A Busy Day

Today's going to be one of those days where time is something of which I'll never have enough. I'm currently playing in a ball tournament that sees two games on the schedule for today before I am required to at the ball diamond tonight to score a ballgame. It's also reportedly going to be warmer than 30°C today - that's like 85F for those who use the Fahrenheit scale - and you're likely aware that most ball diamonds don't come equipped with a lot of shade. In short, it's going to be a hot, dusty, long day for me with very little hockey on my mind or in front of my eyes despite the IIHF Men's World Championship coming down to the final four teams and the Golden Knights and Stars playing Game Five tonight.

It's starting out cloudy this morning, so I'm hoping the overcast skies can remain for as long as possible. With the sun beating down on players, the risks of sunburn and heat stroke is high when playing sports in extremely hot weather. Hydration will be important for everyone, and I plan on having enough water on-hand to start my own lagoon. Better safe than sorry, right?

With regards to the hockey news, I seriously would like to see Canada play for the gold medal despite the incredible story of Latvia advancing to the semifinal. On the other side, the Americans may be the favorite, but I'll be cheering for Germany because they've been building an impressive program for some time now. Whether it be the World Junior Championship or the Olympics, their recent successes are pointing towards long-term success on the international stage for Deutschland. This could be one more feather in their cap!

As for the Stars and Vegas Golden Knights, we saw Dallas earn a victory in Game Four without their captain and they'll look to repeat that feat tonight with Jamie Benn watching from the pressbox once more. I'm never one to believe you shouldn't play your best players, but, if Dallas wins again, do you scratch Benn for Game Six? The prevailing thought would be "yes", but we'll see if that's even a question following Game Five tonight. It could end without even needing the question asked.

As stated yesterday, the Memorial Cup continues tonight with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Peterborough Petes meeting in their first games of the tournament. Seattle looked very good against the Winnipeg Ice while Peterborough did a number on the London Knights in the OHL. This should be an outstanding game between two very good clubs, so tune in for that one on TSN/RDS if you can as the Memorial Cup continues in Kamloops, British Columbia.

As for me, I'll be in the pressbox tonight watching baseball as I score another game. I could be tending to a sunburn as well, but we'll see how the weather holds up with respect to this cloud cover. My hope is that it lasts for the majority of the day as my sun tolerance is low and I burn within minutes of direct sunlight. What I do know is that we have a couple of ball games to win, and I'm hoping we execute our gameplan well.

I'm off to hydrate and douse myself in sunscreen. Enjoy your day!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!