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Canada beats Germany, quarterfinals set

 Canada beat Germany 6-3, and from what I heard it was too close for comfort.  Finland beat Sweden  5-4 in a shootout, USA 10 Slovakia 2 and Czech Republic 4 Switzerland 2. Quarterfinals are: Sweden vs Switzerland,  Canada vs Czech Republic (7:30 am Prince Albert time), Finland vs Slovakia and Latvia vs USA. Norway vs Germany in a best of 3 relegation series. Quarterfinals are on Tuesday. 

Canada vs Sweden.

 Disappointing finish as Sweden beats Canada 2-0 to put Canada at two wins and a loss, while Sweden has won all three of the games. Sweden has not given up a goal yet. Canada finishes round robin Sunday vs Germany and Sweden plays Finland on Sunday.  Then the quarterfinals. 

2003 Pan American Games

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 The 14th edition was in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from August 1-17. 42 nations and 5227 athletes competed. Juan Marichel and Pedro Martinez were on hand. Basque pelota and water-skiing returned. The mascot was named Tito.  31 nations won a medal and 16 won gold. United States won 117g, 80s, 73b = 270* total. Cuba won 72g, 41s, 39b = 152 total. Canada won 29g, 57s, 42 = 128* total. Brazil won 29g, 40s, 54 = 123. Host Dominican Republic won 10g, 12s, 19b = 41 total. (* totals are disputed).  Here is the logo for these games. 

Canada blows out Latvia

 Oh boy Canada is now two for two after beating Latvia 10-0. No surprise there. 8 different players had goals. Carson Rehkopf and Conor Geekie had two goals. Other games had Slovakia 3 Switzerland 0 and Czech Republic 8 Norway 1. Canada plays again Friday against Sweden. 

Surprise of the day

 Germany beat Finland 5-4 and earned their first ever victory over Finland. Wow. Finland is now 0-2.

The world juniors have arrived

 Canada has opened with a 5-2 win over Finland. Good start so far.  Tomorrow Canada faces Latvia. Slovakia beat Czech Republic 6-2 in the first game of the day. The USA is leading Norway 3-0 and Sweden plays Latvia later.

2007 pan American games

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 The 15th edition was held in Rio De Janeiro from July 13-29. 5633 athletes and 42 nations participated. 95 Pan American records were set.  Mascot was Cauè in the figure of the sun. 32 nations won a medal and 19 of them won gold. Among the golds were Antigua and Barbuda and El Salvador winning their first ones. United States led with 97g, 88s, 52b for 237 total. Cuba was 2nd in golds and 4th overall with 59g, 35s, 41b for 135 total. Host Brazil was 3rd in golds and 2nd overall with 52g  40s, 65b for 157 total. Canada was 4th in gold and 3rd overall with 39g, 44s, 55b for 138 total. Here is the logo for these games. 

Merry Christmas

  Merry Christmas to all the viewers and readers all  around the world. Hopefully time with family and good food. I hope it's a wonderful day for you.

Winter begins tonight

 Winter will begin at 9:27pm tonight, making tomorrow the first full day.  Hasn't been much of one so far.  Not much for snow and not really that cold either. Christmas weekend is supposed to be pleasant as well.

2011 Pan American Games

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 The 16th edition of the Pan American Games were held in Guadalajara, Mexico from October 14th to 30th.  42 nations and 5996 athletes participated in the games. Netherlands Antilles had been dissolved prior to these games, but were allowed to compete under the PASO flag. They haven't competed since. Rugby 7s replaced Futsal, while racquetball and basque pelota returned. Cayman Islands won its first ever gold from Brett Fraser in 200m freestyle swim. St Kitts and Nevis won its first two ever medals - both silvers.  First from Kim Collins in mens 100m in athletics. Him, along with Antoine Adams, Delwayne Delaney, Brijesh Lawrence and Jason Rogers won the silver in the 4x100m relay. United States led with 92g, 79s, 66b for 237 total. Cuba was 2nd in golds and 3rd overall with 58g, 35s, 47b for 136 total. Brazil was 3rd in golds and 2nd overall with 48g, 35s, 58b for 141 total. Host Mexico was 4th with 42g, 41s, 50b for 133 total. Canada had 30g, 40s, 49b for 119 total. Here ...

Crazy stat of the day

 Say this on Facebook. From August 27, 1977. The second time this has happened. Back to back inside the park home runs on consecutive pitches (only time) courtesy of the Texas Rangers. Toby Harrah and Bump Wills hit the Homer's of Yankees pitcher Ken Clay. The Rangers hit 5 homers in the game en route to an 8-2 win.  So, how about that?

CFL schedule is out

 Start making plans CFL fans,  the 2024 schedule is out.  Season begins June 6 with the Grey Cup rematch with Montreal going to Winnipeg. Balanced schedule has returned where every team visits the rest of hhe league (Edmonton visits the remaining 8 teams, the 8 teams goes to Edmonton). The usual labor day games.  Ottawa visits Montreal on Thanksgiving. Regular season ends October 25/26. Division semis are on November 2nd, division finals November 9th, the 111th Grey Cup in Vancouver is November 17th.

Sooo...

 Was at the Raiders game last night znd they beat Kamloops 3-1. Was a pretty good game.  Max Hildebrand made 37 stops in the win.  In between intermissions and after each stoppage was all sorts of giveaways for the 12 days of Christmas. After the game Easton Kovacs, Grady Martin, Matej Kubiesa, Krzysztof Macias and Doogie Pederson were signing autographs in the foyer. By ghe way, I've been to 4 games and the Raiders win all of them.

The Northern Star award winner is...

 ...Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The NBA player helped Canada's basketball team qualify for the upcoming Olympics. The Northern Star award is for Canada's athlete of the tear. Shai is the second basketball player to win the award. The first was Steve Nash. 

Weekend activities

 Let's see, what happened? Went to a Prince Albert Raiders game vs Calgary and the Raiders won 4-3. Saturday was the usual work followed by laundry, finishing the 1973 NHL quarterfinals, some vacuuming, watched Mrs Brown's boys, Rudolph red nosed reindeer znd kept an eye on the hockey. Today was NFL stats, work and more Mrs Brown's boys. Nap time.

Geez was it icy

 Boy oh boy was it ever. Had some freezing rain overnight and into today. Was quite the icy walk to and from work. Was a little better coming home.  There was some snow in the forecast. Just looked outside and no snow. First 2-4cm, then 5-10cm forecast. None here. It's going to be icy tomorrow.

About last night......

 We'll start with Christine Sinclair. She played her 331st and final international game with Canada as they beat Australia 1-0 in a friendly. 190 international goals on top of that. Two Olympic bronzes (2012 and 2016) and an Olympic gold (2020). Her first game was in 2000.  An amazing career (and I met her). Went to city hall for the first annual Christmas tree lighting. Some of the Raiders, McIntosh Lumberjacks and Northern Bears hockey teams were there. Plus hay rides pulled by horses, hot chocolate and candy canes as well.  Lots of fun.  So about last night.....

Hello December

 Well hello December, what's up? What you're the last month of the year?  Yikes. What else?  Lots of hockey? Sure. I can add: 1. 25 days of Brooks Holt and girlfriend Elisha playing mini golf. 2. The Vinyl Cafe advent calendar. From yesterday to Christmas eve, Jess Milton puts a clip of a Dave and Morley story on Instagram and you can listen to the whole story on YouTube. 3. An episode of Mrs Brown's Boys from yesterday to Christmas day. 4. Chocolate advent calendars. 5. The Saturday Christmas shows.  I watch Elf (viewed today), Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Charlie Brown Christmas every Saturday up to Christmas eve and a Christmas Carol on Christmas eve.  I think I have it covered. Boxing day is the start of the world juniors. And the 1973 NHL playoffs are being played. December will be here and gone before we know it. Enjoy.

1971-72 NHL season

 The 1971-72 season had 14 teams and a 78 game schedule. Highlights include: 1. Montreal hiring Scotty Bowman. 2. New York Rangers goal a game line of Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert finish 3rd, 4th and 5th in the points race.  Phil Esposito and Gordie Howe were 1-2. 3. Boston and New York were first teams since 1960 to finish 1-2 overall and reach Stanley Cup finals. 4. November 4 Los Angeles Kings acquire Rogie Vachon from Montreal. 5. March 22 Marcel Dionne of Detroit sets rookie record with 75 points in a season. 6. March 25 Gerry Cheevers sets unbeaten streak at 32 (24 wins 8 ties).  7. February 19 Phil Esposito first player to record 3 100 point seasons. Quarterfinals: Boston 4 Toronto 1, New York 4 Montreal 2, St Louis 4 Minnesota 3, Chicago 4 Philadelphia 0.  Semi finals: Boston 4 St Louis 0, New York 4 Chicago 0. Stanley Cup finals: Boston 4 New York 2. Boston wins 5th Stanley Cup. Bobby Orr wins Conn Smythe trophy. 1972 #1 draft pick us Billy Har...

Weekend roundup

 First, the Vanier Cup. The Montreal Carabins won their 2nd title, 16-7 over the UBC Thunderbirds. Montreal won their first one in 2014. It was a good week for Montreal in championships.  Second,  the 2023 Parapan American games ended yesterday.  Canada finished with 9g, 15s 28b for 52 total. A good haul. Plus the womens goalball team qualified for the Paralympics in Paris 2024. With November almost over, it was a hectic sports month. It's also been a mild one as well. Not much snow. I'll take it.

110th Grey Cup

 Wow what a finish.  Cody Fajardo to Tyson Philpot for the game winning touchdown with 13 seconds left give the Montreal Alouettes beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28-24 to win their 8th ever Grey Cup. First Grey Cup since 2010. This was a heck of a game. This ends the 2023 season. The game winning touchdown was a 2 minute drive. Fajardo also beat Zach Collaros for the  first time. #IsItMayYet

Winnipeg Blue Bombers to Grey Cup

 The Winnipeg Blue Bombers just beat the B.C. Lions 24-13 to advance to their 4th Grey Cup game in a row. They will be facing the Montréal Alouettes for the 110th Grey Cup on the 19th. Kick off will be around 5pm Prince Albert time. 

Montréal Alouettes to Grey Cup

 Wow did Montréal ever dethrone Toronto. The Alouettes knocked off the defending Grey Cup champions Argonauts 38-17. That is big. The second 16-2 team to fail to get to the Grey Cup. Also Montréal first Grey Cup trip since 2010 when they beat Saskatchewan. Next up is B.C. vs Winnipeg. 

2015 pan American games

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 OK I'm going backwards with this. The 2015 Pan American games were held in Toronto Ontario Canada from July 10th to 26th. 41 nations and 6127 athletes competed in the games. One fewer nation than 2011 as the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved. Golf and canoe slalom were added, marking the first time all Olympic sports were competed at the Pan American Games. 19 different sports had Olympic qualification ramifications. Saint Lucia 🇱🇨 won its first ever gold as Levern Spencer won it in womens high jump.   United States was first overall in medals with 103g, 82s, 80b for 265 total. Host Canada was 2nd with 78g, 70s, 71b for 219 total. Brazil was third with 42g, 39s, 60b for 141 total. Next one is 2011. Here is the logo for 2015.

