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Canada took a lacklustre 1-3-1 record into the final games of the 1972 Summit Series. The challenge was immense. They needed to keep Phil Esposito sober and peel off three consecutive wins. They nailed the three wins…

In 2002 Canada opened the Olympic tournament with a loss to Sweden, a narrow win over Germany, and a tie with the Czech Republic. In the stands a deflated Phil Esposito was shown getting hammered. Canada went on to win the gold medal with a run that required wins against both Russia and the U S A…

Cue the comeback, lads. It starts tonight with a must win game against the Germans. To paraphrase, we’ve beaten them twice at their national game, so we should be successful while engaging in ours.

Somewhere, maybe only in my fertile imagination, Phil Esposito, sloppy, angry and fierce, drinks on. We’ll march on in memory of the Boston Bruin great who, subsisting on his summer diet of steak, beer and hookers, still found the grit and determination to overcome a collection of blood doping superstars. Keyed up? Beating the piss out of your brother on the flight over to Moscow, after you catch him cheating in poker, that’s keyed up, baby. That’s Canadian pride. The race for the Gold commences tonight; all else has just been Molson’s under the bar stool…

ICE…nice to know Mike Babcock is reading; he’s going to put Eric Staal on Canada’s top line with Sidney Crosby. Now the challenge, sir, is to play them in excess of 20 minutes…the last time Vancouver Canuck Roberto Luongo had a critical start he was seen giving up seven goals to the Chicago Blackhawks in a Western Conference Game Seven. Just saying…by the way, did Phil Kessel completely disappear while playing against Canada on Sunday? The trend for the key Toronto Maple Leaf to endure tough sledding against physically imposing teams is worrisome…I wonder if Mikhail Grabovski threw that injured hand during a bar fight the other night…Henrik Lundqvist has two shutouts in two starts for Sweden…

GRID IRON…I’m having a hard time believing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are serious about making a play for Carolina Panther lineman Julius Peppers. The financially strapped Glazers are making all the right noises, but I’ll believe that particular cash outlay (10 million a year?) when I see it…Peppers has stated he believes he’ll end up in Philadelphia or New England. The Pats will be as parsimonious as the Bucs, so I’d make the Eagles the favourites…the Panthers, incidentally, have leaked absolutely scathing indictments of Peppers’ approach to the game. They wish the best of luck to the next franchise that must coddle the notoriously inconsistent pass rusher…Terrell Owens has attracted little attention thus far. The Cincinnati Bengals are the latest to say no dice…Brian Westbrook, of the Eagles, is expected to be the next high profile running back to be released…

PUG LIFE…Vivian Harris’s fourth round stoppage loss Saturday night to Lucas Matthysse is available for your perusal on You Tube. A very good fight between a stylish boxer and unrepentant slugger is mysteriously waved off after Harris gets caught with a sharp blow. He does not appear badly hurt and the offending punch is not inordinately different to the many telling clouts delivered previously. Harris, a former champ who is attempting to revive his career with Golden Boy, deserves to have this verdict declared a “no contest”. Watch for yourself, it’s a blatant misuse of power by the ref…Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman will contest a junior middleweight title on June 5^that Yankee Stadium. While it is exciting to see boxing return to such a high profile venue, this is hardly a mega-fight. It is an intriguing match-up, especially as Foreman may be catching Cotto at the right moment. Miguel has suffered two wicked beatings in his last four fights (and probably deserved to lose another). It would be far more agreeable to acknowledge a Miguel Cotto retirement announcement than the declaration of another fight…

PONIES…Bob Baffert has outlined Kentucky Derby favourite Lookin At Lucky’s path to Churchill, and it’s puzzling. The colt will run in the San Felipe on March 13th and the Santa Anita Derby on April 3rd before tackling the big dance May 1^st. I have serious concerns and believe this schedule reflects a lack of confidence on the part of Baffert. The colt will stay in a couple of comfortable spots, races that will further fill his owners coffers, but not provide the animal with the seasoning and dirt experience likely requisite for a maximum performance in the Derby. Baffert has opted for a painless approach to Kentucky. Shipping the horse east, to New York for the Wood Memorial, would allow handicappers a chance to gauge his ability on dirt and against a set of contenders different than the west coast “usual suspects”. I’m trying to read Baffert’s mind. His Point Given suffered when he was left floundering after his west coast preps didn’t sufficiently tighten him. Baffert admitted to a mistake, but seems to be taking Lookin At Lucky down the very same path. Why? My guess is that he doesn’t have a world of faith in the colt. I’m still viewing Lucky as a horse to stand against. Off a couple of easy wins on the coast, this could turn into a rather lucrative predisposition, provided we can suss out the winner…Caracortado and Dave In Dixie are considered the toughest west coasters after Lookin at Lucky…Baffert is shipping his highly regarded Tiz Chrome to New York for the Gotham Stakes…Eskendereya earned a sparkling 106 Beyer for his romp in the Fountain of Youth Stakes…Dublin’s rollicking run in the lane in the Southwest Stakes is attracting lots of attention. The colt closed in 24.4 but was hampered by a short stretch and the sheer length his charge; a trashy start had the D Wayne Lukas runner under the whip for the last half mile…still hearing lots of buzz concerning Odysseus. Forums are full of punters who are on his bandwagon despite the paucity of accomplishment currently on his resume. He turned heads while winning an entry level allowance by fifteen lengths…

RANDOM…I finished Philip Dick’s Ubik and found it a fascinating and challenging read. I’m not a sci-fi fan, outside of the stupendous William Gibson, and was surprised to find this work on the Time Magazine list of top 100 books instead of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Ubik has interesting concepts, with the “half - life” enjoyed by the recently dead the most riveting invention. The meaning of reality, and of our interaction with it, is questioned and distorted, most meaningfully when we began to realize the protagonist may be dead. The book was written in the late sixties (set in the far future of 1992) but has aged well and is very deserving of its status. I read it quickly and found the latter stages, when you’ve developed familiarity with “pre-cogs” and “inertials” and the like, the best. Dick layers the book with humorous scenes, most notably when characters interact with the personable and opinionated computers that require cash payouts to perform almost any function (including paying your front door to let you leave your apartment in the morning).  A very good book and, as a bonus, you can look preternaturally bright by introducing its peculiar language into conversation with sci fi geeks (the people that tend to fix computer problems at work)…