Olympics Wrap Up: Surprise Performers

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games are over now and they couldn't have been a much bigger success for Canada. We did more than just not embarrass ourselves, we led the way finishing third overall in the medal standings and first in Golds. Oh, we also set the record for most by Golds by the host country as well as most Golds at the Winter Games PERIOD.

But that last Gold we won to set the record was the big one: men's ice hockey (it always feels so stupid saying ice hockey but I have to stick to Olympic Speak here). Nova Scotia phenom Sidney Crosby scored at 7:40 of overtime to send the nation into celebration and I guess it's only fitting that he was the guy to do it (I called it by the way - picking him for Canada and Patrick Kane for the yanks).

Here I'll just point out five players (plus one extra) who really surprised me with how they performed at the Olympics, whether by really stepping up or completely disappearing. Apparently there were also some other events going on at these games but I didn't really notice.

5. Alex Ovechkin - Russia
Aside from a huge hit on Jaromir Jagr that led directly to a goal by Malkin, The Great Eight was essentially invisible in this tournament, particularly in the game against Canada. Really, the top two lines for the Russians, consisting of notable NHLers Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk (more invisible than Ovie but less surprising), Evgeni Malkin, Ovechkin, Maxim Afinogenov and Alex Semin were consistently outperformed by the bottom two made up of KHLers.

The knock on Russian teams of the past fifteen years is that for all their explosive talent, they never come together as a team and this leads to poor finishes in international tournaments. I personally believed that Ovechkin, with his wild passion and enthusiasm, would galvanize the Russians and they'd finally gel as they needed to. But nope.

4. Sergei Kostitsyn - Belarus
Just because a player doesn't play for a country in the Big Six doesn't mean he can't surprise you. Coming into these Olympics, no one expected much of the Belarussians and really, why would you? And because of injuries to two of their three top offensive players and two of the four NHLers on their roster, expectations were lowered even more. Not only were they without Mikhail Grabovski and short one Kostitsyn brother, it was the lesser Kostitsyn - Sergei - that they were left with.

Older brother Andrei is coming off a 23 goal season for the Montreal Canadiens and actually had 26 the year before so he was the one proven scorer Belarus had. Sergei is younger, smaller and less of a goal scorer. He has great stickhandling and playmaking skills but he's often overmatched by strong, physical players who take away his time and space. So once he became the undisputed number one offensive threat for Belarus, I figured he'd crumble under the pressure. But I was wrong. He led the team in scoring with 2 goals, 3 assists for 5 points in four games. Not overwhelming but still damned impressive when you factor in that he always saw the opposition's best players matching up against him in a tournament that featured the best players in the world. Bravo, Sergei. Grabovski still hates your guts though.

3. Brian Rafalski - USA
Obviously the entire US team's performance at these Olympics was a surprise. Many, including myself, picked them to not even earn a medal. And while the Silver they took home is more due to Ryan Miller's completely unsurprising dominant play than anything else, the fact is that lots of players upped their game. Rafalski is one of those players.

Unlike most of the roster, Rafalski is not young and unproven. In fact he was the oldest player on the team and oldest defenceman by a mile. He's had a great career as a mostly offensive defenceman, averaging close to 50 points a season and winning three Stanley Cups - two with New Jersey and one with Detroit. He played for the US at the last Olympics. And the Olympics before that. But in Torino, he didn't even score a goal. In Vancouver he got 4, 2 in the first game against Canada.

The diminutive, smooth skating native of Dearborn, Michigan, who was never drafted by an NHL team, finished the Olympics with 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points in six games, along with a plus seven. He was selected as one of the defenceman for the tournament all star team (along with Canada's Shea Weber) and named top defenceman overall. He'll be forty by the time the next Olympics roll around and I highly doubt we'll see him there but that's ok given his amazing farewell performance on the international stage.

2. Pavol Demitra - Slovakia
Another tournament all star I don't think anyone saw coming. As I stated in my earlier Olympic list, the story on the Slovakians going into Vancouver is that they're friggin' old. Demitra is one of those players. Even more troubling is his injury history which has severely limited his effectiveness in the NHL for the past few seasons. He'd only played a handful of games for the Canucks this year so predicting how he'd play at the Olympics was tough.

Well, how he played was fantastic, finishing with 3 goals and 7 assists for a tournament leading ten points in seven games. He's easily the most surprising member of the all star team (Canada's Jonathan Toews and USA's Zach Parise were the other forwards with Toews named top forward) and helped Slovakia to a surprise appearance in the Bronze medal game. They were leading that game 3-1 (against the Finns) going into the third period but just couldn't hold it. I know the Slovaks are disappointed that they lost out on a medal but after beating the Russians and Swedes and almost coming back against the Canadians, they should hold their heads up high. Demitra highest of all.

