After Brayden Schenn’s performance with Canada’s national junior team, you have to wonder why more NHL teams don’t give young players the opportunity to play in the World Junior Championship. . . . So you’re a player on the U.S. national junior team and you are playing against Team Canada and the fans are chanting “THIS IS OUR HOUSE!” Except they are Canada’s fans and you are playing in Buffalo, which is in your home country. How do you feel? . . . In case you missed it, after Sweden beat Canada 6-5 in a shootout in a round-robin game at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Buffalo on New Year’s Eve, Roger Ronnberg, the Swedish head coach, actually trash-talked the Canadians. . . . We certainly have come a long ways, haven’t we, Grapes? . . . The best part about Russia winning the WJC on Wednesday is that Canada versus Russia means something again. . . .
Headline at SportsPickle.com: WWE to investigate long-term effects of referee concussions. . . . So that’s it. Brett Favre’s career is over? After all the offseason suspense the last two years, it ends with a whimper like this? Altogether now . . . awwwwww!. . . . As Bruce Arthur of the National Post tweeted: “If there has been a more unseemly and pathetic ending to a Hall of Fame career, I'm having trouble summoning it.” . . . If you weren’t aware, Monday was the 123rd anniversary of the patent on the paper drinking straw. “The biggest breakthrough in sucking history,” noted comedy writer Jerry Perisho, “until the L.A. Clippers.” . . . Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “What was with (TSN hockey analyst Pierre) McGuire and all that anger and rage during the world junior hockey championship? It’s a game, dude.” . . .
Some young men in Quebec who were putting together a punk band approached Hockey Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk about using his name. "They seemed like good kids," Hawerchuk told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. "They asked me if they could use my name for the band and I told them, 'As long as you stay out of jail, go ahead.' " And so was born the punk band Les Dales Hawerchuk. . . . You are aware, of course, that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has thrown for 26 touchdowns over the last 11 games. And that is without throwing an interception. . . . The NFL’s MVP this season? It’s no contest. . . . A note from Vancouver comedian Torben Rolfsen: “San Francisco was awarded the 2013 America's Cup yacht race, edging out Somalia's bid.’’ . . .
The Associated Press has reported that a maintenance worker at a Michigan golf course has admitted to hunting deer from a golf cart. Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times noted: “Which certainly gives ‘What did you shoot?’ a whole new meaning.” . . . Gene Wojciechowski, at ESPN.com: “The chances of (head coach Jim) Harbaugh staying at Stanford are the same as Joe Pa dating Lady Gaga.” . . . Joe Pa, of course, is Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, who first coached in the Colosseum. . . . Keeping Score fan T.C. Chong, who hangs his hat in Richmond, offers this on the New York Jets’ head coach: “Rex Ryan did not dress up as Santa Claus. Instead, he was Frosty the Toeman.” . . . Chong also noted: “Vancouver Canucks’ management’s biggest dilemma right now is which direction the parade should go . . . east on Robson . . . or west?” . . .
Forward Ryan Shannon of the Ottawa Senators had a shot end up in the crowd during a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 29. There were 19,153 fans at the game in Ottawa and the puck hit, yes, Shannon’s wife on one leg. "There was a Toronto Maple Leafs fan sitting next to her," Shannon told the Toronto Sun. "But I missed by a couple of inches." . . . Shouldn’t TSN employ a translator so that we would know what those Russian players were shouting into the TV cameras on Wednesday night? . . . .It was great to see old friend Murray Costello involved in the medal ceremony after the WJC championship final. . . . He didn’t get a whole lot of publicity but when I was watching, Cody Eakin of the Swift Current Broncos was one of Canada’s best players in this tournament. . . .
Len Berman, over at thatssports.com: “I was excited when I heard that the Mets made a trade last week. They sent a minor league pitcher to the Dodgers for infielder Chin-lung Hu. I was so hoping that he was a first baseman. (Hu's on first?) But alas, he's mostly been a shortstop in his brief appearances with the Dodgers. The Mets just can't catch a break.” . . . Here’s Berman again: “I thought the headline said ‘Rex Ryan has a food fetish,’ and my reaction was, ‘yeah, so?’ " . . . And one more from Berman: “I guess being fined $50,000 by the NFL for ‘not co-operating’ with their investigation into whether he sent (Little Favre) pix to a Jets hostess, sounds better for Brett Favre than the league finding ‘insufficient evidence.’ ”
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. Email him at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, follow him at twitter.com/gdrinnan, or visit his blog at gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.
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