With the Leafs in Tampa tonight against the defending champions, a story of time, place and Lightning that's worth revisiting this morning, just in case you missed it the first time around: On the road with the Cup.
Dirk Shadd, a photographer with the St. Petersburg Times, writes a delightful remembrance about travelling around Europe and North America with Tampa Bay's Stanley Cup the summer before last, in a Romenesko posting that includes this Before Sunrise moment (there's no permalink to Shadd's story, you'll have to scroll down to the third entry in the linked post to find it):
I think the real significance of this story hit me after one all-nighter in the Czech town of Pisek. As dawn approached, I found Lightning player Stan Neckar lying on his back on the cobblestone sidewalk near a 14th-century bridge, the oldest in the Czech Republic. Two baguettes served as pillows beneath his head; he was hugging the Cup to his chest.
He told me he had taken the Cup to the bridge to watch the sun rise and think about his life.
"You realize it's the last hour and that could be the last time," he said. The seldom-used member of the team cried hard, tears of joy. "Even when I had a kid, I never cry. Even when I'm injured."
Only thing about this is that it leaves me wanting more -- of his impressions. Shadd's work on what was a summer-long project, "Stanley's Summer Tour" has already been out there for a while, and it's fabulous, just the thing to get you through your morning coffee.
Oh, and the Leafs reads for ya:
Darcy Tucker, limping after taking a shot off the foot, may not play tonight: "I think I have been a lot like the team. How the team is going is a reflection of how I'm going." (Um, I don't get it, either.)
With the Dec. 1 deadline to sign restricted FA players for this season, the Leafs re-signed injured Karel Pilar (Although he's skating with Marlies, there's no word when he might be back with Leafs).
Lance Hornby at the Sun has a nice one about how the puck from Ed Belfour's career win No. 447 was bought for $100 and delivered to the goalie just before the team bus pulled out of the rink in Florida.
(C.Y.)
Do you have any more info on Karel Pilar? You said that he is skating with the marlies... I thought he was still in Europe.
Any word on when he might play? (even for the marlies)?
Posted by: Matt | November 30, 2005 at 10:20 AM
Matt, from what i understand he is on injured-reserve list and if/when they activate him he'll have a short stint with Marlies, but I have no idea when -- remember the original timetable had him possibly being back with Leafs by Christmas. I'm checking to see if there's anything new to report, but the last I heard was that he was skating with marlies.
Posted by: cy | November 30, 2005 at 11:50 AM
Apparently Pilar is on the 21 day injury list, then will play three games for the Marlies. It is expected, I think, that he will then join the Leafs. It will be interesting to see how he does.
Posted by: Michelle | November 30, 2005 at 01:51 PM
So who sits when he comes back? Carlo seems to be doing ok replacing Kronwall--and when that guy comes back, then what? Aki Berg hasn't stood out, which is a good thing. Probably best to let kids play 25-30min with the Marlies though. Who'd have thought the Leafs would have too many decent defencemen? Ok, maybe that's a stretch, but still. Good news. I like that Pilar kid.
Posted by: Jlo | November 30, 2005 at 04:37 PM
All this is contingent on him being able to come back, too, at 100 per cent. I see Fischer returned to the hospital today. Any time heart problems are involved, i just hope the guy's able to come back to full health -- the hockey career is not that important next to that.
Posted by: cy | November 30, 2005 at 05:20 PM
Since Pilar was signed to a one-way contract, the speculation is that either Kronwall will go down to the Marlies (although he has certainly shown he is good enough to play in the big leagues; I'm not as sold on Carlo). Or another train of thought is that a trade is brewing, possibly even including Pilar. You'd have to think that would be a stretch since health has been an issue, especially in light of the struggles Fischer is having. And it would be a shame to trade Pilar and watch him play somewhere else. There's something about that many Leaf fans enjoy watching. I guess we'll see in a month or so. Most important thing, though, is his health.
Posted by: Michelle | November 30, 2005 at 07:23 PM
Karel Pilar has suffered a setback related to the heart ailment. This has caused Leaf management and Pilar to reconsider the recent agreement. It's not expected he will be back this season......This is quite disappointing news. Hopefully, all involved take this quite seriously and Pilar get's healthy. His career in hockey is really unimportant right now.
Posted by: Michelle | December 01, 2005 at 06:27 PM