1. Tore Vikingstad - Norway
It's only fitting that the Norwegians' most dynamic player at the Olympics is named Vikingstad. Perhaps his 4 goals in four games don't seem so impressive at first but let's put them into perspective. Firstly, in case you didn't know, Norway is pretty damn far from a power in the world of hockey (something that always surprised me a bit by virtue of geography, really) and they were definitely whipping boys in this tournament. Their number two goalie wasn't even a professional - he was a freaking carpenter. Canada smoked them 8-0 and the Americans easily handled them 6-1. How many goals did Norway even score at the Olympics? I'll tell you - 8. That's right, EIGHT. So Vikingstad accounted for half of his team's entire goal output. Even over a short stretch like four games, that's still pretty amazing. He was also the only Norwegian player to score more than one goal. Patrick Thoresen, their only player with any NHL experience, actually led the team with 5 points but they were all assists.

Vikingstad's offensive outburst came mostly in the form of a hat trick in a game against Latvia. You can say it's only Latvia but you should keep two things in mind: Latvia are technically stronger than Norway (ok, who isn't?) and a hat trick at the Olympics is still a freaking hat trick at the Olympics.

The thirty-three year old was actually a late pick of the St. Louis Blues back in 1999 (180th overall) after showing some promise playing in the Swedish Elite League. His 6'4, 204 pound frame probably was a pretty big factor too. But he never played a game in a North American league let alone the NHL. It's a safe bet this is the last we'll ever hear of him. But then again, he'll only be thirty-seven in four years and Norway isn't exactly stacked with talent...

Honourable Mention: Mats Zuccarello-Aasen - Norway
Norway's other best player doesn't have as kickass a name as Tore Vikingstad but that's ok considering his nickname which I am not making up: The Hobbit Wizard! That's right! In fact, how COULD I make that up?

While the tiny (seriously - 5'7, 154) Norwegian dynamo only managed one goal, he also had two assists for 3 points in the four games played. He also was somehow a plus one which, on that team, is outstanding, trust me. But even though he didn't pile up the points, The Hobbit Wizard made things happen almost every time he was on the ice, using his speed and creativity. He pinballed around the rink fearlessly and showed off some spectacular moves at times. He had 11 shots in the tournament, second only to Vikingstad (who had 12).

He's only twenty-two and currently leading Modo of the Swedish Elite League in scoring with 60 points in fifty-one games. That's a league full of skilled players but it is less physical than say, the AHL. Still, during these Olympics I think it's fair to say he caught the attention of some NHL scouts and gm's. Maybe the NHL is just too physically demanding for such a small player to succeed in but I'd love to see him give it a shot.

Big CGI Films of the 90s

Computer-generated imagery has been used in film since the early 70s. Being a child of the 90s, though, I remember how big of a role CGI played in film. With computers becoming a household item, and the Internet changing how we lived, the use of computer technologies in film left us in awe. These are a few of the big CGI films that were released in the 1990s.

5. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

In the late 90s Star Wars geeks the world over were in a state of euphoria. Although nowadays nerds cry about it constantly on Internet forums all over the web, when George Lucas decided to re-release the original Star Wars trilogy in 1997, the theatres were packed to see his updated versions of these classic films. Amidst the cries of “Han shot first!” and “I rather the cantina scene with the muppets”, we also caught wind of Lucas’ newest project. In 1999, 16 years since the last Star Wars film, and 22 years since he left the director’s chair, Lucas would return with an all new film, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

What can I really say that hasn’t been said? The Jar Jar Binks fiasco has come and gone, but when that film came out, you gotta admit, it was pretty damned cool. I remember the film somewhat fondly, as painful as some of the storyline can be. There was a bitchin’ new Sith, Darth Maul and the introduction of Pod Racing. Qui-Gon and the young Obi-Wan were pretty cool as well. I mean, there were tons of Jedi!

Regardless of your feelings about the film, it was a special effects masterpiece in its time. The battle with the Gungan, the landscapes, it expanded the Star Wars Universe exponentially. As much as I love the original trilogy, and I find a real “character” in the use of puppets and animatronics, The Phantom Menace was a visually epic film from the 90s.

4. The Matrix (1999)

This is a film I hold near and dear to my heart. Although I find it hard to say, “This is my favourite film of all time”, with changing tastes and new films coming out all the time, I have called this movie my favourite, and I still love it. I’m a huge cyber/steam punk fan, and this film is like an action/kung fu/cyberpunk enthusiast’s wet dream. Another 1999 delight, this was essentially a Western, feature film anime, with real friggin’ people. There was awesome hand-to-hand combat, amazing gun fighting and giant freakin’ robots.

