Man! I absolutely cannot believe that Canada allowed Latvia to score 4 goals against them!! @_@ Sure they got 6 goals of their own, but...
Geez. Guess you can really see the effects of the NHL lockout in our guys, huh? Jovo made a really big gaffe that led to the...third or fourth goal. It was quite ugly to watch.
*sigh* At least I got to see Irbe again! ^_^ Heh, and one of the TSN commentators even mentioned how he missed seeing Irbe play, and how he was really great...when he was at the top of his game, anyway. =P
Anyway, hopefully that game got the rust off of the Canadians' game so they'll be able to play much better than they did today!
Congrats to Ryan Smyth, Mr. Captain Canada!!! This is what, the seventh year he's captained the Canadian team at the World Hockey Championship? I think he also has the all-time record for Canadian men's games played at the WHC, with 50. Pretty darn impressive. ^_^
Speaking of the WHC, is anyone interested in being part of a league for the FSN World Championship challenge? I'll gladly set one up, but only if people are actually interested! I mean, with the lack of NHL hockey this year, it feels like a lot of people have just given up on hockey altogether. So yeah, if you're interested, let me know sometime soon!
Hah! I was watching some of the World Under 18 tournament game between Canada and Russia, and apparently one of the Canadians got a game misconduct because he was speaking in French to one of his teammates on the bench and the ref thought he was talking to the linesman!!
ROFL
That's like a penalty for being Canadian! It's so amusingly ridiculous! =D
Defencemen: - Dan Boyle - Scott Hannan - Ed Jovanovski - Chris Phillips - Wade Redden - Robyn Regehr - Sheldon Souray
Forwards: - Shane Doan - Kris Draper - Mike Fisher - Simon Gagne - Dany Heatley - Kirk Maltby - Patrick Marleau - Brendan Morrison - Brendan Morrow - Rick Nash - Ryan Smyth - Joe Thornton
The players that I am saddest to see absent, of course, are Joe Sakic, Adam Foote, and Rob Blake. *sigh* I'm glad to know that the torch is being passed earlier rather than too late (what I suspect to be the case for Team USA), but I will miss my favourite players. In terms of defence, especially I think it'll be a difficult thing, missing players with so much experience and poise.
And of course the goalies are a huge question mark. I mean, Brodeur and Luongo are excellent, but they haven't been playing professionally this season, and their European opponents have. They're really going to have to make use of training camp and the round robin games, I would think.
Of course, I'm still confidant that Canada can come away with the gold, but I think they're going to be challenged by the Czechs (who were Team Canada's best opponents in the World Cup, for sure).
Man...It's been WAY too long without hockey!! I mean, I'm excited about the World Championship, but not that excited, if you know what I mean. *sigh* At least the timing couldn't be better--it starts shortly after my Czech exam, which is really the only difficult exam I'm going to have!
OHmygoodness!!! The cover of this week's Hockey News had the most horrible sight I've ever seen: Joe Sakic in a New York Rangers' jersey!!!
The horror!!!
In other news, our women are slaughtering the competition!! At the World Women's Championship so far, they've got a 3-0 record, and have outscored opponents 35-0. @_@ They're monsters!!! (And I mean that in the positive, Pierre McGuire way!)
Ah...How I miss hockey! I'm going to try to catch the women's final on Saturday, and I'll probably watch as much of the men's as I can, but even international hockey isn't the same as the NHL.
Darn you Bettman and Goodenow (and the owners and players for choosing them)!
Well, it's April and there aren't any playoffs going on. *sigh* Even though there hasn't been any hockey all year, the fact that there aren't any playoffs is still depressing.
But, as Steph said, I can look on the bright side: at least the Avs and Leafs won't get eliminated on my Birthday this year. =P
Speaking of birthdays, Happy 19th Lisa!! You're now able to drink anywhere in Canada (and not just Quebec)! Cheers!! ^_^
