Four seconds: Sidney Crosby's goal like you've never seen it: How a few minor mistakes, barely noticeable acts of brilliance and decades of preparation handed Sidney Crosby -- and Canada -- a golden moment

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 10:33 AM - 7 comments

Canada captures gold : Canada is once again on top of the hockey world as they have defeated the United States 3-2 in overtime in the gold medal game at the Olympic hockey tournament.

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 06:11 PM - 79 comments

Team Canada squeaks into gold medal game: Eight years after Canada upended the U.S.A. in Salt Lake City for its 1st Olympic gold medal in men's hockey in 50 years, the North American rivals will meet again. The Canadians hung on for a nervous 3-2 victory in their semifinal against Slovakia on Friday.

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 12:19 AM - 9 comments

USA hammer Finland to advance to gold medal game : Finland were their own worst enemy in this one as they were hammered 6-1 by the Americans in their semifinal encounter. Patrick Kane scored twice in a six goal explosion in the opening period as the Americans now await the winner of the second semifinal between Canada and Slovakia later today. "When you are down 6-0 after 12 minutes, you know the game is pretty much over," said Finland's assistant captain Teemu Selanne afterwards. "You play for pride but it's tough."

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 05:30 PM - 11 comments

Canadian women beat U.S.A. for hockey gold: The Canadian women, who only gave up two goals this entire Olympic hockey tournament, have their three-peat. Finnish women take hockey bronze in OT thriller In the "other" noted rivalry game in women's hockey, Finland took down Sweden in a 3-2 overtime thriller on Thursday to steal the bronze medal, taking a spot on the podium for the first time since women's hockey was introduced at the Games in 1998.

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 11:24 PM - 25 comments

Slovakia advances to semi-final after dethroning Sweden : There will be a new Olympic champion this year as Slovakia moves on after beating Sweden 4-3 on Wednesday night. The win secures Slovakia's highest ever finish at the Olympic Games. Pavel Kubina looks for his hat, Finns knock off Czechs, An IIHF rule designed to protect players' heads cost the Czech Republic an Olympic quarterfinal game against Finland on Wednesday.

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 10:30 AM - 2 comments

Canada thumps Russia to advance to semifinals : OK, nobody saw that coming. United States survives a scare It had been a slow start to the Olympic tournament for Zach Parise, the most accomplished American goal-scorer and the closest player they have at the moment to a Sidney Crosby.

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 10:47 PM - 18 comments

Brodeur's mistakes sink Canadians: There are two elements that every hockey team in the Olympics is trying desperately to grasp. One is teamwork; when you are a collection of stars, it's hard to create a working constellation in a week. On Sunday, for long stretches, Canada did just that. But the second plank is goaltending, and last night, Canada's was shaky enough in a 5-3 loss to the United States that the whole premise of this team is suddenly in question. Martin Brodeur, when his career is done, may be the greatest goaltender of all time. Sunday night, he wasn't. As a result of that -- that and a hungrier American team -- Canada now seems to be headed for a game with Germany to reach the quarter-finals, where Russia may await. If you were paying attention in Torino, that's how the ship began to sink.

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 10:38 PM - 39 comments

Tiger Woods sorry, admits all: 'I had affairs. I cheated' : Disgraced golf superstar Tiger Woods is sorry. Mr. Woods said he and wife Elin Nordegren have started to deal with his infidelities. His wife was not obviously present at the event. “My real apology to her will not come in the form of words, it will come in the form of my behaviour over time.” “I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did was not acceptable.” “I brought this shame on myself. I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife’s family, my friends, my foundation and kids all around the world who admired me. I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I’ve done. My failures have made me look at myself in a way I never wanted to before. It’s now up to me to make amends. And that starts by never repeating the mistakes I’ve made.” Mr. Woods said he plans to return to golf, perhaps this year. “When I return, I need to make my behaviour more respectful for the game.” Audio of his statement included in article.

posted by tommytrump to golf at 11:49 AM - 57 comments

Wizards and Mavericks agree to multiple-player trade involving Caron Butler & Josh Howard: The Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks have swapped Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden and two other players.

posted by tommytrump to basketball at 07:53 PM - 3 comments

Argonauts sale has opened a can of worms: Having once had two teams with the same nickname, the Canadian Football League has now taken the position it isn't harmful to have two teams with one owner. Argonauts officially fall under Braley's control & Braley takeover of Argos damages CFL integrity

posted by tommytrump to football at 01:40 PM - 2 comments

The New Orleans Saints win the Super Bowl: The New Orleans Saints have won Super Bowl XLIV. They beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 at Sun Life Stadium in South Florida. Saints quarterback Drew Brees was 32 of 39 for 288 yards and two touchdowns. But it was the big 75-yard interception return for a touchdown by cornerback Tracy Porter that sealed the deal.

