Finland wins Bronze, Their 4th Medal in last 5 Olympics

Team Slovakia was not given much of a chance to win coming into the Olympics, even though they have NHL superstars such as Marian Gaborik, Marian Hossa, and Zdeno Chara, so having a chance of winning the bronze medal, which would have been the first medal that the country had won in Olympic hockey, was very surprising to a lot of people, everyone except team Slovakia themselves who had already upset Russia, eliminated Sweden, and had given the Canadians a scare.

The Slovaks, who lost to the Americans in the semi finals, took the ice against the Finns, who lost to the Canadians in the semi finals, in the consolation game to win the bronze medal. The Finns, who won the silver in Torino and have three medals in the last four years, have a few NHL superstars of their own including Mikko and Saku Koivu, Teemu Selanne, Olli Jokinen, and goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff and they were looking for blood after being embarrassed by the Americans in the semi finals losing 6-1.

The Finns took an early 1-0 lead with a goal by Sammy Salo on the powerplay after a great hit by Mikko Koivu that prevented Slovak forward Michal Handzus from clearing the puck out of the defensive zone, Salo took the puck and blasted a slapshot passes Slovak goalie Jaroslav Halak. This score would stand for the first period but things started to open up in the second.

Marian Gaborik started the Slovak scoring in the second on a powerplay, ripping a wristshot passes Kiprusoff and knotting the game at one. Marian Hossa scored the next goal on a five – on – three powerplay collecting a loose puck in front of the net and burying it putting Slovakia up 2-1.

The turning point of the game was when Finnish forward Olli Jokinen was clipped in the side of the face with a stick, which was originally missed by the referee but not by the line judge who made the call at the next whistle. It was a four minute minor for high- sticking and it looked like the Finns were set to tie things up. That is, up until Salo decided to make a blind, behind the back pass to nobody. The puck was taken by Marian Hossa in open ice creating a two on one with teammate Pavol Demitra who accepted a beautiful saucer pass from Hossa and deflected it passed Kiprusoff making it 3-1 Slovakia.

With only a minute left in the period this score would carry over into the third but not for long as the Finns would score on the carry over four minute minor powerplay cutting the deficit to one. This is when Olli Jokinen, the player who was clipped and took exception to it, took over. He scored his first goal about a minute after the powerplay goal was scored on a wristshot that eluded the out of position Halak and a minute later he split the defense and skate din on a mini breakaway in which he slid the puck through Halak’s legs for which would eventually be the game winner.

The Slovaks made things interesting at the end of the third, as they did against Canada, but for the second straight game it proved to be too little too late as they fell to the Finns by the score of 5-3 after a lat empty net goal.

This is Finland’s fourth goal in the last five Olympics and they have silently made a reputation for themselves in international play, whereas the Slovaks, who were not expected to make it to any medal game, will have a solid team for years to come.

Going for the Gold!

Team USA punched their ticket to gold medal game in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics early on Sunday, February 28. Team USA defeated Finland by the score of 6-1 in the semi-finals and will play Canada who defeated Slovakia in the later game to bid for a hockey gold medal sweep, the Canadian women’s hockey team already won the gold. With Canada’s win it set up a rematch of the USA/Canada final that took place during the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, Utah, when the Canadians defeated the Americans on their home soil for Olympic gold. It will also give the Americans a way to avenge their aforementioned female counterparts who were shutout by the Canadians in the women’s tournament 2 – 0 on Thursday.

Team USA erupted for six goals in the first thirteen minutes of the game, which forced Finnish goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff to pull himself out of the game, and was more than enough to send team USA on their way to the finals. Team USA’s offense was led by Patrick Kane who had two goals and Zach Parise who scored a goal and added an assist, this along with more great goaltending by Ryan Miller propelled the Americans into the gold medal game.

Later in the day the home town Canadians took on the surprise, I don’t know why, Slovaks. Team Canada was leading the game 3-0 behind a goal and an assist by forward Ryan Getzlaf but had to hold back a Slovakian siege on goaltender Roberto Luongo in the third period. Team Slovakia just came up short of a comeback scoring two goals in the third but the Canadians defense proved to hold up for the win.

