Finally, the premier open-wheel series in North America is back racing at North America’s best racetrack. Ask any driver what their favourite track on the continent is, and they’re going to name Road America, the 4.048-mile ribbon of tarmac that winds its way through the Wisconsin countryside near the tiny village of Elkhart Lake.
2007 was the last time the IndyCar Series raced at Road America, and in the mean time we’ve had to watch the heavy stock cars of the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series lumber around the picturesque track and look clumsy in the process. Finally, IndyCars are back at Elkhart Lake, and their return was a spectacular one. Here are the Road America Grand Prix talking points:
Will Power Dominates
After a win in Detroit wiped out a year-long stretch without a win, Australia’s Will Power didn’t wait much longer to notch his second victory of the season. Indeed, with the Texas Motor Speedway race postponed by rain and shifted to August, the Queenslander’s won two straight races to reignite championship hopes that were on the ropes following his exclusion from the season-opening race due to concussion issues, and a run of indifferent form since.
Whereas Power’s victory at Detroit was a hard-fought affair, particularly with his Team Penske brethren, his Road America triumph was an emphatic one leading forty-six of fifty laps en route to the chequered flag after staring on pole.
Despite a late challenge from runner-up Tony Kanaan, this was Power’s day. He pretty much brained the field. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again, I hope. This was vintage Will Power. He drove like he did so often in his IndyCar Series championship year of 2014, and is not without a shot at another championship this year, just eighty-one points back of series leader Simon Pagenaud, with seven races left. Suddenly, Power’s dangerous again.
Josef Newgarden
Superman award of the race goes to the Tennessean, who, before the eventual postponement and rescheduling of the Texas Motor Speedway, was involved in a fierce crash with Connor Daly. It looked worse than it was, but the end result for the American star was a broken collarbone and it seemed like he’d be on the sidelines for at least a few races.
Instead, Newgarden suited up at Road America, doing an immense job in the long race, carving through the field from twenty-second to finish eighth. That’s a damn good day’s work under any circumstances, and especially with a broken collarbone. His multi-lap duel with Juan Pablo Montoya was some of the best racing all day.
Honda
Graham Rahal admitted he was jealous of Chevrolet’s top speed after being passed by Chevy-powered cars on the long front straight, but the Ohio native had another strong day, driving his bright yellow Rahal Letterman Lanigan machine to a third place finish. Not bad for a one-car team.
Fellow Honda runner Ryan Hunter-Reay finished fourth, and deserves kudos as he was battling flu all weekend. Race day was hot, and RHR would’ve felt it in the car. Huge effort from the Floridian.
Spencer Pigot
The promising American, driving for Ed Carpenter Racing, came home ninth, the best-finishing rookie driver. There’s plenty of cause for optimism for the youngster, who won the Indy Lights title a year ago, and partnering Josef Newgarden at all road course events – owner/driver Ed Carpenter drives the oval track events – will only help accelerate Pigot’s development. He’s a star of the future, and it was great seeing him have such a positive run this weekend.
The Championship Hunt
After dominating up to and including the road course race at Indianapolis, Frenchman Simon Pagenaud has gone a little off the boil, and finished a distant thirteenth on Sunday at Road America.
Courtesy of three straight race victories, the Frenchman still has a nice buffer in the points race, leading Helio Castroneves by seventy-four points. Will Power is seven markers further back, with Australian-born Kiwi Scott Dixon in fourth place and Josef Newgarden rounding out the top five.
The drivers chasing Pagenaud are all within a hundred points, and given there’s six races left, not to mention double points at the Sonoma finale, even Newgarden, ninety-two points back, isn’t completely without a shot.
The Crowd
It’s been a long time away from Road America for the IndyCar Series, and it appears that Wisconsinites have missed the open wheelers. Reports emerged midway through the 200-mile race that the track attendance record had been smashed, with more than 100,000 fans attending across the three-day weekend, and around 50,000 on race day alone, according to track president George Bruggenthies.
