Teamoakville -- The Blog

Feb 24, 2011

The weather can’t seem to decide whether it’s winter or spring. I was alternately lashed with ice and snow and then rained upon this morning as I went to work.

Great country we have, weather wise.

- - -

Yesterday was a bit of blur as I tried to hustle through my day to ensure I got out of work in time for my commute to Buffalo.

I think a true sign that you’ve been to Buffalo too many times recently is when the trip starts feeling routine and border guards ask about your family.

But it was worth the drive.

The Blades won 5-3 to open up a 2-0 lead in the best of seven west semi final, with Game 3 skedded for tomorrow night at home.

Although they rarely listen to me, the boys would do themselves a lot of favours by winning and putting Buffalo on the ropes. It’s the playoffs – there’s no such thing as a safe lead.

- - -

There was a decent weeknight crowd for the game in Buffalo – nearly 500 – and the rink is fairly small, so the place had a genuine playoff buzz.

But the odd thing was the music. It started with a string of 1970s classic rock songs – I’ve never heard Jethro Tull at a hockey game other than in Buffalo – and then nose dived into late 70s and early 80s disco.

I have no idea what was up with that. But.

My boogie-oogie-woogie-oogie dancin’ shoes kept me dancin’ all night.

Be glad you missed it.

- - -

It occurred to me as I was racing along the far western end of the QEW last night that at the exact same time, Laura and Chris and two of his buddies were racing along the far eastern end of the same strip of pavement, headed for downtown Toronto.

For Christmas we gave him tickets to see Potted Potter – a stage production that roars through all seven Harry Potter books in rip-roaring and funny manner in 75 minutes. You can read a review here.

Chris’s social life – Leaf game on Tuesday night, theatre on Thursday – has long since eclipsed mine. I haven’t really seen Laura since last weekend and if not for the women toll collectors on the Rainbow Bridge at Lewiston, NY, I would have no interaction with females at all.

But with the Blades at home tomorrow night she has a better than even chance of finding me in the pub there before the game. Or, me her.

Chris, his two friends, and Laura apparently all laughed themselves silly at the show. When I asked her if she found it funny, Laura asked me if the mascara streaks were gone from her face because she had tears from laughing so hard.

So, I guess they had fun.

- - -

Oddly, we have no hockey tonight. So I expect to be asleep by 745p, assuming I’m home from work by then.

Saturday night is Game 3 for the Blades – and you really should come out for a game soon – and then Game 4 is back in <sigh> Buffalo on Sunday night.

Chris also has a playoff game Sunday night and, his social calendar permitting, he will be there will at least one parent in tow.

An awful lot of ice time in Oakville this weekend has been absorbed by a massive Hornets tournament, so the novices don’t have their usual weekly game.

But I’m certain many of you will be on the roads anyway.

Spare a thought for those of us running time trials on the QEW and stay clear of the fast lane, please.

Drive carefully. Have fun. Hug the kids.

Feb 22, 2012

Except for the Leafs’ result, it was a pretty good evening.

- - -

The Blades scored near the mid-way point of the first overtime to beat Buffalo 4-3 last night in the opener of their best of seven western division semi final.

The home team dug a hole early, falling behind 2-0, but the boys rallied to even it in the second period and finally took a lead in the third. A Buffalo goal with 25 seconds left sent the teams to OT.

It’s going to be a grind and games are going to be played pretty much every other night until someone wins it all or gets eliminated. Injuries, bad luck, good luck, weather, illness, food, school, girlfriends, lack of girlfriends and a bunch of other non-game things will enter into the equation.

Game two in (sigh) Buffalo tomorrow night, then back to Oakville on Saturday for game three.

Read more here.

- - -

Meanwhile, Chris’s minor midget team won their second playoff game in a row while he was enjoying the Air Canada Centre.

The Knights won 6-5 on a goal with only 28 seconds left.

Faint hope lives!!

- - -

The Leafs lost, but Chris (and others) thoroughly enjoyed sitting two rows directly behind The Monster, giving them a monster-sized view of the game-losing goal.

It didn’t matter. He had a blast.

How close were they to the action?

This close.

- - -

I mentioned in an earlier post that the Blades all bleached their hair blond for the playoffs. If you spent any time around the team then you’d know what a challenge that can be for some of the kids.

Here’s a shot of the boys lined up last night for the anthems. (Apologies for the poor quality, but it was taken with my BB from a neighbouring galaxy.)

- - -

So, let’s all agree that our boys are charming.

Here’s an example of less-than-charming behaviour at a hockey game – in this case, an NCAA game where the home fans started racist chants.

Really?

Yes, really.

Read more here.

- - -

Do you pop a couple Red Bulls before a big meeting? Sure, who doesn’t? (I’m kidding.)

Hockey Nova Scotia is concerned that too many youth players – peewee and under – are using so-called energy drinks prior to competing.

And the essence of the association’s position is: 10 year olds don’t need energy drinks, for Pete’s sake. They’re 10! Proper diet and nutrition will give a typical 10-year-old hockey player enough energy to annoy a roomful of adults.

Read more here.

- - -

Graham James, the pedophile hockey coach, is to be sentenced today in Winnipeg on convictions resulting from his confession that he assaulted former NHL star Theo Fleury, among others.

I hope they put him away for a 1,000 years, but that would make too much sense I bet.

