George W's Saskatoon visit

Happy Friday everyone!







Former US President George W. Bush is currently on a speaking tour through Canada, and this past Wednesday he made a stop in Saskatoon. Brett Wilson, of Dragon's Den fame, interviewed Bush. The tour is classified as a "discussion with George W. Bush".



In my 30 years, I can't think of a single person as polarizing as the former president. No one seems to be indifferent to Dubya, you either agree with him or you dispise him. So, naturally, his visit to Saskatoon (and other cities) has drawn a lot of attention from protestors and other opposition groups. In the couple weeks leading up to Dubya's appearance, this poster could be seen around various light poles in Saskatoon. Subtle opposition of course...







I did not go to his speech, but was interested. Regardless of your opinion of him, he was President of the United States for eight years and would have made for an interesting 90 minutes. I did however, make a point of walking to my gym (which is right beside the TCU Place) to check out the protestors. They were loud, but peaceful so good on them for that. I was bothered by one loudmouth with a megaphone yelling at the people in line to see his speech, and some "Sold Out! Sold Out!" chants were directed at people in line to see Bush. I'm actually glad I wasn't in line, because I have a tough time keeping my mouth shut in situations like that... and the old addage is true "Don't argue with an idiot, they'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience".



Now, I'll never disagree with the right for a group of people to peacefully protest. It's one of the great things about our country that people can do that and not be worried about getting shot. However, I will disagree about the purpose of this protest. Bush is no longer a sitting president, and protests and the continued vitriol against the man seems pointless, especially in Canada. My cynical view is more than half the people there were protesting just to be seen protesting, and a good chunk of the guys there met a cute girl at Lydia's over the weekend and she said she was going, so the guy went as well.



Some comments from people who went to the speech was that Bush is engaging and much more articulate then he his given credit for. This does not surprise me. While I'm far from being a Bush fan, I never bought into the caricature of Bush being an idiot. I do believe he was over his head as President, but that doesn't make him stupid. There are very few people that are capable of the job.



Many people who went to his speech are opponents of Bush and came away disappointed. Saying that Brett Wilson lobbed pre-approved softball questions and the discussion wasn't controversial enough for them. What did they expect? Bush was going to come to Canada and apologize for Iraq and some of his other now unpopular policies? Bush still believes he is right on Iraq, and he is still the same man that cut taxes to the rich and had a conversative agenda. He is not going to apologize for who he is, and how that shaped his policies as President. Again, move on people.



One last point I am going to make. Currently, there is lot of right-wing hate being spewed against current President Barack Obama in the United States, calling him everything from a communist to the Anti-Christ. Similar to many people watching this, it makes me angry because I do like Obama and what he stands for. Also, I had trouble understanding how people could go that far to characterise Obama that way. However, a couple of weeks ago I remembered back to when Dubya became President. At that time, the Republicans controlled everything just like the Democrats do today. It was very common to hear Bush called a Fascist and yes, the Anti-Christ. Because we in Canada in general have never supported Bush, we found this a lot more acceptable even though it is just as unfair to characterise Bush that way as it is for Obama.



I don't know for sure, but I'm wondering if the birthers, tea-baggers, and loud town hall meetings are a measure of revenge against the left for the anti-Bush vitriol from 2001-2008? The nice thing is, after thinking about this, I don't get nearly as angry when hearing the anti-Obama hyperbole as I did even a month ago.


Anyways, have a good weekend.


Cheers.

NHL Musing - Divisions and Realignment

Hi everyone,

Kicking my last Wednesday in Saskatoon for a while, as the work week from now until Xmas will be in Calgary.

The rumblings of a possible NHL return to Quebec in a few years got me thinking about the locations of teams in the NHL, and the tough travel arrangement for some teams in the Western conference. I also did some comparisons with the NBA which also has 30 teams and conferences divided by East and West (NFL and MLB do not divide the conferences by geography).

What is interesting about the NBA is that the Western teams do not have nearly as bad a travel schedule as the NHL Western teams do (except for the NBA NorthWest division with Denver, Utah, Portland, Oklahoma and Minnesota). In the NBA Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland are in the Eastern conference and those teams are in the West in the NHL (Columbus instead of Cleveland). The NHL, having only one team in the mid-South (Dallas Stars), has Detroit, Chicago and Columbus in the West. Nashville also has it tough, as it's closest NHL city is Atlanta which is in the Eastern conference, and are at least 350miles from any other Western conference foe (St. Louis and Columbus).

