Presented without gloating

By Colby Cosh - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 8:30 AM - 25 Comments

A new poll found at the website of Komsomolskaya Pravda, as automatically translated into quasi-English by Google:

The paper’s front-page story on the Russian loss makes it quite clear that Olympic angst is not a phenomenon confined to Canada. Indeed, you could figure this out without an auto-translation even if all you knew was the Cyrillic alphabet; you don’t need to be a linguist to get “guillotine” (!) from “гильотины”.

[UPDATE: Commenter "Lunatic" may have cracked the ham secret.]

Linking the Arctic with fibre optic

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 4 Comments

In Canada’s remote northern communities, which depend on satellite for phone and Internet service, there are certain times of the year when connections are even spottier than usual. For several weeks during the spring and fall equinox, a phenomenon known as “sun transit” occurs, and radio waves from the sun overpower those going between the satellite and the earth station. Though it lasts for less than 20 minutes per day, the scratchy connections are a nuisance. But that may change with ArcticLink, a proposed 16,000-km fibre-optic cable through the Northwest Passage.

The project, which is being headed by the Alaska-based Kodiak Kenai Cable Company, involves laying a US$1.2-billion fibre-optic cable between London and Tokyo. According to company CEO Walt Ebell, the link would cut transmission times between Asia and Europe in half. But it could also alleviate the connectivity woes of Canada’s 43 northern communities currently served by satellite. Last month, executives with Northwestel, a telecommunications firm in northern Canada, met with Ebell to discuss patching into the line to link up Arctic communities, says Anne Kennedy, a spokesperson with Northwestel.

Talks are still in the early stages, but a fibre-optic cable would be a step up. On top of problematic phone service, Internet connectivity is limited by the bandwidth Northwestel leases from its satellite provider. If the project goes ahead, Kennedy says Northwestel’s involvement would largely depend on cost-effectiveness. In remote communities, where the population is often less than 200, she says, “it’s tough to make a business case.” But to those few people, the ability to make a call without worrying about the position of the sun would make a big difference.

Loblaws backs off on bag fee

By Peter Shawn Taylor - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 7 Comments

The environmental crusade against plastic shopping bags in this country began in earnest last year when Toronto established a bylaw forcing all local retailers to charge five cents per bag. Since then other cities have waded in—Fort McMurray, Alta., recently approved a full-scale ban—and some retailers, including Ikea and Home Depot, have implemented the Toronto fee country-wide. Yet any suggestion the end to giveaway bags would become a national trend appears to have fizzled. And now the biggest promoter of bag fees faces an awkward climb-down over obvious customer dissatisfaction.

On April 22—Earth Day, 2009—the country’s largest grocer, Loblaw Co. Ltd., implemented the five-cent bag fee in all its stores across Canada as part of a larger plan to burnish its “green” credentials. At the time, Loblaw senior vice-president of corporate affairs, Inge van den Berg, told Maclean’s the fee was a way of “incentivizing good habits. It’s a gentle reminder because I think customers really want to take the right action to protect the environment.”

But some shoppers aren’t so keen on being incentivized. This past December, Loblaw-owned stores in Atlantic Canada, including Atlantic Superstore and Dominion, temporarily waived the five-cent fee as a Christmas gift to customers. That change was recently made permanent; the bags are once again free. “The Atlantic region is unique,” says Julija Hunter, vice-president of public relations for Loblaw. “We are mindful of our business environment and the fact consumers have other options.”

While major competitor Sobeys mimicked Loblaw’s bag fee in Ontario and Quebec, it never implemented the charge anywhere else for competitive reasons. And so East Coast shoppers irritated at having to pay for bags appear to be choosing Sobeys over Atlantic Superstore. If the bag fee was born out of concern for the environment, its demise is due to unhappy customers and a concern for the bottom line.

Interview: Johann Olav Koss

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 8 Comments

Photograph by Simon Hayter

Johann Olav Koss is an Olympic speed skating legend: the winner of four golds, including three in front of his home crowd in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994. But to Canadians he’s perhaps better known as the CEO of Right To Play (or the former husband of Belinda Stronach).

He spoke to Maclean’s about how the charity, which focuses on improving the lives of children through sport, and is usually a fixture in the athletes’ village, is coping with its banishment from the Vancouver 2010 Games.

Q: Right To Play was born out of the Olympics, yet you are not officially allowed to be here. Did you ever get an explanation of why?
A: No. I got a letter saying they didn’t want to renew the contract. All the rest is speculation, but it clearly started with sponsorship confusion. [GM is an official Olympic sponsor; Mitsubishi is one of Right To Play’s backers.]

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Patrick Gordon Forbes Murdoch (1926-2010)

By Jenn Cutts - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 2 Comments

Patrick Gordon Forbes Murdoch was born in Toronto on Dec. 26, 1926, to Arthur and Eleanor Murdoch. The youngest of five (after Jack, Betty, Bill and Jane), Pat was only five years old when Arthur was killed in a house fire. Eleanor, whose grandfather founded Toronto’s Cosgrave Brewery, moved the family to St. Clair Avenue, where Pat learned to skate and ski in nearby parks. Summers were spent at a cabin on the Moon River near Bala, Ont., where one of Pat’s first jobs was delivering blocks of ice. He was a bright boy, graduating early from De La Salle College, but also prone to mischief (harnessing himself on his skis to the backs of streetcars) and “breaking hearts earlier than the rest of us” with his “rugged good looks,” says cousin Burke Seitz.