The first man he was convicted of abusing as a teenager, Sheldon Kennedy – also a former NHLer – has some thoughts on the matter.

Read more here.

- - -

And finally today, a non-hockey distraction.

Google users are familiar with the search engine’s “street view” feature that allows you to see an actual image of an address in Google Maps.

They did this by sending specially equipped vehicles with multi-lens cameras down pretty much every street in civilization, as well as Ottawa.

As you might imagine, sometimes those cameras saw things that Google didn’t really expect, and an enterprising artist has culled some of the more interesting ones for us to see.

A surprising number of these are from Canada. I have no explanation for that.

Click here to find the gallery.

Happy Hump Day.

Feb 21, 2012

Playoff hockey continues.

The novice Leafs, who dropped a squeaker a week ago in their opening post-season game, rebounded with a vengeance on Sunday and posted a 10-2 win. With only three games left the boys will have to continue to be sharp and will probably need some help from other teams to get a shot at a spot in the championship game.

But that’s just an adult talking. We haven’t talked about those sorts of scenarios with the kids.

Stay loose, have fun, listen to your coaches, and do your best. Whatever will be, will be.

The coaches would really like to get to the big game. You know. For the kids.

- - -

On Sunday night, Chris and his minor midget teammates jumped into the win column on the playoff board, posting a 3-1 victory. Chris scored his third goal in four playoff games.

The Knights have been in a bit of a dry spell, so it was good to see them put a W on the board.

They return to action tonight, but without my guy. More in a minute on that.

- - -

Tonight the Blades open their 2012 playoffs, hosting Buffalo in game one of the west division semi final, a best of seven series.

Even though the Blades won five of six meetings during the season, my news bunion is telling me to expect a long, tough series. Anything can happen in the playoff and it often does. I know no one is taking the opposition for granted and Buffalo plays a physical, grinding type of game.

On a personal note, I can’t tell you how excited I am about the prospect of driving to Buffalo two, and possible three times over the next 10 days or so.

Yee.

Ha.

Game time tonight is 8p at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex. Come cheer for the home team.

- - -

Vo. 1: How they do minor hockey in other places:

Hat tip to Wayne for posting this one first, but . . .

If you want to read about true dysfunction in minor hockey, then get a load of this.

In summary, a Timmins hockey coach was suspended for three months for making crude, sexual jokes about the mother of one of his players, in front of all the other 12 year old players. Kicker: He’s now back on the bench with the same team, presumably with the same kid who’s mother he attacked with his remarks.

It beggars the imagination.

I recommend you hop on over to Wayne’s site and read his analysis of how the system broke down and failed to protect a child in this case. I agree with him on pretty much everything.

- - -

Vol 2: How they do minor hockey in other places:

If you’ve ever been to Port Hope and Cobourg to play hockey, you would have inevitably asked the question, why don’t they have just one association? The communities are side by each and quite small – especially compared to minor hockey giants like Oakville and Brampton (which some might argue are too big.) There are probably more minor hockey players in Glen Abbey alone than in all of Port Hope and Cobourg.

Port Hope and Cobourg decided to ask their respective memberships if they wanted to merge the association into one and the answer was . . . NO.

Barely, but still a no.

The vote needed an approval of two thirds of the voters in both associations to pass. Cobourg gave it a 68 per cent approval, but Port Hope was only 63 per cent in favour, so the amalgamation failed.

You can read more here.

- - -

The highlight of my family day was falling asleep on the couch in the family room in the middle of the afternoon. Well, late afternoon actually. I also watched the movie Bad Teacher which, no surprisingly, will not be part of the Academy Award buzz this week.

The Blades hosted a family day “practice with the Blades” session at 10a for minor hockey players, so the big man was up early (by his standards) and his dad was up with him to cook breakfast. He didn’t need me to do that, but I was awake anyway and didn’t mind.

Then he had a practice in the afternoon, followed by a team dinner, after which he came home to eat again.

Otherwise, my day was very quiet and uneventful. Eventless, in fact.

- - -

I mentioned last week that since I boldly predicted that the Leafs would make the playoffs the team had gone winless.

Well, they have since managed a win, but now are a lousy 1-5-0 since my prediction of post-season play, and included in that is a manhandling by the Canucks on Saturday that showed 6-2 on the board but might as well have been 20-0. The Leafs were just utterly and completely outclassed.

Ouch.

- - -

I will be a solitary figure at Sixteen Mile tonight, cheering on the Blades.

Laura and Chris and two family friends will be sitting in platinum-level seats watching the Leafs play New Jersey. This appearance means Chris won’t be at his team’s game tonight, but a chance for prime Leafs seats that someone else paid for is a rare occasion in our house, so he’s been excused with the coach’s blessing. At 1-3, the Knights chances of making the finals look to be about the same as the Leafs, so Chris is opting for $12 popcorn tonight.

The tickets are courtesy of his grandfather back in Cape Breton, who won them in the Blades’ recent lottery to raise money for breast cancer research. Laura’s parents win lots of stuff and if you’re ever in the market for a ride-on mower, they have a garage full. The bad news is you’d have to drive it back to Toronto yourself.

I hope Brodeur plays tonight. He’s a legitimate all-time legend and he won’t be playing a lot longer. I’d say that’s worth the price of admission, but since the face value on each ticket is $217, I’m not sure that’s accurate.

Whatever, Chris will be cheering for the Leafs and thinking about the Knights.