The NHL should consider having uneven conferences: 14 in the West, and 16 in the East with 2 divisions per conference. To make it fair for playoffs, the 9th place team in the East could cross over to the West to take the 8th place spot there if they had more points. Moving one team to the Eastern conference (Nashville) would take a lot of long travel away from the Western teams and make travel for Nashville a lot easier. It would also make it much easier for Minnesota, who would now be in a division with Detroit and Chicago as opposed to Vancouver and Edmonton.

Here is how the divisions would look.

Western Confernence
West Division: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix
Central Division: Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota, Dallas, Colorado, Columbus

Eastern Conference
Northeast Division: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, Buffalo, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, New Jersey
Southeast Division: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, Nashville, Carolina, Atlanta, Florida, Tampa Bay

A little tougher on the Pennsylvania teams, but a little easier on Washington. Also this alignment keeps travel to within one time zone in the Western conference in each division (aside from Denver). This has been mentioned as the hardest thing on players when travelling is the time change. There is a three hour difference between Vancouver and Detroit, and a two hour difference between Vancouver and Minnesota (and they play 6 times!).

Some fun food for thought.

Some thoughts on George W's trip to Canada later this week.

Cheers.

Beer

Hello everyone,

How did the weekend treat you? I spent my second of three consecutive weekends in Regina. This weekend was not Rider related, as I was in a squash tournament. Yes I play squash, and yes I'm serious enough about it to travel to tournaments.

A little tidbit about me is that I'm a beer snob. You know, one of those people that scoffs internally when you order a Canadian and if there are four people at a table and won't share in the pitcher. In general, a minor pain in the ass. My preference is ales, porters and stouts (darker beers) and having travelled a bit, I thought I'd share some of my favourite beers that you may have not heard of. It's also some advice if you are ever in New York or the West Coast and don't feel like a Budweiser and want to try something new.


Brooklyn Lager. I've started to see this a bit one in Canada, specifically some stores in Calgary that have a bit more of a selection. You can also get it at my favourite Regina pub - Beer Bros . It's from Brooklyn and widely available on the East Coast. Similar to: Sleeman's Cream/Honey Brown




Black Butte Porter. This one is basically only available in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and is brewed in Bend, Oregon. It's a Porter, so its a very dark flavourful beer. If you like Guinness, give this one a try if you ever find yourself in Seattle or Portland OR.




Garrison Raspberry Wheat. I'm using this one as an example, as the Garrison brewery in Halifax, NS has 5 other beers that are worth trying as well. This one has the distinction of being the best flavoured beer I've ever had (yes girls, better than bud light lime). A lot of microbrewed berry beers are too sweet and taste a bit too fruity for a manly beer drinker. This one has a hint of rasperry that compliments the beer, instead of overpowering it.

Palm. Now for a beer from overseas. Palm is a Belgian beer that doesn't have as strong a hoppy taste as other Belgian beers like Hoegaarden and Leffe. But, like other Belgian beers it's strong (7.5%) so you can't drink it like a Canadian.








Samuel Adams Octoberfest Ale. I assume most people are familiar with Sam Adams Boston Lager (Always a good decision). However, the Sam Adams brewery produces a lot of Seasonal beers for the NorthEast United States market. One of these beers is the OctoberFest Ale, which is their fall beer. It is modelled after the Octoberfest beer that is served in Munich. It's as good as Sam Adams Boston Lager (one of my favourites). If you enjoy Rickards or Keith's Red give this one a try.



That's all for today.



Cheers.

WHL Drafting and some Theo Comments

Hi everyone,

Just enjoying a couple weeks working in downtown Saskatoon before my project starts up in Calgary at the end of the month. It's strange, I've lived in Saskatoon for 13 years and have not worked downtown since 1999. It's nice going out for a walk at lunchtime, taking the bus to work, and being a block from my gym for a quick lunchtime workout. Saskatoon does not have a great downtown core concentration, and this needs to improve as our city grows.

I'm sure many a hockey fan had their suspicions confirmed when Theo Fleury revealed he was molested by ex-coach Graham James. Out of this, the topic of how to better protect teenage hockey players is being revisited. What popped to my head immediately is some of the hardship that young hockey players go through in being seperated from their families at the age of 16 or younger to go to a strange city to play hockey. Because of this, the primary adult in a lot of these kids' lives is their hockey coach.