The fans who turned out were given a treat: the race was one of the best road course events in recent memory. Sure, there wasn't a pass for the lead, but there was immense action throughout the top ten all day. As Montoya quipped, any fan who wasn't satisfied with the on-track product today should go and watch horse racing. Well said!
This was the biggest race weekend in the track’s storied history, and the track was just about falling over itself to note that the IndyCar Series would be back next June – and against the year following. Hopefully, there’s IndyCar racing annually at Road America for the rest of my lifetime and longer.
Hopefully the powers-that-be learn from this: there was a huge appetite for open-wheel racing in Wisconsin, part of the American Midwest where IndyCar racing has always been strong. Perhaps instead of trying to make races work in places like Boston or New Orleans, the series will go back to it’s heartland roots and cater to diehard IndyCar fans in places like St Louis (Gateway Motorsports Park) and Milwaukee (The Milwaukee Mile). One can only hope!
The IndyCar Series is back in action in two weeks’ time on the Iowa Speedway bullring.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Sydney’s Wayne Gretzky Ice Hockey Classic Was A Great Hockey Showcase
Wayne Gretzky once quipped that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. On Saturday evening at Qudos Bank Arena inside the Sydney Olympic Park Precinct, hockey – of the ice variety – received a shot. A massive shot in the arm, and it came in the form of Gretzky himself, nicknamed The Great One, and generally considered to be one of the greatest athletes in the world. Certainly, his feats in the National Hockey League will never be matched. His name is recognised around the world, even down here in Australia, whether you’re a hockey fan or not.
Hosting the fourth of five games in the aptly-named Wayne Gretzky Ice Hockey Classic, featuring teams from USA and Canada, made up of a smattering of NHL stars and plenty of AHL talent as well, Gretzky, by his very presence, turned the crowded arena into hockey paradise.
Anyone who was there knows exactly what I mean. With the temperature down in the mid-teens, it felt more like a hockey night than these events previously have. The flood of different jerseys on the walk from the train station down Olympic Boulevard to the arena, as close to an NHL-spec barn as Australia has to offer, showed that there was plenty of support for Canada and the Americans – and for the Oilers, Rangers, Penguins, Blackhawks and even the Whalers and Nordiques. Nothing cooler than a throwback jersey! Except maybe a #99 Gretzky one on this night.
Say what you will about the exhibition nature of the series. There are people out there who line up to take shots at the line-up and the intensity of games that are played in the off-season for professional hockey, by guys – NHL goaltenders Ben Scrivens and Scott Darling, reigning All Star Game MVP John Scott and Stanley Cup champion Brandon Bolling amongst them – who’ve come halfway around the world to put on a show and to promote concussion awareness, an incredibly important and worthwhile cause.
If you expect them to go full-pace like it’s Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, you’re mad. Even so, the final period, plus a frantic five minutes of three-on-three overtime and the following shootout, won by Canada 4-3, thanks to a Chad Nehring winner in the sixth round, was sensationally paced, and not without a little physicality, too. It was by far the best of these games I’ve seen. Two NHL goaltenders helped, as did the nice smattering of other NHL talent. The roster depth has gone from strength to strength each year.
That the tour happens at all is pretty amazing, and every single one of the players on this trip have taken time out of their short off-season vacation/family time to spread the hockey gospel far beyond it’s regular borders, should be lauded by one and all. Not derided.
Ticket prices? Yeah, they’re expensive, but when you consider how much the insurance payments for some of the NHL guys would be, and the cost of building rinks in all the arenas, quite aside from feeding, housing and transporting athletes around, it’s little wonder. But the value for money is great, if you go in expecting an All Star-type contest, which I always do.
The way the entire night is packed up is unbeatable. For once a year attendees like my dad (who thoroughly enjoyed himself) the whole spectacle is undeniably exciting, right down to the anthems and the WWE-style introductions of the players. Oh, and the Kiss Cam, Bongo Cam and a double chance at karaoke – “The Horses” by Daryl Braithwaite and John Farnham’s “You’re The Voice” by – were great fun, too.
