Already Enough

OTTAWA--It's not entirely clear whether some fool did indeed yell "Wade Belak" as Zdeno Chara and Joffrey Lupul were deciding on a defenceman to pick Thursday night at the NHL all-star draft.

Videos making the rounds on social media seem to suggest that was indeed the case. Those inside the audiorium at the Casino du Lac Leamy in Gatineau - remember, all mainstream media are not permitted inside the actual studio because it is a TSN event -  said they didn't hear it.

So let's say it may have happened, but either way let's not make it representative of the entire audience that night, although it wasn't anything close to the type of crowd that might attend the NHL awards. Or the draft. This was a more like a pro wrestling crowd, except with a lot fewer women (none?).

The Maple Leafs at the event - Lupul, Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf - were the designated heels and bore the brunt of the crowd's animosity, which surprised no one. What did surprise some was how the fans, or some of them, got carried away, turning the air a bit blue and a bit ugly.

Sure, boo if you want. But it is an all-star game, and by most accounts, these folks went too far. It wasn't fun. It was negative and certainly didn't promote the game. Very small town.

TSN worked extremely hard to overcome that and the fact the draft itself was rather home hum. God Bless James Duthie and his tireless efforts to drum up humour and conversation. They mic'd everyone, but the only noteworthy line they got was from Patrick Kane commenting on the "unbelievable" charms of a young lady working onstage.

But it didn't pack the punch of the first year, and while the players association might like it (why?) there's already a belief this draft concept might be history after only two tries.

There wasn't one notable selection, and what you saw was Daniel Alfredsson picking his pals and countrymen and Zdeno Chara avoiding Vancouver Canucks and both making sure no veteran players were embarrassed like Kessel was last year.

The final pick of Jamie Benn over Logan Couture? Could only have mattered to the Benn and Couture families.

So it's time to tinker again. My idea would be to pick captains and assistants two or three weeks before the game, then hold a TV draft on which they can pick anyone they want for their all-star team, perhaps with a limit of two teammates. Now THAT would be interesting, and actually be a gauge on how NHLers value other players.

Bring 'em together two weeks later in the all-star city and you might have a process with legs.

But who knows. This thing has been changed more than Brett Favre's mind. It just took a step down into the gutter Thursday in Gatineau.

 

 

Fedal

It's a rivalry that's been so riveting for so long it has a nickname.

"Fedal."

Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal.

But the fact is this is a rivalry that has swung so heavily to Nadal that it's Rafa most of the time, heck, nearly all of the time now.

And when it matters most.

Nadal beat Federer again today, this time in the semifinals of the 2012 Australian Open in another four-set slugfest that if not an epic - what could ever come close to matching the 2008 Wimbledon final? - was certainly a stirring thriller.

"It was another, I think, fantastic match," said Nadal afterwards.

Except we pretty much know the ending every time now, don't we?

Nadal will get to be the only player in tennis history, it seems likely, who will be able to include in his epitaph the phrase, "I owned Roger Federer."

Today's 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-4 triumph in three hours, 42 minutes was the 27th match all-time between the Swiss and the Spaniard, and Spain's colors have now risen in victory in 18 of those matches.

In Grand Slam events, Nadal's dominance is more pronounced, as he is now 8-2 against Federer. The last time Federer defeated Nadal in a major was way back in 2006 at Wimbledon, nearly six years ago, and Nadal has won nine of their last 12 meetings.

That's owning a guy.

At 30, Federer is still among the top four players in the game along with Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, arguably the most talented foursome in the history of the men's game.

But his age also means Federer has virtually no chance of swinging "Fedal" back in his favour. In fact, his chances of winning another major are dwindling. He's now gone eight Grand Slam events without winning one, and with Nadal dominant in their matchup and Djokovic now the No. 1 player in the world, Federer's odds of winning another big one are getting long indeed.

There were some tactical differences in today's match, with Federer hitting his backhand down the line to Nadal's backhand to change some of the patterns from other matches. But the featured elements were the same; Federer charging ahead but unable to hold leads, and Nadal running off the court and then making unbelievable winning shots from impossible positions.

In this match, Federer was up a set and a break and couldn't hold it. He was up a break again in the third set. But he made a bushel of double faults, self-destructed in the third set tiebreak and couldn't capitalize on a couple of break points in the final game to extend the match.

"He just doesn't believe his best is going to be good enough to beat Nadal," opined tennis commentator Patrick McEnroe.

Federer and Nadal had, in many eyes, openly clashed in the opening days of the tournament in separate press conferences when Nadal appeared to criticize Federer over the handling of some sensitive internal ATP issues. But when this match ended, they shook hands warmly at the net, Nadal applauded along with the crowd when Federer made his exit and then, as he often does, paid homage to the pride of Switzerland as the player who made him better.

"I always saw one player better than me in front of me," said Nadal, who has battled right knee problems throughout the tournament.

Nadal now faces the winner of the semifinal contest between Djokovic and Murray. Asked to discuss the match, he advised Murray to play more aggressively, but then added: "But my advice is not worth much because (Djokovic) has beat me six straight times."

The women's final, meanwhile, is set between Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, the two loudest "grunters" on the women's tour in what promises to be a tight match and a shriek-fest that could be painful to the ears. Azarenka ousted Kim Clijsters in what most believe was Clijsters' farewell match at the Aussie Open, while Sharapova eliminated 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

Nestor, Mirnyi lose doubles semifinal

Nadal: It's a dream to be back in an Australian Open

Sharapova, Azarenka to play in women's final

PHOTOS: Weird facial expressions at Australian Open

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Politics and Hockey

Tim Thomas wasn't the first and he won't be the last.

Remember NFLer Mark Chmura declining to visit the White House in '97 because of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal? Steelers linebacker James Harrison skipped the White House twice, the second time because he "didn't feel like it's that big a deal."

So it's not a cultural catastrophe that Thomas, the Boston goaltender, snubbed President Barack Obama on Monday while his Bruins teammates journeyed to Washington.

And of course, he shouldn't have been forced to go, nor should the Bruins suspend him for deciding his personal political beliefs superseded being part of his team on that day, nor should this impact in any meaningful way his status as a starter in the NHL all-star game this weekend.

The only salient point, really, is this; Thomas' decision, while presented as somehow moral or above politics, was simply political in nature. That's okay, too. He's entitled to that view in a democracy. But to present this as somehow a decision borne of a conscience is misleading.

For the NHL, it's a visit from the polarized and fractured U.S. political spectrum, a world in which some - including Tea Party Tim - believe only they are representing political and governmental values that truly reflect the essence of the U.S. Constitution and the founding fathers.

Everyone else is wrong. Every other political belief is wrong.

So Thomas, a disciple of the odious Glenn Beck, decided he shouldn't go to the White House because Obama, and he suggests, the Republicans have made government too big and are endangering the life, liberty and freedom of ordinary Americans.

Which, like it or not, is a fair stand to take.

Problem is, the visit to the White House isn't a political moment. It's a moment for citizenship. The President, elected by the people and for the people, represents the people when he honours sports teams. Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, have been doing it for a while now.

So Thomas, while a reasonably thoughtful athlete and quite likely well-meaning in his intent, simply got a little mixed up. He thought he was snubbing Obama, specifically, and the federal government, in general, but what he was really doing was snubbing the very Constitution he and his ilk insist only they understand and interpret correctly. Every NHL game in the U.S., these days, honors American soldiers, who are fighting overseas ostensibly to protect the Constitution and the country. If Thomas, who didn't mind playing for the U.S. Olympic team, were to be consistent, he'd have to snub them, as well. But he won't, nor should he.

Again, this is the U.S. political landscape these days, fraught with extremism with little room for dialogue and compromise. Thomas just got caught up in it and made himself the story instead of his team on Monday.

Plus he missed a chance to demand to see Obama's birth certificate. You didn't think they'd given that one up yet, did you?

 

High on Grass and Other Monday Morning Thoughts

Of course, the new artificial almost-grass is better than the old rock hard stuff, and it's cheaper than having to replace natural sod every season after it gets chewed up. That's why you see so many high schools and even grade schools in the GTA going for the fake stuff.

But wasn't it great watching the Giants and 49ers battle it out on the real stuff on Sunday? It was like watching a game out of the NFL archives. Then again, it had been nine years since San Francisco had made the playoffs (take heart Leaf fans).

Wet and foggy at Candlestick Park, the game got a little muddy, and footing was an issue. Most of all, it just looks, well, more real, the kind of game we'll never see again, it would appear, north of the border in the CFL.

The new technology sure looks like grass. It just doesn't have the same feel. Never will.

Other notions from the weekend:

• Both Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel have dropped out of the top five in NHL scoring, a race that is returning to normalcy with the likes of Evgeni Malkin, Steven Stamkos, Marian Hossa and Henrik Sedin at or near the top. Lupul now leads Leafs in scoring, and you could make an argument he has become the team's best player.

Malkin, meanwhile, has become the early favourite to win his first Hart Trophy with the way in which, once again, he has carried the Penguins in the face of so many crippling injuries.

• Another weekend, more suspensions and hearings in the NHL. It's almost like the bans aren't acting as a deterence at all, that the idea they might be suspended simply doesn't make players behave much differently.

Boston's Andrew Ference was the latest to get dinged for three games after his vicious hit-from-behind on Ryan McDonough of the Rangers. Along with the missed games, Ference has to forfeit more than $36,000 in salary, which some would argue is the part of the penalty that hits the players hardest and is often overlooked. Given that Ference has earned about $7.5 million over the course of his career, it's a little difficult to believe that he's financially crushed by the suspension, but perhaps he is.

But want to make these suspensions sting a little more? How about if the player who commits the crime has to pay the player he victimized? So McDonough would get the $36K from Ference. It's a little out there, sure, but I haven't heard any better suggestions as the parade to the NHL suspension box continues unabated.

• It couldn't have been a surprise that 49ers kick returner Kyle Williams was the goat in the OT contest, won by the Giants. There was that silly muff in the fourth quarter. But much earlier in the game he'd successfully made a wild, diving catch on a punt. This guy was a disaster waiting to happen, no surprise given S.F.'s regular returner, Ted Ginn Jr., was out with an injury. Having him back there rather than a pair of sure, veteran hands was a coaching error by rookie coach Jim Harbaugh.

• If Eli Manning and the Giants win this Super Bowl, the debate is really going to get serious about whether Eli's actually better than his big brother, Peyton. And Peyton may never get to take another snap to pad his resume.

• It was a close, close call; drop or great defensive play? Should ex-Bills receiver Lee Evans have held on to that 14-yard pass in the end zone to win the game for Baltimore over the Patriots, or was he simply outfoxed by an outstanding defensive play by Sterling Moore, an Oakland Raiders castoff?

"There's really not a whole lot to say about it," Evans said. "It is what you saw. It was an opportunity for us to go to the Super Bowl, and I let it go."

As Evans tried to secure the ball in the corner of the end zone after seemingly catching it with his hands, Moore reached out with his right hand and jarred it loose.

"It wasn't in my mind to slap the ball out," Moore said. "It was just a split-second decision, and I'm glad it worked out. We do that drill every day in practice, but it was the first time I had to use it in a game, and I just took what I learned from practice into the game."

So dropped ball or great defensive play? A little of both, but at that moment, with all that on the line, Evans simply had to hang on. So it's a drop.

• There are those who still insist that moving the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton under the ownership would of Jim Balsillie would have been a no-brainer, a guaranteed success, and maybe that's true.

But ownership is the critical element in the NHL, as we've seen again this season, and a glance at the business pages - heck, today's front page of The Star - would tell you that even the mighty Balsillie isn't impervious to the catastrophic monsoons ripping through much of the world economy these days.

The share price of Research in Motion Inc. has declined by more than two-thirds over the past year and Balsillie, while still a major stockholder, has been forced out of a key executive role. If he'd actually been successful in heisting the Coyotes out of the desert, where the team is still owned by the NHL, it's hard to say how the team would have been effected by these business developments.

Maybe he'd have had to sell or find partners. Who knows? But the notion that he was the perfect owner, a no-brainer, simply never addressed the question of what would happen if his business empire crumbled or who would own the team if he didn't.

• It's been another difficult Grand Slam for the former tennis superpower, the United States of America. Not a single American male or female has made it into second week at Australian Open after Serena Williams crashed out in straight sets to unseeded Ekaterina Makarova.

The likes of John McEnroe have been sounding the alarm for years. It's clear there are no successors to the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, as potential female Grand Slam champions. The U.S. has six women in top 100, including Serena but not Venus, who has slipped to 101.

On the men's side, there's no successor to Andy Roddick, the last U.S. male to win one of the sport's four majors. The Americans place nine men, including Roddick, in the top 100, but none look like potential Grand Slam champions, unless Donald Young re-discovers all that promise.

