Sporting Madness

At the end of tonight's NHL games, a vast 2 points separated the Northwest Division's first and last teams. Edmonton led the division with 36 points from 32 games, closely followed by Calgary and Vancouver with 35 each (from 30 and 33 games, respectively). Colorado and Minnesota were tied for last, having picked up 34 points from 32 and 33 games respectively. The rest of the NHL features vastly greater disparities within divisions. The largest gap is in the Pacific Division, where NHL-leading Anaheim's 56 points are 31 more than divisional bottom-feeder Phoenix. In the Central Division, a 27-point gap exists between Nashville and St. Louis, the NHL's lowest-ranking team. The East features slightly smaller divides, with a 20-point separation in the Atlantic between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers, a 18-point gulf between Buffalo and Boston in the Northeast, and a 14-point rift between Atlanta and Florida in the Southeast. This dramatic difference in di...

This may possibly be the most geeky sports column I have ever written or ever will write, but bear with me. Delocalized electrons are electrons in a molecule that are not directly tied to one specific bond, but rather shared over larger sections of the molecule (for a more complete definition, see the Wikipedia article here .) The classic example of this is benzene , a 6-carbon ring structure usually depicted with 6 single bonds and 3 double bonds: due to delocalization, the actual bonds are actually between double and single character, and spread evenly out over the molecule. This makes benzene incredibly stable. What relevance to sports does this have, you may ask? Well, it perfectly describes the innovative style of football (soccer for those of you who insist on North American terminology:P) that Manchester United have been playing thus far this season. On paper, their regular lineup appears as the standard 4-4-2 formation (four defenders, four midfielders (two in the middle, two o...

The title quote, taken from American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, will hopefully apply to the Canadian national women's soccer team. Ironically, their defeat came at the hands of Longfellow's fellow Americans last night, in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final. The Canadians played a strong game, and battled back from trailing 1-0 early, due to a sixth-minute strike from Leslie Osbourne. In the 45th minute, Randee Hermus, a defender from Langley, B.C., equalized for Canada off a corner kick, driving a loose ball just under the crossbar from 12 yards out. In the second half, the U.S. had excellent chances to take the lead, but the respective defences were up to the challenge. Canadian keeper Erin McLeod made some huge saves, and defenders Hermus, Robin Gayle, and Melanie Booth played large roles in nullifying the American attack. Christine Sinclair, a strong contender for FIFA's Female Player of the Year award, could have won it for Canada in the 91st minute when she broke into ...

The title quote, from D.H. Lawrence, appropriately sums up today's Grey Cup game. The B.C. Lions lived up to their name, and thoroughly devoured the surprisingly lamb-like Montreal Alouettes. There's a very good reason why the Lions dominated the CFL Awards last week: their collection of outstanding talents is unsurpassed in this league, and the big names delivered today. Outstanding Canadian, Outstanding Defensive Player, and Warrior of the Year Brent Johnson, only hours after collecting his new truck for his Warrior of the Year prize, proved he is worthy of his hardware, having a strong game. He and CFL Outstanding Rookie Aaron Hunt, along with front-four compatriots Tyrone Williams and Chris Wilson, had Als' quarterback Anthony Calvillo on the run all day. Hunt played extremely well, and forced Calvillo into a key fumble and turnover, which helped to increase the Lions' momentum. The CFL's Most Outstanding Player, Geroy Simon, made a few key catches, but played a...

Last Sunday, the Queen's women's varsity soccer team concluded their season in the CIS championship match against the UBC Thunderbirds. Confronted with a grim day and soggy field, they came out aggressively, and took an early lead on a third-minute strike by Renee MacLellan. The Gaels maintained the pressure, and had several chances to extend their lead. UBC responded with two quick goals shortly before the half, and added a third after the break to clinch a 3-1 victory. Anyone interested in more details on the match can check out my article in last Friday's Journal: I'll post a link to it here once it is put up on the Journal website. Despite the loss, the Gaels still had an excellent season, and proved that they are clearly one of the elite teams in the country: they should have a lot to build upon for next year. In particular, the injuries that the squad battled through all season resulted in the formation of a strong team character, and also provided some of the ...