For those of us who live and breathe the game, a fun night was made so much more memorable because Wayne Gretzky was in the house, and plenty of folks turned up more than two hours before puck drop in the main game to see #99 on the ice in a four-on-four charity contest.
It took a few moments for it to sink in. Wayne Gretzky. On the ice. In front of my eyes. In Sydney of all places! It was a pretty trippy moment for me, and, I’m sure, for many others. I never got to see Gretzky play live, but have seen many highlights on YouTube and DVD over the years. I never expected to see him in an Australian rink, almost close enough for me to reach out and touch him. I bet #99 didn’t figure such a thing was possible as recently as a handful of years ago, either.
As Gretzky said recently, the Los Angeles Kings were playing to crowds of less than 6,000 before he arrived there, and now the south-west of the United States features three good teams – Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose – who regularly play to capacity crowds, and Scottsdale, Arizona’s own Auston Matthews was selected first overall at the NHL Entry Draft the morning of Sydney’s slice of hockey suggest that things are changing. Scottsdale certainly isn’t a hockey hotbed, yet Matthews, who grew up playing on synthetic rinks, is poised for NHL greatness.
Sold-out crowds in Los Angeles? An American from Arizona as taken first in the Draft? Twenty or thirty years ago all of this would’ve seemed impossible to most hockey fans and pundits. Now, it’s happening before our eyes – and it’s proof positive that hockey’s frontiers are shifting.
We already have one Australian, Nathan Walker, plying his trade in the AHL, the feeder league to the NHL, and who knows how many other kids might’ve been inspired by Gretzky, John Scott, Ben Scrivens, Scott Darling or some other player on the ice on Saturday night. Who knows where that may lead in the future? Somewhere good, hopefully.
Kudos to Mike Baird, Destination NSW, Stop Concussions and TLA Worldwide for combining to bring Gretzky over. The amount of media he’s done over the last few days, most of it in front of iconic Sydney landmarks, will be beamed around the world, and I’m betting Saturday night’s spectacle has converted at least a few more hockey fans.
Welcome to the club!
Hosting the fourth of five games in the aptly-named Wayne Gretzky Ice Hockey Classic, featuring teams from USA and Canada, made up of a smattering of NHL stars and plenty of AHL talent as well, Gretzky, by his very presence, turned the crowded arena into hockey paradise.
Anyone who was there knows exactly what I mean. With the temperature down in the mid-teens, it felt more like a hockey night than these events previously have. The flood of different jerseys on the walk from the train station down Olympic Boulevard to the arena, as close to an NHL-spec barn as Australia has to offer, showed that there was plenty of support for Canada and the Americans – and for the Oilers, Rangers, Penguins, Blackhawks and even the Whalers and Nordiques. Nothing cooler than a throwback jersey! Except maybe a #99 Gretzky one on this night.
Say what you will about the exhibition nature of the series. There are people out there who line up to take shots at the line-up and the intensity of games that are played in the off-season for professional hockey, by guys – NHL goaltenders Ben Scrivens and Scott Darling, reigning All Star Game MVP John Scott and Stanley Cup champion Brandon Bolling amongst them – who’ve come halfway around the world to put on a show and to promote concussion awareness, an incredibly important and worthwhile cause.
If you expect them to go full-pace like it’s Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, you’re mad. Even so, the final period, plus a frantic five minutes of three-on-three overtime and the following shootout, won by Canada 4-3, thanks to a Chad Nehring winner in the sixth round, was sensationally paced, and not without a little physicality, too. It was by far the best of these games I’ve seen. Two NHL goaltenders helped, as did the nice smattering of other NHL talent. The roster depth has gone from strength to strength each year.
That the tour happens at all is pretty amazing, and every single one of the players on this trip have taken time out of their short off-season vacation/family time to spread the hockey gospel far beyond it’s regular borders, should be lauded by one and all. Not derided.
Ticket prices? Yeah, they’re expensive, but when you consider how much the insurance payments for some of the NHL guys would be, and the cost of building rinks in all the arenas, quite aside from feeding, housing and transporting athletes around, it’s little wonder. But the value for money is great, if you go in expecting an All Star-type contest, which I always do.
