Nothing to be ashamed of
Sometimes playing your best is just not good enough
The Americans upset Canada 2-0 Tuesday to take the gold medal at the world junior hockey tournament in Edmonton.
Canada had never trailed in the tournament prior to the gold-medal game and when the USA jumped ahead 1-0 and then 2-0 early in the second period, one could sense the outcome was one that might not go Canada’s way.
The Canadians, touted as the best club this country had ever sent to the tournament, outshot the U.S., but excellent goaltending by Spencer Knight and superlative defensive play in their own end salted the game away.
It was a sad ending for the Canadians, who rolled over the Russians in the semifinal and established themselves as heavy favourites. Ironically, the only loss the USA suffered was the 5-3 setback to Russia.
Team Canada has nothing to be ashamed about. They gave 100 per cent with no passengers in the lineup and earned the silver medal. In sports, sometimes a team will give all it has, and the outcome does not go its way. That’s why they play the games. Instead of blaming the officials or bad calls, athletes should shake hands with their
opponents and give credit to Team USA, who was the better club on this particular night.
BASKETBALL
The Toronto Raptors allowed Serge Ibaka to walk this past summer, showing little interest in signing him, after he insisted he wanted to stay in Toronto. Now they are paying the price.
Ibaka joined ex-Raptor Kawhi Leonard with the L.A. Clippers, while another Raptors big man, Marc Gasol, joined LeBron James with the L.A. Lakers, leaving the Raptors noticeably short on depth and in team rebounding.
I love head coach Nick Nurse, who benched Pascal Siakam, the forward who walked to the dressing room after fouling out of a recent game, but I don’t think Nurse has the horses right now.
In local basketball, All Aspects Basketball is running basketball programs for all ages out of the Murphy Community Centre in Charlottetown from now until March 7. Spots are limited, so check out registration information on All Aspects Basketball’s social media sites.
HARNESS RACING
Jamie MacKinley has landed the nine-year-old pacer Boomboom Ballykeel p, 1:50:4 ($976,487), who will make his stallion debut at Jamie’s JJ Farm in Cornwall. The pacer is by Mach Three and should make an ideal outcross to the many Western Hanover line mares in the region.
One of Ontario’s top threeyear-olds from last season, Beaumond Hanover (by Sportswriter), has been sold by owner Jack Darling to USA interests. He’ll be racing the open types south of the border.
Wally Hennessey had a pair of winners on the 10-dash Tuesday card at Pompano where the pari-mutual handle exceeded $1.16 million, a huge bet for Pompano. On Monday night, patrons played $1.3 million, a record for the South Florida track, and P.E.I. native John MacDonald, Toby’s boy, won the $11,500 open trot with Cantab Lindy in 1:54:1. Windemere Ryan was second in 1:52:1.
I was surprised that Dr. Ian Moore did not make it into the final two nominees for
O’Brien trainer of the year in Canada. Moore sent out Breeders Crown winner Century Farrow, top sophomore Tattoo Artist and the leading money winning freshman pacer in Lawless Shadow
among numerous other stake winners. The vote must have been close with Moore, trainer Luc Blais, along with finalists Ben Baillargeon and Richard Moreau, who runs a large stable of overnight horses. All
are solid candidates, but in my opinion Moore accomplished more.