The marketing behind the film was one of the major keys to its success. “What is the Matrix?” was on everyone’s mind that year. The viral marketing, along with intriguing storyline and geektastic background made this film and instant win, without any of the great aspects I’ve listed above. This film also single-handedly redefined the term slow-motion. No one calls it slo-mo anymore. It’s “bullet time”. The effect took a combination of wire-work, CGI and a series of still-frame cameras taking hundreds of images in a swooping arc to pull off, and man, did it look awesome.

After this film, movies of the early 2000s struggled to do what they could to keep up with its technological feats. The sequels would continue on this trend, raising the bar each time, but would never touch the original film.

3. Jurassic Park (1993)

Here’s another film that made a huge impact on my youth and I still consider one of my favourite of all time. Stephen Spielberg, the big adventure film king, was taking a Michael Crichton novel to the big screen. That’s like having pizza and Coca-Cola… a winning combination.

With the leaps in CGI-related technologies coming out in the early 90s, Spielberg took on the task of pushing the technologies further than anyone had done before. Even though CG was still in its infancy, he seamlessly blended animatronics, stop motion, puppetry and computer-generated imagery to the point that even today it looks amazing.

The dinosaurs were the big ticket and did they ever look good: the flocking group of Gallimimus, the thundering Brachiosaurs, the Velociraptors and of course, the big daddy of them all, T-Rex. Even though a good portion of the film was actually animatronics, there are scenes where you can’t tell the difference, and you know it. In 1993, there was nothing like it.

2. Toy Story (1995)

Pixar is a household name these days, but in 1995 no one expected such a leap in animation. Pixar had been around for years, using their advanced computer technologies in conjunction with companies like Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) as well as the team behind Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. It wasn’t until the company was facing some hard times and signed a three picture deal with Disney that it would take off in ways that no one would ever imagine.

The first film they released was Toy Story, a full CGI “cartoon” with big name actors voicing the characters, such as Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Jim Varney and John Ratzenberger. That’s right, I just put the guy from Cheers, Tim the Tool Man Taylor and Ernest in the same sentence with Tom Hanks.

The effects were stunning. The film opened the same year as the newest Batman film (Batman Forever) as well as Apollo 13 (which also featured Hanks), another film that would be somewhat suitable for this list, and pounded the two of them, the highest grossing Disney film since The Lion King. [To be fair, that's only one year - it basically outgrossed the woeful Pocahontas - cole*]

It had a fantastic cast of toy characters, a great storyline and an award-winning soundtrack. In a lot of ways, the CGI in the film was a secondary element, but most certainly helped to catapult Toy Story into the realm of instant classic.

1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

You saw this coming, right? No one has pushed film technologies like James Cameron, and his seminal masterpiece, often called the greatest action film of all time, T2 was like a beacon for CGI-related filmmakers.

Using CGI to push his 1989 film, The Abyss, Cameron began his love affair with computer generated effects, and would continue to be the pioneer of these technologies, even to this day. He made the (now) second highest grossing film of all time, the phenomenon that was Titanic in 1997 (another film that could have fit this list, if I cared about it), which was only recently topped by his latest blockbuster, Avatar, which expanded the use of IMAX and 3D into realms no one has ever experienced.

In T2, Cameron paved the way for Spielberg, Lucas and the Wachowskis by creating one of the most memorable villains in cinema, the T-1000; a liquid-metal harbinger of death from the future, bent on destroying humanity's greatest hope.

The visuals of T-1000 were jaw-dropping in their time. Even though the technologies of today have grown exponentially, I think T2’s effects still stand up. Even the CG used to create a Terminator exoskeleton was amazing.

Computer effects continue to evolve, and with virtuosos like Cameron at the helm, we can only expect bigger and better things in the future. Although I think cheaply used computer effects have ruined a lot of films in the last 15 years, and there is still a place for conventional special effects, the big CGI blockbusters will still come and knock our socks off, and I for one can’t wait.

Interesting Olympic Hockey Storylines

Besides some of the more obvious ones, like how will Sidney Crosby do at his first Olympics? will we see a Canada/Russia final? and can the Americans win a medal? I thought I'd mention a few of the things I'm most looking forward to finding out as the great tournament goes on.



5. Any Competition for the Women?
In the short history of Women's Olympic hockey, it's always been a two horse race between the Canadians and Americans. Both teams would always sail through the tournament, absolutely steamrolling the other teams until meeting in the final, where Canada would win a reasonably close game.

