Joe Scaringi - Assistant Editor

July 9, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, just barely out of reach you are. This seems to be the new anthem of the German national soccer team, as they are finding it ever so difficult to find that elusive fourth World Cup star - a pinnacle which has eluded them for two dreadfully long...

June 22, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

On June 4, 2010, the 19th FIFA World Cup commenced in South Africa, where 32 of the world's best soccer countries came together to do battle for the sport's ultimate prize. Eight groups, containing four nations apiece, shaped the round-robin play. Here, teams have been competing for the past two-and-half...

June 16, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

It was the best of seasons, it was the worst of seasons. Actually, scratch that; it was really quite in the middle. The 2009-10 NBA season was nothing short of a roller-coaster ride for the Toronto Raptors, where highs were coupled with lows, and the end result was missing the...

June 9, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

He knew what he wanted to do, as he had done it several times before; stick-handle, deke in tight to the backhand, and slip the puck between the goaltender's legs. Taking a running start from deep in his own end, Olli Jokinen represented the final glimmer of hope for the...

June 7, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

For amateur athletes, there is no greater achievement than standing proudly atop the Olympic podium, watching in awe as their country's flag is raised with a golden treasure resting solemnly around their neck as their national anthem is played. No matter which end of the globe one calls home, for...

May 14, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

If the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary were looking for an opposite for the term 'sophomore jinx', it would be hard-pressed to find something more appropriate than the name Steven Stamkos. Stamkos enjoyed anything but a sophomore slump in the 2009-2010 National Hockey League season, potting a mind-bending...

April 27, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

Like most hockey stories, it begins with a quest for glory. The Pittsburgh Penguin is technically a bird, although one that makes his home in the rink. So if you're wondering what he's doing up here on the ice, well, that's part of our story. Each year, at around the...

April 15, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

Predator. n. One that victimizes, plunders, or destroys, especially for one's own gain. These beasts have existed in Nashville since before the turn of the century - 1998 to be exact - growing stronger with each passing year. They hunt in the US and Canada with the ultimate goal of one day...

April 9, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

They need one measly point; and thanks to last night's loss at Carolina, they have just one chance to collect. With the exclusion of two seasons ago, where they surprised everyone by a first-place finish in the Eastern Conference, the Montreal Canadiens have become notorious for making their bid at...

March 15, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

Quick, what NHL player holds the record for single-season power-play goals by a defenceman, co-holds the Edmonton Oilers record for quickest pair of goals in a regular season game and owns the unofficial record for hardest recorded slapshot? Not sure? How about a little more help? He was born in...

March 9, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

The game of baseball is colloquially known as America's favourite pastime, yet, in 1984, as a demonstration sport in the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, baseball provided an unlikely platform for an improbable Canadian to live the Olympic dream. It was a sequence of chance occurrences that saw Henry Andrulis...

February 25, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

Sean Bentivoglio is one in 36,000. On October 16, 1985, Bentivoglio was born in the small city of Thorold, Ontario. 23 years, five months and 17 days later, Bentivoglio achieved his life-long dream when he played his first ever game in the National Hockey League. The 24-year-old is in his...

February 10, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

When the Russian men's hockey team announced their Olympic roster on Christmas Day 2009, there was a collective cringe amongst the 11 other nations slated to compete at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. And while the Christmas turkey likely had a bitter taste for their Olympic counterparts, there's no...

February 8, 2010 by Joe Scaringi

Mike Green currently leads all National Hockey League defencemen with 54 points, yet he is not one of the seven d-men heading to B.C. to participate in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. A player who had a breakout year last season, garnering a career-high 73 points and earning himself...

December 30, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Battling for position atop the NHL's Eastern Conference, the Pittsburgh Penguins clashed with the Buffalo Sabres last night in a wild affair at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. It took the Penguins 21 minutes and 28 seconds to jump to a 3-0 lead and chase Buffalo goaltender Ryan...

December 21, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

It's a bird, it's a plane... no, wait, it's... Andrei Markov? Perhaps no less than a Superman in Montreal, the Canadiens' blue-liner made his triumphant return to action Saturday versus the New York Islanders. After suffering lacerated tendons in his leg in the Habs' season-opener Oct. 1 versus the Toronto...

December 4, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Have you ever gotten yourself all dolled up on a Friday night, ready to go for a night on the town, only to find that when you got there, there was really nothing going on? Well, that would be the best way to describe the Montreal Canadiens right now, as...

November 28, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Twenty-five forwards, 16 defenceman and five goaltenders - that's how many players were invited to Hockey Canada's orientation camp this past August. The best that Canada has to offer gathered at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, each with the same goal in mind: to crack the roster for Canada's men's...

November 3, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

The cities of Toronto and Buffalo have a lot in common. They are both part of a metropolis, they both house numerous professional sports teams and they sit, geographically, separated by just two hours along the QEW highway, despite their obvious different nationalities. Beyond that, however, the commonalities seem to...

September 21, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

In the latter half of the 2007-08 NHL season, long-time Toronto Maple Leaf captain Mats Sundin had a couple of opportunities to do right by his hockey club. Depending on what you consider to be noble - standing by your team or gracefully stepping down - Sundin had the chance to do...