By 1942, most of Pat’s friends were fighting in Europe, and Pat, at 16, was desperate to join them. After being turned away due to his age by the air force and the navy, he signed with the army and served as part of the liberating forces in Holland and Belgium (where brother Jack was killed in 1944). Returning to Canada, Pat worked as a ski instructor in Banff before he met a man who’d won a travelling carnival in a craps game. Pat signed on.

After months of travelling the U.S., Pat landed in California. He bought a cabin right on Malibu Beach, set up a furniture business, and learned to surf. He married Jackie Wetmore, and had two boys and a girl, Larry, Mike and Toni, adding to Jackie’s two, Christopher and Merrily. The large family of “tanned, tow-haired kids” and several dogs was well-known on the beach. Even Hollywood stars were charmed by Pat—Larry remembers Sammy Davis, Jr. taking the kids into town and joking that they should call him dad.
After six years on the beach, Pat heard about a ski area being built on Mammoth Mountain in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. There was the promise of plentiful work, but Pat’s third wife, Annie, thinks it was “the snow that was really calling him.” Pat moved the family into a cabin at the base of the mountain, and set about teaching his young children to ski. “We like to say we learned at the ski school of ‘You Better Keep Up,’ ” jokes Toni.

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Loud and Proud

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 7:00 AM - 1 Comment

She giggled. Standing on the infield at the Richmond Oval, waiting to take her place on the victory podium, Kristina Groves couldn’t help it. The roar when they announced her name as the winner of bronze in women’s 3,000-m speed skating was so loud, so sustained, so un-Canadian that she had to laugh. “It was wonderful. It was deafening,” she said. “I’ve never experienced a crowd that loud for Canada. I’ve raced in all sorts of places where it’s been that loud, but not for Canada. It gave me goosebumps.”

Forget the advance access to Olympic venues, or the extra millions poured into coaching, sports psychologists and “top secret” technologies, the true advantage of a home Games is just that—home. The stands are filled with friends and family, the crowds bedecked in red and white, and for the first time in a generation, Canada’s Olympians get to experience the full-throated support that fills the nation’s hockey rinks most Saturday nights, but never quite makes it to World Cup meets in far-off lands.

In the 3,000-m, the first medal event in what promises to be a hardware-filled two weeks for Canada’s female speed skaters, those waves of unconditional love seemed to lift Groves to the podium. The 33-year-old from Ottawa, twice a silver medallist in Turin, is a favourite in the 1,000-m and 1,500-m, but didn’t expect a top finish in the longer distance. Racing before the partisan throng, she covered the three kilometres in four minutes, 4.84 seconds. In third spot with one pairing left to skate—featuring the defending Olympic champion Irene Wust of the Netherlands—Groves had reconciled herself to fourth or fifth. But when the final times flashed on the scoreboard, she remained among the leaders, clinging to the bronze by just three-hundredths of a second. Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic took gold. Stephanie Beckert of Germany won the silver.

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A missed opportunity for diversity

By Mark Steyn - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 7:00 AM - 228 Comments

Left and middle: Photographs by Brian Howell

Judging by emails from readers in America, Britain, India, Australia, Europe, Africa and beyond, Vancouver’s Olympic ceremony was a gold medal snoozeroo of politically correct braggadocio impressive even by Canadian standards. A Florida correspondent suggested that Beijing’s decision in 2008 to downplay discreetly its official state ideology might have been usefully emulated by Canadian organizers unable to go a minute and a half without reflexive invocations of their own state ideology of “diversity.” A reader in Sydney said he had no idea until the ceremony that the majority of Canada’s population were Aboriginal. Actually, if they were, you’d be hearing a lot less talk about “diversity,” for reasons we’ll come to later.

But don’t take the word of doubtless untypical Steyn readers. Out on the Internet, the Tweeting Twitterers pronounced it a bust, and even in the Toronto Star Richard Ouzounian declared that “the eyes of the world were upon us and we put them to sleep.” On the other hand, the Vancouver Sun’s reporter cooed that this was “the Canada we want the world to see, magical and beautiful, and talented.” This just after she’d written: “Maple leaves fell from the sky. And then, the divine poetess Joni Mitchell and her haunting Clouds fills the air while a young boy floats and soars above the audience, undulating fields of wheat below.” I was pleasantly relieved to discover that a story about “the world’s most lethal cocktail” concerned some enterprising dealers who’ve been lacing heroin with anthrax, and not whichever malevolent genius came up with the idea of having airborne ballet dancers doing interpretative choreography over the Prairies to a mélange of Both Sides Now and W. O. Mitchell’s Who Has Seen The Wind. As is traditional, most of the creativity went into the audience estimates: apparently, this tribute to the only G7 nation comprised solely of high priests of the Great Tree Spirit, armies of Inuit sculptors, and Cape Breton chorus lines of federal grant worshippers was watched by three billion people “worldwide.” As if the Royal Canadian Mint could afford to commission that many commemorative authentic pewter maple-encrusted manacles.

Canada’s message to the world: every cliché you’ve heard about our plonkingly insecure self-flattering PC earnestness has been triumphantly confirmed. You need pay us no further heed until the 2068 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. Half the countries, twice as long!

