College Bowl Preview: The Citrus Bowl

                Today we conclude with our previews of the college bowl games with a look at the Citrus Bowl that will be held in the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium on New Year’s Day. Kick off will be 1 p.m. There is really no great significance to this game considering both teams have three losses on the year, but the game features the Michigan Wolverines and the Florida Gators, and the Wolverines just happen to be my favourite team in College Football, so we’re going to talk about them.

                Michigan, in Jim Harbaugh’s first season as the head coach at Ann Arbor, are starting to climb out of the seven years of mediocrity that has plagued the team since Lloyd Carr left at the end of the 2007 season. In fact, following that season, the Wolverines met the Gators in the Capital One Bowl on New Year’s Day in 2008, a 41-35 Michigan victory. It was the last time the two teams met each other.

                Since Carr’s departure, there’s been nothing but turmoil in Michigan, save for the 2011 season, which was the first season of Brady Hoke’s dubious four years at the helm for the Wolverines. His predecessor, Rich Rodriguez, wasn’t given enough time to implement his system for success and he was let go after only three seasons. The 2011 Wolverines, who finished 11-2, won the Sugar Bowl and beat Ohio State (the only time since 2003 they’ve done so), can all be attributed to Rodriguez, even though Hoke was the head coach. They were the players Rodriguez recruited that led the team to the Sugar Bowl win and every year that Hoke was in charge, Michigan got considerably worse.

                Enter Harbaugh, who Michigan was able to lure away from the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers for a nice chunk of change, who promised a return of the Wolverines to the top of the Big Ten, but made sure everyone knew it would take some time. Although, as it turns out, not as long as may have been thought.

                A 9-3 record is more than what many experts predicted (most were saying 8-4) and if not for a bad snap on a punt in the dying seconds against Michigan State, it would have been 10-2. Harbaugh has stamped his no-nonsense, tough defense, run-the-ball offense trademark on the Wolverines and once he’s able to recruit more of his type of players, expect Michigan to challenge for not only a Big Ten championship, but the National Championship as well.

                For 2015, the Wolverines were led by quarterback, Jake Rudock, who transferred from Iowa after the 2014 season. Despite a rough first outing in a loss to Utah, Rudock bounced back and had a solid year, passing for 2739 yards and 17 touchdowns, while running for 137 yards and four touchdowns. His favourite targets were tight end Jake Butt (48 catches for 620 yards and three touchdowns), and receivers Amara Darboh (56 for 703 and five touchdowns) and Jehu Chesson (45 for 646 and eight touchdowns.)

                On the ground, De’Veon Smith had the most carries and ended up with 644 yards and six TDs. But six other players (including Rudock) also had more than a hundred yards.

                Defensive back, Jabrill Peppers was the spark plug on defense and special teams and even played some offense, reminding many of former Wolverine DB and 1997 Heisman Trophy winner, Charles Woodson. Peppers will be a junior next year and will be even better than he was in 2015. Chances are if he’s too much better, he won’t have a senior season and go right to the NFL in 2017.

                All in all, it was a good turnaround season for the Wolverines who finally look they are turning around and heading in the right direction. While it would be optimistic to think that they will be even better next year, I don’t see any reason why they won’t be, although wins against arch-rivals Michigan State and Ohio State will still be tough as both of those games will be on the road in 2016.

                Expect the Wolverines to finish their season strong with a win over Florida in the Citrus Bowl. Florida’s offense has looked weak over the last several games but their defense is one of the best. It should be a low-scoring game.

Prediction: Michigan-21, Florida-10

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College Bowl Previews: Peach, Fiesta, Rose and Sugar

                Today, we will preview the other four major bowls and we’ll start with the Peach Bowl which will precede the CFP semi-finals on New Year’s Eve. The Peach Bowl kicks off at noon and will feature the Houston Cougars and the Florida State Seminoles.

                Houston comes into the bowl ranked number 18 in the country. They have a 12-1 record and won the American Athletic Conference championship after defeating the Temple Owls in the championship game by a score of 24-13. While the AAC isn’t one of the big five conferences and Houston benefited from playing in a weaker conference, a 12-1 record is a pretty impressive performance. The Cougars biggest win of the year was a 52-21 defeat of Navy on the last week of the regular season.

                The Florida State Seminoles come off a rather disappointing year where they finished 10-2 after winning the National Championship in 2013 and being one of the semi-finalists in the CFP last year. Losing a standout quarterback like Jameis Winston did hurt, but Sean McGuire, who won the starting job midway through the season, performed well once he got the full time gig, passing for 1128 yards and nine touchdowns. He only lost one game as the starter and that was to ACC conference champ and undefeated Clemson.

                Expect the ACC to show the dominance over Houston, a result of a team from a big five conference playing a team from a weaker one.

Prediction: Florida State-42, Houston-17

                On to New Year’s Day and we start with the Fiesta Bowl, which kicks off at 1 pm (11 am local time in Phoenix) and sees the number seven Ohio State Buckeyes take on the eighth-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

                I believe the Irish have been playing over their heads all year and are not as good as their 10-2 record indicates. By not playing in a conference, the Irish get to pick and choose their opponents and, I’m sorry, but I’m not impressed with wins over the likes of Temple and Boston College. And while they did hang tough with the Clemson Tigers and Stanford Cardinal, I think Notre Dame has been overrated all season long.

                Having said that, I believe they have a good chance to win this game as the Buckeyes have been underachieving all year. Despite having an 11-1 record, Ohio State didn’t play like the defending National Champions. There was a quarterback controversy that was not handled well by head coach, Urban Meyer. There were unimpressive wins over Northern Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota, then there was the lackluster performance against Michigan State, a 17-14 loss to the Spartans that was the Buckeyes only loss of the year.

                Running back Ezekiel Elliott was very vocal about the lack of plays that gave him the ball during the Spartans’ victory and has expressed he wasn’t happy with the coaches and has already declared for the NFL draft. The Buckeyes are a powder keg just waiting for someone to strike a match to blow it up and that match will be struck by the Irish.

Prediction: Notre Dame-27, Ohio State-21

                The Rose Bowl will be up next and will feature the six-ranked, and Pac-12 Champions, the Stanford Cardinal against the number five Iowa Hawkeyes, who lost the Big Ten Championship Game to Michigan State, and in doing so, also lost their chance to be one of the semi-finalists.

                The Hawkeyes have been flying under the radar all season long, despite finishing the regular season a perfect 12-0. Critics slammed them for playing in a week Big Ten West and they didn’t get a sniff of the top spot of the CFP rankings until the middle of November. But a strong showing against the Spartans in the Big Ten final proved they deserve to be ranked in the top five and should be able to beat Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

                The Cardinal defeated the USC Trojans in the Pac-12 Championship and come into the game with an 11-2 record. Stanford was very close to going undefeated this year as they lost their first game of the season, 16-6 to another Big Ten team, the Northwestern Wildcats. Their other loss was in November when they dropped a tough 38-36 decision to the Oregon Ducks. Their loss against Northwestern was the only game of the thirteen they played that the Cardinal offense didn’t score thirty points or more.

                The Hawkeyes defense will be challenged but they will keep Stanford in check and win another Rose Bowl for the Big Ten.

Prediction: Iowa-28, Stanford-24

                And finally, the last of the major bowls will be the Sugar Bowl, which will kick off in New Orleans at 8 pm on New Year’s Night. It will feature a couple of second-best teams as the Big 12 runner-up, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, will take on the second-best in the SEC West, the Ole Miss Rebels.

                Ole Miss comes into the game with a 9-3 record and ranked number 12 in the country. Three losses include a 53-52 overtime loss to Arkansas, a 37-24 failure against Memphis and a 38-10 drubbing at the hands of the Florida Gators, the winners of the SEC East and losers to Alabama in the SEC Championship game. It must be frustrating to the Gators to be passed over for a CFP bowl after having defeated Ole Miss earlier in the year but the selection committee decided on the Rebels, who handed Alabama their only loss of the season back in September 43-37.

                Oklahoma State looked well on their way to a spot in the semi-finals after starting 10-0, but losses to Baylor, 45-35, and Oklahoma, 58-23, derailed that train pretty quick. Still, at 10-2, the Cowboys come into the Sugar bowl ranked number 16 and should give the Rebels all they can handle.

                In the end, the SEC will prove it’s a better conference than the Big 12 when Ole Miss wins the Sugar Bowl.

Prediction: Ole Miss-34, Oklahoma State, 21

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College Bowl Previews: Cotton and Orange (CFP)

                Now that Christmas has wrapped up and we start planning on a New Year’s resolution to start exercising and dieting to lose that extra weight we all put on over this past weekend, we can also start looking at the major college bowls that will be played on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The College Football Playoff that went into effect last year has expanded the major bowls from four in the old days of the BCS system (those bowls were the Fiesta, Rose, Orange and Sugar) to six (the Cotton and Peach are now included.) The CFP semi-finals are rotated among the six bowls each year. Last year it was the Rose and the Sugar, this year will be the Cotton and the Orange.

                Today we will look at the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl, the CFP semi-final games that will take place on New Year’s Eve. The winners of these games will play for the College Football National Championship on January 11.

                The Orange Bowl will kick off at 4 pm on New Year’s Eve with the undefeated, number one ranked Clemson Tigers taking on the number four seed Oklahoma Sooners. The Tigers are in pursuit of their first National Championship since 1981 and are the ACC championships having won all thirteen of their games.

                After having come into the season ranked only at number 12 in the national polls, Clemson quickly asserted itself as a contender by beating the number six Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the fourth week of the season. After beating the pre-season ACC favourite Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets the following week (hard to believe GT was favoured to win the ACC after their pitiful season) and Boston College in Week 6, Clemson thrashed the Miami Hurricanes by a score of 58-0.

                By the end of the season, though, Clemson seemed to struggle a bit in finishing with their unbeaten record. The regular season finale, against intra-state rival South Carolina, ended in a 37-32 win for the Tigers. The Gamecocks had not played well for the entire season, but almost managed to pull off the upset. Then there was the ACC Championship Game against North Carolina, where the Tigers finished the game with a 45-37 victory. So while the offense has lit up opponents all season, the defense has been a bit suspect and that could cause some concern against Oklahoma.

                The Sooners are the Big-12 Champions and are coming into the Orange Bowl on quite a roll. An 11-1 season saw Oklahoma suffer their only lost against a mediocre Texas Longhorns team back in October. The worst performance of the year for the Sooners, obviously, seemed to wake them up as they scored more than 50 points in five of their final seven games. Being led by quarterback, Baker Mayfield and running back, Samaje Perine, the Sooners must be licking their chops for a shot at Clemson’s defense and are looking for a shot to put up 50 once more.

                The question is whether or not the Oklahoma defense will be able to contain Deshaun Watson. The Tigers’ quarterback had an exceptional season, throwing for 3512 yards and 30 touchdowns, while also rushing for 887 yards and 11 touchdowns. Watson can beat you by himself in the air and on the ground. If Oklahoma can stop him, they can win. But no one has been able to stop him thus far in 2015.

                Look for a high-scoring game with Clemson winning a squeaker in the end.

Prediction: Clemson-45, Oklahoma-41

                As for the Cotton Bowl, which is finally significant again after being spurned by the BCS, the Alabama Crimson Tide, ranked number two, get another shot at a Big Ten team in the CFP semi-final after faltering against Ohio State in last year’s Sugar Bowl. The Tide are the only team from last year’s final four to make it again and are looking for their fourth NCAA championship in the last seven years under head coach, Nick Saban.