Ice hockey at the 1972 Olympics

 This was held in Sapporo, Japan from February 3-13. 11 teams at this tournament. 5 pre tournament games decided would play with the Soviet Union in the final round znd who would play in the consolation round. Canada did not play at this tournament due to the iihf allowing "professionals" playing with the Soviet Union. Eventually that got figured out, with Canada returning to international competition in 1977 and the Olympics in 1980. United States was nicknamed yhe overlooked team. They upset Czechoslovakia, then Finland to eventually win a silver. Soviet Union won gold. United States the silver and Czechoslovakia the bronze. The USA znd Czechoslovakia each had identical records. The first tie break was head to head, which, as noted, yhe USA won. Soon, the 1976 games in Innsbruck Austria. 

Canada by the numbers

 Here's how things shook down at the Pan American Games. Finished with 46g, 55s, 63b for 164 total. They were 4th in gold and 3rd overall.   Women won 82 medals (22g, 30s, 30b), men won 71 (22g, 22s, 27b) and mixed teams won 11 (2g, 3s, 6b). They medaled in every day of competition (minus the days before opening ceremony). Most medals in a day won was 20 yesterday (6g, 8s, 6b). Least amount won on a day was 1, a silver on October 28 and 31. They medaled in 36 events, with swimming topping the charts with 11g, 6s, 8b for 25 total. USA led the overall medals with 124g, 75s, 87b for 286 total.  Brazil was second with 66g, 77s, 66b for 205 total. Mexico was 3rd in golds and 4th overall with 52g, 38s, 52b for 142 total. Next Pan American Games is in Barranquilla, Colombia in 2027.

5 medals to finish

 3s and 2b to end. Ghe silvers:  Hollie Naughton, Nicole Bunyan and Nikole Todd in womens team squash, Mitch Hupe in mens bowls and Edward Ly, Eugene Wang and Simeon Martin in mens team table tennis. The bronzes: Melissa Bratic in karate 68kg and Elena Sharp in golf. Final total is 46g, 55s, 63b for 164 total. 

Closing ceremony flagbearers

 The flag bearers for Canada at tonight's closing ceremony is Katie Vincent and Phil Wizard. Couple of interesting choices.  They will do Canada proud. 

Lions maul Stampeders

 Calgary tried to make it close, but the B.C. Lions are into the west final, winning the semi 41-30. They will be going to Winnipeg to play the Blue Bombers next Saturday. 

20 medals.

 Yikes a boatload. Katie Vincent and Sloan MacKenzie in C2 500m gold, Lee Parkhill in sailing sunfish gold, Laurent Lavigne, Nick Matveev, Pierre-Luc Poulin and Simon McTavish in K4 500m silver, Remi Aubin and Keegan Soehn in synchro trampoline silver, the womens rugby 7s silver, Yamina Lahyanssa karate 50kg silver, Sarah Douglas sailing laser radial silver, mens rugby 7s bronze, womens water polo silver, Connor Fitzpatrick C1 1000m bronze, Courtney Stott and Madeline Schmidt in K2 500m bronze, womens softball bronze, Brock Hoel, Liam Donnely, Dominika Jamnicky and Emy Legault in mixed triathlon bronze,David Baillageon, George Crowne and Graeme Schnell in team squash bronze, Phil Wizard in breaking gold, Fares Arfa, Francois Cauchon and Shawn Gordon in team fencing gold, Ethan Katzberg in hammer throw gold, Jean Simon Desgagnes in 3000m steeplechase gold, Leonard MacKinnon, Alexanne Werret and Ruien Xiao in team epee silver, and to finish it off, Alycia Butterworth in 3000m steeple...

East semi final

 Montreal Allouetes just beat Hamilton Tiger-Cats 27-12 and will go to Toronto next Saturday to face the Argonauts. Coming up: Calgary at B.C.

Two more

 A silver znd a bronze. The silver: Pamela Brindamour, Tamar Gordon and Marissa Ponich in team sabre.  The bronze comes from the mens field hockey team. They are: Brendan Bissett, Findlay Boothroyd, Sam Cabral, Taylor Curran, Sean Davis, Brendan Guraliuk, Thomson Harris, Gordon Johnson, James Kirkpatrick, Ethan McTavish, Devohn Noronha Texiera, Balraj Panesar, Keegan Periera, Matthew Sarmento, Oliver Scholfield and Floris van Son. That is now 40g, 44s, 55b for 139 total. Woohoo.

Add 3 more

 Two silvers and a bronze since my last post. The silvers: George Crowne and Nicole Bunyan in mixed doubles squash and Blake Broszus, Patrick Liu and Max Van Haaster in mens team foil. The bronze: Claudia Laos-Loo in karate individual kata.  That is now 40g, 43s, 54b for 137 total.

8 medals thus far

 Yes, 3g, 2s, 3b so far. The golds: Michelle Russell in womens K1 500, Ian Gaudet and Simon McTavish in mens K2 500m and Alix Plomteux and Craig Spence in mens C2 500m. The silvers: Toshka Besharah, Natalie Davidson, Riley Melanson and Courtney Stott in womens K4 500m, and Mariah Millen and Alexandra ten Hove in sailing 49er FX. The bronzes: Sophia Jensen in womens C1 200m, Justin Barnes and Will Jones in mens sailing 49er, and the team of Sydney Carroll, Scarlett Finn, Audrey Larothe, Jonnie Newman, Raphaelle Plante, Kenzie Priddell, Claire Sheffely, Florence Tremblay and Olena Verebinska in synchro artistic swim.  That is now 40g, 41s, 53b for 134 total. Yesss

10 medals

 Yikes. 2g 5s 3b. The golds: Charles Philibert-Thiboutot in mens 1500m and Sarah Mitton in womens shot put. The silvers: Hannah  Taylor in wrestling 57kg, Fynn Fafaro, Dylan French and Nicholas Zhang in team epee, Sabrina Fang, Jessica Guo and Eleanor Harvey in team foil, Robert Heppenstall in 1500m, and Mitch Huff & Francois Laudie in team lawn bowls. The bronzes: Hunter Lee in wrestling 86kg, Olivia DiMarco in wrestling 68kg and Julie Anna Staehli in womens 5000m.  Yikes. That 37g, 39s, 50b for 126 total. 

Texas Rangers world series champions

 The Texas Rangers are world series champions for the first time ever as they beat Arizona 5-0 in game 5 to finish off the series 4-1. Been in Arlington since 1972 after moving from Washington. Congrats to the Texas Rangers and my Rangers friends

6 more bronzes

 The recipients are: Nishan Randhawa in mens wrestling 97kg, Ruien Xiao in womens epee, Fares Arfamins in mens Sabre, Shaul Gordon in mens Sabre, Adam Thomson in mens wrestling 74kg and Kalia Butler in womens hammer throw. That is now 35g, 34s and 47b for 116 total. 

How about a silver

 Mario Deslauriers, Tiffany Foster, Amy Millar and Beth Underhill have a silver in the team equestrian jumping event. That is now 35g, 34s, 41b for 110 total. 

A bronzed start

 3 bronzes to begin November. Zhang Mo in womens table tennis, Eugene Wang in mens table tennis and Hollie Naughton in womens squash. That is now 35g, 33s, 41b for 109 total. 

A Halloween medal

 It's a silver from Charles Philibert-Thiboutot in the mens 5000m.  Nothing until this one. Yippee. That us now 35g, 33s, 38b for 106 medals. Happy Halloween. 

Another pair.

 Both in fencing. Dylan French with a gold in epee and Eleanor Harvey in individual foil. That is now 35g, 32s, 38b for 105 total. Assuming this information is right.

5 more.

 1g, 1s 3b so far.  The gold is from Shady El Nahas in judo mens 100kg class. The silver os from Sanoa Dempfle-Olin in surfing shortboard. The bronzes are from: Finn Spencer in surfing stand up paddleboard, Eugene Wang and Zhang MO in mixed doubles table tennis and Jessica Guo in fencing individual foil. That is now 34g, 31s, 38b for 103 total. We are over 100.

A truckload of medals

 10. Yes, 10 of them. 1g, 3s, 6b. Yhe gold from Colleen Loach, Karl Slezak, Lindsey Traisnel and Michael Winter in team equestrian eventing. That I think got them an Olympic spot as well. The silvers: Lois Betteridge in womens canoe slalom C-1, Isabelle Harris in judo womens 63kg class and Alex Baldoni in kayak cross. The Bronzes: Mael Rivard in mens canoe slalom K-1, Lea Baldoni in womens canoe slalom K-1, Lindsey Traisnel in equestrian individual eventing, Antoine Bouchard in mens judo 73kg class, Lois Betteridge in womens kayak cross and David Popovici in news judo 81kg.  That is now 33g, 29s, 36b for 98 total. Yes. Stay tuned for more.  UPDATE: Lois Betteridge went from bronze to silver in kayak cross. Don't know what happened. That is 33g, 30s, 35b for 98 total

A silver in judo

 Just the one medal and it came from Julien Mascadore in judo 66kg class. Bit of confusion whether they had more. Turns out only one. That is now 32g, 26s, 30b for 88 total.  8 days left.

Beach volleyball silver

 Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson have claimed silver in beach volleyball. They still put up a very good run for themselves. That is now 32g, 25s, and 30b for 87 total.

Two more golds

 First from Wyatt Sanford. Yesterday he qualified himself a spot for Paris 2024 winning his semi final.  Today he wins gold at the Pan Am games, winning in the mens 63.5kg boxing class. Second in cycling team pursuit. The team of Chris Ernst, Michael Foley, Carson Mattern and Sean Richardson has the gold. That is now 32g, 24s, 30b for 86 total. Yes.

Boxing to gold

 Tammara Thibeault has a gold in the 75kg category. First qualified fir 2024 Olympics, now a gold. That is now 30g, 24s, 30b for 84 total. 

A bronze and Tammara Thibeault

 Let's start with the bronze. Charlie Cavanaugh won her bronze in the boxing 66kg event. That is now 29g, 24s, 30b for 83 total. Now for Tammara Thibeault. By winning her semi final boutique in boxing,  she qualified herself for the Olympics next summer. That is awesome. Congrats to Tammara. 

Couple of bronzes

 The first one was from Kelly Fitzsimmons and Devan Wiebe in modern pentathlon womens relay. The second was from McKenzie Wright in womens boxing 56kg. That is now 29g, 24s, 29b for 82 total.

4 to begin day 6.

 1g, 1s, 2b to start. The gold is from Tugrul Ozer in 10m air pistol. The silver is from Coby Iwaasa and Samuel Murray in racquetball team. The bronzes: Bryan Colwell in boxing 92kg and from Junior Pentaqui in boxing 71kg. That is now 29g, 24s 27b for 80 total. 

3 to finish

 Two silvers and a bronze. The silvers: Mia Vallee and Pamela Ware in 3m synchro springboard and  Nathan Zsombor-Murray in 10m platform (just win this one). The bronze was from Rene Cournoyer in horizontal bar. That brings the total to 28g, 23s, 25b for 76 total.  Day 5 total: 8g 3s 7b for 18 total. A very good day 5.

Three more.

