On Monday I returned home from a turn about the neighbourhood on some errands. Only as I approached our building and saw my reflection in the front door did I realize that I may have achieved a personal zenith of hoserdom. In one hand, I carried a two-four of beer, freshly caught from the icy climes of the beer store cooler. In the other hand, I held a hockey stick balanced on my shoulder, with two rolls of tape around the shaft and my hockey skates hooked through the blade holders. I wore a toque, not quite Bob and Doug vintage, but old skool. All that was missing was a Mackinaw jacket, its trademark red-and-black checked pattern alerting all to the quality of man within. In Winnipeg we called it the Transcona Dinner Jacket.
Could this magical hoser appearance herald the turning point in our Canadian men's hockey team's struggle at the Olympics? They have looked slow, disorganized, dim and unfocused, not at all like champions. Today it continued and they lost to Russia, 2-0. Martin Brodeur, their goaltender, gave them every chance to win the game, which is what you ask for from your goalie, but no one amongst the skaters led, no one surpassed the level of play on the ice and turned the game to the Canadian favour.
These winter Olympics have certainly heralded one thing: the emergence of Canadian women's sports. Women have led the way. In fact, if the men's hockey team played with the cohesiveness, relentlessness and desire to win that the women's hockey team played with, I think we would be looking at a semifinal rematch with Finland. Instead of playing for seventh place.
They do play for seventh place, don't they?
Posted by James Sherrett at February 22, 2006 06:01 PM