posted by tommytrump to football at 09:54 PM - 93 comments

QMJHL suspends Marco Scandella indefinitely : For the second time in less than 3 weeks, the QMJHL has suspended one of its players indefinitely for elbowing an opponent in the head. And for the 2nd time, the incident involves a member of Team Canada’s silver-medal-winning 2010 world junior team. Val d’Or Foreurs defenceman Marco Scandella has been suspended pending a disciplinary investigation into an elbow he dished out against Rimouski Océanic forward Alexandre Durette during the first period of a game Wednesday night. The impact reportedly shattered Durette’s protective visor and left him with a concussion and deep cuts to his face. Video: Marco Scandella strikes Alexandre Durette in the face with his elbow

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 02:19 PM - 0 comments

Negro Leagues museum threatened : The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a unique window into a vital chapter of American history that the late Buck O'Neil helped open 20 years ago, could be in trouble. Attendance and revenues are down, and a decision by new management to distance itself from O'Neil has splintered many of its most loyal supporters. What's more, the recession has cut deeply into donations. After posting its first loss two years ago of about US$30,000, the museum is looking at what one staffer termed “a monster loss” that could approach a quarter of a million dollars when the final accounting for 2009 is complete.

posted by tommytrump to culture at 07:24 PM - 13 comments

Calgary Flames deal Dion Phaneuf to Leafs : The Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off a seven-player trade with the Calgary Flames. Toronto landed star defenceman Dion Phaneuf. The Leafs sent forwards Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers and defenceman Ian White to the Flames for Phaneuf, forward Fredrik Sjostrom and defenceman Keith Aulie. Leaf G.M. Brian Burke said he hopes to announce a second trade shortly. Also, he said his salary-cap situation will be "manageable" if the second deal goes through. The Leafs are near the NHL cap of $56.8-million. "Right now it's like a new pair of underwear, it's uncomfortably tight."

In the Toronto Maple Leafs second (but not sloppy) trade of the day, they have aquired Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the Anaheim Ducks' all-time winningest goalie . The Ducks will receive goalie Vesa Toskala and winger Jason Blake in return.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 12:43 PM - 14 comments

Colts Put Emphatic End to Jets’ Surprising Run : The New York Jets’ fairy-tale season ended Sunday in the American Football Conference championship game, finished not so much by bad bounces, or poor play, but by an elite quarterback named Peyton Manning playing near his peak. He threw three touchdown passes in the Colts’ 30-17 victory at the loud, full Lucas Oil Stadium, blanketed in blue. The Indianapolis Colts advanced to the Super Bowl, held two weeks from now in Miami Gardens, Fla., against Minnesota or New Orleans. The Jets, who finished the regular season 9-7 and sneaked into these playoffs, are now 41 seasons removed from their last Super Bowl appearance.

posted by tommytrump to football at 06:31 PM - 30 comments

Blind skier included in strong Canadian team: Brian McKeever became the first athlete to gain selection for a Winter Olympics and a Paralympics in the same year when he was included in a strong Canadian cross country team for next month's Vancouver Games. McKeever, who suffers from Stargardt's disease and is legally blind, effectively booked his place on the 11-member squad by winning an able-bodied 50-km race in Canmore, Alberta last month.

posted by tommytrump to olympics at 06:52 PM - 1 comment

Junior Team Canada captain suspended after head hit, faces possible criminal charges: Team Canada (U20) captain Patrice Cormier has been suspended indefinitely by the Quebec junior hockey league after a vicious head-hunting elbow left one of his opponents writhing on the ice. Cormier, a centre who belongs to the New Jersey Devils organization, captained the Canadian squad at the recent World Junior Championships. Now he faces a criminal investigation by Sret de Qubec. Some reports have suggested that it was hall of fame goalkeeper Patrick Roy, coach of the Quebec Remparts, who phoned the police. Cormier came off the bench and made a beeline for Tam, who was skating through the neutral zone after dishing off the puck. In full flight, the 19-year-old Cormier clipped Tam in the head with an elbow. Tam crumpled at centre ice. Within seconds, he was convulsing. (Video of incident is linked in article.)

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 02:00 PM - 20 comments

Jets Advance to A.F.C. Title Game : Discounted yet again, regarded by some as the weakest team remaining in these N.F.L. playoffs, the Jets traveled across the country and delivered the most surprising upset of this season. On a playoff weekend when every top seed advanced in the three games before this one, the Jets pulled the only upset, one sure to place the spotlight on Norv Turner, the Chargers coach with the underwhelming playoff record. The Jets? They get a rematch with Indianapolis, the team that started the chain of events that allowed the Jets to end up here. It was the Colts who pulled their starters in the second-to-last game of the regular season. The Jets won that game and two games against the Bengals and this game against the favored Chargers.

posted by tommytrump to football at 09:06 PM - 28 comments

Thunder in the Dome as Saints Advance to N.F.C. Title Game : To motivate his Saints against the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday, New Orleans Coach Sean Payton gave them baseball bats marked with the words “bring the wood.” Running back Reggie Bush did the coach one better when the Saints took the field before the roaring throng at the Superdome. Bush ran at the front of the pack and brandished his bat like some sort of Olympic torch. “He didn’t know I was going to bring it out,” Bush said. “That was on my own.” Bush followed through. He scored two dramatic touchdowns and gained 217 yards through rushes, pass receptions and punt returns as the Saints crushed the Cardinals, 45-14.

posted by tommytrump to football at 10:05 AM - 4 comments

Well-Rested Manning Leads Colts Past Ravens : The Indianapolis Colts probably will not hold up Saturday night’s game as a monument to avoiding rust during a playoff bye week, considering that Ed Reed improbably intercepted Peyton Manning twice on the same third-quarter drive. But after nearly a month at the center of the debate about whether teams should rest their starters in meaningless games — and whether their own history of shaky playoff performances suggested they made the wrong choice — the Colts provided the answer: this time, it worked for them, 20-3 over the Ravens.

posted by tommytrump to football at 10:00 AM - 7 comments

Referee controversy ripples around NHL: Vancouver Canucks forward Alex Burrows told reporters referee Stephane Auger made calls against him in the Canucks' 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Monday to settle a personal score over an incident between the two earlier this season. "It was personal. It started in warm-up before the anthem. The ref came over to me and said I made him look bad on the Smithson hit. The Canucks winger said Auger told him before the game that he would exact personal revenge for Burrows showing him up in a game earlier this season. Burrows was referring to a five-minute charging penalty Auger assessed Nashville's Jerred Smithson on Dec. 8. He said he was going to get me back tonight and he did his job in the third. Burrows was assessed three minor penalties, including one for diving, and a 10-minute misconduct for squawking at Auger with less than four seconds remaining.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 10:06 PM - 39 comments

Cardinals win epic battle with Packers to advance: Arizona cornerback Michael Adams, scorched and penalized all day, waited until the final play to, well, finally make a play. He sacked Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers in overtime. The ball bounced off Rodgers' foot and into the hands of linebacker Karlos Dansby, who returned it 16 yards to a score to give the Cardinals a 51-45 victory over the Packers in the first round of the playoffs at University of Phoenix Stadium. It was the highest scoring game in NFL playoff history. The Packers scored touchdowns on all five of their second-half possessions to overcome a 21-point deficit, and tied the game with 1:52 left.

posted by tommytrump to football at 09:28 PM - 33 comments

Ravens start fast, finish strong in first-round win: After beating the most successful franchise of the 2000s (the Patriots won three titles), the Baltimore Ravens advance to play at the winningest team of the decade, the top-seeded Indianapolis Colts.

posted by tommytrump to football at 04:20 PM - 29 comments

KHL Brawl clears benches, ends game after 4 minutes. : The Kontinental Hockey League may be taking the NHL's bottom-tier and overage players for the most part, but one thing they've provided to the hockey world in their two seasons of existence is plenty of YouTube-worthy brawls. Just over a week ago Barys Astana and SKA St. Petersburg had a brawl that featured former NHL'ers Sergei Zubov, Oleg Saprykin, Kevin Dallman, Robert Esche, and even a goalie-on-defenseman scrap. Sovetsky Sport writer Genadi Boguslavski tweeted out details of today's punch-up that featured Vityaz Chekhov and Avangard Omsk. It didn't take long for things to go from a line-brawl to the bench-clearing variety. This first video features Jaromir Jagr in a bit of a tussle and apparently trying out some new Greco-Roman wrestling moves.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 10:41 AM - 7 comments