The World Cup has returned to Canada after 13 long years. This marks four straight national championship wins for Canada as we were victorious at the 2002 Olympics and captured two consecutive IIHF world titles. There is no doubt as to which nation rules the hockey universe.

It was a great game and a great night but this morning I awoke to the realization we're all getting screwed. It was an awesome tournament and the good guys ran the gamut going 6-0 and winning it all but now the ACC is hockey-less for Lord knows how long. James and I donned our Leafs jerseys last night and gathered with the family to watch our game and it felt so right...it felt so Canadian. A strip of our cultural fabric is being torn away from us and there's absolutely nothing we can do.

I do have a contingency plan though and I'll write more about that later this afternoon. For now, I'm going to savour our big win and enjoy the fact that we are the champions of the world.

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To borrow a phrase from fellow Torontonian Neil Young, tonight's the night. It all comes down to this. One game will settle the score and determine who is the supreme hockey nation. Canada faces off against Finland at the ACC.

I'm quite looking forward to this game, but it's bitter sweet. After a hockey-less summer we've been blessed with this great hockey tournament and my biological clock is telling me NHL training camp is right around the corner. My Leafs Countdown page confirms this by indicating there is exactly 31 days, 7 hours, 26 minutes, and 26 seconds left until the Maple Leafs 2004/2005 season opener. It confirms this, yet I know I won't be sitting down with James to watch the blue and white 32 days from today. I'm not that naive. It's not going to happen and that bites.

So, I'll get together with my brothers and watch Canada win the World Cup of Hockey tonight but I'll do so knowing it may be my last taste of NHL-calibre hockey for a long time. The puck won't drop in 32 days. The puck may not drop in twelve months. It may be 2006 before the NHL resumes and while owners and players squabble over millions the only victims are you and I, the hockey fans.

Savour tonight. It's going to have to hold us a while. Go Canada Go!

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Bring on the Finns! Canada was outworked, outplayed for long stretches and outshot 40-24, but Vincent Lecavalier scored 3:45 into overtime to earn us a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Czech Republic on Saturday night.

I left a tie game when I entered the Molson Amphitheatre last night but word quickly spread that we were going into overtime. I literally felt butterflies in my stomach until Kid Rock announced that Canada prevailed. After that, the entire stadium erupted in cheer and Rock had to alter his playlist. There was no way we were going to settle down for a slow tune at that point. He ended up breaking into Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" and the party was really underway.

We survived the Czech Republic and play for the gold on Tuesday night at 19:00 EST. I won't miss a minute of this one.

Before I leave this topic, I have a couple of notes to scrawl down. Where is the radio coverage of this event? Last night I was in the car for a period of time during the second period. It was a scoreless game when I left the television but I was forced to listen for updates because there was no play-by-play. 640 Toronto has the rights to Maple Leafs games, so you'd think they might have this event as well. The fact is it's tv or nothing if you're following the World Cup of Hockey. As for the web, I can't say enough about the highlights provided on the official site here. They're lengthy, include all goals and scoring chances, and are just Bob Cole's call over the play. I'd love the NHL to provide the same feature for NHL games. It's awesome.

Go Canada Go!

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It's been tough catching all the games in this great tournament. I missed the entire quarterfinals last night because I was playing a ball game. From what I've seen Jarome Iginla had a great game with two goals and an assist while Martin Brodeur recorded the easy shutout.

So far we have dominated the tournament, going 4-0 while outscoring our opponents 15-3. Next up is the Czech Republic at the ACC on Saturday night. Just my luck, I'm catching Kid Rock at the Amp that night. As God is my witness, nothing will prevent me from watching the finals and another Canadian victory on Tuesday.

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So far, so good. Canada is clearly the team to beat in this tournament and nothing short of winning it will be acceptable to hockey fans in this great nation.

Although this clearly isn't the Russian squad that gave us fits throughout the 70s and 80s, it still feels awfully good to beat them in a competition like this. I thought Kris Draper played one hell of a game and Martin Brodeur once again proved he's our best asset.