The way the entire night is packed up is unbeatable. For once a year attendees like my dad (who thoroughly enjoyed himself) the whole spectacle is undeniably exciting, right down to the anthems and the WWE-style introductions of the players. Oh, and the Kiss Cam, Bongo Cam and a double chance at karaoke – “The Horses” by Daryl Braithwaite and John Farnham’s “You’re The Voice” by – were great fun, too.
For those of us who live and breathe the game, a fun night was made so much more memorable because Wayne Gretzky was in the house, and plenty of folks turned up more than two hours before puck drop in the main game to see #99 on the ice in a four-on-four charity contest.
It took a few moments for it to sink in. Wayne Gretzky. On the ice. In front of my eyes. In Sydney of all places! It was a pretty trippy moment for me, and, I’m sure, for many others. I never got to see Gretzky play live, but have seen many highlights on YouTube and DVD over the years. I never expected to see him in an Australian rink, almost close enough for me to reach out and touch him. I bet #99 didn’t figure such a thing was possible as recently as a handful of years ago, either.
As Gretzky said recently, the Los Angeles Kings were playing to crowds of less than 6,000 before he arrived there, and now the south-west of the United States features three good teams – Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose – who regularly play to capacity crowds, and Scottsdale, Arizona’s own Auston Matthews was selected first overall at the NHL Entry Draft the morning of Sydney’s slice of hockey suggest that things are changing. Scottsdale certainly isn’t a hockey hotbed, yet Matthews, who grew up playing on synthetic rinks, is poised for NHL greatness.
Sold-out crowds in Los Angeles? An American from Arizona as taken first in the Draft? Twenty or thirty years ago all of this would’ve seemed impossible to most hockey fans and pundits. Now, it’s happening before our eyes – and it’s proof positive that hockey’s frontiers are shifting.
We already have one Australian, Nathan Walker, plying his trade in the AHL, the feeder league to the NHL, and who knows how many other kids might’ve been inspired by Gretzky, John Scott, Ben Scrivens, Scott Darling or some other player on the ice on Saturday night. Who knows where that may lead in the future? Somewhere good, hopefully.
Kudos to Mike Baird, Destination NSW, Stop Concussions and TLA Worldwide for combining to bring Gretzky over. The amount of media he’s done over the last few days, most of it in front of iconic Sydney landmarks, will be beamed around the world, and I’m betting Saturday night’s spectacle has converted at least a few more hockey fans.
Welcome to the club!
Analysing the Top Three Picks in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft
The 2016 NHL Entry Draft took place at First Niagara Centre in Buffalo, New York over the weekend, and provided some great and historic storylines as we head full-tilt towards a new season. Here is my analysis of the top three picks in this year’s Draft:
No. 1: Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Arizona, United States) – Toronto Maple Leafs
Hard to tell who is more excited about the American phenom going first overall: the Toronto Maple Leafs or those who have campaigned tirelessly to grow hockey in non-traditional American markets, of which the Arizona desert certainly is one or proponents of American hockey. I believe Matthews’ selection ahead of a good crop of talent is a triumph for all concerned.
Matthews, who grew up playing on synthetic rinks near Phoenix, is a prodigious talent and one of those can’t-miss picks. He’s a player with an already-immense skill set, with room for improvement. In short, he’s a budding superstar, the likes we haven’t seen since Sidney Crosby was taken by the Pittsburgh Penguins. In a similar vein to Crosby, Matthews is the sort of guy you build a franchise around. There’s been plenty of pain in Toronto recently, but the arrival of the American is going to change that and probably fairly quickly, too.
That Matthews will learn the NHL ropes from head coach Mike Babcock, no slouch behind the bench, will only accelerate his progress, and it won’t be long before the Great White Hope for the Leafs is dominating the league. At the very least in 2016-17, we’re likely going to see a Calder Trophy (award for rookie of the year) campaign from Matthews. But, possibly, a whole lot more than that.
If you saw the big centre play for Team USA either at the World Junior Championships over the Christmas-New Year period or, more recently, at the senior level World Championships where he more than held his own, you have a good idea what he can do. And, remember, he’s only going to get better.
