Olympics
If you didn't watch Canada's, and the World's, best ever ice dance pair perform, you missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity as Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir put in a sensational gold medal effort. Knowing that they had to be almost perfect to overtake the French duo, the five-time medalists (three gold, two silver) poured their heart and soul into their last Olympic performance and it couldn't have turned out any better. Talk about leaving your "profession" while you're on top! Simply fabulous!
As I put "pen to paper" after Day 10, we have won 19 total medals (8-5-6) with more to come and are on pace to beat our record medal count.
Trivia time: four parts, what is our record haul number, where and when did we do it and what is so special about it?
Both the men's (Koe) and women's (Homan) curling teams are facing increasingly tough competition at PyeongChang but I'm sure their experience and skill will serve them well in their upcoming games. The glory days of Canada totally dominating the rest of the world on the pebbled ice is certainly now a thing of the past and everyone knows it. Ask any of the curlers and everyone to a man (or woman) will tell you that on any given day, any team at the Olympics can beat you, so you better get your head on right and bring your "A" game for each draw.
To no one's surprise, the United States women's hockey team will play Canada in the gold medal game and once again it will be an action packed barn burner - it always is. Both teams know their opponent so well and if past Olympics are any indication, it's going to be a tossup. The Americans have lost the last two gold medal games to their arch rivals from the Great White North and nothing will make them happier than to come out on top this time around. Sorry Yanks, it ain't happening.
On the men's side, Canada is in tough, playing Finland in the quarter finals and they'll have to be at their best to advance to the semis. The OAR (the BS name for the Olympic Athletes from Russia) will be the team to beat if anyone has any thoughts about taking home gold.
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are "living life large" experiencing their own "miracle on ice" these days, winning on a regular basis and the last thing they want right now is somebody waking them up from their Lalaland. I'm sure upper management must be pinching themselves these days, they cannot believe how far they have come in such a short time. After missing the playoffs four out the last five years, the Jets' brass have traded and drafted well and they knew they were on the right course but I'm sure they didn't expect these kinds of positive results, so many, so soon.
The two biggest surprises have to be goalie Connor Hellebuyck and team captain Blake Wheeler, as both have equally shared carrying this team a long way on their broad shoulders. Their consistent gritty play serves as an excellent example for the younger players to try and emulate as this is the type of effort it's going to take for them to take that next important step up the proverbial ladder. Many think that this is the "year of the Jets", that the stars are properly aligned and everything is falling nicely into place. Let's hope so!
Oil Capitals
With only three games left in their regular season schedule, the Virden Oil Capitals find themselves in a real dogfight with the Terriers, one point up on Portage but they have a game in hand. Last home game is Saturday, Mar. 3 when the Dauphin Kings come to TOGP. Either way, the Caps will go into battle with either the Winnipeg Blues or the Selkirk Steelers come play-off time. Virden's own Tyler Kirkup is having a great season and leads the team with 69 points followed by Kirklan Lycar and Kyle Salaway.
Trivia answer: our record is 26 medals from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics where we set a record for the most gold medals won by a country with 14. Until next time....
