Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Ode to Kazakhstan
I had the distinct pleasure of catching the Canada vs Kazakhstan World Junior Hockey game on the 28th out at Scotiabank Place (does anyone else still call it the Corel Centre?).
It's been a number of years since I caught a real hockey game (good luck getting seats for a Leafs game for less than $100 a pop, even for the nosebleeds). I'd forgotten how big SBP is, but also how close the ice feels, even from the 200 level.
Canada romped all over Kazakhstan, 15-0. Oddly, I didn't think Canada looked particularly impressive -- most of their goals were scrappy whack-at-the-rebound affairs in front of the net, rather than nice set plays or big shots.
After the game, the Roderick's were all on the "What do you expect from some small, poor nothing of a country" boat. Out of curiosity I looked up Kazakhstan on Wikipedia, and was quite surprised by all the juicy tidbits on there!
- Kazakhstan is the 9th largest country in the world (seriously!)
- Next to Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan nearish to the Caspian Sea.
- Population of roughly 15 million
- Declared independence from Russia in 1991
- Actually relatively well off, with huge oil and natural gas reserves (top 10 in the world), as well as being one of the largest producers of uranium, chromium, zinc.....gold and diamonds!
- Has won a decent number of Olympic gold medals in boxing and speed skating in particular. Kazakhs have also fared very well in the Tour de France!
- Home of famed television celebrity, Borat
Just goes to show you how little I know about other parts of the world!
It's been a number of years since I caught a real hockey game (good luck getting seats for a Leafs game for less than $100 a pop, even for the nosebleeds). I'd forgotten how big SBP is, but also how close the ice feels, even from the 200 level.
Canada romped all over Kazakhstan, 15-0. Oddly, I didn't think Canada looked particularly impressive -- most of their goals were scrappy whack-at-the-rebound affairs in front of the net, rather than nice set plays or big shots.
After the game, the Roderick's were all on the "What do you expect from some small, poor nothing of a country" boat. Out of curiosity I looked up Kazakhstan on Wikipedia, and was quite surprised by all the juicy tidbits on there!
- Kazakhstan is the 9th largest country in the world (seriously!)
- Next to Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan nearish to the Caspian Sea.
- Population of roughly 15 million
- Declared independence from Russia in 1991
- Actually relatively well off, with huge oil and natural gas reserves (top 10 in the world), as well as being one of the largest producers of uranium, chromium, zinc.....gold and diamonds!
- Has won a decent number of Olympic gold medals in boxing and speed skating in particular. Kazakhs have also fared very well in the Tour de France!
- Home of famed television celebrity, Borat
Just goes to show you how little I know about other parts of the world!
Labels: Kazakhstan
# posted by Greg @ 6:24 AM 
