the mad sports man

quit the new years eve. started with sweden beating switzerland 5-1. then canada won a heck of a hockey game against the u.s. winning 5-3. not long after, the czech republic beat russia 4-1. and finland hung on to beat germany 2-0. so in group a, canada finishes first with 12 pts, followed by the u.s with 8, then slovakia with 6, finland with 4 and germany with 0. in group b sweden won with 12 pts, followed by czech rep and russia with 5 pts each, but with czech rep beating russia, the czechs get second. denmark and switzerland have four pts each, but denmark beat switzerland to claim 4th. so the quarter final matchups have: sweden vs finland, czech rep vs slovakia, u.s. vs russia and canada vs denmark. switzerland and germany plays in a three game relegation series. the quarter finals are fridy.

denmark pulled the biggest surprise in the world juniors as they beat switzerland 4-3 in the shootout for their first ever world junior win - this after taking russia and the czech republic to overtime before losing. they sit tied with switzerland for third with 4 pts. russia is second with 5, sweden will finish first with 9 pts and czech republic has 3. that is group b. meanwhile slovakia beat germany 5-2 in the evening game. martin rewat had a hat trick and slovakia scored three goals in over a minute in the first period. slovakia will finish third with 6 pts in group a regardless of tomorrows games. germany is still last with zero pts, finland with 1 pt, the u.s. is second with 8 and canada has 9 and leads. canada vs u.s. tomorrow at 2pm to decide group a, while finland and germany play to avoid the relegation round. in group b, sweden plays switzerland the czech rep plays russia to finish off the round robin. going to be a great new years eve.

this was quite an entertaining game and canada came away with a 4-1 win over finland. sam reinhart scored two in the win. earler the united states shut out slovakia 3-0 to stay second, now with 8 pts. canada leads with 9. slovakia has three, finland with one and germany with none. in group b, sweden knocked off russia 3-2 and will finish first in the group irregardless of wednesdays games. they have 9 pts, russia is second with 5, switzerland and the czech rep. each has three. switzerland has a game in hand and plays tomorrow. denmark rounds out the group with two points. canada's next game is wednesday against the u.s to decide who finishes where. tomorrow and wednesday will be an exciting two days.

the pittsburgh steelers won the afc north after beating the cincinnati bengals 27-17 and will take the three seed and moving cincinnati to the five seed. the wild card matchups are now set. on january 3rd it is arizona at carolina and baltimore at pittsburgh. on january 4th it is cincinnati at indianapolis and detroit at dallas. new england, denver, green bay and seattle have the byes to the divisional round.

only two games today and both one sided shutouts. the u.s. just beat germany 6-0 in group a while in group b russia blew out switzerland 7-0. canada still leads group a with 6 pts, the u.s. is now second with 5, slovakia with 3, finland with 1 and germany wth 0. in group b, sweden still leads with 6 pts, then russia with 5, switzerland with 3, denmark with 1 and czech rep with 0. canada plays finland tomorrow at 6pm edmonton time.

the seattle seahawks win the nfc west and claim the one seed and home field throughout the nfc playoffs by winning 20-6 and having arizona lose to san francisco 20-17. arizona gets the fifth seed. the green bay packers beat the detroit lions 30-20, thus winning the nfc north and getting the two seed and first round bye and putting the lions into the sixth seed. (arizona and detroit had teh same record, but arizona beat detroit in their one meeting). the packers win put the dallas cowbows into the three seed. the cowboys will face the lions in dallas. the carolina panthers won the nfc south by beating the atlanta falcons 34-3 and will claim the four seed. they get the arizona cardinals in carolina. meanwhile the denver broncos blew out the oakland raiders 47-14, thus giving them the second seed. the patriots own the one seed (new england and denver had the same record, but new england beat denver in their one meeting). the indianapolis colts have the 4th seed and teh baltimore...

