Game 21 - The Battle Of Ontario - Leafs win 3-0 !

Ottawa Senators @ Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto wins 3-0

POST # 100

Sundin?...where did it all go?

Steve says:
ooooooooooooSNAP! what a game! The forwards came back to help the D. The D was almost always in position...only 1 major breakdown (the 3-1) but Toskala...WOW TOSKALA...bailed us out.

And at the end of the game, as if the win wasn't sweet enough, Toskala stonewalls Alfie the Clown. Alfie looked like he might either cry or take a cheapshot at somebody.


And of course when the game was over the Sens, being the sore losers they are (emphasis on loser) take a cheap shot at Sundin and punch him in the back of the head knocking his helmet off...

But we showed great composure all through the game...great patience on the Tlusty goal (nice work for a wannabe porn star). Sundin with the Sonic Boom slapper through the 5-hole.


The win was sweet. Having my brother in law over for the game and throwing it in his Sens loving face was sweet. Walking down the halls of work today with everyone giving me dirty looks in my blue and white was sweet. The change room being quiet at my sons hockey practise the next day as we donned our Leaf practise jerseys was the sweetest of all.


Great job...now..can they do it again?

Chris:

I was watching this game with about a half dozen Leafs fans (and a couple Sens lovers)

What I found really telling was that even when the Leafs were slowly starting to build their lead in the third and despite some really solid play at both ends of the ice, everyone in the room was waiting for the Leafs to tank.

"Oh they're up 3-nil, but the Sens'll come back soon and take it all away"

You'll never find a bunch of people rooting harder for the Leafs to win and more convinced that they won't.

What does that say about our team this year? What does that say about our chances?

small revenge and full health...almost

Steve says:

Even though it doesn't help the Leaf cause any, it was nice to see the Sens get their asses handed to them by the last placed team in the North East Division, The Washington Capitals.
Ovechkin was just awesome and the Sens played like the lazy spoiled team that I like to believe they are. Finally a team was able to recognize the main Sens play of the trailing winger...someone finally caught on. I have been preaching defense against that play for a year now and finally some coach said to his wingers, "watch for that trailing winger on the Sens" and lo and behold it worked...

Tonight we have everyone back except Carlo...Paul Maurice seems to think that reuniting his PP (formerly listed in the top 5 last year before injuries) will help his team. What he doesn't seem to fully accept is that it is his defence that is letting him down...he says they are practising for full team defence...

hopefully we see that tonight...

Go Leafs!

Chris Neil is a goof..and Alfie is a clown

Game 16

Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators
Ottawa wins 5 - 1

Steve says:
I arrived ridiculously early to the rink in an attempt to avoid rush hour traffic. I still cant figure out why the Sens rink is out in the middle of nowhere...but that's another issue..
I brought my lovely wife with me who is also a Leaf fan, although I noticed some signs of her cracking under all the Sens propaganda while we were there...we'll have to work on that...

I wanted to grab some dinner, but both of the restaurants in the building served everything with meat...and I do mean everything...even the salad has chicken!...whats a vegetarian to do?...

Then the Leaf fans started arriving in groups...so many in fact that I am pretty sure we outnumbered the Sens fans in the seats. The atmosphere was pretty exciting. They put on a big show about the "Battle" of Ontario and all that...Leaf fans were very vocal upon welcoming the team during the warmup.

Then the game started and I knew something was amiss on the first play in the Sens zone...WE WERE PINCHING OUR D!!!!
"Oh no" I thought. Don't leave Toskala out to dry...yet that is precisely what they did. The Sens recognized what we were doing and made us pay every time.

Bell's first shift was awesome...he was leaving his feet on every check...just pummeling the Sens...and he kept it up on the few shifts that he got...Wellwood had some nice hands, but didn't pass the puck very well...

I don't need to go into details about the game on the ice...I'm sure you will see many replays all over TV...but what was going on in the stands was great...even when down 3-0, Leafers were still every bit as vocal as before...The heckling, the chants...all so loud and really spirited...hell, even after the game there was a Leaf fan who had a poster of Alfreddson made up to look like a clown stood on top on the stairs at the exits and got a chant going...