We're talking about the driest period for U.S. tennis in, well, forever. Soon, if Milos Raonic keeps moving on up, Canada, and not the U.S., will own the finest player in North America.

Serena, the final America to exit Melbourne, wilted in the heat. The good news is that she was called for a foot fault in the second set and - remember the ugly U.S. Open scene from two years ago - this time didn't explode in anger and start threatening linesmen.

• We'll find out today if Alex Ovechkin is in trouble with the league for his hit on Zbynek Michalek of the Penguins. In the second period of Sunday's game, Ovechkin skated into Michalek, who missed 10 games with a concussion earlier this season, and jumped at the last moment to drive his shoulder into the blueliner's head.

There was no penalty call on the play. It certainly wasn't the most egregious foul of the season, but Ovechkin has been in trouble with the NHL police before.

"I have to be honest -- I have to [be aware] when I see him coming, but he cannot leave his feet like that and just go for my head," Michalek said.

Of course, Michalek didn't do his case any favours later in the game for - you guessed it - elbowing Washington's Matt Hendricks in the head. He drew a penalty for that one, and both he and Ovechkin have hearings with NHL hanging judge Brendan Shanahan today to explain their actions.

• The overwhelming problem for the Leafs? In four of the past five games, they would hav needed to score four goals to win. That's not a formula for consistent success in the NHL.

• It will be fascinating to see how Joe Paterno's life is portrayed now. Probably in different ways by different people. Six months ago there was only a light debate about whether he'd be back on the sidelines next season. Today, the man is gone, and the debate is about how he should be remembered. Probably the best guide to that is the legacy of Woody Hayes. Pretty much the third or fourth paragraph in every story of the legendary Ohio State coach talks about how and why he left the game. It just never goes away.

For Paterno, his name will be linked forever to the Jerry Sandusky story, and as that story unfolds in court, Paterno's name will be invoked time and time again. Sandusky released a statement on the weekend after Paterno's death. Perhaps keeping quiet would have been a final favour to an old friend.

Maybe Paterno would have been able to clear his name, or better explain his actions, had he lived on. Cancer knows no favourites, and that was a difficult end. But the agony of Sandusky's victims lives on, an agony Paterno might have been able to mitigate if he'd truly been a man of principle and action, not just an iconic image.

• Despite his upset loss to Lleyton Hewitt, the signs are still good for Raonic. The same can't be said right now for Rebecca Marino, who early last year seemed to be on the same upwards trajectory as Raonic, particularly after a noteworthy performance against Venus Williams at the U.S. Open.

Going back to the Rogers Cup in Toronto last summer, Marino has been bounced in the first round of eight tournaments. Her ranking has fallen slightly to No. 65 in the world. So far, she's either been unable to add to her game and improve her movement and fitness, or opponents have simply figured out her big serve, big forehand game.

• The Islanders are smoking hot going into their game with the Leafs tonight, with John Tavares leading the way. Long Island is 8-4 in its last 12 games and Tavares has points in all of those games with eight goals and 12 assists.

A must win for Ron Wilson's club? Well, with 35 games left, they're probably looking at needing to come up with at least 40 of a possible 70 points. Might as well start the charge immediately.

• It's amazing to look at the NHL standings and despite all the noise about so many other clubs in the first half, to see Detroit sitting there first overall.

No, maybe it's not so amazing. The kind of do things right in Motown.

• There were some knowing glances on the weekend when Taylor Hall of the Oilers was caught on camera clearly unhappy with head coach Tom Renney's decision to pull goalie Devan Dubnyk for an extra attacker with three minutes left in a lopsided loss to Calgary on Saturday. 

“I was so frustrated by the whole sequence of events. I certainly wasn’t singling Tom out. I respect everything he does. It was embarrassing on my part. We’ve talked and we’ve moved on,” said Hall.

There's no sign that Renney, who is in the final year of his contract, is in trouble. But he better make sure the young talent loves him and all that he's doing. A worse reality for the veteran coach is that the Oilers have now lost 16 of their last 17 matches to the Flames in the now tepid Battle of Alberta.

• Jose Canseco has 397,629 followers on his Twitter account. But he really just wants one.

