canada wraps up group B on new years eve canada put the finishing touches on group B with a 4-1 win over russia. pretty good game. canada now has a bye to the semi finals, while russia faces switzerland in one quarter final game. earlier sweden claimed group A with a 7-4 win over finland and also has a bye into the semi finals, while the czech republic faces the united states plays in the other quarter final. both quarter finals are on wednesday. finland, germany, latvia and slovakia go to the relegation round where one team gets relegated to division one.
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washington takes nfc east, wild card weekend set the washington redskins have taken the nfc east with a 28-18 win over the dallas cowboys. washingtons running game carried the win. they will play the seattle seahawks at home on january 6th in one wild card game. indianapolis is at baltimore on the 6th as well. on january 5th its the cincinnati bengals in houston to play the texans and the minnesota vikings visiting the green bay packers. there are your wild card matchups.
final day in nfl final regular season day in the nfl had minnesota vikings get into the playoff by winning a doozie over green bay. with the houston texans losing, the denver broncos claimed the first seed in the afc with their win over kansas city, and at the same time the new england patriots got the second seed after beating miami 28-0. houston has the third seed, baltimore has the fourth seed, indianapolis has the fifth seed and cincinnati has the sixth seed. in the nfc, atlanta claimed the first seed weeks ago, san francisco got the second seed with their win and green bay losing. seattle has the fifth seed and minnesota has the sixth seed. the fourth seed will be claimed by the winner of the washington redskins vs dallas cowboys game, which starts in about half an hour. the winner will win the nfc east as well as the fourth seed.
canada wins close one vs united states canada beat the u.s. 2-1 in a very good and close game. goaltending on both sides was excellent in this one. both goalies, john gibson of the u.s. and malcolm subban of canada, got the player of the game for each team. canada plays russia tomorrow to round out the round robin. game time 7am here.
canada victorious against slovakia canada survived a competitive slovakia team by winning 6-3. slovakia was up 2-0 and 3-1 before canada came back. slovakia scored two of their goals with two five minute powerplays. canada started their comeback with a powerplay goal in a 5 on 3 situation. next game for canada is sunday against the united states. speaking of the u.s., they play russia at 7am mt, 9am et
canada begins world junior quest for gold canada began their quest for gold in ufa, russia with a 9-3 win over germany. mark scheifele had two goals and ryan nugent-hopkins had five points in the win. next game for canada is friday against slovakia. it will be rocking in a couple of hours as russia begins their tournament against slovakia.
seahawks strike gold and make playoffs seattle seahawks massacrd san francisco 49ers 42-13 to lock up their playoff spot. that still makes the nfc west title up for grabs as well. that will make week 17 a heck of a week. with two divisions (nfc west and nfc east) up for grabs, plus three byes up for grabs (houston, denver and new england vie for two in afc while green bay, seattle or san francisco fight for the last one). its going to be a good one next sunday.
colts cap turnaround, bengals knock out steelers the indianapolis colts capped a remarkable turn around by winning their way into the playoffs by beating kansas city 20-13. the colts are 10 wins and 5 losses after winning once in 16 games last year. awesome turn around. meanwhile the cincinnati bengals beat the pittsburgh steelers 13-10, not only putting themselves into the playoffs, but eliminating the steelers at the same time. wow. so all six AFC playoff spots are taken. they are: the houston texans, denver broncos, new england patriots, baltimore ravens, indianapolis colts and cincinnati bengals. cincy and baltimore will decide the AFC north.
ravens fly into playoffs through back door with the steelers losing to the cowboys, the baltimore ravens clinched a playoff spot (despite losing to denver earlier today). the ravens have at least a wild card spot. with them losing their previous two games, they got in the back door way. who knows, maybe they still get the division.
packers, texans lock in division titles the green bay packers wrapped up the NFC north with a 21-13 win in chicago. it is their second division in a row. congrats to them. meanwhile in houston, the texans put their stamp on the AFC south title with a 26-19 win over the indianapolis colts. houston came to play. congrats to the texans. thats is five divisions wrapped up, three more dvisions and four wild card spots to be decided. stay tuned. check out www.nfl.com for mor info.
i got my hands on...... ..... season 8 of hells kitchen and season 13 and 14 of survivor. had to pick up hells kitchen and survivor was delivered here. hells kitchen was delivered here but i wasnt home at the time. here i am at home watching survivor phillipines. its been good. survivor finale is on sunday.
a chilly weekend in a midst of a chilly weekend. last i seen it was -17. supposed to stay there today. throw in a wind chill and it gets bone chilling. supposed to warm up monday and tuesday. that is going to feel like a shock to the system. the trees here yesterday were frost covered. could have made a post card picture easily. joys of winter.
nfl run to playoffs with four teams already in the playoffs, this weekend, i think, begins the run for the playoffs. the denver broncos, new england patriots and atlanta falcons already winning their divisions and the houston texans already clinching a playoff spot (and close to a dvision), there are five divisions and four wild card spots up for grabs. four weeks left in the season that began tonight with denver beating oakland 26-13 (a meaningless game except maybe for seeding). gonna be a good run.
a snowy beginning to december woke up and looked outside to see snow coming down. not snowing that much now. not too long to christmas. wow 24 more sleeps. so far got my laundry almost finished. got a load in the dryer yet. gonna try start some christmas shopping later and watch one of my chirstmas dvd (got a choice of elf, charlie browns christmas, rudolph the red nosed reindeer, how the grinch stole christmas - tv show, and a christmas carol. im saving a christmas carol for christmas eve). anyways, an interesting start december.
end of november already. already the last day of november. great day of the week to have it - on a friday. gotta pay rent for december though. already got the bus pass so i could get to work. joys of working outside. the wind makes the cold a bit colder. icy beard for one. hands get cold. feet as well. been noticing the right one really gets it. gotta get used to it. its gonna get colder yet.
100th grey cup goes to............. .....the toronto argonauts. the owned the calgary stampeders most of the game. the argos win the game 35-22. it was a pretty good game. ricky ray wins his first in toronto and third overall. toronto is the second team in a row to win a grey cup at home. b.c. won at home last year. lots of home grown toronto players. the most outstanding player was chad kackert. he had 195 total yard in the game. the most outstanding canadian was rickey foley with four tackes, an interception and was excellent on special teams. a team won the first grey cup in 1909 and a team from toronto wins the 100th. that is it for another cfl season. see you in 2013
grey cup weekend, christmas stuff going up it the grey cup party heard in toronto as preperations are already underway. the stampeders arrived in t.o. in western garb - at least a few of them. showing off the western wear is awesome. from pankake breakfasts to events in some hotels, it brings the cfl fans out in droves. the game is sunday at around 4:20pm mountain time. meanwhile i started the yearly putting up the christmas stuff tradition. i already put up my trees so far. more tomorrow as it is after 10pm here. more fun in the morning. after the laundry.
end of nascar season is in brad keselowski is 2012 champion, despite a 15th place finish. jimmie johnson was in the hunt until 1. his crew didn't put a lug nut on all the way on the last pit stop and 2. johnson had a drive train break causing him to finish in the garage 36th and third in the points. jeff gordon won the race and clint bowyer finished second in the race and in the points. see ya in daytona in february.
east final a dandy the toronto argonauts are heading to the grey cup with a thrilling 27-20 win in montreal. it came down to the last play with anthony calvillo throwing for the touchdown and the receiver almost had it. the ball bounced off his chest protector. the argos will face either b.c. or calgary for the grey cup. its the argos first trip to the grey cup since 2004 where they beat b.c. 23-19.
beginning of championship weeks the beginning of championshipe weeks is already underway with the camping world truck series wrapping up last night with james buescher winning the title there. the nationwide title well be decided tonight and the sprint cup tomorrow. the week will end with the grey cup decided on the 25th. already has the making of a great week already. update: ricky stenhouse jr has just wrapped up the nationwide title. that is two in a row for him. congrats
its that time of year when....... .....the first carton of egg nog and first box of after eight's get purchased. yup. i buckled. twice this week. love the egg nog and after eights. christmas stuff is already up at westmount mall (been up since monday) and at west edmonton mall the santaville is almost complete for the arrival on saturday. almost time to put some up at home. maybe after the grey cup on the 25th of this month.
cfl west semi final this was an entertaining game. it was back an forth game with several lead changes. in the end the calgary stampeders beat out the saskatchewan roughriders 36-30. the stamps will now go to b.c. to play the lions next sunday in the west final at 2:30pm here. looking forward to it.
cfl east semi final the toronto argonauts just put the finishing touches on a 42-26 victory over the edmonton eskimos in the east semi final. 31 points in the second quarter aided the offence. chad owens also returned a punt for a touchdown as well. it is toronto's first playoff win at home since 2006. they will face the montreal alouettes in the east final next sunday in montreal.
a not so welcome blast of winter most of central alberta got walloped with snow and - i think - is headin south and east. from what i heard edmonton got hit with close to a foot of snow. it was snowing snow much edmonton transit was behind schedule by a couple of hours and st. albert transit cancelled theur bus runs. ouch. the streets are naturally icy. it's supposed to hang around -11 or -12 for a couple of days. stay safe and stay warm.
two cfl records fall in battle of alberta calgary stampeders's john cornish set a cfl rushing record for most rushing yards by a canadian with a 22 yard carry in the third quarter in their win over edmonton. he past former eskimo and one time calgary gm (i think - i need to double check that one) normie kwong for the record. on the defensive side, j.c. sherritt of the eskimos set a record for most tackes in one season that stood since 1994. he passed calvin tiggle on his last tackle of the game. by the way, calgary won 30-27. b.c. won the west and montreal won the east and get a bye into their division finals. with the loss, edmonton still gets to cross over into the east division, having a better record than winnipeg and hamilton, and will play in toronto in the east semi. saskatchewan goes to calgary to play in the west semi. both semi final games are on remembrance day - november 11.
happy halloween it's halloween night here and all of the trick or treaters are out in their costumes and such on a candy hunt. all is quiet here. quiet way to end october. with november on the doorstep, the grey cup will be played and the nascar championship will be decided. lots of nfl football as well. other than halloween this month, the giants won the world series, canada had thanksgiving and we had some snow come down, and more is coming down now. thats it for now.
giants world series champions the giants are world series champions with a 4-3 win in 10 innings. ryan theriot scored the winning run off a marco scutaro base hit. sergio romo strikes out miguel cabrera to end the game and the series. santiago casilla gets the win and phil coke gets the loss. it is the giants 7th title and second in san francisco. pablo sandoval was named world series mvp and won a 2013 423 chevy camaro. so that is it for another baseball season see ya in 2013.
giants win again one win away. ryan vogelsong pitched a very good game and the giants defence turned in some key double plays as san francisco wins 2-0 again. first time since the 1966 baltimore orioles to put in back to back shut outs in a world series (the orioles had three in a row). they are also the first national league team since the 1919 cincinnati reds to put in back to back shut outs. (1919 was the infamous black sox scandal where 8 chicago white sox players conspired to throw - or deliberatly lose - the world series). sergio romo got the save and anibal sanchez of the tigers got the loss. game four is tomorrow night in detroit.
giants in world series, will have new champs we will have new world series champions as the san francisco giants blew out the st. louis cardinals 9-0 and won the n.l.c.s in seven games. the giants won the last three games by a total score of 20-1 (5-0, 6-1 and 9-0). the giants will face the detroit tigers in the world series starting wednesday in san francisco.
tigers sweep away yankees, in world series the detroit tigers dominated the new york yankees with an 8-1 win in game four and a four game sweep of the yankees. last time the tigers were in the world series was in 2006 and i think they beat the yankees on the way. it is their 11th trip to the series. they will play either san francisco or st.louis.
monday night comeback the denver broncos, at half time, were trailing 0-24, came back to win 35-24 in san diego, and at the same time tying the largest comeback in monday night football history (i think miami vs n.y. jets was bigger). peyton manning tied an NFL record for most 4th quarter/overtime wins with 47, tying john elway. it is also that a team that trailed by 24 won by double digits - tonight 11. wow.
cardiac cardinals shock nationals down to their last out and trailing 7-5 in the top of the ninth, the cardinals score four runs on back to back base hits (the first with the bases loaded) to win 9-7 and the series three games to two. definitely reminiscent to game six of the world series last year against texas. the cardinals will now travel to san francisco to begin the national leage championship series against the giants starting sunday.
tigers maul a's on way to a.l.c.s the detroit tigers put the finishing touches of a 6-0 win over the a's in oakland and also punched their ticket to the american league championship series, winning the division series three games to two. they owned it tonight. they will play either new york or baltimore starting saturday.
giants knock out reds, in n.l.c.s the san francisco giants are in the national league championship series with a 6-4 win in cincinnati and eliminate the reds three games to two. they will face either st.louis or washington. theyre in the ninth inning tied at one. update: washington won 2-1. game five tomorrow. winner plays san fran starting sunday
a "brees"y night in new orleans drew brees of the new olreans saints threw four touchdown passes - three to marques colston - at the same time breaking johnny unitas' record in a 31-24 win over the san diego chargers. brees has now threw a touchdown pass in 48 consecutive games, breaking unitas' record of 47. congrats to drew.
o's corral rangers, faces yanks next the baltimore orioles just beat the texas rangers 5-1 and will face the new york yankees in the a.l.d.s. starting sunday in baltimore. so theres the first wild card game there. the washington/st.louis series also starts sunday. san fran vs cincy starts tomorrow as well as detroit vs oakland.
first wild card game known as "infield fly rule" game the st. louis cardinals beat the atlanta braves 6-3 in the first wild card playff game amidst a LATE infield fly rule call. the infield fly rule is when there are two or three runners on base with less than two out and there is a pop up in the infield. in this case the pop up ended up into the outfield and the st.louis left fielder and shortstop going for the ball when the short stop thought he heard the left fielder call for it. just before the ball hit the ground in left, the left field ump stuck his arm in the air to call infield fly. instead of the bases loaded the batter was out and there were runners on second and third. atlanta manager freddy gonzales protested the call and the game. (he can call one in situations like this one). st.louis now faces washington and atlanta is done.
miguel cabrera triple crown winner miguel cabrera won mlb's triple crown winner by finishing first in average (.330) home runs (47) and runs batted in (139). he is the first player to win it since 1967 with carl yastremski winning it. great year fro cabrera. with him and the tigers in the playoffs, maybe a world series. congrats to cabrera
yankees win east going away with tampa bay beating baltimore earlier, the yankees clinched the a.l. east. and to put the exclamation mark on it, they beat boston 14-2. baltimore ended up with the second wild card and will face texas in a one game a.l. wild card game (new this year and will be kept). atlanta and st.louis will play in the n.l. one game wild card game. the winners will play the yankees and washington in the divisions series. detroit play oakland and cincinnati vs san francisco will play in the other division series.
oakland wins wild a.l. west hands texas wild card oakland defeated texas 12-3 to win the a.l. west by one game over texas. oakland took all three games fron texas to take the division. texas, meanwhile, ends up with the wild card. both teams were in anyways. so are the yankees and orioles. a yankees win or an orioles loss gives the yanks the east and the o's the wild card. stay tuned.
cardinals go wild the st. louis cardinals got the last wild card spot after the l.a. dodgers lost to the giants 4-3. the cards will attemp to repeat as word series champions. four divisions and two wild card spots claimed, two divisions and two wild card spots left. with the last day of the season tomorrow, the yankees, orioles, rangers and a's will battle for the remaining spots. who will win? follow on www.mlb.com to see.
tigers tame a.l. central with a 6-3 win in kansas city, the detroit tigers are a.l. central champions. battled the chicago white sox most of the season until the chisox faded. the tigers are the first a.l. team in this year. four divisions and one wild card in, two divisions and three wild cards left.
