A look back at a busy year in Canadian sport

 Our photo album is full.

 The importance of games and contests lost relevance after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacts in the United States, yet sport served as a welcome distraction in desperate times.

 Ray Bourque hoisting the Stanley Cup after having it handed to him by a jubilant Joe Sakic.

 Jamie Sale and David Pelletier embracing upon finishing the program that won them figure skating's world pairs championship.

 Catriona Le May Doan celebrating after setting another 500-metre speed-skating world record.

 Larry Walker homering on his way to a third batting title.

 While it was impossible to include a snapshot of every Canadian who excelled in sport in 2001, we've managed to capture many of the memories.

 Blythe Hartley winning Canada's first-ever diving gold medal at the world aquatic championships, and Alexandre Despatie mining silver at the same meet.

 Melanie Turgeon, winner of four World Cup skiing medals last season, streaking down the side of a mountain in a spray of snow.

 Lorie Kane, who had an incredible 14 top-10 LPGA performances, and Mike Weir, winner of the PGA Tour Championship, teeing off down green summer fairways.

 The jubilant Calgary Stampeders grasping the Grey Cup, and the St. Mary's Huskies with the Vanier Cup.

 Pint-sized Gia Sissaouri, arms raised in triumph, after winning a world wrestling championship, and Eric Lucas doing the same after retaining his super-middleweight boxing title.

 There was so much going on: Toronto's Olympic bid failing, Ottawa getting back into the CFL, Vancouver losing its Grizzlies, baseball contraction putting the Montreal Expos on the endangered species list, and our Olympians gearing up for the Winter Games.

 There were oddles of comeback stories -- Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros, Mike Peca and Theo Fleury in the NHL alone.

 The most compelling comeback of the year was by Dave Irwin, 46, the former national ski team member who nearly died from head injuries suffered in a ski crash March 23. He was in a coma for weeks, and he made a full physical recovery by last summer.

 The pages of our album are made rich by outstanding athletes of all sorts.

 There's Karen Furneaux, who won 12 World Cup kayak medals and world championship gold, flashing her blades through water.

 Look at Lori Bowden winning her third straight women's crown at the Australian Ironman triathlon, Colleen Jones winning the women's world curling championship, and Jennifer Botterill helping our women's team win a seventh consecutive world hockey title and getting the nod as the best player in U.S. college ranks.

 Here's a good shot: Lyne Bessette leaning over handlebars, her legs pumping furiously, as she heads to the finish line the winner of the toughest cycling event for women, the Tour de l'Aude in France, a second year in a row.

 How about this page for variety: Lori-Ann Muenzer spinning her wheels to make it to the podium at cycling's world sprints, Christine Nordhagen-Vierling grappling with an opponent in becoming the first female wrestler to win six gold medals at her sport's global championships, Veronika Bauer twisting in the air in winning aerials gold at the world freestyle skiing championships.

 Trees and rocks make it into a shot of Roland Green, the first Canadian male to win the overall mountain biking World Cup title.

 Snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson, last year's overall World Cup champion, rockets towards the camera out of a whiteout.

 Short-track speed skaters Marc Gagnon and Marc Bedard are pictured in the low, leaning crouch needed to take corners in their wild sport.

 Patrick Carpentier's car taking the checkered flag for his first CART victory.

 Jeremy Wotherspoon, the 1,000-metre speed-skating ace, and teammate Mike Ireland, thighs pumping like pistons, winning medals.

 Owen Hargreaves, the first Canadian to play soccer for England since Edward Haggarty Parry in 1879, spinning an accurate pass across the pitch. And Craig Forrest's goalkeeping helping Canada tie Brazil in soccer's Confederation Cup.

 One of our strangest photos is of Daniel Blouin who, while on the podium accepting his Canada Summer Games medal in London, dropped his drawers to amuse his Quebec teammates.

 There was so much going on.

 Don Cherry drafting a European for his junior hockey team. Jose Theodore, the Montreal Canadiens goalie, scoring a goal in an NHL game. The Oilers and the Flames making Alberta hockey fans happy. Becky Scott and our cross-country skiers finally moving into world-class contention. Kate Richardson earning recognition as Canada's top all-around gymnast.

 The spring buzz created by the Toronto Raptors was lost in a mediocre autumn, when the Toronto Blue Jays started to clean house after revealing losses exceeding $50 million US. The Expos fired Felipe Alou.

 Diane Cummins pushed herself to finish the women's 800-metres race at the world track and field championships. She didn't win a medal, but her finish was the best by a Canadian, and the effort in her closing kick screams from the page.

 Pro lacrosse lacrosse teams thriving in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary giving our summer national sport the prominence it deserves.

 Olympic snowboarding golden boy Ross Rebagliati of second-hand smoke fame came out of retirement, while Bourque packed away his hockey gear for good after 22 seasons. Sprinter Donovan Bailey packed it in. Swimmer Joanne Malar, and rowers Marnie McBean and Derek Porter retired from their national teams.

 Kirby Cote set three women's world records in the 11-country swimming disability championships.

 Scott Goodyear had to be fitted for a brace after crashing in the Indy 500.

 We've reserved space for photos of some we lost during the last 12 months: Carol Anne Letheren, the Canadian Olympic Association chief taken by a brain aneurysm; Sofie Manarin, only 17, a top junior cross-country skier tragically killed in a cycling accident; former Toronto Maple Leafs players Carl Brewer and Billy Harris and long-time AHL player Freddie Glover from illnesses; Los Angeles Kings scout Ace Bailey, who perished when one of those planes was flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York; Horace (Lefty) Gwynne, who won Olympic boxing gold for Canada in 1932; 1960s and 1970s lacrosse star Gaylord Powless of cancer; and sports journalists Jim Coleman and Jim Proudfoot. We used to love reading their stories.

 Now we turn our eyes to Salt Lake City, Utah, and the 2002 Winter Games. We'll need a new photo album.