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The fall of Winnipeg’s Canwest

By Chris Sorensen - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 7:00 AM - 5 Comments

At 33 storeys, Canwest Place in Winnipeg proudly bills itself as “the largest office tower between Toronto and Calgary,” and there’s no question its namesake tenant—Canwest Global Communications—has also helped raise the profile of the Prairie city. But now, some fear the troubled communications conglomerate could be leaving town after Calgary-based cable operator Shaw struck a deal to buy control of Canwest as it struggles to restructure under bankruptcy protection.

Details of the deal remain sparse, but Shaw says Canwest will continue to be run as a separate company, which would make it easier to retain broadcast licences (Canwest’s newspaper business was not included in the deal). But the reality is that, if the sale goes through, the decision-making power will now be in downtown Calgary, not Portage and Main. “I guess all bets are off in terms of how things are going to evolve here,” says Dave Angus, the chief executive of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. While he says a strong case can be made for keeping Canwest in Winnipeg because of the city’s cheaper costs and a quality workforce, it won’t be the same as when Canwest was a homegrown success story, built by the late Israel “Izzy” Asper, who championed Manitoba at every turn and resisted efforts to move the company out east.

In addition to occupying the city’s tallest building, the company or Asper name adorns a ballpark, research hospital and business school. Asper was also the driving force behind the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which is now under construction. Angus says the Canwest situation, while unfortunate, isn’t cause for alarm in Winnipeg, noting that Shaw has significant presence there. Besides, it’s not like anyone is talking about moving the headquarters to Toronto.

Killer whale kills SeaWorld trainer

By macleans.ca - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 3:14 AM - 8 Comments

A notorious killer whale named Tilikum has killed a 40-year-old female trainer at the SeaWorld marine park in Orlando, Florida. Officials are calling the incident an accident, saying the woman fell in the water, but witnesses have said that the 12,300-pound orca jumped up from the water and grabbed her by the waist. But this is just one in a string of fatalities involving experienced animal trainers and wildlife experts in recent years, reports the Telegraph.

Telegraph

PHOTO GALLERY: Clara Hughes, looking back

By macleans.ca - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 2:41 AM - 1 Comment

Back in the hunt for hockey gold

By Charlie Gillis - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 1:50 AM - 3 Comments

VANCOUVER — Somewhere in Moscow—perhaps in the archives of the old Physical Culture and Sports Committee of the Soviet government— you can bet there is a yellowed playbook with an Orwellian-sounding title like: “How to Beat the Bourgeois at their Game of Ice and Sticks.”

If such a volume exists, Vyacheslav Bykov should dig it up and blow the dust off it, because if he survives the next few days as coach of Russia’s national men’s hockey team, he’s going to need a game plan. And he could do a lot worse than the bloodless systems methodically applied by his forbears at Spartak or Central Army. At least they understood the value of discipline.

Instead, Bykov brought the strategic equivalent of a cocktail napkin to Canada Hockey Place tonight, where his players handed Team Canada a 7-3 victory on a platter, providing what two days ago had seemed a fragile team all the confidence it needs to contend for a medal.

It was an epic defeat for the Russians, who in 58 years of Olympic hockey have lost to Canada only once, and that was back in 1960, before the Big Red Machine really got rolling. 

For the Canadians, it was sweetness distilled. After months of hype about a possible Canada-Russia showdown, after their slow-ish start at these Games, after some none-too-subtle suggestions by Russia’s talented forwards that they were spoiling to take the home boys down (all those world championships must mean something!), they vanquished the foe in style.

The Canadians left the ice amid a victory serenade from the crowd, and try as they might to keep their emotions in check, they clearly felt vindicated.

“We knew we had a great team and we had confidence in our room,” said forward Eric Staal, who had one assist on a night of highlight-reel goals for Canada. “We came after them right away and I thought our emotion and energy carried us through. We were at the boiling point as soon as the puck dropped to start that game.”

Roberto Luongo played a strong game in the Canadian nets, stopping 25 of 28 shots, and stoning Evgeni Malkin on a breakaway in the third period. He’ll likely get the start in the semifinal on Friday.

The surprise outcome has enormous implications, not least that the Canadians once again will wake up as the favorites to win gold at the 2010 Winter Games. That’s not as pleasing as you might think to coach Mike Babcock, who has dedicated a fair amount of time this past week trying to smooth out the highs and lows of his players’ Olympic experience.

“We think we’re going in the right direction, but all that happened here today is that we’re back at the tournament,” he said. “We have to continue to get better and stay focused. There are no guarantees. As you’ve seen in all these games, it’s a fine line [between winning and losing]. ”

The win also means a date in the semi-finals with Slovakia, who added a chapter to their own improbable storyline by knocking off Sweden, the defending Olympic champions and a team led by the Sedin twins of the Vancouver Canucks. It’s hard to imagine the crowd working up the same level of fervour for Slovakia that it did against Russia. But you never know.

The greatest surprise tonight’s game was how easily Canada shut down Russia’s big offensive stars. The long-billed showdown between Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby proved a squib, as neither registered a point, but Ovechkin in particular seemed unable to summon his usual brio. Ilya Kovalchuk and Malkin each had an assist, but Malkin was drawn into some late-game jostling with Ryan Getzlaf.

In general, the Russian forwards looked scattered and undisciplined. Again and again, they made neutral zone turnovers that resulted in goals they’ll have to watch for years. Corey Perry scored two of them, while Getzlaf, Dan Boyle, Brenden Morrow, Rick Nash and Shea Weber had one each, chasing starting Russian goaltender Evgeni Nabokov from the net less than five minutes into the second period.