washington wins division, considering tthey are trailing even though they are trailing 2-0 to philly, the washing nationals are n.l. east champions after atlanta lost to pittsburgh 2-1. that also gives atlanta one of the two n.l. wild cards. three divisions and one wild card wrapped up, three divisions and three wild cards left
washington and atlanta in the nationals and braves are already in the playoffs after the braves wrapped up their spot with a win over miami. the nats clinched their spot a few days ago. they will battle for the east division. oh yeat the nats are making their first postseason trip since moving from montreal to washington in 2005.
border security on tv national geographic has a program called border security based on work at three different stations - vancouver international airport, douglas land border and one other (i forget which). it's interesting the work that is done from people coming into canada illegaly to suspicious bags. good show i think. check it out.
giants win west - national league style the giants won the n.l west with an 8-4 win coupled with the dodgers losing 6-0 to the reds. like the reds, the giants won it with 10 games to spare. the leads in the remaining four divisions are within 6 games. thats now two divisions down and 4 divisions and four wild card spots left..
happy autumnal equinox as of 8:49 am this morning (almost half an hour ago) fall began. doesnt feel like it at all. it has been summerlike the last two or three days and its supposed to get to 25c today. with october almost here, it should feel like fall soon. the pennant races in baseball are heating up. october baseball lurks.
a good couple of days coming up looking forward to the next couple of evenings. tomorrow night is the season premiere of the rick mercer report. tomorrow's episode has him in sylvan lake flying around with water jet packs and in vancouver at a science fair. check out www.rickmercer.com for more info. i think its got the correct info for tomorrow's episode. on wednesday it's the season premiere of dragons den AND survivor phillipines. you can check out www.cbc.ca/dragonsden for that and www.cbs.com for survivor.
1987 canada cup revisited the lsat three nights (tonight included) tsn has been showing the 1987 canada cup. wow 25 years already. players like larionov, fetisov, krutov makarov, semenov, mylnikov, and gusarov playing gretzky, messier, tocchet, lemieux, fuhr, coffey et al. pretty exciting series. all three games finished 6-5. soviet union won game one in o.t., canada won game two in double overtime and won game three in regulation. quite the series then.
opening sunday in NFL its the opening sunday in the NFL. 13 games today capped of with teh pittsburgh steelers in denver to play the broncos. tomorrow is the annual monday night football doubleheader - featuring cincinnati bengals at the baltimre ravens at 5pm and the san diego chargers at the oakland raiders at 8:15. this past wednesdat the dallas cowboys beat the new york giants 24-17 to open the season.
more summit series along with moose and squirrel finished watching game four of the summit series with therussians winning 5-3 in vancouver 9after canada won game two in toronto 4-1 and tying at four in winnipeg - that one was a good one by the way) the soviet union contolled the game here. the series took a two week hiatus before resuming on the 22nd in moscow and the luzniki ice palace. after picking this up on tuesday, i finally started watching rocky and bullwinkle show. i have the complete series,lastiung 5 seasons from 1959 to 1964. i remember watching the show on reruns in the a few years back. saw it in hmv on tuesday and decided to get it. one episode done and 162 left.
punt return into the record books chris williams of the hamilton tiger cats just returned his 6th punt return for a touchdown. gizmo williams, keith stokes and one other player had five in a season. chris williams still has half a season left to add to it. argos currently lead 7-6 (hamilton missed the convert). update: toronto 33 hamilton 30. edmonton at calgary is on now with calgary up 7-0
rider bombing and 40th anniversary beginning on labor day sunday the saskatchewan rough riders massacred the winnipeg blue bombers 52-0. nuff said there. all riders today. today marks the 40th anniversary of game one of the summit series between the soviet union vs canada. game one was in montreal and the former ussr won 7-3. canada had an early 2-0 lead, but the longer the game went the russian controlled the game and skated circles around a canada team that looked tired by the end.
last long weekend of summer it's the beginning of the last long weekend of the summer. people wil lbe ou of town or watching cfl football. this weekend is considered the beginning of the cfl run for the playoffs. montreal already beat b.c. 30-25. on sunday it's winnipeg at saskatchewan and on labor day monday has toronto at hamilton and edmonton at calgary. next weekend has the second half of the home and home labor day games. its a good weekend already.
end of fringe is end of summer of festivals with the fringe ending today ends a busy summer festival season. with the street performers, capital ex (now renamed klondike days), heritage days, the indy car race and taste of edmonton, it was quite the summer. with the weather going from being hot to stormy to fall like (there was even hail on thursday - yikes), that made summer interesting. one more week of summer before the labor day weekend, but one more week till school resumes for the year. enjoy
closing ceremony wrap up the london 2012 olympics are done, the flame is out, let the road to rio de janeiro begin. christine sinclair brought in the canadian flag and boy was she ever proud of brining in the flag. she had the biggest smile on her face. and very proud. loads of british music capped of by the who. it was 16 days of highs, lows, controversy and excitement. it was pretty succesful. oh and loads of world records. i mentioned the next summer games in 2016 in rio de janeiro, brazil. the next winter games are in sochi russia in 2014. until then....
road racing in watkins glen marcos ambrose beat out kyle busch and brad keselowski to the finish and want in watkins glen. some finish busch was second and keselowski was third. jimmie johnson finishe fourth and now is the new poits leader, by one point over matt kenseth and greg biffle. defending champ tony stewart finished 14th and is now 8th in the points
final day of games the last day of the games and what a games. great britain was awesome winning i think 28 golds at home and over 60 medals overall. the u.s. finished first with golds and overall (46 and 101), china was second. canada finished with 18 (they had 19 but they were disqualified for lane violation at the 4x100m event. jamaica won in world record time). canada had the highest tally of medals with only one gold. 3 hours and 17 minutes to the closing ceremonies. the who, the rolling stones and the spice girls are scheduled to perform. i heard annie lennox is to be there as well. and the handover presentation to rio de janeiro 2016. oh by the way christine sinclair will carry in the canadian flag at the closing ceremonies.
bronzed kayaker another medal in the kayak as mark de jonge picked up yet another bronze in the K1 200m event. seen the result on the ticker. must have been a good race. congrats to mark. thats now 1g 5s and 12b for 18 medals. stay tuned on www.ctvolympics.com or www.london2012.com for more results.
silver soccer pitch and a bronzed mat canada's soccer team beat out france 1-0 to win bronze in soccer. sandra schmidt scored in injury time in the second half to win it. first team medal since 1936 in berlin when mens basketball won silver. congrats to our soccer ladies for their bronze. meanwhile on the mat tonya verbeek won a silver in t he 55kg wrestling event. she faced a japanese lady in the gold medal match and the japanese controlled the match and won the two rounds needed to win the match. congrats to tonya. the medal count now stand at 1g 5s and 10b for 16 medals. thats two behind 2008 beijing.
two in the water and one on the mat adam van koeverden picked up a silver in the K1 1000m event to go with a bronze in 2008 and a gold and i think a bronze in 2004. congrats to adam. afterwards, mark oldershaw picked up a bronze in the C1 1000m event. he is the first medallist from his family to win. his grandfather Bert (1948 london, 1952 helsinki and 1956 melbourne), uncles Dean (1972 munich and 1976 montreal) and Reed (1976 montreal) and dad Scott (1984 los angeles) have been in the games. congrats to mark. and on the mat, carol huynh picked up a bronze in the wrestling 48kg event. that goes with her gold from 2008. congrats to her. that now brings canada to 14 medals, 1g, 4s and 9b.
high jumping bronze derek drouin picked up a bronze in the high jump. cant remember the last time there was a medal in that. congrats to derek. canada now has 11 medals. 1g 3s and 7b. he was in a three way tie, but got it thanks to a countback (dont ask no idea) he go it with fewest attempts. last canadian to win a medal in high jump was greg joy with a silver in 1976 in montreal.
