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Midget AAA – A very good time – probably because they have two very good guys at the helm. Had to do a quick reconnoiter re a planning issue at 16 Mile so we stopped off to watch some of their game at RO A against Guelph. Other than RO A being quite a commute from their home rink and dressing room at JCA, ??? the game was “interesting. We only stayed for two periods as I did not want to be in the building if things went the way I thought they might. Oakville outplayed Guelph convincingly in the first and then in the second probably were on power plays for roughly 18 of the 20 minutes. Guelph clearly deserved a number of penalties but Oakville was not squeaky clean and seemed to enjoy the sight lines being tilted in one direction. That is as far as my comment on _____ing goes as the striped animals get all upset when I express an opinion that does not nominate their members for sainthood.. I will say anyone can have a bad day – we were just concerned that Guelph was going to turn a bad day into a S Storm similar to the Welland OMHA Playoff on the same rink many years ago (I think 7 suspended players, 1 goalie and all the coaches that needed special OMHA “papal” dispensation so that they could ice a team for their final game the next day). It was ugly and stupid.

Anyway Oakville was up 4 – 0 after two, went on to win 6 – 0 and I don’t know if Armageddon broke out or not. This runs the Midget AAAs to 21 – 0 – 2 in their 23 games. Not too shabby at all. Continued good luck to Tom, Mario and the squad.

OMHA – Early heads-up if anyone is interested. The OMHA has called a Special General Meeting for Sunday January 23 at 2:00 PM at the Delta Meadowvale Resort and Conference Centre (a popular spot for hearings as well). Details on the meeting are on the OMHA site and were in Friday’s OHMA Insider Enewsletter – you should subscribe. Essentially the entire meeting is being called to ratify the OMHA’s motion to amend the current “Exemption to Play in Another Centre”. In short – the enhanced freedom of player movement that has been featured in the press, ballyhooed by John Gardner and a topic near and dear to many parents (especially outside of AAA, The GTHL and the LOR). I think many people have very high and broad expectations as to what this coming change will alow. I suggest those people read the motion closely and several times, and, or refer it to their Philadelphia lawyer to get a real appreciation of just what these proposed new “freedoms” are. (here is a link to the motion)

I have, and I have an opinion (as always) but a) I would like to hear what others think and b) wait to see if this gets picked up on by the brilliant media mavens to hear their “interpretation. As an official outcast, I can not be a delegate, but I may go to this meeting just to hear what I expect will be some interesting debate!

Official Concession – Yes it is only January, BUT, Crosby is hurt, I am in last place in the FHP and going nowhere. I think every one of my top 10 or more picks has had a serious injury or been sidelined for a while and I am DONE! So heap on the ridicule, razz me all you want and get it over with. I am now officially jinxed and out of contention!

Russia played their game for 60 minutes – Canada did not, Midway through the second and on, they gave up the aggressive physical game they were playing and what got them there and just lost their focus. The too many men call at the end of the second was just an indication of that and I don’t recall one good “hit” in the third. Almost all tournament and for half of the game they smothered the opposition and owned the boards. Not so in the end. Were they tired, complacent, or did nerves catch up?

Let’s not forget or downplay that Russia has a good team that does not quit, that proved before that they could come back and that they beat Sweden (who beat Canada).

Russia – good move in switching goalies. I don’t know their coaches style or mindset but to me this was less of a goalie issue than it was a message to the team that we have to do something different.

Time Out – Time outs are precious – you only get one, but as a coach, I would absolutely have used mine when Russia scored the 3 – 2 goal 11 seconds after they potted their first one. I yelled these instructions to the TV but they were ignored. My additional call at that time that “next goal wins” was also right and part of the reason for a “take a break – reorg.” Need after the second goal. However, Cameron is a pro coach and I am just a former minor hockey has been so what do I know.

Injuries – waiting to hear about “injuries” as I think a few of the Canadian key drivers got racked pretty good and that may have helped “blunt” their focus. Ellis, Schenn and Johansen were on my list.

Stretch passes are what I call “goal sucks” but that was a key part of the Russian game that I think they exploited more as the game went on and it seemed to cause Canada trouble with their game plan.

Five Goal Meltdown in one period – they lost it – The Russians “smelt blood” and went after it. It looked like everyone was waiting for someone else to make the “big play” to save the game and it never happened.

But let’s remember, these young men are essentially 18 years old (kids – sort of), with high expectations for themselves and from others, lots of pressure in a game where they are bombarded with the fact that they are representing their country in a world forum and need to get back to the Gold. Full house all for them and a global TV audience. They had an exceptionally bad period – shit happens – get over it and move on.

Kicked off flight – and just to prove they are kids – the Russian Champs got kicked off of their Delta flight for being too exuberant and creating a potential safety hazard.

FSMT – enough on the Juniors. I have an FSMT meeting tonight as the tournament is coming up quickly. Starts a week from tomorrow! Yikes! Glad everyone else is organized!! Looking forward to some good hockey and even better fun. Check the site for the schedule www.fsmt.ca and come out and watch a few games. We have some great prizes and the skill competition on Saturday is always fun to watch.