 A gold and two bronze. The gold: Devaney Collier, Kiara Lylyk, Fiona Majendie, and Ruby West in cycling team pursuit. The bronzes: Javier Acevado, Finlay Knox, Gabe Mastromatteo, Blake Tierney, Edouard Fullum-Huot, Raben Dommann and Kier Ogilvie in the 4x100m medley relay and Ava Stewart on the balance beam.  That is now 28g, 21s, 24b for 73 total.

1970-71 NHL season

 Yhe 1970-71 NHL season had 14 teams and a 78 game schedule. Teams played a balanced schedule where all teams played each other 6 times. The Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres joined the league and added to the East division, smile Chicago was moved to the West. Playoff format changed slightly, with the crossover happening in the semis.  Boston Bruins had the top 4 point getters, all with 100+ points, a first. Phil Esposito first to score 60 goals, then 70, finishing with 76.  June 10 1970, California Seals trade Francois Lacombe and their first round pick in 1971 to Montreal for Ernie Hicke and their first round pick in 1971. Montreal picks Guy Lafleur. He plays 1176 games, scores 560g, 793 assists for 1353 points. He has 5 100 point seasons,  5 50 goal seasons, and one 60 goal season.  January 1971 Detroit trades Frank Mahavolich to Montreal.   March 18, 1971 Gilbert Perreault scores his 35th goal of the season,  breaking a rookie record. He f...

How about 6 more?

 4g, a silver and a bronze. The golds:  Sydney Pickrem in the 200m individual medley, Ty Lindeman and Josephine Wu in mixed badminton doubles, Finlay Knox in the mens 200m individual medley and Danielle Hanus, Mary Sophie-Harvey, Maggie Mac Neil, Rachel Nicol, Sophie Angus, Brooklyn Douthwright, Maddy Gatrall and Katerine Savard in the 4x100m medley. The silver to Mary Sophie-Harvey in the 200m individual medley.  The bronze to Felix Dolci in the vault.  That is now 27g, 21s, 22b for 70 total. Stay tuned for more.

Bronzed badminton player

 This one is Rachel Chan on womens singles. That is now 23g, 20s, 21b for 64 total. Way to go.

Golden badminton player

 It was Brian Yang who won it in the singles competition. That is now 23g, 20s and 20b for 63 total 

Two golds and two bronze

 Onto day 5. The golds: Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu in womens badminton doubles and Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura in mens badminton doubles. The bronze: Alizee Brien and Shaye de Piava in doubles skulls and Shannon Westlake in 50m rifle three positions. That is now 22g, 20s, 20b for 62 total. 

Arizona Diamondbacks to world series

 Yup. They just beat Philadelphia 4-2 tonight and will face the Texas Rangers starting Friday. Should be a good one. Arizona looking for their first series since 2001 and Texas is looking for their first ever series win.

Three more to finish

 A gold and two bronze. The gold from Pamela Ware in 3m springboard.  The bronzes: Felix Dolci in rings and Alannah Yip in sport climbing Boulder and lead. That is now 20g, 20s, 18b for 58 total. Day 4 totals: 8g, 5s, 5b for 18 total. Wow.

Track cycling bronze

 Jackie Boyle, Sarah Orban and Emy Savard with said bronze in team track sprint.  That is now 19g, 20s, 16b for 55 total.

And 4 more

 2 golds, a silver and a bronze. The golds: James Hedgcock,  Tyler Rorke and Nick Wammes in cycling team sprint and Zachary Clay in pommel horse. The silver is Jayson Rampersand in pommel horse. Ghe bronze: Javier Acevado, Alex Axon, Jeremy Bagshaw, Finlay Knox, Raben Domrann, Blake Tierney and Yu Tong Wu in the 4x200m freestyle. That is now 19g, 20s, 15b gor 54 total.

A plethora of medals.

 2g, 2s and 1b. The golds: Julie Brousseau in the 400m individual medley and Felix Dolci on the floor exercise. The silvers: Hunter Smith in mens wakeboard and Collyn Gagne in mens 400m individual medley. Julie Brousseau  Brooklyn Douthwright, Katerine Savard, Mary Sophie-Harvey, Emma O'Croinin, and Sydney Pickrem got the bronze in 4x200m freestyle relay. That is now  17g, 19s znd 14b for 50 medals.  Yesss

Gold in the pool

 Maggie Mac Neil strikes again. A gold in the 50m freestyle. She may end up carrying the Canadian flag at the closing ceremony on November 5th. That is now 15g, 17s, 13b for 45 total. 

And 3 more.

 A gold and two silvers. The gold is from Dorien Llewellyn in mens water skiing overall. The silvers come from: Paige Rini in womens water skiing overall and Coby Iwaasa + Samuel Murray in doubles racquetball. That is now 14g, 17s, 13b for 44 overall. The hits keep coming. 

Golden rowers.

 The ladies are at it again.  The rowing team of Alizee Brien, Abigail Dent, Kendra Hartley, Parker Illingworth, Olivia McMurray Caroline De Peiva, Abby Speirs Leia Till and Kristin Kit has GOLD in the womens coxed 8s. Woohoo. That is now 13g, 15s, 13b for 41 total. Yesss

Texas Rangers to world series

 This ended up a no doubter. Texas wins game 7 11-4 and is heading for the world series. They await the winner of the Philadelphia/Arizona series. The road team won every game in this series. World series starts in Arlington on Friday. 

Two more silvers

 First one was from the mixed 4x100m medley as Javier Acevado, Gabe Mastromatteo, Maggie Mac Neil, Mary Sophie-Harvey, James Dergousoff, Blake Tierney, Brooklyn Douthwright and Katerine Savard combined to win that one. The second comes from Caeli McKay and Kate Miller in synchro diving 10m platform. That is now 12g, 15s, 13b for 40 total. 

And yet 6 more.

 Good golly miss Molly. 1g, 2s, 3b. The gold from Sydney Pickrem in the 200m breaststroke. Kelsey Wog got a silver, also in the200m backstroke. Brayden Taivassaro has a silver in the 200m breaststroke. Beatrice Boucher, Camille Carrier-Bergeron, Mathilde Tetreault and Naima Moreira Laliberte in the team equestrian dressage with a bronze. Danielle Hanus with a bronze in the womens 100m backstroke and Blake Tierney with a bronze in the mens 100m backstroke. That is now 12g, 13s, 13b for 38

Add 5 more.

 2g, 2s and a bronze. The golds: Felix Dolci in the Gymnastics individual all-around and Maggie Mac Niel in the 100m freestyle. The silvers: Neilly Ross in womens water skiing tricks and Dorien Llewellyn in mens water skiing tricks. The bronze is Marc-Andre Bergeron in mens taekwondo +80kg. That is now 11g, 11s and 10b for 32 total. 

3 silvers and 3 bronze

 Here we go. The silvers: Abigail Dent and Olivia Mc Murray in coxless pairs rowing, Neilly Ross in womens water skiing slalom and Dorien Llewellyn in mens water skiing jump. The bronzes: Alizee Brien, Carolina De Piava, Kendra Hartley and Parker Illingworth in rowing quadruple skulls and Parker Rini with two herself. One in womens water skiing slalom znd one in jump. That us now 9g, 9s, and 9b for 27 total.

How about a gold and silver.

 Yeppers. Both in the womens 1m springboard diving. Pamela Ware with the gold and Mia Vallee with the silver. Woohoo. That is now 9g, 6s, 6b for 21 total.

Add 3 more

 One gold and 2 bronze. The gold came from Skylar Park in taekwondo 57kg event. The bronzes came from: Hugh McNeil in 200m backstroke and the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay  of Javier Acevedo, Finlay Knox, Maggie Mac Neil, Mary Sophie-Harvey, Stephen Calkins, Eduard Fullum-Huot, Brooklyn Douthwright, and Katerine Savard.  That is now 8g, 4s and 5b for 17 total.

5 more so far on day 2

 3 golds an 2 silvers.  The golds: Fay De Fazio Ebert in skateboarding (the youngest Canadian to medal ever), Mary Sophie-Harvey in the 200m freestyle and Maggie Mac Neil in the 100m butterfly. The silvers: Molly Simpson in BMX racing and Maude Charron in weightlifting 59kg class. That is now 7g, 4s, and 3b for 14 total.

Add two more

 Yup two more in. First the silver. It comes from the mens gymnastics team all around. Rene Cournoyer, Zachary Clay, Felix Dolci, William Emard, and Jayson Rampersand have the silver. Now the bronze.  Caeli McKay wins it in the 10m platform event. That is now 4g, 2s, 3b for 9 total. Will that be all tonight? Stay tuned. 

Bronze in taekwondo

 Just in. Tae Ku Park just won a bronze in the mens 68kg division. Yeesss!!!! That is now 4g, 1s 2b. How many more today?

Good start so far

 Wow 6 medals so far. 4g, 1s, 1b. The golds so far: Gunnar Holmgren in mountain biking, Jennifer Jackson in mountain biking, Rachel Nicol in 100m breaststroke and the team of Mary Sophie-Harvey, Brooklyn Douthright, Maggie Mac Neil, Kat Savard, Emma O'Croinin and Julie Brouseau in the 4x100m freestyle relay. The silver was from Sophie Angus in the 100m breaststroke. The bronze was from the team of Javier Acevado, Stephen Calkins, Edouard Fullum- Huot, Findlay Knox, Jeremy Bagshaw and Blake Tierney in the mens 4x100m freestyle relay. Off to a rocking start. 

2019 Pan American games

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 These games were held in Lima, Peru 🇵🇪 from July 26 to August 11.  41 nations participated in these games. Slogan was Let's All Play. Bodybuilding and surfing added, basque pelota reinstated and softball dropped. Several disciplines added, one was dropped and 19 events added. No new nations added. USA led in golds and overall medals with 122g, 87s, 84b for 293 total. Brazil was 2nd in both gold and overall with 54g, 45s 70b for 169 total. Mexico was 3rd in golds and 4th overall with 37g, 39s, 62b for 138 total. Canada (with 477 athletes) had 35g, 65s, 52b for 152 total. Host Peru had 11g, 7s, 23b for 41 total. Here is the logo for those games.

Canada's flag bearers are....

 ....beach volleyballers Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson. Both amazing volleyballers and Melissa has family in Chile.  They will do awesome. Opening ceremony is in a few hours. 

2023 Pan American games preview

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 These games are hosted by Santiago Chile 🇨🇱 from October 20 - November 5. 41 nations and 6909 athletes scheduled to compete. No new nations added. New sports include: break dancing,  skate boarding, and sport climbing. Also, kyorgi added in taekwando, synchro trampoline, 1000m roller skating speed event and mixed 8s rowing. Canada sending 473 athletes to the games (208 men, 265 women). Will not have athletes in basketball, basque pelota and soccer. Christine Girard is chef de mission. No flag bearer announced as of yet. Here is the logo for these games.

Phils take out Braves

 With a 3-1 win, the Philadelphia Phillies have advanced to the NLCS, eliminating the Atlanta Braves 3 Games to 1.  They will be facing the Arizona Diamondbacks in said NLCS, with the series starting Monday. And then there were 4.

Diamondbacks bite Dodgers

 Bit them before sweeping them. The Arizona Diamondbacks are into the NLCS after sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers 3 straight with a 4-2 win. The will start the NLCS in either Philadelphia or Atlanta. 

Astros end Twins.