                Once again, the same as in 2014, Alabama’s only loss in their road to the SEC championship was at the hands of Ole Miss. The Rebels seem to have the Tide’s number, but Bama rebounded quite nicely after the loss in September.

                Alabama is led offensively by quarterback, Jake Coker (2489 passing yards and 17 touchdowns) and by Heisman-winning running back, Derrick Henry. On his way to the Heisman, Henry broke the SEC rushing record with 1986 yards and carried the ball into the end zone 23 times. He also captured the Doak Walker Award (NCAA’s top running back), the Maxwell Award (College Player of the Year voted by the media and NCAA head coaches) and the Walter Camp Award (Player of the year voted by the NCAA head coaches—no, I don’t know why the head coaches vote on two awards).

                Even though Henry got off to a slow start in the SEC Championship Game (although a strong second half brought his rush total to almost 190), Bama’s defense stifled the Florida Gators and will be looking to do the same to Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.

                The Spartans, the Big Ten Champs after having knocked off Ohio State back in November and defeated previously undefeated Iowa in the Big Ten championship game, will be looking to upset the Tide this year, much as the Buckeyes did last year. The Spartans lost one game—a shocking upset at the hands of the 5-7 Nebraska Cornhuskers back in October. After watching the Spartans in every other game this year, it’s hard to figure that loss out. But it doesn’t matter any more as MSU is only two victories away from being the second Big Ten team to win the CFP.

                On offense, the Spartans are led by quarterback, Connor Cook, who threw for 2921 yards and 24 touchdowns despite missing the game against Ohio State. Michigan State’s defense is ranked seventh in the nation against the run, but that ranking will be put to the test when they square off against Henry and the Tide’s offensive line.

                As much as I am a Big Ten supporter, I don’t think the Spartans will pull off the upset that Ohio State did last year. I expect Alabama to jump ahead quickly and continue to pull away for the duration of the game. The Tide will win big.

Prediction: Alabama-38, Michigan State-14

                If my predictions hold true and Alabama and Clemson play in the Championship game on January 11, I would expect the Tide to win their fourth title while under Saban. Their defense will be able to stop Deshaun Watson and the Tigers’ defense will have their hands full with Derrick Henry.

CFP Final Prediction: Alabama-42, Clemson-27

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The World Juniors: Five In A Row, Part 2: 2005-09

                After not winning a medal in the 1998 tournament, Canada lost the gold medal final in 1999 in overtime against Russia. Then there were two years of winning bronze before losing three consecutive gold medal games, 2002 and 2003 against Russia and 2004 against the United States, all three games decided by one goal. So while Canada was the only team to medal in those six years, the gold that used to come so frequently was eluding them.

2005: Grand Folks, North Dakota, USA

Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby

                Due to labour strife in the NHL, Canada would have the fortune of having another dream team with the likes of Jeff Carter, Ryan Getzlaf and Andrew Ladd up front, with Dion Phaneuf and Shea Webber leading the defense. Jeff Glass was solid in goal, and add in an undrafted, seventeen-year-old Sidney Crosby and this team had the makings of being the best in tournament history.

                A perfect 4-0 record in the preliminary round, with victories against Slovakia (7-3), Sweden (8-1), German (9-0) and Finland (8-1), gave Canada a bye in the quarter-finals and put them directly into the semis. There they defeated the Czechs 3-1 and advanced to face the Russians in the gold medal game.

                The Russians had a pretty impressive team of their own, led by Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin. In fact, Ovechkin was bold enough to predict a Russian victory in the final. After the first period ended with Canada ahead 2-1, the Canadians scored four in the second en route to a 6-1 win and ended the longest gold medal drought in the country’s history.

                Canada’s Patrice Bergeron was the tourney’s leading scorer with 13 points and won the most valuable player award.

2006: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

                Canada was not favoured to win the gold, as only one player returned from the dream team of 2005, and the Americans, with nine first round draft picks in their line-up, looked like the odds-on favourite. But for the second straight year, Canada would win every game at the tournament. Their four wins in the preliminary round were against Finland (5-1), Switzerland (4-3), Norway (4-0) and the United States (3-2).

                Only one Canadian finished in the top 10 in scoring for the tournament as the goals were spread evenly around the players. Blake Comeau was the player in the top 10 with only seven points, but Dustin Boyd, Cam Barker, Steve Downie and Luc Bourdon has six each while five others registered five. Justin Pogge was the number one goaltender for the Canadians.

                In the semi finals, Canada played the Czechs and shut them out 4-0. Another shutout followed in the gold medal game. This time it was 5-0 as Canada beat the Russians for the second year in a row. The heavily favoured US team didn’t even medal as they were eliminated in the quarters by the Czechs.

2007: Mora and Leksand, Sweden

                Winning gold was starting to become routine again for Canada, as they would have little problem capturing it for the third year in a row. Canada was led by netminder, Carey Price, who would go on to be named the tournament’s most valuable player. Jonathon Toews would lead the team in scoring and would get help offensively from Steve Downie, Kris Letang and Kris Russell.

                The preliminary round would again feature a 4-0 record for Canada. Victories over Sweden (2-0), the US (6-3), Germany (3-1) and Slovakia (3-0) would put Canada into the semis against the Americans. Canada beat the US for the second time in the tournament but it wasn’t easy.

                After 60 minutes of regulation and ten minutes of overtime, the game was still tied at one. In the shootout, both teams put two of their three attempts into the net to force a sudden death shootout. Round four saw the shooters from both teams miss. Rounds five and six saw everyone score. On to round seven, where Canada’s coach, Craig Hartsburg, chose Toews to shoot for the third time, and he scored to give Canada the advantage. When Price stopped Peter Mueller’s attempt, Canada was off to the gold medal game against Russia for the third year in a row.

