Canada announces Olympic roster, mayhem ensues

By Matt Reynolds

Unless you live under a rock or hate your own country, you were probably watching or listening to Canada's announcement of the roster for this year Olympics in Sochi. As predicted, Twitter absolutely blew up during this announcement, especially during the speeches before Steve Yzerman actually announced the team, which seemed to take an eternity. When the roster was announced, many fans took to the Internet to express their happiness or displeasure with the players selected. Here is a look at the 25 players that hope to lead Canada to gold in February:

The Forwards

Once you get past the obvious selections (Crosby, Toews, Stamkos, etc.) there were obviously some selections and snubs that were surprising and/or disappointing to some people. One of the most talked about snubs was winger Martin St. Louis, who many people think will have retired by the time the next Olympics roll around. St. Louis, 38, has 38 points in 42 games so far this season and has impressed people mainly due to the fact that he has continued to produce at the same pace even with Steven Stamkos sidelined for the past few months. Many people were also surprised that St. Louis was cut because of his relationship with Steve Yzerman, who is the GM of his Tampa Bay Lightning. Of course, St. Louis could still be named to the team if another player can't play due to injury (Stamkos comes to mind), but it still comes as a huge surprise that he was not selected. 

One player who did make the team is currently in the middle of what appears to be unfolding as a national debate. That would be Penguins winger Chris Kunitz. When Kunitz was invited to Canada's Olympic camp back in the summer, people laughed and dismissed the invitation as nothing due to the fact that his production relies on the play of linemate Sidney Crosby. However, as the season progressed, the rumours and whisperings that Kunitz actually had a good chance of making the team started to show up more and more often. This enraged many Canadian hockey fans who wanted to see other players such as Logan Couture or Tyler Seguin at the Olympics and kept reminding everyone that "Kunitz is only good because he plays with Crosby." While this may be true, others (including notorious tweeter Paul Bissonnette) pointed out that Crosby and Kunitz still did have an established chemistry, while it was not necessarily possible to form that kind of chemistry between Crosby and another player during the short time they had at the Olympics (two weeks). The days leading up to the selection, it became clear that Kunitz was probably going to make the team, and when it was confirmed, the skeptics were silenced... sort of. It's likely they'll keep complaining that Kunitz is only on the team because of Crosby right up until the Olympics start. 

Other forwards that were left off the team that stirred up some controversy were Sharks centres Logan Couture and Joe Thornton. Thornton is in the top 5 in the NHL in points, and leads the league in assists with 43 while Couture has consistently proved to be a clutch player who can score big goals. Patrick Marleau surprisingly made the team over his two Sharks teammates. Other surprises in the forward category include Rick Nash, who has had decent numbers so far this season, but not necessarily Olympic caliber, and Jeff Carter, whose production has also been decent, but there are many forwards that could have been put on the team instead of him. One of those forwards who was another surprise snub is Claude Giroux. Giroux, who was dubbed "the best player in the world" by former Flyers coach Peter Laviolette after his monster playoff series against the Penguins in 2012, had a somewhat rough 2013 season. Although he was a point-per-game player, he seemed not to be able to handle the role of captain of the Flyers, who in turn had a rough year and missed the playoffs for just the second time since the 2005 lockout. This season, Giroux also had a rough start, and took 16 games to score his first goal of the season. However, he rebounded from the slump and had a very strong December, which is why it came as a surprise to many that he was cut. 

The Defensemen/Goalies

Not much a surprise as to which goalies who made the team-- it had practically been established by hockey experts across the country at the start of the season that Roberto Luongo and Carey Price would battle for the position of starting goalie. Mike Smith was selected as the third goalie and will likely not see any playing time. Since Canada's first two games of the tournament are against Norway and Austria, Luongo and Price will most likely start one game each and the better goalie will start against Finland in the third game of the preliminary round.