It’s still OK to be a kid.

Feb 17, 2012

Former Montreal Expos star Gary Carter died yesterday of brain cancer. He was only 57.

Even when he was a respected veteran, people still called him The Kid and he retained his youthful looks and outlook throughout a hall of fame career. He was the first member of a Canadian-based MLB team to enter the baseball hall of fame.

I think I have probably told this story before, but it’s my blog and I’m going to tell it again.

Way back in the early 1980s, I was living in Yarmouth, NS, as a reporter for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald newspaper. Carter was on a cross-Canada tour promoting 7-Up and oddly ended up with a stop in Yarmouth.

He showed up at a media availability with that big smile and long curls and 500-watt star power that was too big to be contained in a small meeting room at a Yarmouth hotel.

But he patiently answered the questions tossed at him and showed class and good humour.

At the end, he asked if there were any more questions, and there were none. And he asked again.

And at that point, I made my move.

I had visited the town’s only sports store earlier in the day and bought a new baseball and slid it in my jacket pocket.

And when the official business of the day was done, and Carter was asking if there were any more questions, I put up my hand. He nodded at me.

“Mr. Carter, would you sign this baseball for my dad?”

He laughed and said it was the easiest question he been asked in some time and said he would be happy to do that.

And from the back of that room I threw a baseball to a future hall of famer, who grabbed it with one of his massive paws, signed it, and threw it back.

Everyone laughed.

I gave the ball to my dad – the biggest baseball fan I know – the next time I saw him and shortly after that he had it mounted.

More than three decades, a World Series championship, and a hall of fame induction later, my dad still has that ball with Gary Carter's signature. And I still have the memory of my meeting with Gary Carter.

It’s a sad day for the game, but it’s still a good story.

Read more here.

- - -

Back to hockey . . .

For reasons I cannot explain or grasp, it has become a ritual among junior hockey players to do strange things to their hair before the playoffs start. Some teams do Mohawks, others dye their hair in team colours.

The Blades crew are bleaching their hair – with varying degrees of success.

My guy manned up and paid the money to have a pro do it, and given that he has a fair complexion it looks . . . ok. Sort of a surfer dude mojo happening.

Others tried to do it themselves and it looks . . . orange. Or white.

It’s a silly team bonding thing for an age group that is challenged to grow beards, so changing their hair colour seems a good second choice, I guess.

I’ll post a picture of his new surfer look when I get one.

- - -

The Blades will open the playoffs Tuesday night at 8p at Sixteen Mile vs. the Buffalo Sabres, who last night completed a 3-0 sweep of Hamilton in the preliminary round.

The best of seven western semi final will determine a west division finalist.

- - -

Chris and the minor midget Knights lost 5-3 with an empty net goal Tuesday night, so their championship dreams are fading. Chris scored his second of the playoffs in a losing cause.

- - -

A week from today, the most anticipated film event of the decade finally takes place. And that it is happening on the eve of the Academy Awards, which honour excellence in filmmaking, can be no coincidence.

I’m speaking, of course, of the release of the movie Goon.

Goon is the rollicking story of one (slow-witted) man’s rise to minor league hockey fame based entirely on his ability to fight.

It’s a comedy. A dark, dark comedy. We can't wait.

I’m sure the hockey in your life will be no laughing matter this weekend – a long weekend for many of you as Monday is the Family Day holiday.

Drive carefully. Hug the kids.

And watch the trailer for Goon, below.

Feb 15, 2012

I won’t bore you with an 800-word review of our evening with Jim Cuddy last night, but I will say it was one of the best evenings of music I’ve had in years.

He performed 23 songs over more than two hours – a lot of material from his new album, and some classic Blue Rodeo stuff that you all know – Five Days In May, Bad Timing, Try, Til I am Myself Again, and It Could Happen to You.

His band was sensational and Anne Lindsay’s four-minute fiddle solo during Five Days almost caused the building to burst into flames.

The most impressive part of the evening for me, after my wife, was Cuddy’s voice. A lot of artists go into the studio and record stuff and engineers sand of the hard edges and make everything perfect. Cuddy’s live performance actually brought new definition to the songs for me. It’s a cliché but it’s true: a voice like that is a gift.

My complaints about the night? Well, it was clear he had to be done by 11p (he didn’t make it) and he cut out most of the talking between songs in order to cram in the playlist. I could have used more storytelling, because when he did talk he lit up the room.

Second, some of the audience were there for the “event” and not the music. For example, there’s a song on the new album called With You, which is about a couple realizing their marriage is over. Sung as a duet with Lindsay, it is sad and haunting and lonely and wrenching. And yet some corps of bozos tried to clap along with it like it was a beer hall polka. Thankfully they either gave up or someone told them to stop.

If you ever get the chance to see Cuddy, he won’t disappoint, and Laura has carried the torch for years, dating back to her days as a reporter at the Edmonton Journal, covering the local folk festival on a rainy, mud-caked weekend.

We had dinner at the old Senator diner a block up the street from Massey Hall and it was as nice a night out as we’ve had in ages.

That it was Valentine’s Day was a coincidence, but a nice one in the end.

You can read a review here.

- - -

A silver lining on a golden evening was that I missed the Leaf game. Seasoned blog readers will note that since I predicted they would make the playoffs, the team hasn’t won a game.

Opps.

- - -

Speaking of playoffs, as mentioned before the Tri County playoffs – the first turn of local OMHA playdowns, really – are in full swing.