The gold medal game will be played on Sunday, February 28 on NBC at 3:15 EST. It will be a rematch of last weeks game when the Americans defeated the Canadians 5-3 in the preliminary round. It will prove to be tough task for American goal- scorers who, last game, scored on a struggling Martin Brodeur but will now have to face Roberto Luongo who has proved that he was the right choice over the last few games.

Why is Chris Drury getting such a bad rap?

Chris Drury celebrates after scoring a goal.

I am a big fan of the New York Rangers, I watch every game and like most Ranger fans this year I am very frustrated with the teams inconsistent play. But one thing that has always bothered me about people regarding the Rangers, which has now been brought to an international view due to the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver, is the little respect that Rangers captain and Team USA forward Chris Drury gets for his play. People have been criticizing Drury ever since his first year on Broadway because of his lack of offense which contradicts his reputation from when he played with the Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche. Chris Drury has always been known as a clutch player, someone who would always rise to the occasion in a big moment, and when he came to the Rangers his offense ceased. Is this completely his fault? I don’t think so, I think it is the Rangers coaching staff’s fault. Should he be considered another Broadway bust, along with fellow free agent center Scott Gomez who signed a big contract with the Rangers the same day as Drury?  I don’t think so, not at all.

Moments after the Boston Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers at the third annual NHL Winter Classic held at Fenway Park on New Year’s Day, the roster for team USA in the upcoming winter Olympics were announced. After seeing Chris Drury being named to a team that seemed to be going with a youth movement angered many people who did not hold back their criticism. Chris Drury was by far the least popular choice on the team and people couldn’t believe that they chose him for veteran leadership instead of big time scorers like Mike Modano, Bill Guerin, and even Scott Gomez.

During the first few games of the Olympics Chris Drury has played great and, in my opinion, has been the most noticeable player on the ice. He even scored two goals, one against Norway and the other the game winner in team USA’s thrilling defeat against Canada. Now some people have rescinded their earlier comments about Drury and publicly apologized, Jeremy Roenick. But I couldn’t help but to notice many people who still badmouth him on blogs and in comments on blogs, many of which are frustrated Rangers fans. I read one comment that said “Does anybody want Drury now that his stock is high?” I am here to set things straight for all the Chris Drury haters in the world.

Chris Drury had his best year with the Buffalo Sabres when he scored 37 goals, a career high in the 2006 – 2007 campaign. When Drury played on the Sabres he had Maxim Afinogenov and Thomas Vanek as line mates, and if not one of them Drew Stafford, Tim Connolly, or Jochen Hecht. All of the named players are very talented and when a player, such as Drury, is centering such talent he is bound to score goals, and to his credit he did. He would just skate around the zone, become invisible to the opposing team and then suddenly show up in front of an open net with the puck on his tape, and he would bury it 100% of the time. He did it to the Rangers all the time.

Since coming to the Rangers his offense has steeply decreased there is no debating that, but who has he played with? When he first came to the team they let Scott Gomez play with the great Jaromir Jagr and when that didn’t pan out Tom Renney, Rangers coach at that time, let rookie Brandon Dubinsky play with Jagr. Drury spent his time on the second or third line in which the best player he could play with was Brendan Shanahan, who was already well up there in age and couldn’t get around the ice to set up plays as well as Jagr could. Last year Jagr and Shanahan were gone, Gomez stayed on the fist line and Drury was given line mates such as Markus Naslund, like Shanahan another past his prime sniper, or young Ryan Callahan, who is one of my favorite players but lacks offensive talent. Let’s fast forward to this year, Drury started on the line with Ales Kotalik and Chris Higgins, neither of which are still on the team due to their offensive doldrums, then he was on with Callahan and Enver Lisin, and finally Ranger’s coach John Tortarella moved him all the way down to the fourth line to play with Brian Boyle and Aaron Voros.

