Are you ready, Canada? Team Canada takes on Slovakia in Men’s Olympic hockey tonight (Friday February 26). The game is on at 9:30pm Eastern (6:30pm Pacific) and will be broadcast live on CTV. (more…)
Canadians are demanding Men’s Hockey gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver - rightfully so, in my opinion. To cheer on our Canadian Olympic hockey team, here’s your 2010 Men’s Olympic Hockey schedule for Team Canada: (more…)
Stuck in your office but want to watch the Team Canada Olympic roster announcement live? No problem. While it seems every Canadian TV network is broadcasting the announcement live, there is at least one place where you can watch it live, online: CTV has will stream it live today at noon ET from CTVolympics.ca. I will see you there!
Update: If the video broadcast doesn’t work for you listen to it live online with streaming radio @ TeamRadio.ca
It’s that time of year again. Along with the Christmas holidays brings the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. That means Canadians across the country get together and watch the hockey tournament that Canada is expected to win gold, year after year. For those of us without TSN or stuck in our offices during the tournament, the question is how to watch it online. This year, once again, TSN will be streaming the games live on their Web site at tsn.ca. The full schedule of games being streamed online includes every game for Team Canada as well as every playoff game. The schedule this year is quite good, with games shown on weekends, holidays or during prime time in the Eastern time zone. That means a more productive office place, or so one would think. The first game shown online is Canada’s first: Boxing Day at 3:30pm Eastern. The opponent is Latvia. That one could get messy. See you online!
Looks like you can watch the entire 1987 ‘brawl’ game online starting with this clip (1 of 26).
Apparently you’re looking for the lyrics to ‘Free To Be (The Leaf’s Song)’ by Alan Frew. Look no further. The song lyrics from the video version are reproduced here courtesy of sportaholik.com (where you can find other Toronto recreational players to play with!):
Free To Be - The Leaf’s Song (Alan Frew, formerly of Glass Tiger)
From the Isle of Vancouver
To the Labrador Sea
One nation, glorious and free
Where I’m free to be me.From the song of the Prairies
To the call of the ponds
Heroes of times come and goneWhere the memories go on and on and on
Oh! Oh! Oh! This is Canada’s song (Go Leafs Go)
Oh! Oh! Oh! Where my heart belongs (Go Leafs Go)Oh! Oh! Oh! This is Canada’s team.
Now you can sing along… I guess.
The Post had a front page article today about the new unofficial Toronto Maple Leafs anthem ‘Free To Be’ (the Leaf’s Song) by former Glass Tiger front man Alan Frew. It seems to be ruffling feathers across Canada as it declares the Maple Leafs to be ‘Canada’s Team’. Catchy tune, sure, but I think fans of the rest of Canada’s NHL teams may have something to say about the lyrics. Judge for yourself, below.
Hockey goalie masks have changed dramatically over time. Fifty years ago tomorrow was when the first goalie mask was worn in the NHL. It was Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens, after taking yet another bruising puck to the head. Red Fisher describes that night:
“What happened was that 3:06 into the game, Plante had been struck in the face by a short shot from Rangers right-winger Andy Bathgate, opening a deep, seven-stitch cut running from the corner of the goaltender’s lips through his nostril. Then, after a delay of 21 minutes, he returned to the ice wearing a full-face mask - the first goaltender in NHL history to do so.”
To me the best goalie masks are still the ones from the older days. Most had scarier looks and more simple paint jobs. Flipping through the retro goalie masks shown on hockeymasks.com (where, yes, you can order your own replicas!) and found some great ones. Clicking the link will take you to an image of the mask.
Top favourites:
Other notable goalie masks:
Mostly simple white masks, but still awesome:
The masks of today totally don’t compare to those above, in my opinion. Obviously goalie mask design had to change to keep up with harder shots and better sticks - for safety reasons. Unfortunately that took away from some of the sinister look and uniqueness of goalie masks being worn.
Below is the Jacques Plante story, as retold in a Canadian Heritage moment. He had to stand up to coach Toe Blake who wanted no part of him wearing a goalie mask due to reduced visibility.
Some interesting information on the history of the goalie mask, as told by a goalie mask historian.
The Hockey season has just begun and so have the highlight reel goals. Here’s one from the Boston Bruins “TD Bank Mini 1-on-1″ competition. One more thing, he’s 9 years old:
Good news sportaholiks! Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment (the folks who own the Leafs, Raptors, and FC) have donated $2.3 million dollars over the next few years to uprade Toronto indoor and outdoor ice rinks. So, curse them all you want when they gouge you for watching a sub par product (the Leafs… actually, throw the Raptors and FC in there too!) but it’s nice to see them contributing some of their money making machine towards recreational hockey players. Don’t forget, we’ve got a nice map of Toronto shinny rinks for when winter returns.
Yes, we’re well past the mid of the Toronto winter (most would say that’s a good thing!), but we’re launching our Toronto skating rinks map regardless. There’s still time to get your skates on and enjoy the outdoors. There are more Toronto skating rinks than you see there in the default view of the map. If you don’t live in the core of the city simply zoom out our drag the map to another area that is off the map (for example, north Etobicoke or north Scarborough). The yellow pins refer to rinks that offer skate rentals (at the moment this is just Nathan Phillips Square and Natrel Rink at Harbourfront). My personal favourite, between those two, is Harbourfront. It seems less crowded usually. Of course there’s always something special about skating at Nathan Phillips Square, especially when the Square is decorated in Christmas colours! I’ve skated at a few others as well: Ryerson’s pond (Lake Devo), right on the Ryerson University campus, offers a unique experience as you skate amongst hunks of rock that protrude from the lake. That rink is also a minute or so walk from Dundas Station, so it’s easy to get to. You could even follow up some skating with a nice meal from the nearby restaurants, or grab a pint at the area pubs. Late at night when the lights go down, you’ll see Ryerson’s rink it turn into a shinny game featuring people of all ages - usually those living nearby, including the Ryerson students in Residence. A bit further up Yonge (Yonge and College/Gerrard) is another small pond (Barbara Ann Scott) that seems to be rarely used, at least any time I’ve walked by. This is likely a good alternative for some quiet, reflecting skating without the worry of running into people. Of course, they’ve built a zillion condos around there lately so that may have changed for this winter. Along with the Toronto Skating Rinks map, we also mapped the rinks that allow for shinny at certain times of the day. Check out the Toronto Shinny Rinks map for a shinny game near you. Years ago I used to play at Campbell Park (Landsdowne & Dupont) which always had a good game on shinny on Sunday mornings. Check toronto.ca/parks for current shinny times. Enjoy!