Mary Spencer, one of Canada's best medal hopes, might not get to London.

Mary Spencer has been one of Canada's most-promoted athletes in the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympics, and for good reason. Spencer has overcome a tough childhood that saw her grabbing deposited quarters from grocery cars so she could afford new shoes, and she's become one of the best female boxers in the world and picked up endorsements from the likes of cosmetics company CoverGirl. With women's boxing making its Olympic debut this summer, three-time world champion and nine-time Canadian champion Spencer (who's also coming off a gold medal at last fall's PanAm Games) looked like one of Canada's best medal hopes across sports. However, thanks to a surprising 18-11 upset from Sweden's Anna Laurell at the women's world championships this week and Laurell's subsequent 16-15 loss to Elena Vystropova of Azerbaijan in the semifinals Friday, Spencer may not even earn a spot in London.

Eric Hassli celebrates his goal against TFC in front of Whitecaps fans Wednesday.

For 90-plus minutes of the first leg of the Voyageurs Cup final (or the Amway Canadian Championship, if you prefer) Wednesday night in Vancouver, it looked like the narrative was written. Despite their terrible performance in Major League Soccer this year (they're now 0-8-0, the worst start in MLS history), Toronto has been decent in cup competitions, and they appeared set to continue that run and head into the second home leg with a 1-0 lead and a crucial away goal. However, that all changed in stoppage time, when Eric Hassli, the Whitecaps' French striker, smashed a thunderous volley that's since spread around the world:

Heather Bansley passes the ball to Liz Maloney in a Pan Am Games semifinal in October.

There are a few ways to read James Christie's excellent Globe and Mail story about Volleyball Canada stepping in to pick up airfares for beach volleyball players to give them a chance to qualify for this summer's London Olympics. On one level, it's a frustrating look at the red tape that can sometimes crop up with government funding; carding money via Sport Canada's Athlete Assistance Plan has been held back from Canadian volleyball players for six months thanks to an appeal from former national team player Rich VanHuizen, which is still working its way through the process. Beyond that, though, this story shows just how difficult it can be from a financial perspective to try and make it as an Olympic athlete in a sport that's not all that prominent the rest of the time.

Certainly, red tape can make things difficult, and this situation appears particularly odd; it looks like it's Volleyball Canada's appeals process itself that's taking so long, not anything from outside. Still, there could be good reasons for that; when dealing with an appeal over something as important as carding, any organization obviously wants to make sure all its ducks are in a row. Unfortunately, that means that players like Heather Bansley, Liz Maloney, Martin Reader and Josh Binstock are in dire financial straits heading into some of the upcoming tournaments that could see them qualify for the Olympics, so it's nice to see Volleyball Canada step in to ensure that they're able to compete. (Extra funding is still needed, though, and interested people can donate here). The larger point of the story isn't just about the carding money being held up, though, and it's the comments Christie got from 1996 Olympic beach volleyball bronze medalist Mark Hesse that really illustrate that:

Slovakia's Tomas Kopecky celebrates a goal in front of Canada's Cam Ward and Jamie Benn. (Reuters)

Quick, now, name the top four or five Team Canada hockey moments of your lifetime. Now, name the top four or five disappointing Team Canada moments of your life.

Depending on your age, fond memories like the 1972 Summit Series, the 1976 and 1987 Canada Cups might come immediately to mind, along with the 2002 and 2010 Olympic Games.

Disappointments? Right away I thought of the 1998 and 2006 Olympics, the 1981 Canada Cup and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. Sprinkle in - every single time, it seems - the occasions when the juniors didn't win a gold medal and the modern pantheon of critical Canadian hockey moments becomes fairly clear as well as complete.

Not a single World Hockey Championship moment comes to my mind until I really start to engage in searching the crevices and cobweb-laden corners of my hockey memory bank.

Even at that, I find myself needing to hit the internet to jog those memories, to see if I have them correct. Or even what year they happened. Anson Carter's overtime

Canada's Jeff Skinner (from left), Jay Bouwmeester, John Tavares, Kyle Quincey and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins following …

As hard as it to believe, a hockey team led by Jay Bouwmeester and Dion Phaneuf lost today to one led by Zdeno Chara.

Joking aside, the sensation experienced by waking up to news Canada was sent packing from the IIHF world championship after losing 4-3 in the quarter-final to Slovakia is exactly the same as when the mighty U.S. basketball team got its comeuppance from Greece in the worlds in the summer of 2006.

That's not a comment on the opponent. Slovakia went toe-to-toe with Canada two years ago at the Vancouver Olympics, losing 3-2 in the semifinal. The shock might speak more to how Canada is going about the world championship and the attitude the country at large has taken toward the tournament since Sidney Crosby's golden goal.

It's fine to say it doesn't matter when it's not a best-on-best tourney. However, the worlds are not a nothing tourney. Witness Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin playing today for Russia in its quarter-final only five days after their Washington Capitals were ousted from the NHL playoffs. Team USA used to regularly give the worlds a lick and a promise, but its attitude has changed even though it also deals with having top players occupied by the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Before anyone goes into a panic about what this means for Canada's chances at the Olympics in two years, presuming the NHLers play in Sochi, some perspective needs to be shared. The same goes for the position that this really doesn't matter, that's it's just one of those upsets. Ryan Getzlaf took a major penalty in the final three minutes, Slovakia scored off the enusing faceoff; move along, nothing to see here.

