Jim Lang

Gaetan Boucher won three of Canada's four medals at the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo, including two golds.

Just ahead of Vancouver, Clubber gives his greatest Winter Olympic achievements - and biggest flops.

I have a mea culpa to begin this week's mail bag blog. I knew I was going to create a firestorm of controversy last week when I answered the question about my top five play-by-play men of all time. You could ask 50 people who their top five are and every list will feature different names.

Vin Scully wasn't on my list, but there's no question he's a living legend. What makes him unique among all other play-by-play men is that he works alone. No colour analyst.

I will say this: no matter who is on your own personal list, it makes me proud to see so many Canadians. Considering the population of our country, we have produced some amazing play-by-play voices over the years.

And now on to this week's question.

Name: Griz

Comment:

In light of being off to the Olympics, perhaps you can identify what you think are the biggest flops and great achievements of (a) participant(s) or team at the Olympics. You can slant it as a pro-Canadian edition or all participants of the Olympics. Does the Miracle on Ice have a spot, Eddie the Eagle for just participating, Cindy Klassen, USA basketball losing, or those participants who overcome personal tragedy/struggle to obtain a spot on the podium?

Answer:

Hi Griz, because the Vancouver games are just around the corner, I will stick with top moments from the winter games.

I will start with the good.

1984 Games, Sarajevo. Gaetan Boucher wins two gold medals in speed skating. In fact, Canada won only four medals the entire 1984 games. Blessed with enormous legs and an incredible will to succeed, Boucher won three of them -- two gold and a bronze.

1980 Games, Lake Placid. The Miracle On Ice. I know they're American but it still sends chills up my spine seeing those U.S. college kids pulling off the upset over the mighty red army machine. Al Michaels "Do you believe in miracles?" call still ranks as one of the all-time best. Nice bit of trivia. Ken Dryden was Al Michaels' color analyst on the ABC broadcast.

2002 Winter Games, Salt Lake City. It really was amazing to see Team Canada beat the USA in the Gold Medal game. I loved how Mario Lemieux let that pass from Chris Pronger go through his legs allowing Paul Kariya to score that crucial goal.

2006 Winter Games, Turin. A couple of years after severing 12 tendons in her right arm, Cindy Klassen cemented her status as one of the greatest Olympians in Canadian history. Klassen won a Gold, two Silver and two Bronze medals in a tour-de-force performance.

Now the bad.

2002 Winter Games, Salt Lake City. Jeremy Wotherspoon had a disastrous performance in the 500m long-track speed skating event. Wotherspoon came into the race as the heavy favourite to win the gold but fell coming at the start of the race.

1998 Winter Games in Nagano. I don't care what Marc Crawford does in his career. I don't care how many games he wins. He will always be the bonehead who left Wayne Gretzky on the bench during that infamous shootout loss to Dominik Hasek and the Czech Republic.

As far as Eddie the Eagle Edwards is concerned, I think you have to view him as a success story. You couldn't pay me enough money to pull an Eagle and try my hand at ski jumping. Same thing for the Jamaican bobsled team; those things hit speeds of Mach 2.

I always love it when someone we've never heard of comes out of nowhere and wins a gold medal. To me, that's what the Olympic Games are all about.

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Name: Jake

Comment:

Hi Jim,

With this being an Olympic year I was thinking it would be quite a pleasant year for say Keith, Seabrook and Toews if Canada won gold and then the Blackhawks went on to win the Stanley cup. You guys seem to have all sorts of obscure stats handy, so I'm wondering if it is common for players to win an Olympic gold and the Stanley cup in the same year?

Answer:

Hi Jake, as a matter of fact, it's not very common at all. The first player I can remember who won the Olympic Gold Medal and the Stanley Cup in the same year was Islanders defenceman Ken Morrow. A native of Flint, Mich., Morrow was a big part of the Miracle on Ice. A few months later, Morrow was part of the Islanders blueline when they beat the Flyers in the 1980 Stanley Cup Final. (BTW -- The Flyers got ripped off in the deciding game. Linesman Leon Stickle admitted after the game that he blew a blatant offside call on Duane Sutter's goal in regulation. And yes I am still a little bitter about it.)

The next two players to win Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup in the same year were the Red Wings duo of Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan.