 The Houston Astros will be facing the Texas Rangers after beating the Minnesota Twins in game 4 3-2 and the series 3-1. The ALCS starts on the 15th. 

Rangers sweep Orioles

The Texas Rangers are into the ALCS after sweeping away the Baltimore Orioles three straight, clinching tonight 7-1.  Did not expect this at all. They await hhe Houston/Minnesota series winner.

Mens volleyball to the Olympics

 Happened this morning. Canada beat Mexico on the last day of the tournament (all round robin) and needed Bulgaria to beat Belgium, which happened. Top 2 advanced and Canada joined Poland. They had the same record as Argentina (5-2) but had beaten Argentina. So time so serve it up at the Olympics. 

Arizona droes out Brewers, Phillies fish out Marlins

 And the national league wildcard is done. The Phillies sweep the Marlins two straight and the Diamondbacks swept the Brewers two straight.  The Phillies will be facing the Atlanta Braves and the Diamondbacks will be facing the L.A. Dodgers in the divisional series. All series starts Saturday 

Twins silence Jays

 Boy did they ever. The Minnesota Twins will be facing the Houston Astros in the divisional series after sweeping away the Toronto Blue Jays in two games (3-1, 2-0). Divisional series starts Saturday 

Rangers sweep away Rays

 The Texas Rangers are into the divisional round after sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays in two games (4-0, 7-1). They will face the Baltimore Orioles next.

2030 World Cup hosts chosen

 Was announced earlier. Spain, Morocco and Portugal are the original hosts, with Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina as inaugural match hosts. First time 6 countries will have a game. 

Meet the surfing team

 Didn't know surfing was in this. The athletes are: Lina Augaitas, Michael Darbyshire, Santa Dempfle-Olin, Finn Spencer, Catherine Temple, Liv Stoken and Cody Young. Good luck to all in Santiago. 

Meet the tennis team

 Only four here. They are:Justin Boulais, Stacey Fung, Rebecca Marino and Carol Zhao. Good luck to all in Santiago. 

Meet the equestrian and rugby 7s teams

 Let's start with equestrian. The dressage: Beatrice Bouchard with horse Summerwood's Lime, Mathilde Blais Tetrealt with horse Fedor, Camille Carier Bergeron with horse Sounf of Silence 4 and Naima Moreira Laliberte with horse Statesman. The eventing: Colleen Loach with horse FE Goldeneye, Karl Slezak with horse Hot Bobo, Lindsay Traisnel with horse Bachrouge and Michael Winter with horse El Mundo.  The jumping: Mario Deslauriers with with horse Emerson,  Tiffany Foster with horse Figor, Amy Millar with horse Truman and Beth Underhill with Mikka vd Bisschop. Now the rugby 7s. Womens roster: Alysha Corrigan, Caroline Crossley, Chloe Daniels, Olivia De Couvreur, Julia Greenshields, Asia Hogan-Rochester, Edin Kilgour, Piper Logan, Breanne Nicholas, Carissa Norsten, Shalaya Valenzuela and Charity Williams.  Mens roster: Phil Berna, Jack Carson, Elias Ergas, Ethan Hager, Elias Hancock,  Thomas Isherwood, Lockie Kratz, Matt Percillier, David Richard, Kal Sagar, Jake T...

Meet the archery team

 8 athletes and 4 alternates here. In recurve we have: Stephanie Barrett, Virginie Cherier, Crispin Duenas, Amelia Gagne, Eric Peters and Brandon Xuereb. In compound we have Andre Fagan and Tristan Moran (from Prince Albert). The alternates are: Eleanor Brug, Audrey Khan, Reece Wilson-Poyton and Bryan Maxwell. Good luck to all going.

Meet the Pan Am games judo team.

 8 judokas on the team. They are: Isabelle Harris (womens 63kg), Julien Frascadore (men's 66kg), Coralie Godbout (women's 78kg), Antoine Bouchard (men's 73kg), David Popovici (men's 81kg), Alexandre Arencibia (men's 90kg), Shady El Nahas (men's 100kg) and Marc Deschenes (men's +100kg). Good luck to all going. The Pan Am games are October 20 to November 5.

Mlb postseason set.

 October baseball is here and here are the playoff matchups. The AL has: #3 Minnesota vs #6 Toronto and #4 Tampa Bay vs #5 Texas with #1 Baltimore and #2 Houston getting byes into the divisional. The NL has: #3 Milwaukee vs #6 Arizona and #4 Philadelphia vs #5 Miami with #1 Atlanta and #2 Los Angeles getting byes into the divisional. The wild card round starts Tuesday. 

Gymnastics team to the Olympics

 The mens gymnastics team is heading for the Olympics. Qualified for a spot today.  First trip to the Olympics since 2008. From what I read Canada may be sending its largest ever delegation to the games.  It's going to be a busy summer in 2024.

How about some canoeing, kayaking and water polo.

 Let's start with canoe/kayak. Womens canoe: Sophia Jensen, Sloan MacKenzie and Kate Vincent. Womens kayak: Toskala Besharah, Natalie Davidson, Riley Melanson, Michelle Russell, Maddy Schmidt and Courtney Stott. Mens canoe: Connor Fitzpatrick, Alex Plomteux and Craig Spence. Mens kayak: Ian Gaudet, Lauren Lavigne, Cameron Low, Nick Matveev, Simon McTavish and Pierre-Luc Poulin. Now for water polo. Womens team: Verica Bakoc, Serena Browne, Florence Carroll, Axelie Crevier Jessica Gaudrealt, Rae Lekness, Elise Lemay-Lavoie, Blaire McDowell, Hayley McKelvey, Kindred Paul, Clara Volpisi, Emma Wright. Daphne Guevremont is alternate.  Mens team: Jeremie Blanchard, Nicolas Constantin-Bicari, Jeremie Cote, Bogdan Djerkovic, Revel D'Souza Matthew Halajian, Leo Hachet, Aleksandra Gardijan, Brodie McNight, Jason O'Donnell, Gaelan Patterson and Milan Radenovic. Bryant Joudrie us alternate. 

More team announcements

 Let's start with Gymnastics. Mens artistic include: Rene Cournoyer, Zachary Clay, Felix Dolci, William Emard and Jayson Rampersand. Women artistic include: Cassie Lee, Frederique Sganbosia, Ava Stewart, Aurelie Tran and Sydney Turner. Rhythmic individual: Tatiana Cocsanova Carmel Kallemaa. Rhythmic group: Katherina Bakhmutova, Victoria Smolianova, Karina Kamenetsky, Christina Savchenko and Emily Huseynov. Trampoline: Remi Aubin, Keegan Soehn, Gabriella Flynn and Rachel Tam. Rowing team: Connor Attridge, Alizee Brien, Michael Ciepiela, Emerson Crick, Shaye de Piava, Abby Dent, Stephen Harris, Kendra Hartlett, Parker Illingworth, Kristen Kit, Olivia McMurray, Abby Speirs, Quinn Storey, Leia Till, Shane Willis and Rui Xu. Modern Pentathlon: Robert Bondmo, Kelly Fitsimmons, Quinn Shulz, Olivia Li and Devan Wiebe. Good luck in Santiago. 

Womens soccer team off to the Olympics.

 Yup. They just qualified. Beat Jamaica 2-1 tonight after beating them 2-0 on Friday. They win 4-1 on aggregate and will be defending their gold from Tokyo. Big. Next stop Paris. 

Meet the field hockey and golf teams

 Let's start with field hockey. The womens team is: Jordyn Faiczak, Sara Goodman, Kenzie Girgis, Rowan Harris, Karli Johanson, Kathleen Leahy, Sam McCrury, Sara McManus, Anna Mollenhauer, Thora Rae, Audrey Sawers, Melanie Scholz, Natalie Sourisseau, Madison Thompson, Chloe Walton and Elise Wong.  The mens field hockey team includes: Brenden Bissett, Findlay Boothroyd, Sam Cabral, Taylor Curran, Sean Davis, Brendan Guraliuk, Thomson Harris, Gordon Johnson, James Kirkpatrick, Ethan McTavish, Devohn Noronha Texiera, Balraj Panesar, Keegan Periera, Matthew Sarmento, Oliver Scholfield and Floris van Son. Now the golf team. They are: Selena Costible, Myles Creighton, Etienne Papineau and Alena Sharp. Good luck at the Pan Am games. 

Meet the cycling and weightlifting teams

 Let's start with weightlifting. They are: Amanda Braddock, Maude Charron, Maya Laylor, Nicolas Vachon, Alex Bellamarre and Noah Santavy. Now the cycling team (quite a list here). They are: Erin Atwell, Ngaire Barraclough, Jackie Boyle, Devaney Collier, Chris Ernst, Michael Foley, James Hedgcock, Gunnar Holmgren, Curtis Krey, Jenn Jackson Fiona, Majendie, Carson Mattern, Adele Normand, Sarah Orban, Campbell Pardish, Teigan Pascual, Riley Pickrell, Sean Richardson, Tyler Rorke, Emy Savard, Molly Simpson, Ryan Tougas, Sandra Walter, Nick Wammes, Ruby West and Carter Woods. Daniel Fraser-Maroun is track endurance alternate but non traveling (I don't get the non traveling bit). Good luck to all going to the games.

First day of fall

 Autumn has begun.  Officially arrived at 12:50am Prince Albert time. It got as high as 23c today (according to my phone) and it's 18c now.  Lot of leaves already turned color and fallen to rhe ground.  Gotta enjoy the weather before it gets nasty.

Meet the shooting team

 Here is the shooting team. They are: Lindsay Boddez, Madeline Boyd, Trystan Curran-Routledge,  Colin Grover, Elizabeth Gustafson, Tye Ikeda, Lynda Kiejko, Audrey-Anne Le Sieur, Richard McBride, Tugrul Ozer, Madelene Scola, Gregory Sych, Shannon Westlake and Yanka Vasileva. Good luck in Santiago. 

Meet the badminton team

 Ten players will be going to the Pan Am games.  They are: Rachel Chen, Catherine Choi, Adam Dong, Kevin Lee, Ty Lindeman, Josephine Wu, Nyl Yakura, Eliana Zhang and Wendy Zhang.  Good luck in Santiago. 

Now for some athletics

 The athletic team for the pan am games have been announced. They are: 1. Tatiana Aholou 2. Kayla Butler. 3. Alycia Butterworth 4. Kieran Christie-Galloway 5. Kate Current 6. Jean-Simon Desgagnes 7. Evan Dunfee 8. Georgia Ellenwood 9. Stephen Evans 10. Robert Heppenstall 11. Rachel Hyenk 12. Ethan Katzberg 13. Adam Keenan 14. Grace Konrad 15. Jeremiah Lauzon 16. Branding Letts. 17. Zackary Mama-Yari 18. Miles Misener-Daley 19. Sarah Mitton 20. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot 21. Madeline Price 22. Callum Robinson 23. Breanna Scott 24. Norris Spike 25. Julie-Anne Staehli 26. Abby Townsend.  Good luck at the games.

