By Rob Ficiur
In the December 28, 2010 issue of the Commentator, I made nine predictions of what would happen in the sporting world in 2011. How accurate were my predictions?  According to my calculations 55% of my predictions came true (give or take a half right / half wrong prediction). 
1. Correct: Prediction: By the end of 2011, one NHL team will have moved to a new city. When the column was written it looked like Matt Hulsizer would buy the Phoenix Coyotes. All eyes were on the Coyotes sale, wondering if the sale fell through, would the Coyotes return to Winnipeg? A year later the Coyotes are still for sale; and no prospective buyers stepped forward by the December 1,2011 deadline. The only reason the Coyotes are still in Arizona is because the Glendale City council agreed to cover $25 million of losses the team would incur this season, hoping that twelve more months would help the NHL find a new owner.
As the Coyotes situation drag on, and on and on, the Atlanta Thrashers were bought moved to Winnipeg in a matter of weeks. Winnipeg has an NHL team.
2. Wrong: Prediction: Tiger Woods will win a Major Tournament. As the golf season wore on Tiger Woods looked less than ordinary.  It was not until the final tournament of the year, the not so famous Chevron World Challenge, that Tiger broke his nearly two year drought and won a tournament. Woods played in only two of the four major tournaments and made the cut in only one. Not much chance of winning a major with those numbers.
Tiger’s earnings and play have dropped dramatically the last three years. In 2009 he earned $10.5 million, winning 7 tournaments, in 2010 he earned $ 1.2 million winning zero tournaments and in 2011 he earned $660,000 winning one tournament.  Woods, who will turn 36 next year, is on the downside of his career.  Whether fans like or hate him, golf has not been as interesting since Tiger’s play has dropped off.
3. Correct: Prediction: In 2011, at the world curling championships, Canada will one gold, not both the men’s and women’s finals. The Canadian Men won the gold medal, but my prediction was almost wrong. The Candian women were one end away from also winning the gold medal, leading Sweden 5-4 going into the ninth end.. Sweden got one in the 9th and two in the 10th to relegate the Canadian women to silver.  Silver isn’t bad, but it feels bad when you were so close to winning gold.   
4. Half Right: Prediction: The Los Angles Lakers will defeat the Miami Heat in the NBA final. In the end the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat in the NBA finals. While the Mavericks celebrated their first ever championship, the Heat were considered the losing team in more than one way. Having signed Lebron James and Chris Bosch to supplement star Dwayne Wade, the Heat were the best team on paper. In four of the six finals games, Wade lead the team in scoring…the hype over King Lebron James fell short (as does most pre-season hype).
5. Wrong: Prediction: Either the Vancouver Canucks or Washington Capitals would win their first ever Stanley Cup Championship. I was close – the Canucks came within one game of winning it all – but back to back losses in Game 6 and Game 7 gave the Cup to the Boston Bruins. For the first time in franchise history the Canucks finished first overall in leagues standings. For the second time in franchise history a Canuck won the scoring title. Was this the team that would win it all?  However this, the third time the Canucks went to the Stanley Cup final, hurts the most. The Canucks teams of 1982 and 1995 were surprise players in the finals – in 2011 the Canucks were favored. When the Canucks lost the final two games by scores of 5-2 and 4-0, the blame fell at the feet of goalie Roberto Luongo. Where was the offense in the last two games? (Especially considering the Sedin brothers won the 2010 and 2011 scoring championships.)
6. Wrong: Prediction: The New York Yankees will miss the baseball playoffs. Having missed the playoffs only once in the last sixteen years I thought the aging Yankees were destined to fall short and have to begin rebuilding their team. Instead of missing the playoffs the Yankees posted the best record in American League with 97 wins. The Yankees lost their first round playoff series to the Detroit Tigers. I was only off by a week as to when the Yankees season would end.
7. Half Right: Prediction: The Calgary Stampeders to meet in the Grey Cup with a team other than the Montreal Alouettes. The Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders met in both the 2009 and 2010 Grey Cups. The Riders had been in three of the past four Grey Cup games, the Alouettes had played in the last three championships. No team had been in four Grey Cups in a row since the Eskimos were in six consecutive Grey Cup games from 1977-1982.  Getting to the final is a tough every year. Calgary fell short (again) but Montreal also fell well short losing in the Eastern Semi final to the third place Tiger Cats.
8. Correct: Prediction: Elected officials in some Canadian city will vote to build a new football stadium.
After last minute deadlines were missed, Hamilton city council and the Tiger Cats made a deal on building a new stadium. Toronto will host the Pan Am Games in 2015, and by that time a new $152 million stadium will be sitting on the land where the Tiger Cats current stadium sits now. For at least one season (2014) the Tiger Cats will have to play in another stadium.
9. Correct: Prediction: A Canadian will a major international sports award. (not counting hockey awards)
In April Patrick Chan won the Men’s World Figure Skating Championship in Moscow. This championship lead to Chan’s winning the Lou Marsh Award as the top male athlete in Canada for 2011. Chan made a controversial comment suggesting his sports is (and his accomplishment) was unappreciated in Canada.  Chan’s Lou Marsh award was the 9th for a Canadian figure skater; 12 times the award has gone to a hockey player.
Next week I will make my sports predictions for 2012.