Let the Games Begin!

No, not the Olympic Games. Not the Canadian election. Not the American election, either. Politics takes a backseat this weekend.

Tomorrow night is Hockey Night in Canada, my friends. The first one of this new season, and most likely my last until the new year.

So dust off those jerseys, warm up the lazy boy, and stock up on beer. It's hockey time!

Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins attempt to make Canadian Olympic Diving Team

I know it's an Olympic year and all, but all this diving is getting a little old.

It's rather ironic, really. The crackdown on interference calls has turned crews of tough guys into off-balance imbeciles. Go down, draw the penalty, be the hero, right?

Wrong. At least, wrong in my book.

A period can't go by in the Canadiens-Bruins series without a coincidental minor (or three) where one player commits an infraction, and the opposing team is called for the dive. I don't think it's a matter of whistle-happy officials trying to make a point, either.

Maybe my mind was slipping. Maybe I'd forgotten that these types of calls had been made all season.

Oh wait, they were. And most players learned their lesson. That lesson being that the referees are going to call any and all interference calls (sometimes even the imaginary ones) but if you add a little flair to your fall, you're going to the box as well.

I watched the Wild-Avalanche game immediately following the Bruin's victory in Game Five. Not a dive to be seen.

Sometimes I wonder if Alex Despatie has been secretly coaching hockey.

Now, it could just be all this cold weather out west has the ice feeling extra hard, and the boys don't feel like executing the embellishments the boys back east have been perfecting. I don't buy that.

I'd like to make the suggestion that Montreal and Boston forwards watch the highlights from games around the country right now. Watch the players that are skating hard, working hard, completely focused on their goal: Lord Stanley's Cup.

I'm not saying that other teams are playing harder, or want to win more; I'm merely suggesting that other teams are willing to stand up and play the game the way it's meant to be played. On their feet.

Both Boston and Montreal are slipping on their defensive coverage,and slipping badly. Whomever gets back to basics will come out victorious in game seven.

Enough of the theatrics, boys. Save those for soccer players and touchdown celebrations. Six games in, and you're giving credence to the old definition of insanity: repeating the same action and expecting different results.

These are the playoffs. If you want to win the Cup, it's much easier to do so on your feet and out of the penalty box.

Knowing when to quit

The past ten years have seen a rash of free agent short-term NHL contract deals as talent-strapped teams desperately grasp for the Cup. What's more, it's not high demand players at the top of their game; it's men who had already decided to hang up their skates.

The short list includes Ray Bourque, Dave Andreychuk, Dominik Hasek, Scott Niedermayer, and most recently Teemu Selanne.

Some of these guys, like Bourque, came back for that one final chance at the elusive Stanley Cup. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. However, it's hard to leave the game that had been your entire life behind.

Imagine achieving your every childhood dream, your teenage hopes, your adult ambitions. Now what? The rest of your life is a big, gaping void in front of you. What do you do with it?

It's no wonder many turn back to the familiar world they love for one last shot at glory. Let them do their victory lap, and get their legs under them for the new challenges ahead.

Maybe all it takes is a little respite to rekindle that youthful passion and drive. Let's see what Selanne can bring the Ducks in the way of grit, determination, and experience. At the very least, the Pacific division will get a little more interesting.

Too litte, too late, and not enough

I love it.

A press release stating that tomorrow, we're going to announce that MLSE is firing someone, and hiring someone else.

Not that the firing is a surprise. I've been expecting it since October (and complaining, loudly, about the delay of the inevitable). Like all sports fans, I think I know what's best for "my" team, not like those idiots holding the reins.

But I digress. Is it just me, or isn't it kind of redundant to state you're going to fire someone tomorrow? Or to make an announcement that you'll be making an announcement to announce what you're relaying in the first announcement?

Just get it over with, already! Okay, you fired Ferguson. Like we couldn't see that coming. In a stroke of senility, MLSE re-hired geriatric Cliff Fletcher, whom they previously fired for his inability. Hmm. Sounds like a Stanley Cup winning move to me.

I can't be a Leafs fan without being a cynical, eye-rolling pessimist. It just isn't possible. The truth, as I see it, remains the same, no matter who stands behind the bench or plops his behind in the GM seat (which is probably a cushy place to be, win or lose). Why? We all know why. The owners want to make money, and they do so whether the team sits atop the standings or flails about in the basement.

Oh, lots of hand-wringing goes on, posturing and such. I'm sure Peddie wanders home after every press conference and giggles gleefully to himself, like Scrooge McDuck rolling about in his bank vault. (On weekends, they invite teachers over for giant coin-counting parties).

So, I'm going to pull out my crystal ball and predict what's going to happen. Fletcher is going to come in, and some shuffling is going to happen. Most likely, he'll trade Sundin (fingers crossed) and then re-sign him in the summer (which is the worst idea ever). He might make a few other crappy trades to try and spice things up for the rest of the season, maybe even move a goalie if we're lucky. However, the best best would be to let the team finish dead last, get a good draft position, and look forward.

Then again, it's very easy to sling orders from where I sit. And ol' Cliffy might find he won't have the freedom he enjoyed in the nineties.

Sit back, and enjoy the drama. This is better than "Days of our Lives."