Why hasn’t Drury been given the opportunity to play with Ranger’s leading goal scorer Marian Gaborik? Or the very underrated and talented Erik Christensen, or even recently acquired goal scorer Olli Jokinen, even Sean Avery would be a good fit with him because he plays great on the boards and he gets the puck to the net. Chris Drury is a great goal scorer when he has great players around him, as we have seen in the Olympics, but Chris Drury is always a great player. By this I mean he’ll willingly give up his body multiple times a game, he will hit when somebody needs to be hit, he will take a hit when a hit needs to be taken, he will fight when he needs to stir his team up, he is the definition of a captain. Now Ranger fans might be spoiled by having two of the greatest goal scorers in history as their last two captains, Mark Messier and Jaromir Jagr, but not every captain is a goal scorer. There is no question that the Rangers are Chris Drury’s team, it was proven two weeks ago when he got in a fight against Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the team rallied around him and squeaked out a much needed overtime win against a division rival.

Chris Drury is just as valuable to the Rangers as Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lunqvist, I know that sounds crazy and you are free to call me names and question my hockey knowledge, but if you sit there and tell me that Chris Drury is a bum, a bust, and overpaid hack, then I have to question your hockey knowledge.

2010 Olympic Hockey Bracket

Now that the 2010 Olympic Hockey bracket is set I will give my predictions. Granted, they will will be a bit biased due to the fact that I am American but I figure it’s the 50 and 30 year anniversaries of the last two American Olympic Hockey gold medals.

Here are my Predictions

Team USA stuns Canada with 5-3 win

Chris Drury after scoring the game winning goal against Canada 2/21

USA! USA! USA!…..The patriotic cheers weren’t as pronounced as that day in Lake Placid 30 years ago, but in the middle of a predominantly Canadian crowd, one could hear the cheers from the small groups of Americans scattered around the arena as team USA defeated team Canada, locking in the 1st seed and a bye for the medal round.

When team USA was announced after the NHL 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park in Boston, many people were surprised to not see Mike Madono or Bill Guerin, or Doug Weight or even Scott Gomez. Brian Burke, team USA general manager, and Ron Wilson, team USA head coach, were obviously trying to implement a youth movement for team USA because instead of the aforementioned veterans we saw names like Patrick Kane, Zach Parise, and Dustin Brown. Although Burke and Wilson did save two spots for a couple of seasoned vets, Chris Drury and Brian Rafalski, who have paid off as of thus far in the tournament. Drury has two goals including the game winner against Canada and Rafalski scored four straight times for team USA over a span of two games, including two in the game against Canada. After seeing the stacked Canadian and Russian rosters most people were quick to write off all the other talented teams in the tournament including Slovakia, powered by Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa, Sweden, powered by Daniel Alfredsson and backstopped by Henrik Lundqvist, Czech Republic, with former NHL great Jaromir Jagr providing the offense, and even team USA. But after a shaky game against Switzerland and a loss to team USA, team Canada now has to play the maximum amount of games to win the gold. This could be very tough for a roster of NHL players who have already played a very large amount of games due to the two week break needed to play in these Olympic games. Also, team Russia showed some weaknesses in their loss to surprise team, I don’t know why, Slovakia.

While watching the pre game shows, I noticed that many Canadians were very cocky about this game. There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence and the Canadians had stepped well over it. They didn’t give the Americans a chance at winning, it was going to be a rout of the bums down south. NBC analyst, and American, Eddie Olczyk said that he didn’t think that team Canada respected team USA and talked of how it may hurt them. How right he was.

Team USA defenseman Brian Rafalski scored 41 seconds into the game, with a shot that deflected off Canadian cover boy Sidney Crosby’s stick and passed Canadian goalie Martin Brodeur, setting the tone of the game and letting the Canadians know that the Americans showed up to play. This would spark the best game of the Olympics to date.  Canada tied the game up 12 minutes later when Eric Staal deflected a Brent Seabrook shot that went through USA goaltender Ryan Miller. But 22 seconds after Staal’s goal, the US came back into the Canadian zone and after corralling a puck that Brodeur batted out of the air, Brian Rafalski put a soft wrist shot five hole on Brodeur who may not have been set after his crazy baseball play.  The score after one period was 2-1 USA.

