Friday, December 22, 2006

Rory Strikes Back and a Bold Prediction

Humboldt, SK - Hey all,

I'm up in Humboldt, SK home of the Broncos . . . of the SJHL. I'll be here the next couple days before heading over to Lanigan for some Christmas cheer. It's been an awful start to the break. The neighbor across the street backed into my car this morning, a quick $843 repair job. Merry Christmas!

First up, I appreciate every comment, good or bad. It lets me know people are checking things out. The site hits have been through the roof in December so thanks to everyone who surfed on in. Let's just keep the poor language down a bit. My mom reads this! haha. There seems to be one poster who I've rubbed the wrong way. Nice "anonymous" comments. That takes guts to take a shot under "anonymous poster". At least everything I do I put my name to it. That's ok. In fact that poster had the 3rd most visits to this site last week so that's good news! I could delete comments but I choose not to so let's hear it!

Well Rory Fitzpatrick is now 2nd amongst Western Conference defenseman in the NHL All-star balloting. How 'bout that! If that holds up, Fitzpatrick will be starting on the blue-line for the Western All-stars alongside Scott Niedermeyer. Here's the story from nhl.com:

NEW YORK (CP) - Rory Fitzpatrick is on the verge of becoming an NHL all-star.
Fitzpatrick, a journeyman defenceman with the
Vancouver Canucks, is second in voting among Western Conference blue-liners in results released Wednesday by the league. Fitzpatrick has 428,832 votes, trailing only Anaheim Ducks defenceman Scott Niedermayer (447,502).
Should Fitzpatrick remain in the top two by the time voting ends Jan. 2, he will earn a spot in the all-star game as a write-in candidate with just nine goals and 18 assists in 229 career NHL games.
The movement to send Fitzpatrick to the all-star game Jan. 24 in Dallas began with a fan website, voteforrory.com. The phenomenon has since found its way into print and TV media, vaulting the unheralded Fitzpatrick ahead of all-star veterans
Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit (427,364), Chris Pronger of Anaheim (340,941) and Sergei Zubov of Dallas (172,334).
Fitzpatrick has yet to record a point in 19 games this season, returning to the lineup Dec. 14 after missing over a month with a broken bone in his left ankle.


It looks like the "Vote for Rory" campaign has been a big hit!

Ok, now to the bold prediction. For those die-hard Canadian hockey fans like myself this is tough to take but . . . .Canada will be hard pressed to win a medal at the WJHC.

I love watching Canada's World Junior team, it's my favorite hockey event of the year other than the WHL playoffs. I just think we're due for a bit of a letdown as we saw in Italy at the Winter Olympics. I don't think we have the scoring compared to the Americans or the depth some of the other teams have. I can see a quarter-final or semi-final upset in the making. I hope I'm proved wrong here. The "x" factor will be head coach Craig Hartsburg. I doubt he will be able to get the most out of the players like Brent Sutter did the last two seasons.

If Hartsburg can, and Canada can be the "hardest working team" in the tournament as he said their motto is this year, then maybe they can get to the gold medal game. It will be against the Americans who are stronger and better than last tournament minus Phil Kessell (and his big league attitude) that hurt the Americans in last year's tournament in Vancouver. Word is the Americans strutted around Vancouver like they couldn't be touched. Their egos got in their way. Terrible coaching to let that happen on such a big stage.

So you heard it here first, Canada just misses out of the medals finishing 4th, or they just sneak out the Bronze beating the host Swedes in the bronze medal game.

Your thoughts?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Less offense than last year?! Are you nuts?! With guys like Toews, Cogliano, and Downie (the best player in the tourney a year ago) are all a year older. This will make up for the loss of the likes of Dustin Boyd and others. In addition, 5 returning defensemen are also a year older, which should sure up the back-end. With skilled d-man Kris Russell a year older, the power-play, and team offense is better on paper than last years team. Having said this, I believe that last years' team "over-achieved" due to good ole' Canadian heart. This will be hard to duplicate. In any short tournament such as the WJHC, it is always a matter of which team gels together as a team the fastest. I hope our boys can do it, but it is a crap shoot. Sorry to disagree with you about the offense of this team on paper, buddy. We will see you tonight for Christmas cheer.

Anonymous said...

Hi there
Jon calls it right 9 out 10 and I know for sure his Mum reads this so keep it clean guys, most of you made it through a couple years of college and should have a good grasp of the english langauge & can express yourselves without the % # @.
Anna Y. Mous

Switzer said...

Keener...Ignore the humanoids!!!

Merry Christmas from Swifty. Wish you were here for this weekend...I may need a place to stay!

Anonymous said...

Hey Jon Keener, hope you're having a grand time up there in Lanigan for Xmas. I work this whole week, so I don't have too much to look forward to. But, I'm already looking ahead to next Friday, when Swifty hosts P.A. We can put them back in their place, don't you think? The guys will have to be focused though...not like when they were playing Saskatoon. We need to do better. Anyway, I got to run. Hey, does your Cavalier look any different after that hit this morning? MERRY CHRISTMAS Jon!

Anonymous said...

Jon, had to post again tonight after what transpired. Edmonton lost in Dallas tonight, 3-2. What a rivalry! Lehtinen, Boucher, and Jokinen had the Stars' goals. Funny names, but awesome players. Obviously the coaching of Saskatchewanites, Dave Tippett and Mark Lamb had something to do with the win. Dallas needed this one...they had lost three straight on home ice!!!
Well, I know for a fact that one of the Broncos is having a whale of a time on his Christmas break...they all need that. Hard to believe we'll be seeing the dreaded TIGERS one week from tonight at the CCC. Hope everyone comes out...not only is it a great rivalry, it will be the 20th anniversary of the 1986 bus crash, in which four Broncos lost their lives. We will need everyone's support next week for sure. After all the tough times, the little city with the big heart still has a WHL team, and remains very competetive. MERRY Christmas to all! Hope to see everyone at the Civic Centre on Dec. 29th. Stop by Section E, Row 3, Seat 14. I'm always ready to talk "BRONCOS' HOCKEY." G'night, and again, Merry Xmas all!