I have to tell you, I really want to see the Penguins holding that cup up above their shoulders. Detroit had it last year and — most importantly — Pittsburgh have gone through some bad times shortly after the trade deadline with long lasting loosing streaks, and yet they’d managed to climb out of the hole, land in the playoffs and crawl up top once again in a very hard-working way.
But then you have to look at the Detroit and how they play. They play so well, I haven’t an idea of what can possibly beat the Detroit Red Wings. Especially today with the comeback of Pavel Datsyuk they had a blast, and I’m not just talking about the scoring.
Anyways, it looks like the cup is going in the same direction. But, needless to say when talking about hockey, anything can happen in the last little bit.
I’m just really glad that the series has gone for at least 6 games.
Despite being a true Leafs fan, I will still have to say “no”.
The Leafs right now have 52 points in 56 games that they played. Only 26 regular season games remain.
The last playoff spot is currently occupied by Buffalo (whom they host tonight) that has 64 points in 57 games they played. Buffalo’s winning percentage so far has thus been 0.561. Given the fact that every team that’s close to be out of or in the playoffs makes that last push to stay in the race, I say the last playoff spot must have a winning percentage of at least 0.570%. Therefore, to get that last playoff spot, the Leafs are going to have to push for 94 points. That is, they will need to gain 42 points in the 26 remaining games. They will need to win at least 21 out of the 26 remaining games.
Unless Brian Burke has something special in mind (starting tonight) and Ron Wilson knows what to do with that something special, Houston we have a problem.
Sad news from across the ocean. Alexey Prokurorov, famous Russian professional cross-country skier, died on the morning of Friday, October 10, on his 44-th year of age. While crossing the road towards a rail station, he was hit by a car. The driver was under a heavy influence of alcohol and was (already) driving without a license.
Prokurorov was truly among the best cross-country skiers. I definitely know that, because I always looked up to him, when I competed. Just to list a few things about him: he participated in 5 Olympics, the last one being Nagano 2002, where he was a flag-bearer. He has won two olympic medals: one gold and once silver, both in Calgary 1988. He was evidently a significant figure in the world of cross-country skiing, and sport in general.
It is a pity that someone so high has to go, but something so low has to stay. It is awful that anyone or anything has to go, but in the course of a crude choice, that’s how it stands.
I wonder what he is about to do now? Of course, he might re-specialise in some other fighting class, which is surely about to be very hard. Even then, I highly doubt any success.
He has also ruined the life of his coach, who is not a very young man anymore and will not be able to adjust as quickly and successfully.
I have just finished watching the swimming final in the men’s 200 metres breaststroke at the Olympics.
I have had high hopes for Mike Andrew Brown (here), as he was very close to getting the first medal for Canada in these Olympic games. But he fell short, just some 0.09 seconds behind a Frenchman Hugues Duboscq and came 4th.
Both Oriwol and Beavers swam in semifinals of the 200 metres backstroke, but none moved on into the finals.
Beavers has finished 5th in the men’s 200m Individual Medley semifinal, so again just only place short. He could have been going into finals.
On the positive note, Annamay Peirse has finished third in women’s 200 metre breaststroke semifinal. So she is now heading into the finals on Aug 15. Boy, I hope she gets it!
What is happening to the Canadian Olympics team? So far the score is perfect for Canada: 0 – 0 – 0 : 0. That’s the best thing you can wish for in biathlon. But hey! Wait a minute, that’s not right, that’s medals!
Canada hasn’t yet won a single medal! It’s been 6 days without a medal now! Not even close (well, a couple of times… that doesn’t count because it still wasn’t close, really…). What’s with all that Canadian Olympics spirit? Where is it hiding? Let us help you find!
But even so, I cannot blame the athletes: they are trully doing the best they can and trying to show that Canada has some athleticism in the country. What does bother me is the small number of athletes that Canada has sent to the Olympics. How can we win anything when there’s just too few of us?
In any case, let’s hope that we get on the right track and we figure out a way to start receiving medals. I hope that, if this Olympiad becomes a disaster (which it is very likely to), it will shook the Canadian Olympic Committee really well.
Here’s some things that there’s still hope for:
Baseball. The top competitors are Canada and the States, but some other countries (like Cuba, for example) have been doing really well in the past. But I think the (boring) MLB will pay off and Canada will get a medal there (may be even a gold)
Rowing.
Men’s Pair: Calder and Frandsen. They have gotten into the final, which will be on August 16th. let’s hope. They’ve shown some really strong effort along the road.
Women’s Eight: Mandoli, et alii. Great effort to get into the final (Aug 17), but the competition is tough.
Men’s Eight: Light, et alii. They have been strong all the way through, so I’ve got large hopes for them. Now they’ll be competing in the final on Aug 17.
Softball Same as with baseball. I think we’re already in the medals, but will cross that bridge when we get there.
Swimming
Men’s 200m Breaststroke, Brown. He is in the top competitors, so he’s got a really good shot at a medal. The final is starting in about 20 minutes.
Men’s 200m Backstroke, Oriwol, Beavers. Both have gotten into the semifinals (Aug 14). May be…
Men’s 200m Individual Medly, Beavers has gotten into the semifinals, also on Aug 14.
Women’s 200m Breaststroke, Pierse has advanced to the semifinals, Aug 14.
Other competitions follow, but we have to see these ones first.
On the side note, I cannot not mention my admiration to what Michael Phelps has already achieved. 5 gold medals! Absolutely mind-bottling!
Finally, one of my wishes came true: Liana stood on nordic skis today for the first time! She didn’t really like it at first, as there were several reasons for that: (1) it was really cold, (2) there was quite a lot of people, (3) nordic skiing is not the kind of sport that you come, enjoy and have fun from the first minutes. Nordic skiing is a tough sport on its own, leave out the fact that it takes years to actually learn the technique, which is very important for the enjoyment.
As I am not a professional teacher, nor have I got any experience in teaching nordic skiing from scratch, I don’t think I was a very good helper in learning how to ski. However, I tried really hard and tried to be the most smart about it.
A little later in the day, after we’ve made a little break, the sun cam out and we decided to go for another try. And to my great happiness, Liana liked this time! She started doing all the right moves and she really did them so perfectly that I was amazed to the bottom of my skull! It looked so natural for her. So my tough work at trying out as a teacher paid off well. Most of all, she liked skiing! I could not be more pleased!
We’re definitely taking the most of it next season, and I hope we will take one or may be even two more days this season to go up there and beat the hell of the snow!
I have slightly changed the design of my personal web page. I was also about to add some new content, but was distracted. So that’ll wait, I suppose. If you’re interested, have a look here.
This week the University of Toronto has its reading week. A definitely great timing for many, including myself, as I truly needed to recharge some of my batteries. Yet, so much work is to be done, that I wonder if I will be able to finish all of it over the week. Hopefully, I will.
Nonetheless, I am taking at least half a day off this Tuesday or Wednesday for a ski break with my lovely fiancee! Although today the weather is absolutely terrifying (+5 degrees and pouring rain), but there’s enough snow to cross-country ski on, that’s for sure.
Posted by Nikita 
Posted by Nikita 
Posted by Nikita 