When players dish headshots to fans....

I am really surprised at the lack of attention this incident received.

Especially considered the amount of attention some other non-controversies received at the Olympics. But it appears to have been buried under Canadian victory jubilation.

This video was shot after Russia lost 7-3 to Canada in the Quarterfinals (and I'm sure Canadians remember that Ovechkin played not-so-good).

Okay so sure, maybe Mr. Ovechkin was a little upset after the loss. But he seems to have walked out of his way to push this fan. She wasn't following him, she wasn't yelling at him, she was just taping him. And apparently she wasn't wearing a team Canada jersey, because this fan was a Russian..... a female Russian who came all the way to Canada to see the Olympics.


For someone who is supposed to be one of the faces of the NHL, this behaviour is really unacceptable.

"That’s why even though I didn’t really like seeing Ovechkin forcefully push away that fan’s phone, I find it harder and harder to get upset about it. In this era of people refusing to respect others’ privacy, we’re going to see more and more of this." said Elliot Friedman in his blog.

Unfortunately I think Friedman's comments miss the mark. I'm not sure the fan refused to respect Ovechkin's privacy. If he really didn't want to be taped, he could just ask. If he asked and then she refused to stop taping -- then, and only then, would she be 'not respecting his privacy'.

But instead the big-shot -- too busy talking on his cellphone to converse with a lowly fan -- decides to push her out of the way.

Would he have done the same if the score was inversed? What if he scored a hattrick in a 7-3 quarterfinal win over Canada? I'm figuring that he probably would've been soaking up the love.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx or find her on her blog National Passtime

Storybook ending.

Could you have written a better ending?

After 17 days of fantastic competition, the most anticipated event of the Vancouver Olympics ended in a overtime goal by Cole Harbour's own, Sidney Crosby.

And the men's hockey gold medal, lifted Canada to the sole owner of the Winter Olympic record for most golds. 14.

Perfect.

It prompted a spontaneous celebration coast-to-coast. Spring Garden Road, the busiest street in downtown Halifax was closed down after people ran into the streets in celebration.

The cops were there, but they were handing out high-fives and enjoying the atmosphere.  Nobody got out of hand, everyone loved everyone. What a night.

The ratings were released Monday afternoon and there was an average audience of 16.6 million viewers, while 26.5 million tuned into at least some of the game -- Yes, that is 80 per cent of the country.

Only in Canada.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx or find her on her blog National Passtime

When a beer is just a beer.

Everyone needs to relax. Actually I think everyone needs a beer. Chill out, guys. I'm serious.

So the gold medal champions in Olympic women's hockey had a beer. WOOPdeEFFINdo.

One of the last things I saw before I went to bed last night was a twitter post from Greg Wyshynski, the editor of Puck Daddy hockey blog. "Marie-Philip Poulin, with Olympic gold and a Molson. Canadian bliss" (Accompanying the tweet was the the photo you see at the top of this blog post). 


I had a laugh and thought, 'well deserved, ladies'.

That tweet was followed up by "Hope all this 'Marie-Philip Poulin is underage!!!' stuff is in good fun. Otherwise, our world's been taken over by Debby Downers & Killjoys" 

I didn't think much would come of the underage stuff, but then CTVOlympics.ca reports that "Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, said he wasn't aware of the celebration until informed by a reporter with The Associated Press"


Who is this douchebag reporter from AP who felt it necessary to be the Debby Downer? Haven't you given a glass of wine or champagne to your teenager at special events? She won a freaking gold medal... she scored the only two goals in the game. Let her have a freaking beer. I mean it wasn't even good beer. It was a Molson. 


But instead the IOC has to be all fatherly.

"If that's the case, that is not good," said Felli about the celebration. "It is not what we want to see. I don't think it's a good promotion of sport values. If they celebrate in the changing room, that's one thing, but not in public."

Hmm... okay.

What's the difference between what the girls did, and skeleton gold medalist Jon Montgomery chugging a pitcher of beer in front of a big crowd in Whistler on national television? I believe an open-liqour-in-public fine in Vancouver runs around $230. Beer chugging... sport values... right. But none of us cared, we all thought it was awesome and fun. Why? What's the difference? Why are people outraged about what the women did?

Is IOC members flying first class around the world, being wined dined and bribed a good promotion of sports values? Just sayin'.

Here's another one to chew on.