Even in Zurich, where Matthews went for his draft year to learn the game under former NHL head coach Marc Crawford, the American dominated. In thirty-six games he scored twenty four goals and picked up an additional twenty-two assists for forty-six points, at an average of 1.28 points per game. He was head-and-shoulders the best player in the Swiss-A League and becomes the first player from that lead to be taken No. 1 overall in the NHL draft.
Look, let’s not mince words here: the Leafs drafted Matthews to lead their most visible NHL franchise – one that’s been largely starved of real success, mind you – to Stanley Cup championship glory. If he can do that, and play a starring role, he might very well get the keys to the city handed over on a silver platter.
Draft Day in Buffalo could be the start of huge things for Matthews and the Leafs.
No. 2: Patrik Laine (Tampere, Finland) - Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets got a good one in Laine in a selection that, like Auston Matthews going to Toronto, didn’t exactly surprise anyone. We’d seen this one coming for months, and Jet fans are likely giddy with excitement to see what the Finnish youngster can do for a franchise yet to taste ultimate success, a Stanley Cup championship.
Laine might be the sort of player to help them on their war. He absolutely dominated at the World Junior Championships (seven goals, MVP honours and, as you might expect, a place on the tournament’s All-Star team) where Finland won the gold medal in rather emphatic fashion. The Fins were the most impressive and fun-to-watch team in that tournament, largely thanks to the lengthy highlight reel Laine amassed.
As if that wasn't enough, Laine impressed at senior-level World Championships, too, netting seven goals as the Fins won a silver medal – and where he really sent a message to the hockey world that he was the real deal. He netted seven goals for the tournament, landed a spot on the tournament’s All-Star team, and earned MVP honours to boot. Scouts have long pointed out that Laine already possesses an NHL-calibre shot, and he showed it on the ice against some of the best NHLers there are.
Of course, the Jets in their previous incarnation have good success drafting Finnish players, with the great Teemu Selanne leading the franchise for many productive years. Just a little pressure here, because Selanne is one of the most revered figures in hockey full stop, and is almost a god up in Winnipeg.
Laine, a natural scorer off the wing with speed, size and a cannon for a shot, equalled goalie Kari Lehtonen as the highest-drafted NHL player in Finland history. Not a bad name to be alongside. He’s tall at six-foot-4 and weighs in at over 200 pounds, so when he hits guys, they’re absolutely going to know about it.
This kid is going to be heaps of fun to watch!
No 3: Pierre-Luc Dubois (Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada) - Columbus Blue Jackets
Well, we didn’t have to wait long for the first shock of Draft Day, courtesy of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Columbus Blue Jackets helped Dubois celebrate his eighteenth birthday by selecting the Canadian with the third overall pick, when most mock drafts leading into Friday evening had the Jackets taking Finland’s Jesse Puljujärvi.
The Quebecois power forward’s scouting report suggests he can play competently at all three offensive positions and is a strong skater, possessing a deceptive quickness. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League product has just completed his second season in the league with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, and after a slow start had a strong post-Christmas run to finish runner-up in the scoring race, with forty-two goals and ninety-nine points.
Although Dubois was universally expected to be a top ten pick, he was not expected to go in the first three, and had been somewhat lost in the talk concerning Matthews, Laine and Puljujärvi – the Big Three of this year’s draft – but the Blue Jackets pounced early, perhaps because they heard his juniors coach compare him to Philadelphia Flyers star Claude Giroux, who also played in Cape Breton. High praise, indeed.
It’s worth noting that the sudden acceleration in his offensive production coincided with a shift from the wing into centre, and that’s where Dubois has told the media and his new franchise that he’d like to play.
No doubt, being taken earlier than expected, the pressure is on Dubois to be good, and to bring glamour and success to a franchise that hasn’t seen much of either since entering the NHL back in 2000. Time will tell whether this was a good pick or not.