Juniors – played a great game against the U.S. as they simply blanketed the US with “in your face” hockey, relentless pressure. Every time the US got near the puck there seemed to be a red sweater all over him or laying on the body. It took the US until mid way in the third to make any headway and that may have been more a function of a) a “we have it in the bag” mindset creeping into the Canadians’ heads and, or b) a bit of fatigue catching up from two high pressure “must win” games in two days. The sea of red in the stands and turning the rink into a Canadian – Buffalo, Ontario has also been impressive as where else and for what else could one “major” country’s home game be so dominated by foreigners. And this is with the “home” team, a tournament favourite playing!

Canada and Hockey – you have to love it.

Or at least until tonight’s game is over and we see what happens – Of course we are going to win! The question is only by how many! Think positive, especially with a former Halton hills goalie in net.

Go! Canada! Go!

Thumbs up or down!

Down – to the Windsor school and school board who suspended for a day a number of young ladies for wearing duct Tape shirts with letters promoting their school team to a major annual event. Yeas they were warned, but they promised (and delivered on) nothing revealing or provocative and got suspended anyway. Can kids not do anything anymore to have fun that is not either fully scripted, supervised or robotic? Everyone knows Duct Tape is a National Treasure – just ask Red Green. How can you penalize anyone for its creative use – this was also part of a school tradition – Way to go Grinches!!

Up – to the young ladies!

Down – to the American Airlines pilot who allegedly caused first a hijack ID Squawk and then an emergency landing at Pearson Airport by spilling his coffee on some communication equipment. That will turn out to be one expensive cup of Java. Not to mention the hassle of the incident report, the obligatory involvement of the CATSB and FAA plus the internal “performance” review!

Down – to lottery pool mooches. Apparently the payout to the Bell group that won the $50 Lotto Max is delayed and under review based on some “additional” group members coming forward with a claim for a piece of the pie. Nice play – were they in or out, on this or other tickets, did they pay etc, etc, etc. take note for pool play in the future, pay, sign, and get a copy to avoid the thieving, greedy hordes.

Down – to the US Navy and the FORMER Captain of the USS Enterprise nuclear carrier on both the production and display of “stupid” videos and the fact that the big Brass did not act on them for three years. In fact it seems like the promoted the guy from XO to captain during the time. What does it say about the US Navy if they promote an alleged porno producer and distributor using the ship’s internal systems to be the head honcho. It is not like the Captain of one of the most powerful ships afloat, complete with his own air force and nuclear weapons needs to be somewhat sensible!

Two Thumbs Down – Not a fan – While he may have been an exceptional baseball player, Roberto Alomar would not have received my vote for the hall of fame. While Toronto fans and media appear to be all agog over Alomar’s election and the likelihood of a “Blue Jay Lid” being on a Hall of Fame bust, I think it is a bust. It seems too many people have forgotten some of the less favourable aspects of Mr. Alomar’s time here and elsewhere. Maybe they don’t even know about some of them! If the argument is that what you do on the field is what matters and not that “other stuff” – give Pete Rose a call.

New Year’s Eve – was very low key at Chez Moorehead’s. After a rousing round of “Stick and Puck” at Ice Sports with “the boys” – more on that later, it was home to watch the Canadian Junior try unsuccessfully to overcome less than stellar netminding to beat the Swedes – did not happen. Sweden was full value for the win and deserved it. Especially after the talking heads confidently reminded viewers that Canada (Juniors) had never lost in a shoot-out! Right – until yesterday that is. Hopefully the loss simply means we get to see another game due to the quarter final game against Switzerland – which they better win.

BTW – I am sick of seeing/hearing the Schenn brothers ad – so TSN – get some new creative.

Post the Junior Game, I had to don my Chef’s hat to create another double batch of my world famous Caramel Popcorn. It seems the last two double batches evaporated. By then it was after eight and time to crank up the WII.

WII – did I mention that a family gift this year was a WII console and remotes. I recognize that we were probably the last WII-less household in Oakville (maybe Ontario), but with all the other electronic entertainment we had under the roof it was not really a priority. However, we finally knuckled under and went with the full monty – console, four remotes, numchuks (or whatever they are) and games. While we are still working our way through the Olympics and the basic sports game that comes with the unit, a few observations.

• The games are a lot of fun and some are very realistic in terms of interpreting your actions relative to the “real” thing.
• It takes time to build the coordination and figure out all the controls – some of us are “controller challenged”.
• Archery – I suck!
• Frisbee Golf – working on it but fun
• Bowling – Current expertise – The Champ has the current High Score (which is bugging certain individuals)
• 100 Pin bowling – weird
• Sore back – sore legs – sore shoulder

There are a lot of other games and activities for the WII that I have not tried yet but look like they are really “fitness” oriented. Andrew has the NFL Training Camp game that looks like a cardiac arrest opportunity for us old guys.

Stick and Puck – I go out for some exercise and how can it be bad to be out on the ice with a hockey stick in hand. Friday (New Year’s Eve) we thought might be good as everyone would be somewhere else! WRONG! The joint was crowded, they opened a second sheet and it was crowded too. Not only was it crowded, but the ice was terrible, pitted and rough almost like pebbled curling ice plus rough spots.