The whole spectacle was too much for Bykov, who apologized through a translator to the thousands of Russian fans who paid top dollar to get into the game, and who contributed a lot to the festive atmosphere.

“It was a very strong team today playing against us, and we couldn’t [handle] the pressure from the Canadian team,” he said, staring ahead impassively. “We were trying to play different ways, but everything just failed and nothing helped.”

Bykov said he was impressed by the level of the Canadians’ intensity, then added tersely: “Unfortunately I can’t say the same thing about the game by the Russian team.”

'I totally support my government'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 1:49 AM - 65 Comments

Maxime Bernier posts some of his interview with La Presse.

Question: Should the scandals involving the IPCC serve as a reason for the Canadian government to abstain from doing anything until we know more about the issue?

Answer: I quoted Prof Patterson who said this. I believe however it would be unrealistic to do nothing, for many obvious political reasons. My position is that we should be cautious instead of ambitious when tackling this issue. That’s why I totally support my government, which has shown caution even if it brought us criticism and condemnations from environmental activists.

Silver and gold

By Nicholas Köhler - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 1:04 AM - 1 Comment

Even winning didn’t seem to perturb her.

Kaillie Humphries, the implacable bobsled pilot with blue-streaked hair, eyelashes as long and luxuriant as feathers and a prizefighter’s swagger, coolly, collectedly drove the Canada 1 car into golden victory tonight, maintaining a top spot through four heats that might have threatened to topple lesser athletes for the pressure.

But her first-place finish, backed by P.E.I. brakeman and national rugby team member Heather Moyse, does not end at mere excellence.

The silver medal that goes to Canada 2 pilot Helen Upperton, of Calgary, and her brakeman Shelley-Ann Brown, of Pickering, Ont., gives tonight’s Canadian podium spots the weight of parable—a story of the fragility of friendship in tough times and its occasionally remarkable strength. (Third place went to pilot Erin Pac and brakeman Elana Meyers, of the U.S.)

In the 24-year-old Humphries case, the gold also teaches us that you can break just about every bone in your body, get your heart busted in sport, and come back to reverse it all.

The litany of injuries for Humphries stretches back to her days as a world-ranked ski racing phenom while still a teenager. She found the bobsleigh the hard way: By breaking both her legs, at different times, on the slopes, trashing her confidence.

Later, as a brakeman backing Upperton, tonight’s silver medalist, in bobsled competitions, she helped give teams worldwide a run for their money. But in Mexico, another serious injury, to her foot, put Humphries out of commission in the ramp up to the Turin winter games. Though she recovered in time to compete for the Games, the injury set the stage for her replacement by Moyse as Upperton’s brakeman.

Moyse and Upperton went on to come a very close fourth in Turin.

The heartbreak of flying home to Canada without competing convinced Humphries she should become her own master; she went to pilot training school in Lake Placid.

Paired with Moyse, now 31—the very brakeman who had replaced her in Turin—a year and a half ago, Humphries began breaking records on bobsled runs internationally.

Tonight, after breaking the Whistler Sliding Centre track three times over four heats, the pair spoke openly about the strain Turin put on their relationship early on.

“Part of me is really grateful that I’ve been given the opportunity to give back to her what part of me feels like I took from her,” Moyse told reporters. “I think that just drives me. And she knows that I am going to back her with whatever I have.”

Said Humphries: “She was better than me and she got to race. Eventually we got over it.

“Now we’re the best of mates possible.”

Upperton’s miraculous second-place finish, after she drove the sled into fourth place over the first two heats, followed the shocking rollover by Germany’s Cathleen Martini and Romy Logsch.

“I think it speaks volumes how difficult the track is to have no Germans on the podium,” U.S. pilot Shauna Rohbock, who came sixth with brakeman Michelle Rzepka, told reporters. Rohbock also complained that international competitors had been permitted too few runs on the Whistler track. “I just feel like if I had 10 more runs I would have figured some stuff out,” she said. “It wasn’t the Olympics that I dreamed of for four years.”

But Upperton’s performance tonight also marks a comeback after a wobbly season, and likely brings her relationship with the Turin-jilted Humphries full circle.

Asked if the two would celebrate the victory like Jon Montgomery, the skeleton racer who won gold last Friday, Humphries and Moyse said likely no. “Maybe,” said Moyse, “some cinnamon melts.”

From McDonald’s.

Team Canada's ferocious wounded pride

By Andrew Coyne - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 12:41 AM - 40 Comments

That was quite simply one of the most remarkable nights in the history of Canadian hockey. We have never beaten the Russians that badly—not for 50 years, at any rate.

That’s as much a statement about Russian timidity and disorganization as it is about Canadian verve and aggressiveness: the Russians looked jittery from the start, particularly on defence, as the big, marauding Canadian forwards ran right over them. Russia’s defencemen left man after man unmarked, and the Canadians made them pay for it with slickly timed passes to the goalmouth.

Going into this tournament, I had thought the strength of the Canadian team was their defence, and certainly Shea Weber and Duncan Keith have emerged as stars of the team. But it’s the Canadian forwards that have proven to be the power on this team. Between them, they have scored nearly 6 goals a game. And, unlike the Russians, they have shown some balance on the attack: five of Canada’s seven goals tonight were scored by their third and fourth lines. Russia has relied throughout almost entirely on its big guns—Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Semin, Datsyuk—and an impressive battery they generally are. But shut them down—Datsyuk has been invisible, Ovechkin hot and cold—and there’s little left.

