Holiday hockey

I'll be back with some new posts in the New Year. In the mean time, here's some of what I was up to during the Christmas break:

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Stephen Harper an elitist academic?

So says the Canadian Press…

"I have even (mentioned) to a couple of NHL owners I think southern Ontario is ripe to support more than one NHL team," said Harper, a keen fan and hockey historian.

Not only is Harper a historian, I hear he’s even writing a book on the subject.

Real Canadians don’t study things or write books, Mr. Harper. We rarely even read them. And the only history we care about is how we had to go save France’s be-hinds in WW1 AND WW2, because that made for some kick-ass movies.

Stephen Harper, historian and author? I don’t know how this will play at Tim Horton’s…

But seriously, if Stephen Harper is a historian, I'm the King of England.

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

BCer in Boston for Bruins and haBs

A few photos from game three of the first round matchup between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Mass. It was a great game, lots of action for a low-scoring affair, and great goaltending on both ends. Final score 2-1 Boston in overtime, Montreal still leading the series two games to one.

Outside the rink, some Canadians fans getting ahead of themselves a touch.

A bear with an opinion.

The clean ice before the game.

Canadiens fans were out in force.

Some nice saves from Corey Price.

A little game action.

One of the many Habs fans ejected by the Boston PD. Interestingly, I only saw Habs fans ejected. Little home-town advantage, I suppose. The cops pushed this guy down the stairs so hard he nearly took a header over the railing.

Boston's Tim Thomas has a great game too.

The Bruins celebrate the OT win.

And the crowd goes wild.

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Ole ole, and leadership polling numbers

I’m a BCer in Boston today. After a two-hour delay on the tarmac in Toronto because of a “hookey switch” as the captain put it, I’m in Beantown. It’s a business trip, but today is pleasure, as I’ve got tickets for game three tonight in the Bruins/Canadiens playoff game.

I’ve just been for a walk down to TD Banknorth Garden to pick up my ticket (why must all these new arenas look the same?) and some lunch in Quincy Market, and the town is crawling with Habs jerseys, worn by jubilant fans signing Ole Ole through the streets. They certainly are exuberant. Saw a group near Faneuil Hall with a homemade Stanley Cup…easy mes amis, 14 wins to go.

Really looking forward to the game tonight though, I’ll post pictures tomorrow. First though, for my political content I wanted to comment briefly on the leadership polling numbers referenced by Steve, showing Dion is a drag on the Liberal brand:

The question was asked, how would voter intention change if the various party leaders left? For the Conservatives, their support would drop a full 6 points if they replaced Harper. The NDP support would drop another 3 points in Layton was replaced. The Liberal support is the anomaly, our numbers would rise 3 points if Dion wasn't the leader.

I don’t disagree with any of Steve’s analysis, I just wanted to add something about the numbers he didn’t. I don’t dispute their badness, but I think, frankly, all those numbers need to be taken with a slight grain of salt, because as far as I can tell the poll doesn’t ask about potential replacements.

Ask if you’d vote for the Liberals if Dion weren’t the leader, that’s one thing. It lets you imagine the leader is whomever you want it to be. What I’d like to know, is what would the number be if Bob Rae were the leader, or Michael Ignatieff? Would we gain more than we’d lose with one or the other?

The number might drop more if there’s a name attached…without a name while the number is certainly noteworthy, it’s only a piece of the picture. Either way, let's get Dion's numbers up.

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Dear CBC Sports,

When it's time for the Stanley Cup Finals in a few weeks (with, God willing, the Senators competing) could you please send Bob Cole to the golf course and let young Jimmy Hughson call the play by play?

And if Bob needs Harry Neale to caddy I'd be totally cool with that too.

See you at the next Liberal media conspiracy meeting.

Thanks,

Jeff

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Bring on the Ducks!

As mentioned earlier I'm down in Atlanta right now at a conference, but even in the Southern U.S. I still think I heard a large thump last night as Canucks fans scrambled back on the bandwagon. From doom and gloom to Stanley Cup here we come!

I was lucky enough to find the game on Versus in my hotel room last night. Figured I'd be out of luck. But after I filed an exciting story on Sobey's use of SAP software I flipped on the tv and there it was, early second period.

Looks like they finally found the Sedin twins, and about time too. Also a great game from Trevor Linden, who will always be Captain Canuck to me. And what can you say about Bobby-Lou? But Markus Naslund, has anyone seen him? I thought maybe he was hurt or something, but then he took a penalty. Someone needs to give him a kick in the ass. And Alain Vigneault may be just the guy to do it; his rant after game six was perfect.

So, now it's the Ducks. Bring them on!

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Missing

Names: Daniel and Henrik Sedin
Born: Ornskoldsvik, Sweden
Date: September 26, 1980
Last seen: Game one of the Western Conference Quarterfinal NHL Playoff series

If seen, please contact Alain Vigneault, head coach, Vancouver Canucks.

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers

Harper's master plan for a fall majority revealed

Is Steve Harper playing Alan Eagleson, trying to help get a rematch of the 72 Canada/Russia hockey summit series off the ground this summer, in time for the 35^th anniversary? Seems plausible, after all, you may have heard he is writing a book about hockey. And watches hockey. And likes hockey. Because he's a regular guy. Honest. He likes curling too.

Tretiak is spearheading a proposal to re-stage the '72 Summit Series, pitching an eight-gam confrontation between Russia's best hockey players and those of Canada this August on the 35th anniversary of the epic original.

Tretiak, who sits in the Russian parliament, says he has the support of both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

So this is Harper's plan. Canada beats the evil empire in August and he cruises to a majority in the fall, basking in the afterglow. If they lose though…Dion's fault. He must have given the game plan to France, who passed in on to the Russians. Harper majority, and treason charges for Dion.

If I were Steve though, I wouldn't find comparisons like this helpful:

That prompted the Russian ambassador to Canada, Georgiy Mamedov, to quip that the series will include two "enforcers."

But even the backing of two iron-willed leaders like Putin and Harper stands for little...

I've heard stories of Putin's "iron will."

No, no Georgiy, I'm not like Putin, I'm like Bush. Bush!!

Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers