pregame brain emmisions

Steve says:

well....now that we have achieved the elusive 3-game win streak it will be very interesting to see how we come out tonight. It seems like each time we get players back from injury and insert them back into the lineup, we fall apart (ie. Mark Bell and the Sens game where we got whooped). So with Kubina coming back in, and Tlusty and Kronwall being sent down to the Marlies, tonight's game should be a sign of how well the core of our group is doing.

Belak will be playing , but not to take out the Ranger tough guy Sean Avery...Avery is out with wrist surgery.

Sean broke up with Elisha Cuthbert a while back...and now his wrists need surgery...I wonder if there is any correlation between the two ...?

from Practise

Steve says:

Even though there is a shitstorm around them...the boys in blue and white still need to keep on keepin on...
so...here are some quick note from practise today...

- Tucker not at practise after taking a slapshot to the foot
- Tlusty / Blake / Wellwood practising on a line together

Slow News Day

Chris:

Here's what I'm gonna say about Jiri Tlusty. Allowing a bunch of "risque" pictures to make there way out into the real world is stupid NOT criminal.

Let's make sure we all keep this in perspective here. Hockey players, especially young ones, will always do stupid things. Ever played in a tournament a couple kilometres from home, hanging out with a bunch of bored buddies? I guarantee you'll get up to all sorts of stupid pranks.

This is pretty tame and the only person who's hurt by it is Tlusty and, by association only, the Leafs.

Let's be grateful that he's not doing some of the stuff some recent NHLers have done.

a) Tried to kill his agent.

b) Manslaughter on the ice

c) Betting on games.

d) Getting in drunken bar brawls

e) Messing around in his marriage.

Suddenly this looks like a simple case of boys will be boys. It must be a slow news days if legitimate organizations have to paste this all over their front page.

I'm looking at you Toronto Sun.

Steve says:

I dont see what the issue is here..so a kid took pics of his willy wonka and probably sent them to his then-gf...who cares...get over your fear of nudity North America...

The only thing sad about this is that the Toronto Sun said that Tlusty was the centre of the Hockey World's attention...IMO ..hardly...seems to me the whole Hockey Hall of Fame thing is a tad bit bigger news..

in a word...meh

shocking!

Game 11

Steve says:

...And help they did! Nice job by Tlusty to get his first 2 goals :40 apart in his first NHL game...keep it up!

BUT the most important factor of last nights game is that our D stayed at home...no pinching except when totally safe to do so...we dropped our shots against from the average 45/50 per game down to 25! Toskala can handle that every night...

As for the whole JT thing, (in case you don't know, JFJ has made an offer to John Tavares from the Oshawa Generals to come and play for the Marlies) I don't know if JFJ can make it work...but it is an act of desperation....and sometimes desperation results in miracles.

Chris says:

Wow.

Some good news out of Leafdom for a change.

Now that’s the game we’ve been waiting to see.

At only 19 years of age Jiri Tlusty broke into the NHL in a big way last night, scoring twice, a mere 35 seconds apart, to lead our boys in a romp over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

What’s that Sidney Crosby? Suck it?

I think maybe he will.

Vulgarity aside it was a hell of a game last night. The third period, traditionally a dying ground for this Leafs this season, became a scoring exhibition of sorts. Besides Tlusty’s pair, the Leafs other scorers for the evening were Steen, Devereaux and Kaberle.

Maurice needed to shake things up. We’re scoring lots of goals but our defense has been letting games that we have in the bag slip away from us. When you’re struggling as badly as we are right now, there are worse strategies then calling up a couple of hungry young players to take a crack at the big time. Well, for one game at least, the gamble has paid off.

This is as it should be. No one’s place in the roster is secure. You need to earn, every night, the right to step onto that ice.

Much like last year we seem to have been bitten by the injury bug again, besides Wellwood and Colaiacovo recent additions to the list include McCabe and Tucker. Speaking of which, whatever happened to Wellwood and Colaiacovo? The last time I heard both players were on the mend and mere days away from being back in the lineup. Yet so far we’ve seen nothing. What gives? News on this subject from the front office has dried up and I haven’t the foggiest idea of what their status is.

Leafs say "help us" to Tlusty and Kronwall

Steve says:

I like bringing Kronwall up cuz we need some actual desire on our blueline and Kronwall will bring that cuz he wants to play in the big leagues...

The marlies are undefeated in regulation (4-0-1) and a large part of that is...(deep breath) defence!

Yes Leaf Nation...you can breathe a little easier because the future of our D actually has some bright spots.

One of the most promising stats that our mini-Leafs have in their favour is that when they are leading after the 2nd period, they are 4-0-0!

there is hope...