Well, usually if it takes me this long to comment on the last Leafs game the result is obvious. They looked competitive early and through the first, but in the second an unfortunate missed off-side call led to a two goal Coyotes lead, and from there the team looked completely lost. Part of the blame falls on head coach Ron Wilson, who took the opportunity following a rattling goal to change his defencive pairings. His master plan put two players who normally play on the same side of the ice on at the same time. Neither knew which side they were supposed to play on, and an extended offensive shift led to another Coyotes goal. To their credit, playing against one of the stingiest defencive teams on the league the Leafs tried to claw back, and closed a four goal margin down to two in the third period, but once again they left it too late to bring an effort, and took a loss for it. Their next 3 games are going to be tough- in Buffalo, which historically has been disastrous, and then home against Boston and Buffalo again. They've done well bouncing back lately, and they are going to have to if they want to avoid losing ground.
Our Colts play the Jags tonight! We'll crush them, of course, although I think I heard something about Freeny AND Mathis sitting out, which really scares me, and means it'll be a hard game to win for certain. Then again, as we have a locked home-field advantage for the playoffs, I suppose I'd rather go for a Superbowl win than a perfect season. But I'm greedy, and who says we cant have both?!
LOL...like your honesty, but ... The Las Vegas line has the Colts losing. I'm just hoping to see the Aints in the Superbowl against anybody. That will be historic.
Brief message to Norwich City fans: are you really this thick? In a fansite preview of Saturday's match they called us Huddersfield United, with this illustrated by our badge... which looks like this: Is the 'Town' bit not obvious enough?
Were they pulling a joke on you guys? Here, the Leafs are the biggest team (fanbase and media wise) and it's kind of Leafs fan tradition to poke fun at other fans and pretend we don't know anything about 'lesser' teams. Then again, a surprising number of Leafs fans actually don't know anything about other teams, so... PS. Keep up the good work against Montreal, Minnesota Wild. Your efforts are much appreciated.
True, but the Colts generally don't even make it to the superbowl when they rest players. I'll definetly be rooting for them to beat the Jags.
I'm rooting for the Pack to be 10-4. We have a chance at those playoffs yet, and I'm looking forward to facing Minnesota again.
If that's a joke, then I hope Town really do stuff them for it. Norwich need to remember that they're not special. If they're carrying around an arrogance like that then they need cutting down to size. More likely, though, is that the writer of the article was just a bit clueless.
Either way, it's pretty bad getting your opponent's name wrong. Good luck to Town, I've only had bad come from that Norwich team. Dear Minnesota Wild: Thanks for soundly defeating Montreal tonight and making their fans boo. With my warmest regards, Agreen.
Agreen: I'm waiting for the highlights to appear on TSN. While on the site, I saw some comments of doomsday and ill tidings. "Fire him! He is done! I have supported that guy up til now and I have had it!" You know the kind. And here are a select Leaf fans justing having a blast at their expense. haha
We're the trolls of the hockey world, it's what we do instead of watching our team. TSN's comments are almost always awful though.
Heh, true. I'm hoping to hit an Hab or Leaf game someday in Canada. The Wild sell out and we are the State of Hockey, but traveling across border means going from passion to obsession to fanaticism.
If you want to see a Leafs crowd, it's better to go to a Buffalo or Ottawa game. Unless the team is playing exceptionally well, the ACC crowd is terrible. As they say, if you want to see a Toronto fan on gameday, stay away from the arena. In Ottawa, the Sens fans probably outnumber Leafs fans, but during play you can only hear pro-Toronto chants and Daniel Alfredsson boos. It gets the local fans mad Their crowd is normally very reserved, but even when the teams are terrible the atmosphere for Toronto-Ottawa games is always exciting and tense.
Haha, I love that. I can see the frowns. We are too reserved in the "state of nice." Good advice. I'll remember that. Edit: Actually, here is a question for you, Agreen. You mentioned in your public message to me a few days ago you didn't think you had seen a more injury-riddled season than this years. How do you feel about all of these hits? The head-hitting? It's becoming more and more common, as are the dirty hits. One thing I cannot stand is when a player has his head down and gets crushed, legally, someone on the other ALWAYS has to fight the guy. It pisses me off sometimes, to be honest. Have they never seen a hit? Do they care about their mates that dearly? Do they need that as an opportunity to impress coach? Maybe they have thin skin now days and need revenge every time.
