:: Putting it in writing; a follow-up ::

Well, Canada announced its men's hockey roster for the 2010 Olympics this morning, and though I don't like to brag, my predictions from yesterday were nearly spot on. I mean, I only missed three players on the whole team – that's an 87% success rate, for those of you scoring at home.

Now, I know many of the roster spots were easy to predict – all three goalies, Iginla, Crosby, Pronger, and the like – but the only three I missed were Patrice Bergeron, Mike Richards and Brendan Morrow. In their place I had Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Shane Doan.

Morrow is essentially Shane Doan, so that's a wash, and to tell you the truth, the reason I had St. Louis on the team – aside from the fact that he's having a good year – was because I heard on TSN that he was gaining momentum with Yzerman's crew. If you read my predictions, you'll see that I had him as a possible replaceable player.

That said, I still picked him and was wrong. But 87% right, with all that talent potentially making the cut? That's pretty good. I'm especially impressed that I got a 100% perfect score when choosing the seven defencemen. I kept all three Calgary blue-liners off my team, even Bouwmeester, and it proved to be right.

I do really like the team that was chosen, although I'm a little bit bummed that Doan isn't there, and that Stamkos isn't the 13th forward. I mean, with scoring at a premium in the '06 disaster, you'd think they'd add an pure sniper as insurance. Instead, we've got more grit with Toews, Richards and Morrow, et al.

Might come back to bite 'em. Hopefully not.

:: Putting it in writing ::

They say that predictions are a fool's game (Well, I'm not sure who exactly says this, but I've heard it before), but even so, I'm going to go out on a sports-related limb today. Canada announces its Olympic men's hockey roster tomorrow, Dec. 30, and such an announcement will no doubt stir all kinds of debate.

And by that I mean that, for the next 3-4 days you won't be able to find a radio station, internet site, or TV channel not talking about it. And I – like 30 million other general managers in this country - have opinions and guesses on what the team would and should look like. And while it's easy to say, after the fact, that "Oh, I knew that guy would/wouldn't make the team" I figured I'd put it in print beforehand. My team is listed below. The over/under on how much I actually get correct is about 65%.

Keep in mind, this isn't the team I would pick, necessarily. It's the team I think Steve Yzerman and his staff will pick. So here goes:

FORWARDS (13):

Jarome Iginla

Sidney Crosby

Rick Nash

Corey Perry

Ryan Getzlaf

Martin St. Louis

Patrick Marleau

Joe Thornton

Dany Heatley

Eric Staal

Jon Toews

Shane Doan

Steven Stamkos

Notable omissions: Jeff Carter, Vincent Lecavalier, Brendan Morrow, Mike Fisher, Patrick Sharp

DEFENCE (7):

Chris Pronger

Scott Neidermayer

Duncan Keith

Shea Weber

Brent Seabrook

Dan Boyle

Drew Doughty

Notable omissions: Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf, Mike Green

GOALIES (3):

Martin Brodeur

Roberto Luongo

Marc-Andre Fleury

So there you have it. Of course, like I said, this team isn't the one I would pick. If I was in Stevie Y's shoes, I'd have Morrow on the team (for grit), possibly in place of Stamkos or Marleau, but in the predicated lineup, I suppose Doan figures into that role.

And on the blue line, I have Doughty in my top 6 (instead of the 7th guy) and bounce Neidermayer, simply because he's not playing well this season. He's a lock for the team though, because of his experience and leadership. Can't say I really disagree with that, either, which just shows you how tough these calls are. If the Olympics were on Olympic-sized ice, I'd put Bouwmeester on the team in a heartbeat, but I think Canada can get away with no having his skating ability, since it's NHL ice.

As for the goalies, well there really isn't much debate. Cam Ward had a shot to start the year, but he's been hurt and also playing on the league's most terrible team. Steve Mason too, was once a leading candidate for that third goalie spot, but he's been awful this year. The only other name I've heard is a darkhorse, St. Louis goalie Chris Mason, but he hasn't done enough to bump Fleury, who's been good all year and has a Stanley Cup ring.

:: 365 ::

"If I get sick this year, I'm kicking God's ass." - Kelsey

"Rachel has some strange obsession with the gym. It's really weird, but I'm not complaining - it makes her ass tight." - Sean

"It looked like he washed his face with a dirtier face." - Jer, talking about some dirty guy who was fired from his company.

