Gord Miller 🇨🇦 🇺🇦

Pope stands holding a baseball bat on a plane

Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat

There’s a long-standing belief that NHL teams outside a playoff spot at US Thanksgiving have a very slim chance of making the post-season, but according to the Elias Sports Bureau, of the 64 playoff teams over the last four seasons, 14 (22%) were out of the top 8 at US Thanksgiving.

This year there is a new, privately funded, state of the art ice plant which will ensure good skating conditions all winter. It was the vision of my dear friend and former colleague, His Excellency Whit Fraser. I’m very proud to have worked on this with him, a gift that will last for generations.

Honoured to have been part of the opening ceremony for the outdoor rink on the grounds of Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Saturday. Canada’s 3rd Governor General, Lord Dufferin, was the first to have a rink flooded on the property, the 6th GG, Lord Stanley, became a hockey fan and donated the Stanley Cup.

#HockeyFightsCancer
#RIPBrooksie

35 years ago today this youngster started at @tsnofficial.bsky.social, unsure of what was ahead and completely unaware of how incredible the journey would be. It still is!

Merci beaucoup!

Where does Prince’s guitar go at the end?

I was indeed…worked in Edmonton in the 80’s.

I wonder if this is a hockey reference. The 1989 World Junior Championship took place in Anchorage, the Soviets won the gold medal led by a top line of Pavel Bure, Sergey Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny.

I tried to hold out, but I just can’t resist Slovak Lina bars. The company that makes them shipped me a case of their products a few years ago, simultaneously the best and worst gift I have ever received.

Unless you have been to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia lately (I visited both provinces last week), please don’t comment on the measures they’re taking to prevent forest fires. The conditions are extreme and very dangerous.

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The resilience of the Ukrainian people never ceases to amaze me. There is more news coming on the parahockey front in the coming weeks and months as supporters in North America along with a Canadian manufacturer have stepped up with a major contribution.

Bob and I do go back a ways…

We worked together for 35 years, and traveled countless miles, but it’s the friendship that made it special. Happy retirement Bob.

Between them, Canada and the US have won the last 6 World Junior Championships (3 each). Hockey Canada and USA Hockey have huge and growing financial advantages over their European counterparts, who are concerned about the overall numbers and the relatively few impact players they are producing.

The huge number of players from Canada and the US taken in the first round speaks to the strength of the development systems in the two countries, but it also underlines a dire situation in Europe, where financial difficulties are causing a widening gap. There is concern among European federations.

Some thoughts on the 1st round of the NHL draft last night (besides the 4+ hours):

-21 of the 32 picks (and 16 of the top 20) were from the Canadian Hockey League

-7 of the top 10 picks (and 5 of the top 6) were Canadian

-26 of the 32 picks (and 8 of the top 10) were either Canadian or American.

Teams should absolutely be able to tell players what they can wear… on the bench and ice during a game or practice.

And I think the practice of telling players how long their hair can be, that they can’t have facial hair or wear jewellery has mercifully been put behind us for good.

Little victories…

There are fewer and fewer people clinging to the “suits to the rink” silliness, but one of their most common arguments is that TSN has guidelines for what we can wear on the air, which is entirely true. The network has no right, however, to tell us what to wear on our way to work or while traveling.

Here’s hoping that the NHL’s new CBA provision preventing teams from enforcing dress codes on their players (who are on their way to work) will trickle down to minor hockey and end the archaic and insane practice of forcing kids to wear suits on their way to and from the arena.

It’s an absolutely incredible article in @theatlantic.com

Sage observations by @bellingcat.com CEO Eliot Higgins:

How can I turn down savings like this?

Funds raised will help provide adaptive sports equipment for injured Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, including prosthetic devices. They will also assist a project I am working on directly: sending 125 parahockey sleds to Ukraine later this summer.

Very proud to share the stage in Toronto this morning with Ukrainian football legend Andriy Shevchenko, at a fundraising breakfast for the Canada/Ukraine Foundation. His message of how Ukrainians are finding hope and rehabilitation through sport is inspiring, and the support of Canadians is key.

We need more of this.

Today with @mitchmelnick.bsky.social on Montreal radio, I mentioned that the idea that the NHL playoffs are officiated differently than the regular season is overblown. Calls get missed in both, but this season, there are actually more PP/gm in the playoffs (6.0) than in the regular season (5.4).

"I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom."
- Abraham Lincoln