the baltimore ravens took the last AFC playoff spot by winning cleveland 20-10 and combined with san diego losing to kansas city 17-9, the ravens are in the last spot at the worst. many seeding spots left. that should be sorted after the afternoon games. stay tuned

canada just finished their second game of the tournament by winning 4-0 over a stubborn and competitive germany team. germany played really well. their power play killed them, having four in a row to try make it a 2-1 game. max domi made it 3-0 afterwards and one more was scored. connor mcdavid opened it and curtis lazar scored the second one - both power play goals. meanwhile slovakia beat finland 2-1 despite being outshot. canada has six points, slovakia has three, the u.s. still has two, finland with one and germany with none in group a. the u.s. plays germany tomorrow. in group b, switzerland beat the czech republic 5-2 while sweden beat denmark 5-1. sweden has six points, switzerland with three, russia with two, denmark with one and the czech rep. with none. switzerland plays russia tomorrow. canada's next game is monday against finland.

the annual boxing day tradition has begun as the world juniors opened up with games in toronto and toronto. canada's group has their games in montreal and just put the finishing touches on an 8-0 beating over slovakia. they lead group a with three points. earlier the u.s. beat finland 2-1 in a shootout. the u.s. has two points, finland has one and slovakia has zero. canada plays germany tomorrow at 6pm edmonton time. meanwhile in group b, sweden beat the czech republic 5-2 and russia barely beat denmark 3-2 in a shootout. sweden leads group be with three points, russia with two, denmark with one and czech republic with none. only swtizerland has yet to play.

the dallas cowboys won the nfc east going away after beating the indianapolis colts 42-7 this afternoon. pretty much over by halftime. with that result, the seattle seahawks also clinched a playoff spot without even stepping onto the field. they play the arizona cardinals tonight and the nfc west could be decided.

the pittsburgh steelers and green bay packers each wrapped up playoff spots by beating kansas city and tampa bay respectively. also trying to improve their seeding in the playoffs. could be more after the afternoon games, hard to say. stay tuned.

today marks the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight hours. at 4:03pm here marks the beginning of the winter solstice - or the beginning of winter. after today, the slow climb to more daylight begins. so go throw a snowball, or have a hockey game. go sledding, or do whatever.

the detroit lions are into the playoffs following the philadelphia eagles losing to the washington redskins 27-24. their first trip since 2011. the eagles loss gives the dallas cowboys a chance to win the nfc east tomorrow with a win over the indianapolis colts.

four teams are into the nfl post season, with three of them winning divisions. the denver broncos won the afc west, the new england patriots won the afc east and the indianapolis colts won the afc south. and just in - the arizona cardinals, who got in based on the dallas/philadelphia game not ending in a tie (i dont know where they got the formula). the cardinalscould still win their division as they are up a game on seattle. with two weeks left, still spots up for grabs.

the annual eskimos locker room sale was today. the season ticket holders was from 10am to noon and teh general public was noon to 2pm. it was busy. the line up was at least half an hour. got the signature jersey and had it signed by calvin mccarty, corbin sharun and curtis dublanko. kate and kylee represented the cheer team. one last chance to say bye to kylee. she is 'retiring' after today. her and i think four or five others wont be back. so thats it for that at commonwealth this year.

it was a great show sunday night. stuart started off with one of his favorites - when mary turlington decorated her house with cinnamon as the theme color and having two disasters - dave lighting all 23 candles faturing family members (her and burt, parents, kids and grandkids) and after making pudding with dave and mary each adding a shot of alcohol (forget which one) and having the pudding light on fire causing the ribbon on her hair on fire leaving her dazed and confused. he then told two new stories. can't remember the first one. the second one when dave hires his daughter stephanie at his record store for the christmas rush. chic gamine was the musical guest. they are a trio of ladies from winnipeg, manitoba. they were excellent to listen to. john sheard on piano. cant remember who was on base or the drums. i even got to shake stuart mcleans hand. when he was taking his bows, he came started un the middle section, took his bow, came to my side, took is bow, and as...

it's vinyl cafe day. will be at the 7:30 show tonight. stuart also has a 2:30pm show today as well. a couple of new dave and morley stories will be told. plus some music involved. gonna be a great show. excited anticipation.

just a random kind of post. it is getting pretty christmassy around here. carols are on the radio, in west edmonton mall and even at home. christmas stuff is up already. last week Edmonton got a foot of snow and it got cold. this coming weekend it is supposed to get above 0c. that will give the roads a chance to have the remaining ice and snow melt away. stuart mclean and the vinyl cafe is in Edmonton for two shows on sunday - at 2:30 and at 7:30. i will be at the 7:30 show. excited. eskimos locker room sale on the 13th. looking forward to checking it out. thinking of someone.