pocono 400 and mens 100m final the rain ended the race at lap 99 and jeff gordon ended up winning. jimmie johnson had a flat tire, spun (i dont know how he saved it) causing matt kenseth to spin trying to avoid him jimmie finished 14th and matt finished 23rd. dale earnhardt jr finished 32nd with transmission troubles. jr leads by five points over matt kenseth, jimmie is fourth 8 back. defending champ tony stewart finished 5th and is 53 back in 6th in the points. next race is in watkins glen for some road racing. while it's pouring (literelly, theres a thunderstorm passing through) in pocono, usain bolt defended his 100m gold medal from beijing by winning it in 9.63s. that is an olympic record. he had an amazing run. he has a 200m run to race and a 4x100m relay to do as well.
bronzed cyclists in team pursuit canada just picked up yet another bronze - this time in womens team pursuit. congrats to tara whitten, jasmine glasser, and gillian carleton beat out the aussies to claim the bronze. that now brings canada's medal total to one gold two silvers and six bronze for nine medals
how about a little olympic soccer no medals yet but this goes to canada's soccer team on going to the semi's after beating great britain. canada has a shot at a medal now. i don't know who they are playing yet, but i will find out. tune in to www.ctvolympics.com or www.london2012.com for more info. ok i checkes and saw canada won 2-0 and will play the united states on monday in the semi finals.
silver rowers and bronzed swimmer first the silver. it came in the mens eights in rowing. they were third most of the race and caught the british as they were starting to fade near the end. i saw the race at lunch. it was quite a race. this one i just seen. brent hayden picked up a bronze in the 100m freestyle swimming. i actually seen the result. great jub by brent and congrats to him and the rowers. we now have six medals - 1 silver and 5 bronze.
a bronze hat trick three of them today. the first one came from christine gerard in the weightlifing 63 kg class. that was canada's first ever medal in weightlifing. the second came from antoine valois-fortier in judo 81 kg class and the third one came in the 10m synchro diving courtesy of meaghan benfeito and roseline fillion. congrats to all. that brings canada's total to four medals - all bronze.
teenage swimmer goes golden ruta meilutyte of lithiuania won gold in the 100m breaststroke in 1:05.47. shes only 15. wow. i think she surprised herself. someone that young to win gold is great. congrats to her. she made her country proud. it is lithiuania's first ever swimming gold as well. meanwhile 17 year old missy franklin of the u.s. won gold in the backstroke. she also has ties in canada. she has an aunt living in nova scotia. congrats to her.
brickyard 400 jimmie johnson dominated in indianapolis and won going away by over 4 seconds over kyle busch. i think he was untouchable today. it is his fourth win in indy in his career tying him with jeff gordon. dale earnhardt jr finished fourth and now is the points leader after matt kenseth was involved in an earlier wreck. defending champ tony stewart finished 10th and is ninth in the points.
canada gets bronzed in syncro diving emelie heymans and jennifer abel just picked up canada's first medal at the olympics with a bronze in syncro diving. they went from 5th to third in the last two dives even though they were a bit out of sych. heymans became the first canadian to win a medal in four consecutive olympics (2000 sydney, 2004 athens, 2008 beijing and now 2012 london). congrats to both abel and heymans.
swimming surprises some surprises in the pool. first was ryan lochte winning the 400m IM and michael phelps finishing fourth, the first time he failed to medal since sydney in 2000. in the 4 x 100m medley the american women finished with the bronze after leading through most of the race. australia won gold and netherlands got the silver. a korean earlier in the day was originally disqualified after false starting (i think it was another 400m event) allowing ryan cochrane into the final. but the korean appealed and the decision to dq him was overturned allowing him into the final (top eight overall from the semis go to the final) and ryan cochrane missed out. so some stories in the pool so far. no medals for canada on day one so far. there are a few events left for the day.
morning of day one, first gold goes to....... .... yi siling of china. she won ir in the 10m air rifle event. i think thats their first ever in that event. meanwhile michael phelps barely made it to the 400m final. he got in just over 4m13s. just watched russia beat china in womens beach volleyball. more medals to be handed out later. hopefully canada wins one or two.
london 2012 opening ceremonies the games are officially under way as the couldron got lit in the most unique way. during the parade of nations a copper petal got carried in with each nation and was placed in the middle of the infield. seven young people then lit their designated petal and each one lit up afterwards and the petals ended up rising up. where it will be placed afterwards i do not know. the queen opened the games before hand. paul mccartney is now singing away with hey jude. let the 16 days of insanity begin
48 hours to london 2012 we're less than 48 hours to the opening ceremonies of the london 2012 summer olympics and im ready to go. im excited for it to begin. 16 days of high tension competition and loads of medals won. the opening ceremonies itself should be good. plus 204 nations entering and the queen officially opening. ctv will be airing the ceremonies starting at 2pm edmonton time and the replay at 7pm edmonton time.
izod edmonton indy helio cstroneves just put the wraps one the edmonton indy beating out takuma sato definitely redeeming himself from a block penalty issued to him two years ago. alex tagliani led most of the race until last pit stop when he came out second. tags finished fifth. ryan hunter-reayh ad the pole originally but was penalized 10 spots for an illegal engine. he finished 8th. there were no cautions in this one either. congrats to helio.
a busy weekend to start heading to the end of the month got a busy weekend here. yesterday the capital ex (formely klondike days) started. saw the fireworks from where i live last night. capital ex goes until the 29th. after then capital ex will have a new name. the new name will be unveiled next weekend. yesterday also started the izod edmonton indy. there was practice yesterday. today has qualifying for the indy race and the nascar canadian tire series. tomorrow is the race and the forecast is looking good for the race. also the taste of edmonton began yesterday and goes till next weekend. a busy stretch of july. plus the street performers earlier this month.
the 2012 edmonton maze this is the maze for the summer celebrating 30 years of cisn country radio. a corny country maze full of twists, turns, pathways and cornundrums. one visit will leave you a"maze"d and "lost." the meze opens up july 28th and will go to mid october. more information at http://www.edmontoncornmaze.ca/ .
lenox industrial tools 400 kasey kahne wins his second race of the year and first career win in new hampshire by beating out a charging denny hamlin to the checkers. hamlin owned most of the race until the last stop had some miscommunication on last stop. points leader matt kenseth finished 13th and still holds a 16 point lead over dale earnhardt jr, who finished 4th. jimmie johnson finished 7th (he got caught on pit road with the cast caution coming out, fell a lap down and got the lucky dog to get lap back coming out 17th) and still sits 4th in the points. defending champ tony stewart finished 12th and fell to 5th in the points. next race is in idianapolis on july 29th and the crown royal 400
corn maze to open in two weeks the edmonton corn maze is to open in two weeks and the maze design will be announced next week. the corn is already planted and growing and the maze was dug out. last picture i've seen was the corn was waist high. that was last week. more info at http://www.edmontoncornmaze.ca/ . enjoy.
dog days of summer - literally man its been on the warm side the past week. it's supposed to cool off until tuesday when it gets hot again. early yesterday morning had a wild thunderstorm that flooded part of the whitemud freeway, some streets in mill woods and unfortunately flooded out a few apartments there as well. feel bad for them. even a parking lot at one building got flooded. today some smoke from a couple of forest fires in northern alberta came in. it was worse close to lunchtime. it's not so bad now, but there still is smoke around. in two weeks is the beginning of the summer olympics in london. the opening ceremonies are on july 27th - same day as my sister's birthday.
heat wave needs pools here we're in the beginnings of a bit of a heat wave. temps around 30c. down east they've had temps in the 30s for a couple to three weeks PLUS they had a nasty storm in the eastern u.s. that knocked out power last week. hopefully the power is back on there. that was supposed to get done by this past friday. humidex readings were into the 40s. ugh. nasty heat plus no power equals awful situation. stay safe.
coke zero 400 a wild and crazy ass finish to this one as tony stewart wins the coke zero 400. he kept his lead on the last restart with two to go and as everyone was going to the checkers, everyone was wrecking behind stewart. it is tony's fourth coke zero 400 win and he went from 42nd to win it. jeff burton came out second and matt kenseth finished third. kenseth keeps his points lead. he is now up 25 pts on dale earnhardt jr. jimmie johnson was in an earlier wreck and finished 36th. he is fourth in the points. next race is in loudon new hampshire and the LENOX industrial tools 301 a week from tomorrow
spain defends euro title spain defends their euro title from 2008 with a civincing 4-0 win over italy in kiev, ukraine. it was all spain today. all their goal scorers were from four different players - even from two substitutions. four goals in a win is the most beating out west germany's three from 1972. the win is spains third title, 1964, 2008 and 2012. congrats.