All that energy even after an ass whooping reminded me why I love this team so much...we just keep beleafing that one day we will rise to glory, we will take down the giants of the game and stand victorious....and it will be sweet..

Go Leafs Go!

here are some pics.

On the way to the rink, a storm was brewing...

The Leafs were outskated at every turn (please note the trailing Sens winger at the bottom of the picture...!)

Sens fans chanted "RaaaayCroooft" when Toskala got pulled

At this point the game was tied...the opening faceoff!

They looked good at warmup...lol


Chris:

Ouch. They make it really hard to be a fan some days don’t they.

The Leafs rode into Ottawa last night, up against the best team in hockey right now. And the end result was a shellacking that’s become more and more familiar over the past couple of years.

It used to be that we could count on the Sens inexperience and nerves to have them drop a game (or two) whenever they came to town. These days Ottawa reserves their choking for the playoffs.

So what killed us last night? Same old story, the odd man rush. After Toskala’s stellar performance in net a couple days ago I think all of Leaf Nation could see that we’d finally settled on a starting puckstopper. Unfortunately, Toskala may not want the job. I mean would YOU want to be the guy responsible for being the last line of defense after your shoddy D has once again dropped the ball. I sure as hell wouldn’t.

Where is the defense? What is being done? If the fans can see the problems with such crystal clarity why can’t the front office? You know, if I came into the office on a daily basis and regularly failed to perform the basic tenets of my job they’d sling my arse out onto the street and rightly so. I realize that professional sports is not a desk job, but the principles remain the same.

Last night marked the return of Kyle Wellwood as well as the first appearance from Mark Bell in a Leaf Jersey. Both got solid amounts of ice time and neither one made much of a impact on the game.

The single goal scored by the Leafs? A powerplay zinger by Antropov.

The Return of Bell

Steve says:
Not only is it super frikkin cool that I have tickets for the game on Nov. 6th with the Leafs returning to Ottawa to avenge their losses..but it also marks the return of one MARK BELL!

Hopefully he will bring some actual skill and power to this lackluster D of ours!
Go Leafs!

Chris says:

Really? Mark Bell? That's who you're tagging as the Great White Hope of the Leafs?

Did we reach the bottom of the barrell so soon?

In an unrelated item I too will be in Ottawa on November 6th. But sadly it won't be for the game.

Game 2

Steve says:

First, the good stuff.

SUNDIN TIES SITTLER!!!

Ok, on with the rest...

Steve's Report Card
Game 2

Offense - C

Defence - D

Goaltending - B

Overall, it was more of the same. More Penalties. More Defensive breakdowns.
I didn't think that Blake-Sundin-Antro really gelled too well last night. But Toskala was really good. It was nice to see our goalie making a few great stops at key times to keep us in the game. It must be frustrating for him to make all those stops and then still lose because of the 10 penalties we took against one of the most offensive teams in the league. On top of that, we totally failed to make anything of the chance we got on the powerplay (I don't think we can call ours, a "power"play). At one point we had an extra man for 4 minutes. and what happened? Nothing, barely even a scoring chance.

I do have a bone to pick with the reffing in the league however. This is not because of the penalties. Don't worry I'm not some guy who whines when his team loses that the refs were paid or anything stupid like that. No, this is because of inconsistency from one game to the next depending on which ref you get. The Blake goal which was disallowed due to Goaltender interference was a correct call. As much as I didn't like it, it was the correct call to make (although my Leafer side says that I am sure Blake did everything he could to get out of the way). My issue with it is the fact that 20 minutes later in a different game, Phoenix scored a goal and they had players literally sitting on the Blues goalie. How does that goal count but the Blake one not?

vs

Inconsistency from ref to ref has plagued this game for decades. There needs to be a standard set and met each and every night from every ref so that the players know each night what they can and can not do.

Go Leafs...take this same game (minus the penalties) to Montreal (1-0-0, 6th overall) and kick their asses!

