Oh Canada, I shed my grace on thee ...

-Courtesy Toronto Globe and Mail and Kathy Buckworth on Threads.

My continued apologies for failing to keep up with the world in this space. My recovery from my broken hip is proceeding but more slowly than I had anticipated. The grinding world of medications, physical therapy, home exercises, my glacial bone healing and the dizzying pace of unfolding events make it very challenging for me to keep up. For paying customers, I have suspended payments until I’m ready to get back in the game on a more regular basis. -TC

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There is one event that I did want to comment on briefly here. Last night, an exceptional and thrilling event took place in the world of international sports. In sudden-death overtime and on the strength of a goal by superstar Connor McDavid, Team Canada beat Team USA in the finals of the 4 Nations Face-Off in Boston.

It was exceptional in that the USA had prevailed over Canada in an earlier round, but could not get it done the second time around when the championship was on the line. The two nations have long held great animosity toward each other on the ice. But this hockey series proceeded in the wake of great strife off the ice as well.

The victory of the Canadian team comes on the heels of demeaning rhetoric and harebrained ideas directed toward our neighbors to the north by President Donald Trump, who has imposed punitive and unwarranted trade tariffs against Canada, suggested Canada become the 51st state and labeled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “Gov. Trudeau.” And to what end? To show Canadians who’s the boss?

As I posted on Threads:

And how ironic that the win took place in Boston’s TD Garden, named after Toronto Dominion Bank!

As I noted above, hockey fans in both countries are fiercely partisan when the two teams face-off. Boos during the two national anthems can sometimes be heard. But the amount of vitriol I witnessed on social media dwarfed anything I had seen before. Gee, ya think it had anything to do with the bombast of Dear Leader?

According to the NHL itself, Team USA actually embraced the “bad-guy” role in the run-up to the tourney. Couple that with the fact I actually lived in Canada for five years as a young man and still have many friends in that country, and the choice of whom to support was an easy one.

If you missed the game and want to see a quick recap courtesy ESPN, look below. Meanwhile, dear readers, I’ll be back here as soon as I can.