quaker state 400 brad keselowski just put the wraps on his third win of the year owning the last third of the race. i think the win almost put him in the chase. he killed it tonight. jimmie johnson finished 6th and is up to third in the points. points leader matt kenseth finished 7th and leads dale earnhard jr by 11 pts. defending champ tony stewart had a sick sounding engine early and managed to finis 32nd. he falls to ninth in the points. next race is the coke zero 400 in daytona next saturday night. that puts a wrap to june as well.
two cycles within two weeks by one hill 11 days after ggetting his first cycle (single, double, triple and home run in same game), aaron hill of the arizona diamondbacks picked up another one tonight. wow. cycles happen, not often does a player get two in teh same year. last time a player got two cycles was in 1931 when babe herman of the brooklyn robins (yes, those dodgers) pulled the feat. herbert hoover was president then.
euro 2012 semi final part one this one went to penalty kicks. spain and portugal went through the 90 minutes scoreless, went through the extra time scoreless. spain pulled it out in penalty kicks winning the shootout 4-2. spain will defend their title against either germany or italy. that semi final is tomorrow.
save mart 350 in sonoma clint bowyer just wrapped up a g ood day as he wins in wine country. tony stewart finished second, kurt busch third, mark martin 4th and jimmie johnson 5th. clint from what i hear owned this one. matt kenseth, finished 12th and still leads the points by 15 over dale earnhardt jr. johnson is still fourth and defending champ stewart moved up to 6th in the points. next race is saturday night in kentucky.
euro 2012 quarter final part three spain just beat france 2-0. spain controlled most of the game. france played sloppy i thought. xadi alonso got both goals, including a penalty kick in the 90th minute. spain will play portugal in one semi final on june 27th. tomorrow has england vs italy to round out the quarter finals
euro 2012 quarter final part two. i heard about this one. germany won 4-2. greece had a 2-1 lead but they ended up two players short due to red cards handed out. don't know why. too bad that happened. greece i think could have won it. germany is in the semi finals and will play either england or italy.
euro 2012 group D wrap up the round robin is now done. england beat ukraine 1-0 to take group D while eliminating ukranie. even though france lost to sweden 2-0, they still finish second and will join england in the quarters. england finished with 7 pts, france with 4 and ukraine and sweden finished third and 4th with 3 pts each. england will now play italy in the quarters on sunday while france plays spain on saturday. the quarter finals start thursday with the czech rep vs portugal and germany plays greece on friday. the winners go to the semis while the losers go home.
euro 2012 group C finale. group C wrapped up with spain bating croatia 1-0 and italy defeating ireland 2-0. group C finishes with spain first with 7 points, italy second with 5, croatia with 4 and ireland with 0. spain and italy are in the quarter finals and await the finish of group D tomorrow for the last qf matchups. tomorrow is england vs ukraine and france vs sweden.
quicken loans 400 it took four years and 143 races, but dale earnhard jr FINALLY won a race running away from tony stewart to take it. his last win was also at this track in michigan. stewart is still 8th in the points even after finishing second. jr is four points behind matt kenseth, who still leads. he finished 3rd. mr 5x jimmie johnson finished 5th and is now fourth in the points. next race is next sunday in wine country in sonoma california. going road racing.
euro 2012 group B wrap up two more close one. germany ran the table by beating denmark 2-1 and will finish first with 9 points. denmark will finish third with 3 points and is out. meanwhile portugal beat netherlands 2-1. portugal will finish second with 6 points and will join germany in the quarterfinals, while netherlands finshed with no points and is out. in the quarters, germany will face greece on friday and portugal will face czech rep on thursday. tomorrow to wrap up group C has croatia vs spain and italy vs ireland. both games are at 12:45pm
what a wrap up to group A both games just ended and quite a turn here. czech rep. beat poland 1-0 and won group A. here's the turn - greece beat out russia 1-0 and joined the czech rep into the knockout round. czech rep finishes with 6 pts, greece and russia ended with 4 (greece moves on by beating russia as noted here) and poland finishes with two points and are out as is russia. tomorrow is group B featuring portugal vs netherlands and denmark vs germany.
euro 2012 group D game two in group D, england defeated sweden 3-2 while france beat ukraine 2-0. that leaves france and england tied for top spot with 4 points, ukraine is third 2ith three and sweden has none. with their second loss, sweden is eliminated from playing in the knockou stage. back to group A tomorrow to round out the round robin stages with czech rep vs poland and greece vs russia.. both games will decide group A.
euro 2012 group C game two in the first game italy and croatia played to a one all draw, while in the second game, spain beat ireland 4-0. that puts spain and croatia tied for first with four points each, italy is third at two points and ireland has none and is eliminated from the knockout round. spain and croatia will play for top spot on monday. tomorrow in group D has sweden vs england and ukraine vs france.
euro 2012 group B game two in the first game portugal beat denmark 3-2 while in the second germany beat the netherlands 2-1. that leaves germany leading group B with points, portugal and denmark have 3 each and netherlands with none. tomorrow in group C its italy playing croatia and spain vs ireland.
euro 2012 group A game two group A played their second games today. the czech rep beat greece 2-1 while poland and russia drew to a one all tie. as a result, russia leads group A with 4 points, czech rep has three, poland has two and greece has one. group B tomorrow has denmark vs portugal and netherlands vs germany.
stanley cup los angeles bound the los angeles kings just put an impressive wrap on winning the cup, winning game six 6-1 and the series four games to two. the kings have put on an imressive run. winning 10 games out of 11 on the road was awesome as well. i believe the kings are the first 8th seeded team to win the cup. jonathon quick has been named conn smythe trophy winner as playoff MVP. congrats to the los angeles kings - stanley cup shampions.
euro 2012 group D action the first game had france and england finish to a draw at 1-1. the second game had co-host ukraine beat sweden 2-1. mustve been good games. had to work through them. anyways ukraine leads group D with three points, france and england have one each and sweden have none. tomorrow is back to group A action where greece plays portugal and cohost poland plays russia.
pocono 400 joey logano wins on the tricky triangle after nudging mark martin from the lead with four laps to go. defending champ tony stewart finished third. he needed a good run and got it. jimmie johnson wound up fourth after getting caught speeding TWICE and going a lap down. 11 or 12 other drivers got caught speeding as well. greg biffle finished 24th and fell to third in the point. matt kenseth is the new points leader with a 7th place finish, leading dale earnhardt jr by 10 points. stewart is still 8th, 75 points back and johnson still sitd 5th, 30 points back. next race is next sunday in michigan and the quicken loans 400
euro 2012 group C action group C is in full swing today with spain and italy playiong to a one all draw. prety good game this one with chances on both sides. italy got the first goal in the 61st minute only to have spain score three minutes later. both teams got a point. next up to round out group C is ireland vs croatia. update: croatia 3 ireland 1. interesting game and a couple of questionable calls croatia leads group C with three points, italy and spain with one each and ireland with none. tomorrow is group D action featuring france vs england and ukraine vs sweden.
euro 2012 day two yesterday the euro 2012 soccer tournament began with poland and greece drawing at one a piece. poland got the first goal of the tournament. the other group A game had russia beat the czech rep. 4-1. so russia has three points, poland and greece have one each and czech rep has zero. today in group B, cominh up in a few minutes its the netherlands vs denmark and at 12:45 has germany vs portugal. the euro tournament is co-hosted by poland and ukraine, with group A and C in poland and group B and D in ukraine. update: denmark 1 netherlands 0 wow netherlands had the majority of the play yet denmark got their goal on one of the few chances they had. next up i an hour is germany vs portugal. update 2: germany 1 portugal 0. tight one here as well. denmark and germany have three points while netherlands and portugal have none
mariners combo no-hit dodgers six different seattle mariners pitchers combined to no hit the dodgers in a 1-0 victory at safeco field in seattle. kevin milwood, charlie furbash, steven pryor, lucas luetge, brandon league and tom wilhelmson all combined in it. steven pryor got the win and wilhelmson got the save. congrats to all.
