A Marriage of Crime Scenes, Pucks and Rocks

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by Lisa Ovens

It appears the USA Network has become a bizarre blend of Police Procedural dramas, Men's Olympic Hockey and Olympic Curling. After being in the United States for almost a year and a half, I've learned that the USA Network is the place to go when you want to watch Law and Order's, NCIS's or CSI's ALL DAY LONG. For now, the binge viewing style network has become a refuge for errant hockey games and curling competitions.

Of course it took me six days of the 2014 Winter Olympics to discover there was this hidden gem of hockey nestled amongst the hard boiled detectives and lab geeks. However, I do have an excuse for my rusty sports viewing skills: I've spent the last year and a half away from sports working on a time consuming project! Heck, my blogging skills are also rusty! I can count the number of blog posts on one hand for the entire year of 2013!

So, in order to assist myself, I am going to list the Men's Hockey Schedule for the USA Network right here in this post...(all times in ET)

Fri. Feb.14 12pm   Canada vs. Austria
Sat. Feb.15 12pm   Sweden vs. Latvia
Sun. Feb.16  3am   Austria vs. Norway
                7:30am   Russia vs. Slovakia
                   12pm   Finland vs. Canada
We. Feb.19 12pm   Men's Quarter Final Game

Gotta love those nooners!!!

Olympic Hockey Appreciation in Florida

by Lisa Ovens

Look what arrived in my inbox this morning... a Sochi/ Team USA Watching Party hosted by the Florida Panthers Announcement! Nice work, Panthers! Two early morning "Hockey Brunches" will be taking place on Saturday and Sunday this weekend during Team USA's tilts against Team Russia (Feb.15th) and Team Slovenia (Feb.16).

The Sochi watching parties are taking place at the Break-Away  Bar and Grill in the recently re-branded Florida Panthers IceDen, the Cat's official practice facility in Coral Springs, Fl. . Yes...it is no longer called the Saveology Iceplex. The Florida Panthers IceDen is a far better name and hopefully will add a nice boost to the Panthers hockey profile in South, Florida.

In other Panther news...Panther fans have two "Cats" to keep an eye on during the Men's Olympic Hockey tournament at the Sochi 2014Winter Olympics: left winger,Tomas Kopecky is lacing up the skates for Team Slovakia for the second time, and making his Olympic debut, center, Aleksander Barkov will be playing for Team Finland. Barkov is Finnish/Russian, so obviously he had a choice in countries to try out for. Click here to learn how he came to choose Finland


Enjoy the pancakes, hockey fans!!

SOCHI 2014!

by Lisa Ovens

Four years ago today, The 2010 Winter Olympic Games opened in my hometown, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Oh, the memories! I created this very blog for those games, and the many posts below will always be a trip down memory lane for me. Now, it's back to spectating from the sofa again.  It's safe to say I will never be a Winter Olympic athlete, but I sure now what it is like to be a "host" of the games.

And, this is a first: I am not in Canada during the Winter Olympics! It's been almost a year and six months since I left Vancouver. I wasn't planning to be away this long...last June I was granted an O1B Visa, so, I am still in the United States for a few more months.

 The only Olympic swag I happened to have on me for my trip down south is what you see above: my Rick Nash Team Canada Hockey Sweater Key Chain. It's been jingling and jangling from my handbag for the last month. GO  CANADA!!

Apart from the lack of Olympic swag, watching the 2014 Winter Games is the other issue I'm dealing with. I am at the mercy of NBC's scheduling; two channels to choose from (NBC, NBCSPN) with bits of coverage on MSNBC and CNBC! After checking out Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium and the bounty of channels pumping out the events, I am a little envious of the Olympic loving folks back home. I'm not complaining, I am adjusting!

Okay, time to change channels! Go CANADA GO!!!