"A girl throwing something to another girl, what did you think was going to happen? There were only two things wrong with that - throwing ability and catching ability." - Bucholtz, after two of our friends apparently failed to connect when passing each other something (I can't remember what or who)

Bucholtz: Why does everybody think I'm such a dick?
Me: Well I like you, but I've known you since you were 12 so I've gotten used to you.
Bucholtz: And by "used to me" you mean "adjusted to my wickedness."

"My mom's talking about pearl necklaces!" Kristyl, New Year's Eve at the Greek restaurant a bunch of us went to for dinner, talking a little too loud in a public place.

"I wear shorts in the summer because it's hot." - Sean, auditioning for the role of Captain Obvious.

Ian: Heeeey Nick, whadda you think about Rachel's tits?
Me: Uhhh...what?
Rachel: It's OK, they are pretty nice. And I get to touch them every day.
Ian: I get to touch them every day in my mind.

"I never say anything funny!" - Katie, aka The Wet Blanket aka WB, sad that she doesn't make enough appearances on this blog.

"I'm having an affair with your wife!" - unknown. I can't remember who said this, as I was in the other room at the time, but it obviously came after somebody obviously kissed somebody else's wife when the clock struck midnight. I heard it in the background and just thought it was funny at the time.

"I smell like vomit and maple syrup." - Christene, after hangover breakfast at Ricky's.

Bucholtz: It's about time stupid, ol' 2008 was over. I was getting pretty tired of that year.
Me: Yeah, it's old news.
Bucholtz: Straight up. Fuck 2008.

So...that was 2008.

I don't have too much to write about the past year, to be honest. It was a pretty good year for all intents and purposes. Nothing earthshattering happened to me personally - there were no groundbreaking moments or anything, but all in all, it was just a solid, entertaining 12 months. Maybe the best in recent memory.

Went to a couple weddings. Made two trips to Vegas (with a third booked for March!). The Cannons finally won Funtastic (editor's note: Fuck ya we did!). I got to spent some serious time watching my favourite hockey team from the press box, which checked off one of my life goals.

I got to be there in person to see Trevor Linden's number raised to the rafters, I went rafting, camping, curling for the first time and did plenty of golfing, too. Even bought some sweet new clubs.

And I expanded my social circle considerably as well, which is probably the part of the year I'm happiest about. As lovable as I am, I don't always meet a lot of new people that I like or that like me, and now between all my pals at the office and the patrons of the WGP, well, I have quite a few more friends than I did at this time last year, and that's good.

There was the odd shitty thing, of course. We had to put poor old Digby down, and now, for the first time since I was about seven years old, I don't have any dogs. I miss that little guy, and every time I go to my parent's house, I still open the front door slowly and carefully because I expect him to be curled up against it on the inside (that's where he slept). Old habits, I guess.

And more recently, my aunt passed away, causing immeasurably sadness, stress and grief for all of us. And though it obviously (obviously) pales in comparison, last Monday I blew two tires out on my car when I couldn't swerve to miss a pothole on my way into work.

So, no, it hasn't all been good things. But mostly it has.

As for what I expect from 2009, I don't really know, although I expect a good year. I think I'll have a bit more money to blow this year than last (thanks to the aforementioned second job, covering the Canucks), and I may end up with a new townhouse or a new truck, although I'd bet less on the first thing than the second.

And I'm planning on dropping a few pounds before we head on vacation in March, and though I know I sound like a broken record when I say it, I think 10-15 pounds is reasonable. Am I going to lose 50 or 60 like I've sometimes stated I would?

No, probably not. But that's OK. 10-15 is a good enough start.

As for the rest of the year, it has promise. Like I mentioned, a few of us are going to Phoenix and then Las Vegas in the spring to watch a Canucks game against the Coyotes, soak up some sun, drink some beers and watch some spring training baseball in the desert, which allows me for the second straight year to check off another item in my life-long goals to-do list.

Of course, there's more to that list than just baseball and hockey games, and maybe I'll check off a few of those other things too, we'll see.

Whatever happens, happens.

Should be good times.