While the Montreal Canadiens have disappointed and underachieved this season, Canada's six other NHL teams - welcome back, Winnipeg - have resided mostly at the other end of the spectrum.
The Vancouver Canucks, last year's runaway league leaders in the regular season who fell to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final, returned with their core intact and look good to again win their division and challenge for the top seed in the West.
Success can only come in one form in Vancouver - a victory in Game 7 of the final rather than a loss - but the Canucks are on track for another shot, and that is all you ask for.
Over in Ontario, the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs have been feel-good stories all season. The Senators dropped to the bottom of the standings last year, and expectations were low heading into 2011/12 with a 39-year-old captain coming off back surgery, several young and unproven players, and questions in goal.
But Daniel Alfredsson and his team have been perhaps the biggest surprise so far, not only challenging for a play-off spot but pushing the Boston Bruins, the defending champions, for first place in their division.
Not to be outdone, the Leafs got off to a great start and remain in a play-off position, thanks largely to breakout campaigns by linemates Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul, and leadership from the captain Dion Phaneuf. Toronto have not qualified for the play-offs since 2004; not only do they look like post-season candidates this year, they have the weapons to do some damage once they get there.
Moving back west, whatever the Winnipeg Jets accomplish this season will be cheered loudly by the locals, who remain ecstatic that the NHL has returned after 15 years.
Winnipeg lost their first three games this season, tempering expectations, but they have been competitive since then, and the fact that the Jets are hanging around the play-off race is a bonus.
In Alberta, the Edmonton Oilers started strongly, thanks to their bevy of young stars, but have been slowed in recent weeks by the usual culprits - a wave of injuries and a third-rate defence.
Still, the rise of the young stars (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle) is promising, and Nikolai Khabibulin has had a renaissance in goal, allowing Devan Dubnyk, the young back-up, time to grow.
Edmonton's Alberta rivals, the Calgary Flames, continue to toil in that netherworld of being competitive enough to vie for a play-off berth but still far from truly contending.
The Flames have Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff and a few other support players of note, but Calgary might be the Canadian team that faces the most hardships in the coming seasons.
sports@thenational.ae
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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