August 31, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Soccer is known across the globe as "The Beautiful Game." Twenty-two men position themselves on a grassy field and proceed to complete a stunning arsenal of manoeuvres in an attempt to keep the ball in their possession long enough to find that precise moment where it can be knocked into...

August 24, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

There you sit, centre of centres, dividing the playing surface in two. Unlike your cousins, the blue lines, you perform a task ever so critical, a duty that is carried out by no other. You proudly sit in the middle of the cold ice surface, separating it ever so symmetrically...

August 7, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

In the summer of 1993, the city of Montreal was busy celebrating their hockey club's 24th Stanley Cup championship. That same summer, the team drafted 18-year-old Saku Koivu, a promising young Finnish prospect playing for TPS in Finland's SM-Liiga. After a couple more successful seasons in Europe, the Montreal faithful...

July 24, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Many words come to mind when one mentions the name Joe Sakic. Passion, dedication, leadership, loyalty, class, and humility are a small handful of descriptors that characterize the seasoned NHL veteran, but perhaps no word personifies Sakic's illustrious career in the National Hockey League better than the word excellence. Joseph...

July 17, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

The last time the San Francisco 49ers appeared in the post-season, they achieved the second-greatest comeback in team playoff history. The club rallied behind quarterback Jeff Garcia to overcome a daunting 24-point deficit and squeaked out a breathtaking 39-38 victory over the New York Giants. Unfortunately, this feat took place...

June 19, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Dear the Detroit Red Wings, on the night of Tuesday, June 9th, 2009, I sat in the bowels of Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, awaiting the outcome of Game 6, contemplating what another year with your organization would be like. Since 1997 I have spent four years with you in...

June 11, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

It really doesn't get any better than this. Tomorrow night the Pittsburgh Penguins will square off with the defending champion Detroit Red Wings in the Motor City in a winner-take-all showdown for the most coveted prize in hockey. To the victor go the spoils. To the loser go - well not...

May 21, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

On the night of May 23, 1999, World Wrestling Entertainment's "Over The Edge" pay-per-view opened with an ominous montage in which The Undertaker - wrestling's personal Lord of Darkness - promised fans that, "Tonight, darkness will seize the land" and "destroy all you hold dear." Little did Mark Calaway vis-a-vis The Undertaker...

April 28, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Each and every general manager in the National Hockey League shares the same objective: build a championship-winning team. A GM searches out players high and low with the ultimate goal of orchestrating a winning formula. It goes without saying that such a formula most certainly requires the proper components. While...

April 16, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Well, it's that time of year again - the time when it's just so much fun to be a hockey fan - the time for some good, old-fashioned playoff hockey. The race for John Tavares has officially come to a close and the New York Islanders are the winners. The...

March 26, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Following the 2004-05 NHL Lockout, Alexander Mikhaylovich Ovechkin entered the National Hockey League and it would never be the same again. On October 5, 2005 Ovechkin made his highly anticipated debut and immediately made an impact, notching two goals in a 3-2 victory. That, as they say, is a fine...

March 13, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

History has a funny way of repeating itself. On January 14, 2006, Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey fired his head coach and assumed the role himself for the remainder of the club's season. The fatality was Claude Julien. Three years, one month and 23 days later, he did the...

March 5, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

It is said that Steve Yzerman has the toughest job in all of hockey. Yes, even tougher than captaining the Detroit Red Wings. As Executive Director for Team Canada, Yzerman has the dubious assignment of selecting Canada's roster for international play. What's so hard about that, you ask? After all...

February 19, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

Exactly one year ago today - February 19th, 2008 - the entire hockey world bared witness to the single greatest comeback in the history of the Montreal Canadiens franchise. For a club that has been in existence for a full century, earning the greatest of anything is without question a remarkable...

February 4, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

They say that the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in all of pro sports. Think about it: 82 regular season games, four gruelling rounds of playoff hockey, all over a period of eight months. While the playoff match-ups are determined by a simple formula - best versus...

January 19, 2009 by Joe Scaringi

It can't be easy being a fan of the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo fans eat, sleep and breathe football and they worship the ground that their Bills walk on and the field that they play on. Every Sunday, Buffalo fans flock to Ralph Wilson Stadium - or the local bar should ...

December 31, 2008 by Joe Scaringi

During the opening month of this season's NHL campaign, there happened to be an inter-conference battle between the Minnesota Wild and the Montreal Canadiens. The contest carried with it a wonderful aura inherent only when East meets West. Besides being the one and...

December 15, 2008 by Joe Scaringi

Relationships are a funny thing. They are inherently complex in that many years of loyalty and dedication can quickly be forgotten in the event that one party breaks the trust of the other. Unpleasantries can ensue and, if cooler heads are not allowed to prevail, the relationship...

December 1, 2008 by Joe Scaringi

If you are not a fan of the Montreal Canadiens, it is quite likely that you have never heard of the name Ryan O'Byrne - prior to last Monday that is. Thanks to a regrettable slip-up Monday night against the New York Islanders, hockey fans have become much better acquainted......

November 18, 2008 by Joe Scaringi

Does anyone remember a time when pro wrestling was actually entertaining and fun to watch? Sometime last week I was doing the old procrastination routine (probably putting off studying for a midterm) when I found myself stumbling around on YouTube. I came across some old-school...