How about some sailing

 Sailing team was selected. Here they are. 1. 49er mens skiff - Justin Barnes and Will Jones. 2. 49er FX womens skiff - Mariah Milken and Ali ten Hove. 3. ILCA 6 womens dinghy  - Sarah Douglas. 4.  ILCA 7 mens dinghy - Fillah Karim. 5. IQFoil windsurfing Rebecca Heller. 6. Formula Kite (kiteboarding) Emily Bugeja. 7. Formula Kite (men's kiteboard) Mac Morrin. 8. NACRA 17 (mixed multihull) Madeline Gillis and Galen Richardson. 9.  Sunfish (men's dinghy) Lee Parkhill. 10. Lightning (mixed dinghy) Rachel Green, Jessica Hirshbold and Luke Ramsay. Good luck at the games. 

Beach volleyballing to the Pan Am games

 The beach volleyball team has been announced. They are Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson, Jake MacNeil and Alex Russell. Good luck at the games. 

A fun day

 Lake Country Co-op had its annual "fuel good day" where they donated 10 cents per litre of fuel and a dollar for every coffee and slush to different charities - depending on the location.   Prince Albert  had the mobile crisis unit and sexual assault centre. Ryder Ritchie, Seth Tansem and Tyrone Sobry of the Raiders was there as well as Shantel Kalika - a local stock car driver. Got autographs from all. Was fun.

Some Pan-Am games nèws

 I've been slacking on this. Her are our boxing and cycling teams. Boxing: McKenzie Wright (women's 50kg), Scarlett Delgado (women's 54kg), Marie Ak-Ahmadie (women's 57kg),  Charlie Cavanaugh (women's 66kg), Tammara Thibeault (women's 75kg), Justin Parina (men's 51kg), Victor Tremblay (men's 57kg), Wyatt Sanford (men's 63.5kg), Junior Pentaqui (men's 71kg), Keven  Beausejour (men's 80kg), Bryan Colwell (men's 92kg) and Jerome Feujio (men's 92+kg).   Cycling: Liam Donney, Brock Hoel, Dominika Jamnicky  Emy Legault, Desiree Ridenour and Martin Sobey.  Pan American games are October 20 to November 5 in Santiago  Chile 🇨🇱. 

What a weekend it was

 Oh boy, was it ever a weekend.  Let's see, 1. had the CFL triple header on Saturday and one on Friday. 2. NFL season began on Thursday and had its full slate of games yesterday. 3. Canada won bronze at the FIBA basketball tournament AND claimed a trip to the 2024 Olympics. 4. Speaking of the 2024 Olympics, Canada claimed a couple of rowing spots. One of which was the womens 8s with coxswain who will be defending their gold from Tokyo.  So there you go.

1969-70 NHL season

 The 1969-70 NHL season had 12 teams and 76 games. Highlights include: 1. June 6, 1969 Peter Mahavolich traded to Montreal gor Gerry Monahan (first ever draft pick). 2. January 9 1970, Gordie Howe and  George Armstrong appeared in 4 different decades (40s, 50s, 60s and 70s). 3. February 27, Minnesota buys Lorne "Gump" Worsley from Montreal. 4.  March 1 1970, in an 8-0 win over Toronto,  Minnesota coach Charlie Burns is first to coach AND play in same game.  5. March 29 1970, Tony Esposito records 15th shutout as a rookie.  6. April 5 1970, Bobby Orr first defenseman to win scoring title (33g, 87a, 120pts). 7. Also on April 5th Montreal and New York have identical records (38-22-16). New York makes playoffs due to more goals scored than Montreal (246 to 244). Tiebreaker rules changed afterwards. 8. April 12 1970, Pittsburgh is first team to sweep a series after making playoffs for first time. Playoffs had: QF; Chicago 4 Detroit 0, Boston 4 New York 2, St Lou...

Germany gold, Canada bronze

Canada beat the USA in overtime to take bronze in the FIBA tournament that got them qualified for Paris 2024. Germany ended up winning gold and Serbia the silver. Great run for Canada here.

Mens basketball team

 Wow Canada is doing something at the FIBA tournament.  They already qualified for next years Olympics, now they are in the semis after beating Slovenia 100-89. They will play Serbia in the semis on Friday. They are going to have their best finish ever irregardless of what happens. This is great. 

Post Labor day fun

 Ahhh yes. The Labor day weekend is done.  Summer is unofficially over. The kiddies are back in school. And of course it's not Labor day without the CFL rivalry match ups. Saturday B.C beat Montreal, Sunday Saskatchewan beat Winnipeg in overtime  and yesterday Toronto beat Hamilton and Calgary beat Edmonton. This coming weekend has Hamilton at Ottawa on Friday night, with a triple header on Saturday: Montreal at Toronto at 11am, Saskatchewan at Winnipeg at 2pm and Calgary at Edmonton at 5pm. All times Prince Albert Saskatchewan times.

Canada basketball going to the Olympics

 Yup it's actually happening. The mens basketball team has qualified for the 2024 summer Olympics- the first time that has happened since 2000 in Sydney Australia. Congrats. 

Mlb history

 I don't know when it happened, but the Atlanta Braves won their 11000th game, becoming the 5th team to do so. The previous 4: the Giants,  Dodgers, Cubs and Cardinals. 

Womens rugby 7s

 The Canadian womens rugby 7s team has qualified for yhe 2024 summer Olympics. Their third time in yhe Olympics (2016, 2020) since rugby 7s became an Olympic sport in 2016. They blew out Mexico 53-0 to qualify.

Championship game

 Spain is your 2023 womens world cup champions after beating England 1-0 this morning. They are yhe 5th first time winners AND is the second nation to have a men's and women's title. (Germany is the first. Men's team won in 2010). Congrats to Spain. 

3rd place game

 Sweden beats Australia 2-0 to claim 3rd place. This is Australia's best ever finish. Congrats to both teams. The finale is tomorrow between Spain and England. Someone will be winning their first championship. Who's it going to be?

Semi final two.

 England will be playing Spain in the championship game after beating Australia in this mornings semi final game 3-1. The championship game is on Sunday. Australia plays Sweden on Saturday for 3rd place.

Semi final one

 Spain won the first semi final, a 2-1 win over Sweden. All 3 goals were between the 81st and 89th minutes. Yikes. Spain will play the Australia vs England game on Sunday and Sweden will play the lower for 3rd on Saturday. Australia vs England is early tomorrow morning. 

Quarterfinals 3 and 4

 England beat Colombia 2-1 while Australia and France go to penalties. Oh boy it was extra tense as Australia wins 7-6 in those penalties. Little extra drama. Australia will play England on Wednesday, and Spain plays Sweden on Tuesday. And then there were four.

Quarterfinals two.

 A Swedish surprise as Sweden knocks off Japan 2-1. We will have a first time winner.  Yup, all the repeat champs are out. Sweden will play Spain in one semi final game on Tuesday. Tonight has Australia vs France and England vs Colombia with the winners going to the other semi final on Wednesday. 

Quarterfinals one.

 This went into extra time. Spain scored in the 111th minute to beat Netherlands 2-1.  They're into the semis and await the winner of the Japan vs Sweden game. That is in a couple of hours. 

No hit Phillies

 Michael Lorenzen of the Philadelphia Phillies just threw a complete game no hitter versus the Washington Nationals in a 7-0 win for the Phillies. Lorenzen threw 111 pitches, walked 4 xnd struck out 5.  Congrats. 

1968-69 NHL season

 The 1968-69 NHL season had 12 teams and 76 games (two more games than the previous season.  October 27 gordie Howe was first to 900 assists. November 7 Berenson of St. Louis scores 6 goals in a game. March 2 Phil Esposito is first player to achieve 100 points in a season (126). Bobby Hull (107) and Gordie Howe (103) join Esposito. Bobby Hull was first player to score more than 50 goals, scoring 58.  Montreal was first team to accumulate 100 points.  During the playoffs,  Gerry Cheevers was first goalie to win 3 straight via shutout.  Quarterfinals: Montreal 4 New York 0, Boston 4 Toronto 0, St Louis 4 Philadelphia 0 and Los Angeles 4 Oakland 3. Semi finals: Montreal 4 Boston 2  and St Louis 4 Los Angeles 0. Stanley Cup finals: Montreal 4 St Louis 0. Montreal wins for second year in a row and 16th overall. Serge Savard is Conn Smythe trophy winner. First pick in the 1969 draft is Rejean Houle. He plays from 1969 to 1973 and 1976 to 1983 with Montreal a...

Round of 16 part 4

 France beat Morocco 4-0 and Colombia beat Jamaica 1-0.  France will play Australia and England will play Colombia in the quarterfinals on Saturday, while Spain vs Netherlands and Japan vs Sweden is on Friday. Getting to the fun stuff now. 

Round of 16 part 3

 Host Australia took out Denmark 2-0 (Australia goes wild) and England beat Nigeria in penalties 4-2 (game went scoreless).  Australia an England into the quarterfinals. Tonight has Colombia vs Jamaica and France vs Morocco. Stay tuned 

Round of 16 game 4

 This went into penalties. Sweden ends up knocking out the two in a row champions USA 5-4. Sweden will play Japan on the 11th. Tonight has England vs Nigeria and Australia vs Denmark. 

Round of 16 game 3.

 This just ended as Netherlands beat South Africa 2-0.  They will play Spain on the 11th. Coming up has Sweden vs USA. 

Round of 16 part 1.

 Spain beat Switzerland 5-1 and Japan beat Norway 3-1 to move onto the quarterfinals. Opponents t.b.d.  Tonight has Netherlands vs South Africa and Sweden vs USA. 

Round robin done

 A little drama today as Morocco beat Colombia 1-0 and Germany tied South Korea 1-1. Colombia and Morocco each had 6 points, but Colombia gets the group based on goa difference (Colombia +2 Morocco -4), Germany finished with 4 and South Korea with 1. Colombia and Morocco move on. Germany and South Korea are out. Round of 16 matches has Switzerland 🇨🇭 vs Spain 🇪🇸 and Japan 🇯🇵 vs Norway 🇳🇴 on Saturday, Netherlands 🇳🇱 vs South Africa 🇿🇦 and Sweden 🇸🇪 vs USA 🇺🇸 on Sunday, Australia 🇦🇺 vs Denmark 🇩🇰 and England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 vs Nigeria 🇳🇬 on Monday and France 🇫🇷 vs Morocco 🇲🇦 and Colombia 🇨🇴 vs Jamaica 🇯🇲 on Tuesday. So, here we are.

Two weeks in.

 In group F,  France beat Panama 6-3 and Jamaica played Brazil to a 0-0 tie. France finishes with 7 points, Jamaica with 5, Brazil with 4 and Panama with 0. France and Jamaica move onto round of 16.  In group G, Sweden beat Argentina 2-0 and South Africa beat Italy 3-2. Sweden finishes with 9 points,  South Africa with 4, Italy with 3 and Argentina with 1. Sweden and South Africa move onto round of 16. Tonight has South Korea 🇰🇷 vs Germany 🇩🇪 and Morocco 🇲🇦 vs Colombia 🇨🇴 to finish the round robin. 

An Astro-nomical no hitter

 Framer Valdez of the Houston Astros pitched a complete game no hitter in a 2-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians. Valdez threw 93 pitches, 7 strike outs and allowed one walk (that close to a perfect game). Congrats on the no hitter. 