Game 1

Steve's Report Card
Game 1
Offense - B
Defence - D
Goaltending - C

I felt that our Sundin-Blake-Antro line was fantastic, especially when you consider that it was only their 3rd time playing together as a line. Good things to come from them. Lines 2 and 3 were average, generating some chance. Line 4 was ineffective. Not as much hitting as I would have expected.

Defensively I thought it was a sideshow. I was screaming at my TV for our D to hit guys like Heatly, and Alfredsson. They really only showed up for the 2nd half of the 2nd period. Much improvement to be made, but I think Paul Maurice can do it.

Goaltending, Raycroft was basically the same as last year. Andrew made some good saves (like stopping Alfredsson on the breakaway, atta boy Andrew), but also let in some weak ones, which is pretty much the same story as last season. This is a game where, if he had made a couple of key saves, I would now be praising his off season training or something like that. But it looks like he took off his skates, went south, got married, came back and put his skates back on.
Hopefully Toskala is no longer suffering from media-itis.

Final comments - Overall I am happy with the Leafs performance. When playing the supposed 2nd best team in the NHL, the buds looked pretty damn good.

Go Leafs Go.

Chris says:

Steve already kinda said it all didn't he.

Blake-Sundin-Antropov? That's a line I can see good things from. Even if that one goal did go off the skate, our boys were in place and the timing is right. We can only get better there.

Defence. I'm sorry, I didn't see any defence. I DID see a lot of scoring on Raycroft. But that's nothing new. None of it looked like Defence however.

So. We solider on. But we'll get an opp to match up against them soon enough. Hopefully this time the outher come will be a little more in our favour.

hours...tick tock tick tock

Steve says:


We are mere hours away from the drop of the puck...


I can feel the tension in the air in Ottawa...oh wait..never mind...those are just my nerves. Ottawa fans think that game 1 is already in the bag and everyone of them is walking around with an air of supreme smugness which I would love to see wiped from their dirty crybaby faces.


I really hope Tucker puts the hurt to Alfredsson. I hope Sundin gets a hat trick. I hope Blake gets a wraparound and tucks it under Gerber(isn't that a baby food company...how fitting).


I hope Raycroft gets his shit together and finally uses his glove....I don't think Toskala will be in nets on Wednesday.


We need it now almost as much as we did at the end of last season folks...


let me hear you


Go Leafs Go


Go Leafs Go

GO LEAFS GO!!!!!!

Chris says:

I've been slammed with my new job lately so I haven't had time to troll the net and see what is going on in the center of the Hockey Universe. But it's always nice to see the Blue and White start another year of hockey. We haven't been great in the pre-season so far, very much like a team trying desperately to get back in the swing of things.

I feel good. I think that if we can keep our top players healthy that we'll take a lot more of those close games that we let slip through our fingers.

I think Steve said it best.

Go Leafs Go!

Jackass Alert

I don’t care how young you are, how badly you want to make the cut or that you got dumped to the ice yourself mere moments ago Steve Downie’s hit on Dean McAmmond was absolutely disgusting.

I disagree with those who say fighting and hitting have no place in hockey. In my opinion, they do. At the very least, they’re a part of the game and to remove them would make that game less enjoyable for me.

But there’s a rule. An unwritten rule. And that rule says dirty hits are not allowed.

Downie left his feet to hit McAmmond. He leapt at him with the intention of hurting McAmmond and making a bit of a splash for himself in doing so. About the only thing I’ll give Downie is that he probably didn’t mean to hurt McAmmond as badly as he did and in his post game interview he seemed genuinely repentant.

Doesn’t cut it.

Actions speak louder than words. As far as I’m concerned they can turf this little Bertuzzi wanna-be out of the League for the rest of his life. It’s the only way he’ll learn.

Steve says:

Steve Downie as a Canadian Hero....remember?

Normally Chris and I agree on stuff like this, but this time I gotta say that I am not 100% on board..
Was it a dirty hit ....yes

Did he leave his feet...yes

Was it a bonehead move and should he be suspended...yes, of course

BUT

Was MacAmmond wearing a mouth guard and did he have his chinstrap done up properly which would have probably kept his helmet in the prop position to protect him from injury (CSA approved remember)...

