the mad sports man

 1946-47 NHL season had 6 teams and expanded the schedule to 60 games.  Tommy Gordon retires as Montreal GM.  Frank Selke takes over after Toronto lets him go. Gordon won 6 Cups as coach and GM. Selke would take a team in financial difficulty and would turn it into the greatest dynasty in NHL history (that time will get here). Red Dutton resigns as NHL president. Clarence Campbell takes over and holds the job for 31 years. He ends up in controversy with Maurice Richard later in the series.  Bill Chadwick devises hand signals to call penalties. Gordie Howe signs his first contract October 8, 1946 at 18 years old and scores his first of 801 NHL regular season goals on October 16.  Maple Leaf Gardens is the first arena to install plexiglass. Bill Durban wins 4th consecutive Vezina, breaking George Hainsworth's record of consecutive Vezinas. Playoff: SF, Montreal beat Boston 4-1 and Toronto beat Detroit 4-1. Stanley Cup finals had Toronto beat Montreal 4-2.

 Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant, Geoff Walker and alternate Jeff Thomas beat Brad Jacobs and his team 5-4 and will be representing Canada at the Beijing Olympics. Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman will be going together as a couple. Fun fact: since 2002, the mens curling teams at the Olympics have been a Kevin or a Brad.  2002, Kevin Martin. 2006 Brad Gushue. 2010 Kevin Martin. 2014 Brad Jacobs. 2018 Kevin Koe. 2022 Brad Gushue. Wild.  Will the pattern hold up for 2026? Find out in four years.

 This ended up being a double overtime thriller. Saskatchewan beat Calgary 33-30 and will make the trip on the Yellowhead highway to Winnipeg to face the Bombers. West final is December 5th.

 This game had to have been fun while it was snowing. Hamilton beat Montreal 23-12 to go to the East final. That game is down the road in Toronto on December 5th.

 What. A. Game. First time an Olympic trials championship game went into an extra end and Jennifer Jones wins it 6-5 over Tracy Fleury. Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes (going to her third straight Olympics), Jocelyn Peterman, Dawn McEwen and alternate Lisa Weagle will be representing Canada in Beijing. Congratulations.

 This ended up being a no doubter as Jennifer Jones beat Krista McCarville 8-3 in 9 ends and will face Tracy Fleury for a trip to the Olympics. Game is at 11am.  Gushue vs Jacobs is at 7pm also for a trip to the Olympics. Gonna love me this championship Sunday.

 ....a 4-3 win for Krista McCarville over Kerri Einarson in an extra end.  Wow. This ended up a good one.  Also adds up to Brad Jacobs beating Kevin Koe 8-3.  They were shaking hands after the 6th end was done. Jacobs was not fooling around. Jacobs will play Brad Gushue tomorrow night for the right to represent Canada at the 2022 winter Olympics.

 This ended up quite the game. Kerri Einarson beats Casey Scheiddeger 8-6 to go to tiebreaker #2 against Krista McCarville. That game is at 2pm, along with Kevin Koe vs Brad Jacobs semi final. Stay tuned for more drama.

 Final men's draw is finished. No drama here. Kevin Koe won securing the last playoff spot. Brad Jacobs and Brad Gushue won as well.  Meaning Gushue finished first and has the bye to Sundays final. Jacobs and Koe plays in the semi final tomorrow at 2pm, along with McCarville vs Einarson/Scheiddeger winner. That tiebreaker game is at 9am. The women's semi final is at 7pm with Jennifer Jones waiting for the tiebreaker winner.

 Last women's draw at the curling trials is done. Tracy Fleury went undefeated in the round robin.  Fleury's fifth, Chelsea Carey went undefeated in 2017. She lost to Rachel Homan in the final. Jennifer Jones finished second and will be in the semis. Now the drama. Krista McCarville played her last game last night and finished 4-4.  Kerri Einarson lost to Kelsey Rocque to drop to 4-4.  Casey Scheiddeger beat Rachel Homan to go to 4-4.  So the tiebreaker games are as follows (from Devin Heroux):  Einarson vs Scheiddeger in the first game, with the winner to play McCarville in the second. These trials got interesting real quick.

 It's one month to Christmas Eve. Already sent a few cards out. Plus tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US. It's also 100 days to the winter Paralympics.  They start March 4.  The Roar of the Rings aka the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials has gotten insane.  Some of the top curlers are really not having a great tournament, while others are doing very well. Men's evening draw started a few minutes ago. Three more draws tomorrow and Friday. By then we may know the top three and any potential tiebreakers. Things are heating up.