There was a little more of a debate over which defensemen made the team. The biggest snub was Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook, who was at the Olympics in 2010 and is partnered with Duncan Keith, who is the midseason favourite to win the Norris Trophy as the league's best defenseman. The main reason why Seabrook was left off the team was because Hockey Canada wanted to take an equal amount of defensemen who shot left and right. This puts Seabrook after P.K. Subban, Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and Alex Pietrangelo, which makes some sense if you look at it like that, although there were fans who would rather see Seabrook than Dan Hamhuis or Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

A defenseman who did made the team, ending the discussion that had been going on for months on whether he would make the team or not was the reigning Norris Trophy winner P.K. Subban. This didn't really surprise anyone, but the discussion started because of comments made by Mike Babcock that suggested he was not a lock for the team. Overall, the team looks very strong on paper, even with all the talented players that were not chosen to represent the country. Canada's first game is against Norway on February 13.

A full list of the roster can be found here. 

A year-by-year history of Canada's last 5 years at the World Juniors

By Matt Reynolds

After a 2-1 loss to Russia in this morning's bronze medal game, it has now been 5 World Junior tournaments since Canada last won gold. This also marks the first time that Canada has finished without a medal in back-to-back years since 1982, when Hockey Canada began its Program of Excellence. Here is a recap of the last five years for Canada at the World Juniors, how they finished, and what went wrong.

2010: Regina/Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Result: Canada loses to the U.S. in the overtime period of the gold medal game. John Carlson breaks the hearts of many Canadian hockey fans, who were hoping for (and nearly got) a sixth gold medal in a row. 

The good: Practically everything. Canada had many returning players from the 2009 team which was one of the most memorable World Junior tournaments for Canada, including Canadian hero Jordan Eberle, who scored the game-tying goal against Russia in the '09 semis with 5.4 seconds left in regulation. Eberle came clutch for a second year in a row, scoring 2 huge goals for Canada in the gold medal game, both coming in the last 3 minutes of the 3rd period, with Canada trailing 5-3. Gord Miller's call on Eberle's second and game-tying goal, which came with 1:35 left in regulation, still give me goosebumps ("he's done it again!"). Canada also played another classic New Years Eve showdown against the U.S., which ended with Canada winning in a shootout after being down 2 goals in the third.

The bad: Honestly, hardly anything could be considered "bad" for Canada in this tournament. 2010 can still qualify as Canada's "glory days" of the World Juniors since there were still a handful of players on the team who had won gold (Eberle, Pietrangelo, Cormier, Ellis, Della Rovere and Colten Teubert), and they came the closest possible to winning the gold by going to OT (other than sending the game into a shootout). Canada's one weakness in this tournament, which has been a weakness ever since, was their goaltending. Jake Allen was the starter for most of the tournament, but was pulled in favour of Martin Jones during the gold medal game after letting in 5 goals, the fifth goal being a very shaky one that put Canada down by 2 with time running out in the third period. However, no one really noticed Canada's sub-par goaltending for two main reasons, firstly because the rest of their team was so good, and secondly because in the high pressure games for Canada (i.e. the two games against the U.S.), the opposition's goalies were not rock-solid either. Jack Campbell and Mike Lee were the American goalies, and although Campbell played well on NYE against Canada, the U.S. went with Lee in the gold medal game, who was pulled after letting in 3 shaky goals. Overall, this was a very good tournament. I still think Eberle should have been captain, especially since shortly after the tournament, Canada's captain Patrice Cormier laid a brutal hit on QMJHLer Mikael Tam, which somewhat destroyed his reputation. 

2011: Buffalo, New York

Result: Another heartbreaking loss in the gold medal game, this time at the hands of the Russians. 5-3 is the final score.