Will Gadd climbing the Eidfjord in Norway in February 2010.

Will Gadd is one of the most prominent Canadians in extreme sports; he's set the world distance record for paragliding twice, won the Ice Climbing World Cup, won three X Games gold medals, claimed the Canadian National Sport-Climbing Championships title four times and was recently featured in Sportsnet Magazine's "Ten Most Dangerous Sports On Earth" issue for an ice-climbing course he's helping to build behind a waterfall. Now, he's working with Red Bull to put together a remarkable new multi-disciplinary extreme team endurance race on Vancouver's North Shore this June. The race, called "Divide and Conquer," will see teams of three compete in mountain running, mountain biking and river/ocean kayaking, travelling over 70 kilometres of extreme terrain in an event that should take between five and seven hours. Gadd said Tuesday he's thrilled to be involved with an event that brings back memories for him, especially on the kayaking front.

"These are all the sports I love," Gadd said. "I first ran that river almost an embarrassing amount of time ago. It's a great ride."

He said he's used to extreme activities, but these events will bring their own sets of challenges, especially on the cardio front.

"This one's quite a tough course," he said. "The ice climbing and the things I do, you don't generally have to wear a heart-rate monitor for them. I expect to see a great deal of suffering, a whole lot of blood and a lot of fun, not necessarily in that order."

Here's a video of what to expect from the race:

Gadd said Vancouver's North Shore is the perfect location for the June 16 race, as it has incredible terrain concentrated in a small area. The runners will climb almost 6,000 feet up Grouse Mountain, then tag their mountain-biking teammate, who will traverse a five-mile section of fireroad, take on Mount Fromme's single-track section, fly over part of the famed Baden-Powell Trail and speed down to the Capilano River. There, they'll tag their kayaking teammate, who will paddle a 10-mile course which will involve surf waves, lateral spins and cartwheel pourovers and will finish with an ocean paddle to the finish line of Vancouver's Ambleside Park. Gadd said the North Shore area is ideal for this, as all the terrain for the different sports is close together.

Jose Canseco accepted a fan's challenge to a charity home run-hitting contest (Getty Images)Any change to seem relevant is right in Jose Canseco's wheelhouse these days, like a fastball on the inner plate was for him in his heyday as a steroid-fueled slugger for the Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays and numerous other MLB teams. But on Saturday it will be for a good cause.

No doubt a few people went, "No way, Jose," when the former American League MVP took Ottawa baseball fan Evan Malamud up on his Twitter challenge to a home-run hitting contest. It is Jose Canseco, after all — he's in his third decade as a pop-culture punchline and it's well-chronicled that his post-baseball life has been a bit of train wreck, what with the bankruptcy, the forays into boxing, the reality-TV appearances and the tell-all steroid-abuse confessionals. His Twitter exchanges can often be a mix of the good, bad and bizarre, so who could be sure he'd really show up?

But it turns out Canseco's word is as solid as the maple used to make Sam Bats, especially when there's the prospect of doing something for charity. On Thursday, Canseco tweeted he was travelling to Ottawa to take on Malamud in a contest of clout. The two will go head-to-head in an event called Home Runs For Autism, which is near and dear to Evan Malamud since Malamud has an autistic son named named Jaedyn. The event takes place Saturday at 3 p.m. ET at Ottawa Stadium. YourCityDeals is even selling tickets at two for $12, so it's apparently a thing.

Hockey Night In Canada host Ron MacLean (The Canadian Press)It's long been said of CBC's Hockey Night In Canada that the on-air talent has become bigger than the program.

In case anyone was dubious of that, long-time host Ron MacLean confirmed it Wednesday night during the opening of the New York Rangers-Washington Capitals Stanley Cup playoffs. MacLean likened high-paid NHLers to — wait for it — police officers and firefighters who died during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on those two cities. Or at least evoked the tragedy.

Does there really need to be an explanation of how that's way off base? Does MacLean owe the country an explanation? No to the first, yes to the latter.

(Update, 1 p.m. May 10: Here is MacLean and the CBC's clarification: "Sports has proven a worthy training ground in nurturing the qualities which beget that spirit. To say he plays like a firefighter or a policeman would instantly conjure the traits an athlete most desires, especially in New York and Washington. There could be no higher praise of a player, no greater choice of a role model."

Hockey blogger Scott Wasilewski read that on Twitter as MacLean saying, "I'm not saying hockey players are like first responders. I'm just saying hockey players are LIKE first responders.")

One has to wonder how fast MacLean would be disciplined or worse if he uttered such hogwash on an American network. (Sports media guru Howard Bloom tweeted that if MacLean worked for ESPN "he would have been suspended or fired for the obscenity he uttered on air tonight." ) Since it's an icon such as MacLean, since it's CBC and people in Canada tend not to do manufactured outrage and overreaction quite like Americans do  — that's how we roll — he might get away without serious repercussions. For anyone who thinks it's a non-story, well, U.S. media outlets are reporting on it, so it will be one.

Being forgiving is not the worst thing, of course. It's only words and no one will get sick or die from what MacLean said, except perhaps from laughing. But the bar should be set pretty high for a man who has hosted Canada's longest-running TV franchise, Hockey Night in Canada, for 25 years.

Via Puck Daddy, here is the video: