Cheers and Jeers – Dec 30

The Good and the Bad of this past week.

It’s Friday. So we close out the "Week That Was" with our latest volume of Cheers and Jeers.

This week, I snub ESPN, shove Ott, while I give a stick-tap to the Piano Desk and a couple of exuberant WJC players.

JEERS to ESPN for completely snubbing the hockey world in their Year in Review where they recap those who have unfortuantely left us in the past year. There was no mention whatsoever of Rick Rypien, Derek Boogaard, Wade Belak or the players, coaches and staff of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and the crew of the plane that crashed in Russia earlier this year. This is incredibly disrespectful, but proves how little ESPN, and Americans in general, care about hockey. Shameful.

CHEERS to the Don Cherry Piano Desk. It is simple, fantastic, original and absolutely perfect. I want more. I want different keyboard sounds. I want animal noises. I want this to blow up. It’s just awesome.

JEERS to Steve Ott because he’s a complete a**hole. THIS time, he decided to get his ugly face on camera during HBO’s filming of 24/7 when the Flyers were playing Ott’s Dallas Stars. As the Stars’ players were headed through the tunnel to their dressing room at the end of the first period, Laviolette followed the same tunnel (because that’s the ONLY tunnel he could take) to go to his room. Ott steps OUT of line and directly in front of Lavy and starts yapping at him. Lavy rightfully shoves him out of the way to continue on to his team. Ott – YOU’RE A DOUCHE. You could have just stayed in line and walked with your teammates. Instead, you HAD to create a confrontation for no reason whatsoever. What a tool.

CHEERS to the Alamo Bowl last night. HO. LY. CRAP. The Canucks/Ducks game was not exactly scintillating entertainment, so it was easy to justify flipping over to a College Bowl game. And I AM NOT a football at all. But this game was insane. Baylor beat Washington 67-56. This game set a record for points scored in regulation in a Bowl game (123) and total combined yards of offence from both teams (1397 yards). There were SEVENTEEN total touchdowns scored. SEVENTEEN!

JEERS to the San Jose Sharks schedule. First, they’ve played the fewest number of games in the league (34-tied with BOS). However, their last game was against the Canucks on Wednesday, and they don’t play again until they travel to Vancouver and play the Canucks again on Monday. By that time, the Canucks will have played 5 more games than the Sharks. That’s 1/7 of their entire schedule to date! 5 games will usually equate to about 11-12 days. That means the Sharks have to make up almost 2 weeks of games in their schedule from January 2nd onward. AAAAND they’ve played only 13 road games. They’re going to have a ROUGH ride in the second half of the season.

CHEERS to the San Jose Sharks fan who had the balls to through a real, dead duck on the ice during the Ducks/Sharks game on Boxing Day. It’s one thing to throw an octopus or even a salmon or a catfish on the ice. Certainly throwing a bunch of plastic rats is no big deal (other than a massive inconvenience). But a DUCK?! First… birds are creepy. Fowl even more so. But if have the audacity to get a dead bird into the building without being noticed and were able to chuck it on to the ice… man, you’ve got some peaches, son.

JEERS to the US National Junior team for utterly collapsing against the Finns en route to 4-1 upset loss at the World Junior Championships. Sure, the Finnish goaltender Sami Aittokallio played wonderfully with 38 saves. But the game was tied going into the third period. If playing to their potential, the US should have been up by several goals. Instead, the Finns dominated the US in the final frame, as the Americans deflated and folded, ensuring a Finnish victory. Caman, USA. You’re better than that! You’re the defendign champs! You scored 11 against the Danes, for crying out loud. Now, their game today against the Czech Republic becomes a vital one, and the Czechs aren’t exactly pushovers.

CHEERS to Max Friberg and Petr Mrazek for their exuberant celebrations during the World Junior Championships. Were people really upset? Christ, people, grow some thicker skin! Did either of them need to apologize? HELL NO. Friberg gave the ol’ Tiger Williams-esque stick ride following his shootout goal against the Swiss and Mrazek gave a double fist-pump after saving a Mark Stone (CAN) penalty shot. Good on Mrazek for defending his actions post-game (as there is really nothing to defend). If either of those happened during an NHL game, those two would both be given a pat on the back.To the people that booed either of these players, go home. They’re kids having the time of their lives.