The good: Canada had another solid run at the tournament, despite a New Years Eve loss to Sweden that would put them in 2nd place in their group. Ryan Ellis was the captain and became the highest-scoring defenceman in the tournament's history. Brayden Schenn scored 18 points in 7 games, including a 4-goal game against Norway. There were not many returning players on the Canadian team from 2010, along with Ellis and Schenn only defencemen Calvin de Haan and Jared Cowen had played the previous year. Schenn and Ellis were clearly Canada's best players at the tournament, but Ryan Johansen, Louis Leblanc and Curtis Hamilton also had impressive showings. Canada actually beat Russia 6-3 in the opening game of the tournament. Yes, Canada, Russia and Sweden were all in the same group in this World Juniors. This was mainly due to Switzerland's massive upset in the relegation game over Russia in the previous year. Canada also won a huge game in the semi finals against the U.S. with a convincing 4-1 defeat. Zack Kassian's 4-0 goal was probably the most memorable part of this game, since he was in just his second game back from a suspension for a hit on Czech player Petr Senkerik, which had many people questioning whether he belonged on the team or not (the hit itself was clean, the only problem was that Senkerik didn't have the puck at the time of the hit). The 4-0 goal basically screamed "redemption" to all Canadian fans.

The bad: It's incredibly hard to talk about, and most Canadian hockey try their hardest not to have it brought up in conversations about the World Juniors. Canada was going into the third period of the gold medal game with a 3-0 lead over Russia. The country was going into full party mode, especially since it was Brayden Schenn, who was everyone's favourite player in the tournament, who had made it 3-0 in the second. Then in the third, everything went wrong. Russia scored 5 goals, unanswered in front of a stunned Canadian crowd (even though the tournament was in Buffalo, everyone at the games were Canadians) and snatched the gold from right under Canada's nose. No one really can explain what went wrong for Canada in that third period from hell-- was it the goalie's fault? The defencemen? The coaches? Russia just came on full-force and walked all over team Canada. Goaltending was once again a problem for Canada. Olivier Roy had appeared to have locked up the starter's role for Canada, until a very bad game against Sweden on New Years Eve, which resulted in a 6-5 shootout loss. Roy did not look very good during the game, but was even worse in the shootout, letting in 2 bad goals while Canada failed to score. Mark Visentin took over and was quite good against Switzerland and the United States, and had been playing shutout hockey for 40 minutes in the gold medal game, until the disastrous third period. To this day, it hurts to think about that gold medal game.

2012: Calgary/Edmonton, Alberta

Result: For the first time in 11 years, Canada did not make the gold medal game, after losing the semi finals to guess who, the Russians. Canada wins bronze with a 4-0 score against Finland. 

The good: Canada had some major contributions from some unlikely sources at this tournament. Mark Stone, Ottawa's 6th-round pick at the 2010 draft, was the leading scorer for team Canada, putting up 7 goals and 10 points in 6 games. Brendan Gallagher, a Montreal 5th-rounder from the same draft, was a chippy forward who scored some key goals despite his size and became a fan favourite, a reputation he has kept up with his time as a Montreal Canadien. Mark Visentin redeemed himself somewhat, with a shutout in the bronze medal game, even though he couldn't pull off the win against Russia. Other players that had a memorable tournament for Canada were Jonathan Huberdeau, Ryan Strome, and brothers Dougie and Freddie Hamilton, who were the first brothers to play in the World Juniors in the same year for Canada since Mike and Randy Moller did in 1982. Returning forward Quinton Howden also had a solid bronze medal game, scoring 2 goals. Other returning players were forwards Jaden Schwartz, who missed most of the previous year due to a broken wrist and Brett Connolly, who was on loan from the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The bad: Once again, the Russians had Canada's number. They jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the semifinal game, and held on despite a Canadian comeback that just fell short. The emotional game ended in a 6-5 Russian win. Canada showed some heart in the third period after 40 horrible minutes. Ryan Murray especially had a rough game as three of Russia's goals were defected in off his stick. Scott Wedgewood, who had captured the hearts of many Canadian fans in the preliminary round of the tournament, did not play well against Russia either, and was pulled in favour of Visentin after letting in 4 goals. Wedgewood had played two solid games against the Czech Republic and the U.S., who were two very good teams, but did not seem to be able to find his groove in the semis. Once again, the inconsistent goalie was Canada's Achilles heel.

2013: Ufa, Russia

Result: Canada leaves empty-handed for the first time in 14 years, losing the bronze medal game to those darn Russians in overtime.