Since my last post, a lot has happened with the Gaels' women's varsity soccer team. They battled hard in last Sunday's OUA Final against Ottawa, enduring cold weather and a muddy pitch, but came up short, falling 1-0. The day dawned grey and cold, but a large crowd of supporters from both schools still came out to cheer the teams on. The muddy pitch at Richardson Stadium diminished the GaelsÂ’ usual creativity, turning the match into a midfield battle. Early on, Ottawa created most of the chances, but the QueenÂ’s defence, anchored by Andrea Pigozzo, Katie Dalziel, and Ali Skinner, made several excellent plays to stifle the Gee-GeeÂ’s attacks, and Gael goalkeeper Katie McKenna came up with a number of crucial saves. The Gaels had many scoring chances of their own, but were in turn stopped by quality defending and goalkeeping from Ottawa. The lone goal of the game came in the 57th minute, when a high shot from Gee-GeeÂ’s defender Laurel Fougere beat McKenna from 25 yards out...

Well, the Gaels' women's team played another excellent game today, defeating the Western Omelettes (er, Mustangs,) by a score of 3-0. Eilish McConville recorded a hat-trick to lead the Gaels to victory, but every Gael on the pitch performed well to nullify the Western attacks and create their own scoring opportunities. It was great to see that a sizeable amount of Queen's students made the trek out to St. Lawrence College to support the team: hopefully that trend will continue tomorrow when the Gaels take on the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the OUA championship match (2 PM at Richardson Stadium). Both teams have already qualified for the national CIS championships, to be held in Victoria next weekend: however, there is still the title of Ontario champions up for grabs, so both sides should have a lot to play for. Unfortunately, the men's side fell 4-1 in their OUA semi-final against Western (held at Brock University). They will have a chance to end the season on a high note tomo...

For those of you who don't know me in person, I'm a student at Queen's University, and a sports staff writer for the school paper, the Queen's Journal. This year, I've been doing a lot of coverage of the Queen's Golden Gaels men's and women's soccer teams. They have been playing terrific soccer of a very high calibre all year, and the matches are always tremendously entertaining. However, despite the terrific success of the teams (both are off to the OUA Final Four this coming weekend: the men's side are ranked #6 in the country, while the women's side are ranked #3 nationally and #1 in the OUA), Queen's students have been giving them very little support. Most of the Gaels' home games are played in front of only 30-50 fans, including supporters of the visiting teams, and a large proportion seem to be players' friends and families. In contrast, the Gaels' football team, which suffered through a .500 season and barely stumbled into...

Well, given the amount of hockey predictions popping up these days, I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring. Obviously, it's tough to predict a Cup winner this early in the season, especially with the enforced parity of the salary cap, but there is one team that stands above the rest for me. For any of you who read my other blog (www.undergroundcommand.blogspot.com), this one may not come as a surprise: I predict that this year's Stanley Cup champions will be the Anaheim Ducks. Over the off-season, they may have lost the "Mighty" from their name, but they've improved the on-ice team significantly. General manager Brian Burke once again proved how he belongs with the very best in the game, acquiring superstar defenceman Chris Pronger from the Edmonton Oilers to further solidify what was already a capable defence. Scott Niedermeyer, named the league's top defenceman in 2004, had a terrific season last year, and sophomore Francois Beauchemin should be able ...

This weekend's English Premiership fixture between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur should provide quite a thrilling soccer match. United currently sit atop the EPL table, with a perfect nine points from three games, which is good enough to be two points clear of Portsmouth, Aston Villa, and Everton, and three points clear of Chelsea, the defending League champions. Tottenham are in 14th place, with a win and two draws. However, they are not to be overlooked: their squad contains a wide variety of talented international players, including England's Paul Robinson, Aaron Lennon, and Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane of the Republic of Ireland, Edgar Davids of the Netherlands, and even Canada's own Paul Stalteri. For United, a couple of key storylines will play a role in the match. Firstly, midfielder Michael Carrick, recently signed from Tottenham, will have his first chance to face his own side, which is always an interesting fixture for a newly transfered player. Secondly,...

Recently, I went to see the movie Talladega Nights, starring Will Ferrell as redneck NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby. The movie was hilarious, and a great send-up of racing in general. However, it wasn't until I began my usual perusal of the sports world the next day that I realized how similar the movie is to the real-life situation currently taking place in the Champ Car World Series (open- wheel racing). Consider this: you have a driver with "two first names" (Paul Tracy) who, just like Bobby, "either wins or crashes" (more crashes than wins lately, though), to the extent that he could be a living example of Bobby's motto, "If you ain't first, you're last." Instead of the arrogant Frenchman Jean Girard from Talledega Nights , Tracy's main rival is another arrogant Frenchman in Sebastien Bourdais. Also, rather than get into the movie's barroom brawl, Tracy and Bourdais recently got into a physical fight on the track after a crash (look...