First of all, a 20th place finish for Larisa Yurkiw of Owen Sound today in her Olympic debut in the Ladies Downhill.
Larisa was just over a second & a half off the winning times in what amounts to a culmination of years of preparation and competition.
She’ll ski again Saturday in Ladies Olympic Super G…..
Are you ready for the onslaught ?
The Olympic Men’s Hockey Tournament begins today & the Canadian entry makes their tournament debut tomorrow, and you know every stride and every dump in will be examined to the fullest.
So be it…..
For me, Olympic Men’s Hockey was at it’s best in the 80’s when Canada was represented by our National Team.
Sure, we didn’t win anything, but the excitement created by being the underdog and the very attempt to achieve something special by virtually unknown Canadians, to me, truly defined what the Olympics should be about.
Specifically, the 1980 Canadian entry finished 6th, but I can remember in hazy detail how they beat the Americans, the eventual Gold medallists in 4 of 7 pre-tournament games and essentially had the tournament bushwhacked by a fluke goal by the Finns.
Dr. Randy Gregg, Tim Watters and the aging Terry O’Malley on defence.
Jim Nill, Paul MacLean and Glenn Anderson among the forwards.
Tommy Watt, Clare Drake & Lorne Davis behind the bench.
The 1980 team cannot compare to the lustre of the 2014 Canadian entry who will represent Canada begriming tomorrow.
But for me, I’ll be more attached to the 6th place team of 1980, than the NHL stars who face Norway, Austria and Finland this week.
I’m Fred Wallace