No. 1: Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Arizona, United States) – Toronto Maple Leafs
Hard to tell who is more excited about the American phenom going first overall: the Toronto Maple Leafs or those who have campaigned tirelessly to grow hockey in non-traditional American markets, of which the Arizona desert certainly is one or proponents of American hockey. I believe Matthews’ selection ahead of a good crop of talent is a triumph for all concerned.
Matthews, who grew up playing on synthetic rinks near Phoenix, is a prodigious talent and one of those can’t-miss picks. He’s a player with an already-immense skill set, with room for improvement. In short, he’s a budding superstar, the likes we haven’t seen since Sidney Crosby was taken by the Pittsburgh Penguins. In a similar vein to Crosby, Matthews is the sort of guy you build a franchise around. There’s been plenty of pain in Toronto recently, but the arrival of the American is going to change that and probably fairly quickly, too.
That Matthews will learn the NHL ropes from head coach Mike Babcock, no slouch behind the bench, will only accelerate his progress, and it won’t be long before the Great White Hope for the Leafs is dominating the league. At the very least in 2016-17, we’re likely going to see a Calder Trophy (award for rookie of the year) campaign from Matthews. But, possibly, a whole lot more than that.
If you saw the big centre play for Team USA either at the World Junior Championships over the Christmas-New Year period or, more recently, at the senior level World Championships where he more than held his own, you have a good idea what he can do. And, remember, he’s only going to get better.
Even in Zurich, where Matthews went for his draft year to learn the game under former NHL head coach Marc Crawford, the American dominated. In thirty-six games he scored twenty four goals and picked up an additional twenty-two assists for forty-six points, at an average of 1.28 points per game. He was head-and-shoulders the best player in the Swiss-A League and becomes the first player from that lead to be taken No. 1 overall in the NHL draft.
Look, let’s not mince words here: the Leafs drafted Matthews to lead their most visible NHL franchise – one that’s been largely starved of real success, mind you – to Stanley Cup championship glory. If he can do that, and play a starring role, he might very well get the keys to the city handed over on a silver platter.
Draft Day in Buffalo could be the start of huge things for Matthews and the Leafs.
No. 2: Patrik Laine (Tampere, Finland) - Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets got a good one in Laine in a selection that, like Auston Matthews going to Toronto, didn’t exactly surprise anyone. We’d seen this one coming for months, and Jet fans are likely giddy with excitement to see what the Finnish youngster can do for a franchise yet to taste ultimate success, a Stanley Cup championship.
Laine might be the sort of player to help them on their war. He absolutely dominated at the World Junior Championships (seven goals, MVP honours and, as you might expect, a place on the tournament’s All-Star team) where Finland won the gold medal in rather emphatic fashion. The Fins were the most impressive and fun-to-watch team in that tournament, largely thanks to the lengthy highlight reel Laine amassed.
As if that wasn't enough, Laine impressed at senior-level World Championships, too, netting seven goals as the Fins won a silver medal – and where he really sent a message to the hockey world that he was the real deal. He netted seven goals for the tournament, landed a spot on the tournament’s All-Star team, and earned MVP honours to boot. Scouts have long pointed out that Laine already possesses an NHL-calibre shot, and he showed it on the ice against some of the best NHLers there are.
Of course, the Jets in their previous incarnation have good success drafting Finnish players, with the great Teemu Selanne leading the franchise for many productive years. Just a little pressure here, because Selanne is one of the most revered figures in hockey full stop, and is almost a god up in Winnipeg.
Laine, a natural scorer off the wing with speed, size and a cannon for a shot, equalled goalie Kari Lehtonen as the highest-drafted NHL player in Finland history. Not a bad name to be alongside. He’s tall at six-foot-4 and weighs in at over 200 pounds, so when he hits guys, they’re absolutely going to know about it.
This kid is going to be heaps of fun to watch!
No 3: Pierre-Luc Dubois (Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada) - Columbus Blue Jackets
Well, we didn’t have to wait long for the first shock of Draft Day, courtesy of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Columbus Blue Jackets helped Dubois celebrate his eighteenth birthday by selecting the Canadian with the third overall pick, when most mock drafts leading into Friday evening had the Jackets taking Finland’s Jesse Puljujärvi.
