We just made a major upgrade to how player search results appear on sportaholik.com. Basically, those who provide more information on their player profile will rank higher. We think this makes sense because those players are likely more serious and interested in playing. (more…)
Great news for us Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fans as tonight, there’s a couple of great events on also happen to be available free (with a cable subscription) and in HD. Those of us who subscribe to either Rogers or Bell cable will be able to take advantage and watch these events live.
WEC 45 can be seen on TSN2 (Ch 98 / 507)
Strikeforce Evolution can be seen on Super Channel 2 - SCHD2 (Ch 559 for Rogers, Ch 844 for Bell). Lucky for us, a free preview for Super Channel is available until Mid-Janaury.
Both have a 10pm start time.
For those interested in watching the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and other Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events streamed live online to your computer, there are a number of options from justin.tv and other websites. The problem is you have to deal with signals dropping suddenly, poor choppy feeds and sometimes lots of popups.
Here at sportaholik.com, we’ve found from first hand experience a better solution that is more stable and reliable. Just follow these simple steps and get ready for the next event!
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.
I was out playing squash over at the St. Lawrence Community Recreation Centre (video above) over the weekend with a few other sportaholik squash players. There has been a huge debate over which squash ball to use. I’ve always used the “double yellow” and one of the guys insisted on the “blue dot” because it’s fast. Not that I am anywhere near pro level but I’ve always been told that the “double yellow” was the ones that experienced players use and the “blue dot” is for beginners. It also seems to be the only ball that is used in recreational tournaments and games I’ve been involved with at any skill level.The simple reason that the blue dot ball is fast is because it’s extra bouncy to allow beginners to rally back and forth as it sits up better and gives the player enough time to return the ball anywhere on the court.Of course for the “double yellow” ball to be effective, one must warm the ball up by hitting it hard back and forth a number of times before actually playing. I find this works well and makes the ball pretty fast as well. What do you sportaholik squash players play with? Feel free to comment and let us know!
Some more information on squash can be found here:
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!
Attention all Toronto shinny hockey players: We’ve put together a Google map of Toronto shinny rinks for you to easily find shinny rinks near you. From Etobicoke to Scarborough, Lake Ontario up to Steeles, we’ve taken a list of City of Toronto rinks that offer shinny and placed them on an easy to use map. Note that most of these rinks have special times that shinny is played (as they are shared with pleasure skating times). Also, many of the time slots are for certain ages, gender, or skill levels. We thought about including all of this data, but decided to link instead to a resource that has it, ensuring accurate information going forward. Find a rink that’s near you and then click through on the link to the City of Toronto Parks site that provides you with schedules for each rink. If you are looking for more detailed information about the rinks themselves, try cityrinks.ca, which has a crazy (crazy good!) amount of information about each rink. Enjoy!
Yep, we launched the new sportaholik.com for Vancouver, London Ontario, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Guelph over the past week. You’ll notice a more consistent look among all of the pages. Also, the right sidebar contains information such as the most recently posted games (and, in most cases, a list of players who play the related sport). Let us know what you think! Enjoy!
Biking in Toronto can be a bit of a life threatening affair sometimes but there are many online resources to help you make the most of your journey, whether getting from A to B or enjoying a leisurely bike ride on paths.
Getting Around Toronto on Bicycle
Toronto Biking News
There are a number of online resources that you can read to keep up to date on Toronto biking news and events:
Other Toronto Biking Resources
Whew!… What did I forget? Please comment below with any additions or feedback. Thanks!