey brought. Moffat was homesick, dealt with insomnia, and chronic headaches. After getting out of hockey, Moffat turned to Canadian hardware store Rona, where he is an outside sale representative for the company. Moffat stills played in an Over-40 league, but never in goal.

Moffat said himself that if you didn't want the job, a dozen goalies were waiting in the wings. Especially in the 1980s, it was probably much more horrifying than it is today. Though he was able to show signs of greatness, Moffat wasn't able to take the grind-- probably one of the few to actually admit that.

Reinforcement Rules at Spengler Cup

The Spengler Cup is the often forgotten relative in the holiday tournament scene. Though it is the oldest European club tournament, founded in 1923 as a way to help German speaking Europeans after World War I and started by Dr. Carl Spengler. It's hosted by HC Davos in Davos, Switzerland at the fantastic Valliant Arena, but it wasn't until 1979 when the tournament went indoors. HC Davos is there as the host and usually there's a representation from Hockey Canada that plays; as well as four other teams that are brought in by invitation only.

With the NHL lockout, the tournament has brought a lot of big names, especially with Canada actually making their team a mix of NHLers who may not have played yet this year (Ryan Smyth, Devan Dubnyk), NHLers who are playing Switzerland (John Tavares, Tyler Seguin), and other Canadians who play in Switzerland (Josh Holden, Micki Dupont). On top of it all the likes of Joe Thornton and Patrick Kane have graced the roster of HC Davos, Cory Schneider and Max Talbot on Fribourg, as well as Jason Pominville and Dennis Seidenberg on Mannheim.

The interesting part about this is not only the cavalcade of Canadian players that come from Switzerland and Europe to make up the Canadian team, nor is it the referee jerseys looking like a cow; but the fact that there's plenty of guys from other teams in the same league in order to play for one of the invited teams. One of which is Patrick Kane, who doesn't play for Davos, but is coming over from another Swiss League team: EHC Biel. Also going to Davos from Biel is Reto Berra, who was supposed to help the Davos goaltending situation. Max Talbot goes to play for Fribourg after spending the season so far with the Finnish League's Ilves, while Cory Schneider plays for HC Ambri-Piotta, but is in net for Fribourg.

Teams are allowed to bring in three skaters and a goalie for reinforcements, but often times teams don't do that. Davos is a team who puts it into a big effect in order to put on a great show for the home crowd. For me, I often wonder why a team would want to bring in other players from their opposition to play for them, even though this is an invitational tournament and you want to have the best players on the roster in order to win it all.

Even with that, one would think that it would be an issue and hope that you don't get your "secrets" stolen because you bring in "spies" from other teams to play in a chance to win it all. While you can imagine that the neutrality of the Swiss nature is there, it still is a risky venture and something that makes me scratch my head as an outsider. More over than that, the team the loans out their players have to hope that in some aspect-- they don't get hurt because often it's their best players that are transferred out.

Espionage storyline that I've made up in my own head aside-- the practice is something that is a very fun thing to see, especially when a short tournament like this happens and some guys who wouldn't have gotten to experience it otherwise. It's a high-tempo week with only a guarantee of three games and is one of the more prestigious, if not little known, championships that not many get a shot at. Not only that, but you wonder why there's not more of these kind of invitational tournaments in North American pro ranks. For me, the Spengler Cup is one of the better tournaments out there because of it's exclusivity and little rules such as the reinforcements, plus it's played at one of the most badass arenas out there.

Remember Ice Hockey in the Summer Olympics

There was a time that the Summer Olympics was a little more than just swimming and track events. Back in 1920, the Summer Games provided some chilly excitement, as it was the first time that figure skating and ice hockey were used during the Olympics. While it may seem a little odd at first, when you realize the 1920 "Summer" Olympics started in April and ended in September-- the first week of winter events weren't too far out of place in late April. 

Ice hockey wasn't available for Olympic use until the 1914 Olympics and were only chosen for the 1920 Olympics when the manager of the ice rink that was to be used in Antwerp, Belgium for figure skating said that they would not allow the Olympics to use their facility if ice hockey was not included in the Games. Therefore, three months before the Games were to begin, ice hockey was added to the menu to compete. 

Seven nations took part in the first hockey tournament: Canada, USA, Czechslovakia, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, and France. The Canadians sent the Winnipeg Falcons, who had won the Allan Cup for senior amateur champions, the USA had sent an all-star team of the best club teams after their tournament to send a representative was abandoned, Sweden sent bandy players who had little ice hockey experience, while the other nations had their own national teams. 

In the games, the "rover" position was used, thus having seven players on the ice, including the goalie, with the ice surface being 165 feet by 58.5 feet. Also, the games were split up into halves rather than periods.

Also, the first games had a tournament system called the Bergvall System, which was created by Erik Bergvall. It was a system that had three rounds. The first round was to determine the Gold medalist, the remaining teams would then be back into a tournament for Silver, and then another tournament for those who didn't win Gold or Silver for the Bronze medal. This system really screwed over the Swedish team, who lost the Gold medal game, then the first round of the Silver medal, then losing in the final game of the Bronze medal event. They played six games while the Gold medalist Canadians played only three.  

Speaking of the first Gold medalists of the Games, Canadian had a decisive advantage of most of the teams, letting up only one goal in the Gold medal game to Sweden and scoring 29 goals in three games. The advantage was good because the Falcons had played together for the entire winter and coming off a big championship were hitting their stride perfectly. The Silver went to the USA, who only lost to Canada, giving up two goals and scoring 45 in three games. 

And while the idea now of hockey in the Summer Olympics is a bit off, it'd be fantastic for hockey fans who crave some game play in the summer and it wouldn't cause a stoppage during the middle of the year for those Olympic years. However, with the places the Summer Games are going, the ability to build a hockey arena would be rough at best, thus making it back to the Winter venues and where they will stay-- which is apropos to do, sure, but causes a lot of problems with it as well. 

But those first games were the start of something big. Hockey would move to the Winter Olympics for the 1924 Olympics and beyond, but it will always be a solid footnote for the first hockey medals were given out in the Summer Olympics. 