The Quebecois power forward’s scouting report suggests he can play competently at all three offensive positions and is a strong skater, possessing a deceptive quickness. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League product has just completed his second season in the league with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, and after a slow start had a strong post-Christmas run to finish runner-up in the scoring race, with forty-two goals and ninety-nine points.
Although Dubois was universally expected to be a top ten pick, he was not expected to go in the first three, and had been somewhat lost in the talk concerning Matthews, Laine and Puljujärvi – the Big Three of this year’s draft – but the Blue Jackets pounced early, perhaps because they heard his juniors coach compare him to Philadelphia Flyers star Claude Giroux, who also played in Cape Breton. High praise, indeed.
It’s worth noting that the sudden acceleration in his offensive production coincided with a shift from the wing into centre, and that’s where Dubois has told the media and his new franchise that he’d like to play.
No doubt, being taken earlier than expected, the pressure is on Dubois to be good, and to bring glamour and success to a franchise that hasn’t seen much of either since entering the NHL back in 2000. Time will tell whether this was a good pick or not.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
America 2016: Day Seventeen (11 June)
Over there all the woman wear silk and satin to their knees
And children dear, the sweets, I hear, are growing on the trees
Gold comes rushing out the rivers straight into your hands
When you make your home in the American Land
There's diamonds in the sidewalk, the gutters lined in song
Dear I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long
There's treasure for the taking, for any hard working man
Who will make his home in the American Land
And children dear, the sweets, I hear, are growing on the trees
Gold comes rushing out the rivers straight into your hands
When you make your home in the American Land
There's diamonds in the sidewalk, the gutters lined in song
Dear I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long
There's treasure for the taking, for any hard working man
Who will make his home in the American Land
- Bruce Springsteen
Saturday 11 June
Strangely, it rained in Los Angeles today. That’s a very
rare occurrence and it unfortunately wrecked our plans for the day – cycling along
the trail between Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. Instead, we went to the
movies to finally see the new Captain
America film, which was as good as advertised. Amazing that we paid $6.99 cash
for the ticket, when movies back home cost at least twice that. Sensational
value for money.
 |
| A cloudy, rainy day in Southern California. |
After the movie, Nathan and I continued our tradition of
having a meal at Bubba Gump’s on Santa Monica Pier before heading to the
airport. The restaurant, with more Forrest Gump references than you can poke a
stick at, makes really good seafood dishes – I had prawns with capers and
linguini – and we both enjoyed the Bubba Gump trademark alcoholic beverage, the
Coronarita: a margarita with a mini Corona on top. Amazing.
Perhaps the best thing about the restaurant is it’s location
– right on the beach. The views of the southern California coastline are
spectacular. I only wish the sun had been out. We definitely picked the right
day to go out hiking. It wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun today as it was
yesterday, and the views wouldn’t have been as spectacular, either.
 |
| The Coronarita |
Right now, I’m sitting at the departure gate inside LAX
International Airport taking stock of an amazing two weeks in America. Every
time I come here, it seems to be a better trip than the one before. That’s
mostly because of the people I know here, who always make visiting so awesome
and because I get to do it with one of my best mates – thanks, Nathan, you’re a
legend – so, obviously, going home isn’t the most fun thing I can think of
doing right at this moment.
These two weeks – seventeen days, to be exact – have felt
much longer, but in the best possible way. We’ve seen so much, done so much and
seen so many great people. The Indianapolis 500 was better than I thought it
would be, and that’s really saying something, because I had very high
expectations for the one hundredth running of the greatest race in the world.
The event was spectacular in every way, and exceeded my expectations by the
length of…well, the front straight at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And then
a little bit more. There aren’t enough adjectives.
On that hot and sunny Sunday in Indy, we witnessed history –
twice. The one hundredth running was a slice of American and motorsport history
and seeing an American win the race in such unlikely circumstances topped off
the day. I’d always known the Indy 500 was big, but big is just the beginning.
It’s an immense event that I’ll never forget. We were the fifty seventh largest
city in America during the race, an insane statistic, really.