Tracking the progress of you favourite teams across AE, A, and AA is a bit of a struggle even for the most patient hockey fan.

Luckily for you, Wayne has reprised his role of blogger of record for such things and has built a page where he aggregates results of Oakville teams and lets you know where it stands. If you are a Ranger fan, it’s required reading.

He would be the first to tell you that his content is only as current as the results that someone bothers to post – so don’t yell at him if there’s no result for a three-day old game. It’s a fair amount of work to keep up with it all.

You can find the page here. Bookmark it!

- - -

The first round of the junior A playoffs seem to be pointing to the Blades meeting Buffalo next week in the division semi finals.

The Blades won five of the six meetings between the two team – losing the last game a week ago. It’s the playoffs and you take nothing for granted.

No official word on when game one of the best of seven series will be, but Feb 21 is likely, at home.

In fact, I would say Feb 21 is almost a certainty. Why?

Because we have four platinum-level tickets to the Leafs-New Jersey game that night.

So instead of the four of us having a great family evening out, Laura will go with Chris and I’ll be at Sixteen Mile cheering on the locals.

Since the Leaf tickets were free (Laura’s dad won them) it will be the first time in history that someone (me) pays more for Blades tickets than Leafs tickets.

I hope the Blades play better than the Leafs, too!

- - -

I mentioned off the top that we ate last night at an old diner -- the place hold sentimental value to me and we had a good time.

It reminded me that this month's Vanity Fair has a lengthy article marking the 30th anniversary of one of my favourite movies, the 1982 classic Diner.

It was directed by the now iconic filmmaker Barry Levinson, who was practically a nobody then.

And he took of cast of rookies and nobodies and made something special. It was the coming out film for Mickey Rourke, Paul Reiser, Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Kevin Bacon and Tim Daly.

I was a very young man then and I loved that movie at first sight.

Maybe you did do. And if you did, you'll enjoy reading this story. It's really, really long.

Feb 14, 2012

Happy VD. I guess that didn’t sound right. You get the idea, though.

- - -

If you will permit me, a small riff on life and learning.

We’ve all sat through work seminars or similar eye-glazing experiences where some dude in a bad tweed jacket will lecture us on the importance of life-long learning. Engage the brain, read, learn, etc etc.

And while such people are absolutely right, many of us don’t have the time to make a proactive effort to learn. So we learn by osmosis – the books and magazines we read educate us on the trivial and the important, it depends on the day.

I started thinking about learning while watching Chris move through his weekend.

Over a period of some years, Chris learned to play the guitar. One 30-minute lesson a week, probably for six or seven years now. It was a challenge to get him to practice and mostly he wouldn’t. But we never pressed the point. There were lots of other things going on – homework, school, hockey, lacrosse, business travel for us, etc etc – so whether he practiced guitar was left to him.

Music has always had a place in my family and in our home. His brother plays (and was every bit as inconsistent at practicing), so we figured we’ll plant the seed and if it grows, it grows. And if not, oh well.

But along the path to learning a funny thing happened.

Somewhere in the last year Chris crossed a threshold from needing to practice to wanting to practice. That’s a pretty important tipping point in any life adventure.

The impact at home has been that Chris rarely goes long without a guitar in his hand.

He has moved beyond his teacher’s curriculum to scouring the Internet for the chords and tabs to the songs he wants to play, expanding his songbook at a ferocious pace and, yes, learning new skills.

He can play overdubs on recorded music, record his own version with the original artist still underneath, make a video of it all, and post it on Youtube.

He can re-string and tune guitars now – electric and acoustic.

And on the weekend he bought a microphone as he starts experimenting with adding vocals to what he’s doing.

The back end of the basement man cave looks like a recording studio these days and Chris has acquired an array of skills that have actual value, even if it is still just a great hobby for a high school kid.

It’s the same sort of passion that drives his brother to train – it’s just different.

But as parents, it’s a cool thing to see happen – when the seed breaks open and something grows and flourishes and as parents we are no longer driving this bus, we’re just passengers enjoying his journey.

What a view!

- - -

A side note to all of this:

Ten or 11 years ago when we had the basement finished, we had included plans for acoustic insulation in the ceiling. The contractor forgot to install it, much to our consternation at the time.

By the time the error was realized, it would have meant ripping down the ceiling and starting over, so we just said to heck with it (or words to that effect.)

At some point every week now, we’ll be in the kitchen or family room and one of the boys will be down there playing.

And one of us will always say, “I’m sure glad Phil forgot to put in the sound insulation.”

And then we turn down the stereo or the TV and we just listen to the music from the man cave.

I don’t think we’ve ever once said “turn it down.”

- - -

I stopped at Metro last night on the way home to pick up a piece of fish for dinner. And at the main entrance the staff had set up a table where they were selling bundles of flowers.

There were – no kidding – six men in line waiting to buy.

I wasn’t one of them, but I salute the store’s entrepreneurial spirit, and the advance planning of the men in line.

Minor midget playoff hockey tonight, which we will miss because of concert plans.

I hope the Knights can notch a W this week.

If you have plans for Valentine’s Day, I hope it goes well.

And if you don’t, well, I salute that too!

Feb 13, 2012

More useless family updates:

Master and Commander is an excellent "guy movie." It goes well with any beer.

We also like movies that have Christian Bale as Batman.