Absurd Goalie Monday: Mike Fountain

This draft weekend has passed and there's many who wonder what will happen to most of these prospects. As we've seen from this segment, sometimes it doesn't pan out as planned. However, this story is equally as tragic. This week's AGM was passed over in the draft, only to gain his spot in the World Juniors over two drafted and future Stanley Cup winners, only to not live up to expectation as many had thought. This week, the profile of Mike Fountain. 

The 1988-89 season is where Fountain would start with in the Junior "C" ranks with the Huntsville Blair McCanns in Ontarion, going 18-3-2 in 23 games. The 1989-90 season would have Fountain in Junior "B" with the Chatham Micmacs for 21 games (no record given), but would take home the Western Jr. "B" Championship. 

Moving to the Major Junior ranks, Fountain would start in the 1990-91 season with the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds for seven games (5-2-0) before being traded to the Oshawa Generals to round out the last 30 games of his season, going 17-5-1. Fountain would stay with the Generals in the 1991-92 season, he would go 18-13-6 in 40 games. Fountain would also beat out the likes of Martin Brodeur and Chris Osgood to be the back-up of Trevor Kidd for the Canadian World Junior team, but not getting into a game.

That summer, Fountain was drafted 45th overall by the Vancouver Canucks after being passed over in his last two drafts. Fountain would start the 1992-93 season with the Canadian National team, going 7-5-1 in 13 games; as well as winning the Spengler Cup with Canada. After the Spengler Cup, Fountain moved to the AHL and the Hamilton Canucks, playing in 12 games to end the season and posting a 2-8-0 record. Fountain would spend the entire 1993-94 season with Hamilton, finishing with a 34-28-6 record in 70 games, then going 0-2 in three playoff appearances. 

The Canucks moved their affiliation to Syracuse and became the Crunch, which is where Fountain would be for the 1994-95 season, posting a 25-29-6 record in 61 appearances. For the 1995-96 season would be a struggle for Fountain in the regular season (21-27-3 in 51 games), but had a decent playoff outing with a 8-7 record in 15 games. It was a turnaround for Fountain, of sorts, in the 1996-97 season; going only 8-14-2 in 25 games with the Crunch (plus 0-2 in two playoff games); but Fountain finally got his NHL chance with the Canucks-- posting a 2-2-0 record in six games, including becoming the 19th goalie to start his career with a shutout win, as well as missing an empty net goal in his 3-0 win versus the Devils. 

Fountain was shuffled in the Canucks depth chart and moved onto the Carolina Hurricanes in the summer of 1997. Fountain would stick in the AHL with the Beast of New Haven for the bulk of the 1997-98 season; going 25-19-5 in 50 appearances, while spending three games with the Hurricanes-- losing all three.The 1998-99 season saw Fountain back with the Beast of New Haven, going 23-24-3 in 51 appearances. 

Signing with the Ottawa Senators organization in 1999, Fountain went to the IHL's Grand Rapids Griffins for the season-- playing in 36 games and compiling a 21-7-4 record, while geting a no-decision in his one appearance in Ottawa that season. The 2000-01 season had Fountain playing solidly in Grand Rapids finishing with a 34-10-6 record in 52 game and then going 5-3 in eight playoff games. Fountain would play in one game in Ottawa that season, which was a loss. 

After that season, Fountain went on a European vacation starting in the 2001-02 season, first to Russia with Lada Togliatti for two seasons, playing in 64 games total and posting 19 shutouts in two seasons-- including 14 in 2001-02; which was a Russian League record. Fountain then to Germany in the 2003-04 season with the Iserlohn Roosters for 34 games before moving back to North American to sign with the UHL's Motor City Mechanics for the 2004-05 season-- playing in three games (all losses). After that short stint, Fountain completed his 2004-05 season with the Russian 2nd League for Mechel Chelyabinsk for 17 games and posting five shutouts. 

After a year off, Fountain returned to Russia and Lada Togliatti for the 2006-07 season until the 2008-09 season, playing in a total of 84 games over those three years-- posting six shutouts in that span and averaging a 2.43 GAA. Fountain would retire after that. 

Since then, Fountain has kept going on the teaching route. During his playing days-- Fountain would be an instructor for various schools-- including Roger Neilson's hockey school. Fountain has also worked as goalie coach for the USHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks. Currently, he is working as the hockey director for the Walker Ice and Fitness Center in Walker, Michigan where he oversees the Learn to Play, Learn to Skate, and Hockey Association of West Kent. 

While he did beat out two potential Hall of Famers younger in his career, the shuffle and mismanagement of some teams are what stunted his development and gave him a glass ceiling he never could seem to break through. However, Fountain made his time enjoyable, having some solid seasons and dealing with the hardships of others. Now, he's passing onto others the wisdom of his travels. 

Absurd Goalie Monday: Wayne Stephenson

Despite being in the shadows for most his NHL, the trek this week's AGM took to get into the NHL was something unique, as he went about playing for his country. With that under his belt, he got international recognition and then moved that onto the NHL game itself. This week, the profile of Wayne Stephenson. 

When Stephenson first stepped onto the scene, he was playing for the Winnipeg Braves in the Manitoba Junior League starting in the 1963-64, going 11-15-3 in 29 games. Returning to the Braves in the 1964-65 season, Stephenson would go 26-12-5 in 43 games, then 4-0 in four playoff games, helping win the league championship.After the season, Stephenson was MJHL MVP, top goalie, and on the first-team all-star squad. Stephenson was picked by the Edmonton Oil Kings to participate in the 1965 Memorial Cup, where he would go 1-4 in five games

Post-junior career, Stephenson chose to join the Canadian National team under the tutelage of Father David Bauer. Stephenson played with the Canadian National team from the 1966-67 season until the 1970-71 season. In that time, Stephenson played in two World Championships (1967, 1969) and one Olympics in 1968, where he would go 2-0-0 in three appearances, helping the Canadians win a Bronze medal. Stephenson also played 15 games for the Winnipeg Nationals in the 1967-68 in the Western Canada Senior League.

For the 1971-72 season, Stephenson would get signed on in January with the St. Louis Blues and spend most of the season in the Central League with the Kansas City Blues, going 5-11-4 in 21 games; then going 0-1-0 in two games with St. Louis. Stephenson spent the entire 1972-73 season with St. Louis, playing in 45 games and finishing with a 18-15-7 record, then going 1-2 in three playoff games. Returning to St. Louis in 1973-74 season, Stephenson went 13-21-5 in 40 games. 

Before the 1974-75 season, Stephenson was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, where he would be behind Bernie Parent on the depth chart; playing only 12 games and going 7-2-1, then 2-0 in two playoff games, helping the Flyers win the Stanley Cup. In the 1975-76 season, Stephenson got most of the games in for the Flyers, as Parent was injured-- going 40-10-13 in 66 games, then 4-4 in eight playoff games. With Parent back in 1976-77, Stephenson was resigned to the bench again, playing in only 21 games, going 12-3-2 and 4-3 in nine playoff games. Stephenson got more games in during the 1977-78 season, playing in 26 games and finished with a 14-10-1 record. During the 1978-79 season, Parent suffered a career-ending eye injury, resulting in Stephenson seeing more time, compiling a 20-10-5 record in 40 games, then 0-3 in four playoff games that season. 

During the summer of 1979, Stephenson was traded to the Washington Capitals, where he would play 56 games in the 1979-80 season, posting an 18-24-10 record. For the 1980-81 season, Stephenson would be back to the Capitals, playing only 20 games with a 4-7-5 record, which would lead to his retirement after the season. 

Post playing career, Stephenson got into the financial industry, working banks in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Cape Cod. However, he would be diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and would pass away on August 22, 2010. 

Though he didn't have one of the most straight tracks to the NHL, he was able to get to the show and succeed as much as he could in his short time there. He had a great team in front of him, which helped showed off what he could do with the right team in front of him. 

Better Know Your Olympic Hopeful Nations

The list for hopeful Olympic hockey nations are out for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia-- and boy howdy is it quite the list, male and female alike. Now, for the men's side of things-- the top-nine team in the IIHF ranks automatically qualify, while the women's side have the top-six already in. That leaves only three spots for the men's side and two spots for the women's side to get spots.

The men's side has 32 countries that have declared for the Games-- leaving 23 countries vying for three spots. The women's side has 24 countries declared, 18 countries for two spots there. These are the 2011 Final Rankings and could be close to what we see for the 2012 Final Rankings. Click to enlarge (that's what she said??)

So, while the list is pretty straight-forwards-- the wide array of interesting markets could be intriguing to some, especially if we get some kind of upset special in one of these qualification rounds. For the women's side-- you can bet the Asian nations of China and Japan are always up there when it comes to getting into the Olympics, but never sleep on the Germans or Kazakhs either. If you want to go really out there-- I wouldn't sleep on Hungary either. They dominated the U18's this year, boosting themselves to the top level, which could play out well for qualifications.

The men's side could be a little more crazy, especially depending on how the top-nine play out. Sure, we can pretty much pencil in the top six-- yet, those 7 through 9 and the other three could get crazy-- especially in the qualifying round. The Belarussians are always hard and would want to play close to home, the Kazakhs are always a dark horse and would have the proximity motivation, but France and Denmark could also play the role of spoilers in all of this. Latvia and Slovakia are the stalwarts, too-- but you know one crazy bounce and it all changes.

There's one more tournament to go, the World Championship, which will probably make or break some nation's hope for an easy in to the Olympics. Considering there's already 16 teams there, there's a lot that could get shuffled around very quickly should a slip-up happen. Still-- we're two years away and the Olympic hype is already getting started.

World Juniors Time Again

While I could go ahead and do a preview, team-by-team, of the 2012 World Junior Championship in Alberta-- I'm not that kind of guy. Plus, the fact you can get them anywhere in a number of places-- not too much my style. This is a tournament could be second to the Olympics when it comes to national pride. Especially for Canada. 

This is a tournament that is always hyped up around the hockey world and really gets a solid focus, unless the World Championships, which gets lost in the NHL Playoffs; thus making it hard for people in North America to have that same pride because their club team could still be in it and the access to the games aren't always there. 

For the players, this is a big chance for them, considering some of them are draft eligible and want to show off their wears to the NHL world in hopes of getting drafted. For some of them, it could be the only time they get to represent their country on such a stage; making them want to give their all for such an event. 

The kids themselves will have to deal with a lot of pressure. The Canadians will be on home ice, and with the team not having won a Gold in two tournaments, losing both of the last two championship games-- Don Hay and his squad will have to worry about not only playing well, but making sure the local media doesn't get to be too much for them. The defending champions in Russia will be playing with heavy hearts due to the Lokomotiv tragedy this summer, losing two of their top players-- but this year, they have a top squad and are primed to repeat. The USA is a team that last won the Gold in Canada and should have a solid squad, despite many of the cut players not enjoying their time or thinking it's fair. You can never forget the Scandinavian contingent of Sweden and Finland would could really throw a wreck in the spokes of a top contender. Plus, you can always have a "Cinderella" of the Czech, Slovaks, Swiss, Latvians, or Danes-- but don't count much on it. 

The fact of the matter is that the holiday tradition is one that always get plenty of attention, whether it's to see the future of the NHL coming up, country pride, or just to have some frantic moments that will give some a break for their NHL teams that may not be doing so well-- it's an event that always seems to bring out the Olympic-like support year after year. This year should be another exciting tournament, so I hope somehow you can find a way to watch. 

Absurd Goalie Monday: Warren Skorodenski

This week, we'll take a look at a guy who was at the Heritage Classic, but not used. In fact, it seems that for most of his career, his mask would get the most attention in the career rather than what he did while he was playing. And while he had a few moments in the sun, his skull mask shall forever live on. This week, the profile of Warren Skorodenski.

Skorodenski started off playing in Midget AAA with the West Kildonan North Stars in Manitoba before moving to the Western Hockey League with the Calgary Wranglers. In his first season with the Wranglers in 1977-78, Skorodenski played the bulk of games, but only had a dismal 8-22-10 record out of his 52 appearances. Things got drastically better in the 1978-79 season, with Skorodenksi playing in 66 games compiling a 26-31-5 record, then going 7-8 in the playoffs; losing in the division finals. After that season, Skorodenski was signed by the Chicago Blackhawks, but remained in Calgary for the 1979-80 season, where he would put up his best numbers, going 39-23-2 in 66 games, but a 3-4 playoff mark would have him bow out in the first round.

The 1980-81 season would see Skorodenski take the pro route, playing with the Flint Generals of the IHL for 41 games (sadly, no record available), while getting two games up with the AHL's New Brunswick Hawks, going 0-1-0. Skorodenski would stay in New Brunswick for the 1981-82 season, seeing 28 games, finishing with a 16-8-4 record, while going 0-2 in the playoffs. Along with Dan Janeyck; they won the AHL's Hap Holmes Award for fewest goals against. He also got a call-up to the Blackhawks for one game, which was a loss. The 1982-83 season would see him split between the AHL's Springfield Indians for 13 games (3-6-0), as well as being sent down for the bulk of the season to the Central League's Birmingham South Stars, where he would go 11-11-1 in 25 games, while going 0-4 in five playoff appearances. The 1983-84 season was a dicey one, as Skorodenski started out with the Sherbrooke Jets for 19 games (5-10-2), but an incident on November 20th of 1983 would see Skorodenski get suspended by the AHL for 20 games, as he assaulted referee Dave Lynch. When he return, Skorodenski would play 14 games with the Indians, going 3-11-0, then 0-2 in two playoff appearances.

Skorodenski played hard enough in training camp to win a spot on the Blackhawks main roster for the 1984-85 season, backing up Murray Bannerman. Skorodenski would going 11-9-3 in 27 games, with a solid .903 save percentage; highest in the league. Skorodenski played one game with the Blackhawks in the 1985-86 season, a loss, but a logjam in net relegated him to the AHL with the Nova Scotia Oilers, playing 32 games and having a 11-14-2 record to show. The majority of the 1986-87 season had Skorodenski back in Nova Scotia, appearing in another 32 contest with a 10-15-0 record, while receiving a call-up from the Blackhawks for three games, going 1-0-1. Skorodenski also saw time in the IHL with the Saginaw Generals, going 4-1-0 in six games; but then going 3-2 in six playoff contests.

The Edmonton Oilers liked what they saw in Skorodenski when he was in their minor league system, that they signed him before the 1987-88 campaign. Granted, he spent the majority of the time with Nova Scotia, playing 46 games with 25-15-5 record; Edmonton called him up for three games-- but all came in relief and wouldn't allow him a record. Skorodenski had one more kick in the Oilers' organization in the 1988-89 season, but it would be with the Cape Breton Oilers of the AHL, where he would go 11-13-1 before leaving the team.

Skorodenski finished out the 1988-89 campaign with the Canadian National Team, seeing 22 games of action and finishing with a 8-9-1 record. Skorodenski would stay with the National Team for the 1989-90 season, going 18-17-0 in 41 appearances traveling around the globe. One last gasp in the 1990-91 season had Skorodenski play only two games-- both wins-- for the National Team before he would hang-up the pads for good.

Sadly, I was unable to catch up with Skorodenski at the alumni game to see what he is up to, as he seems to have fallen off the map in the hockey world. While he did have a sweet mask, he could have been a lot more. He had flashes of brilliance, but at the same time-- never seemed to get the attention he needed to work on those flashes.

On the Topic of the Spengler Cup

Lost in all the holiday hockey tournaments and return of the NHL into the holiday season is the Spengler Cup. The Spengler Cup has been held since 1923 in Davos, Switzerland (though not held a couple times due to WWII) and is one of the bigger stand-alone tournaments amongst European club teams. This year, the club teams are the host HC Davos and fellow Swiss team Genève-Servette, KHL teams SKA St. Petersburg and Spartak Moscow; Czech team HC Sparta Praha, and an entry from Hockey Canada.

While the others are club teams, the Hockey Canada contingent is a conglomerated team from players who are mostly based out of the Swiss Elite League, with the exception this year of Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, who is playing in the AHL. While you have some teammates, the fact that this team didn't have much practice and still steamrolled a team like Spartak Moscow 6-1 in their first game shows how good the coaching staff of Mark Messier and Doug Shedden has adjusted these players to playing under one system. Granted, Spartak played their third game in five days and on the tail-end of the back-to-back games in their loss; but still.

The contingent of these players, like I said, are from the Swiss league, but there's plenty of former NHL and AHL talent on that team. Names you thought were long forgotten like Glen Metropolit, Mark Bell, Duvie Westcott, Brett McLean, Serge Aubin, Brenden Bell, Martin Kariya, Curtis Brown, and Tyler Moss-- all rostered on this team. Like I said, Deslauriers is the starter on this team and has played on the Oklahoma City Oil Barons most of the season. And while these guys won't be the most revered when it comes to being part of a Team Canada; it seems the coaching staff has done a great job to get the best Canadians on a roster to play in this game and while they probably could have asked for the release of some other minor league players-- the genius of getting guys from the Swiss league is fantastic. They didn't have to get guys adjusted to the ice size, didn't have to get them adjusted to the elevation (5,118 ft. above sea level; highest city in Europe), and won't have to get them adjusted to the ruckus crowd for when they take on the home squad and other local teams.

The tournament is something that does get lost in the crowd for most hockey fans, especially since there's not many mainstream teams and no US teams there. There's some Canadian fans who care about this tournament because there's a Canadian team there-- but it gets lost in the hype of the World Juniors and the holiday breaks that happen. When the Canadian team wins, they get some accolades, but it's not big-- even though it's the oldest invitational tournament there is in the land. Yet, does it have to be a big deal overseas so long as the players know what they did and what they've achieved?? Probably not, but it'd be nice to see these guys getting some recognition on a bigger scale than a small 30-second highlight pack of the final game. Luckily, TSN was able to pick up the tournament and will hype it-- even if it's relegated to TSN2 for some games in lieu of World Junior games.

This kind of tournament makes me wonder if there could or should be a Canadian National Touring team like they had when the Olympics were amateur competition, since players could play in any pro league to keep their amateur status and be able to play in the Olympics. While that idea probably wouldn't happen-- it could be interesting to see a team made up of Canadians just touring the globe to play random exhibitions against club teams and then going into tournaments like the Spengler Cup and show off their talents. Not likely to happen in this day-in-age, but still an interesting option for guys who may not be as psyched to go play overseas if they can't find anything in North America.

The Spengler Cup is something that should get more coverage, but it won't in the US because of a lack of invited team and it'll get dulled in Canada because of the World Juniors. It doesn't make it any less of the feat to win it, but there should be a little more attention given to it because it is a great event that's played in an amazing looking arena, to boot. Best of luck to those playing in it because it is exciting hockey to watch.

Absurd Goalie Monday: Mike Sands

Considering we're past 60 AGMs, we're definitely going to get into the deep tracks of things. We're getting a bit more absurd, especially with guys some people haven't heard from before. This week, we'll start that part of the trend with a guy who seemed to look like he was about to emerge as a solid back-up, but lost it due to one decision he may or may not regret. At least he had some kind of back-up for his hockey career being over. This week, we discuss Mike Sands.

Sands began his career in the Ontario Junior "B" system with the Streetsville Derbys, which could be one of the best names out there. Sands played 20 games with the Derbys in the 1979-80 season, finishing with a 3.26 GAA. Sands would get a call-up to the Junior "A" Dixie Beehives for four games, going 2-1-0 with a 3.55 GAA and a one shutout.

Sands would start his major junior career with the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL in the 1980-81 season. Sands would be the starter for the Wolves, playing in 50 games and going 15-28-2 on a dismal Wolves' team. Even so, the Minnesota North Stars picked Sands in the second round of the 1981 Entry Draft at 31st overall. Sands would continue on with the Wolves for the 1981-82 and they would continue to be a bit of a bad team, going 13-33-1 in his 53 appearances-- though he would have six assists on the season. Also in 1981-82, Sands would go to the Nashville South Stars of the Central League, where he would play in seven games going 3-3-1.

For the 1982-83 season, Sands would again be on the Wolves and again they would be a bit horrific, as he would go 11-27-0 in his 43 games; but it would be able to gain a spot on the 1983 Canadian World Junior Team, getting the starting gig over Mike Vernon in the tournament. The Canadian team would pick up a bronze, while Sands went 2-2-1 for the Canadians. After his junior season was over, Sands would go to the Birmingham South Stars of the Central League and go 0-4-0 in his four games he played there.

For his first full foray into the professional game was in the 1983-84 season when he took to the road with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the Central League, playing 20 games alongside of Jim Craig and Wendell Young. Sands would go 7-12-1 in the rotating system. He would have a good enough camp to start the 1984-85 with the North Stars, but would only play two games (losing both) before he was sent down to the AHL's Springfield Indians. Sands would get plenty of time and actually succeed, going 23-17-3 with a 3.24 GAA in the season. He would be called back up for another game for the North Stars, which was another loss. He would play in the playoffs for Springfield where he would lose all three games he would play in. For the 1985-86 season, Sands would get a limited time while playing in Springfield, only getting 27 games in while going 8-15-1 for the year. As the 1986-87 season rolled around, Sands would go on to be a back-up starter Don Beaupre, as former AGM Kari Takko was out of the line-up. Sands would get three games in going 0-2-0 before he was shipped back down to Springfield, where he would play 19 games, going 5-10-1 for his season.

The real issues came for the 1987-88 season with Sands. He was sent down to the AHL again, this time to the Baltimore Skipjacks. Sands would play in four games, losing all four, before he would leave the Skipjacks without the permission of the Skipjacks or the North Stars. He was subsequently suspended by the North Stars and then released in March of 1988 by the North Stars. Sands would be picked up by the Kalamazoo Wings of the IHL, playing three games and going 0-2-1 in those appearances.

Without a professional job in his sight, Sands would play for the Canadian National Team in the 1988-89 season. He would split time between the other goalies, Warren Skorodenski and Randy Hansch, and get in 21 games-- where he would go 6-13-1 in his games. After that year, Sands would hang up the pads and move onto other ventures at the age of 26.

After his playing career, Sands would go into the scouting realm. He had worked with the NHL Central Scouting Bureau and would then move onto the Calgary Flames staff, first as an amateur scout; then to the Director of Amateur Scouting. However, during the wholesale changes before the 2010-11 season, Sands would get sacked by the Flames during the summer.

Even though he didn't have the best records, he always seemed to get some good things fallen into his lap at times. He did have a bad falling out with the North Stars' at the end of his pro tenure, which probably shortchanged the career he could have had. Albeit, he did get held back in the minors for the longest time, he didn't have the chances to really show his worth. His confidence could have broken become of it, which probably let to him leaving the Skipjacks and the professional ranks in the end.

Absurd Goalie Monday: Stephane Fiset

As much as you don't think-- these AGMs are a little hard to do when you don't have some inspiration. Luckily, I went to Twitter to get some options on at least a team that the AGM should come from. This pick closed out one franchise and opened up another, but knee injuries would hamper the closing years of his career. This week, we look at Stephane Fiset's career.

Fiset's career got off to a bumpy start in Midget AAA, going 8-21-1 in his time with Montreal-Bourassa. Even with that, he moved onto the QMJHL with the Victoriaville Tigres and was thrown into the starting role right away, playing 40 games with a 15-19-4. Even with a so-so record, the Quebec Nordiques took Fiset in the second round of the 1988 Draft. With a better team in front of him for the 1988-89 season, Fiset was able to play better with a 25-14-0 record; as well as an appearance in the World Junior Championship and went 3-2-1 as the Canadians finished out of the medals. Fiset would capture the CHL Goaltender of the Year honors, as well. In the 1989-90 season, Fiset started out with the Nordiques, but went 0-5-1 and was sent back to Victoriaville as he went 14-6-3 made a return to the World Juniors, where he would go 5-1-1 and take home tournament top goaltender honors as the Canadians took home the Gold.

After a quick NHL stint, Fiset made a step past junior and went to play for the Halifax Citadels of the AHL for the 1990-91 season. Fiset would fight Scott Gordon and Mike Bishop for time, but would get 36 games in, going 10-15-8. Fiset would get a call-up to Quebec late in the season, going 0-2-1 in his three games. Fiset would start the 1991-92 campaign in Halifax, with occasional call-ups to Quebec due to injuries. In Halifax, Fiset would compile a 8-14-6 record while he would sport a 7-10-2 record while with the Nordiques. After spending three games in Halifax to start off the 1992-93 season (2-1-0), Fiset would get the call-up to Quebec to back-up Ron Hextall. It was a quite a success in Quebec, as Fiset would go 18-9-4 in his 37 games behind Hextall. With that showing, the Nordiques were able to get rid of a disgruntled Hextall and put Fiset at the forefront.

The Fiset Era began at the start of the 1993-94 season, but would see Fiset sidelined for 18 games due to a slipped disc in his back. Even so, Fiset got 50 games in and would 20-25-4. The season would also include one game in Cornwall with the Aces of the AHL (one loss) and a trip to the World Hockey Championships where Fiset would win a Gold Medal and go 2-0 with the Canadians. The shortened 1994-95 season saw the Nordiques and Fiset blossom, as the team would have first seed in the East and see Fiset go 17-10-3, though he would fight off rookie Jocelyn Thibault for playing time. After Fiset slipped in the playoffs, Fiset would be benched for Thibault. However, Thibault did no better and Fiset would be put in for the last half of Game Six to close out the Nordiques organization. The Quebec team moved to Colorado and became the Avalanche in the 1995-96, which had Fiset as the starter for a time. Fiset would go 14-3-2 before the Avalanche moved Thibault for Patrick Roy. The acquisition of Roy would put Fiset to the bench and would see him go 7-3-5 to round out the year, a year the Avalanche would win the Stanley Cup and see Fiset get a ring in the process.

Fiset didn't have long to celebrate, as he was traded with a first round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for Eric Lacroix (son of Colorado GM Pierre Lacroix) and a first round pick. This was two days after the Avs won the Cup. Fiset would split time with Byron Dafoe in the 1996-97 season, but it would also start his injury issues-- as he would be hampered with groin injuries during the season. Fiset would play only 44 games with a dismal 13-24-5 record. Fiset stayed healthy in the 1997-98 season, as he would play 60 games and have a 26-25-8 record, but would only play two games in the four-game playoff sweep; as Jamie Storr took over for the other two games. The injury bug would haunt Fiset in the 1998-99 season, missing 23 games due to groin issues, but would still get 42 games in with a 18-21-1 record. Because of his injuries, the 1999-2000 season would see Fiset battle with Storr for playing time, with Fiset seeing 47 games with a 20-15-7 record. As bad luck would have it, Fiset's 2000-01 NHL campaign would be a swift one, as he would severely sprain his left knee in the pre-season, missing the first 25 games of the season. He would come back, first to play three games with the Lowell Lock Monsters of the AHL, going 1-0-2, before getting called back up to Los Angeles. He would play seven games (3-0-1) with the Kings before he would severely sprain his left knee again and miss the rest of the season, sans one 12-second stint in the playoffs.

With all his injuries, Fiset was out of the fold for the Kings in the 2001-02 season, which saw him in the AHL with the Manchester Monarchs, playing behind Travis Scott and Marcel Cousineau. Fiset would play 23 games with the Monarchs, going 7-7-6 before he was traded by the Kings to the Montreal Canadiens for future considerations. Fiset would play two games for the Habs with a one-loss record to show for it. After that season, and thanks to injuries; Fiset announced his retirement from hockey.

Fiset has dropped from the limelight, but still participates in events around the Montreal area, like the Norman Leveille Golf Classic to support the Norman Leveille Center, which supports people with a light or moderate deficiency on a physical and intellectual level.

Fiset seemed to get better as his time in one place went onward. While he did get a lot of accolades like his Cup ring and Gold Medals, it always seemed that bad luck was on his side. Whether it was because of trades to bulk up at his position or injuries that set him back when he was getting better-- he could never catch a break. Yet, at the same time-- he had a pretty good go at it, even if bad breaks came along.

Hockey Songs Extrava-Danza

There has been some kind of influx in the past few weeks of specialty music items in terms of goal songs or event music, which I have recently come to my attention. The first is the Washington Capitals goal song and the IIHF having a song for the World Championships in Germany this year.

First, the Caps goal song, which local DC area artist Sandbox Kings won during a contest in conjunction with DC101 and Elliot in the Morning show. Now, the Caps have had plenty of post-goal songs after the legendary siren; like Blur's "Song 2" and of course, Gary Glitter's "Rock N' Roll Part 2." Yet, while those are very close to sports in every facet; this new "Rock the Red" goes in an odder direction. The song, which you can find on the band's MySpace doesn't seem to fit that same mold as the previous two. In fact, I would go to say that it would be better placed for a video montage before the Caps hit the ice for each period, but not after a goal. The reviews, at least those close group of people I know, have been bad. They did not seem to like it for a goal song and while I'm not in the area, rumors say they aren't even using it anymore-- again, no clue if that's true or not. It's a shame, because I'm sure these guys wanted it to be a staple. That's business, I suppose.

Secondly, the IIHF commissioning a song for the World Championships in Germany. The song is called "Stuck on Replay" by the band Scooter. The IIHF's presser said that they have 25 million recordings solds, 23 top-ten hits, and over 80 gold and platinum records across the world-- yet, this is the first time I've heard of them. The video is littered with compliated clips from past World Championships, but the song is the techno/sing-along genre we almost expect when it comes to the German musical scene. While the verse does bring a little more up-tempo feel to it, the chorus slows way down and allows for the fans to join in....which I'm sure will go over as good as the Hockey Canada/Pepsi cheer from this year's World Juniors.

The most iconic of made up songs could be a very unofficial song in Calgary as the Flames made their amazing playoff run in 2004. It was made by local Top-40 station Vibe 98.5 called "In Da Dome" and it does a decent amount of parody and....ridiculousness. The production is definitely amazing and it's as good as it can be for a song about a hockey team can be. It got a lot of airplay in Calgary and soon went around the world. They did their job with it, so it had to be deemed a success.

There hasn't been many hockey song in the mainstream. You have the obvious "Fifty Mission Cap" by The Tragically Hip about Bill Barilko's disappearance and all of that. Then you have the dedicated hockey band The Zambonis, which such underground hits like "Bob Marley and the Hartford Whalers." Other than that, I can't think of many hockey related song, outside of a small mention of them. I just wish there was more of a market for it....especially in Canada, you'd think there'd be more.

So, what say you-- does your team have a specialty song for themselves or is there some kind of unofficial song out there about the team, a parody of a pop-song, if you will?? Put it in the comments, then.

Also, check out Hockey Music for some of the most used/overused songs.

Killjoy Was Here

The hot topic is not that the Canadian women's hockey team won the Gold Medal yet again in the Olympics, but the aftermath that happened. It seems that the ladies stayed at GM Place (or Canada Hockey Place if you're daft and hate sponsors) and lived it up on the ice-- with brews, stogies, and hanging out on the ice and chilling like villains on the ice afterwords.

The one picture that seemed to peeve a lot of people was of Marie-Phillip Poulin was drinking a beer while she was only 18 years old, a year younger than the British Columbia drinking age; but is the age of drinking in her home province of Quebec. It seemed to upset Adrian Dater, who posted on his blog on Versus about what he would have to explain to his kids about it and why the post-game celebrations aren't banned by the PC cops already, because they should be.

I'd like to thank Dater for channeling Helen Lovejoy from "The Simpsons" when writing this.

Here's my thing, what's the big effin' deal with all of this?? It's not like Poulin is the first person to ever drink without being of age-- I mean, that was most people's high school lives. We've had enough teen-angst movies that displayed that, does that mean those should be banned, as well?? That's just something that is as common as the sun rising in the East and the Leafs not winning a Cup. Maybe these critics just can't remember their teen years due to drinking themselves stupid and can't remember how awesome it was.

And let's be honest-- let them live it up. They just won a goddamn GOLD MEDAL AT THE OLYMPICS!! That's instant cause for celebration and they should have lived it up. What better way to live it up than on home soil, on home ice, then just hanging out until they kick you out. It's not like anyone is going to rush stuff to get them out, especially since it's the home team. If this was in Torino, then you could see them getting rushed off, but let the ladies celebrate because they pretty much dominated the World and should celebrate for being at the top of their sport.

This is a non-story. They didn't wreck the ice, they didn't break the glass, the didn't shot-put a couch out the Nagano Olympic Village after not medaling (shoutout to Chris Chelios); they just celebrated the way anyone would celebrate when winning a championship. Hell, beer league teams do it all the time-- win, lose, championship or first win; it doesn't matter. Anyway-- they are just doing what any WINNERS would do-- live it up because you never know when it'll be crashing down.

For the slideshow, check out Yahoo's picture gallery of it.

Blown Coverage For Better or Worse

The past few days in the States, there has been a huge to-do about the attention, or lack there of, when it comes to hockey coverage. Over at Puck the Media (very stellar job over there, by the way), Steve Lepore talks about how the NBC family of networks are really screwing the hockey fans out of some games' starts because of other events involving USA teams or individuals. It's a noble undertaking in getting attention for the hockey fans out there to get the coverage they need-- but it's getting close to annoyance rather than nobility.

The fact remains this-- the NBC networks were showing events in which American teams or individuals were involved. They had USA-Japan women's curling on MSNBC and USA-Russia women's hockey on CNBC. Because these games went long, the Canada-Norway men's hockey game was delayed being on any channel. While I agree that NBC kind of "dropped the ball," so to speak; the networks are not and should not be risking removing or short-changing the USA team on any sports to show two non-USA participants play a game, host country or not. The interests of NBC Universal is only to the USA Olympics team and should not have to cater to non-USA nations. The same thing happen on Wednesday with the Sweden-Germany game being delayed due to extra-ends in USA-Switzerland men's curling match on CNBC and Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, with the first period being missed almost entirely due to a 22 minute delay.

While NBC has really been dropping the ball in terms of coverage all around, especially with the way Twitter has been buzzing-- people know the result of events before NBC starts to show them; I can give a pass to NBC on this instance. The fact they are showing USA events over non-USA hockey events is admirable and shouldn't be as chastised as it has been. Like I said, the NBC Universal interest is not going to be to hockey fans (as their Sunday "Game of the Week" has shown for a few years now) if the USA team is not in the game. If there is going to come a day where Team USA hockey is being delayed for one game or another, then that's when the outrage should come fast and furious and then NBC can be truly vilified and ridiculed.

When hockey is seen most of the time on the network, the odds are that NBC Universal will show the sports not often seen on TV. Figure skating is a big pull, skiing and speed-skating will get cult followings, much like curling has gotten over the past games-- they will have the niche and appeal, especially if they are seen once every four years. Hockey is shown weekly and while it sucks that hockey fans won't see every minute of every game, you have to pick your battles and fights when it comes to supporting your game.

If you are upset by the NBC Universal snub of all the games, check out Buddy Oakes' Preds on the Glass and his post about how you can get into contact with NBC Universal about their coverage or lack thereof.

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On another side, there's a decent story from ESPN's Scott Burnside about Alex Ovechkin being pretty much missing and put away by the Russian Federation in terms of interviews or putting his face out there. His piece states that Ovechkin, and much of the other Russian team, has been only giving interviews to the Russian media over the mass media that's there at the Olympics. Burnside says something to the effect of Ovechkin blowing off the media.

When something come out about one of the bigger personalities in the NHL, you have to wonder how much of this is the athlete's doing and how much is this the Federation. While, I get the Federation's concern, as it is the world's stage and there's only so many times you can go ahead and answer the same questions about the atmosphere and trying to face Sidney Crosby in a showdown later on in the Games. That seems to have been the focal point, at least in the Canadian media, when it comes to the Games; especially when both teams are the favorites, but as an athlete-- that can be a redundant to answer the same question that may or may not happen when the time comes.

On the flip side, what does the the Russian Federation hope to achieve by making Ovechkin scarce during the Games, especially when they know that guys like Ovechkin, Malkin, and Kovalchuk are the high-energy guys-- Ovechkin being the top guy. It's very Soviet-esque for the Federation to basically shutting down the personalities of the guys who are out there. This seems to be odd, considering that there were reports about Alex Semin commandeering a golf-cart and joyriding around the Olympic village and Semyon Varlamov talking about the food in the Olympic Village and having to go to McDonald's. Maybe it was that freedom that the Russians didn't like, thinking it'd become a distraction; thus shutting them down to everything and having them only focus on the games. It's a detriment to the players, the Federation, and the press for the top guys to be shut off like that. Especially when these games are suppose to display the personalities of athlete's many may not see all the time, the Russians seem to be shutting it down.

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There have been many mistake in coverage and availability in these Games and if nothing else, this could be the Olympics with the most CFs in recent memory. Of course, there's a chance where there's too much demand for one thing or another for networks, audiences, and countries to keep up with it. Of course, they should have known something like this would happen and should have been prepared. Odds are that even if they were prepared, someone would find something and then bring that up and blown it out of proportion.