3:32 into the second period Dany Heatley scored right around the crease tying the game at two, and after this goal it looked as if Canada might have had enough energy and momentum to win. But shortly after the Heatley goal the Americans showed that they can play in front of the net as well as Chris Drury, captain of my favorite New York Rangers, collected a loose puck in front of the net and put it by defensemen Dan Boyle who was covering for goalie Martin Brodeur who was in the midst of another bad over aggressive play. This took the air out of the Canadian crowd for a bit, at least that’s how it seemed on TV, and it felt like the next goal scored would make it or break it for the Americans, luckily for them it made it. Team USA captain Jamie Langenbrunner was awarded with a goal for standing in front of the net screening his New Jersey Devils’ teammate Martin Brodeur as a Brian Rafalski shot from the point ticked off his skate and through Brodeur’s legs giving the Americans a two goal lead.

Unfortunately everyone knew that the Canadians were too good to let that be the final goal and Sidney Crosby delivered with a good looking goal right in front of Ryan Miller closing the lead to 4-3 and making things interesting with only 3:09 left in the game. And things were very interesting when the Canadians had the puck in the US zone for what seemed to be 2 full minutes shooting at will. Ryan Miller stood on his head during the entire game but none more than the last two minutes of the game. He had some help from Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan who never hesitate to give up their bodies to block a shot. Due to their great effort the Americans were able to clear the zone which set up the last goal by the US, an empty net one handed diving around the defensemen goal by Ryan Kesler. It was truly one of the greatest empty net goals that I have ever seen. This propelled the United States to their first win over Canada in the Olympics since 1960 when the U.S. won the gold.

Many conclusions can be drawn from this game, some people will say that it is meaningless because it was a preliminary round game but by defeating the highlt favored hometown Canadians, the US team now has a confidence and a swagger to them, they now think that they can play with any team in the tournament for 60 minutes. It also allowed them to seed 1st which is great because now they will play the winner of Swizerland/Belarus in the quarterfinals, which they should win. The Americans wanted to win this game, they wanted to show the other powerhouse teams that they are a force to be reckoned with, and they did just that.

Now for Canada this game brought up many questions. They still don’t have set lines and they have to decide whether they want to keep playing the struggling Martin Brodeur. No doubt he is, as hard as it is to say for me, the greatest goalie ever. That said, his best years are behind him and due to his over aggressive plays, which must have been held up inside of him for four long years because the NHL doesn’t allow such plays by a goalie, he cost his team a win. If they had butterfly goaltender Roberto Luongo in net that would have been a completely different game. Just something to think about.

The USA will next play the winner of the Switzerland/Belarus game on Wednesday 2/24. Until then GO USA!

Thinking of adding a Companion to the family? Adopt an ex- racing greyhound

Are you aware of the life of an ex- racing greyhound? Odds are that the average person has no idea what the poor dogs go through starting at a very young age. Up until a few days ago I had no idea about the life of an ex- racer, a life that I don’t think any animal should have to have, especially a fun loving dog.

Last week, after the passing of our 14 year old Labrador, my family and I decided that we wanted another dog. We currently have a Weimaraner and even though we had only one dog for twelve years, after having two dogs only one just isn’t the same.

One morning I was flipping through the penny saver while eating my daily bowl of cereal. I came across the pet adoptions section and surveyed the page. One ad in particular caught my eye, it was for the adoption of ex- racing greyhounds. So, not knowing much of anything about the breed I went online and did some research. What I found would not make animal lovers too happy.

Greyhounds have been around since as early as 12,000B.C. They were a breed that was thought of very highly by the humans, but that has changed for the worse. Greyhounds are now bred for only two reasons.

1. To be show dogs
2. To be racers

So this prestigious breed that was thought so highly of by our human ancestors are now only bred to entertain humans with their looks and their legs. In fact if you want to get a greyhound as a puppy you have to contact AKC, American Kennel Club, and you have to be prepared to wait….a very long time.

I didn’t do much research on the show dogs life, I figured that even though a dog would rather be a dog they can’t mind being pampered 24/7 too much. I focused my studies on the ex- racers.

As I said these dogs are bred to be racers and they are tattooed on the ear soon after being born. The tattoo is made up of the month of birth, the last digit of the year of birth, and the order of which they were tattooed in their litter. They begin training very early in their lives and by 12 months they are making trips to the racetrack every week. While they are being trained they are held in kennels stacked on top of each other in a room with their kennel mates, usually with the females stacked on top. They are taken out four times a day to relieve themselves and play with their mates for an hour. They start racing against other novice greyhounds and if they show a lot of skill they move up in the ranks until they are too old to continue to race competitively or they are injured. The dogs’ longevity on the racetrack depends on their skill and the age. The less skilled dogs are retired around two years of age and the greater skilled can race up to five or six years old.

After being retired, these dogs are dropped off to the local greyhound rescue foundation where volunteers, some who have full time jobs, have to fully take care of these dogs while trying to get them adopted by a new loving family. This includes, feeding, grooming, washing, brushing teeth, attending meet and greets, and profiling, which is the process in which the foundation picks the right dog for the adopting family.

There are many thousands of greyhounds adopted each year, about 18,000, but there are many more thousands that are born each year. This means that there are thousands of greyhounds that are put to death for no real reason, just because there aren’t enough families out there looking for a companion in there house.

Greyhounds are great pets for anyone who decides that they want a dog. They are a very docile breed, they are known as the “45 m.p.h couch potatoes” because many of them will sleep, go outside and run for a few minutes, then come back in and sleep some more. Greyhounds are very good on the leash, they enjoy staying in crates, because have been in them for most of their lives, they love the car, because they are always traveling, and they are great if you want a dog but do not want to have to deal with caring with a puppy, which can be very high- maintenance. And if you are afraid that greyhound require too much exercise you are sadly mistaken because a daily ten minute walk is all they need.

Although I am painting this picture that a greyhound is the perfect low- maintenance dog, I should tell you that they are dogs. They do shed, though very lightly, and they do require light grooming and dental care. They are also very fragile do their low body fat, but die to their excellent breeding they have very few major health problems.  And due to the fact that they have never been without another dog, they require a good amount of attention for the first few days. They also require attention because they do not know what stairs are, or pools, mirrors, and windows.They don’t even know how to hold a bone in their mouth and they are unaware of other dog breeds. If you have a cat or other small furry animals make sure that the agency knows so they can give you a non aggressive dog.

So I am not saying that you can adopt a greyhound and expect them to take care of themselves, but I am not saying that you need to have your eye on them every second of the day. All greyhounds have different personalities and no matter what kind of family you have, if you want a greyhound you can get one.

My family and I filled out our application with Greyhound Rescue and Rehabilitation and expect to be welcoming a new pooch to the family very soon.

So if this article has willed you to think of adopting a greyhound, contact your local greyhound rescue agency and do your research!

Jay Leno Mocks White House/Fox News Feud

Jay Leno, host of NBC’s the Jay Leno Show, mocks the white house’s rivalry with Fox News after Rahm Emanuel said that Fox News isn’t a news organization.

H1N1 Flu National Emergency?

Days after CBS revealed staggering numbers proving that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has highly exaggerated the number of positive H1N1 Flu cases in the country, President Barrack Obama declares swine flu a national emergency.

According to CBS, the CDC told states to stop testing for H1N1 flu after late July 2009. This also made them stop counting individual cases in each state. CBS says that this was done because H1N1 flu was already considered an epidemic. This means that every person who visited their physician after late July with flu- like symptoms was assumed to have swine flu.