But last year saw a huge upset with the Swedes knocking off the Americans. While Canada still handled them fairly easily in the gold medal game, Sweden's win over the yanks got people talking. We're told that every year the lesser countries are catching up little by little although no one expects to see such huge strides that the Canadians and Americans will actually be challenged this time around. Many figure the Swedish win was basically a fluke.

As I'm writing this, the Canadians are a perfect 3 and 0 so far, mowing over all opposition outscoring them 42-3. Once again it seems that unless the Americans can play a great game against us, another gold is assured. But you never know. I look forward to the day when women's international hockey actually sees some parity where blow outs aren't common but I think that day is still far off. But as I said, you never know.

4. The Old Slovaks
It's strange but I haven't seen any mention of the fact that the team the Slovaks are sending to Vancouver is made up of some fairly aged forwards. Ten or twelve years ago, the book on the Slovaks was always that they were loaded up front with scorers but were thin on the blue line and had basically no one decent in goal. But these days it's almost the opposite. Now they're mostly known for having a very tough, very BIG squad of defenceman, led of course by 6'9 behemoth Zdeno Chara, who is regarded as one of the top defencemen in the world. Joining him are big bodies like Milan Jurcina (6'4, 236) and Martin Strbak (6'3, 215). Outside Chara, only undersized Lubomir Visnovsky (5'10, 185) can really be counted on for offence.

And now the Slovaks finally have an NHL calibre goaltender in Montreal Canadien Jaroslav Halak. Granted he's no star but he's a definite step up from the nobodies they used to have to count on and is used to facing tough competition.

Slovakia does boast two scoring stars in Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik - both are good for at least forty goals a year in the NHL if they can stay healthy which makes them great scorers even when measured against stars from other countries. I mean, if they were Canadian, I think both would make the Olympic team - they're that good.

But what's funny to me about this team is that if this was 1998, we'd be talking about how much firepower they have because a handful of these forwards were playing in those days and did a lot of scoring in the NHL. Just substitute Gaborik for Peter Bondra (who is the general manager of this team). The 2010 Slovakian Olympic team features Pavol Demitra (thirty-five years old), Miro Satan (thirty-five years old - played in the '94 games and led the tournament in goals with 9 and holds the record for most goals scored for the national team with 70), Ziggy Palffy (thirty-nine years old - better than a point a game in his NHL career, which ended some years ago), Richard Zednik (thirty-four years old) and Jozef Stumpel (thirty-nine years old).

In their day, all those players were snipers in the NHL, with the exception of Stumpel who was more of a playmaker. Only Demitra and Satan are still in the NHL with Satan just joining the Bruins last month after being unsigned in any league until then. Demitra's skills are hard to measure these days since he's almost always injured. But it's fair to say all these guys have lost a step. The wildcard is actually the oldest guy, Palffy, since I haven't seen him play in years and he was always a dominant offensive player. I'm curious to see if he still has it.

It's fair to say that for the Slovaks to have any realistic shot at a medal, a lot of these older forwards will have to show they've got something left in the tank.

3. Possible Cindarella Teams
Whenever there's an international tournament of some magnitude, be it the Olympics or something else, there's almost at least one of these. Some lesser team catches one of the big boys napping or simply has every member play the game of his life and the next thing you know, we've got an upset on our hands. The Swiss pulled it off against Canada in Torino, the Latvians had a few in recent World Championships and everyone remembers what Belarus did to the Swedes in Salt Lake city in '02,

These teams never go all the way and pretty much no one flukes their way to the gold medal game, but it's fair to expect to see at least one or two games where someone like a Germany or a Latvia surprise someone, maybe even knocking them out of contention.

2. Peter Forsberg
Foppa hasn't played in the NHL since a nine game stint for the Avs in 07/08, hasn't played at least sixty games since 05/06 with the (ugh) Flyers and the last full NHL season he had was way back 02/03 when he led the league in scoring with 106 points and also won the Hart Trophy. Ever since the lockout he's battled injuries that have severely limited his icetime. And now thirty-six, he can no longer dominate over long stretches.

But Sweden's flag bearer (fitting since they put him on a STAMP for god's sake - for his Olympic Gold medal winning shootout goal back in '94) is still worth watching this time around because one of the remarkable things about him is that, even when he misses huge stretches because of injuries, when he actually plays he's still dynamite. It's a rare player indeed who can step right into high level games and perform without the benefit of practice. Since this is a short tournament and the Swedes have plenty of talent to surround him with, the potential for Forsberg to dominate and dazzle once more is definitely there and if it happens it might take him all the way to a third Olympic gold.

1. Jaromir Jagr
First of all, you can take pretty much everything I said about Forsberg and apply it here. While Jags is even older at thirty-eight (granted his birthday was just a couple days ago) he's never had the injury problems Forsberg had and was actually one of the durable players of his generation. And he's unquestionably the best player of his generation too unless you maybe want to include a guy like Dominik Hasek in that generation.

