Canada 3, United States 1
Published May 5, 2005 @ 20:36 in Hockey Canada

Rick Nash is only 20 years old but he's leading the pack in Innsbruck, Austria, scoring two big goals in today's victory over the States. With the win, Canada clinched first place in Group B and will play Sweden, the Group C first-place team, in the qualification round on Saturday.

Canada is 34-3-0 all-time against the United States at the world championship. Even cooler is the fact we haven't lost in a while. We went 6-0 at the World Cup last September and 6-0 at the World Junior Championship in January. We're 3-0 thus far during these World Championships.

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Following Today's Game
Published May 5, 2005 @ 09:23 in Hockey Canada

Again, I'm stuck in front of a computer when I'd rather be in front of a television to watch Canada take on the USA this afternoon at 14:15 EST. It promises to be a great game and I don't intend to let a little work interfere with my following of the action.

Once again, I'll be streaming The Fan 590 so I can hear the action live. The live IIHF scoresheet I linked to last time didn't get updated once during the game so I won't be checking in on that this time. Instead, I'll see if TSN.ca throws up a live scoresheet.

Go Canada Go!

Update: Canada leads 2-1 after two periods...

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Canada 8, Slovenia 0
Published May 3, 2005 @ 14:46 in Hockey Canada

Canada absolutely dominated Slovenia, outshooting them 56-12. 8-0 was actually a rather generous score for Slovenia considering. This was the first world championship game ever between two-time defending champion Canada and the slower, less-skilled Slovenes.

A true test is Thursday when we face the damn Yankees.

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Following Today's Game
Published May 3, 2005 @ 09:30 in Hockey Canada

Canada takes on Slovenia this morning at 10:00 EST. If you're like me, you won't be able to park yourself in front of a television to enjoy, but you can still follow the action by following my lead.

I'll be streaming The Fan 590 so I can hear the action live and I'll be checking out this online live game stats page from the IIHF.

Go Canada Go!

Update: Early in the second, Canada leads 4-0 and is dominating. USA beat Slovenia 7-0, so we've got to match or surpass that. I know at some point Canada will go into auto-pilot to avoid embarrassing the competition, but I hope they don't do so until we've potted 8.

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Canada 6, Latvia 4
Published April 30, 2005 @ 13:50 in Hockey Canada

Not quite what I was expecting. I was on the edge of my seat half way through the third with a slim one goal lead. To give the Latvians credit, they never stopped working and never gave up. They kept coming, causing the Great White North to feel rather nervous.

Rick Nash had a hat trick as we out shot Latvia 46-25. Next up is Slovenia on Tuesday morning. Lets blow them out of the frozen water.

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World Beaters
Published April 29, 2005 @ 15:02 in Hockey Canada

We hockey fans are hockey starved. It's April and I didn't attend a playoff pool draft, I didn't don my Leafs jersey a single time and I haven't heard a peep out of Bob Cole. It's been seven months since we've seen the world's best going at it and we're dying for a hockey fix.

I doesn't matter that we're without Mario Lemieux, Jerome Iginla, Joe Sakic, Rob Blake, Chris Pronger, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards. Martin Brodeur is between the pipes and we still have one hell of a team. It all starts tomorrow morning against Latvia at 10:00 EST and I can't wait.

Go Canada Go!

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Team Canada
Published April 11, 2005 @ 20:14 in Hockey Canada

Canada's world championship roster has been announced. Carrying the hopes and dreams of a nation on their collective shoulders will be:

Goaltenders

• Martin Brodeur
• Roberto Luongo
• Marty Turco

Defencemen

• Ed Jovanovski
• Chris Phillips
• Wade Redden
• Robyn Regehr
• Scott Hannan
• Sheldon Souray
• Dan Boyle

Forwards

• Brendan Morrison
• Dany Heatley
• Rick Nash
• Joe Thornton
• Kris Draper
• Kirk Maltby
• Ryan Smyth
• Shane Doan
• Mike Fisher
• Simon Gagne
• Brenden Morrow
• Patrick Marleau

Play gets underway April 30. This is going to be fun.

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Canadian Women Going For Gold
Published April 9, 2005 @ 15:46 in Hockey Canada

At this very moment, it's a scoreless game between Canada and the United States in the final game at the world championship in Linkoping, Sweden. The game is already almost half way through the third period. It looks like it's going to be an awesome finish.

Go watch TSN and root for the red and white. Go Canada Go!

Update: Unbelievable. Zero goals allowed in 16 periods of hockey and we win the silver. Eight championships in row and this is how we lose to those damn yankees. I hate shootouts.

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Players Wanted
Published March 31, 2005 @ 09:13 in Hockey Canada

When Gary Bettman broke this nation's collective heart, I found a silver lining in the clouds. I envisioned a World Championship with the best of the best going at it once more for hockey supremacy. Perhaps the Great One would build another super Team Canada. I had high hopes.

One by one, I'm reading about our superstars declining the invitation to Austria. Yesterday, I was particularly surprised to learn Vincent Lecavalier and Jose Theodore, two members of the 2004 World Cup of Hockey championship team, have said they won't compete for Canada. Others who have already said no are Mario Lemieux, Jarome Iginla and Joe Sakic. I'm wondering who will lead this team.

Perhaps this will be Joe Thornton's team. Will Martin Brodeur be between the pipes? Will Scott Niedermayer, Ed Jovanovski, Adam Foote and Rob Blake be patrolling the blue line?

It won't be the best of the best, but it will be an awesome tournament and a nice hockey fix when we need it most. Go Canada Go!

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Canada 6, Russia 1
Published January 4, 2005 @ 22:26 in Hockey Canada

The World Junior Hockey Championship has returned to Canada for the first time since 1997. We were victorious at the 2002 Olympics, captured two consecutive IIHF world titles and won the World Cup of Hockey back in September. We rule the hockey universe, without a doubt.

I can't say enough about how dominating this team was the entire tournament. An even strength goal wasn't scored against us after our first game on Christmas Day. If you remove a 7-3 victory that day, we outscored our opponents 34-4 over six games. That's mind blowing stuff.

It was a great day for Canadian hockey, and more important than anything, Canadians got a positive shot of exceptional hockey without requiring the NHL. I can't wait for the IIHF World Championship this spring.

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