                They defeated the Russians, 4-2, but the championship game—despite being an exciting final—took a backseat to the semi-final victory against the US.

2008: Pardubice and Liberec, Czech Republic

                While Canada’s gold-medal streak continued in 2008, the winning streak came to an end. After two shutouts to start the tournament, over the Czechs (3-0) and Slovakia (2-0), a 4-3 loss to Sweden ended the winning streak at twenty games, dating back to the 2005 tournament. Canada’s last loss had been to the United States in the gold medal game in 2004. However, it was just a minor speed bump in the road to another championship.

                The preliminary round ended with a 4-1 win over Denmark. In the quarter-finals, Canada beat Finland 4-2, then took out the US 4-1 in the semis to set up a rematch with Sweden in the gold medal game and a chance for payback.

                Canada scored two goals in the first period and carried that 2-0 lead into the third, but the Swedes scored two to tie the game—the tying goal coming in the last minute—and send it to overtime. No shootout would be required this time as Canada’s Matthew Halischuk scored 3:36 into the extra frame to give Canada it’s fourth straight medal.

                Kyle Turris was Canada’s leading scorer with eight points.

2009: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

                Another year, another undefeated tournament for Canada. Their perfect 6-0 record made their total record, for the five straight gold medal tourneys, 30 wins and only one loss. Their four preliminary round wins were against the Czech Republic (8-1), Kazakhstan (15-0), Germany (5-1) and the United States (7-4).

                The only real test of the tournament was the semi-final against Russia. Trailing 5-4 with time winding down, Canada’s Jordan Eberle found himself in possession with the puck in front of the Russian net with only seconds remaining. After some quick stick work, Eberle tucked the puck behind Russian goalie, Vadim Zhelobnyuk, and into the net to tie the game with only five seconds remaining. When the ten-minute overtime settled nothing, the game went into a shootout. Eberle was able to score the shootout winner as well and Canada was off to the gold medal game against the Swedes.

                Although Sweden out shot Canada 40-31 in the game, Canadian goaltender, Dustin Tokarski, was solid as his team won 5-1 and they captured their fifth straight gold medal.

                The streak ended the following year when Canada lost in overtime of the gold medal game to the United States by a score of 6-5. For a while it looked like destiny was on Canada’s side to win a sixth straight gold, as the team trailed 5-3 late in the third, yet scored two goals in the final three minutes to tie it up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. 

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The World Juniors: Five In A Row, Part 1: 1993-97

                As we are only a handful of days away from the beginning of the World Junior Hockey Championship, it would be good to look the unprecedented run the Canadians had of five gold medal victories in a row in the 1990s. It was an unbelievable accomplishment that featured a dream of sorts during the 1995 tournament due to the labour strife between the NHL and its players’ union. The five-in-a-row would be repeated in the first decade of the new millennium, with another dream team (2005) put together due to another lock out.

               

1993: Gavle, Sweden

Canada's Paul Kariya, 1993

                The Canadian team had won back-to-back gold medals in 1990 and 1991 and everyone was expecting a third in 1992. However, the team underachieved—and was hit with a vicious flu bug—and were only able to finish in sixth place. The time for redemption came in 1993.

                Canada was not expected to win gold as the host, Sweden, led by young superstar Peter Forsberg, was expected to dominate. At this time, the World Juniors was strictly a round-robin tournament with the order of finish after all games were completed determining the medalists; there was no play off round like there is today.

                Canada, led by Martin LaPointe, Paul Kariya and goaltender Manny Legace, started with a 3-0 victory over the United States and then upset the heavily favoured Swedes 5-4, despite Forsberg’s prediction of an easy victory for Sweden. Then came a 9-1 thrashing of Russia, a 3-2 squeaker against Finland, a 5-2 win over Germany and an 8-1 victory over Japan. Yes, that’s right, I said Japan.

                The Gold Medal was clinched with the victory over Japan, but Canada failed on their chance to go undefeated by dropping the final game to the Czech Republic, 7-4. Canada and Sweden finished with matching 6-1 records, but Canada won gold due to their victory earlier in the tourney.

1994: Ostrava and Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic

                Another round-robin tournament saw Canada go undefeated for their second straight gold medal. Their only blemish was a tie, to finish with a 6-0-1 record. A 5-1 victory over Switzerland kicked off the tourney, with a 5-2 win over Germany, followed by the tie, a 3-3 affair with Russia.

                Next up was a 6-3 win over Finland, an 8-3 triumph over the Americans and a 6-4 beating of the Czechs. This set up a gold medal showdown between Sweden in the final game. Whereas Canada entered the game with 11 points after five wins and a tie, the Swedes entered the game with 12 points after six straight wins. Canada needed to win to capture the gold as a tie would have left Sweden ahead.

                In the end, of course, it was Canada who took the game 6-4. Martin Gendron and Yanick Dube were Canada’s leading point getters with ten each, while the goaltending duties were shared by Jamie Storr and Manny Fernandez.

1995: Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

                Now it was the dream team’s turn as the lockout, which wouldn’t be settled until February, allowed those on NHL rosters who were still under the age of 20 to compete in the tournament. Altogether, there were 13 first-round NHL draft picks on the Canadian team, including Alexandre Daigle, Marty Murray, Jason Allison, Eric Daze, Bryan McCabe, Ryan Smyth, Darcy Tucker and Ed Jovanovski.

                Canada cruised to a perfect 7-0 record with victories over Ukraine (7-1), Germany (9-1), United States (6-3), the Czechs (7-5), Finland (6-4), Russia (8-5) and Sweden (4-3).