Simply put, Jagr was THE dominant offensive player of the latter nineties and well into last decade. Hell, after putting in two rather uninspired seasons with Washington where he only scored slightly above a point a game, he exploded for 54 goals and 123 points for the Rangers in 05/06. Not bad for a thirty-three year old. He finished two points away from landing a sixth scoring title. He took home the Art Ross Trophy in 94/95, 97/97, 98/99, 99/00 and 00/01.

He departed the NHL after scoring 71 points in 82 games in the 07/08 season and has been playing in the KHL where his numbers are no longer eye popping but still very good. Honestly, if he'd stayed in the NHL for a few more seasons he would have had a very good chance of retiring third or fourth on the all time points list. He currently sits at ninth with 1599 points in 1273 games.

Just a few hours ago I watched the Czechs play their first game of the Olympics against their rivals the Slovaks. After the first period I thought Jagr looked like he'd definitely slowed down. Then he scored the winning goal and set up another using his phenomenal skills on both plays. Just like Forsberg, Jagr has a great supporting cast and only has to perform for six or seven games - that could be the recipe for another gold medal (Jagr won one in 1998). Just like Forsberg, this is probably our very last chance to see a truly great player play on North American soil and maybe the last time we'll see him period.

Biggest Olympic Hockey Omissions (Non Canadian)

With the 2010 Winter Olympics just around the corner and taking place on Canadian soil, anticipation has reached a fever pitch. As these are the winter games, we Canadians are actually interested in most of the events with skiing, snowboarding, speed skating and figure skating all figuring to draw a lot of attention and expectations. But let's not kid ourselves here; this is Canada and hockey is really all that matters.

But to make this list a little more interesting I'm not going to include any Canadian players. Who would make the roster was the most hotly debated sports issue in the country for at least the past two years and the official announcement on New Year's Day drew millions of viewers. Honestly, I'm about as pleased with who made the cut as I could have expected to be as only about two players I wanted were left off. Canada features such incredible depth that we could easily have assembled two teams to send to the games and it wouldn't be unrealistic to believe that both would have a shot at a medal. I mean, just look at some of the Canadian players who won't be playing in Vancouver: Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis, Dion Phaneuf, Cam Ward, Shane Doan, Steven Stamkos and so on.

So let's look at my picks for the biggest omissions who aren't Canadian.


5. Roman Hamrlik, defence - Czech Republic
Just like Montreal Canadiens teammate and fellow Czech, Jaroslav Spacek, it is true that Hammer is getting a little up there in years at thirty-five. But while his offence has dried up over the years, the former number one pick (1992) still plays a steady defensive game and brings a lot of experience ( over 1200 NHL games, two Olympic appearances). He played on the gold medal winning team in 1998 at Nagano. His -2 rating after fifty-one games isn't great but it's not terrible on an inconsistent Montreal team and he still plays big minutes for them. He also has 6 goals as of this writing which is more than respectable for any defenceman, let alone one of his age. I guess since the blueliners the Czechs selected aren't exactly young, they felt that including Hamrlik would add too much age. But I think they made a mistake.





Who probably took his spot: I'm gonna go with one of the two defenceman I wouldn't have picked (who the fuck is Miroslav Blatak?), Roman Polak of the St. Louis Blues. He's twenty-three and only in his second full NHL season. I'll admit I don't get to see him play often (I think I've seen two Blues games this year) but to me, this guy doesn't stand out in any way. He has six less points than Hamrlik at this point and I've never heard anyone describe him as particularly gritty of defensively responsible.












4. Craig Anderson, goaltender - USA
You may think this point is moot since Ryan Miller's going to get every start. You would have a point but still, to me, Olympic roster selections are as much about who deserves to be picked as who can help the team win. And Craig Anderson deserves to be one of the three American goalies in Vancouver.

If there's one thing I enjoy, it's saying "I told you so" and this summer when Colorado, a team who was quite terrible last year, signed Anderson as a free agent I told anyone who'd listen "well, they've got a goalie now anyway". While the Panthers, Anderson's old team, once again struggled and missed the playoffs I took note of Anderson's at times amazing play, seeing highlights of brilliant saves on almost a weekly basis. I knew that if he had a decent team in front of him, he could shine. As I'm writing this, he's just minutes removed from a shutout against the Oilers, giving him his twenty-eighth win of the season in his forty-ninth game as well as his sixth shutout. He set a franchise record for the Colorado Avalanche for most wins in the month of October with ten, breaking the old mark held by some guy named Roy. Before the start of the season, no one expected the Avs to be where they are right now and their impressive record is due to a LOT of things going right. But Anderson's emergence as an elite NHL goalie has played no small part in this.