But that still doesn’t explain this extraordinary shellacking. I think psychology does. That was an angry, determined Canadian team we saw, their pride still smarting from the near-disaster vs Switzerland and the defeat at the hands of the Americans. They took it out on the poor Germans last night, but it was clear that wasn’t going to satisfy them. The Russians walked into a buzzsaw from the opening whistle, and it plainly unnerved them.

But: will this massive win take the edge off? Will they be as sharp, as ferocious the next time?

Gregg and Vicent: stars on ice

By Ken MacQueen - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 12:26 AM - 0 Comments

A four-time Olympian—dating back to Nagano—with four relay medals, Tania Vicent, the grande dame of Canadian short track, is starting to believe what others have long suspected: she is the team’s good luck charm.

On Wednesday night at the Pacific Coliseum, 34-year-old Vicent delivered an extra dash of luck in what she says is her final Olympics. She helped the team skate to a thrilling bronze medal finish, and then delivered an upgrade to silver.

Actually, the medal boost came courtesy of the hard-charging Korean foursome. They were disqualified after the race when judges ruled that one of their teammates bumped a Chinese rival, impeding her progress. The Koreans had already skated several laps waving their flags when the bad news was delivered. Their coach did not take the news well. There was much pounding of fists. Harsh words were exchanged. The Korean flags drooped as the players skated sadly off the ice.

The American team, which has skated a distant fourth suddenly found themselves on the podium.

The disqualification, while heartbreaking for the Koreans, is hardly unusual in the relay, which is rightly described as roller derby on ice. “In almost every relay there is a [disqualification],” Canadian coach Sebastien Cros said later. “You have to be fast, you have to have good exchanges—and you have to be smart.” And, as he advised the team, just the slightest bit cautious.

The strategy paid off with “a silver lining,” as Jessica Gregg put it. Gregg had skated a strong race earlier in the week in the 500-metre, only to finish a hair off the podium in fourth, in a race where fellow Olympic rookie Marianne St. Gelais finished second. The relay gave Gelais, 20, her second silver of the Games.

This Wednesday Gregg allowed that she now has bragging rights in her Edmonton-based family. She’s the first Gregg in an extraordinary Olympic family to win a medal. Her parents—hockey-playing father Randy Gregg formerly of the Oilers, and her mother, long-track speed skater Kathy Vogt as she was then known—met while competing at the 1980 Olympics. Thirty years later, they have two children at these Games, 21-year-old Jessica and her 24-year-old brother Jamie, a long-track speed skater.

“It’s amazing, it’s a moment I’ve waited for all my life. All my family was in the stands,” Gregg said. “When I came fourth in the 500 they were so supportive.”

If Gregg is the future of the team, the past and present, as represented by Vicent, is going out in high spirits.

“I love my team, the travel is great, and my job is to stay in shape,” enthused Vicent.

For a moment there it sounded like she was rethinking her retirement plans. “It’s a hard sport, but for this, for this feeling, that’s why I stay on.”

Then she paused for a moment. “But I am stopping. These are my last Games.” Well, maybe.

LIVE BLOG: Canada v. Russia

By Charlie Gillis - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 11:07 PM - 9 Comments

3rd Period

18:30 — Garbage time. The key now is to avoid penalties and/or injuries. What an enormous game for Canada. Watch the Vegas odds tonight. My guess? They’re the gold medal favourites once again.

17:17 — boneheaded penalty by Boyle; he’s obviously never seen that youtube clip of Semin trying to fight (look it up, it’s priceless)

15:45 — I’m going break with the crowd here and suggest this isn’t “LU’s” best game. But that terrific save off Malkin probably just won him a start in the semis.

12:30 — The team’s acting like it’s garbage time, letting Luongo take way to many shots. If as, a recent TV shot suggests, Ovie hurt his had, Russia is really in a jam for the rest of the tourney. No wonder the Oligarch’s Box is starting to look like a funeral home.

8:55 — The crowd’s on Ovie. And our boy Sid? He’s one buttock away from being on the scoresheet.

3:05— you know things are going badly for your team when only your goalie’s protruding butt is keeping the puck out of your net.

Can I just use this break in play to voice my amazement at what we’re witnessing here? What on earth is with Russia? It’s as if they arrived without a game plan—not even one on a cocktail napkin.

If this keeps up, it will go down as an epic defeat. Consider how talented this team is. It’s as if they thought they could wing it completely, or that the money the new Russian elite have been pumping into hockey would take care of everything. Now they’ve taken a too-many-men penalty. The look you see on Bykov’s face is a that of a man afraid for his job.

1:45 — Staal down. The hit by Volchenkov should have been penalized. It looked worse in real-time than on the replay. Good to see him still on the bench.

0:00 — Interesting to note: Bykov has given Datsyuk and Ovechkin more ice time than he has is top defencemen. Both topped 14 minutes in the first two periods; Gonchar was the top d-man at 13:47.

2nd Period

20:00 — Shots are 30-20 for Canada, but a glimpse of the Russian power-play at the end of the period gives you a sense of how fragile that fat-looking lead might be.

Hey, remember that Crosby-Ovie thing? So far it’s a squib. Ten goals in 40 minutes and neither has so much as an assist. Dan Boyle has a goal and two assists; same for Getzlaf; Corey Perry has two goals. Secondary scoring wins hockey games, and Canada has gotten it tonight.

