By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor enrik Sedin is leading the NHL in Hee Did anyone, even the most ardent Sedin backer, ever think that they’d hear that sentence? It sounds crazy, but it’s true. At this point, after 44 games, Henrik has 20 goals and 41 assists to combine for a league leading 61 points, three more than Joe Thornton’s 58 down in San Jose and a whopping eight more than Marian Gaborik and Alex Ovechkin in New York and Washington, respectively. What has been so remarkable about Henrik so far this season is not just his outstanding point totals but the massive jump in his overall play. Last season, it was widely assumed that Henrik and his brother Daniel had reached the peak of their games. It was believed that both were solid, reliable and durable players who were good for around 80 points per season. So far this year, Henrik, and to a lesser extent Daniel, have blown those expectations out of the water. For the first time in their careers, the Sedins have been controlling the flow of play when they’re on a regular basis to the same degree that the NHL’s elite (think Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin) do. If Daniel hadn’t missed 18 games due to a broken foot, he’d be among the scoring leaders as well. In just 26 games, Daniel has 35 points and is +17. While the twins have always had superb chemistry playing together and seem to have some low-level telepathy going on between them, this year they’ ve taken it to an entirely new level, and in winger Alex Burrows they’ve found themselves a true finisher who really meshes with their cycling style of play, which has befuddled opposition defenders all year long. Burrows is coming off back-to- back hat tricks in big wins against Columbus and Phoenix that have put him at 17 goals for the year and on pace for a career high. To better illustrate just how good the Did anyone think that Henrik was this good? Sedins, and particularly Henrik, have been, just look at some of the stats that go beyond simple goals and assists. When it comes to points per game, Henrik is second in the league by pumping out an average of 1.39 points each night while Daniel is right behind him in third spot at 1.35. Or consider that a remarkable 45 of Henrik’s 61 points have come at even strength. While other teams routinely ride their best players for up to 25 minutes per game, both Sedins usually only play around 16-18 minutes each night, and Canucks coach Alain Vigneault doles out the power play time liberally to a number of players. To put that into context better, Henrik is first in the NHL for even strength points with 45. Ovechkin, in second place, is miles back at ATs While Henrik may be leading the NHL in scoring, he doesn’t even crack the top 30 in ice time. In fact, he doesn’t even lead Vancouver forwards in ice time. That honour goes to Ryan Kesler. To put it simply, the twins do more than anyone else in the league with less time to get it done. Despite ramping up their games offensively, the Sedins haven’t abandoned their own zone by any means. In fact, Henrik and Burrows are tied for sixth in the NHL in plus/minus at +19 with Daniel just a little back of that. Vancouver’s rushing defenseman Christian Ehroff leads the loop at +23. What this means most of all is that Vancouver got one hell of a deal when Mike Gillis locked up the twins to identical five year contracts for an average of $6.1 million per year this past summer. There were plenty of detractors in this city (myself included), who didn’t think either player was worth anywhere near that kind of money and that the team would have been wise to let them walk and chase other free agents. I think that it’s a very good thing that we’ve all been proven wrong. Leta Cte TE By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor One of the fastest events you'll ever see and a hallmark of another era, but is horse racing a sport? There are arguments on both sides of the fence. For starters, it’s easy to say that horse racing is not a sport, or at least not in the traditional sense. After all, the horse does pretty much all the work, and some would argue that most of the real action doesn’t even happen on the track, but at the betting booths. And hey, if the horse does all the work, wasn’t I the same guy who wrote that article a few months ago about how car racing wasn’t a sport because it’s the vehicle that does all the work? That’s true, I did say that. However, there are a few differences that make horse racing and driving in something like NASCAR completely different from one another. For starters, while the horse does indeed do the actual running, it is a living, breathing animal, unlike a car. The jockey has to control the horse as much as possible and issue a continuous stream of instructions throughout the race, but doesn’t even have total control like a driver does over how his car performs. The horse could get tired or angry or distracted. There are infinitely more variables to consider. Plus, it takes a tremendous amount of athleticism to be a successful jockey. It isn’t as simple as just riding a horse, as some people seem to believe. The jockey can’t exceed a certain weight or else their horse won’t be able to carry it all and run fast enough. You have to have incredible focus to not only compete with other riders but to also maintain a race strategy and do your best to communicate with the horse, all of which is done at remarkable speeds. Sure, a race doesn’t last very long, but neither does a shift in hockey or a hole in golf. There is so much that a jockey has to read and react to during the average race, almost on par with the quarterback in football or the goaltender in hockey, that is makes it difficult to not classify it as a sport. Then there’s the very simple fact that in the end, this is a race, which is, in essence and at its core, a sporting activity. There are a number of other people to beat, and the competition is fast and furious, pretty much in line with any other sport. THE VERDICT: It may be unique, but horse racing is a sport.