Sports Chowdah Recap for Febuary 20-22; Woe Canada! Border Wars Redux as USA Upsets Canada; Ohno! Apolo-ing Performance One For Record Books

First of all, let me just say that aside from ads portraying Air America rejects Ed 'Vote-fraud-is-OK-if-it's-for-Martha-Coakley' Schultz and Keith Olberman's gangly, awkward looking stepson Rachel Maddow as some sort of unbiased 'we're here to explain it all for the little guy' moderates, NBC SUCKS in that they couldn't be bothered to show Sunday's highly anticipated USA/Canada men's hockey game on a channel in Hi-Def. Instead, we're stuck with MSNBC. But then again, I should be careful what I ask for as I'm referring to a once every 4 years event, and seeing the batshit insane ooze out of every pore of Keith Olberman's being in Hi-Def during the prolonged defecation on Edward R Murrow's grave that is his MSNBC talk show simply is not worth the price.

(U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!)

With that said, happy Miracle on Ice anniversary, everybody! While this humble blogger was technically alive for Team USA's victory against the heavily favored Soviets in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, toddlers are very easily distracted and not everything registers right away. On Febuary 22nd, 1980, the amateur and collegiate players that made up team USA stunned the Soviet men's hockey team by beating them 4-3. Contrary to popular opinion, that actually was not the gold-medal game- the match with the USSR was to see who would take on Finland in the Gold medal game. Team USA would go on to defeat Finland to win the gold; their unlikely run dramatized in the 2004 film Miracle starring Kurt Russel as coach Herb Brooks. Rumor has it that the film was also shown in the Red Sox locker room when they were down 0-3 in the 2004 ALCS.

(30 years later- USA! U-S-A! U-S-A!)

Now, Sunday Nights Men's Hockey contest was no Miracle on Ice, but Team USA found themselves in the role of underdogs nonetheless. Just 41 seconds into the first period, USA's Brian Rafalski quieted the partisan crowd at Vancouver's Canada Hockey Place with a slapshot that deflected off Sidney Crosby's stick and past Martin Brodeur for the early 1-0 lead over Canada. Eric Staal deadlocked the game at 1-1 at the 8:53 mark of the first, but Rafalski would notch his second goal of the contest a mere 22 seconds later, sending the puck under Brodeur's left pad. The game would be knotted again on a Dany Heatley tally 3 and a half minutes into the second period, and would remain a 2-2 tie until USA's Chris Drury sent the puck past Brodeur after a mad scramble in front of the net late in the second.

In the 3rd period, Jamie Langenbrunner tallied the USA's only power-play goal of the game to make it a 4-2 USA lead. Although down, Team Canada certainly wasn't out and Sidney Crosby managed to solve Ryan Miller on a Canadian power-play at the 16:51 mark to make it a one-goal game. The crowd seemed to factor back in the final 3 minutes of regulation, including when Canada pulled Brodeur for the extra attacker in the final 57 seconds. However, USA's Ryan Kesler won the footrace with Canada's Corey Perry and got the empty-netter to seal the deal and make it a 5-3 USA win.

Now, as anxious as I was when Ryan Miller would make a spectacular save only to leave a whole bunch of big, juicy-looking rebounds for Canada to pounce on, he faced a total of 45 (stopping 42) while Brodeur only faced 23 shots on goal. So it didn't just seem like Miller was facing twice as many shots as Brodeur was....that actually was the case. Personally, ever since I saw the Canada/Switzerland game, I did expect Team USA to keep it close and put their odds at beating Canada head-to-head at 50/50.

Reports are circulating that Roberto Luongo will replace Brodeur in net for Tuesday's game against Germany while Team USA awaits the winner of the Switzerland/Belarus game.

Women's Hockey: Not too surprising, given the margin of victory over their opponents, but the USA and Canadian women's team will face off for the gold medal game, the American women punching their ticket with a 9-1 win over Sweden and the Canadians shutting out Finland 5-0. The gold medal match is set for Thursday at 3:30 PM Pacific time.

Short Track Speed Skating: Although the South Koreans claimed 4 of the 6 short-track medals awarded Saturday, Apolo Anton Ohno won silver last weekend and bronze in the 1500M event Saturday to make him the most decorated US Winter Olympian with seven medals. The feat surpasses Bonnie Blair, who won five gold medals and a bronze from the 1988 Calgary games to 1994 in women's long-track speed skating.

Women's Alpine Skiing: Well, downhill favorite Lindsey Vonn has another medal to her name, although she had to settle for the bronze in the Super-G competition. Vonn admitted to being a tad complacent and eased up after making her way through the more difficult portions of the course. Austria's Andrea Fischbaker secured the gold while Slovenia's Tina Maze won silver Saturday. Not the most earth-shattering developments out of Vancouver, but hey! Another gratuitous opportunity to put up some Vonn-centric ocular sweetness!

NBA: Well, I kinda got the feeling if Denver could do it to King James and the Cavs on the road, I shouldn't be too disappointed if Boston wasn't able to come away from Denver with the W.

After beating the Portland Trailblazers pretty convincingly Friday night, the C's headed into Denver to take on the Nuggets in a matinee game Sunday afternoon. Ray Allen had 25 points while KG, Rondo and Marquis Daniels each had 15. The Nuggets had doubled up Boston early, getting out in front by as much as 20, but Boston cut the Denver lead to 7 at halftime and managed to pull even at 66-66 in the third before dropping off the face of the earth to lose 114-105 Sunday afternoon.

The Celtics next game will be at the TD Banknorth Garden Tuesday against the NY Knicks. Paul Pierce is doubtful for the game with a bad thumb.

NFL:Not the least-bit New England-centric, but the San Diego Chargers have released RB LaDanian Thomlinson this week. In so doing, the Chargers avoid paying him a $2 million roster bonus on top of his 2010 salary of $5 million.

Today's Train of Thought- Do you Believe in Miracles? Febuary 22, 2010

Today's Train of Thought marks the 30th anniversary of the 'Miracle on Ice' by taking a look at some of the railroads serving Lake Placid then and now. In 1979, the Adirondack Railway began operating over the former New York Central branch that ran from north of Utica, NY to Lake Placid, NY. NYC successor Penn Central abandoned the line in 1972, but the state of New York took possession of the right-of-way in 1975 and was re-opened in 1979 as the Adirondack Railway in part to bring visitors to and from the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid.

However, keep in mind that the, like the rest of the country back then, the railway industry was in a state of turmoil in the late 70s and on through the 1980s- particularly in the Northeastern USA. Less than four years prior, the bankrupt Penn Central and Erie-Lackawana were merged with smaller, bankrupt and troubled railways like the Ann Arbor, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Lehigh Valley, Reading Lines, Lehigh and Hudson River or Pennsylvania-Reading Shore Line to form the Consolidated Railway Corp- or Conrail. The beleagured Delaware & Hudson was only a few years away from being sold to Guilford Transportation for a paltry $500,000 in a short-lived and disastrous marriage and shortlines throughought the country like the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville; Wellsville Adison and Galeton or Skaneateles Short Line were on their last legs.

But the renewed interest in opening up a route to Lake Placid to accomodate the Olympics gave one tiny corner of the nation's rail network a brief reprieve from the turmoil. This kind of made sense, since Olympic host cities like Salt Lake City, Torino, Nagano and Vancouver are served by large international airports, multiple expressways, railways or ferries. Lake Placid simply didn't have any of those some 30 years ago (and as far as I know, still doesn't)- just some two lane highways cutting through the Adirondacks and the recently re-opened branchline. To haul the passengers, the Adirondack acquired some secondhand ALCO diesels and coaches and for good measure, leased additional locomotives from Conrail and Delaware & Hudson. Here, rrpicturearchives contributor Chuck Edwards caught borrowed D&H RS3 #4075 shortly after its departure from Utica with a northbound consist in the snow at Remsen, NY on Febuary 2nd, 1980.

Sadly, the Adirondack Railway went bankrupt in 1981 and the tracks remained dormant for another decade.



However, in 1992 a group of volunteers began restoring 4 miles of right-of-way on the southern section of the line between Theandra, NY and Minehaha, NY and operating it as the Adirondack Centennial Railway in observance of the 100 year anniversary of the line's completion. The excursions proved to be very popular and in 1994, the railway was renamed the Adirondack Scenic and work began on restoring the line all the way through to the Mohwak, Adirondack & Northern interchange and operating on trackage rights to Utica's Union Station. In 2000, the northernmost 20 miles of the line were reopened, operating roundtrip excursions between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. Above, railpictures.net contributor Andrew Blaszczyk caught Adirondack Scenic ALCO C424 #4243 leading it's consist westbound across the Chubb River shortly after it's departure from the Lake Placid station on the last day of August 2006. Although the entire line isn't yet up to snuff for operating passenger trains, volunteers and work crews can send ballast and MOW equipment the entire length of the line.
The Adirondack Scenic generally operates in the summertime and the right-of-way is used as a snowmobile trail in the winter. Aside from ballast for MOW purposes, there is no freight traffic to speak of on the line, although the excursions are becoming increasingly popular with canoers.