Canseco, now 47, still harbors dreams of returning to the majors, apparently, and wants to do it with his first team, the Oakland A's. Hard to say what's serious and what's not on Twitter, but through @JoseCanseco, Canseco is apparently lobbying A's general manager for a job. 

On Sunday, he tweeted, "Billy beane call me would love to dh for you just give me a tryout that's all I ask." Later he added, "Billy beane email me Jc7264@yahoo.com."

So that's the way it's done these days.

Lessons of the Game

Tough one for Milos Raonic. But a compelling final blast from Lleyton Hewitt.

Hewitt, always one of the sport's toughest competitors, may be in the twilight of his long, successful career. But he had enough guile and patience and fire left to bounce the 21-year-old Raonic from the Australian Open today with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 upset win.

Raonic, seeded No. 23, was favoured to win over the 30-year-old Hewitt, and came out guns-a-blazing in the first set in the first ever meeting between the two. But gradually, Hewitt figured out the Canadian, gradually exploiting his inexperience to wear him down before a raucous, partisan audience at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park.

The match undoubtedly turned in the third set tiebreak when Raonic lost his final three service points, including missing an easy put away at the net on set point.

"I was a bit lucky. He missed a high forehand volley he'd probably make 99 times out of a 100," said Hewitt.

Raonic's trademark big serve worked well for the most part and he hit 23 aces and some as fast as 228 kilometres per hour, but he made far too many unforced errors (54) and struggled with his movement. As the match wore on, Hewitt just moved the youngster around the court, giving Raonic just enough rope to hang himself. In particular, the Aussie kept serving wide to Raonic in the deuce court, and Raonic kept making the same error over and over.

The ESPN announcers began the match gushing over Raonic, comparing him to the legendary Pete Sampras, but ended up paying homage to Hewitt's veteran savvy and guts on court. The former world No. 1 is now No. 181 in the world, but he saved a special performance for his national tournament in what may be his farewell appearance.

It was great theatre, with Hewitt trying to draw the crowd into the match, and Raonic trying to maintain his composure after overwhelming Hewitt in the early going with his awesome power. In the end, he might have been a little overwhelmed by the moment, his first big stage exposure at a Grand Slam event.

It was a disappointing third round result for Raonic given that he made it to the fourth round Down Under last year, and because a victory would have meant a match with the best player on the planet, Serbia's Novak Djokovic.

Those unfamiliar with the sport might see it as a devastating loss, given that Raonic was the favourite. But really, it was the continuing process of Raonic refining his game in high pressure moments against the best in the world, an opportunity largely denied last season when he missed months after hip surgery.

Raonic actually had two break points in the final game in a last gasp bid to stay in the match, then saved one match point with a superb approach shot and volley winner , then saved another after that. But he couldn't put away another volley on Hewitt's third match point, and then missed a desperate attempt to get to a Hewitt lob to end the match. An emotional Hewitt collapsed on the court in utter joy.

"A good performance overall (from Raonic)," said commentator Patrick McEnroe, brother of John. "He's going to be a major factor in the men's game."

Raonic will soon head home to get ready for Canada's much-anticipated return to the world group of the Davis Cup next month in Vancouver against France. Canada qualified for the world group by beating Israel last September.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Dubious History

No team since the now defunct Quebec Nordiques have ever recorded this "achievement."

Three first overall picks in the NHL draft in a row. From 1989 on, the Nords drafted Mats Sundin at No. 1, then Owen Nolan the next year, then Eric Lindros. None of the three were actually there, but those three picks helped form the foundation of the Colorado Avalanche squad that won the Stanley Cup in 1996 after moving from Quebec City.

With the introduction of the NHL draft lottery, it seemed the Nords' achievement of three straight No. 1 picks was safe.

Well, maybe not.

The Edmonton Oilers took Taylor Hall first overall two years ago and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins last year, and lo and behold, after a painful 1-0 loss to hardnosed St. Louis on Thursday, the Oilers have sunk to 29th place, just seven points ahead of dreadful, 30th place Columbus.

Suddenly, that third straight first overall selection is in range.

This, of course, was not the way this season was to unfold in the Alberta. The futility of previous years was supposed to give way to, well, at the very least mediocrity, and hopefully a competitive season in which the Oilers would at least be fighting hard to stay in the hunt for a Western Conference playoff berth.

Terrible njuries and woeful team depth have short-circuted that dream, leaving the Oilers once again near the bottom of the entire league.

Dedicated Oilers fans might argue this is still the plan, that adding Nail Yakupov, Filip Forsberg or Mikhail Grigorenko to the mix along with Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle will ultimately result in a fearsome offensive juggernaut.

But when? Surely Edmonton hockey fans have suffered enough. At some point, the pain has to translate into meaningful gain, and that was supposed to be this year.

You have to wonder if Tom Renney is going to be able to be around when the promise turns into reality. Some would argue the same applies to GM Steve Tambellini, and if the Oilers end up with a top five pick, or even the No. 1 pick again, surely this is the year Tambellini needs to find a way to swing a deal, even if it means trading down, to end up with a promising defenceman. This draft is full of them, from Ryan Murray to Jacob Trouba to Matt Finn to Derrick Pouliot, and at some point the Oilers have to try to add a sense of positional balance to their prospect depth chart.

Again, maybe this will benefit the Oilers long term in a way we can only imagine right now. 

But this was not supposed to be that kind of season again. But it is.

 

The Next Step

Instead of the Rocket, it'll be Rusty.

The expectation that the next match at the 2012 Australian Open for Canada's Milos Raonic would be against U.S. star Andy Roddick was altered dramatically when Roddick was forced out of the tournament with a hip injury partway through his match with Australia's Lleyton Hewitt.

Instead of Roddick, Raonic will now face the 30-year-old Hewitt, a former Grand Slam champion so battered by injuries in recent years that he has fallen to No. 181 in world rankings and may be in his final season on the ATP tour.

Hewitt, however, will have a huge national following behind him for the match, a tricky obstacle in itself for a youngster like Raonic. Hewitt, once the No. 1 player in the world back in 2001, lost the first set to Roddick in what was expected to be a one-sided match in favour of the American but then caught a break when Roddick pulled up in the third game of the second set with an apparent hip/groin problem.

Roddick tried to reverse his momentum and spin to his right to play a ball, seemingly wrenching his hip and falling to the ground in a mishap very similar to Raonic's fall at Wimbledon last June that knocked him out of that tournament and eventually forced him to have hip surgery.

Hewitt won the next two sets before Roddick retired, unable to play on.

"I'm happy just to be out here," said Hewitt, who has had five surgeries in the last four years, including a serious hip procedure. "I came in here with nothing to lose, played with my heart on my sleeve again."

It was a devastating blow for Roddick, who won only one tournament last year - in Memphis over Raonic in the final - and came to Australia with high hopes of resurrecting his career after falling out of the top 10 for the first time in years. The good news is that he was able to play on after the fall; the bad news is that the hard-hitting former U.S. Open champion has, like Hewitt, faced increasing injury challenges in recent years.

Hewitt and Raonic, meanwhile, have never played. "He's a big hitter," said Hewitt. "He had a breakthrough tournament last year getting through to the fourth round. It's going to be a tough match." 

Nicknamed Rusty, Hewitt was once a jackrabbit on court, nearly impossible to get a ball past, but injuries have seen his quickness deteriorate, and even against Roddick he seemed to walk gingerly around the court. That said, he's an emotional, fiery player who has fed off the Aussie crowds in the past in Davis Cup competitions and could be a difficult opponent if he can turn the match against Raonic into a battle of wills.

For Raonic, the scenario is similar to that of Wimbledon last year when, had he been able to beat Gilles Muller, he would have faced Rafael Nadal, then No. 1 in the world. Now, if he can defeat Hewitt, he would then likely face Serbia's Novak Djokovic, currently the top-ranked male in tennis.

Raonic rumbled through a tough match with Germany's Phillip Petszchner and into the third round Down Under to set up the matchup with Hewitt.

It was a good win for Raonic, who finally captured a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 victory in just under three hours in Melbourne. Raonic fired 17 aces for the win, but in a more critical statistic, made slightly fewer unforced errors than Petzschner.

The fourth set turned into a pitched battle at 4-4 before Raonic won the final two games to take the match. Raonic had 17 aces in the match and has 30 in the tournament so far.

"It wasn't pretty today," Raonic told The Star. "I'm just happy I got through a tough opponent. I will step out on court tomorrow and practice a bit intensely on a few things, especially my serve. 

"But I'm happy I created a lot of opportunities for myself (against Petzschner)."

 

Winning and Not Winning

The objective is to win the hockey game.