17:30 — By far the best shift yet from the Ovie line, which no longer has Malkin on it (he’s with Radulov and Kozlov now).

11:40 — How many of Canada’s goals have come on neutral-zone turnovers by Russia? Terrible puck management by Zinovyev leads to a highlight-reel passing play by Getzlaf, Staal and Perry. It’s seriously depressing the Russians here—who got only a minor charge from Gonchar’s goal. 7-3 Canada.

4:46 — Canada does not, repeat not, want to play run-and-gun with this team. Afinogenov. And why was Keith playing in the middle of the ice. As Howie Meeker used to say, he couldn’t have hit him with a handful of beans. 6-2 Canada.

4:07 — Er .. ignore previous update. Corey Perry, then Shea Weber (who couldn’t shoot it through the netting; what a limp-wrist). 6-1 Canada. Who’d have thunk?

Nabokov is out in favour of Ilya Bryzgalov about two goals too late.

2:30 — Worth remembering: Ovie and Alex Semin play for Washington. Washington erases leads like rain washes sidewalk chalk.

0:00 — Nabokov still in.

Some debate about whether the second goal was Marleau’s. My Globe colleague Eric Duhatschek doesn’t think he touched it. That would make it Boyle’s, but no matter. It doesn’t happen without Marleau’s arse in Nabokov’s face.

Speaking of whom, will we see a goalie change at the start of the second? Nabokov looks terrible. He pulled off the post on the Morrow goal, and that was a very important one for Canada.

1st Period

18:10 — What Brenden Morrow just did is what Yzerman put him on this team to do. Worked the puck down low, and scored blue-collar goal. 4-1 Canada. I think Babcock has found his energy line in Getzlaf-Morrow-Perry. With occasional doses of Bergeron.

What an enormous period for Canada. You hear coaches talk about chemistry and it sounds like a cliché. But Canada has found some in the last 80 minutes of hockey it’s played.

How bad is it? The two Russian women sitting next to me in the press section (why do they never seem to be working?) held their heads when Nash buried that beauty from Toews.

16:28 — Game within the game: Keith and Doughty do an interesting little switcheroo when they enter the offensive zone, so that each is shooting from his off-hand side. It improves your angle on the net.

Little bit like watching a volleyball team rotate for a spike, though.

14:39 — You won’t see many shots as well placed as that one by Dmitri Kalinin. Bykov has their attention. 3-1 Canada.

13:53 — They love Lu in this town, and stops like that crease jam are the reason.

Fyi, things look REALLY quiet up in the Oligarch’s Box.

But don’t count your chickens. The Datsyuk line looks really dangerous to me, and the Canadian defence is giving up the blue line because they’re terrified of the Russians’ speed.

12:55 — Marleau!! who is my underrated player of the tourney (Not Boyle, but it was a nice screened shot). Then a beauty by Nash, and you can thank Geno Malkin for the turnover at the offensive blue line. 3-0 Canada? Are my eyes deceiving me?

10:26 — Canadian PP. Volchenkov hauls down Crosby.

10:06 — my goalie friends tell me those bread-basket catches are a lot harder than Luongo makes them look. Whatever. No rebounds on a Russian power play.

7:58 — Russian PP. Seabrook dumps Alexei Morozov; bit of a dive, but it was there. You now know why Seabrook’s icetime has been limited, talented though he is.

From where I’m sitting it looked like Morozov had half a net when he whiffed on that shot.

5:55 — Bykov, in case you’re wondering, is a laconic coach in the old Soviet vein. But his temper is even. You can bet he’ll settle these guys down.

2:21 — Getzlaf! On a sweet feed from Boyle. Feeble coverage by Viktor Kozlov. I’ll try not to keep harping on this, but I felt that cheer in my rib cage. This is by far the loudest the building’s been since the tournament began.

1:26 — I think several of the players couldn’t hear the whistle on that icing call

Teams are out! It’s deafening in here! Drop the G.D. puck!!

UPDATE: The warm-up is just starting, the building isn’t half-full, and I’m already getting worried about the fragility of the social compact.

We have some seriously assertive—and I’m guessing seriously refreshed—Russian fans in Canada Hockey Place this eve. There’s a loud band of them wearing KHL jerseys and waving a giant Russian flag at the east end of the arena. One has megaphone; another has a trumpet. About 90 per cent of them have beer guts. Restrain yourselves, ladies.

Some Canadians down below started hollering back and waving their flags. One has a sign that says “In Lu We Trust,” referring of course to goalie Roberto Luongo. The Russians, meanwhile, have one reading: “In Gold We Trust.” Gotta say, the Russian’s one’s better.

There’s also a very visible gang of about a dozen people wearing Russian jerseys in one of the luxury suites. I’ll be referring to it as the Oligarch’s Box.

UPDATE 2: Ovie is wearing his regular skates, not the technicolor ones with some sort of evil goat-muppet airbrushed on the blade holders. There goes Russia’s psychological edge.

Most incendiary Canadian sign: DA DA CANADA, NYET NYET SO-VI-ET. Wonder how long before the VANOC taste police seize that thing.

————–

Here’s a sad stat. Canada has nine losses and only one Olympic win against Russia/the Soviet Union/the Commonwealth of De-communized States since 1956—the first time the Motherland sent a hockey team to the Winter Games.

The victory came back in 1960, when Canada was still sending its top amateur team to the Olympics—in this case, the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen. Among a handful of familiar names on the team that competed in Squaw Valley, Calif. was a young man named Harry Sinden.

