the mad sports man

 The 1940-41 season had 7 teams and 48 game schedule. Montreal had been struggling financially, so Frank Patrick became investor and governer.  He hired Tommy Gordon as GM and Dick Irvin Sr as coach. Gordon and Irvin scouted and hired players such as Elmer Lach, Johnny Quilty, Joe Benoit, defense man ken Reardon, Toe Blake and goalie Bert Gardiner. Quilty ended up rookie of the year.  Boston went 23 games without losing, finishing first easily. New York Americans conversely finished last with eight wins.  QF: Detroit beat the Rangers 2-1, and Chicago beat Montreal 2-1. SF: Detroit beat Chicago 2-0 and Boston beat Toronto 4-3. Stanley Cup: Boston Beat Detroit 4-0.

 Mandy Bujold will be going to Tokyo after all. She was initially ineligible because she had been pregnant and postmartum with her daughter and had to miss qualification. She initially petitioned the IOC for a spot but was turned down. She then took it to court of arbitration for sport and won. Moms with newborns like her and Kim Gaucher get to go.  They should have been allowed to going the first place. It's stupid that women still have to fight for this. Happy moms can bring their newborns and their partners with them.

 Let's start with judo. They are: Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (63kg), Shady El Nahas (100kg), Ecaterina Guica (52kg), Jessica Klimkait (57kg), Arthur Margelidon (73kg) and Antoine Valdis-Fortier (81kg). Now the men's volleyball team. They are: Lucas Van Berkel, Blair Bann, Jay Blankenau, Nicholas Hoag, Gordon Perrin, TJ Sanders, Graham Vigrass, Stephen Maar, Steven Marshall, Sharone Vernon-Evans, Ryan Sclater and Arthur Szwarc

 Here is the team: Natalie Achonwa, Kayla Alexander, Laeticia Amihere, Bridget Carleton, Shay Colley, Aaliyah Edwards, Nirra Fields, Kim Gaucher, Kia Nurse Shaina Pellington, Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe and Miranda Ayim. Good luck in Tokyo and kick some butt.

 The last of the round of 16 is done. This morning had England beat Germany 2-0. Sweden and Ukraine went into extra time tied at 1-1. Ukraine scored at the last possible moment (120th +1) to knock out Sweden 2-1.  Ukraine will play England on July 3 along with Denmark vs Czech Republic. July 2 has Switzerland vs Spain and Belgium vs Italy.

 FORE!!!!  On the team are: Corey Connors, Brooke Henderson, Mackenzie Hughes and Alena Sharp. Good luck in Tokyo

They are: Bianca Andreescu (singles) Felix Auger-Aliassime (singles, doubles) Gabriela Dabrowski. (doubles) Leylah Fernandez (singles) Sharon Fichman (doubles) Vasek Pospisil (singles, doubles) Good luck in Tokyo. (Thanks to Devin Heroux for this one).

 Holy crap extra time Batman. Both Games went into extra time. Spain had a 3-1 lead, Croatia comes back to tie it.  They go into extra time (they play the full 30 minutes). Spain scores twice to win 5-3. Now the night cap. France also had a 3-1 lead, Switzerland comes back to tie it. Extra time solves nothing. Penalty kick time. Switzerland went first. First four shots each team score. Switzerland scores on fifth shot. France misses. Switzerland moves on.  Switzerland plays Spain in the quarterfinals on July 2.  Tomorrow has Sweden vs Ukraine and England vs Germany. Winners play each other July 3.

 First the water polo team.  They are: 1. Joelle Bekhazi 2. Kyra Christmas 3. Axelle Crevier 4. Shae La Roche 5. Kindred Paul 6. Gurpreet Soho 7. Emma Wright. 8. Monika Eggens 9. Elyse Lemay-Lavoie 10. Hayley McKelvey 11. Clara Vulpisi 12 Claire Wright. Now the archery team. They are Crispin Duenas and Stephanie Barrett. And finally the field hockey team. They are: Brendan Bissett, John (Fin) Boothroyd, Brendan Guraliuk, Gabriel Ho-Garcia, Gordon Johnson, Antoni Kindler, James Kirkpatrick, Sukhi Panesar, Keegan Pereira, Matthew Sarmento, Oliver Scholfield, John Smythe, Scott Tupper, Floris Van Son and Jamie Wallace. Good luck to all in Tokyo.

 Quite the day here. The defending champions are out as Belgium just beat Portugal 1-0. Huge.  This morning had Czech Republic beat Netherlands 2-0. Huge again.  Belgium plays Italy July 2 and Czech Republic plays Denmark July 3 in the quarterfinals.  Tomorrow has France vs Switzerland and Croatia vs Spain with the winners playing each other July 2.

 This one just ended as Italy beat Austria 2-1 in extra time. It was scoreless through 90 minutes.  This morning had Denmark blow out Wales 4-0. Find out tomorrow who they face (not each other). Tomorrow has Belgium vs Portugal and Netherlands vs Czech Republic.

 Tampa Bay Lightning will be facing Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup as the Lightning shut out the Islanders 1-0 in game seven. Stanley Cup finals start Monday night in Tampa Bay.

 Our rugby 7s teams have been unveiled. They are: Women: 1. Britt Benn 2. Pamphinette Buisa 3. Bianca Farella 4. Ghislaine Landry 5. Kayla Moleschi 6. Karen Paquin 7. Charity Williams 8. Elissa Alarie 9. Olivia Apps 10. Julia Greenshields 11. Kaili Lukan 12. Breanne Nicholas 13. Keyara Wardley Men: 1. Mike Fuailefau 2. Nathan Hirayama 3. Harry Jones 4. Jake Thiel 5. Matt Mullins 6. Patrick Kay 7. Phil Berna 8. Connor Braid 9. Andrew Coe 10. Justin Douglas 11. Lucas Hammond 12. Theo Sauder 13. Conor Trainor  Good luck to both teams in Tokyo.

 Zach Davies, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrell all combined on a no hitter as the Cubs beat the Dodgers 4-0. Davies went 6 innings, had five walks and struck out four. Tepera and Chafin each went one inning and gave up a walk. Kimbrell went the 9th, gave up a walk and struck out three.

 Overtime in game six didn't take long, and Montreal got the series winner and will play for the Stanley Cup as they beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4 games to two. They await the winner of the Tampa Bay/ New York Islanders series. That series ends tomorrow.

 Here are the athletes representing Canada in the pool:  1. Javier Aceveda 2. Bailey Andison 3. Catrina Bellio 4. Tessa Cieplucha 5. Ruslan Gaziev 6.  Marie-Sophie Harvey 7. Brent Hayden 8. Yuri Kisil 9. Findlay Knox 10. Joshua Liendo 11. Margaret Mac Neil 12. Kylie Masse 13. Gabe Mastromatteo 14. Summer McIntosh (2nd youngest swimmer) 15. Penny Oleksiak 16. Sydney Pickrem 17. Cole Pratt 18. Taylor Ruck 19. Kayla Sanchez 20. Katerine Savard 21. Kierra Smith 22. Rebecca Smith 23. Markus Thormeyer 24. Kelsey Wog  Hopefully some damage will be done in the pool. Good luck to all going to Tokyo.

 Here we are, on Olympic day (the modern Olympic Games were started on this day in 1894), and one month from Tokyo, the Canadian soccer team was unveiled.  The players are: Janine Beckie, Jessie Fleming, Stephanie Labbe, Ashley Lawrence, Kadeisha Buchanan, Quinn, Jayde Riviere, Desiree Scott, Christine Sinclair, Evelyne Viens, Nichelle Prince, Allysha Chapman, Vanessa Gilles, Julia Grosso, Adriana Leon, Kailen Sheridan and Shelina Zadorsky.  Can they get a third straight bronze or will they improve on it? We'll find out soon enough.

 Group F had Germany and Hungary tie at 2-2 as well as Portugal vs France. France gets first with 5 points, Germany and Portugal with four (Germany gets second with win over Portugal) and Hungary with two points. Portugal is the last third place team to get into round of 16. Round of 16 matchups are: Italy vs Austria (June 26), Wales vs Denmark (June 26), Belgium vs Portugal (June 27), Netherlands vs Czech Republic (June 27), France vs Switzerland (June 28), Croatia vs Spain (June 28) Sweden vs Ukraine (June 29), and England vs Germany (June 29). Getting good now.

 Sweden beat Poland 3-2 and Spain blew out Slovakia 5-0. Sweden finishes first in group E with 7 points, Spain is second with 5. Both will advance to the round of 16. Slovakia finishes third with 3 points. With a -5 goals differential, they're out and Ukraine is into the round of 16. Poland finishes with 1 point and is out. Group F will decide the round of 16.

 Group D had Croatia beat Scotland 3-1 and England beat Czech Republic 1-0.  England finishes first with 7 points. Croatia and Czech Republic finished with 4, and Scotland finished with one. Since Croatia and Czech Republic tied their game, and has same goals differential, goals scored was used and Croatia had more (4-3). Croatia gets second and Czech Republic is one of the four third place teams getting in, as is Switzerland from group A. Tomorrow has Slovakia vs Spain and Poland vs Sweden (both group E) and Portugal vs France and Germany vs Hungary (both group F) to round out round robin play.

 By finishing first in the preliminary round, the Canadian para ice hockey team qualified for the Beijing Paralympic winter Games in 2022. Yes. Good luck to the guys in Ostrava at this year's tournament and at the Paralympics.

 Group B had Denmark beat Russia 4-1 and Belgium beat Finland 2-0. Belgium finished with 9 points, then Denmark, Finland and Russia end up with three points each. Since Russia beat Finland, Finland beat Denmark and and Denmark Beat Russia, it went to goals differential. Denmark gets second with a +1, Finland gets third with a -2 and Russia gets last with a -5. Belgium and Denmark move on, Finland possibly moves on and Russia is out. Tomorrow, group D has Croatia vs Scotland and Czech Republic vs England.

 Group C games are done.  Netherlands beat North Macedonia 3-0 and Austria beat Ukraine 1-0. Netherlands finishes first with 9 points, Austria is second with 6, Ukraine with three and North Macedonia with none. Netherlands and Austria are in the round of 16 with Austria facing Italy. Ukraine possibly could be in the round of 16 pending how things shake out. Group B is this afternoon.

 Summer began at 9:32pm (yes a few minutes ago). This is the point where we reach our maximum daylight hours. After today, we slowly start losing daylight hours. Enjoy the first full day tomorrow.

 Thus time it's Hau-Li Fan. He finished 18th with a time of 2:03:05.40 to qualify for the Olympics. Good luck to you in Tokyo.

 Group A has wrapped up.  Italy beat Wales 1-0 and Switzerland beat Turkey 3-1. Italy finishes on top of group A with 9 points, Wales and Switzerland have four points and Turkey finishes with 0. Italy is into the round of 16 as is Wales.  Wales gets in by virtue of better goals differential (+1 to -1. Wales and Switzerland had tied their game).  Switzerland may be one of the four best third place teams.  Turkey is out.

 Kate Sanderson finished third in a qualifier and qualified for the Olympics Olympics in the 10k swimming event. Awesomeness.

 Spain tied Poland 1-1 to round out group E. Sweden still has 4 pts, Slovakia with 3, Spain now has two and Poland with one.  Group F had Germany beat Portugal 4-2 and France tie Hungary 1-1. France has four points, Germany and Portugal has three and Hungary with one. Tomorrow starts round three of games. Group A games has Switzerland vs Turkey and Wales vs Italy.

 Group D had Croatia and Czech Republic play to a 1-1 draw and England and Scotland play to a scoreless draw. Czech Republic and England have four points while Croatia and Scotland have one. The only group E game had Sweden beat Slovakia 1-0. Sweden has six points, Slovakia has three, Spain has one and Poland with none.  Spain and Poland play tomorrow. Tomorrow also has Hungary vs France and Portugal vs Germany in group F. Tomorrow rounds out round two of three.

 They are: 1. Maude Charron (women's 64kg) 2. Tali Darsigny (women's 56kg) 3. Boady Santavy (men's 96kg) 4. Rachel LeBlanc-Bazinet (women's 55kg) 5. Kristel Ngarlem (women's 76kg) Good luck in Tokyo.

 Belgium beat Denmark 2-0 in group B action and sit atop the group with 6 points. Russia and Finland have three and Denmark with none.  Group C had Netherlands beat Austria 2-0 and Ukraine beat North Macedonia 2-1. Netherlands has 6 points, Austria and Ukraine have three and North Macedonia with none. Tomorrow has Croatia vs Czech Republic (group D), England vs Scotland (group D) and Sweden vs Slovakia (group E).

 Five going to Tokyo. They are: 1. Ellie Black  2. Ava Stewart 3. Shallon Olsen 4. Brooklyn Moors 5. Rene Cournoyer Good luck in Tokyo.

 Group A had Italy beat Switzerland 3-0 (game just ended) and Wales beat Turkey 2-0. Italy leads with 6 pts, followed by Wales with 4.  Switzerland has 1 and Turkey with 0. Only group B game had Russia beat Finland 1-0. They both have 3 points. Belgium also has 3 points, but the have one game played.  They play Denmark tomorrow. Tomorrow also has Netherlands vs Austria and Ukraine vs North Macedonia.  Both group C action.

 Here are the athletes heading for Tokyo. They are: 1. Michelle Li (singles) 2. Brian Yang (singles) 3. Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai (doubles) 4. Nyl Yakura and Jason Ho-Shue (doubles) 5. Joshua Hurlburt-Yu and Josephine Yu (mixed doubles) This is the largest badminton team to represent Canada at the Olympics.

 This rowing team is the largest Canada has sent to the Olympics since Atlanta in 1996.  They are: 1. Stephanie Grauer, Nicole Hare, Jennifer Martins and Kristina Walker in women's fours. 2. Susanne Grainger, Kasia Gruchalla-Vesierski, Kristen Kit, Madison Mailey, Sydney Payne, Andrea Proske, Lisa Roman, Christine Roper and Avalon Wasteneys in women's eights. 3. Jessica Sevick and Gabrielle Smith in women's  double sculls. 4.  Hillary Janssens and Cayleigh Filmer in women's pairs. 5. Colin McCabe and Kai Langerfeld in men's pairs. 6. Carling Zeeman in single sculls. 7. Jennifer Casson and Jill Moffatt in lightweight double sculls. 8. Patrick Keane and Maxwell Latimer in lightweight double sculls. 9. Will Crothers, Gavin Stone, Luke Gadsdon and Jakub Buczek in men's fours. 10. Trevor Jones in single sculls. All rowing to Tokyo. Not literally but you get what I mean.

 Group H had Portugal beat Hungary 3-0 this morning and France beat Germany 1-0.  Portugal and France lead the group.  Tomorrow starts matchday two with Turkey vs Wales (Group A), Italy vs Switzerland (Group A) and Finland vs Russia (group B).

 Yesterday CFL announced there will be a CFL season and the schedule came out today. Hamilton at Winnipeg will open August 5, with the regular season closing November 20. Division semis will be November 28, division finals December 5 and the 108th Grey Cup December 12. Let's get this going.

 Brandie Wilkerson and Heather Bansley qualified for the Olympics.  They ended up 8th in the beach volleyball rankings, giving them the Olympic spot, joining Melissa Humana-Paradis and Sarah Pavin.

 Today's games had Spain and Sweden play to a scoreless draw, Slovakia beat Poland 2-1 and Czech Republic beat Scotland 2-0.  Tomorrow has Hungary vs Portugal and France vs Germany to round out the opening games.

 Night cap had Netherlands beat Ukraine 3-2 in what sounded like a good game.  Earlier Austria beat North Macedonia 3-1 and England beat Croatia 1-0.  Tomorrow has Scotland vs Czech Republic, Spain vs Sweden and Poland vs Slovakia.

 Daniel Gaysinsky is the lone Canadian in karate as he qualified in the kumite +75kg class. He clinched it at a qualification tournament in Paris.  Yes.

 Night cap had Belgium beat Russia 3-0, early game had Wales and Switzerland play to a 1-1 draw.  Middle game had Finland beat Denmark 1-0. (First ever Euro game for Finland. They've never been in a world Cup either). Scary moment when Christian Eriksen suffered a medical emergency and collapsed (apparently a heart attack, not sure how true it is). He is in the hospital and I heard he is in stable condition.  I hope for a speedy recovery for him.

 Impressive start for Italy as they open with a 3-0 over Turkey in Rome. The Euro tournament is celebrating its 61st (would have been the 60th anniversary last year - damn covid) anniversary by having 12 different cities host games.  Championship game is July 11 in London.

 Three on the team.  They are: 1. Andy Anderson in park, 2. Matt Berger in street and 3. Micky Pava in street.  Good luck in Tokyo.

 The Vegas Golden Knights will face the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup semi final after knocking out Colorado Avalanche in game six 6-3. Schedule should be announced soon.

 It will be the New York Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning in the semis for the second year in a row after the Islanders beat the Bruins in game six 6-2 and the series 4-2. This should be a good series. Series starts TBA.

 Tampa Bay Lightning are into the third round after shutting out Carolina in game five 2-0 and taking the series 4-1. They will get either Boston or New York Islanders.

 Jessica Klimkait will be representing Canada in judo. In a space of two hours, she qualified and won u57kg judo championship. First she beat Nora Gjakova of Kosovo in the semis. She avoids having to face teammate Christa Deguchi as she lost to Momo Tamaoki.  Klimkait ended up beating Tamaoki in the final. Since one spot was available for Canada Deguchi is the alternate.

