TSS Rovers Men 0 – 1 Langley United Men
TSS Rovers Women 1 – 2 Langley United Women
Our BC Premier League season continues to rocket out of the gate with our fourth matches of 14, and the first ones at our iconic home, Swangard Stadium. This was always set to be a spicy battle, because the Langley men’s team pipped us to the title last year on the last kick of the season, a 90+5′ penalty against the Whitecaps Academy that saw them claim three points in the final game, beating us by one. As a club, our men’s teams have had a few last minute heartbreaks over the years, including losing on penalties to Pacific FC after a last minute goal tied the quarter final of the 2023 Canadian Championship, losing the title to Highlanders on the last kick of the 2023 season and last year’s debacle. We’ve alos won a trophy on penalties so, well, karma has its way with us I suppose.
But the Langley men’s team is no mere rival. They dressed six of our former players, including Niko Papakyiakopolous, Ivan Meija, Tristan Otoumagie, Kyle Jones, Dominic Di Paola and former captain and club legend Connor MacMillian. Their head coach is our former assistant coach Azad Palani. This made for a weird vibe, and very few of us were not happy with the jumping of the ship that happened by our former players, even though the dazzled us several times. Thankfully none of them scored.
Langley have started the season strongly with nine goals and two clean sheets against the two worst teams in the league. So while we are finding our feet with a very new squad of players harvested from try outs and loans and our academy, they were starting strong and getting ready for a game against Vancouver FC in the Voyageurs Cup. We knew we were better than Nanaimo and Kamloops, and indeed we held them for 90 minutes to a 0-0 deadlock, thanks in part to some great saves from Cal Weir, three hit goal posts and no thanks to some squandered chances from our strikers.
But the twist was in the tail. After a hard fought game, Rovers were called for a penalty in added time and at 90+2, we fell yet again to this side that we are developing a serious dislike towards.
Our motto at Rovers is “we never want to see you again” which is about helping our players move on to professional careers. We don;t mean “join a rival and come back home and win on a late penalty.” Arg.
The women’s game was a different affair, even though our former women’s head coach is Chelsey Hannesson who is now in her second year coaching Langley. She hates to lose. And she hates to lose to us.
A couple of defensive gaffs from our women sealed this one for Langley. We ended up on the wrong end of a 2-1 result, but Langley will certainly feel like they stole a couple of points. A chipped goal from our striker Sophia Kramer cut the lead, but we couldn’t find more. However, we were brilliant on the ball. Our women’s teams plays an incredibly well drilled possession game, passing to explore and find openings, moving into invisible channels and really controlling the game. Our midfield consists of Sofia Faremo and Katie Bishop, two veterans who read each other’s minds and both of whom are capable of long distance strikes. Our backline is anchored by Sophie Campbell who I will not be surprised if she turns professional. She is calm, cool and collected at the back. We didn’t get the result, but it was a joy to watch, and a pleasure to be back home at Swangard Stadium, on the best pitch in the province.
The photo above is an astonishing reflection of the triple arch of the Milky Way and our solar system.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Hank Green’s gentle awe as he reflects on the photos returned from the Artemis crew. Enjoy this video.
Remembering Norma Bailey’s floating store at Hot Springs Cove in Clayoquot Sound. I visited that place in 1989, the first time I ever came to this coast.
Animals share signals across space.
Just a few beautiful things from this little planet that is doing its best despite us letting it down.
The World Bank now thinks that nations should be setting industrial policy instead of just opening up their markets to whatever predatory investment comes along. Sorry about the last 50 years, I guess.
The description on the video says “Here is an extremely rare shellac master “test pressing” of the unissued (on 78) take 2 of “Cross Road Blues” (a.k.a. “Crossroad Blues”) by delta blues singer and guitarist Robert Johnson, recorded in 1936.” The sound has to be heard to be believed.