What's the difference between the girls having a beer on the ice after everyone's left. And the fans getting absolutely trashed in the stands? Did I mention that all the fans were gone?

Annnnd.

 Ironically this is a photo by the Associated Press.

Consistantly media are allowed in the dressing room after a big win. Stanley Cup, Super Bowl, World Series... shall I go on? When have you not seen shots of players popping champagne. What's the difference there?

These athletes are people. People drink. To say that because they are athletes means they should not drink is ludicrous.

This 'controversy' if you can call it that... is ridiculous! They had a beer. End of story.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx

A mercy rule is not the answer.

Every Olympics we have this discussion.

And every year people miss the mark.

I'm talking about women's hockey. Specifically when a powerhouse like Canada plays a hapless Slovakia and thumps them 18-0.

At the daily IOC-VANOC briefing, officials were asked if there should be a mercy rule in women's hockey.

"Clearly if you're on the losing side of a hiding, it's never much fun. But I'm sure they had a great experience and I'm sure they're thankful to be Olympians," said IOC director of communications Mark Adams.

"You know these things happen in all sports, at all levels. They're a good team but clearly yesterday Canada were the better team by a long way."

Then there was 2006.

Canada handed the host Italians a 16-0 beating in the opening game of the Turin Olympics.

"I'm upset that Canada has been running up the score, especially against the host nation," said Team USA defenseman Angela Ruggiero.

"There was no need for that. They're trying to pad their stats... Canada is running up the score for whatever reasons -- personal, short-term."

People are missing the boat here. It's not about padding stats. I don't think Haley Wickenheiser, the most prolific scorer in women's hockey, needs to pad her stats.

It's also not about mercy. I'm sure Canada would like to let up after they were certain their lead was sufficient.

But here's the problem. In international hockey, if there's two identical records in the standings, the tie-breakers are done by goal-differential.

So if Canada and USA both go undefeated through the tournament, and meet in the final. The home ice advantage is awarded to the team with the most goals scored.

That doesn't exactly breed mercy. In international play you can't control what other teams will do, so you don't want to leave anything to chance.

And this is nothing new, take the 2010 World Juniors. Latvia lost 16-0 to Canada and 12-1 to the USA.

There doesn't need to be a mercy rule -- using goals-scored as the tie breaker needs to be removed. There would still be blowouts, but I'm sure the scores would lower a bit.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx

Prorogued.

Sorry about the long break here on the blog. It's been a busy month good and bad.

Let's just say I prorogued the blog.

So a lot has happened since the last post.

First of all the Olympic flame has just crossed the Ontario-Manitoba border. Wait... really? This really is taking forever. One thing I did notice is one of the torch bearers was tackled by a protestor and the newsmedia with Olympic rights (the CTVs and TSNs of the world) kind of pretended it didn't happen.

World Juniors.

There will be no second use for makeitseven.ca any time soon. The Canadian boys failed to win a sixth straight gold, losing in overtime to the Americans.

Should they have even been in overtime? Probably not.

Besides that totally awesome (sense the extreme sarcasm?) goal that Jake Allen let in, in the third period to make it 5-3... the team didn't really give him much help.

Now I cannot blame one kid. Jordan "the babyfaced assassin" Eberle came out with yet another last minute heroic (he scored with 5.4 seconds left last year in the final). Really the Oilers should just call this kid up now -- lord knows they need it.

But in all seriousness, I think the downfall of this team was a mix of format and coaching. Looking at the roster the Canadians are extremely talented. Did they play like a TEAM in the final? Sure... for about 4 minutes at the end of the game. How many times did the Canadians try to break into the US zone by skating it in, only to be foiled. More times than I care to count. In fact it's probably around the same number as the number of odd-man rushes the US players ended up with.

The Canadians never really had to play as a team to win. Their first three games were a dance, and sure they looked good. But who doesn't look good against Latvia.

Lets throw one more problem into the mix. This is the superstitious side coming out.

Coach for gold medal 1 and 2: Sutter
Coach for gold medal 3 and 4: Hartsburg
Coach for gold medal 5: Quinn

Quinn you threw off the time-space continuum of coaching. Clearly you are being of no help to the Edmonton Oilers. Perhaps coming back for your required second gold would've been the proper thing to do.

Ok enough.

The Olympic Team.