                Russia won silver, four points behind Canada while Sweden picked up the bronze.

1996: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

                For the first time in tournament history, a playoff round would be held to determine the World Junior Hockey Champion. And for the first time in tournament history, a country (Canada, of course) won the gold medal for the fourth consecutive year.

                Canada’s goaltending—the duties were shared by Jose Theodore and Marc Denis--allowed a combined total of eight goals in the six games. In the round robin, Canada finished with four wins, no losses or ties. They defeated the USA 6-1, Switzerland 2-1, Finland 3-1, and the Ukraine 8-1. By finishing top of the pool, they received a bye into the semi-finals.

                They defeated Russia 4-3 in the semis and then took out the Swedes 4-1 in the gold medal game. Russia defeated the Czechs by the same 4-1 score in the bronze medal game. Jerome Iginla won the scoring title with 12 points and he, Theodore and defenseman Nolan Baumgartner were selected to the tournament All-Star team.

                For the second year in a row, Canada won all their games and it was the third consecutive year that they were unbeaten (the tie in 1994 the only game they weren’t victorious).

1997: Geneva and Morges, Switzerland

Canada's starting goalie, Marc Denis.

                Canada again would finish the tournament undefeated, but two ties in the round robin put them in second place behind the Americans in their pool meaning they wouldn’t get a bye into the semi-finals and would have to qualify with a win in the quarter-finals.

                A 4-1 victory over Germany in the first game was followed by a 4-4 tie with the US. They then defeated Switzerland 4-1 before tying the Czechs in the final game of the preliminaries. An easy 7-2 win over Slovakia in the quarters, was followed by a come-from-behind 3-2 over the Russians in the semis. A 2-0 shutout victory over the US in the final earned the Canadians their fifth straight gold medal. A record that has not been broken, but would be equaled a little more than a decade later.

                Boyd Devereaux, Brad Isbister, Christian Dube and Cameron Mann led the team offensively, while Chris Phillips anchored the defense and Marc Denis was solid between the pipes, starting all seven games.

                A loss to Russia in the quarter-final in 1998 would snap the gold medal streak and it wouldn’t be until the middle of the next decade that Canada would win the World Juniors again.

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World Juniors Time Again

                With Christmas being only a week away, that can mean only one thing for Canadian hockey fans: the World Junior Hockey Championship is only eight days away. In what has become a holiday tradition, starting on boxing day and usually lasting until the fourth or fifth day of January, it’s an exciting time when fans of opposing NHL teams can put aside their differences in support of the national Junior Team.             This will be the fortieth year the World Juniors have been held, with the first being in 1977. (There were actually three tournaments held before 1977, but the International Ice Hockey Federation did not sanction those tournaments and they’ve been classed as invitational and unofficial.)

                As big as the tournament is for Canadian fans, it didn’t really take off until 1991, the first year that TSN acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights. It has developed from a small holiday tournament into a nation wide experience as fans of all ages are focused on the performance of 20 players between the ages of 16 and 20. The pulse of Canada beats with excitement for these ten days or so and despite the popularity the World Juniors has achieved, it’s not without its detractors.

                Fans and media of other countries involved in the tournament, particularly those of the United States and Sweden, are always quick to put down Canada’s success at the Juniors. When Canada wins the gold medal, they say that no one really cares about the tournament and that Canada was expected to win anyway. When Canada doesn’t win, they take great pride in announcing the (supposed) sudden demise of the game in the country that invented it. Read some of the posts on the TSN comment section once the tournament begins to see the kind of trash they come up with.

                What makes me wonder is, if they don’t care about the tournament, how come they’re reading the stories on TSN’s website and posting comments. Obviously, if they take the time to do so, they care about it. I’m assuming that it’s a jealousy thing, as the United States, despite being a competitive hockey nation, has only won gold in three of the 39 tournaments, while Sweden, a top hockey power for even longer that the US, has mustered only two golds. (Their main rival, Finland has three, mind you.) So rather than focus on the lack of success their teams have had, they feel it better to put Canada down.

                Canada’s biggest rival—regardless of the media, including Canada’s, trying to convince us that it is the US—is Russia, and before 1991 the Soviet Union. The Soviets/Russians are second all-time in gold medal victories (13 to Canada’s 16) and yet to don’t hear their fans complaining as much as the Americans and Swedes. Now there’s a lot of tension and bad blood when the two teams play each other in the tournament, of course, but there’s also mutual respect among the two nations.

                And when the two countries, combined, have won 75 per cent of the tournaments, that’s respect that’s been earned through years of tough battles, heartbreaking losses and thrilling victories. And there’s no bigger hype in the building when the two teams play each other.

                It’s impossible to predict who will win any given tournament as the rosters change so much from year to year. But chances are Canada and Russia will be the favourites to win again this year, with the US, Sweden and possibly Finland fighting for the bronze. And outside chance has Slovakia or the Czech Republic to possibly pull of an upset as well.

                It all starts a week from Saturday with Canada playing the United States, while Russia opens against the Czechs. As always, it will be an exciting week and a half of international hockey.

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Winter update: What's on deck for 2016

               I know with Christmas just over a week away, it’s hard to think about baseball. But Spring Training is only two months away so it will be here sooner than you think. I just wanted to let everyone know what we’re working on for the upcoming 2016 season.

                We’re going to try and avoid the journalistic writing for the season and focus more on opinion-style topics and focus on history and memories of the game. We will continue with our “This Day In Baseball History” feature and add a new twist. Seeing as the 2016 season will be the 40^th in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays, we will introduce a “This Day In Blue Jays’ History” series.

