the mad sports man

 On this day in 1981, Wayne Gretzky scores five goals against the Philadelphia Flyers in a 7-5 win. His fifth, into an empty net with three seconds left, was his 50th of the season in his 39th game. 50 in 39 still stands as an NHL record.  Tim Dancy had the call in Edmonton. Don Cherry says "he's got 50 before anyone's got 30." Remarkable. There's another record he sets later in the 1981-82 season and it's one Phil Esposito had.

 After two more games being forfeited, the iihf is about to cancel the remainder of the world Juniors. Sucks for the players that came to play plus the team staff members and arena staff. Understandable, yet still sucks.

 Not much of a doubt here as Canada blows out Austria 11-2. Connor Bedard becomes: 1. the youngest Canadian to score a hat trick (younger than some guy named Gretzky in 1977) and 2. The sixth Canadian to score four goals in a game (Mario Lemieux, Simon Gagne, Brayden Schenn, Taylor Raddysh and Maxime Comtois were the others). Canada and Finland are atop group a with 6 points, Germany with 2, Czech Republic with 1 and Austria with none. There was supposed to be a game between the USA and Switzerland, but the USA had to forfeit the game due to four players testing positive for COVID 19.  Hopefully that's all that happens. Would love to see the US play more.  Sweden leads group b with 6 points, USA, Switzerland and Russia with three and Slovakia with none. Tomorrow Canada plays Germany, USA vs Sweden, Russia vs Slovakia and Czech Republic vs Finland.

 Quite a game here.  Canada wins 6-3 over the Czech Republic. Owen Power had a hat trick tonight, becoming the first Canadian defenceman to score a hat trick. Canada got two other goals from defencemen (yes five of six goals from the defence). Kris Russel and Thomas Chabot each had four goals IN AN ENTIRE TOURNAMENT.  There was a point where the Czech Republic was leading 3-1.  Anyways, Canada plays again Tuesday night against Austria at 6pm Prince Albert time.

 🎵🎶 It's the most wonderful time of the year. 🎶🎵 The world Juniors have arrived and the first game is in the books. Finland just beat Germany 3-1 to open the tournament. Canada opens tonight against the Czech Republic at 6pm Prince Albert time. Let's go!!!

 I hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas.  Dinner eaten, presents unwrapped, family visited, and Christmas music played (and still playing here).  Maybe a couple of Christmas movies viewed. And Saint Nicholas won't come again for another 364 nights. 🎅🎄

 This season had - you guessed it - 6 teams and 60 games.  Art Ross trophy introduced this season for top point getter. All star game returned as the NHL all stars beat Toronto 4-3.  Bad ankle injury forces Toe Blake to retire. He ends up quite a coach for Montreal.  Dan Gallinger (indefinitely) and Billy Taylor (lifetime) each suspended for gambling. Toronto and Chicago make (at the time) the biggest trade ever. Toronto sends five players for Max Bentley and Cy Thomas. Thomas plays eight games while Bentley shores up the Toronto defense.  Bill Durnan became last goalie to be named captain. Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel form the production line. In the playoffs, the semi finals had Toronto beat Boston 4-1 and Detroit beat New York 4-2. Stanley Cup finals had Toronto beat Detroit 4-0 to win their 7th Stanley Cup.

 It's officially arrived. Winter arrived at 9:59am today. Today is the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight hours. After today and up to the summer solstice, we will be gaining daylight hours. We're in the dark days of winter.

 Yup. Just released. Season opens June 9th with Montreal at Calgary. Regular season ends October 29th with three games that day - Montreal at Toronto, Hamilton at Ottawa and Saskatchewan at Calgary. The final two weeks of the regular season has divisional games. The division semis are November 6, division finals are November 13 and the 109th Grey Cup is November 20.  If all goes well, we'll be seeing the full 18 game schedule.

 What. A. Game.  What. A. Finish. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are back to back champs after beating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-25 in overtime.  And the craziest interception to end it as well. First time Winnipeg has gone back to back was 1961 and 1962 when they beat Hamilton both times. Winnipeg has played Hamilton eight times in the Grey Cup and has won all of them (1935, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1984, 2019 and 2021). Wow. That's it for this year.

 This tournament was in St. Moritz Switzerland. Thirty six games were played in this tournament.  Ottawa RCAF Flyers represented Canada at the games. Tournament was in jeopardy due to 1. The LIHG and IOC had a disagreement and 2. USOC threatened a boycott when two different American teams (one AHAUS and one NCAA) showed up. Avery Brundage of USOC campained to keep the AHAUS team out because he thought they were not an amateur team. He had suggested his NCAA choice play.  He was also angry when LIHG passed a motion that CAHA/AHAUS approved teams could play. Eventually the AHAUS team was allowed to play, but games wouldn't "count" in the standings (wins and losses still stood). LIHG was debating from September 1947 to the last few days before the Olympics on whether hockey would be at the games or not.  Eventually they were. Canada and Czechoslovakia finished tied with 7 wins and a tie. Goals average was used to break the tie. Canada had 69 goals for and 5 against for ...

 The mixed doubles final qualification tournament ended. Australia will have a curling team for the first time ever (curling became an Olympic sport in 1998, mixed doubles began in 2018). They beat South Korea 6-5. The United States will join Australia at the Olympics. They beat Russia 6-4 to qualify. They join Canada, China, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland in the tournament. The men's and women's will be decided next weekend.

 ...... Damian Warner. Canada's athlete of the year won gold at the Tokyo Olympics with a personal best of 9018 points.  Congratulations.

 The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are going to the Grey Cup after beating Saskatchewan 21-17 in the west final. It will be a Grey Cup rematch from 2019 as the Bombers will be facing Hamilton next Sunday. Gonna be a good one.

 The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are going to the Grey Cup after knocking off the Toronto Argonauts 27-19 in the East final. Hamilton now has home field for the Grey Cup seeing as they are hosting.  Who will they face? Stay tuned.

 The Western Mustangs are this year's champions after beating the Saskatchewan Huskies 27-21.  First Vanier Cup in two years. It's Western's 8th championship.  Champion in 2019 was Calgary 27-13 over Montreal. 

 Geez the last week has felt like a month. The end of the Olympic Curling Trials was last weekend and it seems like a long time ago.  And to think the East and West final is Sunday.  Who will be in the Grey Cup? Find out Sunday.

 Well hello December, good to see you, I think. Did you see where November went? No? Damn.  What do you have for me? I see you have the Grey Cup game on the 12th, and the division finals on Sunday.  I'm well aware of Christmas coming. It will be here before you know it.  I also spotted the most wonderful time of the year, aka the world Juniors starting boxing Day.  Remind me to stay out of the stores then. I don't want to deal with the loonies. Ahhh yes I see NHL hockey going around. What? I forgot the NFL? Is that so?  Awww did you have to tell me it's going to get chilly?  Maybe snow? Eeep. Well, have fun anyway.