The REAL. BIG. Blog

When Zach Parise tied the game with 24 seconds left to send the US and Canada into sudden death overtime I imagined all the emergency service calls flooding the switchboards across Canada as the country went in to collective coronary failure. But then Sid the Kid struck gold and what could have been a national nightmare turned into a tear-drenched rendering of “O, Canada”. It just seems right. The US had shown they could beat Canada only days earlier, surprising the world, and making the Canadians wonder what had become of their national pastime. So when the two met again in the Gold Medal game everything was on the line for Team Canada. Against a backdrop of red-draped fans, the local Vancouver Canuck Roberto Luongo in goal, on home ice and in front of a world stage with only one question to answer – is hockey still our game? – the Canadian team had to come through. It turns out nothing was wrong with Canada’s game – The US was just a really worthy opponent.

When the 22 year old from Nova Scotia had a breakaway opportunity earlier in the game and came up short, people were asking, as they had been all tournament, when their golden boy would pull through. It’s just that his moment hadn’t come yet, like he was being saved for when everything was at stake. How fitting then that Team Canada’s elder statesman, Jarome Iginla, should be the one to provide the assist, setting up Crosby to do what everyone was hoping he could – score the winning goal in the biggest of all games. It seems the hopes and expectations of Canada were not misguided or unfounded, whatever doubts might have been raised. After the game Crosby said what we have come to expect – that it was the team, that no one person makes the team, that it’s a team effort – only this time it sounded really quite genuine and heartfelt and not at all rehearsed. Which is why, at least in part, the kid is as good as gold.

By Shawn Lucas

I was very surprised this week when reading a small article in “The Hockey News.”
Being a lifelong hockey fan, I was completely shocked when reading the names of the top ten active leaders in career points – not so much by the names as  their nationalities….

The NHL has traditionally been dominated by Canadians.  In 2007-08, more than half (52%) of all NHL players were from Canada.  The top ranks of the NHL, though still full of Canadians, is no longer a league dominated by players from The Great White North.

Today’s domination comes from stars such as Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, Washington’s Alex tandem of Semin and Ovechkin and who can overlook what has been the strongest team of the last decade, the Detroit Red Wings, whose team boasts the likes of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa and the league’s best defenseman in Nicklas Lidstrom?

The future of hockey definitely looks bright on the global stafe.  On the list of active NHL leaders in career points, there are only 3 Canadians – while the USA is represented 4 times, the most of any country on the list.  There are a few developments that could re-define the list this year.

If Brendan Shanahan, 1340 (CAN) or Mats Sundin, 1321 (SWE) can catch on with a team, then each would bump someone off the list.  As they are not currently active, here is the list of active players and their respective nationalities

1.    Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche, 1641 (CAN)
2.    Mark Recchi, Tampa Bay Lightning, 1393 (CAN)
3.    Mike Modano, Dallas Stars, 1294 (USA)
4.    Jeremy Roenick, San Jose Sharks, 1207 (USA)
5.    Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Ducks, 1176, (FIN)
6.    Sergei Fedorov, Washington Capitals, 1155, (RUS)
7.    Rod Brind’Amour, Carolina Hurricanes, 1127 (CAN)
8.    Keith Tkachuk, St. Louis Blues, 996 (USA)
9.    Doug Weight, N.Y. Islanders, 985 (USA)
10.    Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings, 950 (SWE)