He's got the whiff of destiny on him. Sidney Crosby has been successful on the ice since he was a small child. Go to any hockey game and you can spot the players that have that little extra something....that sets them apart from the rest. Crosby has that 'it' factor and cashed it in on the biggest hockey stage yesterday, scoring the OT gamewinner as Team Canada wins gold at the Olympics. Team USA had held him in check yesterday until Jarome Inginla fed him off the boards and he wristed a laser through the "five-hole" on Team USA goalie Ryan Miller. The Americans had the momentum...thay had scored the tying goal with just 24 seconds remaining in regulation...and they had Miller in goal. To show how dominating Miller had been, he was named the MVP of the tournament. Goal-scorers always seem to get the puck where they need it. what you don't notice is the work it took to get to that spot and then the ability of to seal the deal. You can compare him to Gretzky or Lemieux but from now on any young phenom in Canada will be compared to Sir Sidney.

Long-time NHL executive made an interesting comment during the pre-game show yesterday. He said that only 2 players on Team USA would have even made the roster of the Canadian team. He didn't say who (Parise, Kane Or Miller?) but that shows what the American team was able to accomplish against a more skilled foe. Our guys (Pavelski, Rafalski & Suter played very well) hurt now but will look back on this silver medal as a major accomplishment. 

The Pointer men's and women's basketball teams both won their conference tournaments on Saturday and now await their seeding in the NCAA D-3 tournament which will come today.

Congrats to Zach Zehner of Tomahawk and Dylan Iczkowski of Mosinee as they won State Titles in Wrestling over the weekend.

The field is set for the state hockey tournament which begins on Thursday at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. Wausau West will meet Wisconsin Rapids at 1:15. The other games have Superior vs Eau Claire Memorial, Stoughton vs University School and Green Bay Notre Dame vs Madison Edgewood. With the exception of the upstarts from Rapids it looks like an incredibly strong field. The Central Wisconsin Storm will play on Friday at State taking on Green Bay East.

The pairings are set for the girls basketball tournament which begins next week.

MArshfield,Medford, Witt/Birn, Auburndale, Wausau Newman, Rapids Assumption, Prentice & Owen/Withee have number 1 seeds. The first round games look like this

River Falls at Merrill

Wausau East at Eau Claire North

Eau Claire Memorial at DC Everest

Rhinelander at Wausau West

Antigo at Superior

Sheboygan South at Wisconsin Rapids

Stevens Point at Slinger

Black River Falls at Mosinee

Northland Pines at Lakeland

Adams-Friendship at Nekoosa

Tomahawk at Westfield

Pacelli at Auburndale

Manawa at Marathon

Iola-Scandanavia at Amherst

Stratford at Edgar

Wild Rose at Weyawega-Fremont

Colby at Thorp

Chetek at Spencer

Stanley/Boyd at Neillsville

Phelps at White Lake

Bowler at Gresham

Wisconsin Valley Lutheran at Rapids Assumption

Green Lake at Tigerton

Port Edwards at Rosholt

Princeton at Almond-Bancroft

Lake Holcombe at Rib Lake

Winter at Gilman

Abbotsford at Owen-Withee

Athens at Loyal

Northland Lutheran at Greenwood

Cornell at Marshfield Columbus

Songs Of The Day (from my I-pod)

Dust My Broom-Elmore James (1952) "The King of The Slide Guitar" had been playing for a long time when he had a hit with this tune which he might have written or might have stolen from Robert Johnson.

Early In The Morning-Gap Band (1982) who would have thought that one of the biggest funk bands of the 80's would come from Tulsa Oklahoma. Their stuff has been sampled by many hip-hoppers.