the mad sports man

 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 Harris of the New York

 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.

 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

 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. 

 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. 

 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.

 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. 

 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.

 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. 

 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. 

 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. 

 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 steeplechas

 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.

 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.

 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.

 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

 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. 

 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

 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. 

 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. 

 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.