                Also to help celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of the Blue Jays, we will be presenting our “Top 40 All-time Blue Jays.” Also, the goal is to open a YouTube page, where I will dive into my vast archives of old Blue Jays’ games and upload many for you to enjoy.

                And for you fans of the Montreal Expos, there will be a five-part series coming, most likely in September, to celebrate the 35^th anniversary of the 1981 National League East championship, the only one in Expos’ history.

                And if you’re not a fan of either of those teams, we will have much for you to enjoy as well: All-star week will look back at some historic moments in the All-star game, pre-1980s (if you remember, we focused on great moments from 1986 onwards during last year's All-Star Break). Hall of Fame Week will feature profiles on all inductees as well as my commentary on players who I feel should be in the Hall but have yet to be inducted.

                We will also put the spotlight back on Goderich, Ontario pitcher Brock Dykxhoorn, who will be in his second full professional season after pitching for the Quad Cities River Bandits during the 2015 season, as well as helping Canada win gold at the Pan-Am games in Toronto.

                All this and more will start to appear on the blog around the beginning of March. Until then, we will continue our focus on other sports. The World Junior Hockey Championships will start on Boxing Day and there will be some posts honouring the two five-in-a-row runs, first down in the mid-1990s, then repeated in the first decade of the current millenium. The College Bowl season gets going as well and we will look at the major bowls and College Football playoff in the days leading up to the New Year.

                January will see us focus on the NFL playoffs and we will take you back to re-live some classic moments and great games.

                Much to look forward to in the coming months for Top Of The Third and I hope you enjoy reading the posts as much as I enjoy writing them.

                Please feel free to e-mail me comments, suggestions and questions to topofthethird@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

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Manfred strikes out on Pete Rose decision

               Well, it appears that Commissioner Robert Manfred will be continuing Bud Selig’s pompous, arrogant, stubborn, pigheaded attitude when it comes to the Pete Rose gambling situation. Earlier today, Manfred announced he would not be re-instating the all-time Major League hits leader, twenty-six years after he was banned from the game for betting on baseball.

                Rather than embrace the twenty-first century (this is the sixteenth year of that century, by the way) Manfred has thrown MLB back into the 1800s by continuing the hypocrisy that Selig refused to release for twenty-odd years. Manfred would do best to remember that it’s the fans that are most important to the game of baseball, and the fans want Rose re-instated.

                Instead, we get the archaic ruling from the commish, who is quick to point out that Rose still bets on sporting events, including baseball. Really? Are you that ignorant and naïve to think that he’s the only current or former athlete who bets on sports? Wake-up, Rob. Baseball players bet on March Madness. I know because I worked at a major hotel in Toronto for ten years and I heard them sitting on the couches in the lobby discussing how bad or how good they did on their brackets. I heard them tell each other to hurry up and get their football picks in because the NFL had a Thursday game this week.

                If gambling is so bad, why do the newspapers post game-day odds, not just on baseball, but hockey, basketball and (the biggest one of all) football? The NFL would not nearly be as popular as it is if it weren’t for gambling. Why do you think teams have to post injury reports? Because the NFL is concerned for the well-being of its players? No, so gamblers aren’t at a disadvantage, not knowing who will or won’t play, when wagering.

                While gambling can be a problem, it’s not the biggest problem baseball has had over the years. I find the hypocrisy sky high, particularly after Barry Bonds (steroids user) has been hired as the batting coach for the Miami Marlins. Or that Mark McGwire (admitted steroids user) has been the hitting coach for two organizations. Mr. Manfred’s willingness to let cheaters continue to be involved in the game, yet keeping someone out for gambling will continue the most confusing and hypocritical decisions that baseball continues to enforce. (See Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 Chicago White Sox.)

                So while they turn blind eyes to multiple busts for cocaine (Steve Howe), perpetrators of domestic abuse (David Justice), racism (Hall of Famer Ty Cobb, was the biggest), gambling will continue to be the unpardonable sin as far as Major League Baseball is concerned. But it sends the wrong message as far as I’m concerned. Basically, they’re condoning all these other criminal acts while frowning on something that is legal.

                So what’s next for Pete? I suppose he’ll continue to try and get his banned lifted. And I will continue to write articles like this in support of him. Baseball needs to forgive and forget something that happened 26 years ago. They need to move on. Manfred had a chance to put this incident behind all of us. He failed. In his first big decision as commissioner, he failed miserably. Perhaps one day he will change his mind. If he’s not blinded by his own power, that is.

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Is Ovechkin Russia's greatest hockey player ever?

                Just over three weeks ago, on November 19, in a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars, Washington Capitals’ forward, Alexander Ovechkin, scored a goal at 7:01 of the third period. The goal, which was Ovechkin’s ninth of the season, was also the 484^th of his career, moving him past Sergei Fedorov as the top Russian-born goal-scorer in NHL history. A question entered into my mind: Is Alexander Ovechkin the greatest Russian-born player in hockey history?

                On the surface, the obvious answer is “yes.” It took Ovie 777 games in the NHL to score more goals than Fedorov managed in 1248 games. As of today, he is up to 489 goals and is only 30 years old. Barring injury, he has a lot more hockey left in him to rack up even more, maybe possibly hit the 700 mark.

                He’s been an All-Star ten times, won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year in 2006, won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP three times, the Lester B. Pearson Award as the NHLPA’s best player three times, the Rocket Richard Award as the leading goal-scorer five times and throw in an Art Ross Trophy as the top point getter in 2008. Again, all before the age of thirty.

                Besides Fedorov, some of the other big name Russian players that now trail Ovechkin include Alexander Mogilny, Pavel Bure, Alexei Kovalev, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexei Yashin and Pavel Datsyuk. So clearly the numbers would suggest that Ovie is the greatest Russian player ever.

