C is for CLASS

The World Junior Hockey Championships began on Boxing Day in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with the host country's youngsters opening the tournament with a 16-0 drubbing of Latvia. I don't agree with everything Don Cherry says, but when it comes to issues of class and honour he is spot on. For those who want to know here is a link to Scott Fisher's report of the game on the Toronto Sun website.

Canada, did we really need to light the lamp sixteen times on Latvia? What was the motive: Returning earlier favours to the powerful Latvians? Sending a message to the tiny Baltic nation in case we meet again in the playoff rounds? As if the match was not a forlorn conclusion at 5-0 or 6-0, but sixteen goals?

CBC said "Canada defeats Latvia in style" and includes a picture of Canadian players celebrating in front of Latvia's bench. The Star questions the necessity of the 16-0 scoreline on their website, so there are some people in Canada that question the players need to go over the top. TSN would not except anything less than one goal against, so I neglected to provide a link to their pro-Canadian bias, over-the-top, fate of the world at stake reporting of the 16-0 'thumping'...?

I couldn't help it; I had to include it.

Going back to what I said earlier, Don Cherry acknowledges the presence of 'the karma of the game' and 'hockey gods'. When scores such as 16-0 or 82-0 (see Women's Hockey: Slovakia vs Bulgaria) take place, the gods have a way of administering payback in future games, if not the next game. Dear Canada, when you are down 1-0 and hitting post after post to a team that took only one shot on net, remember this day.