Sports Roundtable – You are winter? We are roundtable.
We gotta lotta losses.
Participants – Taylor Sockett, Kyle Leitch, Brady Lang, Autumn McDowell
The Cougars men’s hockey team was kept out of the post-season after back-to-back losses to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. What needs to change in the off-season for the team to get back to the playoffs next year?
Sockett: Coach Todd Johnson needs to pull his head out of his ass. There are players like Carter Seligner who generated the only offense in what was a pathetic 4-1 loss to the U of S that see next to no ice time. Meanwhile you have players that consistently make mistakes every shift and see plenty of ice time. Get it together, Todd, or you’re going to be looking far a new job real quick.
Leitch: Take a look at what they did this season, primarily in the last two games, and just do the opposite of that. That might be a good place to at least theoretically start.
Lang: Bringing in a good set of rookies will help the team grow in the long run, but the team is close now. Immediate help is needed.
McDowell: Well, rumour has it that former Cougars forward Matt Strueby will be returning to the team after serving an academic suspension, as well as a stint in pro hockey. His time spent on the ice in Colorado and Australia should help the team. Also, we aren’t losing many players to graduation, so the playoffs should be well within reach next year.
What was your favourite Olympic moment of 2014?
Sockett: The Olympic ring not lighting up, that’s what Russia gets for trying to out do us proud Canadians. To be honest as much as I enjoy watching the games I’m happy they’re over, now I can get back to some degree of normality in life like not taking two hour lunch breaks from work to watch hockey.
Leitch: The end of the fucking thing. Every four years, I shudder every time I turn on the TV, because there’s this huge swelling of false patriotic bravado and hoodwinked fanaticism for sports that people don’t give a shit about for the other 3.9 years in between Olympic events. It’s sickening.
Lang: Obviously watching the men’s win back-to-back Olympic gold medals was great, but there was something special to me about Alex Bolideau winning his second gold medal as well.
McDowell: Oh, tough call. Could it be the women’s hockey team battling back to beat the United States? Could it be watching the United States women’s team crying after they lost their seemingly safe lead? Or maybe it’s the fact that Canada won gold in men’s hockey and the United States didn’t even receive a medal this year. Do you notice a pattern here?
Did you get up at 6:00am on Sunday to watch the men’s hockey gold medal game? Why or why not?
Sockett: Negative, sports editor McDeezy would not leave my house when she was initially politely asked. Alas, I was kept up too late to possibly stay awake for the gold medal showdown.
Leitch: No, because I was doing what sane people should have been doing: sleeping.
Lang: I tried pulling the all nighter, but after a long night I woke up at 6 and had a shower then proceeded to fall asleep on my couch the second I got back for the game.
McDowell: This pains me to say. In fact, I am now questioning whether I am even Canadian now. But no, I didn’t. I’m not gonna try and justify it, but I didn’t do it. I’m gonna go cry in a corner now.
Regina-born snowboarder Mark McMorris, though the gold medal favourite, placed bronze in slopestyle this year. Do you think he will be back in 2018 to go for gold?
Sockett: Who knows, with McMorris being so young we could see the Bieber effect and fame mixed with America turn him into a super-douche that is too big of a deal for the Olympics.
Leitch: Sure, and MTV will film the whole training and actual event, and it will make up the entirety of season five of McMorris and McMorris. Which will give me something else to ignore on TV that time of year.
Lang: The easy answer is yes, but we’ve all seen how quickly it can leave you – ie. Shaun White.
McDowell: Yeah, I’m sure he will be back. Hopefully this time an untimely injury won’t keep him from the gold medal. More importantly, I hope Craig is back doing the commentating because holy kittens, that kid is good.
The place of women’s hockey in the Olympics has long been debated. But, after the amazing gold medal game that was played between the U.S. and Canada, do you think women’s hockey should be taken out of the Olympics, or stay?
Sockett: I have long since blamed the Canadian women for this debate even existing. If they didn’t classlessly beat down emerging hockey countries 10 to nothing, maybe there would be more competition. No one wants to go the Olympics to be embarrassed like that, and though my Dad will disagree there is no point in having a two-horse race for women’s hockey every time. They might as well just have Canada and the U.S. play for gold and do a raffle for bronze.
Leitch: It may as well stay in. It’s one of the things Canada excels at, and there’s no debating the intense level of athleticism involved in the sport. See? I’m capable of thoughtful answers once in a while.
Lang: It should stay. No questions asked.
McDowell: Okay, so yes the battle was very exciting, but it was the same battle that has been happening year after year. It always ends up being Canada and the United States in the final, and quite frankly I am sick of it. Four out of the last five Olympics have been the exact same showdown. If other countries can’t step it up and actually provide some solid competition for these two teams, then it should be removed until the competition is increased. I am so going to hear about this.
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