TV viewing update: we have finished the latest seasons of Hung and Dexter and are now working through Californician and Shameless.

We have five seasons of Friday Night Lights on loan but haven't sucked up the energy to open it.

We also have season one of Downtown Abbey making its way to us, and last night we downloaded an episode of the latest season of Breaking Bad from iTunes, then watched it on TV via HDMI cable.

Technology is wonderful.

The days and weekends aren't long enough.

- - -

Not that anyone cares what I think, but I think the town did a particularly appalling job of clearing the roads on Saturday morning after what was one of the only snowfalls of any amount that we’ve had this season.

At 10a, Upper Middle Road was virtually untouched, and the cars sliding into and over the curbs were evidence of that, as was the car that tried to turn off 6^th Line into River Oaks Rec Centre and instead slid into a utility pole.

We knew for at least 48 that the storm was coming – the Town of Oakville actually tweeted to residents on snow removal tips -- and as storms go, it was pretty manageable, arriving as it did in the middle of the night.

Lousy job responding by the town. Maybe they should read their own Twitter account.

- - -

The Blades split their final two games of the regular season over the weekend and now enjoy a week or so off as they get a first-round bye and await an opponent in the West division semi finals.

Georgetown – who we all hate and who have been incredibly hot lately (and lately means, all season) won the division and finished first overall in the league.

It’s kind of funny how people who had kids play for the Oakville Rangers are more or less permanently scarred by their experiences in Georgetown – and I’m certain they say the same things about us. Oh well. Don’t get me started …

Pad played 47 of the Blades’ 49 games this year (three other guys led with 48), bringing his junior A career total to 95. He was also 4^th in penalty minutes.

And in a week or so, he will finally get a taste of junior playoff action.

The team that traded him to Oakville back in September missed the playoffs for the sixth year in a row.

- - -

The novice Leafs lost their first playoff game yesterday 5-3.

It was just that type of weekend.

- - -

Now, in case you have not noticed, tomorrow is St. Valentine’s Day, or as I like to call it, a manufactured corporate marketing opportunity.

But even if that’s what it is, are you man enough to ignore it and risk whatever wrath may await you?

It’s risky. Make your own call on all that. I recommend you do something. Anything.

Me? I lucked out.

Laura (and to a lesser degree, me too) is a big Blue Rodeo fan and Jim Cuddy, the lead guy from that band, is touring Canada right now promoting his own solo collection, Skyscraper Soul.

So, being the smooth operator that I am, I said I would make sure we had tickets.

And Jim, being the smooth operator he is, made sure that the Toronto appearance – the last of the tour – is on Feb. 14^th.

So, you might say that I got Laura tickets to see Jim Cuddy as a Valentine’s gift.

And in fact, that’s exactly what I’m saying, and have for weeks.

“I got you tickets to see Jim Cuddy for Valentine’s Day,” I have said.

“Can you clean out the drain in the bathroom?” is typical of her grateful replies.

And since we’ll need to eat, I’m throwing in dinner, too.

So, I’ve got it covered.

And while you’re parked outside a Shoppers Drug Mart tomorrow night on your way home wondering if the last remaining heart-shaped box of candy – the ugly one, with a Smurf on the cover – is going to be good enough to get you off the hook (it’s not, BTW), I am going to be eating a nice dinner with my wife and then walking down the block to Massey Hall where she can drool over another guy for the duration of the evening.

Whatever. As long as she’s happy and doesn’t expect a card.

I won’t be buying any $6 Hallmark cards, which Laura won’t care about at all. We don't do cards.

The one downside is that we’re going to miss Chris’s hockey game, but we’ll make it up to him. Pad will be handling Knights game-night duty this week.

Feb 9, 2012

The song Bobcaygeon by the Tragically Hip is a really good song to sing as loud as you can when you’re in the car by yourself. Or, when I’m in the car by myself. It helps if it’s dark, and people can’t see me singing.

The song Creep by Radiohead is a really good song to sing as a duet with Chris in the car.

Pad doesn’t sing. Laura can but won’t.

Just sayin’.

- - -

After the recent Blades’ Pink in the Rink thing, the players all stayed on the ice and the families of the people who bought the jerseys online in the auction were invited down to receive the sweaty, smelly garments from the players.

At first I thought this was a silly bit of time wasting – they had to roll out carpet and the game already took a long time to play because of the intros and the draw and whatnot.

But it actually turned out to be one of the best parts of the evening.

In many instances, the players had a personal connection to the name they wore on their jersey. But in some cases, they did not – families just bid for the jerseys to honour a family member.

And when I wasn’t falling down the stairs (a story for another time) I watched things unfold in a happy, emotional way on the ice as players greeted those family members and the family members were absolutely thrilled to meet the players, take the shirts off the boys’ backs, and pose for photos.

Even watching from far away it was actually quite moving – those names on the jerseys really meant something at that moment, maybe more than they did all evening.

You can click on this link and go to a clickable gallery of those photos.

I’m posting my personal favourite from the evening here for my family back in NS to see. Chris went down to ice level to get the jersey from Pad which bears the name of Laura’s mom. And it turned out to be one of the best pictures we’ve ever seen of the two of them together. Almost like brotherly love. Almost.

The families and players lingered on the ice for well more than 30 minutes, posing and hugging and smiling for the cameras, signing autographs and enjoying the moment. Scotty Bowman made a quicker exit from the Joe Louis Arena after he won his final Stanley Cup, and people thought he would never leave.

