Ticket to watch the Men's Hockey Olympic Gold Medal Match: Section A, $775

I don't want to be cynical, but I think the Americans are going to win this one. Halfway through the first period, they're pretty well dominating the game. Though the Canadians are doing a pretty good job at passing and stuff, which you don't always see. Could you imagine how nervous they must be?!? I mean, earlier in the week, there was so much speculation that they wouldn't even be in the final! But during an interview with Sidney Crosby (one of many--poor guy! It must be hard to be so talented and good-looking!) just before today's game, he was talking about how it's gold or nothing, since "Canadians are proud of their hockey." Yep, our pride is on the line! They say a lot of hockey players come from Peterborough, Ontario. Sidney Crosby and Brad Richards are Maritime boys, though :)

Period 1, 1:31 left: Just heard that Sid the Kid broke his stick.

Haha, Coach Mike Babcock is wearing his lucky McGill tie. Walking down Ste. Catherine's the other day, we found a tie shop. Ties are expensive!

So I was thinking about it: something like curling, the older teams are better because they have more experience, especially those teams like Kevin Martin (Cheryl Bernard had never played internationally). Experience means lots of strategy-smarts. But for something like hockey, now, the way they are pounding on each other and skating so hard they get subbed every 30 seconds, you have to be young and strong. That's where the coach comes in. He (or she) maybe can't keep up with the young'uns so well anymore, but they got the brains. Even choosing the players for the team: you may have the top scorer in the league when he's playing on a particular team, but if he's suddenly playing with all new people and they don't jive, then you don't have anything. So a huge part of choosing the team must be deciding who will play well with who, to bring the best out of everyone.

Shout out to Cheryl Bernard and team! The 9th end was brilliant, the 10th disastrous, but congratulations on getting so far on your first time out!