It was a cracking good game, unless you happened to be a goalie: the Dutchmen prevailed 8-5.

The way the current edition of the Russians play offence, and the way Canada plays defence, a similar result tonight is not out of the question. Either way, we’ve waited a long time for this day. Four years, and two days, to be exact—it’s been that long since Russia dropped Canada 2-0 in the quarters at Turin.

These two teams are very different from the ones who played in Italy, though. Younger, faster, more driven. This will be a treat.

Ovie, Malkin & Co. have their mojo back after a shocking shootout loss to the Slovaks in the round robin. They looked very convincing in the 4-2 victory over the Czechs that gave them a bye to the quarter-finals. The hit-goal sequence that began when Ovechkin demolished Jagr at centre ice was one for the ages.

That said, the Canadians were feeling better after last night’s 8-2 rout of the Germans, who had held Sweden to a 2-0 game in the preliminary round. Canadian captain Scott Niedermayer told us the big spread mattered a lot less than the team’s sense things were finally clicking.

“Just doing the things we talked about doing, having success with them, builds chemistry within the team,” he said. “We were able to make some plays that led to opportunities, and then the guys made the most of those opportunities. And confidence is a big part of the game.”

The game within the game, of course, will be Ovechkin v. Crosby: which young star will dominate? You’d have given the edge to Ovie based on his obvious rapport with linemates Alexander Semin and Crosby buddy Evgeni Malkin. But Crosby did nicely last night on a reconstituted line with Jarome Iginla and Eric Staal.

Of note: Iginla leads Canadian goal scorers with five, despite Mike Babcock’s difficulty finding linemates who click with the Calgary Flames winger. Faceoffs have not been Canada’s strong suit: Joe Thornton and Jonathan Toews share the best average on the team (64.1), which looks good until you consider that Ryan Kesler of the U.S. has been feasting on centre-icemen of weaker teams to the tune of 76 per cent. Yowza.

Fyi, watching the Switzerland-U.S. game out of the corner of my eye and Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller is in a shooting gallery. He’s done an amazing job, but good god, Phil Kessel just rang one off the post on his stick side.

And I know it’s been said before, but the Euros have way better cheers than we do. They’re practically syncopated, and usually led by a sort of beer-fueled drill sergeant.

Team Canada wins silver in women's short-track relay

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 10:39 PM - 0 Comments

After the close of the 3,000-metre relay speedskating event earlier tonight, Canada won bronze, behind China’s silver and Korea’s gold. Moments later, the Korean team was disqualified and Canada’s bronze became silver. The Canadian team is comprised of Tania Vicent of Laval, Que., Montreal’s Kalyna Roberge, Marianne St-Gelais of Saint-Félicien, Que., and Calgary’s Jessica Gregg. Canada has medaled in the relay in every Games since the sport’s inception in 1992.

CBC News

Canadian teams win silver, gold in women's bobsleigh

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 10:12 PM - 3 Comments

Bringing Canada’s medal count to 15 overall, two of Canada’s women’s bobsleigh teams have won gold and silver in the short track. Kaillie Humphries of Calgary and Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I., won the gold with a combined four-run time of 3 minutes 32:28 seconds, including a track record of 52.85 on their third run. The silver team were Helen Upperton of Calgary and Shelley Ann Brown of Pickering, Ont., who finished just 85-100ths of a second behind their counterparts. Americans Erin Pac and Elana Meyers took bronze with a time of 3:33:40.

CBC News

Game in Review: Canada 7, Russia 3

By Scott Feschuk - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 8:16 PM - 20 Comments

UPDATE: My ears still hurt.

First Period in a Nutshell

Great to see Jonathan Toews given a chance to play with Rick Nash. He’s been very good but underused. Everyone in the rink standing for the opening faceoff! Incredibly noisy. Crowd’s “Let’s Go Canada!” chant fun but loud enough to cost me two fillings. You win this time, decibels! Boyle to Getzlaf at 2:21 of the first. 1-0 Canada. I’m sure there have been louder places to be: inside a jet engine, for instance, or across from Rosie O’Donnell at dinner. Canada utterly dominating the play and taking it to the Russians physically. This is the team we all thought we had. My ears are actually ringing. I look across the rink and see people coming back from the concession stand. HOW CAN PEOPLE GO TO THE CONCESSION STAND DURING THIS GAME??? IT’S CANADA-RUSSIA FOR CRISSSAKES!! Right now you get the feeling Brenden Morrow would run over an old lady if she had the slightest Russian accent. God, even Joe Thornton is playing well. Had Twitter on there for a minute and came up with a new rule: I’m no longer following anyone who tweets during the Russia-Canada game unless Continue…

So long Clara

By Jason Kirby - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 7:32 PM - 6 Comments

In the last race of her career, speed skater Clara Hughes blasted around the Richmond oval to claim bronze in the ladies’ 5000m race. Which means tonight’s medal ceremony is going to be the mother of all retirement parties.

“I’m ecstatic, that was the best race of my life,” said the four-time Olympian. “Now I’m officially retired and know that I’ll never feel like this again.”

What a way to go out, though. Hughes took to the ice after four other pairs had already skated. But by the end of her third lap she was already enjoying a commanding lead. She finished the race in 6 minutes, 55.73 seconds, arms raised high in the air and that characteristic Hughes smile beaming out to the cheering crowd.