                However, there are two factors that could prove that he isn’t quite there yet. First, there’s the ridiculous theory brought about by his detractors that he has not led the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Finals, let alone won the trophy. They’d be quick to point out that Sidney Crosby (Ovechkin and Crosby will be forever linked in comparisons) led the Pittsburgh Penguins to back-to-back finals appearances in 2008 and 2009, winning the Cup on their second trip.

                And yes, you can say that Crosby has won a cup, but Ovechkin has never been surrounded by the supporting cast that Sid had in Pittsburgh back in those years. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a bigger Crosby fan than an Ovechkin fan, but Crosby was in a better situation with the Pens than Ovie was with the Caps. Crosby was a piece of the puzzle, with the help of Evgeni Malkin and company, while Ovechkin has had to carry the Caps since he first pulled on the jersey in 2005.

                There’s still time for him to lead Washington to a championship, but even if he doesn’t, it will never take away from the fact that he is a great hockey player, despite what his critics say.

                But, in my opinion, you can’t determine where he ranks on the all-time Russian list of hockey greatness when there’s no way to compare him to the great players of the Soviet Union who never played in the NHL, or those who only played for a handful of years after the Iron Curtain crumbled.

                There were the great players from the seventies who played on the Central Red Army team and the USSR National team. Players like Alexander Yakushev and Valeri Kharlamov who played in the Summit Series in 1972 and won Olympic Gold Medals and World Championships. And then there were the players from the eighties National Team. Players like Vladimir Krutov and Sergei Makarov who also won Olympic Gold and World Championships, but were only in the NHL for a cup of coffee. And then there’s Viacheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov who, while successful in the NHL, didn’t get there until later in their playing careers.

                Because these Russian born, Soviet players—who were great in the competitions they played in—never fully realized their potential by playing full careers in the NHL, it’s impossible to compare them to today’s Russian players like Ovechkin. It’s all hearsay and speculation on who was or is the best.

                The safest argument is that Alexander Ovechkin is on his way to being—if not already—the best Russian-born player who ever played in the National Hockey League.

                And let’s not forget his professionalism and respect for the game, never more evident than the World Championships last May. After being defeated by Canada in the gold medal game, most of the Russian players left the ice, rather than stick around for the flag raising and traditional post-game handshake. Ovechkin was one of the handful of players who did stick around, trying to get his teammates to show a little class and come back to the ice. While they didn’t listen to him or follow his example, this display of class will forever remain part of his legacy and help vault him into the category of all-time greats—not just Russian greats, but hockey’s all-time greats.

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Spartans carry the Big Ten torch in this year's CFP

                There are no controversies in the College Football Playoff this year. Unlike last year when the Big 12 got shunted in favour of Big Ten Champion Ohio State, which had the so-called experts crying foul. The Buckeyes didn’t belong there as the Big Ten was week. Well, Ohio State proved them wrong by defeating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and then routing Oregon in the National Championship Game.

                The Big 12 will be represented in the four-team playoff this year as, this time, it’s the Pac-12 that gets left on the outside. But that’s because their conference champion, Stanford, had two losses.

                The Clemson Tigers get the number one spot due to their perfect 13-0 season capped with the ACC Championship victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels, 45-37, the most exciting game of Championship Weekend. The Tigers will play the Oklahoma Sooners, winners of the Big 12 and the holders of the number four spot in the CFP, in the Orange Bowl on December 31.

                The Alabama Crimson Tide secured the second seed. Nick Saban has his team in position to challenge for the National Championship for the fifth time in seven years, having won three titles already. The Tide will play in the Cotton Bowl, also on December 31, against the team that I would like to focus on in this post, the Michigan State Spartans.

                Michigan State will be the team that I will be rooting for in the CFP. Now, as a Michigan Wolverines’ fan, it pains me to say that, almost as much as it pained me to cheer for Ohio State last year. But my loyalty to the Big Ten Conference supersedes any hatred I harbour towards my team’s two most heated rivals.

                But I find the Spartans in the same position the Buckeyes were in last year. Almost scoffed at because they play in the Big Ten. For some reason, the Big Ten gets a lot of disrespect from the college football experts, possibly because it’s not as flashy as the SEC perhaps, or maybe because of the higher academic standard that the Big Ten schools hold (you won’t see any basket-weaving at Northwestern), but I feel it’s the toughest conference in college football. All year I heard analysts on the major networks talk bad about Iowa’s undefeated season, always pointing out that the Hawkeye’s played in a weak Western Division. And now that the Spartans beat Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game on a last-minute touchdown, I expect the disrespect to start falling on them as well.

                Oh, and I’m sure they’ll point out that Michigan State’s only loss was to an unranked Nebraska Cornhuskers team, that finished 5-7, their worst since coming into the conference in 2011. And I’m sure they’ll point out that the only reason they beat Michigan was because of a bad decision by the Wolverines' punter when he mishandled the snap on the final play of that game.

                They won’t talk about how Oklahoma lost to a horrible Texas team or that Clemson has looked a little bit shaky the past two weeks. Or that the Spartans defeated last year’s National Champions—and pre-season consensus favourite to win again—just a few short weeks ago. Or that they also beat another pre-season favourite, Oregon, earlier in the season. They’ll just focus on the “weakness” of the Big Ten like they did last year, you know, before Ohio State shut them up. And I can’t wait for the Spartans to do the same.

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Top Ten Grey Cups of the last 40 years: Part 3

                Our third part of the Top Ten Grey Cups. This looks at the two best Grey Cup games of the past forty years. Enjoy.

#2. 1996: Toronto Argonauts – 43, Edmonton Eskimos – 37

                Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of lists where the top Grey Cups have been mentioned, but for some reason, the 1996 edition is never mentioned and I can’t understand why. I’m assuming because fans and media of the other eight cities in the CFL, hate the Argos and don’t want to acknowledge that Toronto could win a great game. However, this game is just that: great. It had big plays, a close finish, a controversial play late in the game, and biggest of all, it was played in a snow storm.