And Chicago. What to say about that place? Fast becoming my
favourite city in America and perhaps second-only to Sydney anywhere in the
world. That’s mostly thanks to the people, of course. Jaimie and Matt looked
after us so well at their place and we got to hang with so many awesome
friends. That’s what makes it so much fun, and what makes me come back time and
time again. So, thanks to the Alley’s and Longhini’s, Weller’s, Rovik’s and Donahue’s
for being so welcoming.
America, it’s always a blast, and I can’t wait to do it
again.
Until next time…
Saturday, June 11, 2016
America 2016: Day Sixteen (10 June)
She stood there bright as the sun on that California coast
He was a Midwestern boy on his own
She looked at him with those soft eyes, so innocent and blue
He knew right then he was too far from home He was too far from home
She took his hand and she led him along that golden beach
They watched the waves tumble over the sand
They drove for miles and miles
up those twisting turning roads
Higher and higher and higher they climbed
He was a Midwestern boy on his own
She looked at him with those soft eyes, so innocent and blue
He knew right then he was too far from home He was too far from home
She took his hand and she led him along that golden beach
They watched the waves tumble over the sand
They drove for miles and miles
up those twisting turning roads
Higher and higher and higher they climbed
- Bob Seger
Friday 10 June
Final full day in America. Woke up at 8:30am feeling only a
little dusty after last night’s beers and cocktail with Nate. It was a cloudy
start to the morning in Los Angeles. We ate breakfast at the Denny’s Diner
adjacent the hotel, then headed over to Culver City, to the Westfield – yes,
they’re over here, too – mall there so I could buy the new Frankie Ballard
album, El Rio. Played it in the car
on the way from Culver City to the campus of the University of Southern California.
Every single track is brilliant. The guy from Battle Creek, Michigan, is on a
major winner.
Those who know me well know I’m a big fan of college
football, and especially the University of Southern California Trojans. It was
great to wander the campus today, see some of the athletic facilities and stop
at the book shop, where you can buy every imaginable item with the Trojans logo
on it. Bought a few things, and wandered about some more. Very impressive
place. Lots of open parkland and beautiful buildings. Plenty of Los Angeles
history on those grounds, too.
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| The Tommy Trojan statue on campus at USC |
After USC, we drove into Hollywood and through the streets
to where the walking trail to the Hollywood sign began. You wouldn’t want to
tackle this one if you’re out of shape. You start with a very steep uphill, and
the rest of the trail, whilst less steep than the start, definitely tracks
upward. In the end, you’re maybe a hundred or so yards below the famous
Hollywood sign, and the views back across Los Angeles are amazing.
The sun came out at the right time, and made the vista even
more impressive. The views from the top end of the trail made the hot hike – it
took us about 45 minutes up and half an hour back – really worthwhile. Probably
a journey best made early summer or else in the winter or fall. I can’t imagine
how hot it would be in the middle of July or August.
Back to the car, and out to Anaheim. Man alive, was the
traffic bad. Twenty four miles in two hours. A slow, slow crawl. Lucky the
music and company was good. Oh, and Mrs Knott’s Chicken Dinner at Knott’s Berry
Farm was also good. That’s the reason we trekked out there, and it was
worthwhile: chicken soup to start, then the main meal of fried chicken, potato,
corn and a side salad, along with a big slice of apple pie for dessert.
Insanely large helpings. I was absolutely stuffed by the end.
Thankfully, the traffic back into Los Angeles was much more
agreeable. It was a novel thing to be driving at more than twenty miles an
hour. Awkwardly rolled up to the hotel to find that, for some unknown reason,
both our key cards weren’t working. Had to go back to the front desk to get
them reset.
Watched Gerard Butler in London
Has Fallen on TV once we were inside. Nathan hadn’t seen it yet, and I love
it, so happy days. TV was showing a real live police chase on the interstate when we tuned in after the movie. Strangely compelling stuff!
Tomorrow – Santa Monica Pier and more. And then, a flight
home to Sydney.
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| LA off in the distance |
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