Boxengasse » the cricket, to be able to enjoy the cricket, and no

Have you heard of Buccis Overtime Challenge? Well, this is Buccis Hat Trick Challenge. Whats the challenge part? Regularly coming up with three hits about the World Cup of Hockey. Wednesdays games are Team North America versus Team?Sweden?(3 p.m. ET, ESPN) and Team Europe versus Team Canada (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2).1. Why Team USA never had a chance against Canada: While sitting high above the Air Canada Centre ice here in Toronto on Tuesday night, I watched as Team USA was, ironically, melting on the ice below. It was like an ice cream cone on a humid day. You cant really tell that its getting soft at first. Then suddenly it pours over the side and onto your fingers. Do you lick it? Do you run and wash it off? Or do you just sit here, with a dazed, defeated?look of confusion, and let the wet ice cream dry on you?Hockey is hard. And playing hockey against Canada, in Canada, is the hardest. The Canadians had a 90 percent chance to win the World Cup when the rosters were announced. Sweden, Team North America and maybe Russia were the only others teams in the field with a real chance.The over/under on Hall of Famers on this years Canada roster is about nine. No other country can approach that. I went back and quickly looked at the 1996 World Cup rosters. Canadas number for that team was 11 Hall of Famers. I think the number of Hall of Famers on the 96 U.S. roster will end up being seven, so you can see how Team USA had at least a chance. Yet, it was still such an upset for the Americans to win two games in Montreal as slight underdogs. This years USA roster might have two future Hall of Famers. So thats Canada 9, United States 2. That is too big of a disparity to overcome. That explains the outcome in the most simple way.2. Kessel could have helped:?Pittsburgh Penguins?right winger?Phil Kessel (who was tied for 45th in NHL scoring last season) is probably not going to make the Hockey Hall of Fame. But given his speed and the fact that hes always a threat to score, Kessel should have been on Team USAs roster.In some ways, Kessel is the NHLs version of the Cleveland Cavaliers J.R. Smith. Hes kind of out there, unique, unintentionally funny, does his own kind of thing. But he has the kind of talent that can help you beat other talented teams. You deal with his limitations (bad shots, in Smiths case; no body checking by Kessel) and hope that he picks up his defensive intensity with that speed he has. Both players did that last spring for their respective teams -- and both the Pens and Cavs won titles they would not have won without Smith and Kessel.In the end, its like when you picked sides on the playground or gym class when you were a kid. In most cases, you knew which team was the best right away. Occasionally, a team with slightly less talent -- like, say, the U.S. team that won the 1996 World Cup -- could win with great individual efforts (like Mike Richters in 96) and a collective push. If the disparity got too big, however, the more talented and skillful would win 99 percent of the time, as long as they tried and didnt scream at each other.Coming off his Stanley Cup playoffs performance, Kessel was an obvious World Cup choice who, in retrospect, might have been able to Team USA that extra individual effort. His tweet Tuesday night was pure Kessel snark at its finest:What a year for Phil! He won a Stanley Cup, then body-slammed a USA Hockey organization that many feel needs to be dredged and refocused. And he produced a funny and poignant tweet that got more action and traction than did the commentary of many of the writers whom he despises. Give Phil a Pulitzer, too.3. But help is on the way for the USA: Team North America was a great idea, and I love it, but it hurt Team USA. Six or seven American players on Team North America -- which was limited to players 23 or younger -- would have made Team USA had they been eligible. The U.S. does not have the depth of Canada, so the U-23 team hurt them even more than not getting Connor McDavid?hurt Canada.So, not only will the USA have the youngsters for best-on-best events in the future, but more are coming.This current crop of young, U.S.-born players includes some great kids. But they need a person -- and group of people -- to guide them and mold them. Pat Lafontaine, Chris Drury, Jerry York, David Quinn, Nate Leaman, Don Granato, Jon Cooper, Peter Laviolette and many more talented/competitive hockey minds are out there and ready to either lead or contribute to a new day, to be part of a Continental Congress of USA Hockey that will create a road map and one-page outline. Not as a reaction or overreaction to what happened Tuesday night against Canada, but to take an honest assessment and capitalize on the positives, create optimism and instill a culture of selflessness and commitment to the cause.The young Americans are great players. They need a captain to set the tone so USA Hockey can start building a consistent tradition and not just rely on these lightning-storm moments of 1980 and 1996. The foundation is there. It can be done. The USA is winning lots of international hockey events with teenagers. It should continue as they become NHL players.Hockey is expensive, and the challenge of the sport is to keep it from becoming elitist -- either in who it attracts and/or how it molds people into that type of destructive, introverted, tired, selfish thinking. Some passionate people at USA Hockey are fighting for change and are doing good work. But, overall, the organization has a tired, elitist feel to it. Everyone goes to their own room and the kids are all staring at their phones.Team Canada feels like a local youth hockey weekend tournament, where some of the parents get a little carried away but everybody is at the same hotel bar and the kids are all playing knee hockey in the hallway. Everyone is all in. And its fun. Adidas Gazelle Kengät . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. Adidas Ozweego Suomi . Rob Manfred, baseballs chief operating officer, testified last week during the grievance filed by the players union to overturn Rodriguezs 211-game suspension. A person familiar with the hearing, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Manfred testified the sport wasnt concerned whether Bosch distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLBs interest was his relationship with players under investigation. http://www.nmdhalvalla.com/adidas-continental-80-halvalla.html .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. Adidas Alphabounce Suomi . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Adidas NMD R1 Suomi . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. WICB president has said it is necessary for his board to better peoples experience at the ground during Test cricket, to draw bigger crowds. Small turnouts for Tests have been an issue in the Caribbean in recent years - as it is in several countries around the cricketing world - and the poor attendances continued over the first two matches of the ongoing West Indies-India series.As the West Indies Cricket Board, we need to do a lot more in terms of entertaining people at the ground, Cameron said. Right now, a lot needs to be done. We need to have Wi-Fi in the grounds, we need to be able to cater for children in a better way.Cricket, especially Test matches, is an entire-day experience. Parents want to be able to take their kids to the cricket, to be able to enjoy the cricket, and not be too mindful that their kids are going to drop off a chair. So I think theres a lot that we can do, in terms of sportainment, to ensure that the fans come out to tthe game and not just sit at home and watch the game.dddddddddddd lot of people, fans out there, are interested in what is going on. So its not that the game is dead, its how do you get eyes coming into the ground and watching it versus those who are watching on social media or on television.West Indies poor long-format showings added to the flagging numbers, Cameron said, but insisted he was confident of things turning around. Part of why we dont have as much crowds today is the team is not the best team, and when I say the best team, meaning were not winning at this point in time. But, that said, I can assure you, based on our Professional Cricket League [the regional first-class competition] and where were at right now in terms of development, in another year or so well see people coming back to watch Test cricket. ' ' '