Plenty of Nothing

Japanese Restaurant With Yellow Pipes

Graffiti, Geological Survey Building

Blue Tongue Check-Up

Hockey's over for another year ... in the northern hemisphere!  Luckily there's sport-crazy Australia and the Australian Ice Hockey League to bridge the gap till '07-'08.  "Hockey in Australia!" you object.  "That's worse than hockey in Florida!  Nobody who calls hockey ice hockey should be playing it!" Except that they've been at it for a hundred years.  Ice Hockey Australia, formerly the Australian Ice Hockey Federation, celebrates its centenary in 2008. The AIHL season is at its mid-point, so now's a good time to check up on the Brisbane Blue Tongues, one of a select group of hockey teams worldwide named for a lizard.  (The Tucson Gila Monsters played two seasons in the '90s in the old West Coast Hockey League.)

There are two kinds of teams in the AIHL: those that use Australian players exclusively, and those that begin the season with a short bench and hope to pick up some imports as the leagues in the northern hemisphere wrap up.  The Blue Tongues are one of the latter group.  Consequently they started the season with four straight losses.  To make matters worse they were one of three clubs to be penalized points for icing imports before their transfer paperwork was done, which put them temporarily in negative numbers in the standings.  The player in question was Finnish goalie Jani Pekkarinen, a former Lahti Pelican.  Since April the Blue Tongues have moved up to the middle of the table with the help of scorers Matt Amado and Martin Paquet.

The Blue Tongues don't appear to have any affiliation with Blue Tongue Brewery, which is too bad, because the Australian beermaker has a better logo, and because it would put the Blue Tongues into another select group, teams named after beers, like the Halifax Mooseheads and Moncton Alpines.

More as they score.

Douglas

History on a Stick

This folding yardstick marked off in years instead of millimetres is so neat my hand bought it before my brain really knew what was going on.
Douglas

Bulldogs!

The day after the Ottawa Senators go down in the Stanley Cup final, the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs win the Calder Cup!  Read about it at the Hamilton Spectator.  Hamilton may be about to reclaim its place in the NHL as the temporary home of the Predators while new owner Jim Balsillie builds a rink in Kitchener or some other town just outside the Leafs TV rights zone.  Of course Hamilton was going to be home to the Penguins and before that the Sabres, so maybe we should just be happy with Bulldogs' win. 
Douglas

O-Train Map 2037

The latest report on Ottawa's future light rapid transit system is out.  Lick your fork, Duke, there's maps.  It's a grand and optimistic vision, especially considering that Ottawans have just elected a council and mayor who would rather fight a $175-million lawsuit than honour the contracts for the last mayor's LRT system.  The map has a nice London Metro feel, but I fear it's going to take more than a cool graphic to turn drive-through Nepeanites into  train-riding metropolitans.
Douglas

God Save the Queen

Thirty years ago this was the hottest 45 in England.  The single came out on May 27, 1977 to mark the June 7th celebration of Queen Elizabeth's 25 year reign.  The BBC, in observance of its policy against broadcasting spit, refused to play it.  The Sex Pistols, like most historic rebels against the Crown, lasted about a year--the Queen's still going strong, 55 years into her reign.  In future centuries, whenever they do costume dramas about the age of Elizabeth II, Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious will appear partway through Act Three, stealing the scene.

There are no lyrics printed on the sleeve of Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols so I've never got them right, and until I looked them up here I had no idea these lines were in the song:

When there's no future
How can there be sin
We're the flowers in the dustbin
We're the poison in your human machine
We're the future, your future

Douglas

Diana the Huntress

I just discovered Isabel Samaras' mash-ups of Renaissance painting and Sixties pop culture.  Other hybrids include a Planet of the Apes Madonna and Child, and Ginger as Venus in a Half-Shell.  Her site is here. The original by Luca Penni resides at the Louvre.
Douglas

Gotta Love Them G8 Summits

Canadian Hockey Champions Since 1917

Canadian is a country without a national hockey championship.  Our top professional league, the NHL, has included American clubs since the Boston Bruins joined in 1924, and it has been made up mainly of US clubs since 1926.  The NHL's early rival the Pacific Coast Hockey Association first admitted a US team in 1915, and one of them won the Stanley Cup in 1917.  Not counting this week's contest between Anaheim and Ottawa the Stanley Cup has been won by US teams 39 times.  The last time two Canadian teams met to contest the hockey championship of Canada was 18 years ago in 1989 when Calgary beat Montreal. 

The slogan for this year's Ottawa Senators cup run is Bring Home The Cup.  Try this one on: Let's Keep It Here.  The Stanley Cup finals ought to be contested by a Canadian national hockey league.  The Americans, who invariably complain about the low TV ratings that result from a Canadian team in the finals, should have their own league and trophy.  This isn't an oddball idea.  European countries have national championships, and you can see the lists of their national champions in Total Hockey, the hockey encyclopedia.

Below is a reconstructed list of Canadian men's professional hockey champions beginning with 1917.  In years when an American team won the Stanley Cup the Canadian team with the best regular season record is shown.  In years when a Canadian team finished first in the regular season but another Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, the cup winner is shown.  The PCHA and WHA have been treated as equals of the NHL, and the AHL stands in during the NHL lockout year.  Stanley Cup winners are marked with an asterisk.

1917 Vancouver Millionaires
1918 Toronto Arenas*
1919 no decision
1920 Ottawa Senators*
1921 Ottawa Senators*
1922 Toronto St. Pats*
1923 Ottawa Senators*
1924 Montreal Canadiens*
1925 Victoria Cougars*
1926 Montreal Maroons*
1927 Ottawa Senators*
1928 Montreal Canadiens
1929 Montreal Canadiens
1930 Montreal Canadiens*
1931 Montreal Canadiens*
1932 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1933 Toronto Maple Leafs
1934 Toronto Maple Leafs
1935 Montreal Maroons*
1936 Montreal Maroons
1937 Montreal Canadiens
1938 Toronto Maple Leafs
1939 Toronto Maple Leafs
1940 Toronto Maple Leafs
1941 Toronto Maple Leafs
1942 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1943 Toronto Maple Leafs
1944 Montreal Canadiens*
1945 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1946 Montreal Canadiens*
1947 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1948 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1949 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1950 Montreal Canadiens
1951 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1952 Montreal Canadiens
1953 Montreal Canadiens*
1954 Montreal Canadiens
1955 Montreal Canadiens
1956 Montreal Canadiens*
1957 Montreal Canadiens*
1958 Montreal Canadiens*
1959 Montreal Canadiens*
1960 Montreal Canadiens*
1961 Montreal Canadiens
1962 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1963 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1964 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1965 Montreal Canadiens*
1966 Montreal Canadiens*
1967 Toronto Maple Leafs*
1968 Montreal Canadiens*
1969 Montreal Canadiens*
1970 Montreal Canadiens
1971 Montreal Canadiens*
1972 Montreal Canadiens
1973 Montreal Canadiens*
1974 Montreal Canadiens
1975 Montreal Canadiens
1976 Montreal Canadiens*
1977 Montreal Canadiens*
1978 Montreal Canadiens*
1979 Montreal Canadiens*
1980 Montreal Canadiens
1981 Montreal Canadiens
1982 Edmonton Oilers
1983 Edmonton Oilers
1984 Edmonton Oilers*
1985 Edmonton Olers*
1986 Montreal Canadiens*
1987 Edmonton Oilers*
1988 Edmonton Oilers*
1989 Calgary Flames*
1990 Edmonton Oilers*
1991 Calgary Flames
1992 Vancouver Canucks
1993 Montreal Canadiens*
1994 Toronto Maple Leafs
1995 Quebec Nordiques
1996 Montreal Canadiens
1997 Edmonton Oilers
1998 Montreal Canadiens
1999 Ottawa Senators
2000 Toronto Maple Leafs
2001 Ottawa Senators
2002 Toronto Maple Leafs
2003 Ottawa Senators
2004 Toronto Maple Leafs
2005 St. John's Maple Leafs
2006 Ottawa Senators
2007 Ottawa Senators

Douglas