One of the things that make it difficult is the compacted NHL schedule after the Olympics. Teams that have a lot of players on various Olympic squads will have to battle fatigue and injuries down the stretch.

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Name: Jason in Labrador

Comment:

Hey Jim, hoping you can shed some light on something. Canadians across the country have been coming out in droves to witness the Olympic Torch relay. It has been a tremendous display of patriotism and bonding complete with national heroes, celebrities, and icons taking part with your average Joe Canadian.

What I don't get, and something that didn't seem to receive any attention in the sports media or otherwise, is how an American who is part of the U.S. Olympic team -- yes I'm talking about Brian Burke -- was allowed to be part of our relay. I mean foreign competitors have been given extremely limited, if any, access to the games venues and here we are celebrating the U.S. Hockey GM carrying the torch in OUR country. Even if he has dual citizenship (which I'm not sure he does), his allegiance is clear. If they wanted someone from the Leaf Nation, why not Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Darryl Sittler, etc? Or why not have our Olympic Hockey GM carry the torch in our largest city? I just don't get it, hoping you can "shed some light" on this torch fiasco.

Answer:

Hi Jason. First off, Brian Burke is indeed a dual citizen. The one thing you have to understand is that staging an event as immense and complex as the Olympics costs money; lots and lots of money. That money comes from corporate sponsors who spend big money to have their name attached to the games and their surrounding events. I certainly wasn't complaining when I saw Shania Twain running with the torch so it didn't really bother me to see some of the other "celebrities" who were invited.

My kid's school took everyone out of class so they could watch the torch. I was free that morning so I ended up joining to watch the torch. I have to admit I thought it was really cool seeing the torch run by him while I was standing less than a metre away. You know what Jason, it is what it is. I wouldn't get too worked up over who gets to carry the torch. I am more interested in seeing the actual games and watching to see how many medals Canada can win.

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From: Shan

Comments:

Hello Mr. Clubber, I have been following your column for some time now and for some reason it never occurred to me that you might be able to answer a question I have never been able to get straight answer for. Given this fluke scenario: There is a delayed penalty and a team pulls the goalie for the extra attacker, a player attempts to move the puck up ice but it somehow hits his own team mates skate and ends up in their own net. Does the other team get credited with a goal, if not what does happen? Hoping to hear an answer, thanks.

Answer:

Hi Shan, thanks for reading. I doubled checked with some lifelong NHL executives and this is the deal. The other team would get credited with a goal. The last player on the other team that touched the puck would be credited for scoring the goal on the official game sheet.

Last season, Nov. 24, 2008 to be exact, the Habs were playing the Islanders and there was a delayed penalty call against New York. Carey Price took off for the bench. Ryan O'Byrne grabbed the puck and instead of ringing it around the boards, he put into the open net. Bill Guerin was credited with his 8th goal of the year and the Islanders ended up winning in a shootout. Here's the video evidence from the MSG Network.

It's a rare play, but just ask Ryan O'Byrne, it can and it does happen.

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Name: Dale B.

Comment:

Hi Jim, is it true that Michael Schenker quit UFO after their final U.S. Show in Palo Alto in October 1978 because he was so distraught upon discovering that the California Golden Seals had relocated to Cleveland two seasons earlier?

Curiously Yours,

Dale B.

Answer:

Dale, you are talking about one of the ugliest stories in hard rock from the late 1970s. I know this story all too well. I was going to junior high in Burbank in Southern California at the time and the entire school was stunned to hear that Michael Schenker was leaving UFO. The only saving grace for us distraught students in Burbank at the time was the fact that Van Halen was on their way to becoming one of the biggest bands in rock. The Seals became the Barons as you pointed out, and then they were finally merged with the Minnesota North Stars. Michael Schenker was never able to live up to the standard set by his brother Rudolf. Rudy Schenker was the founding father of the hard rock legends, The Scorpions.

Just a reminder, with the Super Bowl and the Olympics coming up, Ask Jim Lang will be on hiatus for the next month. I will be filing daily blogs from Miami as the Sportsnet mean street posse covers Super Bowl 44. With Peyton Manning and the Colts and Drew Brees and the Saints in the Super Bowl, it promises to be a crazy week in South Florida.

In the meantime, keep on working on your Transition Time. Married men of Canada we must stay united in our fight against the dreaded "honey do" list.