i'll have another won't have another i'll have another will not be in the belmont stakes after a left front tendon was on the tender side. it was discovered after a morning run today. instead of risking further injury, it will not race anymore. so the belmont stakes tomorrow is wide open. and no triple crown winner this year. about next year? we will see.
devils spared, play saturday the new jersey devils sparedthemselves a sweep by winning game four 3-1. boy they needed a complete game tonight. the kings still lead the series three games to one. game five is saturday night in new jersey. will the devils make it a series or will the kings win it all? find out saturday.
fedex 400 benefitting autism speaks jimmie johnson DOMINATED this race leading 289 of 400 laps and won it walking away. had a cool car promoting madagasgar 3 - the movie coming out. kevin harvick finished second. greg biffle finished 18th and leads the points by five over denny hamlin and matt kenseth. johnson is fifth in points. defending champ tony stewart finished 25th and is 8th in points. this race is dick bergeren's last race as pit reporter. classiest reporter in the business. happy retirement to him. next race is next week in pocono and the pocono 400.
kings in overtime AGAIN the kings win in overtime for the second game in a row. tonight, jeff carter scores to give the kings a 2-1 win and goes up two games to none in the series. they have won 10 games in a row on the road. they are also the 12th team to take the first two games on the road. 9 of the previous 11 won the cup. game three is monday night in los angeles.
kings take game one anze kopitar wins game one for the l.a. kings as they draw first blood in the stanley cup final. drew doughty and justin williams got the assists as kopitar took william's pass, came into the devils zone, deked out martin brodeur and scored. game two is saturday night in new jersey.
coca cola 600 kasey kahne wins nascars longest race in easy fashion. had a pretty good car to win it. the win is in his 300th start. greg biffle owned most of the race leading the most and still ended up fourth. he still leads the points by 10 pts. jimmie johnso was in contention until a pit road mistake cost him. he ended up 11th a lap down. he is still 5th in the points. defending champ tony stewart didn't have a great race. he finished 25th and falls to 9th in the points. next race is next sunday in dover deleware and the fedex 400.
96th indianapolis 500 in the books dario franchitti just won te 96th running of the indianapolis 500 coming from the 28th spot to win it. scott dixon was second and tony kanaan was third. franchitti got it after takuma sato tried to pass him in turn two on the last lap and sato spun out and hit the wall. franchitti is now a three time winner joining exclusive company joining helio castroneves, maury rose, johnny rutherford, bobby unser, louis meyer and wilbur shaw. there's 500 miles. coming up the coke 600 in a couple of hours
devils zap rangers, into stanley cup final adam henrique of the devils just put the devils into the cup finals in overtime as new jersey wins game six 3-2 and the series four games to two. the devils will face los angeles starting may 30th. it's their first trip to the finals since 2003 when they beat anaheim in seven games. who will take the cup? stay tuned.
kings into cup finals dustin penner just put the los angeles kings into the stanley cup finals scoring in overtime as the kings beat the coyotes 4-3 and the series 4 games to one. the goal came at 17:42 in overtime. it's the kings first trip to the finals in 19 years and will face either new jersey or new york starting on may 30th. a side note - the kings are the only 8th seeded team to knock out the top three seeds in tehir conference (#1 vancouver, #2 st.louis and #3 phoenix)
world hockey championships done russia owned the tournament and the gold medal game by beating slovakia 6-2. russia won all seven round robin games, the quarters, the semi final and the gold. evgeni malkin was tournament mvp with 19 points. slovakia put in a pretty good run themselves. nobody expected them to get that far. they got to the quarters, beat canada there, then beat the czech rep. in the semis.congrats to both teams. next year the tournament is in helsinki and stcokholm - also this years hosts.
137th preakness i'll have another just won the preakness just beating out bodemeister at the line with the winning time of 1:53.4. again bodemeister set the pace and again i'll have another came back and won it at the line. can i'll have another win the belmont stakes in three weeks and win the triple crown? stay tuned. last triple crown was won in 1978 when affirmed won the kentucky derby, the preakness and belmont.
bojangles southern 500 jimmie johnson just won the southern 500 in darlington in a green white checkered finish with just enough fuel, also beating out denny hamlin and tony stewart who finished 2nd and third respectively. johnson also gave car owner rick hendrick win #200. congrats to mr. hendrick and to jimmie. next race is the all star race in charlotte next saturday night. update: greg biffle still leads the points, johnson moved up to 5th and stewart still sits in 7th
rangers deliver game seven capital punishment the rangers hung on to a 2-1 win over tha capitals and will start at home against the new jersey devils in the eastern conference finals starting on monday night. gonna be a good series coming up. tomorrow the coyotes and kings start the western final in phoenix.
devils burn flyers, josh hamilton knocks four out the new jersey devils are in the eastern conference finals with a 3-1 win in game five and a four games to one series win. they will await the winner of the n.y.rangers/washingon series. game six is tomorrow there meanwhile, in a 10-3 win over baltimore, texas rangers slugger josh hamilton hit four home runs in a game becoming the 16th player to do so. carlos delgado was the last player to do so in september of 2003. quite the game for hamilton.
coyotes maul predators with a 2-1 win in game five, the phoenix coyotes are in the western conference finals for the first time in franchise history - even in the winnipeg days - by beating out the nashville predators in five games. all five games were pretty close. it will be the kings and the coyotes in teh western conference finals. schedule to be announced later.
kings sweep away blues the kings are in the conference finals with a 3-1 win in game four and a four game sweep over the blues. it is the kings fitst trip to the conference finals since their stanley cup run in 1993. it is also the kings first ever sweep. they will start in either phoenix or nashville. congrats to the kings
aarons 499 plus a few brad keselowski beats out kyle busch and matt kenseth to win the aarons 499. keselowski and busch passed kenseth after the last restart on the green white checkered finish when kenseth got a tad too far ahead and then got caught. defending champ tony stewart finished 24th and jimmie johnson finished 35th after an oil pump finished him. points update in a few. next race is saturday night in darlington. update: greg biffle finished 5th and still leads the points by 7 over matt kenseth. jimmie johnson is 8th and tony stewart is 7th
138th kentucky derby i'll have another just won the 138th running of the kentucky derby with a time of 2:01.83. i'll have a nother started from the 19th starting gate. he was trailinge bodemeister by five lenghts coming into the front stretch heading for the finish and made it up big. next up is the preakness in two weeks. will i'll have another wih the second jewel of the triple crown or will another horse win? stay tuned.
things are greening up with the rain - and snow a couple of times - coming and going, things are greening up. a lot of the grass is already green and a few of the trees are growing out the leaves already. and the roads are getting cleaned up as well with the street sweeping. a few more trees and bushes will grow out their leaves soon. starting to look nice out.
end of april already. can't believe its the end of april already. month dissapeared in a hurry. the nhl playoffs started and in the second round, the nba playoffs started, had the ncaa tournament. cant remember who won (wow). loads of baseball - had a perfect game already, nascar in full swing. may is going to be good i believe. soon it will be football season.
night racing at richmond kyle busch wins after beating out tony stewart out of the pits on the final caution of the race. stewart was leading at the time and had the car to beat. he finished third in the race and is still 8th in the points. jimmie johnson finished 6th and moved up to 6th in the points. greg biffle leads by 5 points over dale earnhardt jr after a 18th place finish. next race is may 6th in talladega and the aarons 499
rangers kick out senators, devils make panthers meow the rangers knocked out the senators in one game seven by the score of two to one. a close one. the rangers will face the capitals in one east semi final. in the other semi final, it took two overtimes but the devils beat the florida panthers 3-2 to advance to the other east semi where they will face the flyers. round two begins tomorrrow with the phoenix coyotes will play the nashville predators.