Like the Girl said to me when I had the idea to write this-- you're not going to please everyone and someone will always get mad in one way or another.

Why I Can't Get Into Olympic Hockey (At This Point)

With the men's portion of the Olympic hockey getting underway, a lot of people have rejoiced because of it. Whether it's because it's the end of the hype that comes with it all or because they are truly wanting to see the round-robin play. For me, however, I couldn't be any less into it-- especially with the match-ups on the first day. Whether or not the second day can kick me out of the funk remains to be seen.

It's not that I'm not into the Games, it's just something about seeing countries like Norway and Latvia getting destroyed by Canada and Russia (respectively) that doesn't speak to me. Granted, it's a nice way for the two favorites to kick off their gold medal runs, but at the same time-- you have to feel like it's kicking a puppy when you watch these games.

I see the purpose for the round-robin and it's good to see what some developing nations do against the powerhouses, but at the same time you have to wonder if there's too many games and if you have to narrow down who gets into the Olympics. I'd like to see the World Juniors format of scheduling and amount of teams-- if not having the World Juniors be the Olympic Games after 2014, meaning push the WJC to Olympics time; but that screws up the whole tradition of the WJC and I'm sure that there will be upheaval if that happens. We don't need that. And while I'd like to get into women's hockey, it still seems like it's a three horse race there: Canada, USA, and Sweden. Plus, without body contact, it just doesn't seem like hockey. Sorry, women's hockey fans-- that's just how it goes.

I think once the qualification games start, I'll be ready to roll for it all. At least then, you have something to play for. There's a sense of urgency and you know the players will be playing with the utmost passion-- especially those teams on the fringe of being the spoiler (read: Switzerland). While I'm sure I'll catch a game in the round-robin here and there if it's on, I'm not going to go out of my way to check out a game until the games "matter" in the final tally.

UPDATED: My Team Canada and The Real Team

A couple weeks ago, my buddy J-Rock and I were making up our Canadian Olympic hockey team during our breaks at Safeway overnights. Here's the list he and I came up with and I'll test them against the actual team announced in a few hours here.

GOALTENDERS (3 for 3)
Martin Broduer
Roberto Luongo
Marc-Andre Fleury

DEFENSEMEN (5 for 7)
Robyn Regehr
Jay Bouwmeester
Chris Pronger
Duncan Keith
Shea Weber
Scott Niedermayer
Brent Seabrook
Drew Doughty
Dan Boyle

FORWARDS (9 for 13)
Jarome Iginla
Rick Nash
Sidney Crosby
Joe Thornton
Dany Heatley
Patrick Marleau
Ryan Getzlaf
Dustin Penner
Martin St. Louis
Marc Savard
Brad Richards
Brendan Morrow
Jonathan Toews
Eric Staal
Mike Richards
Corey Perry
Patrice Bergeron

So, there it is with our sleepless list. Granted, if we gave it a couple more weeks-- we would have been solid for the picks now, but we stand by it. If we get 50% of them right, we'll be fantastic. This post will be updated after the announcement.

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The real selections that we didn't pick are in italics. We ended up going 17 for 23, shooting at 74%, which isn't half-bad for two night-clerks at Safeway.

The one thing I don't get is the inclusion of Patrice Bergeron. Especially over someone like Marty St. Louis, Marc Savard, or Brad Richards. It seems like it's something because he has had good chemistry with Crosby or whatever-- but I don't think Bergeron is the best Bruin that could have been there. It also seems that Mike Richards may or may not be worthy of the spot, but GM Steve Yzerman seems to like him for his grit, I suppose. Whether he's better than the four that were mentioned-- time will tell.

The Doughty selection is something I wasn't too surprised at, but it's a good thing for him. He's a young player and has done a lot of good things for himself. It is a surprise that he was able to push out the likes of Robyn Regehr and Jay Bouwmeester. Without Regehr and Bouwmeester, it puts a cramp on the Flames claiming to have a strong defense, as they tout themselves to have.

It should be interesting how this all shakes down, especially if they tank on home ice. There's a lot of familiarity on this team, however. There's a lot of guys who played together before, which creates great chemistry. The question is whether or not this chemistry can hit at the right time for the two week long tournament.

The Gimmicks of Hockey Canada

Whether it be the fanciness of green jerseys or having PepsiCo create a contest to select a new team cheer, it's becoming interesting to see what Hockey Canada will do next in terms of gimmicks. While it's great for fan interaction (at least for the cheer), it seems a little bit much for a hockey federation to go all out like this.

The green jersey is what's getting the most buzz, as Hockey Canada is doing because green is the big color in Saskatchewan. Plus, it gives a nice Christmas-y feel to the whole thing, as the tourney is held during that time of the year. However, at the same time-- for an iconic hockey nation like Canada, why would you want to localize the national team like this?? They didn't do this for Vancouver or Ottawa when they hosted the WJC and they probably won't do it for Calgary/Edmonton in 2012, so why is Saskatchewan different for these games?? Sure, it's a two-off jersey (once in pre-tournament, once in the tournament), but still-- it's not something they have done prior, so I don't get why this instance is different than others. Yet, I wouldn't be surprised to see sales for this one go off the charts.

As far as the Team Canada/PepsiCo cheer contest....oof. Now, the premise for this is because of other countries having chantable names and then doing research about how fans interaction affect players and games (don't know how scientific that is), adding in the the brand exposure they'll get-- Pepsi was all over it. The let fans create their cheers, record and upload them, which then got moved to judges who picked the top-3 (which is attached on the link at the top), then moved to the fans to vote on which is the best. While the idea is solid, the fact this will actually catch on, I don't know. To orchestrate this in a big scale is a task which may or may not work. How would other voters feel if their cheer got scorned, will this create a civil war in the stands of dueling cheers?? No, probably not-- but think of the possibility of it happening-- creates for outstanding fodder.

In any case, the fact Hockey Canada is going to this make me love capitalism. They know they could make money hand over fist as it is, but they still are thinking of way to make some more. And the thing is that it'll work everytime regardless of the gimmick they pick. The Hockey Canada brand is something people love to buy and you slap a logo onto something, odds are it'll be a success. They know this and they almost abuse it to an extent, but what can you say-- you'd probably do the same thing if you had the chance as well.