Day 13 finished

 This morning in group D had England 6 China 1 and Denmark 2 Haiti 0. England finishes with 9 points, Denmark 6, China 3 and Haiti 0. England and Denmark advance.  In group E, Portugal and USA played to a scoreless tie and Netherlands beat Vietnam 7-0. Netherlands finishes with 7 points, USA with 5, Portugal with 4 and Vietnam with 0. Netherlands and USA advance.  Tonight had Panama 🇵🇦 vs France 🇫🇷, Jamaica 🇯🇲 vs Brazil 🇧🇷, Argentina 🇦🇷 vs Sweden 🇸🇪 and South Africa 🇿🇦 vs Italy 🇮🇹. 

Day 12 out the door.

 Group B had Australia 4 Canada 0 and Nigeria tie Ireland 0-0.  Australia finishes first with 6 points,  Nigeria with 5, Canada with 4 and Ireland with 1.  Australia and Nigeria move to round of 16. Group C Japan 4 Spain 0 and Zambia 3 Costa Rica 1. Japan is first with 9 points,  Spain with 6, Zambia with 3 and Costa Rica with 0. Japan and Spain move to round of 16. Tonight has China 🇨🇳 vs England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, Haiti 🇭🇹 vs Denmark 🇩🇰, Portugal 🇵🇹 vs USA 🇺🇸 and Vietnam 🇻🇳 vs Netherlands 🇳🇱. 

Two last aquatics medals

 The 2023 world aquatics championships are over and Canada finishes with two more. First Summer McIntosh sets a world championship record winning gold in the 400m individual medley.  The. McIntosh, Maggie Mac Niel, Kylie Masse and Sophie Angus wins a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay. Wow. Nice way to cap a championship.  So that is that for that. 

Day 11.

 Colombia beat Germany 2-1 and Morocco beat South Korea 1-0 to finish round two. Round 3 had Norway beat Philippines 6-0 (ouch) and Switzerland tied New Zealand at zero.  Switzerland had 5 points, Norway and New Zealand with 4 and Philippines with 3. Switzerland and Norway get in (goals differential tie break).  Tonight has Japan 🇯🇵 vs Spain 🇪🇸, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 vs Zambia 🇿🇲, Ireland 🇮🇪 vs Nigeria 🇳🇬 and Canada vs Australia 🇦🇺. 

Day 10 is in

 Sweden beat Italy 5-0 (ouch), France beat Brazil 2-1 and Jamaica beat Panama 1-0.  Tonight's schedule has South Korea 🇰🇷 vs Morocco 🇲🇦,  Germany 🇩🇪 vs Colombia 🇨🇴, Norway 🇳🇴 vs Philippines 🇵🇭 and Switzerland 🇨🇭 vs New Zealand 🇳🇿. Last two games are group A game 3 and first two games are group H game 2. Stay tuned. 

Silver in the pool

 It goes to Josh Liendo in the 100m butterfly. Yes.  First Canadian male to medal ad these championships and Canada's 8th overall. 

Day 9 in the books

 OK. We had Argentina and South Africa tie 2-2, England beat Denmark 1-0 and China best Haiti 1-0. Tonight's schedule has France 🇫🇷 vs Brazil (should be a good one), Panama 🇵🇦 vs Jamaica 🇯🇲 and Sweden 🇸🇪 vs Italy 🇮🇹 

While we were sleeping...

 ...Summer McIntosh won gold in the 200m butterfly at the world aquatics championships. Yikes. It's her third gold ever at the championships and sixth overall. Maggie Mac Niell has 9. Kylie Masse also has three golds. Meanwhile on the pitch the USA tied Netherlands 1-1 and Portugal beat Vietnam 2-0 making things interesting in group e. USA and Netherlands have 4 points and Portugal with 3. Vietnam I'm sure is out with 0 points after two games.  Third game had Nigeria beat Australia 3-2 to tie Canada with 4 points in group B. Australia has 3 and Ireland gas 0. I think Ireland is also out.  Tonight had England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 vs Denmark 🇩🇰, China 🇨🇳 vs Haiti 🇭🇹 and Argentina 🇦🇷 vs South Africa 🇿🇦.

A week finished.

 Japan beat Costa Rica 2-0 and Spain beat Zambia 5-0. Japan and Spain will be into the round of 16, each with 6 points. This morning Canada scored a huge win over Ireland 2-1. They lead with 4 points, with Australia 🇦🇺 and Nigeria 🇳🇬 playing tonight. Also the USA 🇺🇸 plays Netherlands 🇳🇱 and Portugal 🇵🇹 vs Vietnam 🇻🇳. 

Day 6 done

 Night started with Colombia beating South Korea 2-0. Sweden and Norway played to a scoreless draw and Philippines beat New Zealand 1-0. Last two games made group a interesting.  Tonight has Canada 🇨🇦 vs Ireland 🇮🇪, Spain 🇪🇸 vs Zambia 🇿🇲 and Japan vs Costa Rica 🇨🇷. 

The Paris 2024 Olympic torch

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 The Paris 2024 Olympic Committee has unveiled its torch and here it is. What do you think?

While you were sleeping....

 Maggie Mac Niell won a silver in the 100m fly on the second day of swimming at the world aquatics championships. When Fukuoka hosted in 2001, Canada got no medals in swimming.  Meanwhile at the womens world cup,  Brazil beat Panama 4-0, Italy beat Argentina 1-0 and Germany beat Morocco 6-0. Tonight has New Zealand 🇳🇿 vs Philippines 🇵🇭, Switzerland 🇨🇭 vs Norway 🇳🇴 and Colombia 🇨🇴 vs South Korea 🇰🇷.

Day 4 done

 Thus morning had Sweden beat South Africa 2-1, Netherlands beat Portugal 1-0 and France vs Jamaica played to a 0-0 tie. Overnight tonight has Italy 🇮🇹 vs Argentina 🇦🇷, Germany 🇩🇪 vs Morocco 🇲🇦 and Brazil 🇧🇷 vs Panama 🇵🇦. Stay tuned 

Day 3 done.

 USA beat Vietnam 3-0 (I expected a blowout), Japan beat Zambia 5-0, England 1 Haiti 0 and Denmark over China 1-0.  Tonight has Sweden 🇸🇪 vs South Africa, Netherlands 🇳🇱 vs Portugal 🇵🇹 and France 🇫🇷 vs Jamaica 🇯🇲. 

Day 2 done

 Switzerland beat Philippines 2-0 and Spain beat Costa Rica 3-0. Tonight has United States vs Vietnam 🇻🇳, Zambia 🇿🇲 vs Japan 🇯🇵, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 vs Haiti 🇭🇹 and Denmark 🇩🇰 vs China. The fun continues. 

Canada vs Nigeria

 This one just ended Canada and Nigeria 🇳🇬 finished a scoreless draw.  Coming up while we're sleeping has Philippines 🇵🇭 vs Switzerland 🇨🇭 and Spain 🇪🇸 vs Costa Rica 🇨🇷. Stay tuned for more. 

Womens world cup opener

 New Zealand 🇳🇿 opened the tournament with a 1-0 over Norway 🇳🇴, which was followed by Australia 🇦🇺 winning 1-0 over Ireland 🇮🇪.  Canada begins their tournament tonight at 8:30 Prince Albert time vs Nigeria 🇳🇬. Good luck to all. 

2024 mlb sked is out.

 Yes it came out this morning.  Starts in earnest March 28 with 15 games. However the Dodgers and Padres will start their seasons in Korea on March 20th and 21st. Rockies vs Astros in Mexico on April 27th and 28th. Phillies vs Mets in London England on June 8th and 9th.  All star game is July 16th in Arlington. Two scheduled double headers planned. A's vs Rangers on May 8th. Rockies vs Giants on July 27.  Cardinals and Giants will play a game at Rickwood field in Birmingham Alabama. Rickwood field is hhe oldest professional ball park that once housed the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues. So those are come of the highlights of the 2024 season. 

Busy few days coming.

 Oh yes. Yhe world aquatics championships start overnight in Fukuoka, Japan overnight and run until the 29th or 30th.  This includes diving, synchronized swimming,  water polo and swimming to finish. There are some Olympic qualifiers here. Next Thursday the womens world cup begins with the first game in New Zealand. So it's going to be fun.

A combined no hitter

 In a 2-0 over Toronto, Detroit's Matt Manning (6.2 IP, 3BB, 5K), Jason Foley (1.1 IP, 1K) and Alex Lange (1 IP, 1K) combined for the second (I think) no hitter of the season). Wow, great job. 

A soccer debut of sorts

 Three teams qualified for the Olympics in mens soccer - Israel, Spain and Ukraine. Ukraine will be making its men's Olympic soccer debut next year. Israel will be making its third appearance (1968 and 1976), while Spain will be making its 12th appearance. France already qualified as hist nation and making appearance #13.

1967-68 NHL season

 The 1967-68 NHL season had - guess what - 12 teams and a 74 game schedule. Highlights include: 1. May 15, 1967 Boston gets Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge Sr from Chicago. 2. Alan Eagleson negotiates Bobby Orr's contract. Salaries rise. 3. February 24, 1968, Garry Unger begins a 914 consecutive games played streak. It ends on December 21st 1979. During the streak, he plays in Toronto, Detroit St Louis and Atlanta. He had passed Andy Hebenton. 4. April 6, Los Angeles wins consecutive playoff games, the first team to do so in their first playoffs. Michel Plasse is the first pick in the 1968 draft, drafted by Montreal. He plays 299 games with Cleveland, Kansas City, St Louis, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Colorado and Quebec. He has a 92-136-57 record. Playoffs: QF;Montreal 4 Boston 0, Chicago 4 New York 2, St Louis 4 Philadelphia 3, Minnesota 4 Los Angeles 3. SF: Montreal 4 Chicago 1, St Louis 4 Minnesota 3. Stanley Cup: Montreal 4 St Louis 0. Montreal wins 15th Cup. Glenn Hall of St Louis wins...

A perfect game

 Domingo German of the New York Yankees has thrown a perfect game (no Oakland runners got on and no defensive errors) in a Yankees 11-0 win in Oakland.  He had 9 strike outs  in the process.

NHL schedule is out

 The 2023-24 NHL schedule is out and opens October 10 with 3 games: Nashville at Tampa Bay, Chicago at Pittsburgh and Seattle at Vegas.  Season concludes April 18. Today is also draft day.

Crazy ass storm

 Oh boy some storm this afternoon. Started around 2:50pm. Heavy duty rain and pea sized hail. Rain was heavy and intense enough that the streets here in Prince Albert git flooded.  Even some of the parking lot at work was flooded. No water got in at home or at work.  Makes me wonder what else got swamped. 

Today is....

 The first day of summer. It began at 8:58am Prince Albert time. Supposed to get to 19c here.  Although the last few days on the prairies has had some weather.  It is also national indigenous day.  There will be stuff happening along the river bank to celebrate. Planning on checking it out.

Wacky weather

 Not so much in my neck of the woods. Western Alberta got snow yesterday. You read that right  - snow.  Also a few tornado spouts in Alberta as well. I think B.C. got some too.  Aahhh yes.

Golden Knights Stanley Cup champions

 This wasn't much of a series and game 5 ended the same way the Stanley Cup finals started- with a one sided win. Vegas won game 5 9-3 and the series 4-1. Their first Stanley Cup in their 6th season.  Makes ne wonder if a Stanley Cup clincher finished with someone scoring 9 goals.  That's it for another NHL season.  At least until the fall. 

155th Belmont Stakes

 Archangels wins the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes. Javier Castellano wins hist first Belmont as jockey and Jena Antonucci is first female trainer to win Belmont. Winning time was 2:29.23. Another triple crown has come and gone for another year. 

Off to Mongolia 🇲🇳

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 We're off to Mongolia. Their capital and largest city is Ulaanbaatar. Largest landlocked country that does not border a closed sea. Grassy steppe and mountains to the north ans west, xnd Gobi desert to south.  Bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. Genghis Khan started the Mongol empire. NOC was created in 1956 and recognized in 1962. First winter games were in 1964 and have only missed 1976 since. First summer games was also in 1964 and have only missed 1984 (the return boycott). They have 2g, 11s, 17b for 30 total. And all won in the summer. First medals were in 1968 (1s, 3b 4 total). First medal was the silver by Jigjidiin Monkhbat in mens freestyle wrestling 87kg. First bronze was by Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav in mens wrestling freestyle 52kg. First gold was in 2008 won by Naidangiin Tuvshinbayar in judo mens 100kg.  4 sports Mongolia has won in: judo (1g, 4s, 6b, 11 total), boxing (1g, 2s, 4b 7 total), wrestling (4s, 6b 10 total) and shooting (1s,1b...

Ice hockey at the 1968 winter Olympics

 This tournament was from February 6-17 in and around Grenoble, France. 43 games played resulting in the Soviet Union winning gold, Czechoslovakia the silver and Canada the bronze. It will be Canada's last medal until 1992. Canada also doesn't compete in 1972 oe 1976, due to issues with the Soviet Union usage of pro players. Highlights also include: 1. East Germany participates for the only time. 2. Finland bears Canada for the first time.  Notable players include: Lou Nanne, Herb Brooks, Larry Pleau and John Cunniff for the United States and Brian Glennie and Wayne Stephenson for Canada. 

Off to Aruba 🇦🇼

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It's been awhile. Today we visit Aruba. They were part of Netherlands Antilles until 1986. They are 29 km, or 18 miles north of the Venezuela peninsula and the capital is Oranjestad. Primary language is Dutch.  They are part of the ABC Islands with Bonaire and Curaçao 🇨🇼. At the Olympics, they competed under the Netherlands Antilles flag from 1952-1984. 1988 they competed under the Aruba flag for the first time and been to every games since. No winter games appearances yet and no medals won either. Flag bearers are: 1988 Bito Maduro (judo), 1992 Lucien Dirksz (cycling), 1996 Junior Faro (weightlifting), 2000 Richard Rodriguez (athletics), 2004 Roshendra Vrolijk (swimming), 2008 Fidero Vis (judo), 2012 Jemal Le Grand (swimming), 2016 Nicole van Der Velding (sailing) and 2020 Allyson Ponson & Mikel Schreuders (swimming).  Here is their flag. 

Knights dim Stars

 This ended up a no doubter as Vegas beats Dallas 6-0 to in game 6 to advance to the Stanley Cup finals against Florida.  Series starts Saturday I believe. 

107th Indianapolis 500

 Josef Newgarden won his first Indianapolis 500 after taking the lead on the last restart of the race on the last lap. First race to have has three red flags. Average speed was 168.193 mph.

Gold medal game

 It was close for two periods. It was tied at two goals apiece.  Canada scores 3 in the third to win the world hockey championships 5-2. It is Canada's 28th title. This is Germany's highest finish since 1953. Czech Republic is hosting next year with Prague and Ostrava ad host cities. 

Bronze medal game

 A surprise.  Latvia beat the USA 4-3 in overtime. Wow. Latvia will be partying tonight.  This is their highest finish ever.  Gold medal game in a couple of hours. 

Semi final two

 Wow. Germany beat the USA 4-3 and will face Canada for gold, whole the USA plays Latvia fir bronze. This will be a good finish.

Semi final one

 Canada beat Latvia 4-2 to play for gold tomorrow. Latvia gave them a run for their money,  going up 1-0 and 2-1. Up next is USA vs Germany. 

Quarterfinals part 2

 Canada beat Finland 4-1 and a big surprise is Latvia beating Sweden 3-1.  Wow. Canada will be playing Latvia in the second semi final,  while the United States will play Germany.  Semi finals are on Saturday. 

Quarterfinals part 1

 First two quarterfinals are done. United States beat Czech Republic 3-0 and Germany surprised Switzerland 3-1. Even with the reseeding happening,  the United States will play Germany in one semi final game.  Canada vs Finland and Sweden vs Latvia are on now.

Panthers blow away Hurricanes

 Geez the Florida Panthers are on a roll and in the Stanley Cup finals after sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes.  All four games were one goal games. It felt close. Florida will be starting in either Dallas or Vegas. That series could be over tomorrow. 

148th Preakness Stakes

 OK I'm late on this.  National Treasure won the Preakness by a head over Blazing Sevens. Kentucky Derby winner Mage was third.  Winning time was 1:55.12. John Velazquez was winning jockey and Bob Baffert with his 8th Preakness din as trainer.   Belmont Stakes are June 10th

World hockey championships

 The round robin has ended and the quarterfinals are set. It will be: Switzerland vs Germany, Canada vs Finland, Latvia vs Sweden and Czech Republic vs USA. Canada beat the Czechs 3-1 and Switzerland lost to Latvia 4-3 in two of today's games. Quarterfinals are on Thursday. 

1966-67 NHL season

 This season has (for the last time) 70 games and 6 teams. Highlights had: 1. Bobby Orr signing with Boston on September 3rd and debuting that season. 2. March 4, Terry Sawchuk records career shutout 100. 3. March 18 Bobby Hull first player to record back to back 50 goal seasons. 3. March 28 Stan Mikita records most assists in season with 62.  Expansion draft had the 6 teams pick 18 skaters and 2 goalies.  Semi finals had Montreal 4 New York 0 and Toronto 4 Chicago 2. Toronto then beat Montreal 4-2 to win the 1967 Stanley Cup,  the last in the original 6 and in Canada's centennial. It us also Toronto's 13th and final Cup. Dave Keon wins Conn Smythe trophy for playoff MVP. First pick in the 1967 amateur draft was Rick Pagnutti, chosen by Los Angeles. He never plays an NHL game. Next up - the 1967-68 NHL season. 

Stars beat Kraken

 The Dallas Stars will be playing the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western conference final after beating the Seattle Kraken 2-1 in game 7.  Series starts in Vegas. Schedule to be announced soon.

Vegas burns Oilers

 The Vegas Golden Knights are into the western conference finals after beating Edmonton 5-2 in game 6 and the series 4-2. Vegas will play Dallas or Seattle next. Game 7 of that is tomorrow 

Panthers rake Leafs

 This ended in overtime and it was Florida winning 3-2 to end Toronto's season. Many will talk about whether Toronto should have had a goal or not. Anyways, Florida will play Carolina I the eastern conference final. 

Hurricanes blow away Devils

 Boy did the Carolina Hurricanes make this look easy. They just eliminated the New Jersey Devils I'm game 5 3-2 and the series 4-1. They will face either Toronto or Florida in the eastern conference final.  Stay tuned for that.

Let's go to Thailand 🇹🇭

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 Today we visit Thailand.  Capital is Bangkok. Borders Myanmar, India (maritime), Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. NOC was created in 1948 and recognized in 1950. First summer games in 1952 and been to every games since except 1980. First winter games was 2002 and have missed only 2010 since. All their medals in the summer games in boxing, taekwondo and weightlifting (10g, 8s, 17b 35t). First medal was a bronze in 1976 by Payao Poontarat in mens lightweight boxing. First silver was Dhavee Unponmaha in mens lightweight boxing. First gold was was Somluck Kamsing. Here is the flag of Thailand. 

Saint Kitts and Nevis

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 Today we visit Saint Kitts and Nevis. Their NOC was created in 1986 and recognized in 1993. First the Commonwealth Games. They first appeared in 1978 as part of the Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla team. They appeared independently in 1990 and been to every games since. Only one medal and it was a gold from Kim Collins in 2002 in the 100m. Flag bearers include: Antoine Adams (2014), St Clair Hodge (2018 & 2022) and Amya Clarke (2022). Now for the Olympics. First appearance was 1996 in Atlanta and have appeared in every games since. No winter appearances yet.  No medals won yet.  Flag bearers include: Diane Francis (1996), Kim Collins (2000, 2004, 2012), Virgil Hodge (2008), Antoine Adam's (2016) and Amya Clarke/Jason Rogers (2020). Their specialty is athletics. So that's our visit to Saint Kitts and Nevis. Here is their flag.

Ukraine at the Olympics

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Haven't done this I awhile. Today it's Ukraine 🇺🇦 at hhe Olympics.  It will be since they gained independence in 1991.  Their NOC was formed in 1990 and recognized in 1993. Their first summer games was 1996 and been to every one since. Their first winter games was 1994 xnd been to every games since. 1994 produced their first ever gold by Oksana Baiul and Ukraine also got a bronze. Highest winter total was 2 in 1994, 2006 and 2014. Highest summer total was 23 in 1996 and 2000. Overall, their summer total is 35g, 36s, 68b for 139 total. Overall winter is 3g, 2s, 4b for 9 total. That's Ukraine. Here is their flag. 

149th Kentucky Derby

 The first running of the triple crown had Mage win the 149th Kentucky Derby in a time of 2:01.57. Javier Castellano was winning jockey and Gustavo Delgado was winning trainer. Two Phil's came second.  Next up the Preakness in two weeks.

Devils knock out Rangers

 It will be Carolina vs New Jersey as the Devils knock out  the New York Rangers in game 7 with a 4-0 win.  That series starts Wednesday as well as Edmonton vs Vegas. Toronto vs Florida and Seattle vs Dallas starts tomorrow. 

Kraken dethrones champions

 The defending Stanley Cup champions are out. The Seattle Kraken have eliminated the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in game 7 to win their first ever series. They will face the Dallas Stars next. 

Panthers maul Bruins

 Game 7 in overtime and the Florida Panthers win 4-3 and eliminate the President's Trophy winners Boston Bruins. (President's Trophy curse lives). Florida winners now play Toronto next. 

Oilers dethrone Kings

 The Edmonton Oilers are into the second round after beating the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 in game 6 znd the series 4-2.  They will play the Vegas Golden Knights next.

Leafs bottle Lightning

 The Toronto Maple Leafs have done something they haven't done since 2004 - win a playoff series. They have just knocked out the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime in game six. They will get either Boston or Florida next.

Stars tame Wild, Hurricanes blow away Islanders

 The Dallas Stars just beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 in game 6 and the series 4-2. They await the winner of the Colorado vs Seattle series.  Meanwhile Carolina beat the Islanders 2-1 in overtime to ein that series, also 4-2. They await the winner of the New Jersey vs N.Y Rangers series. 

Knights shoot down Jets.

 The Vegas Golden Knights have just knocked out the Winnipeg Jets after winning game 5 4-1 znd the series 4 games to 1. I think Vegas made this look easy. Vegas will get the winner of the Edmonton/Los Angeles series. Stay tuned.

1965-66 NHL season

 This season had (but not for much longer) 6 teams  and 70 games. Bobby Hull sets records for most goals in a season (54) and points (97). Hull also wins scoring race by 19 points and goals by 22. February 9, 1966 league announces that Los Angeles, St Louis, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco will be the cities added. There was a 26 point gap between 4th (Detroit) and 5th (Boston). #1 draft pick is Barry Gibbs by Boston. He plays 796 games between Boston, Minnesota, Atlanta, St Louis and Los Angeles. Playoffs had: SF; Montreal 4 Toronto 0 and Detroit 4 Chicago 2. Stanley Cup finals had Montreal 4 Detroit 2. Roger Crozier of Detroit wins Conn Smythe trophy for playoff mvp despite being on losing team.  Soon the final original 6 season, the 1966-67 season 

USA champions

 Game just ended. United States just beat Canada 6-3 to win this year's womens hockey championships. 3 quick goals late in the third, including two on the power play to clinch it. Congrats to the United States.  Next year's championships will be in Utica, New York from April 4-14.

Bronze +5th place = almost done

 The 5th place game had Finland beat Sweden 2-1. Sweden finishes 6th. Czech Republic has its second consecutive bronze after beating Switzerland 3-2.  Switzerland finishes 4th. Coming up has Canada vs USA for gold. 

Championship games set

 Canada beat Switzerland 5-1 to play the United States in the gold medal game. The USA beat Czech Republic 9-1. Switzerland will play Czech Republic for bronze, and Sweden will play Finland for 5th.

Semi finals set

 Canada had to go to overtime against Sweden and Sarah Nurse won it to put Canada into the semis versus Switzerland, who beat Japan 5-1.  USA beat Germany 3-0 and Czech Republic beat Finland 2-1. USA vs Czech Republic is the other semi final. These semis are on Saturday. Sweden plays Japan and Finland plays Germany in the 5th to 8th placement games. These semis are tomorrow. 

Round robin done

 Round robin ended with Czech Republic beating Switzerland 5-2, Germany over Hungary 2-1 and Sweden over  France 8-2. Quarterfinals has Canada vs Sweden, USA vs Germany, Czech Republic vs Finland and Switzerland vs Japan. Quarterfinals are on Thursday. 

Womens hockey

 Good grief quite the finish. Canada had a 3-1 late in the third. The USA score Teo in 36 seconds to tie it. Canada wins in a shootout 4-3 to finish first in group A, the USA second. Tomorrow is hhe last day of round robin, which will decide the quarterfinals on Thursday. Stay tuned. 

Ncaa championship game

 It's over. University of Connecticut Huskies are national champions after beating San Diego State 76-59.  It's is their 5th title (1999, 2004, 2011, and 2014). They also made a final four appearance in 2009 and lost in the semis to Michigan State. Congrats to University of Connecticut Huskies. 

Semi final two

 Just finished. UConn beat Miami (Fl) 72-59 and will face San Diego State Monday night for all the marbles. Time to be determined.  Likely after 7pm Prince Albert time. 

Semi final one

 San Diego State us into Monday's championship game, beating Florida Atlantic 72-71.  They await the winner of the UConn vs Miami (Fl) game. That game is shortly. 

Today we visit Jamaica 🇯🇲

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Today it's Jamaica's turn their NOC was created and recognized in 1936. Their first Olympics was in 1948 in London and won their first medals. Arthur Wint won gold in mens 400m and silver in mens 800m. Herb McKenley won a silver in the mens 400m. They have been in every summer Olympics since except for 1960, under the British West Indies flag. First winter games was in 1988 (remember yhe Jamaican bobsled team?) and been to every games since except for 2006. They have 26g, 36s and 25b for 87 total. All but one medal has been in athletics. The lone exception - David Welker in 1980 in the 1km time trial in cycling. That was a  bronze.  First Commonwealth Games was in 1934 and missed 1938, 1950 and 1986. They hosted in 1966 and won 4s and 8b for 12 total. First medals won in 1934. A silver by William McCarthy is 200yd breaststroke (2:42.4) and a bronze by Bernard Prendergast in discus (40.23m).  First gold was in 1954 by Keith Gardner in 120yd hurdles. Overall they have 59g...

Final 4 set.

 In the south,  San Diego beat Creighton 57-56 and will face Florida Atlantic in one final four match ups.  In the Midwest, Miami (Fl) beat Texas 88-81 and will face University of Connecticut in the second final four match up. Both semi final games are Saturday. 

Half of final four set

 Two elite 8 games done. UConn just finished beating up Gonzaga 82-54. Ouch. Earlier Florida Atlantic beat Kansas State 79-78. But who will either team face? Stay tuned. We will find out tomorrow afternoon. 

1964-65 NHL season

 The 1964-65 NHL season had (ya ya ya) 70 games and 6 teams. Highlights include: 1. Ted Lindsay returns after a 4 year retirement.  2. November 21, Terry Sawchuk records a shutout, recording one in 16th consecutive season. January 27, Ulf Sterner is first Swede to play in NHL,  playing 4 games with New York. 3.  February 4, Terry Sawchuk wins game 400. 4. March 11, NHL board of governor announces 6 team expansion for 1967. Expansion teams will form their own division. 5. March 22, Stan Mikita records most assists in season with 59. Playoffs: semi finals; Montreal 4 Toronto 2, Chicago 4 Detroit 3. Stanley Cup finals: Montreal 4 Chicago 3. Jean Beliveau is first Conn Smythe trophy winner. #1 draft pick in 1964 is Claude Gauthier by Detroit. He never plays an NHL game. 

Second half of sweet 16 done

 In the south,  Creighton beat Princeton 86-75 and will face San Diego State, who beat #1 Alabama 71-64. Meanwhile in the Midwest, Miami (Fl) beat #1 Houston 89-75 (all #1 seeds gone) and will face Texas, who just beat Xavier 83-71. Creighton vs San Diego State and Texas vs Miami (Fl) will play their elite 8 games on Sunday.  Who will be in the final 4? Stay tuned. 

Half of sweet 16 done.

 Florida Atlantic took out Tennessee 62-55 and will face Kansas state in the east region final. Kansas State beat Michigan State 98-93. In the west, University of Connecticut took out Arkansas 88-65, while Gonzaga beat UCLA 79-76. It will be Connecticut vs Gonzaga in the west region final. Rest of hhe sweet 16 finishes tomorrow. 

Off to Bermuda 🇧🇲

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 Today we visit Bermuda.  Their NOC was created and recognized in 1968. Their first games was in 1936 and been to every games since except for 1980. Their first winter games were in 1992 and been to every games since except 2022. Only two medals. A gold be Flora Duffy in 2020 in the womens marathon and a bronze by Clarence hill in boxing mens heavyweight division. First Commonwealth Games were in 1930 and only missed 1950, 1958 and 1962.  They have 2g 2s 2b for 6 total. Can't miss them during the parade of nations, wearing their Bermuda shorts with their outfits.  Here is their flag. 

Happy vernal equinox

 Welcome to spring. It startat 3:24pm, so not that long ago. Now if the weather can smarten up and warm up, we'd all be happy. 

Second 1 seed out

 Yup, that happened.  Arkansas beat Kansas 72-71. Also Princeton took out Missouri 78-63.  Stay tuned.  More may come. 

Its happened again

5 years after it happened for the first time, a 16 seed has beaten a 1 seed. FDU has just beaten Purdue 63-58. Wow. Upsets o'plenty. Stay tuned. There will be more. 

St Patrick's day

  Happy St. Patrick's day.  The one day of the year to wear green. Although one can wear green any time. One upset as Pittsburgh beat Iowa State 59-41. Half the games today are done,  so there's a possibility of another one.   Enjoy today's green post.

A second upset

 Just happened. #15 Princeton beat #2 Arizona 59-55. Princeton is playing in the south region, where the Furman pulled off the first upset. Stat tuned. There will be more. 

Ncaa March Madness in full swing

 First full day, and it opens with the first of a few upsets as #13 Furman beat #4 Virginia 68-67. Anybodys bracket busted yet? Stay tuned. There will be more.

Mixed doubles curling

 Now for some mixed doubles.  The Canadian mixed doubles curling championship starts on the 21st and go to the 26th, with the winning team to represent Canada at the world's in Gangneung, South Korea from April 22-29. That would be close to the end of a busy curling stretch.  Stay tuned 

Beware the Ides of March

 It's the Ides of March. Ides meaning the middle of... .  The Ides of March is remembered for the assassination of Julius Caesar by roughly 60 people as he was going to the theater of Pompeii. So, there's your history lesson. 

Pi day.

 It's pi day. Or what's left of it. Pi day comes from the math formula resulting in 3.14. Seeing were in the third month and 14th day..... there ya go.  Also the first to of the 4 play in games for March Madness has been played. Tournament begins in earnest on Thursday. Gonna be good.

Records in curling and skiing

 Let's start with skiing.  Mikaela Shiffrin won her 87th career alpine race, passing Ingemar Stenmark on the wins list. She is only 28. She could get 100 soon if she stays healthy.  Brad Gushue has his 5th career Brier victory, becoming the first skip to win five. His 7-5 win over Matt Dunstone of Manitoba came 6 years after his first. Yikes. He is only 42.

Off to Ghana 🇬🇭

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Today we visit Ghana. They became an independent nation in March 1957. Their NOC was created in 1951 and recognized in 1952. First summer Olympics was 1952 and been to all except 1956, 1976 and 1980. Their first winter games was 2010 and been to 2018 and 2022. 5 Olympic medals - a silver and 4 bronze for 5 total. One bronze was in soccer in 1992 and the rest in boxing. First Commonwealth Games was in 1954 and been to every games since except 1986. They gave 15g, 20s, and 28b for 63 total. Majority of them - except one - was in athletics and boxing.  Most medals won at one games was 9 and done three times (1962 Perth, 1966 Kingston and 1974 Christchurch). Here is the flag of Ghana. 

Catching up

 Few days behind. Brier has been interesting. Nunavut won its first ever game, Yukon won its 7th ever game, been a couple of games with 3 and 4 point ends and a couple of loose handles on the stones.  It got warm, then got semi cold again. Time to spring to show up. That is all.  Needed an excuse to make an entry. 

Hello March

 Well hello March.  Nice to see you. What do you have?  Did you say curling? Well let's rock it. The Brier starting on Friday, the womens worlds later, and I think some mixed doubles. What else? Hockey? Well, lots of it. Beginning the run to a playoff spot. Baseball? Yup. Spring training games underway already.  What else? Oh yes, springtime is near. Need to warm up some. Okay a fair bit. And St. Patrick's day. Anything else?  No, I think we're good. Oh wait March Madness - a.k.a NCAA basketball tournament.   I think we've got it.

Off to Turks and Caicos islands

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 Today it's Turks and Caicos. They have never been to the Olympics an an independent nation. Because the ioc doesn't recognize the territory, they compete for Great Britain (as Turks and Caicos is a British territory).  However they have competed at the Commonwealth Games. First appearance was 1978. They don't appear again until 1998. They've been to every games since. No medals won as of yet. They are located east of Cuba and North of the Hispaniola island (Hispaniola is Haiti on the west and Dominican Republic on the east). Here us ghe flag of Turks and Caicos.