Bert81

CBC had a nice interview with Oshie on the ice. He got emotional as he mentionned his dad has alzeimers.

Congrats to the Americans from a Canadian. They certainly deserved it. Gaudreau impressed me in particular, as well as the offensive skill of the American defensemen. Canada looked sluggish, and seemed to be reacting to the American play instead of being aggressive. They were not able to establish their physical play against the speedy Americans. As for Don Cherry, he certainly is passionate and entertaining, but I don't hold much stock in most of what he says. He forgets the benefits that many Canadian players have enjoyed from playing for American colleges. Read Bob McKenzie (http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/story/?id=412699) if you are looking for a good analysis. To answer the earlier question about how big a deal this tournament is in Canada... It probably receives as much coverage as the Super Bowl does, or even more. The tournament is all over the media (mostly TSN), starting before the tryouts for the team, as analysts discuss the potential players right through to a couple days after the tournament ends. It is the best chance to see the top draft picks against good competition before the NHL, and watching the tournament during the holidays has become a tradition for many of us. Yes we certainly have our share of perhaps overly passionate fans that will act like it's end of world when Canada doesn't win Gold at hockey, but I don't believe they are the majority. They are just the most vocal ones. I'll be happy to watch Canada play for bronze (which does mean something to me), and then USA vs Sweden in the Gold medal game afterwards.

Zach Parise's father is french-canadian, so "Pa REES ay" should be correct. Also, a french speaking person would go even further and roll the "R".

The all-tournament team at the olympics matters very little to me. I only care about how my country's team did in the tournament. And to be honest, I didn't even notice until this thread that most of them played College hockey.

And what is the percentage of NHL players from the CHL ? These numbers and stats are fun, but what do they really mean ? I live in Ontario, Canada, but I am a fan of both leagues and see them as virtually equal when it comes to player developpment. Can anyone truly say : "if this player had played in the CHL / NCAA instead, he would have been better prepared to play in the NHL" ? All we know is that a large number of players in the NHL come from the College hockey and the CHL, and therefore they are both great leagues to develop young talent.

That's an extremely small sample size to try to show anything meaningfull. And besides, those players would be all be great no matter where they played on their way to the NHL.

It could be that the top prospects do not intend to spend four years playing in the NCAA / CHL, and therefore don't want to start on a college diploma if they are going to leave school early.

Travis Zajac just scored in OT to extend the Devils vs Panthers series to game 7.

It's tough to see guys leave the team early, but I can understand how it must be difficult to refuse a contract which represents guaranteed money being offered. There is always the risk of a serious injury, or having an off year, and just like that the offers are reduced, or gone altogether.

This is great news for me (living in Canada) as I rarely have the opportunity to watch UND's games.

New contract for Weston Dressler http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=370358

If they had played poorly then you could call it a choke job. But they actually played a pretty good game and just didn't get the result they deserved.

Bruins are selecting 9th in the first round , so it's not likely they'll use that for a Sioux player.

That riot was started by people who planned ahead of time to take advantage of the situation (large crowd of people in a small area) and cause mayhem, win or lose. The same thing happened back in 1993 when the Canadiens won the cup. It's unfair to generalize an entire city as lunatics, much less an entire nation.

Sorry to disappoint you, but the Cup will be in Canada most of the summer when the mostly Canadian Bruins players take it to their home towns.