Compounding the issue is that the kids are often playing hockey a considerable distance from their families, especially in the Western Hockey League. The Southern/Western most team, the Portland WinterHawks, are 2,200km from the Eastern most team; the Brandon Wheat Kings. Granted, these teams only travel to play each other every other season, but it does display the reach of a junior hockey league. Contrast this to the Ontario Hockey League where the most remote team, the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds is less than 1000km away from its farthest competition the Erie Otters. Even the distance between Rouyn Noranda QC to Charlottetown in the QMJHL is less than Brandon to Portland.

Granted, the teams that are far apart don't play against each other very often. However, when Bantam kids are drafted nothing stops Portland from taking a kid from Brandon and vice versa. Therein lies part of the problem. I am sure it has been explored before but one must think that having a kid playing reasonably close to home has got to be easier on both the kid and his family. Also having the child's support system within a days drive away could help in ensuring that an abusive coach doesn't become the primary adult in his life.

Currently in the WHL, there is 1 team in Manitoba, 5 in Saskatchewan, 5 in Alberta, 6 in British Columbia, and 5 in the Western United States. The WHL could establish some kind of regional drafting system that would allow the kids to be closer to home, while still maintaining fairness in the league. In the 2009 WHL draft, the number of kids drafted in the first 5 rounds were as such:

Manitoba: 17
Saskatchewan: 22
Alberta: 37
B.C.: 29
United States: 5

One suggestion would be to only allow teams to draft from an adjacent province. For teams in Saskatchewan that would mean they could only draft from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. For British Columbia, they could draft from B.C. and Alberta. For the U.S. teams, they would have exclusive rights to U.S. born players in the Western U.S. (as the OHL and QMJHL draft out of the Eastern States) and B.C. players. Of course, a kid from Medicine Hat could still end up playing in Vancouver or Prince George, but the situation where the kid from Saskatoon ends up playing in Portland or Seattle is eliminated. What this would also do is ensure that kids are often playing in a division close to home. For example, let's say a kid from Rosetown is playing in Prince Albert. Parents can easily come watch road games in Saskatoon and Swift Current, and home games in Prince Albert and spend time with their kids more often. That is not really feasible if that kid from Rosetown ends up in Kelowna. For example, in this year's draft the Portland WinterHawks had the first pick and selected a kid from Weyburn SK. Moose Jaw had the second pick and selected a kid from Vancouver. The kid from Weyburn will be almost 2000km from home, and the kid from Vancouver will be 1700 km from home. If the above rules applied, the Weyburn kid would be 150km from home, and the Vancouver kid would be 500km from home without affecting the competitiveness and fairness of the league.

Teams should also be able to "reserve" 1 or 2 hometown talents every draft if they choose. This is not only good for the kids but it is good for business. If two years ago, the Saskatoon Blades were able to have both Luke and Braydon Schenn dress for them, fan support may have increased to see these local products suit up for the home team. Same can be said for Ryan Getzlaf playing for the Pats instead of the Hitmen or Patrick Marleau playing for the Swift Current Broncos instead of Seattle.

Well, that's all today. It will also be the last hockey related blog for a while. 3 in a row is enough, and there is sufficient hockey discussion in cyberspace as it is.

Cheers.

Happy Thanksgiving and NHL stuff

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone had some good eats over the weekend. Since my thanksgiving was just me and the folks this year, my dad cooked a prime rib instead on the ol' BBQ. I'm thankful we had that instead of turkey.


So, some interesting rumblings out of the NHL in that Bettman did not rule out the possibility of a return to the NHL for the Quebec Nordiques contingent on a new arena being built in Quebec City. My opinion of "I'll believe it when I see it" with regards to anything that little weasel Bettman says it did get me thinking of when the Nordiques were in the NHL.

It also got me thinking about a rule in the six team NHL era that allowed the Montreal Canadiens to have first crack at any Francophone NHL players. This rule was ended in the early 1970's as the league had expanded to 12 teams but the players were still largely Canadian and the already powerhouse Canadiens were able to unfairly get players like Guy Lafleur and Rejean Houle before the much weaker expansion teams.

However, with 30 teams in the NHL and almost half of all NHL's coming from countries other than Canada it got me wondering if such a rule would be feasible again. So, for the sake of killing time and fun let's assume the Quebec Nordiques never moved and are still in Quebec. Let's keep the rule simple, and say that if the Quebec Nordiques or Montreal Canadiens have a first round pick they MUST draft a Quebec born player but they have access to any Quebec born player, regardless of where they pick. So, if Montreal has the 10th pick, and there is a francophone player projected to go fourth Montreal could get that player.

I've taken the first round picks from the last 20 years for the Habs and the Nordiques/Avs to see how their different the teams may have looked. Note that whoever finished lower in the standings between Montreal and Quebec gets the first pick of the francophones.

