2 minutes: delay of game

Chris hands over the reigns ... and I take a couple days off.

So we'll call it 2 minutes for delay of game. Because everybody's complaining about penalties.

I didn't get to see the Islander shootout up close. Managed to find a a pub after watching a giant ape fight three (three!) T-Rex. But let's just say it was difficult to order a drink, what with the bartender cheering all those goals, studying all those replays of shady Islanders in the crease.

Mark Zwolinski reports today on the Leafs confusion -- in their last two games: 21 minor penalties over 5 periods, resulting in 9 goals against. Read Zoro for the story of how the Leafs are dealing with the officiating issues.

Watched the Ottawa "game" -- Sens 6-for-11 on the PP, Leafs 1-for-6, me falling asleep. The 4-on-4 hockey was okay, I guess. All 20-odd minutes of it. The Oilers-Canucks game that followed on HNIC Saturday was so much better. Rarely get to see western teams play but it always seems to be better hockey.

Again, sorry for no posts this week, we've been busy preparing for today's Team Canada announcement, and putting together Team Toronto Star readers -- at 5 pm we get to see the official roster. One question there. If Canada was down a goal and on a power play with 3 minutes left in the third period of the gold medal game, who would you want shooting from the point?

Comments are always open, please, what the heck is wrong with those two-faced Leafs?

Back tomorrow to set up Bruins and their long list of problems. (SW)

Comments

[jackovel]

The problem is the Leaf org. has no incentive to spend the money to ice a winner. They have a huge captive market that could well support three NHL teams. They could lose 80% of their monopoly and still make a profit. They are the NHL’s richest team yet they consistently let their fans down. This year’s team look like many that have preceded them in their thirty-seven year losing skid. A valiant group of under talented over achievers who will run out of gas in the end. Things will not change and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

[FlamFlim]

Dig those Olympic roster selections yesterday?

Give me Paul Kariya over Todd Bertuzzi and not because the latter is a thug who all but killed a guy on the ice and didn't pay for it (if only I could cry in court to the judge each time I got a ticket and got off so easy), but because Kariya has had the better year than Bertuzzi.

Otherwise, though I like him, I was surprised to have Ryan Smyth on the team. I thought the young guys would have bounced him.

Bryan McCabe's addition is a political appointment. If Quinn wasn't involved with Team Canada, neither would McCabe. Instead, he gets a free flight to Italy and bragging rights. I like McCabe, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't pick the guy for the national team.

[Craig]

I think the the current Leaf owners have benefited greatly from the Ballard era. He set standards so low that any hint of success is greeted with the enthusiasm of a Cup win. I've said it before, Toronto is a LEAF town not a Hockey town. A second NHL team here would force them to get their act together.

As for the Team Canada roster. I'm not surprised. It's a very balanced and talanted line-up. The players left off the roster would have made any other team in the tourney. Who woud I want on the point late in the third down by a goal? Ryan Smith. Why? There is no way that puck will get past him for an odd-man rush.