It was a great night and a great experience for everyone involved.

- - -

Another piece of multimedia for you.

Some of the feedback our larger son received from scouts was to assemble some video evidence of himself. Lots of players do this.

We’re in the process of putting together a game-action collection, but in the meantime the guys at BTNL provided him with basically a couple hours of video they shot over the last few months and last summer.

They are often shooting video to make promotional videos for the facility for online, etc.

So Pad took all of this and edited it down into about a four-minute package.

I know regular readers have heard me go on about the high-end athletes in this town and how hard they work. And I don’t just mean my kid or just hockey players.

There are kids whose families are personal friends of ours who are nationally regarded lacrosse, rugby, football, basketball, soccer, paddlers, and yes, hockey players. It doesn’t come easy for any of them. Not a single one.

I remember attending one of those high school honour society things one time. Pad was one of the kids with an 80-something average. And then there was this handful of kids at 98.9 and 97.6 and 98.4 averages in very intense course loads. Pad told me that academics was their version of rep sports and all the kids respected them for that.

But for him and kids like him, training under a baking sun or sweating in the gym or grinding it out on the ice was better than books and studying to get from an 86 to a 97. We’re OK with that.

Sometimes parents of younger kids ask me how he ended up where he is – on a pretty good team at a pretty high level.

I tell them, well, he was never – not once – the best player on any team he ever played on. Maybe once or twice he was top three or four.

But whatever he got, he earned the hard way, by grinding it out, often alone, and coming back day after day. Making himself bigger, faster, stronger.

Places like BTNL and ATC and some other similar training centres have bunches of kids who just keep working, even when the odds are long. They keep coming back.

And you can find them on Canada’s national u19 lacrosse team, or playing varsity rugby at Western, or on the gridiron at McMaster, in goal from the Niagara Icedogs, or on the blueline of a hockey junior A hockey team.

I’m proud of them all and proud I got to coach some of them. They earned their successes and I hope they have many more in front of them.

But to answer that question from a novice player’s parent: how did he end up here? How did all those kids end up where they are? It didn’t just happen.

Here’s how. Four or five times a week.

Feb 7, 2012

This post has nothing to do with hockey, but it riffs on the fascination I’ve had my entire life with space and rockets. Like most kids who grew up through the space race, I was utterly besotted with the space program and the people who staffed those missions.

I still have a collection of books that my parents gave me on the topics and I still have the glossy special editions of LIFE magazine on Apollo 8 and Apollo 11.

I think The Right Stuff should be required reading in school.

Years and years later, I was a reporter in Halifax on a cold January morning when the space shuttle Challenger exploded over Florida.

It was horrific, shocking and, it turned out, entirely preventable.

The night before the launch, a small, loud and obstinate group of engineers argued vehemently that the now-infamous O-rings that sealed the sections of the Challenger’s booster rockets not only could fail in cold weather, they most assuredly would fail.

On Jan. 26, 1986, NASA launched the Challenger in sub-freezing temperatures and a little better than a minute later, it exploded. The O-rings had failed exactly as the engineers predicted with consequences every bit as dire as they said.

On Jan 6 in Utah, one of those engineers died, virtually unknown to the world.

Roger Boisjoly was so certain that tragedy awaited the Challenger that he refused to watch the launch, which was broadcast live nationally because of the presence of a school teacher on the flight.

He was not the only person to oppose the launch. Another man, who was the program manager of the solid rocket booster program, refused to sign a written recommendation approving the launch. It’s hard to imagine the courage of guys like that and the pressure they faced.

Sadly they were right. And sadly, they were ignored.

And for their trouble, they were ostracized and marginalized for the rest of their lives.

Boisjoly never got over it – and who would?

He would chop wood at his Utah retirement house into the night to vent his anger at the NASA bureaucracy.

I think it’s really important to remember guys like this, even in a meaningless little corner of the Internet like mine.

Contrarian voices are important, even when they are wrong. They force people to explore other ways of doing things and sometimes, the contrarians are right.

You can read more about Roger Boisjoly here. And even more here.

- - -

I was going to write a note at some point on the Leafs and how I didn’t think they could make the playoffs.

Well, they’ve changed my mind. I think the Leafs are going to do it, and they will do it with room to spare.

Playing just a game over .500 for the rest of the season should be good enough for 8^th place. Right now there are in 7^th, four points clear of 9^th place Washington.

More interestingly, they are just four points behind fourth place Philly.

And I think this collection of players is looking up the ladder to see who they can pass, not looking down to see who is chasing them.

Time will tell.

But just imagine. Playoff hockey in Toronto.

- - -

There will be more playoff hockey in Oakville tonight – for Chris. The minor midget Knights play game 2 of the playoffs.

They will have to do so without me as I’ll be in Buffalo watching the Blades.

Feb 6, 2012

I never did get to London to be with the novice Leafs on the weekend, and they were so distraught about my absence that they promptly dropped their first two games and then proceeded to steamroll their way into Sunday’s final.

Eight year old kids can blow your mind sometimes.

The boys lost 1-0 in the final to Port Credit, but for ~~a house league~~ MD team they did great playing some novice heavyweights, even taking down the host West London squad in the semi finals – a team that beat them 5-1 a day earlier in the round robin portion.

I can only imagine how excited they were – and not to mention exhausted.