The good: Canada looked extremely strong during the preliminary round, beating the U.S. and Russia to claim first place in their group. Thanks to the lockout, Canada was able to have stars such as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jonathan Huberdeau, Dougie Hamilton and Mark Scheifele, who would otherwise have been in the NHL. Malcolm Subban seemed to emerge as a consistent starter after convincing wins against the U.S. and Russia, although he did have a rough start to the tournament, mainly in the game against the Slovaks, where Canada rallied back from a 3-1 defect to win 6-3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a very strong tournament, winning the award for best forward with 15 points in 6 games. Players like Jonathan Drouin, Brett Ritchie and Ty Rattie emerged as stars for team Canada.

The bad: Unfortunately there wasn't much more good for Canada in this tournament. After a solid start in the preliminary round, Canada was steamrolled by the U.S. in the semifinals, suffering a 5-1 defeat. Malcolm Subban was pulled and replaced by Jordan Binnington, who was decent in the remaining period after Subban let in 4 goals. The diappointment continued in the bronze medal game, as Canada fell to Russia, 6-5 in overtime. Canada had another slow start, with Binnington getting pulled  after Russia jumped out to a 3-1 lead. Canada showed some grit and kept coming back, and the game was tied after 3 intense periods. However, in overtime, Valeri Nichuskin was allowed to walk right into the Canadian zone and score the bronze medal winner, with hardly any resistance from the Canadian defencemen or Subban. Throughout the tournament, Nathan Mackinnon, who was projected to go first overall in the upcoming draft, received third/fourth line ice time. Coach Steve Spott didn't give Mackinnon enough of a chance to play and prove what he could do for team Canada. It was a disappointing end to the tournament, but luckily, most of the country didn't see it since the games were early in the morning (4:30 to be exact).

2014: Malmo, Sweden

Result: Canada takes another huge loss in the semifinals, this time at the hands of Finland, and loses the bronze medal game to Russia, 2-1.

The good: After an intense preliminary round that saw coach Brent Sutter lose his first World Juniors game ever in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Czech Republic and a great New Years Eve game against the USA, Canada came out on top of their group once again. This year's tournament had a new format however, where the top 4 teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinals. Canada beat Switzerland pretty easily, 4-1 and advanced to the semis once again. Nic Petan, Jonathan Drouin, Curtis Lazar and Anthony Mantha were Canada's best forwards, while Griffin Reinhart had a solid few games after serving his 3-game suspension. Zach Fucale took over for Jake Paterson after the shootout loss to the Czechs, and did so quite well. Canada once again had trouble with the Slovaks, falling to a 3-1 deficit before a third period comeback led by Jonathan Drouin and Nic Petan. Anthony Mantha was named to the tournament all-star team.

The bad: This time, it wasn't the goaltending to blame. Sure, Jake Paterson played badly against the Czechs but Zach Fucale came in and was solid for Canada. This time, Canada had a weak showing against Finland partially due to their poor defensive play and their inability to complete a pass. Overall, Finland was dominant in the semifinal game, and Canada let their guard down which the Finns took advantage of. Fucale, in fact, made what is likely the save of the tournament against Finland, diving across the net to stop the puck with his glove (although he did let a goal shortly afterwards). Captain Scott Laughton quiet offensively during the tournament, putting up just one point. Defenceman Mathew Dumba, who had NHL experience with the Minnesota Wild prior to the tournament, was also shaky during the key games. Another player who had high expectations coming into the tournament was 16 year-old Connor McDavid, who put up decent offensive statistics (4 points in 7 games), but was often benched by Brent Sutter due to poor play.

Overall, it is hard to say which loss is tougher to swallow, 2013's or 2014's. Next year's tournament takes place in Toronto, and Canada hopes to get back onto the podium after 2 disappointing runs.

