Well Christmas is now over, and it is time for one of my favourite traditions of the holiday season.
The Golden Rockets may be off for a couple weeks, but the World Junior Hockey Championship, this year taking place in Calgary and Edmonton, should take care of my hockey cravings for a while.
The excitement of that tournament is unmatched, and every year it seems to get better and better.
There is something very special about a competition that intense, between young passionate players who do not yet make seven-figure salaries.
For those of you who don’t know, Canada was quite the legacy a few years back. The boys in red had won the gold medal five years in a row.
The first year in that streak, the team featured future superstar Sidney Crosby. He scored six goals, and three assists to help Team Canada win its first gold medal in eight years.
But in 2010, the same year Crosby scored the golden goal in the Vancouver Olympics, the streak was broken, and Canada lost the final game to the United States, earning them the silver.
The following year, with a roster that featured future NHLers like Breyden Schenn now playing with the Philadelphia Flyers, the team had the same unfortunate fate.
Team Canada made it to the gold medal game, but lost to Russia.
It is time to get back onto our winning streak.
I have come to terms with the fact that my beloved Vancouver Canucks may never win a Stanely Cup. This past year may be the closest I ever see them get.
So I need to put all my hopes and dreams into another team.
The tournament opened this year, as it does every year, on Boxing Day, with Canada playing Switzerland. But the highlight is sure to be the customary New Year’s Eve game against the United States.
For the last several years my friends and I refused to leave the house to commence New Year’s celebrations until we watched that game.
There are so many things going on in Golden this year on New Year’s Eve, so this may, unfortunately, be the year that tradition is broken. But I suppose that is what Blackberries and iPhones are for, automatic updates no matter where you go.
So if you get a chance, watch some of the tournament, have a happy New Year’s and Go Canada Go.