I think I have mentioned the one rule at S&P is don’t loiter in front of the net. This is where the little guys that are there drive me nuts. They don’t seem to “know” this and “Dad” does not seem to know enough to tell them. You go in for a shot and suddenly a herd of ankle biters wanders in front of the net and starts playing there – MOVE!.

That brings up the other rule which is “take a look”! On Friday, some moron must have had his head stuck well up his lower back as in the first five minutes I am skating in the high slot angling in on the net when CLANG! Some idiot pranged one off my lid when I was not even near the net. I turned around to see who it was but could not tell with the herd that was there. Apparently Shaun saw who it was but wouldn’t tell me – I guess he through I was going to throw down on the guy. Fortunately I was wearing my super duper new Bauer Brain Bucket that Andrew got me for Christmas and did not feel a thing. However, the gutless wonder did not even have the stones to step up and simply apologize. Smarten up folks.

What I will say from what I have seen so far is some of the “best behaved” guys on the ice are the older teens / recent minor hockey grad types who know the drill. Good for them.

Rangers & Wolves – Interesting approach being taken in KW with the planned “merger” of four levels at AAA with the Kitchener MHA, Waterloo MHA and the KW Rangers OHL club all in the mix. Instead of separate Kitchener and Waterloo clubs at MB, B, MM and M AAA (8 teams) the plan is to cut it in half and go to four.

The MB and MM become “Rangers” and the B and M become Wolves. One might say that Kitchener wins as they control the “draft year”.

The other challenge is that in the name of being “more competitive”, four teams of young players are losing their opportunity to play AAA in their home centre. Shades of “Winning isn’t something, winning is everything”.

Here is a Record article on it.

Despite that, the local guys “done good”. Of the 15 divisions, Ranger teams made it to the finals in 9 and won 5 of them.

Championships go to MA A, MP A, MP AE, MB A and MB AE. No doubles or triples brought home the bacon which is a typical Oakville performance where typically the number of titles has an inverse relationship to the number of letters.

Here is a listing of the division championship games. I may update the two missing midget games later.

Division
Home
Visitor

Minor Atom AAA
Detroit Little Caesars – 1
Burlington Eagles – 4

Minor Atom AA
Mississauga Braves – 1
Flamborough Sabres – 5

Minor Atom A
Oakville Rangers – 5
Meadowvale Mohawks – 0

Minor Atom AE
Oakville Rangers – 1
Barrie Colts – 4

Minor Peewee AAA
Toronto Marlboros – 0
Ajax Pickering Raiders – 1

Minor Peewee AA
Mississauga Braves – 2
Oakville Rangers – 0

Minor Peewee A
Oakville Rangers – 3
Whitby Wildcats – 0

Minor Peewee AE
Oakville Rangers – 7
Georgetown Raiders – 4

Minor Bantam AAA
York Simcoe Express – 0
Detroit Little Caesars – 2

Minor Bantam AA
Mississauga Terriers – 2
Oakville Rangers – 1

Minor Bantam A
Ajax Knights – 0
Oakville Rangers – 3

Minor Bantam AE
Oakville Rangers – 3
Hamilton Phantoms – 1

Minor Midget AA-A
West Mall Lightning – 0
Kanata Blazers – 2

Minor Midget A-A
Welland Tigers – 4
Hasle Loeren Furuset – 0

Minor Midget AE
Oakville Rangers – 0
Georgetown Raiders – 4

As an add to earlier goodies, I have posted a second page of photos from two games Thursday see RBMT Photo 2 to go with RBMT Photo 1 in the Nav bar or from the links.

(Photo pages must be accessed from Web Site www.minorhockeyfan.com

I have also posted a spreadsheet that has all the game scores. I did not get all fancy with this one as I could not be bothered doing someone else’s job again. It also has a tab for just the Championship games. RBMT Spreadsheet. (Last two game scores are still pending – I may update later).

Tomorrow it is off to a rare Friday appearance at Stick and Puck and it looks like I will have both of my Wingmen there as we seem to have talked Shaun out of retirement. PLEASE – everyone else – STAY AWAY – We could be dangerous.

OOPS – scores are up – tournament over – To the good guys – well done – now go rest up and have a wee nip!

Link is on the Nav Bar on the left or here is the page. (Need to go to my web for the pictures)

They are unlabelled but cover the three games in order – so check the uniforms.

The first shots are the 3:00 PM MM A game between Gota Traneberg (White) and Cooksville Phantoms – Gota won 4 – 1.

The second shots are the 5:00 PM MM AA game between Turun Palloseura (White) and North London Nationals – Nats won 4 – 1.

The third was the 8:30 PM MM A game between Oakville Rangers and Hasle Loeren Furuset. – Hasle won 7 – 6 with a mad flurry of goals after Oakville was up three zip and some “stupid” penalties including three Rangers tossed!

Enjoy – I particularly like the one I call the “mismatch”! See if you can spot it?