If you’re unaware of the love of the game of ice hockey by pretty much every Canadian with a pulse, then you’ve had your head buried in the sand. You need only look at the reactions to both the women’s and the men’s ice hockey finals at this year’s 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics to understand the passion for the sport that is felt here. I guess you could liken it to the Brazilian’s and their soccer…

Anyway, the Hockey Hall of Fame which is located in the architecturally impressive Brookfield Place on Yonge Street in down town Toronto, is an impressive museum of the game described on the official website in the following way:

Home of the Stanley Cup and the best of hockey, you can DO IT ALL… AT THE HALL. Guests can take shots at real-time goalies; stop the shots of Gretzky and Messier; call the play-by-play of some of hockey’s greatest goals; view hockey flicks in one of our two theatres; get up close and personal with the Stanley Cup; explore the largest collection of hockey memorabilia in the world – all of this plus so much more!

The major draw card, of course, is the opportunity to have your photo taken with the holy grail of hockey – the Stanley Cup which is located in a stunning old bank vault along with all the other major trophies from the NHL, but we also had the opportunity to do and see some other cool stuff like:

• The full historical Winter Olympic Medals Collection
• The opportunity to touch Crosby’s 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics gold medal winning puck
• Chris did a stella job at calling some play-by-plays of some hockey’s greatest goals and…
• Chase Peyton round and round in circles!

Good fun all around and it was really cool to be able to check it all out with the lads.

Here’s the pics. Enjoy.

The pull of the $200,000 Cloverdale Rodeo Finals Day wasn’t enough for Cole this time around, so Jakob and I headed out of town with plenty of time up our sleeves to jag some good vantage spots in the beer garden, where I found it to be a particularly good spot for shooting, on Saturday.

After a minor verbal tussle… actually let’s just call it a healthy discussion, with event security and organisers over “long lenses”, we managed to find a great spot in the stands from where we took in the Bare Back, and Saddle Bronc Riding. From there it was back down paddock-side for the Ladies Barrel Riding, the Mutton Bustin’ and the blue ribbon Bull Riding event.

We were blessed with blue skies and plenty of sun which necessitated the need for a few icy cold, bubbly beverages. Too bad only Budweiser was on offer still… and NO, it doesn’t taste any better the more of it you drink!

Anyway, everyone seems to have enjoyed the images from Saturday, so here’s another small selection of frames I shot today! Yeeeeehaw!

Bareback Riding

Saddle Bronc Riding

Mutton Bustin

Bull Riding

Spanning this Victoria Day (May 2-4) long weekend, The Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair is a wildly popular Vancouver tradition that dates back some 122 years. Featuring shows, rides and exhibits to entertain every member of the family, the centerpiece of the whole shebang is a world-class, invitational rodeo consisting of:

• Bareback Riding
• Ladies Barrel Racing
• Clown Acts
• Saddle Bronc Riding
• Mutton Bustin
• Bull Riding

More than ably supported by the wild nightlife provided at the world-famous “Longhorn Saloon”, the whole afternoon spent at the grounds was a hell of a lot of fun.

My only gripe? That pitiful, horse-piss excuse for a beer, Budweiser, was the glaringly obvious beverage sponsor of the Rodeo and as such had exclusive rights when it came to beer selection. That’s right, you could have Budweiser or Budweiser. EPIC FAIL!

The big money finals of all the main events are on tomorrow (Monday) at 2pm so if you’re at a loose end for the public holiday, get on down and check out the action. Here’s a taste of what you’re likely to see:

Bareback Riding

Mutton Bustin

Intermission Entertainment

Ladies Barrel Racing

Saddle Bronc Riding

Bull Riding

THE END

But it wasn’t all hugs, streamers and party poppers throughout that fateful Sunday afternoon in February. Oh no my friend.

Most of us have tried to forget the earlier moment of agony and despair that saw team USA tie the gold medal game up with only a mere 24 seconds to go in the final period. The deafening thump of millions of Canadian hearts falling to the floor was like nothing I have ever heard or experienced before, and believe you me, I felt just as sick as every other hockey fan around me crammed into the Vogue Theatre on Granville Street.