I love it.I was at work when the team was announced. There were some surprises and my colleagues balked at the idea that Patrice Bergeron was named to the team.

But in my mind you can't just take the top 12 scoring forwards, because that will get you nowhere when the other team is killing you in faceoffs and winning the battles.

Bergeron is a faceoff man, he's used in every situation in Boston, and he's not afraid to get into the corners. I can see him doing anything that the coaches ask. And I think he would work out well on a line with someone like Mike Richards.

Anyways, I like the balance of old and young. And the choice of Scott Niedermayer as captain is appropriate.

I like Canada's chances with these guys on the ice.

Olympic Torch Relay

It was nice to see SO many people out in Halifax last night to see the Olympic torch run by.

However, it could've used some better planning.

We showed up to Brunswick Street where Sidney Crosby was picking up the torch at Sackville Street. He would then run 300 metres to Carmichael street and pass it off to snowboarder Sarah Conrad.

There were thousands of people. People we're sitting on the wall surrounding the base of citadel hill, on walls and stairs on buildings lining the street. All up Citadel Hill. Thousands. They were everywhere you could think of. It was insanity.

No barricades along the route.

Someone tell me how that makes sense.

Anyway so Crosby jogs by and he's surrounded by this circle of security detail about 25 strong.

All you could see was an arm with a torch, and a little white toque. Then when he passed off the torch everyone tried to get closer to follow it down the hill. As soon as he passed a spot, people started walking in behind on the street.

Thumbs down.

The city's holiday parade is Saturday, I know there must be barricades that have been pulled out of storage. Did nobody think, "hey! let's use them for the part of the torch relay that days in advance we were predicting huge crowds to show up for."

Halifax Fail.

Think people, think!

Let's be straight here, I don't agree with what Dany Heatley is doing to the Ottawa Senators. He's handcuffing them -- and he damn well knows it.

I really truly believe that the minute a player walks into a GM's room and says "I want a trade", that said player should have to sign a document that says he wants his stupid, irritatingly dumb, "no trade clause" waived.

It's not fair to teams that a player says he doesn't want to play here, but you can only trade me to x, y or z. What if x, y, or z don't want you Dany Heatley? What if they can't afford you? What if they're afraid you'll do the same thing to them. Love 'em then leave 'em... but only like half leave 'em. Like leave 'em but keep coming back to the apartment for your tshirt, or a pencil, or your mp3 player...

Anyway that's not what I really want to talk about today.

My concern is as the Team Canada summer evaluation camp opens this week, fans and columnists alike appear to be factoring Heatley's douche-factor into him making the team.

He's going to be on the team.

Because:

Steve Yzerman is not an idiot.

Dany Heatley has a long and loyal relationship with Hockey Canada. During the World Championships while players like Sidney Crosby sat out with a bit of an injury... or Dion Phaneuf just wanted to frolick on a PEI beach with Elisha Cuthbert, Dany Heatley was on the ice and scoring in bunches for Canada.

He's also got the Olympic experience under his belt, something that will be valuable for a team that may boast quite a few Olympic virgins.

In fact in the past nine years, Dany Heatley has played 10 tournaments for Hockey Canada. TEN!

But really we shouldn't even have to be validating this experience. Unless he starts playing like shit, or ends up not playing at all.

I would think that Hockey Canada would prefer that Heatley not have the distraction of the dispute with the Senators, but I also think they'd rather have Dany Heatley on their team than not.

Geez where do I even start.

I want to start with the aftermath of the Free Agent Frenzy, but instead I need to talk about the Team Canada summer selection camp. Can someone tell me why I am talking about this. This is one of those things that get announced and you're supposed to go "yah...makes sense".... especially after the 2006 squad that was.... not a good squad. Com'n folks let's make some good life choices.

NO. MARC. SAVARD. you kidding me. arg.