I’m sure somewhere out there are photos of the boys with hardware and/or medals and miles of smiles, but I don’t have any yet. I’ll post if/when something shows up.

Playoffs come next. Can’t wait!

- - -

Many years ago, Pad played minor atom for Mitch, and Mitch’s team played a game in a London tournament against Port Credit. And some mothers from both sides generally comported themselves in a barely restrained display of grudging civility.

That was, until our team scored not once, not twice, but three times in the final 80 seconds to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win.

The Port Credit goalie was understandably distraught at what happened, and after the third Oakville goal lay prone and lifeless – mortified, but otherwise fine.

In juxtaposition to this, the Oakville parents went, um, nuts. Screaming, cheering, bouncing, high fives. As you would expect.

Then the goalie’s mother ran over – not walked, ran – and chest bumped an Oakville mom and accused her of cheering the fact that her son was injured. (And he wasn’t hurt at all, other than his feelings.)

It was among the wildest scenes in the stands of a sporting event I’ve witnessed, before or since. Cooler heads (eventually) prevailed, husbands anxious to return to motels and beer coolers separated the womenfolk, and we lost the next day in the finals.

I forget the Oakville mom's name, but I think it had something to do with a bright celestial body. Moon? No, that wasn't it. Sun? Close, but not correct. It will come to me.

As a moment of parental confrontation, it is still well behind my personal high-water mark – the time a lacrosse dad upset at the officiating yelled at a ref that he had a gun and was going to use it. That little quip resulted in a game forfeiture, a complete lock-down of the rink and four or five squad cars of Hamilton’s finest. The dad later remarked that it was just a joke, and in fact he had left his guns at home. Swell!

Ah, good times. I love tournaments. I really miss Mitch some days, too.

- - -

Riddled with injuries and pocked by some bad bounces, the Blades had a rare home loss yesterday afternoon. The result mattered little to the good guys – they can’t finish first and can finish no worse than second, assuring the team of a bye.

But still. The parental class prefers wins.

- - -

My hockey-lite weekend featured lunch Saturday with my wife and the usual fawning and peeling of grapes that I do for her when I’m not driving to rinks.

Sunday night we actually watched a fair chunk of the Super Bowl, including old raptor-arms, Madonna.

I will grudgingly admit her show was pretty good. But I stand by my pre-game assessment that if she was performing across the street in my neighbour’s garage, I wouldn’t bother walking over to see.

Laura says she would.

Harumpt.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed hearing about Tom Brady’s supermodel wife who was heckled by Giants fans on the way out of the stadium. She noted (correctly) that her husband can’t both throw AND catch the ball.

Yes, those Patriots receivers did drop a lot of balls that kept hitting them in awkward places – like the palms of their hands.

But Mrs. Brady’s eagerness to toss the team under the bus might not play so well in the locker room.

I’m guessing Tom will shake it off with some consoling from the missus.

Read more here.

- - -

Hockey-lite ends tomorrow. Pad is on the road in Buffalo. Chris has his second playoff game.

Unless we get the new parts for the time travel machine, I’m going to have to miss one and Laura will have to cover the other.

I’ll be on the rush-hour clogged road to Buffalo. Yee-ha.

Feb 3, 2012

The end of a week doesn’t usually signal the beginning of down time in our house, or in many other homes of our friends. Social engagements, kids sports, shopping, errands, home chores, etc. all conspire to often make Monday morning look like a bargain.

Not for us this weekend.

The Blades don’t play until Sunday afternoon – a rare matinee when they host Aurora.

The Friday night routine of being camped out at the pub at Sixteen Mile in time for the pre-game skate, followed by a Saturday night road game, is dialled back this weekend and we’ll be in full relaxation mode after a long week.

No minor midget game Sunday night – just the Super Bowl to endure.

Relaxation is all relative.

But just the same . . .

- - -

The high school exam schedule being what it was, Chris was off pretty much all this week, except to go for half a day Thursday to collect his marks.

In the afternoon he and a bunch of friends went into Toronto to spend a few hours at some indoor recreation/gaming/bumper car place. He had fun.

Today the same crew was planning to get up early and meet for breakfast before heading north for a day of ice fishing.

I think Chris tuned out at the “get up early” part and opted to take a pass. I assured him that we have plenty of ice, so if the ice fishing expedition is a success I wasn’t sure where we would put all that ice.

Ha. Ha. Honestly, I’m such a wit.

- - -

Even though it’s barely February, playoffs are blooming in minor hockey.

The Tri County playdowns to advance teams to the OMHA brackets are in full swing, and MOHA house league hockey is also in playoff mode too.

The AAA teams will finish their season at the end of the month, while the Blades play their final regular season games next weekend on Friday and Saturday nights.

All these leagues have to start their playoffs in February in order to get all the series and playdowns concluded in time for summer.

Depending on how many hockey players you have in your house, and how successful their playoff run is, you could be in for a busy month.

Conversely, you could find yourself with nothing to do very soon.

For junior A, for example, teams that don’t make the playoffs are basically finished for the year in one week. That’s jarring.

The Blades will likely finish 2^nd in the west and earn a first-round playoff bye before commencing a best-of-seven series in the second round, pretty much assuring they will keep playing until early March. Considering that training camps opened on Aug 13 and it has been flat out ever since, that’s a lot of hockey.

If you want to see what is going on in Tri Country and AAA (aka SCTA) go to this link and then navigate to the division you want.

