Canada's 2010 Men's Olympic Hockey Roster Announced

The home team at the 201o Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament has been determined.

Steve Yzerman, Executive Director of Team Canada announced the line up for Canada's Men hockey team for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic games during the World Junior Hockey Championships in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on Dec 30.

Among Canada shoe-ins Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby, Calgary Flames' Jarome Iginla, Anehiem Ducks' Scott Niedermayer, and Philadelphia Flyers' Chris Pronger , some surprises include LA Kings' sophmore defenceman Drew Doughty and Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron.

Much of the talk following the announcement were of the notable omissions - Tampa Bay Lightning's Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Sstamkos; Calgary's defense corps Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr; and Mike Green of the Washington Capitals.

The 2010 Winter Olympic men's hockey tournament will take place February 11 - March 1.

Read the CTV Olympics story for the complete line up.

Lists of the Decade

The proverbially end of a decade (technically the decade ends Dec 31, 2010), always brings about a gluttony of end-of-decade lists flooding our screens and pages.

Here are a few that, for one reason or another, got my attention

The Toronto Star offers: Five things we've grown to hate over the last decade
The piece's headline reads: "If they would only go away when the decade ends." The article is illustrated with a picture of Amy Winehouse and I think #4 involves someone named Hilton. You can guess where this goes...

www.t5m.com's Nicholas Deigman does much of the heavy lifting in his compilation: The Top 10 'Top 10 of the Decade list' of the Decade...List
Deigman lists include:
Top Ten Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade
Top Ten Most Unwinnable Arguments of the Decade
Top Ten One Hit Wonders of the Decade
Top Ten Hockey Fights of the Decade

The blog artmusicfilmwhatever presents 106 Best Films of the Decade.
The list consists of the ususal suspects: Oscar-winning blockbusters (The Aviator), charming indie fare (Once), sub-titled offerings (Dare mo shiranai), whistle-blowing documentaries (Bowling for Columbine), fun animation (Finding Nemo) and the extremely overrated (Donnie Darko).

SoulBounce.com comments on Entertainment Weekly's Top 10 albums of the last ten years.
I am not too sure how I feel about a music critic - regardless of musical taste - that has never listened to Funeral by Arcade Fire.

BabyCenter's list of the most-popular baby names of the year and the decade
Some of my favourites include Kayla, Emma, Sydney and Ava for girls and Jacob, Lucas, Jackson and Ethan for boys. I assume this is an American list.

betterPropaganda present their list of their 100 Artists of the Decade, as well as their list of 100 Albums of the Decade.

The MNE's Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade as voted for by NME staff (past and present) plus a selection of musicians and industry figures that included Arctic Monkeys, Carl Barat, The Killers, Jarvis Cocker, Pete Doherty, Elbow, Johnny Marr, MGMT, Ian Brown, The Big Pink, Snoop Dogg, Alan McGee, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Michael Eavis and many, many more.

RIP Brittany Murphy

For many of those coming of age in the mid to late 1990's, Brittany Murphy and her roles in Clueless and 8 Mile were a reflection of the many of those who were looking for direction in life.

Rest in piece, Ms Murphy...

Minnesota Wild Equipment Catches Fire

A van carrying equipment for the Minnesota Wild caught fire on December 18. The accident left the team scrambling ahead of its Saturday game against the Ottawa Senators.

The fire started when the cube van carrying the equipment to Scotiabank Place, the Senator's home arena at about 2:30 p.m. The Wild had practised at a community complex about a five-minute drive from the arena, as the building was booked for a concert that night. No one was hurt and the cause has yet to be determined.

It was initially thought that all the equipment was destroyed but the gear of nine players were recovered intact.

The Wild chartered in new equipment, including skates, pads and sticks , however some of the players decided to take matters into their own hands. Defenceman Nick Schultz spent $200 on a pair of shoulder pads at a local sports store. Left winger Andrew Brunette had to re-call a gift. A stick he had given to a friend's son after practice was retrieved and replaced with a new one.

Many NHLers are superstitious and some have used the same equipment since their days in junior. And although the Wild players had to adjustto the new gear for their 4-1 loss on December 19, they did not want to use it as an excuse.


Watch the TSN clip