Plenty of Nothing

Diefenbaker and Laurier

This statue in Saskatoon commemorates the meeting of Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and then newsboy John Diefenbaker on July 29th, 1910. People love encounters like this in which the torch is passed symbolically from one generation to the next. Unfortunately, it's totally a bullshit story that Dief cooked up during the 1963 election campaign to try to impress voters in Quebec. Source. Also.

Gladys Robinson, Champion Skater

1926 cigarette card of Canadian speedskater, Gladys Robinson. Source.

 

Nuns Knitting for the Highland Guards

Another watercolour by MacNaughton. The nuns are apparently knitting leggings, and politely not saying, "Idiots, this is Canada." Source.

Collecting Firewood, 1760

This watercolour by John H. MacNaughton shows Britsh soldiers collecting firewood at Quebec in the winter of 1759-60. Seven men draw a loaded sledge, while six other keep a lookout for marauders. I think MacNaughton has given his soldiers more tractor power than is credible. It takes about ten men to equal the traction of one horse, and that's a two-draughthorse job right there. Source.

Sens Leafs

Source.

Canada is the only hockey power without its own national professional league. If this were Sweden, Finland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Switzerland, there'd be a national league with twelve or fourteen teams, and a second league with another dozen or so, plus lower leagues. However, this is North America, and for hockey purposes we are not a country, we're a market.

But the closed border has forced to NHL to realign. The seven Canadian clubs are obliged to play each other exclusively this season, at least until the Stanley Cup semi-finals, and so for once there's a opportunity to see what a Canadian league might look like.

The seven Canadian franchises make for a very small league. It was accepted by everyone in soccer that when the Canadian Premier League started with only seven teams it was too small. And an eight-team CFL has always been treated as a temporary evil until a ninth team could be organized. But seven teams playing Canada's most popular sport are fine from the NHL's point of view. In fact, from 1996 to 2010, six teams were fine. You'll recall that the NHL is the league that celebrated Canada's Centennial Year by adding six US franchises.

So let's follow the Ottawa Senators as they meet each of the other six North Division clubs. If the AHL follow suit and create a four-team Canadian division of their own, I'll cover those teams too.

Today the Toronto Maple Leafs visit Ottawa.

Ottawa became a hockey town before Toronto, and in the Challenge Cup era (1893 - 1914) Ottawa teams won the cup 17 times, to 2 times for Toronto. In the early years of the NHL Ottawa won the cup four times, in 1920, 1921, 1923 and 1927. During the same period Toronto teams won the cup three times, in 1918, 1922 and 1932.

The modern Senators have the better regular season results, head-to-head, with 64 wins, 46 losses, 3 ties and 10 overtime losses. But the Leafs have won all four playoff series.

[January 15: Ottawa Senators 5 - 3 Toronto Maple Leafs

January 16: Ottawa Senators 2 - 3 Toronto Maple Leafs

And just to annoy North Americans I'll be listing the home team first.]

Joanna Ellen Wood

Wood was born on this date in 1867, in Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, North Britain. In 1894 she was praised as "one of Canada's three leading novelists". Her books are The untempered wind (1894), Judith Moore; or, Fashioning a Pipe (1898), A daughter of witches... (1900), Farden Ha' (1901), and Where Waters Beckon (1902). Lesmahagow, incidentally, was also the birthplace of Alexander Muir, who wrote "The Maple Leaf Forever." Source.

Mumilaaq Qaqqaq

Mumilaaq Qaqqaq is MP for Nunavut in the 43rd Parliament of Canada. Source.

Prince of Wales Fort, 1947

Prince of Wales Fort, Churchill, Manitoba, prior to restoration. Source.

Sidey-Gibbons

Canadian astronaut Jenni Sidey-Gibbons studies the behaviour of fire in zero-g. Source. Illustration by Ben Shannon.

Inuit 1567

A woodcut made by Matthäus Franck is thought to be the first European depiction of Labrador Inuit. It shows a mother and daughter who were captured by French sailors and brought to the Netherlands in 1567. Source.