Now this camp is not the end of the line. The final decisions are made before December. So Savard could still make a case for himself. But it just became that much harder. I'm not going to rant about this much longer since this is something i've ranted a few times about. I'm just going to point out that these are Marc Savard's stats for the past three years:


Year --- Team - GP - G - A - Pts

2006-07 BOS - 82 - 22 - 74 - 96
2007-08 BOS - 74 - 15 - 63 - 78
2008-09 BOS - 82 - 25 - 63 - 88


here's a rundown of the invitees:

Goalies: Martin Brodeur, Marc-André Fleury, Roberto Luongo, Steve Mason, Cam Ward

Defense: François Beauchemin, Jay Bouwmeester, Dan Boyle, Brent Burns, Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Dan Hamhuis, Duncan Keith, Scott Niedermayer, Dion Phaneuf, Chris Pronger, Robyn Regehr, Stéphane Robidas, Brent Seabrook, Marc Staal, Shea Weber

Forwards: Jeff Carter, Dan Cleary, Sidney Crosby, Shane Doan, Simon Gagné, Ryan Getzlaf, Dany Heatley, Jarome Iginla, Vincent Lecavalier, Milan Lucic, Patrick Marleau, Andy McDonald, Brenden Morrow, Rick Nash, Corey Perry, Mike Richards, Derek Roy, Joe Sakic, Patrick Sharp, Ryan Smyth, Martin St. Louis, Eric Staal, Jordan Staal, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Toews

Canadiens.

O.K. so from under-rated (Marc Savard) to completely over-rated (see: Scott Gomez, post rookie season). At first glance when I saw the trade that sent Chris Higgins packing for overpaid, underachiever Scott Gomez I was furious. But after seeing some of the other moves Gainey made i'm a bit less likely to call for his head.... maybe just a leg??

A few people have asked me what I thought would fix the Canadiens after such a dismal attempt at making a go of their 100th season.

My answer: get a new team.

Ok my answer included a lot more expletives but it was along that train... besides the point anyways.

Get a new team is actually kinda what Gainey did. Now i'm not forgiving the dumbness of sending Chris Higgins who seems to always score a clutch goals, but at least it seems he did the rest of the task correctly.

He just let people go. He cleaned house. Doesn't matter how much it hurts, just rip that band-aid off. He let Saku Koivu go, which is sad, but it needed to happen. But also: Alex Tanguay, Tom Kostopoulos, Mathieu Schneider, Mathieu Dandenault, Francis Bouillon and Patrice Brisebois.

If that's not starting the eff over, I don't know what is.

They also lost Mike Komisarek to the Toronto Maple Leafs. That's a bit concerning since he's going to a rival. But after last years playoff performance, i'm ok with it.

The Canadiens still have to sign Kovalev, but they did sign Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta to contracts. Both small players, but very fast and exciting.

Overall the moves on Canada Day are a win, i guess, maybe...

Well it's a definitely a win if you're comparing it to....

The poor poor Ottawa Senators with their whiny sniper Dany Heatley who's got the team handcuffed with his long contract and no-trade clause that he's choosing to invoke when convenient for him.

"I want a trade... but not that one"

I think if a player walks into the General Managers room and says "I want a trade", that should null and void his no-trade clause. They gave him that clause because Heatley was making a long-term committment to the Senators and was saying "i don't want to move, and i don't want to be a rental player at the end of a season when my contract is up".

Adam Proteau... go to the corner.

And think about what you've said.

I was watching Off the Record today (so of course I was already mildly enraged).

And they were chatting about the Canadian Olympic team. They were throwing blueliners around and Brian Campbell's name came up.

Adam Proteau (a Hockey News columnist) said that by this time next year Brian Campbell will be old and he wants to see younger, faster players on defence.

Brian Campbell is 29 years old. He will be 30 at the Olympics. Get the man a wheelchair and find him an old folks home, quick!

And can somebody also find me a faster defenseman? Last time I checked Campbell is one of the best skaters in the league. I don't understand how he is being overlooked for the Olympic team.

Old and slow are not things I think about when I think Brian Campbell.



Penguins fire Michel Therrien.
Too late.

Blockbuster Trade.
Mathieu Schneider picked up by the Canadiens. Maybe now they'll un-suck. Or not.

Olympics, Olympics!! Canadians love talking about the Olympic hockey team wayyyy before the Olympics.

The Canadian Press released their predictions for Canada's 2010 Olympic team Monday. And since I did just that on December 4, I thought I'd compare the two lineups.

The players that both CP and I picked are bolded, with some notes of who they chose instead and my agree/disagree reasons as well. Fun!



Forwards

line 1: Dany Heatley, Sidney Crosby, Joe Thornton
line 2: Simon Gagne, Vincent Lecavalier, Jarome Iginla
line 3: Shane Doan, Marc Savard, Jonathan Toews
line 4: Brendan Morrow, Mike Richards, Ryan Getzlaf/Rick Nash.

