Canada wins fifth consecutive gold
OTTAWA - Canada's junior hockey team is back on top of the world, and this gold medal might be the sweetest one yet.
Record-setting crowds packed arenas in the nation's capital to watch the Canadian team roll through the world junior championship with an unbeaten record, collecting a fifth-straight gold medal with a 5-1 victory over Sweden on Monday night.
It was the second straight tournament victory for four players on the Canadian team, but it left them with a feeling unlike any other.
The victory tied the country's record of five consecutive titles in this tournament set between 1993 and 1997. Canada's 15th gold at the world juniors also tied Russia/Soviet Union for the all-time lead.
The Canadian players jumped all over the ice in celebration after the horn sounded on their latest victory.
"It feels unbelieveable," said defenceman P.K. Subban. "The first thing I want to do is thank God. I mean we've been blessed since Day 1.
"We started our trek in Petawawa. We were a bunch of individuals, we came to Ottawa as one team with one mission."
Canada goes for a record six in a row at the 2010 world junior tournament in Saskatoon and Regina.
Cody Hodgson of the Brampton Battalion scored twice while Subban of the Belleville Bulls, Montreal Junior forward Angelo Esposito and Jordan Eberle of the Regina Pats added singles for the hosts.
Tavares had two assists and finished tied with Hodgson for the tournament lead with 16 points. The 18-year-old from Oakville, Ont., was named the tournament's most valuable player and top forward. He remains a strong candidate to go No. 1 overall in the 2009 NHL draft.
Dustin Tokarski of the Spokane Chiefs made 39 saves for the victory.
"I can't say enough about all the guys, all 22 guys, the coaching staff," said Tavares. "There's nothing better than this."
Joakim Andersson scored for the Swedes and goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 26 shots.
The 20,380 at Scotiabank Place set a new single-game attendance record at the world junior tournament. It was the fourth time a new mark was established in Ottawa and erased the previous high of 20,223 that was set during Canada's preliminary-round game against the U.S.
The audience included Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.
"Throughout the tournament, Canadian players not only produced world-class hockey on the ice, they also represented our country with tremendous dignity and pride off the ice," Harper said in a statement. "I want to commend all of the players, coaches, volunteers, families and staff who contributed to this successful tournament.
"This is a well-deserved victory."
Canada led 2-0 after two periods, but history has shown that to be an uncomfortable margin. The Canadians had the same lead going into the third period of last year's final in Pardubice, Czech Republic, but the Swedes scored twice to force overtime.
The hosts started the third with a man advantage because of Mikael Backlund's interference penalty to end the second.
Canada's power-play was running hot at 51 per cent heading into the final and Hodgson scored his team's second of the game 33 seconds into the final period. The Vancouver Canucks prospect wired a shot that beat Markstrom low stick side.
The Swedes cut into their deficit with Andersson wheeling the puck out front and getting a deflection over Tokarski's shoulder at 8:30.
Eberle and Hodgson added empty-net goals to secure the victory.
Markstrom had an eventful evening as he was involved in two helmet-removing collisions - one of his own making - and was tripped outside his crease in the first 40 minutes.
In what was already a testy game with punches and face washes after the whistle, a second-period incident turned the heat up even more.
After Canada's Patrice Cormier knocked Carl Gustaffson into the boards and shoved him again, Markstrom came out of his crease and checked Stefan Della Rovere during the same play. Markstrom was penalized for roughing and Della Rovere and Cormier for interference.
Angelo Esposito and Markstrom collided in a footrace for the puck in Sweden's zone early in the second period with Markstrom getting the worst of it.
Defenceman Victor Hedman took exception to that, grabbing Esposito's head and punching the Montreal Junior forward, which made Heman public enemy No. 1 at Scotiabank Place. The rival of Tavares for first overall pick in the draft was soundly booed any time he touched the puck after that.
Esposito responded to getting punched in the head by scoring his country's second goal of the game. The Atlanta Thrashers prospect stepped out from behind the goal-line and backhanded the puck upper far corner at 4:06.
Tokarski preserved Canada's slim 1-0 lead 90 seconds into the second period by stopping a streaking Magnus Svensson Paajarvi.
The Canadians dominated the opening six minutes, outshooting Sweden 10-5, and taking a 1-0 in the first minute on Subban's power-play goal.
Sweden took control of the game in the final minutes of the period and trailed Canada 13-12 in shots heading into the second.
Backlund, a first-round draft pick of the Calgary Flames, shoved his glove in Tavares's face after a whistle just 22 seconds into the game, and his roughing penalty put Canada a man up.
Subban and Hodgson dug away at the puck during a goal-mouth scramble and Subban shoveled it past Markstrom's stick for his team's 20th power-play goal of the tournament.
In an entertaining first-period moment, Tavares and Backlund took a turn stealing the puck from each other.
Germany and Kazakhstan were relegated to the world 'B' championship for finishing ninth and 10th. Switzerland and Austria will join Canada, Sweden, Russia, Slovakia, the U.S., Czech Republic, Finland and Latvia in Saskatchewan.
According to organizers, 453,282 tickets were sold, which is a tournament attendance record that wiped out the previous high of 325,138 set in Vancouver three years ago.
"Just look at the support we got, playing in Canada," said Tavares. "They want nothing but the best but they (put) the support behind us."
Because of the sheer size of Scotiabank Place it wasn't a difficult ticket to get and there were still some available for Canada's semifinal and the final late last week. Scalpers were asking $350 for upper-level seats prior to the final.
The attendance record was easily attainable of Scotiabank's capacity and the Civic Centre, the site of Pool B games, also holds 10,000. Most European arenas hold 16,000 to 18,000.
Springsteen Goes Free With Amazon, 'Guitar Hero'
Bruce Springsteen is offering free downloads through Amazon.com and "Guitar Hero" in the run-up to the Jan. 27 release of his next Columbia album, "Working on a Dream."
The third single from that project, "Life Itself," is up as a free track on Amazon.com as of today, along with a new video. Amazon previously made the album track "My Lucky Day" available, while the title cut was initially an iTunes exclusive.
Meanwhile, "My Lucky Day" and "Born To Run" will be free downloads on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii versions of "Guitar Hero: World Tour," beginning on the new album's release date and running through Feb. 4. Afterward, they will cost $2.
As previously reported, Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform Feb. 1 during the Super Bowl XLIII halftime show in Tampa, Fla.
The group has yet to confirm tour plans in support of "Working on a Dream," but headlining appearances at the Bonnaroo festival in mid-June and the U.K.'s Glastonbury festival later that month are strongly rumored.
Star Zach Braff is moving on, but 'Scrubs' may not
On Tuesday night, Scrubs enters its final year — at least in its current form.
For its eighth season, the modestly rated but critically praised hospital comedy gets new life on ABC (two episodes Tuesday, 9 ET/PT), which picked it up when it ended its NBC run in May.
With the impending departure of Zach Braff, who plays Dr. John "J.D." Dorian, Scrubs is approaching this season as its last, resolving the characters' stories and answering long-running questions along the way.
"The end of the show was always about J.D. moving on and whether you can hold on to your youthful relationships," creator Bill Lawrence says. "We've had the finale outlined for four years." However, he says, if the show performs well, the comedy could return, but in some altered form.
The move to ABC reinvigorated the writers, cast and crew of the show, which Lawrence says had gotten broader, sillier and further from its roots. "This show only works if it's grounded enough that (it can) switch gears and be dramatic and really about something."
When ABC program chief Stephen McPherson proposed the network switch, a rare move, "we said, 'If we're going to do this, we're going to go back tonally to what the show was and … try to make it have emotional resonance,' " Lawrence says.
Scrubs is produced by ABC's studio, which McPherson used to run, so the network has more to gain financially than NBC did. ABC has been more involved and provided more promotion, Lawrence says.
Although the tone will be less silly, Scrubs won't lose its oddball moments and fantasies.
Tonight's episodes feature Courteney Cox guest-starring as the new chief of medicine and the arrival of fresh interns.
If Scrubs were to return for a ninth season, the loss of J.D. would mean shifting the focus, possibly toward the interns. Lawrence, who would be involved to a lesser degree, hopes that it could be akin to Frasier growing out of Cheers and that at least some series regulars return.
For now, eight seasons is enough, says Braff, who had feared that the show might end with a fairy-tale episode on NBC that wasn't intended to be the finale.
"It's been almost the last season for us for so many years," he says. "We're all really grateful that we have a chance to end the show on our own terms."
Why So Sunny? Dark Knight's a PGA Nominee
Los Angeles (E! Online) – The Dark Knight's Oscar campaign has picked up another key endorsement.
The Batman epic is one of five nominees for the Producers of America Guild's version of Best Picture: the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire round out the list.
The PGAs are typically a blueprint for the Oscars, which makes today's news bad news for Revolutionary Road and the likewise shunned. Last year, four of five PGA contenders went on to score Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards. This year, three of the five—Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, but, no, not Dark Knight—are up for Best Motion Picture, Drama at Sunday's Golden Globes.
PGA winners are to be announced January 24th.
Actor Pat Hingle, Batman commissioner, dies at 84
Pat Hingle, a veteran actor whose career included a recurring role as Commissioner Gordon in several Batman movies in the 1990s, has died at 84.
Family friend Michele Seidman says Hingle died at his home in Carolina Beach, N.C., shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday. He had been battling blood cancer.
Family spokeswoman Lynn Heritage said Hingle was diagnosed with myelodysplasia in November 2006.
His career on the stage and in movies and television spanned six decades.
Born Martin Patterson Hingle in 1924, he went to the University of Texas on a tuba scholarship. He would serve in the U.S. navy during the Second World War and return to finish a degree in broadcasting.
Hingle became a member of the legendary Actors Studio — known for teaching method acting, which required performers to use their own emotions and experiences to portray a character.
Hingle would go on to earn a Tony nomination Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1958). Film roles included On the Waterfront, Hang 'Em High and Norma Rae.
Hingle was also a guest star in many TV series, including Touched by an Angel, Murder She Wrote, Homicide: Life on the Street, Wings and Cheers.
His last movie was Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006).
Hingle is survived by his wife, Julia, five children and 11 grandchildren.