After their request was rejected by the CDC to see the state by state statistics, CBS went to each of the 50 states and were given the data directly from the states. They found that:

“… The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu…”

Click Here to view CBS News Washington Unplugged: H1N1 Cases Exaggerated?

This information has to make people wonder why the president declared the flu a national emergency Friday night. According to Natural News by making H1N1 flu a national emergency, the government gains many powers that the Bill of Rights would usually not allow. These powers include:

–The power to force mandatory swine flu vaccinations on the entire population

–The power to arrest anyone who refuses to take the vaccine

–The power to quarantine an entire city and stop all traffic in and out of that city

–The power to enter any home or office without a search warrant and order the destruction of any belongings or structures deemed to be a threat to public health.

–The effective nullification of the Bill of Rights. Your right to due process, to being safe from government search and seizure, and to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination are all null and void under a Presidential declaration of a national emergency.

Many health experts who are publicly against this vaccination think that this is all being done by Big Pharma in order to sell more vaccines, which will be coming in November.

I think that President Obama is going to continue losing supporters due to his lack of work in some areas, and “over managing” of others, i.e. H1N1 flu.  The information that CBS found was more than enough to make many people weary of the swine flu situation, this should make people ask questions but…nobody will except CBS, the White House’s rival Fox News, and some independent bloggers and doctors on the web.

Here is Dr. Joseph Mercola talking with Barbara Loe Fisher, founder of the National Vaccine Information Center.

Like Moths to Flame

I have recently been listening to the band Thrice and have found that there lyrics are simply amazing. The song “Like Moths to Flame” is one of the best in my opinion. At first I didn’t think it was great because of the screaming at the end, I usually don’t like screaming in songs. But after reading the lyrics I think it’s one of the best on the album (Vheissu), and now understanding what the lyrics are conveying, I don’t mind the screaming.

The song is sung from St. Peter’s perspective, telling of when he denied Jesus three times. Again the lyrics are amazing, the ending is like a poem.

So many of their songs are so deep and have such meaning, many of them biblical, they almost make you lose respect for other bands whose lyrics have very little or no meaning.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Once again these bitter herbs
The perfect complement to all your cryptic words
I nod but don’t know what to say, but I know you
And I believe you’re who you say you are so I?

I will follow you, lay down my life
I would die for you, this very night

Once again the bread and wine
But it seems the meanings may be deeper still this time
And you surprised me when you said I’d fall away, don’t you know me
I could never be ashamed of you, no I?

I’ve never been this cold, the fire’s gravity compels
Like planets cling to sol, I feel my orbit start to fail
Like moths to flame I come, too close and all my oaths are burned
As stars begin to run, all my accusers take their turn
And calling curses down, from my lips lies like poison spill
And then that awful sound, the sound of prophesy fulfilled
And then I met your eyes, and I remember everything
And something in me dies, the night that I betrayed my king

NASA Moon Bombing

On Friday morning, October 9, a space shuttle that was sent out in June is scheduled to collide into the surface of the moon’s south pole at 6,000 m.p.h.  LCROSS, the space shuttle, is being sent on this mission to help scientists try to discover water and ice on the moon which would be an interesting discovery if LCROSS didn’t have a $79 million price tag.

According to GadgetCrave, NASA is running this mission in hope of finding water on the moon so that they could let the “moon colonizers could some day use it, perhaps turning the moon into a rest stop on the way to deeper space adventures.”  Sounds like a bad attempt at making Star Wars reality to me.

During the countries current economic condition, I don’t think that sending a $79 million space shuttle to crash into the moon is the greatest use of the country’s  remaining cash. Frankly, I don’t think that anything that NASA does is in the best interest of the country right now.

I think, and this is just my opinion, that NASA should be shut down until the country’s economy is back on track. We don’t need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on space exploration, something that we have been wasting money on since the space race in the ’60’s and the most we’ve done is prove that there is nothing but dust on Mars and Pluto isn’t big enough to be considered a planet anymore. Why don’t we start spending this money on something that may help the planet that we currently live on, and preferably the country we live in, which is in a lot of trouble.