Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Kickin' Off '09 with Some Gold & Some Gossip!

Well, here it finally is... The first Blog of '09!!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Aside from breaking my camera (Christmas Eve), and aside from iPod being stolen (New Year's Eve), I thoroughly enjoyed my holidays. Ten whole days of opening presents, hanging out with family and friends, shopping, watching movies, and eating. And eating, and eating, and eating.

Which brings me to my New Year's Resolution...Brace yourselves, I'm sure you've never heard this one before...

I'm going to LOSE WEIGHT.

Ha! Shocking, right? Bet you never saw that one coming at all.

*sigh* Maybe 2009 will be my lucky year and I'll actually really do it. Yesterday was Day 1 of my "Eat Healthier & Exercise" regime, and I already hate it. Blech. But I'm determined this time. Seriously. I'm proving to myself that I have this little thing called willpower...I had it once, I can get it back. Time to get things back on track before they get too far out of control!

So yeah...Enough of the resolution blah-blah. Now, on to TEAM CANADA!!

Last night, for the fifth straight year in a row, Team Canada wore gold around their necks at the World Junior Hockey Championships. It was pretty sweet this year, with the tournament being held in Ottawa and all the hype surrounding it. And how could one not get all wrapped up in it, especially after watching the New Year's Eve game where they battled back from being down 3-0 to defeat the USA? Then there was the semi-final game vs. Russia, where they were actually 5.4 seconds away from not even making it to the Gold Medal game. When Jordan Eberle scored in the dying seconds to send them to OT, and then the inevitable shoot-out which Canada won easily...Well, I just knew there was something magical about this team.

That being said, I still thought they'd be in tough to win Gold against Sweden. From everything I'd heard and seen, Sweden was considered the powerhouse of this year's tourney. Canada barely scraped by Russia, who were beaten badly by the Swedes. It didn't really seem to bode well for Canada.

But...Well, no one should ever count Canada out, especially on home ice.

My gosh, it felt good to watch a winning team. And to feel passionate about hockey again! My poor Sens, God love 'em, just haven't ignited that passion in me much this season. I thought maybe I'd lost my love for the game.

Not so. Those boys that wore the Red & White and played for their country last night reminded me why I've always loved watching this game. They went all out, the whole tournament - all guts, all glory, all the time.

It was awesome.

I just hope some of my own players were taking notes. It'd be nice to see some of that youthful exuberance and complete determination out of them once in a while!

Speaking of youthful exuberance and complete determination - the only name that sticks out on the Sens roster as a guy who attempts to bring that every night is Mike Fisher. And check this juicy gossip about our resident team hottie: He's dating Carrie Underwood! And actually has been doing so secretly for months!!

Apparently Ms. Underwood, former American Idol winner and current country superstar, was spotted sitting with Fisher's family in a VIP suite at the Sens/Leafs game on Saturday night. She also reportedly attended Jason Spezza's New Year's Eve party with Fish. The scoop is that they actually met last March, when she was performing at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. Fisher met her backstage and they've been dating ever since.

I was a little shocked by this news... Mike seems like the least likely on the team to get tangled up in a spotlight-romance. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, so I wish him well with his relationship and I hope it doesn't end up drawing anymore unwanted attention to this sad-sack team.

Mike Fisher. With Carrie freakin' Underwood.

You can just hear the hearts across Ottawa breaking.