 The CFL postseason is upon us. Winnipeg finished first in the west and has a bye into the West final, while Calgary visits Saskatchewan to play the Riders. Out East, Toronto finished first and has the bye into the East final, while Montreal plays in Hamilton. Both division semis are on Sunday.

 I'm talking the Canadian Olympic curling Trials a.k.a the Roar of the Rings. One men's spot and one women's spot for the taking. Nine men's and women's teams playing for each spot. All very good teams.  It's going to be a crapshoot.  First draw is at 2pm with the ladies starting it off and the men start at 7pm. Nine days of absolute intense curling.

 Argentina has qualified for the world Cup becoming the 13th team to qualify.  They played to a scoreless tie vs Brazil and had to wait for the rest of the games to finish.  North American games are left, and nobody is in a spot to qualify.  Next round of games are late January/early February.

 Netherlands is the 12th team (and 11th to qualify) to make the World Cup. They finished first in group G to qualify.  Stay tuned for more, although I think this may be it for this round, although there are north and south American games to play.

 England (group I) and Switzerland (group C) are countries 10 and 11 to qualify for the World Cup. That leaves group G tomorrow to decide it. Who else will join them? Stay tuned.

 Serbia and Spain are nations 8 and 9 to qualify for the World Cup. Serbia won group A and Spain won group B.  Stay tuned, a couple more to potentially qualify tomorrow.

The final qualification round is finished and Czech Republic, Sweden and Denmark round out the women's hockey tournament for the 2022 winter Olympics. They will play in group B with Japan and host China. Canada, USA, Finland, Russia and Switzerland make up group A.  Women's hockey begins February 3.

 Croatia has qualified for the 2022 World Cup by winning group H. That is now 7 nations in.  Should be a couple more in a couple of hours.

 Belgium and France have qualified for the World Cup. Belgium finished first in group E and France finished first in group D in the European qualification.  Stay tuned. Three more days of this round of games, could be more.

 Derek Drouin will be getting a silver after Ivan Ukhov was found to have a banned substance in his system. Erik Kynard went from silver to gold. Mutaz Essa (Qatar) and Robert Grabarz (Great Britain) was in a three way tie with Drouin and were also upgraded to silver. Canada now has 2g, 6s and 10b for 18 medals for 2012.

 Brazil has qualified for the 2022 World Cup. They join Germany, Denmark (both qualified last month) and host Qatar.  Stay tuned - there may be more.

 To those who are serving or have served in the past, thank you.

 The annual first dump of snow of the season has arrived. It's still snowing out there.  Highways in and out of the major cities (Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert) are not the best from what I've heard.  Drive carefully.

 ...... Kyle Larson. He won 11 races this season, including today's finale. He also won 3 of the last 4 races. Yikes. Congratulations to Kyle Larson.

 It's that time where we get to turn our clocks BACK an hour.  Unless you're in the part where you don't have to touch your clocks.  The latter part is me.

 The 1945-46 had 6 teams and 50 game schedule. Red lights to signal goals were made obligatory starting this season.  Lester Patrick retired as GM of the Rangers, but remained president of Madison Square Garden. Frank Patrick suffered a heart attack and had to stay in hospital for several weeks to recover.  Veterans came back to their teams after WWII ended. Most lost some of their previous form.  Others regained it.  Frank Brimsek, after getting shelled his first game 8-3, bounced back and took Boston to a second place finish. Max Bentley led league in scoring. Bill Durnan tied George Hainsworths record of three Vezina trophies in a row. Playoffs: SF: Montreal beat Chicago 4-0 and Boston beat Detroit 4-1. Stanley Cup: Montreal beat Boston 4-1.

 Some randomness. Got eight puzzles framed in my room. Four I have hanging, the others I have yet to hang. Got a road trip one featuring a map, and old world map one, a world travel poster one, one that has all the planets and other space stuff, license plate map of the USA, panoramic shot of the home of the Blue Jays, a Pacman one, and a map showing where all the baseball teams are.  Eeep.  Plus more in the living room.

 The Atlanta Braves are world series Champions after beating up on the Houston Astros 7-0 in game six and the series 4-2.  It is their second series win in Atlanta (1995 was the first) and their fourth overall (1914 in Boston and 1957 in Milwaukee were the others). Congratulations to Atlanta.

 Well, hello there November. I guess it's good to see you. What do you have for me this month? I see you have more hockey for me. Oh, you're telling me the CFL playoff push is on. What? You're telling me the world series will come to an end real quick?  I understand the run for the NASCAR championship is heating up.  Oh yes, thanks for the reminder of The Roar of the Rings runs from the 20-28.   That Curling Show needs to air. Oh sheesh did you have to tell me you plan on throwing in some snow?  We need to talk about this another time.