Keep it going boys...

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I missed this entire game last night because I had a few ball games to play. I have seen the replays and am pleased to see us back in red and white for the second game of the World Cup. Canada = red + white.

It sounds like it was a rather convincing victory and it has assured us of a home game in the quarter-finals September 8 right here in Toronto. On the drive to the ball game we were predicting the final score for this one and I came closest guessing we'd win 4-1.

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I will never again make fun of Americans for being unable to follow the puck on television. I had a difficult time last night following my team. I've seen Team Canada compete in dozens of tournaments throughout my life and the one constant has been the colours red and white with the occasional black thrown in for stylistic purposes. Yesterday, I kept having to remind myself that we're the team in yellow. Yellow? Yep, yellow.

I know it was a tribute to the Winnipeg Falcons, but I hated seeing Canada in yellow. The uniforms kept reminding me of the Boston Bruins or perhaps the Swedish team. Yellow? Ugh.

As for the game it was a solid effort and a win's a win. We certainly started strong and looked like we could have been up 4-0 easy early in the second. The fact it was only 2-1 is more than a little flattering to the Americans who got some awesome goaltending from Robert Esche. We're a young, fast team and I'd love to see us play like we did in the first period yesterday for an entire game. If we do, no other country can match that intensity.

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In moments I'll be parking myself in front of the television to enjoy Canada vs. USA in World Cup of Hockey action. It's going to be great, but it's far from crunch time. A glance at the schedule reveals this first round is little more than a glorified exhibition series. No team will be eliminated meaning the "real" games don't get under way until September 6th.

It would be nice to win the division anyways just so we can play Slovakia in the first game that matters, but nothing's a sure thing at this level. I find it interesting that the "North American Divison" consists of four teams, including Slovakia and Russia. That's as silly as the Toronto Blue Jays playing in the American League or a team from Baltimore playing in the Canadian Football League.

Go Canada Go! Kick some yankee ass.

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I can't wait for the World Cup of Hockey to get under way on August 30. The best in the world suiting up for their nation...it's going to be awesome.

Canada plays their first of three exhibition games tonight against the USA in Columbus, Ohio. We've surprisingly opted not to dress the line of captain Mario Lemieux with wingers Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards. Hopefully this isn't indicative of Lemieux's questionable health.

With an NHL lock out imminent, this might be the only top notch hockey for quite some time. Make no mistake about it, I want to win this thing bad. Go Canada Go!

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Wayne Gretzky has announced the 26-player roster for this summer's World Cup of Hockey. You'll find the complete list here.

As predicted, Eddie Belfour is the lone Maple Leaf selected. That's the problem when your biggest stars are Swedish and Russian. Eddie deserved it.

Here are my feelings regarding the other 25. It's great to see Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman back for one last kick at the can. Both are glorious players I've had the pleasure of watching for years and years and both deserve to be on this team. The defense has changed little and that's a good thing. Our defensive corp is relatively young and skilled with the size necessary to wear down opposing forwards. Up front, there has been much turnover with Canada's young and fresh speedsters making their debut. I'm glad Martin St. Louis and Dany Heatley were chosen instead of overrated guys like Paul Kariya and guys on the downside of their career like Brendan Shanahan, Joe Neiwendyk and Owen Nolan. Shane Doan, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby will form our "Grind Line" to shut down the other country's top line. You can never go wrong with fantastic Canadian hockey players like Joe Sakic, Jerome Iginla, Joe Thornton and Martin Brodeur.

On the negative side, it's a shame Todd Bertuzzi screwed his chances to make this team. He's certainly among our best forwards if you exclude his actions against Colorado's Steve More. I'm also puzzled as to why Simon Gagne was selected again. He's been a very average looking hockey player since the 2002 Winter Olympics. We just played against him for six playoff games and I hardly noticed him. Wouldn't Rick Nash have made more sense? Even Paul Kariya is a better pick in my opinion than Gagne. Then again, who am I to question The Great One?

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