NO!


Hockey is a tough game. There are hits on every shift of every period of every game. People are bound to get injured...it's a simple fact of numbers...


The gear is there to protect you choose to take the "cool look" over the "safety" then you are putting yourself at risk.


I agree that the hit was dirty and done with rage, but I don't believe there was intent to injure...intent to put a Senator on his ass? YES of course, but to injure...I don't buy it.


We were all cheering this guy last year when he was leveling Russians as part of Team Canada. If a Russian player had been injured, people would probably start spouting about how they cant handle the physical aspect Canadians bring or blah blah blah.

Look at both sides of the incident.
I think he should get 10 games and the Flyers should be penalized as well...Once the NHL starts holding teams accountable for thugs, you will start to see less of them. It's only because the owners don't lose out in anyway that guys like this are still around.

Chris says:

He left his feet with intent to hurt McAmmond. How much he intended to hurt McAmmond is irrelevant.

There's a check and then there's thinking you're Superman and that you can fly.

The first battle of Ontario

Steve says:
The first battle of Ontario goes to those bastard Senators.....argh..
I can't even begin to put into words how upset I am with that last call the ref made...there was no tripping...the Senator player tried to split the Toronto D and fell in the process...in the replay it clearly showed no Leaf player held him, or even had a stick near him.
But, also...that last play by Spezza made the Leafs look like real amateurs...they just stood there and watched the guy literally skate circles around them. Disgusting.

Blake and Sundin look like they will live up to the expectations though!

Chris says:

That stench in your nostrils this morning? That's the smell of the Leaf's Defense trying to contain Spezza. Smells pretty bad don't it?

Almost as bad as our powerplay. 0 for 5.

Work. In. Progress.

On rivalries

Chris Says:

For my birthday present last year my gf bought me ticks to see the Sens play the Habs.

Now when I opened the present up I should have been insanely happy (which I was). But you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Because I was in a silent quandry.

Who the hell did I cheer for?

The Habs with whom the Leafs had a decades old rivalry?

Or the Sens. The dirty stinking Sens. (nuff said.)

I threw my support behind the Habs. Because hey, they don't live in the same province as me and the last time there was a truly memorable rivalry between them and the Leafs my father was probably still in short pants. Now the Sens on the other hand have been thorn in my side for the last ten years. And when your nearest and dearest, despite all your pleading, is determined to continue cheering for them...well...it builds a powerful hate in a man.

To complicate matters the Habs were running neck and neck with Leafs at the time for that last available playoff spot. So cheering for the Habs would, by extension, be me cheering against the Leafs.

So I just sat on my hands and watched the game. Actually it was almost more fun to watch the various fan factions goad each other. Did you know that even Habs fans do the "choke" symbol when playing Ottawa? I thought that was just a T.O. thing.

Now besides Leaf's games the only other Hockey I watch is when Canada as a whole is repped (think the Olympics or the Juniors). I catch a lotta flack from people that I'm not a true hockey fan. A true hockey fan would continue to watch the playoffs for the love of the game once their team was eleminated.

Maybe they're right. Maybe I'm not a hockey fan, just a Leafs fan. And I'm all right with that. I'll watch other games if they're on the tube, but I sure won't seek em out.

Because when you throw all your support behind one team it starts to feel dishonest to cheer for another.

Steve says:
BUT, by cheering for the Sens to win, you are really cheering for your team better it's chances to make it into the playoffs...how is that dishonest in any way?
You knew the standings when we went to that game and you knew what the different outcomes would do to the Leafs chances. So where was your Leaf jersey?!!!
ps. to anyone reading this, NEVER take your car to the palladium, or Scotiabank place or whatever the frik they are calling it these days...it took me 2.5 hours to get out of the parking lot! and then the traffic was soooo stupid on the highway, it was basically another parking lot...
take the bus...

Chris Says:

I wore my Leafs cap into the den of the beast which is more than I can say for you!