Thoughts From The Leaf Game (11)

1. Still can’t buy the first goal

2. Another three goals let in by the Monster

3. That being said, he looks fantastic and most of those goals are not groaners

4. These nights at least they are coming to play

5. When taking costly penalties game after game, night after night, isn’t coaching a part of the problem?

6. After 11 years, I miss Nik Antropov. There was a time I never thought I would say that.

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (10)

1. They continue their streak of allowing the first goal

2. Sometimes lucky breaks get you back in, you need a few of those pucks to go in

3. The benched players seem to have gotten the message for now

4. Gustavsson has let in in his three games 10 goals for a not so respectable 3.3 GAA...

5. That being said the Leafs play like a far more confident bunch in front of this goaltender, and he has made some spectacular saves in key moments

6. Someone needs to remind the team that there can still be some hockey played after 60 mins. (They look better though don’t they - sound better too from where I’ve been lately)

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (9)

1. Finally
2. If he wasn’t the annointed one before, Mr Gustavsson took a monster step towards that direction last night
3. Once again, scored on first...
4. That being said, that is how you respond
5. If they had lost while gaining 11 powerplays who knows the amount of lost sleep Leafs Nation would have experienced
6. A hat trick for Hagman, 5 points for Kaberle but most importantly a win. Let’s see if they can bring collective confidence back to Toronto one day soon.

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (8)

1. They still can’t score first
2. Or second
3. If you need a moral victory this early in the season...
4. That being said there is something to be said for at least showing up to fight
5. The perfect coach to have right now, to teach young kids and work from the bottom up is Paul Maurice. Shame really.
6. On a dark cool wet October evening, listening to the game on a radio, in a cottage with a fire , somewhere in Ontario, there is a soft and familiar charm that is just as important to remember as any Saturday night in the city.

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (7)

1. Who's under more pressure, the team, the coach, or the gm? answer: none, it's the upper echelon of management that should be rattled right now. Their gravy train is going right off the tracks.

2. Is it worse Here or Montréal? the age old debate se continuer je spose. But at least Montréal

3. Whenever Don is right he really likes to tell people about it and shove it home. So where is the clip from 2 weeks ago where he said Joey Macdonald would be a star if he was put it?

4. To continue from above, he is right about Schenn. Why is he playing on that side all the time? After 7 games shouldn't the coach change that or is he deliberately trying to see Schenn fail?

5. How long until the ACC is only half filled? 2 more losses? 3 tops and if is happens on national television...

6. How long until the the debate for and against national Leaf games on the EnglishNationalMouth appears in print?

turns out most of my thoughts led to more questions...such are our Leafs this year.

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (6)

1. This looks like a team playing to get their coach fired. There doesn't seem to be any explanation for that

2. No goalie is going to save this team, especially with a defence that has more holes than a bawdy house.

3. If they cared about playing here, maybe then some players would attempt to block shots. With that said, there is no excuse for highly paid professional athletes to not block shots and play with some semblance of heart and pride.

4. This team would have been a Stanley Cup contender if it was assembled pre 2004 lockout. And then only with Mats Sundin leading the way.

5. The bandwagon has already written off the season, good to see that they are in full force early in the season.

6. A kid is in divorce court and the judge asks him to choose which parent to live with. The child, with some fright looks at both his parents and then smiles looks at the judge and says "neither." The judged, perplexed asks the child to explain, whereupon the child says I want to live with the Toronto Maple Leafs, they can't beat anybody!" Yeah it might be time to bring that old joke back. A part of me is sad, the other part just can't help laughing and laughing. If you're a leafs fan, that just might be the only thing to do.

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (5)

1. An embarrassment on so many levels and at this point shouldn't some of that embarrassment be put on the coach? Has a coach ever lost his team 5 games into the season? Ron Wilson's seat is starting to heat up.

2. Time for a new goalie experiment! At this point, a pylon is an upgrade. I still feel bad for Toskala though, a shame through and through.

3. Forget urgency, where is the pride on this team? Don't you want to play at least to show people you aren't doormats?

4. When Sean Avery is scoring goals that make him look like an all-star, your defensive experiment has failed

5. You cannot use the "goalie is injured ploy" in order to play another goalie and give the other guy some time to think about his commitment level two years in a row. That being said, we should not be falling for this two years in a row, Toskala just might be done if needs the same excuse 2 years running.

6. Dreading watching Leaf games for a diehard like me is uncharted waters. This feels very weird yet oddly empowering. Thank God I still love hockey itself, or I might be starting the trumpets to open the 7 seals.

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (4)

1. This defence really sucks, it takes the crown right out of the game. Even Kaberle looks normal. Maybe he's getting tired of being the only semi-luminescent thing on this team.

2. How can Toskala really stop any pucks playing behind a terrible defence like that? Most of the goals aren't his fault, they are the result of a lazy, slow, outclassed and out muscled team in front of him.