Who probably took his spot: Well, as Miller is arguably the best player in the entire NHL right now, let alone goalie, we all know he's going to be Team USA's starter. And Tim Thomas, while not having an amazing year, still is the reigning Vezina Trophy winner. So it has to be LA's Jonathan Quick. I don't mean to take anything away from the guy as he's currently piling up the wins for the finally competitive Kings but I think it's fair to say that Anderson is more responsible for his team's success than Quick is for his. Anderson currently holds a .923 save percentage to Quick's .907. Anderson deserves the nod.




3. Sergei Zubov, defence - Russia
I don't care that he's thirty-nine and no longer playing in the NHL, the omission of a guy who should be considered a legend among Russian hockey players is inexcusable. He's played over a thousand games in the NHL along with 164 playoff games winning two Stanley Cups and was a part of the flagless Russian team that last won gold at the Olympics in 1992. He's on my list of Greatest Russian Defencemen at the number two spot so you can check out more of his accomplishments there.

Through forty-nine games played for St. Petersburg SKA in the KHL (along with fellow Russian reject Alexi Yashin) he's got 39 points, good for fourth on the team and most among defencemen by a country mile. True, the KHL isn't quite as strong as the NHL but those are amazing stats for a guy his age. Not only that but the Russian Olympic team actually has quite a few KHLers on it almost making the statement that that league is on par with the NHL. So Zubov's omission is just baffling to me.




Who probably took his spot: This one's tougher as outside Markov, Gonchar and Volchenkov, I feel that Zubov is more deserving to be there than any of the other defenceman selected. For some reason they named eight defencemen and Zubov wasn't among them. How is that possible? I don't really know anything about KHLer Ilya Nikulin so I won't pick on him, I guess. So how about former NHLer and current KHLer Dimitri Kalinin? Sure, he's ten years younger but that's all I'll give him. He wasn't even good enough for the NEW YORK RANGERS defence core last year. Come on.







2. Mikael Samuelsson, right wing - Sweden
"Probably going to get in trouble for this, but they can go fuck themselves." Thus spoke the Vancouver Canuck when asked by reporters what his thoughts on being left off Sweden's Olympic roster were. They're my thoughts too, really, as much as I like Sweden and would enjoy seeing them medal again.

Before the 04/05 Lockout, Samuelsson bounced from the Sharks to the Rangers to Penguins and didn't really have an impact anywhere. But he signed with the Detroit Red Wings for the 05/06 season and, playing mostly third line minutes, set careers highs with 23 goals and 45 points. For the next four years, he fit in well on a talented team as a support player, averaging around eighteen goals and forty points a season. He won the Cup with the team in 08 and went to the Final with them again in 09, scoring five goals in each run. But this past summer he signed with the Canucks hoping he could take on a bigger role, particularly offensively.

That's pretty much what happened too as he's played mostly on the second line and gotten a lot more power play time than he ever did with Detroit. He's currently got 19 goals and 37 points, poised to set new career highs across the board. I think about the potential rosters for other countries almost as much as I think about Canada's and every time I put together my Team Sweden, Samuelsson was there. With Mats Sundin and Markus Naslund both retired, I figured there was definitely some room at the forward position, even with Peter Forsberg attempting the whole comeback thing again. We'll see how that goes. But if Foppa winds up injured or some other forward does, I think it's safe to say that Samuelsson won't get the call.



Who probably took his spot: I think it has to be Fredrik Modin. Zetterberg, the Sedins, Alfredsson and Backstrom were all locks as scorers with Eriksson and Hornquist nice young players who can fill that role as well. As long as he can stay healthy, Forsberg is a legend and his place is secure. Pahlsson is there for his defensive ability and Weinhandl has been a great player ever since he left the NHL. Not only is Modin thirty-five but his career has practically been defined by injuries over the past three years. He was even injured at the time of being named to the roster. I just didn't think he was even in the mix. Now I like Modin and lamented when the Leafs traded him all those years ago (he could have been a good winger for Mats if they'd shown a little patience) but I have to believe that the thirty-two year old and durable Samuelsson is the better option these days.


1. Jussi Jokinen, left wing - Finland
He may be doomed to be forever known as the "other" Jokinen and you have to wonder if he'll ever get the recognition he deserves. I'm not saying he's better than Olli Jokinen because he's not but he is currently outplaying him and Olympic rosters should have more to do with how well a player is playing now than whatever he's done in the past.

The first year after the lockout, Jokinen enjoyed a very stellar 55 point rookie season playing for the Dallas Stars. He only had 17 goals and looked to be something of a playmaker. But that was overlooked by something else that was new to the league the first year after the lockout: the shootout. That year, the Stars were nearly unbeatable in the shootout and Jokinen was their secret weapon. Over the next few seasons, he was traded to Tampa Bay and his numbers fell off but he kept up his excellence in extra time. He is the most successful shooter in the history of the NHL shootout.

Last season he was fairly ineffectual and the Lightning were going no where and they traded him to the Hurricanes. In the final twenty-five games of the season he only produced one goal and eleven points. But then the playoffs started and the Canes squeaked in and managed to upset the heavily favoured Devils and then even more heavily favoured Bruins in extremely dramatic fashion before being trounced by eventual champs, the Penguins. In the playoffs Jokinen caught fire and played a huge part in the Hurricanes success, scoring 7 goals and 11 points in eighteen playoff games, including FOUR game winners.

This year he's picked up where he left off and has been one of the few bright spots on a terrible Carolina team. Along with superstar (and new captain Eric Staal - who is on Canada's Olympic team) he is the only Cane with 20 goals so far and he continues to thrive in the shootout.

He's a medium sized guy but very shifty and feisty and definitely has a flair for the dramatics considering his playoff and shootout heroics. In a short tournament like the Olympics, a player like him could be instrumental (they use the shootout even in the medal round, you know). So of course the stupid Finns, who I love, left him off.


Who probably took his spot: This one's trickier than the others. As far as forwards go, team captain Saku Koivu is a lock for many reasons as is Teemu Selanne who, while older, is their legend. Saku's younger brother, Mikko is one of the most complete players in the game today and also an easy inclusion. Lehtinen's old too and frequently injured but as long as he's healthy, he brings tons of experience, leadership and good defensive play. Carolina teammate Tuomo Ruttu is having a good year and is the closest thing to an effective power forward that the Finns have since Olli Jokinen has been terrible pretty much ever since leaving Florida three years ago. But his ability still gets him on the team, regardless of current performance. Ville Peltonen, while never a force in the NHL, is yet another veteran Finn who is admired on the same level as guys like Koivu and Selanne in his country and he probably has the most international experience of anyone so I can't leave him out. The older Ruutu brother is a unique agitator and that can be very valuable in a tournament where you're facing teams full of stars. So I'm going to say that Jarko Immonen has to go. I'll admit I know next to nothing about him but it was either him or former NHLer Niko Kapanen and I just love that guy. If it's not him, then Minnesota's Antti Miettennen, who doesn't have the offensive numbers Jokinen has and I figure was included because of his chemistry with the younger Koivu.

A Nicolas Cage Shame Fest

Say what you will about Nicolas Cage's acting ability. I'm not here to deny the guy sucks. For some reason, however, I find Nic Cage has the innate ability to be involved with projects that are kinda cool. I mean, how the hell did he end up as the voice of Dr. Tenma?

Regardless, for whatever reason he ends up in films that I actually don't mind. This is a list of films that I am rather ashamed to admit that Nic Cage was in, and I actually kind of enjoyed. Some are crappy regardless of Cage's presence, but it probably didn't hurt that he was their male lead.

Oh, and I make no excuse for enjoying films like Face/Off or The Rock, because regardless of what you think, they're awesome.

5. The Weather Man (2005)

I have no rightly clue why I watched this movie. This is not my kind of film, and the fact that Nicolas Cage was in it should have screamed, "DON'T DO IT!" Why I watched it, I cannot recall, but I did and... I was pleasantly surprised.

The story of the film follows Nic Cage as David Spritz, a weather man in Chicago who is hated by the people of Chicago for being the bearer of bad news. His father, an esteemed author played by Michael Caine, is dying, his relationship with his kids is non-existent and and his wife pretty much despises him. Essentially, his life sucks.

The film follows David as he works toward changing it all in a weird, dark humour, quirky fashion. Like I said before, this isn't my kind of movie at all, but Nic Cage actually pulled this character off just fine, and I actually liked it.

I'll most definitely never watch it again, but I certainly didn't hate it.

4. Lord of War (2005)

This was a weird film. I expected it to be a balls out action movie, something inspired by John Woo (who directed Face/Off, I might add), but it ended up being this odd morality tale.

Cage plays an arms dealer, Yuri Orlov, an immigrant of Soviet Ukraine. The film follows his life moving to America, working in his parent's restaurant, and then getting into gun-running (... yeah). As the film goes on he considers the morality of his work (seems like a no-brainer to me) while being chased down by an Interpol Agent, played by Ethan Hawke. The film also stars Jared Leto, Ian Holm and Bridget Moynahan.

The film, for whatever reason, was put out there like some weird, almost comedic, cat and mouse chase film, except the guy being chased sells guns to war-criminals and militant armies. It doesn't seem like it would work, but it did. I definitely think if there had been somebody more competent in Cage's role it would have done better, and I remember Cage being exceptionally bland in this one, but he played Orlov, and I didn't mind him or the film.

3. National Treasure (2004)

I watched this one on a rental whim, something I don't do as much as I used to because I don't tend to rent movies as often these days. This is a weird Indiana Jones-esque, conspiracy film that starred Cage, as well as Sean Bean, Jon Voight and Christopher Plummer, of all people.

The film follows Ben Gates (Cage) a treasure hunter who is hunting the lost wreckage of a ship, the Charlotte. The story takes all kinds of weird twists and turns, but ends up with Gates protecting the Declaration of Independence, uncovering some age-old conspiracy surrounding the forefathers of the United States of America, and saving the day.

I thought the film was a decent action-adventure piece. There I said it! It's altogether way too American and draws the line way too close to Indiana Jones, but in the end I was entertained and I liked it. I thought Justin Bartha, who played Cage's comedic sidekick in the film, was decent as well. I've even tried on several occasions to watch its sequel, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, but have continually been thwarted by The Powers That Be. It's probably their way of protecting me, but one day I shall watch!

2. Knowing (2009)

Ever since I realized that, for whatever reason, Nic Cage gets involved with films I'm interested in, I decided to just go with it on occasion and decided to give this one a watch.

When I first saw the trailer for Knowing earlier last year I thought, "This looks pretty cool!" Then I saw that Cage was the lead actor and I thought, "Shit..." Like I said though, I was interested and I gave it a try.

The movie is the story of an astrophysicist named John Koestler, played by Cage (yeah, that's believable). His son appears to be some kind of savant that happens upon a piece of paper, covered in random numbers. The slip of paper was put into a time capsule 50 years earlier by a young girl that appeared to hear voices.

Cage goes on to realize that the numbers have a pattern and actually foretell massive, tragic events. He becomes obsessed with his quest for answers and, fueled by alcohol, fights to save what family he has left.

I'd go into more detail, but you probably wouldn't try the film out. Actually, you probably shouldn't. Especially if you didn't like the new Indiana Jones film (hint, hint - why do I keep bringing up Indy?). I can't really recommend it, but I actually liked it. I thought it had a nice story, and an atypical ending, whether it was really out there or not.

1. Next (2007)

This is most definitely the cream of the crop in my Shame Fest. Just one look at Nic Cage in this film and you'd think, "No fuckin' way!" For whatever reason, I just had to know how this one would play out, and boy was I in for a surprise.

If you've seen the trailer, you get the gist of the movie. Nic Cage plays Cris Johnson, a man that has the innate ability to see all possibilities of a future event, before it occurs. He starts off the film using his ability as a small-time magician/hustler. Cris has a recurring vision, however, that he obsesses over. He can generally only see a few moments into the future, and has to act on the fly. For whatever reason, he can see one event that hasn't happened yet, and appears to be in the distant future. When the event finally comes to fruition it takes him on a crazy adventure with the woman his dreams, Jessica Biel.

The idea behind this film is pretty cool. How'd the production team come up with it? Well, easy. You ever hear of the story, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Well, it's the award-winning tale that became the sci-fi masterpiece, Blade Runner.

Since then, its author, Philip K. Dick has become the focus of Hollywood productions. They see easy money when his name is involved. Most recently his story, A Scanner Darkly was adapted to the blip-on-the-radar film starring Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey, Jr.

This film was based on Dick's story, "The Golden Man". The term loosely doesn't even begin to describe how thin the line is here between "based on" and "complete name cash-in". In "The Golden Man", written in 1954, powerful mutants exist in a post-apocalyptic future. As they are of course feared (as all good mutants are) they are hunted down to be destroyed by the rest of the normies. One mutant that is captured escapes his execution, and it is found that this golden-skinned being, named Cris, can see into the future. The story then follows as the humans hunt Cris down and the ending implies that Cris mates, and that human beings will someday be replaced by a new golden race.

See what I'm getting at? There is BARELY a connection here. We have a man named Cris that can "sort of" see the future, and he is indeed being hunted. In the film it's by the US government but instead of trying to kill him, they of course want to use his powers to their advantage.

In the end, however, I actually found the film somewhat, blindly entertaining. It was stupid, hell yes, but its brainlessness is what made it something to watch. It has a major cop-out ending, which I won't ruin, but if you're ever up late on a Saturday night, and this pops up on TV, give it a watch.