There is something delightful in witnessing an incredibly well thought through and technical takedown of an incredibly poor set of design choices. This year’s contender for the best has to be tonsky’s savage, evisceration of Apple’s, seemingly random icon choices for menus in its new Mac operating system
I have been paying close attention to my sleep patterns, aided by my Apple Watch and a new CPAP machine which is helping sleep more deeply. As a result I am becoming increasingly familiar with how sleep works, from the phases of REM, to the waves of light and deep sleep I go through. I've been surprised to learn that waking up is a normal and healthy part of sleep (although waking up because you can't breathe is not, hence the sleep therapy).
So things catch my eye, and today's rabbit hole is aided by this article which describes more ancient and natural human sleep patterns during which a period of wakefulness is common and expected.
For most of human history, a continuous eight-hour snooze was not the norm. Instead, people commonly slept in two shifts each night, often called a “first sleep” and “second sleep.” Each of these sleeps lasted several hours, separated by a gap of wakefulness for an hour or more in the middle of the night. Historical records from Europe, Africa, Asia and beyond describe how, after nightfall, families would go to bed early, then wake around midnight for a while before returning to sleep until dawn.
Sleep patterns and managing the kind of light I am exposed to before bed and in the morning is radically changing how I feel during the day in the first couple of weeks of this new regime. Combined with the therapy, I am much better rested, even with less than 8 hours in bed. No midday sleepiness, less grogginess in the morning. On this trip I have handled jet lag better and recovery from a cross-country redeye has been easier on my system than usual.
Toronto Maple Leafs 1 – 3 Ottawa Senators
The Leafs' season has been over for a while now and a six game losing streak coming into this game sealed their fate. The season has sputtered to a disappointing end. It seemed to just fall apart from the very beginning with lots of two goal leads surrendered early in the season. I blame the departure of Mitch Marner, but the late season injury to Auston Matthews did help. And then down the stretch, goalie Stolarz hurt his knee. So tonight Hildby was in net, a bunch of young guys were out there and Knies, Nylander, Tavares, Cowan, Ekman-Larson, Benoit and McCabe played their last games of the season with them.
It didn't look like the Leafs would score at all during the night, but Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph did their best on the radio call in the third period to jinx the shutout. At 11:48 of the third period, the spell worked and William Nylander sneaked a backhander into the net to elicit one final "Holy Mackinaw" After 44 years, Joe Bowen is retiring. and THAT was the reason to tune in tonight.
"Holy Mackinaw" was his trademark. We all knew it. The Rheostatics built it into the chorus of a famous song. Joe made culture, and that phrase was a shibboleth for nearly forty years of Leaf culture.
Bowen called games for 44 years. Seventeen coaches, more than 700 players, thousands of goals; all got name checked by him. From a Walt Podubny goal in Detroit (which started a three goal comeback) to Nylander's poached goal tonight, Bowen called some of the best and worst years of the Leafs. Here's a selection of his best calls. My favourites are from 2002 playoffs, when the Leafs held on to a 4-3 lead against Ottawa Game 6 and in the subsequent series where they scored late against Carolina in Game 6 which tied the game and gave them a chance in the series. That team had some grit, and Joe liked nothing better than watching a group of Toronto Maple Leafs putting in a shift by playing out of their skins.
Since I was thirteen years old Joe Bowen has been the voice of the Leafs. For this century, he has been accompanied by Jim Ralph, and the two of them were as much a comedic duo as they were a commentary team. They love each other and Bowen's tribute to Ralphie and his thanks tonight was the most emotional moment of the night. "Thank you for your encyclopedic knowledge and lack of math skills. I love you," he said through tears. And Ralph returned the tribute in kind.
I have the heart of a traditionalist. I appreciate things that just stay the same. I'm in Niagara-on-the-Lake this week, revelling in an Ontario spring, serenaded by the cardinals and the blue jays and rocked by an April thunderstorm. It seems to be as it always was. And here I'm listening to the Leafs' final game of 2025-26 and the last call ever by the guy whose voice is as closely tied to this team as the birds and weather are tied to this landscape.
Plus ca change… Toronto has never won a Stanley Cup in my lifetime and as we say in Leafs-land, there is always next year. But this time, it will never be the same.
Thanks Joe.