It's been over two weeks since the NHL shut down.
Two weeks since we have seen any good hockey. With the exception of the USA/Russia preliminary round game, the Olympics so far have been a bust so far, at least in my opinion and in terms of entertainment. Well, if not a bust, at least a little boring, thanks to bad seeding rules, weak teams, and large ice surfaces that ironically slow the game down and make it boring.
I might have missed a solid game or two - I pay over $300 a year to get a "Super Sports Package" which comes with NHL Centre Ice, as well as all NFL,NBA , OHL and MLB games. This insanely expensive, marriage-shaking sports package gives you everything you could conceivable ever want to watch - except TSN 2.
My cable company, which rhymes with Dodgers and is run I think by Vladimir Putin in his spare time, has the money to own the Toronto Blue Jays and half of the Maple Leafs, and yet, even though I spend $300 annually to order their Super Sports package, as well as an additional $250 per month to use a cell phone, the internet, a landline, and to watch other TV, they feel the need to withhold a single, ,mostly garbage, sports channel from me unless I pony up the $4 per month required to watch darts, bowling and the occasional USA vs. Czech Republic Quarter Final game.
Now don't get me wrong, I could afford the four dollars, but shouldn't it come with the so called Super Sports pack? Either way, I digress.
Tomorrow Santa is going to bring me a real hockey game. Canada vs. The USA in an allstar game that matters.
The consensus going in just about boggles one's mind. I see people predicting victory for the USA and disaster for Canada.
Canada. You know, that team that may have set an all-time time of possession record yesterday while directing what had to be over a 100 shots on goal against a team that very clearly and deliberately cheated to get its only goal? They played such a dominating game that people felt the need to call into sports talk radio shows and complain that they were very clearly almost kind of blowing it.
The dissonance between reality and perception hit an all-time whacky high.
One guy said that Canada "needs to start playing like a team."
Like a team that only let in 3 goals in 4 games? Or a team that is 4-0? Wasn't really clear what kind of team he meant.
Another guy said "the Americans have 'American Pride' Canada just doesn't care as much."
There was no word on if he came to this conclusion while watching the game with Mike Milbury.
Then a guy came on and claimed to be "So Canadian I started to cheer for Latvia."
I must not be very Canadian, because I was hoping the Latvian goalie would run into Tonya Harding during the intermission. And I hope the guy who made that phone call gets deported.
Good times.
If you listened to even just ten percent of the anxiety filled wackos out there - ones who I am pretty sure just invent opinions without having done any watching or thinking - you might think that Canada was in danger of losing and becoming the Milli Vanili of hockey teams.
Well, they can lose to the USA, but they have been just about perfect so far. There would be no shame in losing tomorrow to that team. In my mind, it would hardly be a disaster.
Anything can happen in a winner take all single game event. There are no guarantees and regardless of who has played how well, these teams are relatively easily matched up.
And, once you remove two players who are probably two of the five best players in the world from Canada's roster (Stamkos and Tavares) things become a lot more even.
So anything can happen.
But it won't.
Canada is going to dominate this game.
The reason I predict this is based on nothing but math and probability.
See, Sidney Crosby does not have any goals so far. And the team, overall, has suffered some pretty awful luck.
Despite how good or bad the respective teams have played leading up to this game, their play to this point is largely, if not entirely, irrelevant.
Canada is going to win because when Sidney Crosby goes four games with out a goal, and isn't even averaging his casually awesome point and half per game, it's time for an explosion.
Also, he steps up in big games, historically.
I don't even need to go into any other factors about who might effect the game and why. The Canadians are just simply due for an offensive explosion. They have been so ill ridden with bad bounces, goal posts and hot goalies, that they can probably score just by flipping the puck at the goalie from beyond the blue line. They are that due.
Crosby - despite absolutely moronic criticism - has played well. He could literally have done nothing different and had 10+ points and been leading the tournament in scoring. He's just been unlucky and he's due to explode.
So, barring another appearance by old Tonya Harding, Crosby will lead Canada to victory tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
Tweet me:@coyotes1234