the hit by Patrice Cormier

you'll be hearing a lot about this. I wrote that last post about fights, made some soup from scratch (I have a habit of cooking late at night), and kept Twitter open on the screen and a hockey-related retweet with these words showed up: "Tam is conscious in hospital. The trauma is described as somewhere between severe concussion and death..." obviously, it's been a week of extremely disturbing news far beyond the world of sports (and in sports, the sudden death of a Bears player Sunday morning)...

this explains it a bit more (of course it's a screenshot so these aren't actual links. and I didn't feel like watching the video yet.) I'm not sure I'll have anything to add to the debate, but I hope for the best for Mikael Tam, victim of a hit by juniors Team Canada captain Patrice Cormier. earlier this evening I'd been reading a very disturbing book about junior hockey in Canada (getting into some stuff that's far heavier than what I address on this blog, though I may discuss it), and...well, I should just go to bed.

news roundup, mostly World Juniors and Blackhawks

first off: I'll be in Boston for the Blackhawks-Bruins game this Thursday. see the 5-day preview I did for the Hawks-B's game here (I know, still haven't posted a recap/photos), I guess it applies again! I'll be at the Providence game Fri., possibly the Worcester game Sat. but right now I have an Amtrak ticket to leave before then.

I only caught a little of the World Junior championship until the big USA vs. Canada gold medal game tonight. I found both US and Canadian online feeds and had them both going, while also keeping an eye on the Hawks and Bruins (and also the Maple Leafs), all of who won tonight. I wish I could have paid closer attention, it was very exciting, back and forth goals, then US finally had a real lead (5-3) then Canada tied it at the end. overtime didn't go on for too long, as I noticed the Americans were hugging each other, so I realized they'd scored and won. the most fun of it all was watching on Twitter. first Canada was a trending topic, then #WJC, then #WJC and USA when they won. so USA was trending when Canada wasn't--I was surprised. I was amused but also a little sad at how despondent and desperate the Canadian tweets were during the game. hopefully no riots are going on.

the championship is in Buffalo next year, and I'm seriously interested in going. (I like Buffalo, and no passport issues!) oh, and this piece at The Two-Line Pass, Suck It Canada, It's Our Game Now, cracked me up so much I had to edit this post to add it late. oh boy, what are things going to be like around Olympics time?

this is a sad and frustrating one...and I'll admit being on Twitter (and checking in on it a lot, if not necessarily posting) is useful to get breaking news. so I heard about the Chris Chelios DUI arrest (which actually happened 12/28, but just got out now?). obviously we'll be hearing a lot more about this.

kind of silly, but, wow, a game thread on Second City Hockey reached 1000 comments tonight, despite being a regular season game against a team people aren't that excited about (Minnesota Wild) and don't have a huge rivalry with. and not that much happened in the game, and it's a weeknight. WJC commentary was a large part of this, but I'm still amazed. (for the uninitiated, all 30 NHL teams have blogs on SB Nation and some have much busier game threads than others. Chicago is lucky to get in the 300-400 comment range.) I contributed, if you can call it that.

something very different on SCH: The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend, a personal story that was also posted on the St. Louis Blues blog on SBN, and you'll see why if you haven't read this yet. just read it...

as I first saw on Kukla's Korner, the Blackhawks have hired an official team historian. I'd love to help...

and check out this piece in New York Times on the oldest hockey arena in the U.S. (actually, the world's oldest indoor hockey arena still in use), Matthews Arena in Boston.

I wish I'd caught that mistake (uh, it was actually Wild vs Blackhawks), but Puck the Media noticed the above. not sure why Versus showed TWO Wild-Hawks games this season...

 

but hey, I found this one with mistakes in it by myself. I know they were in a hurry to post this, and I'm happy for how fast things show up on NHL.com, despite the occasional typo...

WJHC day one...that was something.

(note: blog post title may incorrectly imply I'll be reporting on other days of WJHC. I might, but I couldn't find the games online today...) I'd never watched any junior hockey until yesterday, when the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championship kicked off on Boxing Day, in Saskatchewan.

 

I caught Canada vs Latvia in the second period. actually, I had to go out for a few brief errands within a couple blocks of my place...and when I got back, it'd gone from 5-0 to 8-0 Canada. then quickly to 11-0 Canada, then right as I was posting "11-0 Canada" somewhere, they scored goal #12.

you probably know it turned out 16-0...shots on goal 66-10.

Latvia's goalie a few seconds from the end of the game...

the Canadians just kept clapping and clapping...yeah, we GET it, you're good at hockey. this topped last year's 15-0 blowout. and Sweden beat the Czech Republic yesterday 10-1.

I understand that goal differential helps determine playoff standings (Puck Daddy had a piece today on blowout games at the WJHC), so it's not like a team would be ahead 5-0 then barely do anything the rest of the game, but this was still depressing to watch...don't Canadian parents teach "nobody likes a showoff"? oh well, congratulations on whatever records this set.

afterwards I saw a little of Russia defeating Austria 6-2.

and then, when I switched over to HNIC, I saw a Boxing Day sale commercial for the first time!

and I saw a Peter Puck spot (promoting the Winter Classic) for the first time (though I knew of Peter Puck, of course)! well, here's a disturbing image to leave you on...