Warning: not all the data is up to date, but I know that the round-robin portion of Tri County playoffs is now on.

- - -

The novice Leafs are in London today for good ol’ tournament hockey in February. There’s still a chance I will get down there tomorrow but I’ll miss the two games today for sure.

Regardless, I honestly don’t think there’s a kid who played hockey in Oakville who doesn’t have a story to tell about a tournament in London. I’ve been to so many there with my guys over the years I should have bought real estate.

It always seems to snow there, too, adding to the hockey atmosphere. It’s a great town, just large enough to offer a lot to do, and just far enough away to feel like a road trip.

People in London love their hockey, too, and the town should probably be recognized as the tournament capital of Ontario. Every weekend I hear about one team or another going to London for a tournament.

I can remember Pad waking up on a Sunday morning feeling too sick to play, but going anyway and scoring the winning goal in a semi final (and he’s not exactly a goal scorer, so it’s easy to remember that one.)

I remember being on the 401 in snow storms coming and going to London.

And when Pad got invited to skate at a major junior camp, it just felt appropriate that it was London calling.

I hope the novices do well in their games, but one of the great lessons of way more than a decade of coaching is that tournament games are incidental to the tournament experience.

I can’t imagine there are many things in the world better than being eight years old and missing a school day to go to a hockey tournament, stay in a hotel, swim in the pool and make Pepsi shoot out your nose at lunch. Years from now, the tournament wins and losses will be lost in the mists of time. But the stuff that happens between games will become folklore.

The other dads on the novice bench joke that the little Leafs are easy for me to love, since I don’t have to drag a kid out of bed in the morning or dress him for the games. I just get to show up, make sure the kids have fun, have fun myself, then leave.

I’ve done plenty of that over the years, so this is a pretty sweet gig if you can get it.

To all the novice families heading down the 401 today, drive carefully and stay safe.

Work hard, have fun, listen to the coaches. I wish I was there but you guys know what to do. I’ll be watching TSN for updates and highlights.

Go Leafs Go!

Parents: hug the kids.

Feb 1, 2012

This is winter? Welcome to Oakville, North Carolina.

When I drove to Chris’s hockey game last night it was 11 degrees outside. For the last day of January, that’s pretty goofy.

Sure, it was annoying that there was like two inches of snow in the driveway Tuesday morning as I dragged the garbage and recycling out to the curb at 620a (if only I had sons who could do these chores for me as I creep up on my dotage . . . Oh wait. Never mind.)

But Mother Nature took care of everything by the time I got home at about 730p last night. Not a flake in sight.

Strange days, indeed.

- - -

Chris and the Knights dropped their playoff opener 4-1 in a game that was so much closer than the score reflected it was almost criminal.

Kudos to the ‘keeper at the other end of the ice who was absolutely shelled by the Knights – my guess is easily a factor of three to one in favour of the losers.

Chris scored the only goal for his side, which had one called back (man in the crease) and hit two posts in the third period.

In hockey as in life, I would rather be lucky than good.

And BTW, have I mentioned how much I hate 10p games?

- - -

After more than a decade of riding the rails into Canada’s largest city, many days I am left exhausted by the ordeal. The crowds, the rudeness, the general unpleasantness of the experience. A GO train is not a crystal-clinking sojourn across pastoral landscapes stretched over the French countryside.

No, it’s more akin to hand-to-hand combat, fraught with boorish louts (and loutesses) who do things like yell into their cell phone for 20 minutes at a time, take their socks off and rub their feet, do their makeup, or commit other crimes against commuting too gruesome to recount here.

Winter commuting is the worst. First, it’s winter. So, the weather generally can be a problem and you have more layers of clothes, so you’re more uncomfortable in the car.

But also, it’s dark.

It’s really dark at 620a, and it’s dark again at 7p.

Depending upon your hours, it’s easy enough to turn into a mole person, never seeing the light of day for an entire week.

To which I say – pause and rejoice.

We are now into February which means the days are getting longer, faster.

February is, apparently, the month when the hours of sunlight per 24 hours accelerate considerably. And by the end of this month, we will be enjoying 78 more minutes of daylight each day than we will see today.

For the mole people of GO transit, that’s a good thing.

Check it out here.

- - -

There is a fair amount of commuting-related evidence to suggest that I invented this next “trend” – as defined by the web site Men’s Humor.

And Men’s Humor says that headphones are today’s version of the Do Not Disturb sign.

I take credit for this one because, as a commuting curmudgeon, I ALWAYS have headphones in my ears.

Even, occasionally, when the battery in the device I am plugged into is dead.

People who know me laugh when they see me on the train with my ear buds in.

“He’s not listening to music. He’s ignoring us.”

It’s true. Thanks for noticing.

Now go away.

- - -

How about those Leafs?

And to think people still muse about playoffs.

Ha!

- - -

Here’s a stunner.

Aside from last night’s 10p minor midget game, we have no evening commitments this week.

This hasn’t happened, we think, since Christmas Eve.

There might be a glass of wine poured this evening in honour of the event. And then we’ll fall asleep.

This week’s wine drinking TSN Highlight of the Night – so far – occurred Monday night.

Laura returned from a dental appointment where she had some freezing because of some bonding work. Sadly, she was unable to drink from a glass because he upper lip was frozen.

But necessity is the mother of invention. And the necessity was dire.