Instead of Marc Savard, Brendan Morrow — CP has Jeff Carter, Corey Perry.

Mark Savard HAS to be on the team. People overlook this kid for everything. I drafted him in my pool in like the fifth round, but this kid has the touch. Yzerman would be crazy not to take him for Team Canada.

Brendan Morrow is a born leader, but either Carter or Perry is more than acceptable.


Blueline

Dion Phaneuf, Chris Pronger,
Mike Green, Brian Campbell,
Shea Weber, Rob Blake,
Kevin Bieksa, Dan Boyle

Instead of Bieksa, Blake and Campbell — CP has Brent Burns and Jay Bouwmeester.

CP has Canada carrying 7, whereas I have 8. I am including the taxi squad in my lineup, though. I would agree to trade off Blake and Bieksa for Bouwmeester and Burns for size, but Campbell has to stay.


Goal
Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Carey Price

CP has opted for Steve Mason as a third stringer. The play of Price and Mason in the rest of the season/playoffs will be critical, but again, this is the third stringer. The real fight will be between Brodeur and Luongo for who will be #1.

Team Canada Picks.

Yes folks, i'm doing it already.

Now... as I have said before I'm a big believer in putting people on the team who are playing well and NOT INJURIED during the few months leading up to when the team is finalized in December. So, this is round 1 of picks.

Since the Olympics are still over a year away (the team will be finalized about a year from now) there will no doubt be cuts and additions to the team that I would like to see in Vancouver. One thing I can tell you for sure... no Todd Bertuzzi, no Kris Draper.

Forwards

line 1: Dany Heatley Sidney Crosby Joe Thornton
line 2: Simon Gagne Vincent Lecavalier Jarome Iginla
line 3: Shane Doan Marc Savard Jonathan Toews
line 4: Brendan Morrow Mike Richards Ryan Getzlaf/Rick Nash

notes: Joe Sakic, is questionable. He's just sustained a long term injury and was already on the fence about returning for next season.

Blueline

Dion Phaneuf, Chris Pronger,

Mike Green, Brian Campbell,

Shea Weber, Rob Blake,

Kevin Bieksa, Dan Boyle.

Goal
1. Martin Brodeur 2. Roberto Luongo 3. Carey Price

Yzerman appointment today.

Told you so.

September 18.
"Who will fill Gretzky's shoes? It's not really about filling them, and more about throwing them the hell through a window and finding a new pair. As I've stated before, the 2006 Men's Olympic Hockey Team was probably the worst possible team you could have chosen. (Please see: leaving Jason Spezza, Eric Staal and Sidney Crosby at home = dumb, dumb, dumb.)

As I posted already, I think we've already found a new pair of shoes. Steve Yzerman."

The official appointment will happen today in about an hour and a half. You can watch the press conference live.

Yzerman to lead Olympic team?

Bob MacKenzie of Tsn is reporting that Steve Yzerman will take over the Executive Director position of Team Canada for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. This comes shortly after Wayne Greztky said he would not stay in the position after failing to medal in 2006 (Turin).

Probably a pretty good call on Hockey Canada's part. Since the team that Gretzky left home in 2006 was the team that would have medaled. (Who leaves home Sidney Crosby? And takes Todd Bertuzzi instead... i could go on forever about the debacle that was the 2006 Canadian Men's Olympic Hockey team, and I probably will one of these days.)

Full Story:

Sources tell TSN Wayne Gretzky has indicated to Hockey Canada that he is willing to be part of the management team for 2010, he has made it clear he is not interested in reprising his role as executive director.

Sources tell TSN that Steve Yzerman is expected to be named executive director of the Canadian Olympic team. Gretzky himslef said he would only be interested in an advisory role although it is still possible emerge as one of any number of candidates to be head coach of the team.

In 2000, Gretzky was named Executive Director of Canada's 2002 men's team. His duties included overseeing all hockey operations, and making the final decision on all personnel and player selections. Team Canada won its first gold medal with a 5-2 over the host Americans, ending a 50-year drought for the country's men's hockey teams.

Gretzky was also Executive Director for Canada at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, where the team finished seventh.

Yzerman, who works in the Detroit Red Wings' front office, was general manager of Team Canada for the 2007 and 2008 World Championships and put together silver and gold medal-winning squads over the last two springs.