The Top 10 Songs of 2013

By Matt Reynolds

2013 was a great year for music. Not necessarily mainstream pop songs by artists like Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus or Bruno Mars (those songs weren't so great) but there were many indie bands that emerged, partially thanks to Indie88, the Toronto indie rock radio station that came to life in the summer. Aside from the indie tunes, there were also a few hip-hop songs that were not the biggest hits of the year, but did not go unnoticed either. Here are, in my humble opinion, the 10 best songs of the year.

10. John Newman - Love Me Again

The British singer's unique singing accent combined with a piano riff that makes you wanna dance and a chorus that was made to belt out made for a radio hit in the summer and later in the year.

9. Eminem - Headlights (feat. Nate Ruess)

In this emotional, passion-filled, heartfelt song, Eminem apologizes to his mother who he has verbally bruised and beaten in his songs and interviews in the past. He comments on how her "mental state is deteriorating slow/and I'm way too old to cry this shit is painful though!" and how he will not perform songs like Cleanin Out My Closet anymore at concerts. Nate Ruess of

fun. lends his vocals for a memorable hook that could even lead some diehard Shady fans to shed a tear or two.

8. Vampire Weekend - Unbelievers 

"I know I love you/and you love the sea.../but what Holy Water contains a little drop, little drop for me?"

A brief and catchy chorus along with a steady drum beat throughout the song puts this song at number 8. Although it did not get as much recognition as it should have, this song along with all of Modern Vampires of the City was thoroughly excellent.

7. Cayucas - High School Lover

The indie pop quartet from California provide a song that is sure to make adults in their 20s or 30s think back to their first high school crush or boyfriend/girlfriend. "The words came out, one after another/you shoulda been my high school lover."

6. Tyler, the Creator - 48

The always enthusiastic rapper (you'll know what I mean if you follow him on Twitter) writes a song from the perspective of a cocaine dealer who knows the evil he is doing by selling this drug to the youth of America and watching it destroy their lives. The title of the song come from the chorus, where he and Frank Ocean sing "48 states I get it in," meaning that the dealer is selling in 48 states excluding Hawaii and Alaska.

5. 50 Cent - We Up (feat. Kendrick Lamar)

The rapper who was once on top of the game collaborates with the rapper who is currently on top to create a song with an incredible beat and a mesmerizing hook. Although 50 has experienced his ups and downs in the past few years, he and Kendrick combine for something very special in 

We Up. With two rappers as prominent and prolific as 50 and Kendrick, it's a wonder how this song did not receive more recognition.

4. The Darcys - The River

The Toronto indie quartet who have gone touring across the globe in the past year go back to their roots with an extremely cool video shot at Etobicoke Creek. The video features lead singer Jason Couse being pushed into the water-- however, it is in super slow-motion and starts with the shot of him being pushed in reverse, making it look like he is coming out of the water. The Darcys also toured at high schools across the GTA to raise awareness for music programs in public schools.

3. New Politics - Harlem

Not to be confused with the Harlem Shake (ugh), the Danish trio provide a very catchy tune with lyrics that don't really make sense-- "here come the jets hide your money in the tube socks/run like me, like hell, like everybody else" makes absolutely none until you realize English is not actually their first language. A very quirky song that makes you want to dance like no one's watching.

2. Phoenix - Trying To Be Cool

The band's fifth album is one of their best, only behind 2009's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. This song in particular features a very smooth synth line, especially at the beginning of the song. Phoenix is another band whose lyrics don't really make that much sense- for example "They teach you suffer to resist/too much intention Presbyterian/mint julep testosterone/tell me that you want me, tell me that you want me." This is mainly because Phoenix, like New Politics do not speak English as their first language-- Phoenix are from France.

1. Vampire Weekend - Diane Young

Vampire Weekend create one the catchiest choruses ever and only use three words.

"Baby, baby, baby, baby right on" is repeated constantly and somehow gets better and better each time you listen to it, unlike a certain other song that repeats the word "baby" over and over. Vampire Weekend's second song on this countdown is truly the best song of 2013, with the chorus, clever lyrics and an irresistible drum beat, it is nothing short of a masterpiece.