Work commitments forced me to miss this game, but I followed along online. It was a thriller with Jonathan Toews scoring in the seventh round of the shootout to secure us the victory.

It took a Luc Bourdon goal with a little over five minutes left to force overtime. We'll be going for our eighteenth win in a row and our third championship in a row on Friday.

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It's late in the third period and Canada trails USA by a goal in our semifinal game. TSN has been celebrating the fact they're streaming live video of all the games on their website. Am I the only one who has never been able to connect?

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea, but if it won't work it's just annoying. Great news, I see Luc Bourdon just scored to tie things up.

Go Canada Go!

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While Maple Leaf prospect Justin Pogge was coughing up the Spengler in Switzerland, our Juniors were playing a nothing game in Sweden to finish off the preliminary round. Kris Russell scored another two goals to lead the offence to a nice and easy 3-0 win.

Our semifinal game is January 3rd at 1:30 pm.

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We've got Slovakia on Sunday, but no matter. Our 3-0 record is good for a first round bye. We're in the semifinals, baby.

The German team has played one hell of a good tournament thus far. They managed to score the first power-play goal against us in three games.

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This was a much closer game than the score would indicate. We seemed to be sitting back on a 3-0 lead early in the second period when the USA got within one.

It wasn't a shutout, but it was an entertaining game and a solid win.

We've got the upstart Germans on Friday afternoon.

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Remarkably, Canada has now won 13 games in a row in this tournament. Even sweeter, this is our third shutout in a row going back to the back-to-back shutouts Justin Pogge had to win gold last year.

Carey Price was solid between the pipes this afternoon, but the team in front of him wasn't spectacular. Perhaps the last two squads have raised my expectations, but I'm used to dominating. We were actually outshot 31-18.

We've got the USA tomorrow afternoon. I'll be watching.

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I wasn't alive in 1972 and I often forget that. "The Goal" was scored on September 28, 1972 by Paul Henderson in the Summit Series between Canada and the USSR. In "Fireworks", The Tragically Hip state "If there's a goal that everyone remembers, it was back in 'ol '72". This is absolutely true, even for those born in 1974.

It's scary how your mind plays tricks on you. I've seen that goal so many times and heard Foster Hewitt's call so often, I could swear I saw that goal live. If I close my eyes I can see Henderson getting tripped up and falling behind Tretiak. There's Esposito poking the puck on net, and Henderson's there for the rebound. One shot. Two shots. He scores! Henderson has scored for Canada!

I'm sure I saw that 6-5 win. I remember Henderson's leap and celebrating wildly. It's a goal we all remember, whether we'd been born or not.

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Us hockey fans have a conflict this afternoon. At 1:00 pm TSN is airing Carolina vs. Buffalo. That's a no-brainer, they have to air the NHL playoffs live, but they have the rights to the IIHF Semifinal between Canada and Sweden at the same time. They plan to air that game on tape at 4:30 pm, but I want to flip between both games live. What's a guy like me to do?

This table from TSN.ca suggests the Canada ~ Sweden game will air live on alternate channels. I'm a Rogers digital subscriber, so I should be able to see it on channels 1, 82 and 85.

Check out that table for Bell ExpressVu, Star Choice and Rogers Cable analog alternative stations. Go Canada Go!

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I feel as if I've let my country down. All day today I've been dealing with snickers and sneers because my team failed to deliver when it mattered most. Everyone wants to discuss where we went wrong and why our play was so mediocre.

Reading the Toronto Sun this morning, I almost choked on my toast upon reading a quote from our very own Pat Quinn. Speaking about his team that got shut out in three of six games, Quinn said the following: "They have not a thing to be embarrassed about. I know they feel they let a lot of people down, including themselves... This was their best game overall."

That statement tells you exactly what's wrong with Pat Quinn as a hockey coach. A gross lack of results doesn't embarrass him in the least. Falling well short of expectations gets a shrug of the shoulders and a weak reassurance that it was their "best game". Clearly, our best wasn't good enough in this tournament. Quinn is not a bad coach, he's got our Maple Leafs to the final four a couple of times, but he's loyal to a fault and insistent upon rolling four lines when one or two are struggling and another has the hot hand. With everyone looking for blame, Quinn is a good start. He makes the lines that failed to deliver, he failed to instill discipline when bad penalties at inopportune times were killing us, he's the head coach of a team that disappointed millions and should be held accountable.

I previously alluded to the fact that a Team Canada failure might benefit the Leafs because it would make releasing Quinn of his duties that much easier. It's difficult to fire a national hero, but it's easy to fire a national goat. Quinn's effectiveness as head coach of the Leafs has expired and we're in need of a fresh perspective and better understanding as to how the game is now played in the new NHL.

There were many good times, but nothing lasts forever. Farewell Quinn, we're better off without you.

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I remember February 20, 1998 vividly. On that date I watched Canada play the Czech Republic in the Nagano Olympics semi-final. I watched the game from Taryn's grandmother's condo in White Rock, British Columbia and I'll never forget that sinking feeling I had when Brenden Shanahan failed to score against Dominik Hasek in the shootout. Team Canada's best players were out and wouldn't be playing for gold. I was devastated.

Losing 2-0 to Russia yesterday has resulted in a very different feeling. This time, we were clearly not up for the challenge. In six games we were shutout three times. Other than brief spurts here and there, our best seemed totally uninspired. As soon as we lost 2-0 to the Swiss I knew in my heart of hearts that we weren't going to repeat as Olympic champions. A miraculous recovery was not to be.

For the next four years we'll be wondering what went wrong and working to ensure we don't embarrass ourselves at the 2010 games on home ice. As soon as the team was picked I questioned the ommissions of Eric Staal, Jason Spezza, Brendan Shanahan and Dion Phaneuf. What I failed to predict was the absolute ineffectiveness of dependable stars like Joe Thornton, Simon Gagne, Jerome Iginla, Danny Heatley and Rick Nash. When guys like this appear mediocre on ice, it's difficult to surmise precisely what went wrong.

The whole thing has me totally bummed. The crush of this premature defeat even brought this site down for a few hours last night, forcing me to sleep on this entry. The only cure for this hangover is improved play from my Maple Leafs and a birth in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Sadly, that too may be a miraculous recovery that's not meant to be.

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