defending stanley cup champs done the washington capitals have just knocked out the boston bruins in overtime with a 2-1 win. joel ward scored the winner. braden holtby became the third rookie goalie to help knock out a stalney cup champ ( ken dryden in 1971 and mike vernon in 1986 were the others). who will they face? find out tomorrow when the last two series end tomorrow. both game sevens.
phoenix makes chicago howl in sorrow the phoenix coyotes convincingly won game 6 4-0 and the series four games to two, thus eliminating the chicago black hawks and will face the nashville predators in the west semis. it was the first series win for the coyotes in phoenix and first since 1987 when the team was in winnipeg as the ORIGINAL jets. wow 25 years. wow the west is decided (its the kings vs blues in the other west semi).
philly flyers past penguins, kings crown canucks, hamlin wins in kansas with a 5-1 win in game six, the flyers knocked out the penguins four games to two. philly owned the series for the most part. stay tuned for who they play. meanwhile, the l.a. kings knocked out hte canucks in overtime and out of the playoffs with a 2-1 win in vancouver. first time the kings moved to the second round in 11 years. they will be playing st. louis in the second round. meanwhile in kansas denny hamlin wins in texas beating out marin truex jr to win. jimmie johnson finished third and moved to seventh in the points. defending champ tony stewart finished 13th in the raced and dropped to 8th in the points. points leader greg biffle finished 5th and still leads the points. next race is in richmond under the lights.
st. louis make sharks sing blues, a perfect day for chicago the st. louis blues knocked out the san jose sharks in five games with a 3-1 win in st. louis. i think st. louis owned the series. they're in the second round for the first time in 10 years. meanwhile, phillip humber of the chicago white sox threw a perfect game in a 4-0 win in seattle. first perfect game in two years and 21st in major league history. congrats to phillip.
100 years of fenway and maybe another 100 more today is the 100th anniversary of the first game at fenway park. that first game had the red sox beating the new york highlanders 7-6. tonight, the red sox play the yankees and the yankees will be wearing their throwback uniforms that feature the interlocking NY on the jersey. im hoping the red sox will do the same. oh by the way the highlanders changed their name to the yankees in 1913. update: yankees 6 red sox 2.
a sinking anniversary and a baseball anniversary today marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the titanic. 1500 plus people died in the tragedy after hitting an iceberg. today is also marking the 65th anniversary of jackie robinson's debut with the brooklyn dodgers breaking the color barrier in baseball.
overtime frenzy plus saturday night racing in texas would you believe more overtime in hockey tonight which included the gold medal game of the womens world hockey tournament in which canada beat the united states 5-4. others had chicago beating phoenix 4-3, washing beating boston in double ot and ottawa beating the rangers 3-2. only st.louis beating sanjose 3-0 wasnt in overtime. meanwhile, greg biffle held off jimmie johnson to win in texas tonight. kurt busch held back jimmie allowing biffle to get by and win. biffle still holds the points lead, while johnson moved up to 8th. defending champ tony stewart finished 24th adn slid to 7th in the points. next race a week from sunday in kansas and the stp 400
overtime frenzy on night two overtime o' plenty tonight. three of the four games went into overtime. san jose beat st. louis 3-2 in double overtime.boston beat washington 1-0 in o.t and phoenix beat chicago 3-2 in o.t. the only game that did not go into overtime was the rangers beating ottawa 4-2. so there is night two
playoff hockey upon us. playoff hockey is here. starts tonight with three games: philadephia @ pittsburgh at 5:30, detroit @ nashville at 6pm and los angeles @ vancouver at 8:30. looking forward to the playoffs stay tuned. the playoffs are going to be fun. you can follow at http://www.nhl.com/ , http://www.tsn.ca/ or http://www.cbc.ca/ . enjoy. update: philly beat pittsburgh 4-3 in overtime. pittsburgh was up three to none yet felll apart. meanwhile nashville beat detroit 3-2. update 2: los angeles 4 vancouver 2. there's night one in the books
after easter time out good time to have a day off from work - right after easter. i have today and tomorrow off and i got some women's hockey on at the moment. burlington, vermont is hosting the women's world hockey championship and its been good despite a couple of one sided games and a third one in progress (canada leading russia 11-0 after two periods). the u.s. beat canada 9-2 and russia 9-0 earlier in the tournament. canada beat finland 3-2. would have been one sided had it not been fro the finnish goalie stopping everything. of course the weather here is nice again. got 15cm of snow this past thursday and its belting. supposed to get to 12c today. some rain on thursday and i saw 17c for monday. wow. could still snow yet.
playoff matchups decided what a night tonight. after the dust settled, the matchups are as follows: in the west its vancouver vs los angeles, st.louis vs san jose, phoenix vs chicago and nashville vs detroit. in the east its: ny rangers vs ottawa, boston vs washington, florida vs new jersey and pittsburgh vs philadelphia. playoffs start wednesday.
close of one season and beginning of another tonight is the final day of the NHL regular season as all 30 teams play tonight. all 16 playoff spots are filled up and tonight decides where they finish and who plays who in the first round of the playoffs. meanwhile the baseball season is in its first full weekend after starting again on wednesday (oakland and seattle started in japan at the end of march). toronto and cleveland played the longest opening day game when they played 16 innings on thursday. toronto won 7-4. a busy weekend. oh yeah, happy easter.
goody's fast relief 500 a wild finish in martinsville got ryan newman into victory after the first green-white-checkered attempt knocked out jeff gordon and jimmie johnson. gordin finished 14th and johnson 12th. a crazy finish. tony stewart is 3rd in the points after a 7th place finish, while johnson is 10th. next race is in two weeks in texas.
semi final saturday first semi final ended with kentucky beating louisville 69-61. quite a close one. even though kentucky owned the game, louisville hung in there and kept it close. next up is ohio state vs kansas. update: after tailing at halftime by 9, and at one point down by 13, the kansas jayhawks beat ohio state 64-62 to go to monday's championship game againts kentucky. wow. tipoff monday is 7:13
end of march already. wow. can't believe its the end pf march already. had some snow and had it melt away. baseball started in japan, nhl is in playoff chase mode, nascar season is in full swing and march madness is nearing the end. tonight is the semi finals in new orleans. and earth hour is tonight from 8:30 to 9:30pm. april brings more baseball as the regular season resumes on wednesday, the nhl ends the regular season and begins the playoffs (should i grow a playoff beard or no) and more nascar. and easter is next weekend.
then there were four, rain shortens auto club 400 we have our final four. with kentucky beating baylor 82-70 and kansas beating north carolina 80-67, our final four has kentucky playing louisville and kansas playing ohio state. both games are this coming saturday. meanwhile in fontana, tony stewart wins a rain shortened race. he moves up three spots to third in the points 18 points behind greg biffle, who finished 4th. kevin harvick is second in the points, seven behind. jimmie johnson, who this past tuesday won his appeal, got his 25 points back putting him 11th, finished 10th and now is 8th in the points, 39 back. next race is april 1st in martinsville and the goody's fast relief 500.
elite eight part one in the west region, louisville beat florida 72-68 and is in the final four and will face either kentucky or baylor. they play tomorrow. and in the east region, ohio state beat syracuse 77-70 and will face either north carolina or kansas. they also play tomorrow. the semi finals are next saturday and the championship game is april 2.
sweet sixteen part two. in the south, kentucky beat indiana 102-90 to go to the elite eight, kentucky will face baylor, who beat xavier 75-70. kentucky vs baylor is sunday. meanwhile in the midwest, north carolina survived a close one against ohio, winning 73-65 in overtime. the tar heels will face kansas, who beat a scrappy n.c. state 60-57. north carolina vs kansas is sunday as well. tomorrow is louisville vs florida and syracuse vs ohio state.
sweet 16 part one in the east region, #1 syracuse hung on to beat #4 wisconsin 64-63, while #2 ohio state beat #6 cincinnati 81-66. so on saturday it will be syracuse vs ohio state. meanwhile in the west region, #4 louisville beat #1 michigan state 57-44, while #7 florida beat #3 marquette 68-58. florida will play louisville on saturday. tomorrow in the south, #1 kentucky will face #4 indiana while #3 baylor will face #10 xavier. tomorrow in the midwest will have#1 north carolina facing #13 ohio and #2 kansas facing #11 north carolina state. who will advance? find out tomorrow.
keselowski takes bristol brad keselowski on on the worlds fastest chort track in bristol in the blue deuce. jimmie johnson finished 9th and moved up to 17th in the points. greg biffle still leads the points after finishing 13th. tony stewart finished one spot behind biffle and sits 7th in the points. next race is next sunday in fontana and the auto club 400.
happy st. patrick's day happy st. patricks day. the time of year where we all wear green. even drink some green beer. the chicago river (i think its that one) is green. lots of green dye gets put into the river for the day. on an unrelated note, heather nedohin and her team is representing canada at teh women's world curling championship in lethbridge. she definitely will represent alberta and canada well.
day two pruduces major upset halfway through day two of march madness, #15 norfolk state battled and beat #2 missouri 86-84. it was quite an entertaining game. only the fifth time a 15 seed beat a two seed. last time was 2001 when hampton beat iowa. wow. update: 2 anda half hours after one fifteen seed wins, #15 lehigh upsets #2 duke 75-70. two in the same day after four in 27 years yikes. plus #13 ohio upset #4 michigan 65-60, you can call today the upset special.
a stunner and an upset. first the stunner. the defending champs are out as uconn lost to iowa state 77-64. conneticut was the 9 seed as well. the upset was #12 vcu beat #5 witchita state 62-59. wow already here. so obviously we will have new champs this year. and its only day one. update. minor upset has #11 colorado beat #6 UNLV 68-64. earlier #1 syracuse survived a close one against #16 unc-ashville 72-60. unc-ashville was actually leading for awhile. thats it for day one. rest of the first round games are tomorrow.
steven stamkos 50th in exclusive company earlier tonight in a 6-1 win over boston, tampa bay lightning forward steven stamkos scored two goals, including #50 becoming the 6th player to have two 50 goal seasons before turning 23. he joins wayne gretzky (with 4), mike bossy (2), mario lemieux (2), joe nieuwendyk (2), and alexander ovechkin (2) on that list. pretty damn good i say
nascar las vegas style tony stewart held off jimmie johnson to win the kobalt tools 500. stewart held them all off on restart after restart. stewart moved to 7th in the points with the win, while johnson moved to 23rd in the points. should he win an appeal on tuesday, he gets the 25 points back and will end up 13th. greg biffle is the new points leader with a third place finish today. next race is in bristol and the food city 500.
tim hortons brier springing into the final weekend the tim hortons brier is into the final weekend with ontario, with glenn howard skipping, finishing first, manitoba's rob fowler finishing second, alberta's kevin koe in third and the territories jamie koe (yes kevins brother) in fourth. making the page playoff system featuring glenn howard playing rob fowler in the 1st vs second game and the 3 vs four game featuring the koe's. gonna be a good one there meanwhile spring is here bigtime supposed to get to above tomorrow and the seven day forecast shows above freezing temps, so the snow is going to melt. its been a mild winter. march isnt over yet. oh yeah, this weekend is when almost everyone changes their clocks AHEAD one hour.
subway fresh fit 500 denny hamlin won today in phoenix and is sitting in the points lead as a result. greg biffle is second in the points after a second 3rd place finish. jimmie johnson, aftera miserable daytona 500 where finished close to the back plus had a fine, loss of points and lost crew chief chad knaus for six racesafter an "illegal" part in the car, finished 4th. the loss of points and suspension is being appealed. current champ tony stewart is 15th in the points after finishing 22nd. next race is in las vegas next week.
a hello to march after leap day with the leap day yesterday (made no difference), march is here and the fun begins. with the playoff run in the nhl, baseball preseason around the corner, march madness a.k.a the ncaa basketball tournament, nascar gets into full swing and the oil kings is in the playoffs in the western hockey league. and maybe some snow melting away and maybe some snow falling. its going to be a good march.
daytona afterthought i saw the highlights after my last post of the daytona 500. wow. from a lap two wreck started with elliott sadler taking out jimmie johnson then more cars got collected to juan pablo montoya rinning into a jet dryer causing the jet dryer to catch fire, which caused a two hour delay there. then there was the green-white-chekered finish with matt kenseth beating dale earnhardt jr to win. next race is sunday in phoenix and the subway fresh fit 500.
weather after effects in more ways than one today was the clean up beginning after yesterdays snow storm left 16cm on the ground. oy. loads of digging out vehicles and shovelling sidewalks and driveways by residents and plowing by the city. we have a parking ban on bus routes as a result meanyhile in daytona, the daytona 500 was postoned to monday for the first time ever when persistent rain hung around causing the postponement. it will be run tomorrow at noon eastern time (10am here).
friday midday musing a little snowy got a friday off (got last friday off with tuesday hmm) and liking the snow on the ground. it's moisutre on the ground which has been needed. its been a mild winter thus far. its supposed to snow starting tonight, all day tomorrow and into sunday. i have an australian friend (she came in december and is working at the mall. she is here for a year) who is enjoying the snow and the weather. she wants to experience a snow storm.i got to admire her for coming here and being a long way from home. she is definitely enjoying alberta.
sayanora long weekend. good riddance the family day long weekend is over and i couldn't be more happier. the mall was a damn zoo and it was stressful as hell. alot of my coworkers were wiped by the end of the day yesterday. we were all quite happy the long weekend ended. saturday night was the budweiser shootout as well and kyle busch won. the daytona 500 is this coming sunday.
hockey day in canada it's hockey day in canada. this years host is from prince edward island. the triple header games feature: edmonton at ottawa at 12 noon, montreal at toronto at 5pm and vancouver at calgary at 8pm. winnipeg is playing today as well. they visit pittsburgh at 12pm. gonna be a good one this year.
super bowl 46 in the books the new york giants won 21-17 in a close one. eli manning completed 30 of 40 passes, threw a touchdown and was named super bowl mvp. ahmad bradshaw scored the winning touchdown when trying to stop at the one yard line and fell foward into hte end zone to score. thats another season in the books. see you in september nfl.
a heck of a night for sam gagner in an 8-4 win by the oilers over the black hawks, sam gagner scored 4 goals and had 4 assists in an 8 point night, tying wayne gretzky and paul coffey for the team record for points in a game, and became the 13th player to score 8 points in a game. the record for points is darryl sittler with 10 points (6 goals and four assists).
last day of january. where did it go? wow january flew by. seems like we just rang in 2012. weather has been pretty good, even with the week long cold snap we had. nhl all star game happened two days ago (team chara 12 team alfreddson 9), nfl playoffs happening with the super bowl on sunday, the world junior hockey championships. that was pretty fun. not long before super bowl 46, the daytona 500 and more hockey. and major league baseball begins with players reporting to spring training in florida and arizona. wow baseball season in a couple months. but thats another entry at a later date.
mid week thoughts can't believe next week is february. didn't we just ring in 2012? it's also been nice here weather wise. we had our cold week already and now it's back to above average temps. still makes me wonder whether we will get hit with another cold snap and more snow. and to my australian friends happy australian day.
nfl championship sunday in the evening game the new york giants beat the san francisco 20-17 in overtime in what looked like (i was working i couldn't tell) a wet game. looked like a good one as well. earlier, the new england patriots hung on to beat the baltimore ravens 23-20. looked like a good one as well. so it will be the giants vs the patriots for super bowl 46 in two weeks from today in a grematch from super bowl 42 in which the giants won
nfl divisional part two in the day game, baltimore won a close one over houston 20-13. looked like a good one. they will go tonew england to play the patriots in the AFC championship game. kickoff is 1pm. meanwhile in green bay the gians surprised the packers 37-20. the giants will go to san francisco to face the 49ers in the NFC championship game at 4:30pm. both games are going to be good ones.