The Czech Republic’s Martina Sablikova took the gold with a time of 6:50:91, while Stephanie Beckert of Germany claimed second at 6:51:39.

Hughes’ third-place finish gave her her sixth Olympic medal, tying fellow speed skater Cindy Klassen for the most Canadian medals. (Klassen placed 12th with a time of 7:22:09.)

Hughes said racing in front of the boisterous hometown crowd made the moment even more special to her. “It fed me,” she said. “It was pure sugar out there and it sustained me.”

After the final race of the afternoon, Hughes jogged the entire way around the inside edge of the track, waving and blowing kisses to those in the stands. Halfway around someone gave her a Canadian flag, which she wrapped around her shoulders for the rest of her victory lap—the last one she will ever experience.

Olympic Photos: Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 6:55 PM - 0 Comments

Are you spending enough to watch tonight's game?

By Scott Feschuk - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 6:39 PM - 6 Comments

You can’t put a price on drinking beer in the company of some old-time NHLers – unless you’re the operators of the Molson Canadian Hockey House at the Winter Games, in which case the price is $450. That’s how much it costs for an all-day VIP pass to a tent near Canada Hockey Place, where you can stand on plastic carpet, drink some beer from the open bar, eat overdone lemon chicken and potentially bend the ear of Stan Smyl. For the Canada-Russia game, they jacked up the price to $750.

Those of lesser means and greater sanity can enter the Hockey House for $99, which gives you the opportunity to a) pay $7.50 for a one (1) Molson Canadian and b) make fun of the idiots who paid $450 to stand on the other side of the velvet(ish) ropes. As one guy put it: “If I get to shake the hand of someone like Yvan Cournoyer, that makes it Continue…

Too far, too fast

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 6:21 PM - 1 Comment

Plenty of heart, but not much left in the gas tank.

Canada’s men’s cross-country team delivered their sixth top-10 finish of the Vancouver 2010 Games today, coming 7th in the 4 x 10 km relay.

But coming in an event that they had circled on the schedule as a possible podium, (Canada was fifth at the world championships last year) there was little to celebrate.

“Seventh is absolutely not what I wanted, and not what I have been dreaming about for the past four years,” said Devon Kershaw of Sudbury. “My race was horrendous.”

Kershaw, who raced to a fourth place finish in the team sprints Monday with Alex Harvey, finished the first 10km leg in 28-minutes, 23.8 seconds, more than 28 seconds off the pace. As it turned out, an insurmountable gap, for his compatriots, Alex Harvey, Ivan Babikov and George Grey.

Afterwards, Kershaw, usually among the strongest starters on the circuit, suggested finishing just off the podium in the sprints may have taken more out of him than he realized.

“I pressed down on the accelerator and the cable connecting the gas pedal to the engine snapped. I put my foot to the floor and nothing responded,” he said. “It was the complete opposite of how I felt on Monday. I felt like Superman. That was one of the best races of my life today was one of the worst.”

Sweden took the gold in a combined time of 1 hour, 45 minutes and 5.4 seconds.

But the story of the day, was Norway’s silver, an epic act of will by Petter Northug, who started the anchor leg with his team in sixth place, 37.5 seconds off the pace. On his first charge, Northug made up 25 seconds, pulling within hailing distance of the leading group, Sweden, France and the Czech Republic. The gap widened again when Marcus Hellner of Sweden broke away into the lead, and the French and Czechs picked up their pace. With a kilometre to go, it appeared that Norway would have to settle for fourth. But Northug again found the strength to charge, catching Emmanuel Jonier of France and Czech skier Martin Koukal as they entered the stadium at Whistler Olympic Park. Over the final 400 metres, Northug pulled even, then away, finishing with a time of 1:45.21.3. The Czechs clinched bronze with a time of 1:45:21.3. France was fourth.

Northug had won gold in the sprints on Monday, with teammate Oeystein Pettersen. If he was tired, it certainly didn’t show.

Dave Wood, Canada’s head coach said his team was at a disadvantage with two members—Kershaw and Harvey—having participated in the sprints. The Swedes had four fresh skiers. The Norwegians three.

“I was worried when we put the entry in,” said Wood. “I knew it was a gamble.”

“It wasn’t a bad decision to put them in the team sprint, because they were fighting for the podium right down to the wire, but it would have been nice to have a couple more days rest.”

Kershaw had a different take.

“Northug is the best skier in the world. He’s ridiculous,” he said. “He’s the benchmark, the guy we all want to be. Or at least, get closer to.”

The fact there were even podium expectations were a measure of just how far Canada’s cross-country team has come.

Hummer sale scrapped

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 5:59 PM - 0 Comments

General Motors will begin dismantling its Hummer division after a planned sale to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co. fell through—apparently because China’s government did not want a Chinese company to own a brand that has become the poster child for gas guzzling, environmentally unfriendly vehicles. While GM didn’t specify why the deal failed, several reports suggested the sale was torpedoed by Chinese regulators. Hummer, known for its hulking, military-style sport utility vehicles, was one of four brands that GM sold or scrapped from its line-up as part of a massive restructuring last year under bankruptcy protection. Once a hot seller for GM alongside other large SUVs, the Hummer brand came to symbolize everything that was wrong with the carmaker—namely its failure to adjust to a market that increasingly favoured small, fuel-efficient cars—and threatened to become a politically liability for the U.S. government, which is now GM’s biggest shareholder after providing the company with a $50 billion bailout last year.

Wall Street Journal