Montreal
Actually Picked Francophone Picked
1988 Eric Charron Martin Gelinas
1989 Lindsay Vallis Steve Larouche
1990 Turner Stevenson Karl Dykhuis
1991 Brent Bilodeau Martin Lapointe
1992 David Wilkie Manny Fernandez
1993 Saku Koivu Alexandre Daigle
1994 Brad Brown Jean-Yves Laroux
1995 Terry Ryan J.S Giguire
1996 Matt Higgins J.P. Dumont
1997 Jason Ward Roberto Luongo
1998 Eric Chouinard Vincent Lecavalier
1999 N/A Martin Grenier
2000 Ron Hainsey Antoine Vermette
2001 Mike Komisarek Pascal Leclaire
2002 Chris Higgins Pierre Marc Bouchard
2003 Andrei Kostitsyn Marc-Andre Fleury
2004 Kyle Chipchura Alexandre Picard
2005 Carey Price Benoit Pouliot
2006 David Fischer Jonathon Bernier
2007 Max Pacioretty David Perron
2008 N/A Nicolas Deschamps
2009 Louis LeBlanc Jordan Caron


Quebec/Colorado
Actually Picked Francophone Picked
1988 Curtis Leschyshyn Daniel Dore
1989 Mats Sundin Patrice Brisebois
1990 Owen Nolan Martin Brodeur
1991 Eric Lindros Patrick Poulin
1992 Todd Warriner Paul Brousseau
1993 Jocelyn Thibault Jocelyn Thibault
1994 Wade Belak Eric Fichaud
1995 Marc Denis Denis Gauthier
1996 Peter Ratchuk Daniel Briere
1997 Kevin Grimes J.F. Fortin
1998 Alex Tanguay Alex Tanguay
1999 Mikhail Kuleshov Brent Clouthier
2000 Vaclav Nedorost Mathieu Chouinard
2001 N/A Jason Pominville
2002 Jonas Johansson Martin Vagner
2003 N/A Steve Bernier
2004 Wojtek Wolski Nick Fugere
2005 N/A Luc Bourdon
2006 Chris Stewart Derick Brassard
2007 Kevin Shattenkirk Angelo Esposito
2008 N/A Yann Sauve
2009 Matt Duchene Louis Leblanc

Interesting. As expected from drafting out of the QMJHL, lots of offense and goaltending and light on defense. The 2000s have great for producing excellent prospects out of the QMJHL, following a terrible 1990s. Most of the Canadian players drafted in the 1990s were out of either the WHL or OHL. Likely, both Quebec and Montreal would have a glut of great goaltenders that they could trade and have excellent clubs because of that. Colorado likely would not have 2 Stanley Cups though without being able to draft Sundin, Lindros and Nolan.

That's it for time wastin today.

Cheers.

Fall (Winter?) Update

Well, after a gorgeous September the weather we were expecting came to visit this week. I'm working in Calgary this week, and I had trouble seeing across the Bow River from downtown.

The NHL hockey season has started, and yours truly got a little choked up watching the jersey of one of the greatest players to ever play in the NHL raise to the rafters of the Pepsi center in Denver.

I'm a bit biased, but Sakic is the best #19 to ever play hockey. The debate, of course, would be compared to another great player in Steve Yzerman. Valid arguments on that side too, other than he played on my hated wings. Because I'm in a hotel room in Calgary taking it easy I've decided to make some career comparisons to kill some time. The similarities are uncanny in their careers: multiple Stanley Cup winners, long time captain of the same franchise, Olympic gold medal winner,

Sakic:

20 Seasons

Goals: 625

Assists: 1016

Points: 1641

Games Played: 1378

Points per game: 1.19

Stanley Cups: 2

Hart Trophy: 2001

Conn Smythe: 1996

Olympic MVP 2002

Yzerman:

22 Seasons

Goals: 692
Assists: 1063
Points: 1755
Games Played: 1514
Points per game: 1.16
Stanley Cups: 3

Conn Smythe: 1997

Again, what may tip Sakic over the top is his Hart Trophy and his MVP performance in the 2002 Olympics. And, the fact that Sakic had his two best offensive years in 1996 and 2001. The two years the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup. Yzerman is a first ballot hall of famer, and Sakic is a sure thing for that as well.

This season is weird though, my heart is not into cheering for the Avalanche any more. So, I'm just enjoying the game for entertainment so far instead of as a fan. It's actually a lot better...

Cheers.