By Chris Turcotte So a funny thing happened on a recent Wednesday evening. It was funny for a few minutes and then it ended up causing me a lot of grief and wasted time. I was mad, like really, really mad. I’m all for a practical joke, anyone that knows me, knows that I have […]
This time it’s personal, Leafs
By Jim Henshaw The word Fan derives from fanatic. Because when you are a fan of a particular sports team, a true fan, you live and die with them, relish their victories and endure their defeats. Yes, they often disappoint, even embarrass. But that’s the trade off that comes with the commitment. And in those […]
Béliveau: An Hab even a Leafs fan could love
By Rod Mickleburgh As a diehard Leafs fans in the late 50’s and all through the 60’s, I don’t feel qualified to say much about the magnificent Jean Béliveau, who gave up the game Tuesday night, after a long skirmish in the corner with numerous afflictions. As always, it took more than one of them […]
Tortorella’s Heritage Clunker
By Mark Leiren-Young Vancouver Canucks Coach John Tortorella really does have a sense of history. On Sunday he successfully reminded everyone of the days when it was embarrassing to cheer for the Canucks. And anyone who thought Torts couldn’t do anything tackier than try to fight another coach was proven wrong when he benched goalie […]
Sochi: On the one hand, Brian Burke. On the other, Dick Pound.
By Dave Brindle This story has moved like an intercontinental ballistic missile. Target: Russia’s law that began the persecution, imprisonment, vicious violence against, and murder by thugs of LGBTQ people in Russia. The international gay community retaliated by putting its finger to the button and it is not going to back down. The bomb, however, is […]
Will CBC finally lose its Don Cherry?
By Montreal Simon It’s not a good news hockey story. It’s a huge blow to the CBC: “For years, HNIC has been a cash cow that helped float many of CBC’s other news and original programming endeavours, with some estimating it was worth $200 million, and up to half of the TV network’s advertising revenue.” […]
Crowdsourcing hockey
By TJ Dawe Hockey season is upon us. The tellers in my bank wear game day jerseys. People refer to their team in the possessive — “we” — despite the fact that the only contribution individuals make is to buy sufficient gear and tickets to enrich the owners sufficiently to pay the salaries of better […]
The NHL is back, but I won’t be
By Montreal Simon A couple of my friends came over this evening to watch the Habs-Leafs game on my big screen TV. And they were surprised to find out that I hadn’t been planning to watch it, until they turned up. And that I wasn’t the least bit excited that the season had finally started. […]
Gary Bettman’s new NHL — the No Hockey League
By Mark Leiren-Young I’ve figured out Gary Bettman’s grand master plan for the NHL. He’s decided to run it without players. No players means no games. No games means no overhead, no pesky salaries, no arena rentals, no worrying whether superstars get concussed, no superstars, and, best of all, no hockey. Now Bettman can focus […]
Pavel Bure: Love at first shot
By Mark Leiren-Young When Pavel Bure sat down in the stands beside me, my brain vanished as if he’d snapped it away with his lightning fast wrist shot. This was training camp, 1992, just after he won the Calder Cup for Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Canuck ever to win an NHL Award. […]
