How many people expected to see Canadian teams in the second round of the playoffs? You might've earlier in the season, unless you knew they'd play New Jersey, Pittsburgh and Colorado. But hey upsets happen.
How about the Panthers going all the way to the finals in three years? In the same city, the Florida Marlins won the World Series just a couple of years into their existence. And you can say that the Senators have won a cup in the past, but not being around for 60 years means they're pretty much a new team. And after defeating the heavily favoured New Jersey Devils, is there much stopping them? Jean Chretien doesn't think so.
The Olympics held many upsets, hockey being the site of the biggest. It was supposed to be Canada, U.S. and Sweden, not Czech, Russia and Finland.
The womens' side was an upset. Canada had been the world's most dominant country in women's hockey. What a shock that was. But I'd just like to say that Danielle Goyette has got to be the hockey player I respect the most in the world. Coming off the death of her Father just weeks before the tourney, she went to the Olympics to make her country and her family proud. And that shiny thing she wore around her neck when she came home showed us she did just that.
The rest of the Olympics held many upsets, just ask any Canadian. We won where we didn't think we would, and we lost where we thought we'd win. Since when is Canada one of the world's top speed skating countries? Who ever heard of Ross Rebagliati? Who can even spell or pronounce Rebagliati? How did Jean-Luc Brassard lose in the freestyle skiing competition? Was it that he got tired from having one of the Olympics' greatest honours bestowed upon him?
Everywhere you looked this year, you saw upsets. Was it the favourites giving up, journalists getting those favourites down, or should New Jersey, Pittsburgh and Colorado blame it on El Nino? The Canadian mens team says it was Gary Suter's fault. New Jersey blamed Jacques Lemaire. Elvis Stojko blamed his leg. Canadian skier Brian Stemmle blamed it on the Japanese snowmakers. Bill Gates blamed it on the programmers. Any way you look at it, upsets have been the norm this year. So what am I saying? The Senators with outlast the Oilers in seven. Till next time.
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