3. Why is that any time there is something worth criticizing and calling out, then only person ith any guts to do so is Don? Good call grapes on the ridiculous need to have an ice level replay colour man and good on ya for mentioning TSN by name. That between the benches tabloid style of game presentation is awful way to present hockey.

4. All those fights look staged and the leafs should be embarrassed to be poorly that all they can do to catch their breaths is send some goon out there to rough up some people. That is not hockey and more importantly that is not good hockey fight. You want fighting in the game fine, but have some class when doing so.

5. That last sentence believe it or not can be achieved, and it comes about by actually being able to play some hockey first and proving that a fight might help you somewhere down the road.

6. At this point Ron Wilson doesn't seem to have control of this team, they play some awful undisciplined hockey. People should really stop showing up if this continues much longer and perhaps this city will show some resolve and support this product from their living rooms and radios until they merit physical presence at the game.

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (3)

1. Is this really how Brian Burke envisioned the start of the season going?
2. The Leafs sure seem determined to be as undisciplined as possible in the early season
3. The Toronto media has made it their collective task to make every issue surrounding this team as nanoscopic as possible.
4. The internet makes the achieving the above statement as easy as possible
5. Matt Stajan, 3 goals in 3 games...see what anyone can do with 22 minutes of ice time, but he is working very hard and is a pleasant surprise (about the only one) so far.
6. For a battle of Ontario, that was as limp a crowd I've ever seen. They barely booed Alfredsson, and were as quiet as a graveyard. This is partly because the Leafs are a thoroughly un-exciting team to watch right now and partly because the ACC is one of the grandest graveyards every built to watch hockey in.

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (2)

1. The Leafs are really really good at playing one period of hockey
2. Vesa Toskala just might be done, not just with the Leafs but as a legitimate starting goaltender in the NHL
3. Even though he let in 3 goals, the Monster looked as sharp as he could behind a lazy defence
5. Two games in, Beauchemin and Komisarek have not been worth the press or respect their salaries command
6. In a city like Toronto, two games in is a lifetime
7. Alexander Ovechkin is a joy to watch

Thoughts From The Leaf Game (1)

These are the things I learned from the Leafs game last night

1. The ACC crowd has to be coaxed into singing National Anthem, way to go Toronto
2. Leafs v. Habs is still a great Rivalry
3. When Matt Stajan is your first line centre, expect greatness only by virtue of insanity
4. That being said, currently Matt Stajan is tied with Alexander Ovechkin for the league lead in goals
5. The Leafs still can't score
6. Don Cherry is still the best mistake CBC ever made, he is the gift that keeps giving
7. it is still a sadistic experiment in self-loathing to be a leafs fan yet it is strangely enticing

Classic

ot unexpected but still quite sudden is how the temperature outside has quickly dropped. The sun seems to quite fond these days of sleeping in and receding earlier, and each day starts cold and turns colder. Long sleeve shirts have been dusted off, sweaters are being hung in closets, hoodies are becoming staples and soon enough the weather will warrant toques and scarves for their original rather than fashionable properties.

It's October,, autumn is in full swing and with each passing day we huddle ourselves towards another Canadian winter.

As depressing and tiring as this is, it does bring with something grand and wonderful, the start of the hockey season. This is the best time to be a sports fan, Hockey begins, the NFL is well underway, basketball is around the corner and the weather outside makes it easier to find excuses to stay in, have a drink and warm yourself with the company of someone special.

What better way to usher in this oh so Canadian time of year than with the oh so Canadian classic of Leafs vs. Habs. Nothing finer. Nothing finer.

The one sport that defines our country and the one match up that has defined generations of Canadians kicks off the season tonight. There is nothing like watching a new season live up to the weighty ghosts of our hockey pasts and thinking that maybe, just maybe this team might be worthy of carying our pride and burden in this beautiful city.

For better or worse we throw our lot in with the leafs year in and year out, through the many disappointments and some might say few joys, we maintain our fidelity against our better judgement but we do this with our hearts not minds. There is no other way nor would I have it any other way. To be a Leaf fan is to be a in a place that borders mad and beautiful.

So to all us good luck, godspeed and Go Leafs Go! Raise a glass, spark a smoke, put on a toque and sit back and let our fall classic sweep you into long dark nights of winter. Hear the skates cut the ice, the roar of the crowd, the clatter of the posts, the crack of a stick and know that it is in this dark time of the year when we as Canadians renew ourselves.

For those of our kin overseas, it's Hockey Night in Canada, we know that no matter where you find yourself on this planet, you're with us more than ever at this time of year.


I leave you with this...
the good ol' hockey game is the best game you can name
and the best game you can name is the goold ol' hockey game
-Stompin Tom Connors

peacelovefreedomjustice
-s

"this has been a bursting message of love from the freecity."