                The game was played in Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton and the snow started coming down heavy about three hours before kickoff. Shovelling crews were kept busy all day and you see the  never could see the green turf, except around the yard lines and side lines which the crews were constantly clearing.

                The underdog Eskimos scored first when the Argos’ quarterback, Doug Flutie, scrambled into his own endzone after a high snap sailed over his head, and fell on the ball to concede the two-point safety. Edmonton increased the lead to 9-0 on a 64-yard pass from Edmonton QB Danny McManus to receiver “Downtown” Eddie Brown. The first quarter ended with the heavily favoured Argos scoreless.

                That didn’t last long as Toronto put up 27 points in the second quarter. After a Mike Vanderjagt 37-yard field goal, Edmonton couldn’t move the ball and had to punt. Argo returner, Jimmy “The Jet” Cunningham, took the ball and ran 80 yards into the endzone and slid in the snow once he got there. After another Vanderjagt field goals, the teams traded touchdowns, two each, with Edmonton’s coming on two big plays: a 75-yard pass from McManus to Jim Sandusky and a 91-yard kick return by Henry “Gizmo” Williams. (Players don’t seem to have interesting nicknames anymore. The Argos also had Mike “Pinball” Clemons in this game.) The Argos two scores came on a one-yard run by Robert Drummond and a ten-yard scramble by Flutie. Toronto led at the half, 27-23.

                The Argos scored the only points of the third, another Vanderjagt field goal, who also added another early in the fourth to give Toronto a ten point lead at 33-23. An Edmonton touchdown closed the gap to three, which leads us to the controversial play of the game.

                On a third-down gamble, Flutie tried to sneak for the first down, but fumbled the ball after moving forward a couple of yards. Edmonton recovered the football, but the play had been blown dead by the referees, determining that Flutie’s forward progress had been stopped before the fumble. Replays showed this was questionable but the ball remained in Toronto’s possession. Three plays later, Vanderjagt kicked his fifth field goal of the game and Toronto’s lead was six.

                The deciding play occurred on Edmonton’s first play from scrimmage after the field goal. McManus threw a pass to Edmonton receiver, Darren Flutie, who slipped on the snow and fell to the ground. The ball bounced off his chest and into the arms of Argo defender, Adrian Smith, who ran 49 yards into the endzone to give Toronto a 43-30 lead. Edmonton scored in the final seconds to make the final score 43-37.

                While the Eskimos and their fans complained about the fumble that wasn’t called, it only led to three points. Take those three points away and the Argos still win, 40-37. Saying the game would have turned out any differently is merely hearsay.

#1. 1989: Saskatchewan Roughriders – 43, Hamilton Tiger-Cats – 40

                In what is the most exciting Grey Cup game ever, the Saskatchewan Roughriders were making their first appearance in the championship game since 1976. The Tiger Cats were in the game for the fifth time in the decade, but had only won one of the previous four attempts (1986).

                Hamilton got off to a quick start with two field goals from kicker, Paul Osbaldiston. After Rider punter, Terry Baker, put one into the endzone for a single point, Hamilton scored the first major of the game when QB Mike Kerrigan hit receiver Tony Champion and the first quarter ended with Hamilton on top 13-1.

                The second quarter was back and forth with five touchdowns being scored. The first was by Saskatchewan when QB Kent Austin hit tight end Ray Elgaard to make the score 13-8. Hamilton restored their twelve-point lead when Kerrigan hit Derrick McAdoo for a major but the Riders came back again when Austin’s pass was taken into the endzone by Jeff Fairholm. McAdoo caught another Kerrigan pass and Donald Narcisse caught Austin’s third touchdown pass of the day bringing the half to a close with Hamilton in front of the Green Riders, 27-22.

                After the two teams traded field goals in the third quarter, Saskatchewan started to take control of the game. The Tiger-Cats conceded a safety when they were forced to punt deep in their own end to make the score 27-24. The Riders then took the lead, 31-27 when Tim McCray scored on a one-yard touchdown plunge.

                The fourth quarter was a battle of field goals as first Saskatchewan kicker Dave Ridgway extended the Rider lead to seven with a 25-yard boot. Osbaldiston answered that with a 47-yard kick of his own, but Ridgway restored the seven point lead with 20-yarder. Saskatchewan on top 40-33.

                Hamilton then went on a time-consuming, championship-caliber drive in an effort to tie the score. Two controversial missed defensive pass-interference calls had Hamilton head coach, Al Bruno, throwing fits on the sideline as he screamed at the officials and almost stormed onto the field to confront them. Finally, on the third pass interference play of the drive, the flag was thrown and Hamilton inched closer to the tying score.

                The Ti-Cats moved the ball down to the Saskatchewan eight yard line, but it was third down. The stage was set for the greatest catch in football history—not just Grey Cup history, not just CFL history, but football history. Kerrigan took the snap and dropped back to the 12 yard line. He threw the ball up in the air towards Champion. The Hamilton receiver, later revealed to playing with cracked ribs, was five yards into the endzone when he realized the ball was thrown behind him. He turned his body to face the ball, jumped up and reached for the ball, squeezed it and fell backwards, landing hard on his back against the artificial turf. The pain must have been unbearable, but Champion hung on to the ball for the touchdown and after the convert, the game was tied at 40.

                But Champion’s catch couldn’t help the Hamilton defense as Saskatchewan marched the ball back down the field to the Tiger-Cats’ 26 yard line. Ridgway booted the ball through the uprights from 35 yards out and the Roughriders captured their first Grey Cup since 1966, winning 43-40.

Watch Champion's catch.

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