In the absence of any cudd fodder of late from this our usual source of consistent joy, I thought I would point out to all you Orkney/Canadians (Canorkies) and otherwise hockey affectinados (including Americans who have established some limited interest in the game), that there was considerable research concluded on the heritage of the individual players who made up our undefeated Canadian World Champion Team. It is my own logical conclusion that they could never have won without bearing the well disguised genes of early Viking Orcadian pioneers, passed down to in fact several of the amazing champions. Check it out! Also, it is evident that the French Canadians on our team relied heavily on skills inherited from their voyageur ancestors, skills learned again from our Viking islander forefathers and passed along in those olden days, to the other French ancestors, cheerfully and willingly of course. Skating with a puck through aggressive burly defense players, is a simulation of shooting rapids wherein you must skillfully on a split second decision, skirt around a rock, or suffer the consequences of a tumble, loss and humiliation. Shooting a puck at a goal is in fact a simulation of firing a ball from a black powder muzzleloader at a goose from a moving canoe. In truth, reading Hudson Bay by Ballentyne (1850), I see that skating was in fact a common winter pass time till the snow was too deep. It was likely the site of the first Canandian championship game. Natives love the game and two of our local NHL heros, Darcy Turker and Shane Corson, both are Metis. (truth, honest.) When you get into this, the parallels and conclusions are obvious. A hockey stick is in fact simply a modified paddle. The net of the goal was designed originally from snowshoe netting of open braided leather. The original puck was an empty Highland Park bottle because they slid so well on the ice. the famous "Ba" in Kirkwall is based on a lot of the same principles. Makes me think Orkney should field a hockey team for the next world matchup. We also squeaked out a gold in a canoe race. That too should be a natural for Orkney, according to the countless journals of history that underline that irrefutable fact. Not a crazy notion when you consider that the runner up was Finland! Stephen (Canorky)