 Montreal just finished a four game sweep of the Winnipeg Jets, winning game 4 in overtime 3-2.  They will likely face either Colorado or Vegas in the third round.

 The 1939-40 season had 7 teams and 48 game schedule. Tragedy struck Montreal as player coach Babe Siebert and his daughter drowned in August. Without him on defense, the Canadiens finish last.  New York Americans, struggling financially, first trades Sweeney Shriner to Toronto for Busher Jackson, Buzz Boll, Murray Armstrong and Jimmy Fowler. Americans then trade Eddie Wiseman and $5000 to Boston for Eddie Shore.  On February 25th, the first NHL game was televised featuring New York Rangers and Montreal. Quarterfinals had Toronto beat Chicago 2-0 and Detroit beat the Americans 2-1. Although nobody knew it at the time, the Americans won their last playoff game (game 2) and played their last playoff game (game 3). Semi finals had Toronto beat Detroit 2-0 and Rangers beat Boston 4-2.  Stanley Cup finals had New York beat Toronto 4-2.  Circus had booted the Rangers out of Madison Square Garden after game 2.  Also nobody knew it at the time, this would be the la...

 Nick Paul scored the overtime goal giving Canada a 3-2 win over Finland and their 27th title. Great game today.  What a story this ended up. An 0-3 start, barely got into the quarterfinals, and now coming home with gold. So that's it for this tournament. Next year Helsinki and Tempere in Finland will co-host.

 It ended up not much of a doubt as the US beat Germany 6-1 to take the bronze.  Germany's highest finished since 2010 (I think, not sure). Coming up, the gold medal game.

 Third race of the triple Crown and third different winner. Essential Quality wins with a time of 2:27.11.  Luis Suarez is winning jockey and Brad Cox winning trainer. Preakness stakes winner Rambauer finished 3rd.

 The crew of Laura Court (coxswain), Bayleigh Hooper, Andrew Todd, Victoria Nolan and Kyle Fredrickson have qualified for the Tokyo Paralympic Games after winning their race this morning. Yay.

 It will be Finland vs Canada for gold at 11:15 am Prince Albert time tomorrow. Finland beat Germany 2-1 in the second semi final game. Germany will play United States for bronze at 6:15 am tomorrow. Tournament is in Latvia.

 Canada will be playing for gold after beating the United States 4-2 in the first semi final game. Canada will get either Finland or Germany, while the USA gets the loser for bronze.

 The following athletes are going to Tokyo. They are: In marathon: Natasha Vodek, Malindi Elmore, Cameron Levins and Ben Priestner. In the 50k walk: Mathieu Bilodeau. In the 10000m: Mohammed Ahmed and Andrea Seccafien. Opening ceremony is in 7 weeks from today.

 This game went into overtime. Little more than two minutes into in, Canada scores and will go to the semis with a 2-1 win over Russia.  They will face the United States in the semis. The US beat Slovakia 6-1. Other semi final has Finland vs Germany. Finland beat Czech Republic 1-0 and Germany beat Switzerland 3-2. This one went to a shoot out. Semi finals are Saturday.

 Our canoeists and kayakers are: Haley Daniels C1  Florence Maheu K1  Cameron Smedley C1  Michael Taylor K1  Best wishes in Tokyo.

 Meet the synchronized swim team that will represent Canada in Tokyo.  They are: Emily Armstrong Andree-Anne Cote Rosalie Boissonneault Camilla Fiola-Dion Jacqueline Simoneau Claudia Holzner Halle Pratt Audrey Joly  Good luck in Tokyo.

 For the first time since baseball became an official Olympic sport in 1992, Cuba will NOT send a team to the summer game.  With a 6-5 loss to Canada, they sit 0-2 and will not advance to the final qualifying round.  Crazy.  Canada and Venezuela, both 2-0, will be advancing. They play each other tomorrow. They will also face the too two from group a.

 On this day in 1923, the New York Giants became the first team in the 20th century to score at least one run in every inning, as they beat the Phillies 22-8 at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.  Yikes.  Giants had 23 hits.  Phillies had seven errors in the game as well.

 Earlier this morning, Finland beat Canada in a shoot out 3-2. Canada had to wait for the result between Germany and Latvia to see whether they get into the quarterfinals or not.  Germany just beat Latvia 2-1 in regulation meaning Canada barely gets in (Kazakhstan has 10 pts also but Canada beat them. Latvia has 9). The quarterfinals are on Thursday and has: Canada vs Russia, Switzerland vs Germany, Czech Republic vs Finland and Slovakia vs USA.  Now the run for gold is on.