I think it's just become a part of the culture. Last year I was watching my younger cousin play. Despite being undersized he's one of the better players on his team, age ranges 13-14. He was playing against his old team, and before the game somewhat jokingly the opposing coach put a 'bounty' on him. The problem is someone took him up on it, and hit my cousin from behind into the boards. There was a fight, on the ice and almost in the crowd. Fighting, 'sticking up for your teammates' is drilled into the heads of young players from the time they hit a certain age range, especially if they are a marginal player in terms of skill. It's a real problem with the game, but until the NHL teams stop wasting roster spots on players that can't take a regular shift and are only there to fight, it's going to be there. Fighting definitely has a place in hockey, for example the Iginla-Lecavlier fight is one of the defining moments of the 2004 final. But fights after run of the mill hits- or even worse, orchestrated fights between goons, really need to go. All of that said, headshots are the single biggest problem in the game today. This is amplified by the ridiculous belief that whenever a player is boarded it's their fault for 'turning around to draw a penalty.' Again, big hits are one of the best things about hockey, but it is possible to deliver that kind of hit without striking the head. I believe that if the league is interested in protecting its players, it needs to institute a system for headshots similar to highsticks- if a player is throwing what is deemed a non-malicious body check and they happen to strike the head, it should be an automatic 2 minute penalty. If the hit is obviously predatory (see Neil on Drury, Bell on Alfredsson, Mike Richards on David Booth), it should be something more severe, even something like a major, ejection, and automatically reviewed for a suspension. Each of those hits led to injuries, and not one of them resulted in even a two minute penalty. I was reading one of the Leafs blogs, and they raised an interesting point- injuries are on the rise post-lockout, largely due to the obstruction rules. Because a forechecker can't be slowed, they have a free shot on the defenseman at full speed. Because refs fail to call boarding and charging far too often, it leads to players taking hits when they are vulnerable. The league is not going to change the obstruction rules because they're convinced powerplays are the most exciting thing in hockey, but they should at least enforce rules on charging to protect vulnerable players.
We haven't beaten Norwich on their own patch for 40 years. Tradition dictates we'll get a gristly defeat (and I'm thinking about the Great Escape season in particular - got tonked 5-0 in a game that would have seen us safe if we'd have won. Still, we beat West Brom 1-0 a week later to secure First Division survival).
Before the typical Leafs pregame report, I came across a strange piece of news on TSN's website today- the equipment for the Minnesota Wild caught fire. I suspect arson from bitter Montreal fans. Their starting goaltender lost all his gear, and several players are without sticks. I wonder what happens if they can't get adequate replacements in time for the game. This is especially for the goaltender who'll have to wear new equipment basically for the first time in a game setting. This really has been a bizarre season. Building on that note, I predict tonight will be backwards night in Buffalo. Normally, by virtue of having the two things needed to best the Leafs- goaltending and fast skill forwards- Buffalo skates to an easy two points against Toronto. Their goaltender, Ryan Miller, is unquestionably playing the best of any NHL goaltender at the moment, and give the US their best chance at a hockey medal in the Vancouver Olympics. Vesa Toskala is arguably the worst starting goaltender in the NHL. Still, the Leafs have bounced back from losses for the past month. Being a Friday night, the Leafs will thrive as they typically do under the scrutiny of weekend games, and we will learn the answer to Ryan Miller. Francois Beauchemin. Also, probably Kessel. edit: my prediction looked pretty good until 1. goalie interference and 2. vesa toskala being the worst goalie in all of professional hockey. simply unbelievable.
Four goals on ten shots. A goal even more embarrassing than the 180 foot disaster from last year. Vesa Toskala is the worst goaltender in professional hockey. He should be sent down to the ECHL, and relegated to the 3rd string once he gets there. I am neither joking nor exaggerating. I make it a point to love every player that puts on the Maple Leaf, but I hate Vesa Toskala. Seriously, look it up on youtube, I've never seen a goal that bad at the professional level before. edit: for looking it up on youtube, the video is called Vesa Toskala Fails on Toni Lydman Goal (December 18 09)
Yeah, that's terrible news He seemed to be getting everything back on track too... Not much to say for tonight's game after yesterday's Toskala debacle. Mercifully the worst goaltender in professional hockey is firmly secured to the bench tonight, but unfortunately it is in the ACC and not Ricoh Coliseum, where the Leafs AHL affliate play. The Monster starts against Boston, who ran roughshod over the Leafs in the previous two meetings this season. Hopefully, there will be a different result at home, though thanks to Toskala the team's confidence has to be rattled, and the fickle ACC crowd could well turn on the team after their first mistake. Go Leafs Go, hopefully a strong start from the Monster makes yesterday a distant, terrible memory.
That was the weirdest away day of my life. I need to do a full report of the journey and the match. It will feature a local news reporter, a national sports columnist, a former Town chairman, six inches of snow, unintelligible Dutchmen, a bullying steward (oh, there's a shock), a very good performance, a very poor result, a referee from the Baldrick school of anatomy, a linesman whose flag really could have been up his backside for all the use he gave it, a former Home Secretary and finally the longest time ever taken to get from Norwich to Peterborough.