Illustrating both these moments of extreme stress and happiness, a mightily talented YouTube member, JLishere, has put in many, many hours in compiling two great videos that capture both of the aforementioned critical moments during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics gold medal hockey game.

You may remember I posted an entry containing some videos showing the Golden Goal reaction around Canada. Well… they ain’t got nothing on what you’re about to see below.

So, please pull up a comfy chair, and enjoy the following. If you don’t have goosebumps by the end of the second video… you’re not human!

The Agony

The Ecstacy

With this in mind, I thought it might be cool to have a decent Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket graphic on my desktop at work so I can keep an eye on what’s going on around the west and the east. I wasn’t able to find anything decent online this evening, so I thought I’d throw one together myself. The first of the brackets I’ve laid out is listed below. If you click on it, it will link you to a large (1920 x 1200) wallpaper-sized version you can throw on your PC or Mac desktops.

I’ll update the brackets below as the playoffs pan out, so come back and download the new versions at the end of each round if you would like – and tell your friends about this post. Tweets, Facebook Shares, Stumbles, Buzz’s & Diggs are all welcome and are as easy as clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post!

To wrap things up, I’ll leave you with this little ditty that my good mate Ryan (@rwashton), over in Toronto, threw down on Twitter this evening. It’s pure GOLD!

“Twas the night before playoffs and all through the city, Canucks fans were dreaming of Kings playing shitty…”

Amen. Believe in Blue!

2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket – Round 1

Click the image above to download the 1920 x 1200 wallpaper

2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket – Round 2

Click the image above to download the 1920 x 1200 wallpaper

2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket – Conference Finals

Click the image above to download the 1920 x 1200 wallpaper

2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket – Stanley Cup Finals

Click the image above to download the 1920 x 1200 wallpaper

2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket – Stanley Cup Champions

Click the image above to download the 1920 x 1200 wallpaper

In their 82nd and last game of the 2009-2010 regular season, the Canucks owned the Flames on home ice with a crushing 7-3 victory! Every single Vancouver player put in a visibly super effort throughout the game in a bid to help “Hank” Sedin rack up some points to move a decent tally (3) ahead of Alex Ovechkin for the lead in the Art Ross Trophy race (NHL season points (goals & assists) leader).

It seemed to do the trick with Hank picking up 4 assists, largely off the amazing efforts by his twin brother Daniel who picked up his second hat-trick for the season, and the fourth of his career. And the hat-trick goal?? Not your average wrist shot or tip-in my friend.

No. This was one for the all-time highlight reels… at least when it comes to the Sedin’s career highlight reels anyway! It’s a jaw-dropping beauty. Check it out in the video below. An incredible no-look tip-pass from Hank to his brother… and then… well… you need to see the slow-motion replay from the left side of goal to see just how amazing Daniel’s skills are!

All in all a solid display by the team as they look forward to a probable Wednesday night round one playoffs tilt against the Los Angeles Kings at home.

In the meantime, it’ll be all eyes on Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals tomorrow as they take on the Boston Bruins in their final match of the season and Ovie’s last shot at the Art Ross. He needs 3 points to clinch it… here’s hoping for Vancouver and Hank Sedin’s sake, that that doesn’t happen!

PS. Thank you Mr Jim Hughson (CBC Hockey Night in Canada Commentary) for yet another outstanding game call. We don’t get you often, but when we do it’s an absolute treat! You’re without doubt one of the best in the business!

It’s amazing to think that the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic organisers had difficulties with a lack of snow up at Cypress not 2 months ago, considering the awesome coverage they have up there right now. With that in mind, I somehow managed to squeeze out roughly 6 hours of boarding right across the resort’s 2 mountains and loved every minute of it.

Towards the end of the day I headed down into the “Bell Power Park” in the hope that some crazy talented skiers and boarders would slide through and launch themselves off the various jumps and table tops providing me with the opportunity to grab some shots. I can’t say that there were too many people coming through, but I did get the chance to talk to the resident park maintenance guys who were more than happy (HUGE THANKS GUYS!) to strap on their boards and throw down a few mad runs for me so that I could walk away with at least something.

Personally, I have had the time of my life and have, at times, struggled to communicate to family back home in Australia, and friends across the rest of the world just how enjoyable the Olympic experience has been here.

Recently, however, I came across a series of fantastic aerial and wide angle panoramics online, shot by the crew at “AerialPhotoImage.com”. Covering a number of the Olympic venues in both down town Vancouver, and up at Whistler, these images give out-of-towners the opportunity to explore and get a quality second-hand view of what it was like to be here.

I just spent the last half hour pouring over the various aspects myself, and have every confidence that you’ll lose yourself in them too! To make it a little easier for you, here’s the links to some of these great images. If you come across any of the little “camera” icons, you can click them to scoot over to a different image. It’s way cool!

False Creek, Vancouver

Vancouver Olympic Village

(Looks to have been shot in the Fall of ‘09)

BC Place, Vancouver

Whistler Olympic Village

For the following images, go to the Whistler Village panorama and click on the “Recently Added” tab and you’ll be able to link to these fantastic Olympic scenes:

Sochi 2014 World

Olympic Cauldron

Pre-Olympic Opening Ceremony

Olympic Opening Ceremony

Olympic Opening Ceremony

I headed out to the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Thunderbird Arena with TJ, Danica and Sarah to catch the preliminary round sledge hockey match-up between Norway (currently ranked 2nd in the world) and Italy. I gotta be honest here, I had no idea what to expect with sledge hockey – a slightly modified version of the regular game of ice hockey played by athletes with various leg amputations and spinal-chord injuries.

While a little slower and perhaps a little less intense in general play, sledge hockey is DEFINITELY as rough, if not rougher than the stand-up version when it comes to checking. If any of the players were caught against the boards at any stage during the game, it was a sure-fire bet that they were going to get crunched one way or another… sometimes even by their opponents using their sleds as battering rams. It was wild and we loved every minutes of it.

Following an early goal by Italy in the opening frame, it wasn’t until the third period that Norway were able to even things up and ultimately take the game with a late second goal. It was hard to know who to cheer for considering the seeming 50/50 split of fans spread throughout the arena.

Later in the day, all comfy lazing on couches back at TJ’s apartment, we witnessed a completely different paced game as crowd favourite Canada, took on, and literally pummeled Sweden 10-1 in a fantastic game. Here’s a tip, if you catch any of Canada’s next games coming up, keep your eyes out for 23 year-old Greg Westlake (#12) and his incredible ability to find the top shelf of the net. He seems like one of those players who creates a buzz every time he gets the puck, because you just get the feeling that something special is going to happen. You know, like back in the day when Michael Jordan took the ball at the top of the key with 3 seconds left in a game…

All I can say in summary is, make sure you check out some sledge hockey (in particular Canada) over the next week if you want to be thoroughly entertained. Team Canada takes on Norway on Tuesday evening at 8:00pm, and maybe this is a bold and premature prediction, but Team Canada will take on the USA for the third time in 2010 in a gold medal game on Saturday. I can’t wait!

While all this was going on, there were a number of alpine and cross-country skiing events going on up at Whistler in which both Canada and Australia were picking up medals. A HUGE congratulations to the following athletes for their great performances:

• Silver – Viviane Forest (Canada): Alpine Skiing – Women’s Slalom – Visually Impaired
• Silver – Josh Dueck (Canada): Alpine Skiing – Men’s Slalom – Sitting
• Silver – Colette Bourgonje (Canada): Cross-Country Skiing – Women’s 10 km, Sitting
• Bronze – Jessica Gallaher (Australia): Alpine Skiing – Women’s Slalom – Visually Impaired

Listen closely for Crosby screaming “Iggy!” above the dull roar of the crowd. Gives me goosebumps cause I know what it led to. I’ll never get tired of hearing it!