Sometimes, that gets lost amidst the emotions and the agendas and the beliefs that no matter what, the game must be played a certain way under certain philosphies.

So there will be those who believe Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf's decision to fight Nick Foligno of the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday after Foligno illegally low-bridged Phaneuf earlier in the game was the right thing to do. The honorable thing to do. To many, such as my Sportsnet colleague Nick Kypreos, the thing you must do.

And you'll never convince those people otherwise.

Similarly, there will be those who believe that having your captain and best defenceman engage in a tough, fatiguing fistfight in the middle of a hardfought hockey game is a waste of that player's energies and abilities.

And you'll never convince those people otherwise.

In this case, Foligno's hit wasn't dirty; he's not that kind of player, and we know his dad sure wasn't. It was simply illegal, and he was sent to the penalty box for that hit early in the second period of the Leafs-Sens game.

About seven minutes later, with the Leafs winning the game 2-1, Phaneuf challenged Foligno to fight in a bid to avenge his honor, and Foligno obliged, winning a decision that ended with the Leaf captain's jersey pulled over his head.

Phaneuf picked up the extra minor, as he should have, and the Leafs killed off the penalty. Shortly after that, however, Jason Spezza tied the game on a goal that should have been waved off for goalie interference but wasn't, and then in the third Kyle Turris won the game with a short-side goal that James Reimer should have stopped.

To sum up, Phaneuf's decision might have been the right one for him. I wouldn't characterize it as selfish, per se, because it's a hockey credo he obviously believes in. His boss, Brian Burke, believes in "self-policing" and undoubtedly applauded the decision.

But it took Phaneuf out of the contest for seven minutes at a time when the Leafs were up by a goal, he didn't play noticeably well afterwards and the Leafs lost a game with potential playoff implications.

And the objective, folks, is to win the game. At least to some it is.

 

 

 

 

The Possibilities

The fact that the Maple Leafs would love to get bigger up front, well, that's nice and all. But try to find the players to fit that need.

We've talked lots about Ryan Getzlaf, but wanting that big centre and getting him out of Anaheim are two entirely different things.

So Brian Burke may have to set his sights a little lower looking six weeks ahead to the Feb. 27 trade deadline after making big deals to acquire Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf and Joffrey Lupul the last three seasons.

Not just a little lower. Also at a financial cost that may be less appealing.

Which brings us once more to Tampa Bay Lightning left winger Ryan Malone, once one of the more highly regarded power forwards in the game, now less of a force for the Bolts, who sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings right now.

The 6-foot-4 winger would, nonetheless, look good in the Leaf lineup. But he's 32 years old, has only nine goals in 38 games this season and carries a contract that comes with a salary cap hit of $4.5 million the next three years after this one.

The money-losing Lightning might well like to shed that deal, particularly with more than $20 million annually tied up in Vinny Lecavalier, Steve Stamkos and Marty St. Louis. But with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire after this season, is it the kind of contract a team like Toronto would like to add?

We've already seen some movement like that around the league. Last week, Calgary added winger Mike Cammalleri at a cost of a deal that will pay him $7 million in cash the next two years, more than the annual cap hit of $6 million. Montreal, meanwhile, added defenceman Tomas Kaberle earlier this season in a trade with Carolina, and Kaberle is owed $4.25 million per season for the next two years.

In that context, Malone's deal doesn't seem quite as onerous. Burke has largely resisted adding the bad deals of other teams, although he was forced to accept J.S. Giguere's contract in a deal with the Ducks and Lupul's $4.25 million deal, although that no longer seems as unattractive given the winger's production this season.

The Bolts surely need goaltending and depth, things the Leafs might have to supply. It's important not to get too caught up in the size issue after a loss to the Rangers on Saturday, but for three years Burke has lamented the absence of a big body up front that would give the club the crease presence it currently does not have.

Malone, aside from being a winger, not a centre, isn't Getzlaf. But even if the iikes of Bobby Ryan and Zach Parise start to move before the deadline, there's going to be a lot more players along the lines of Malone on the market. The Leafs have coveted the big winger for at least two seasons, but the Bolts have resisted moving him. In addition, Malone has a no-movement clause in his contract through the '12-13 season, although these things can be negotiable.

Given the state of the Lightning, Malone could become available. Even with the contract, he still may be a fit for the Leafs.

 

 

 

Out of the Starting Blocks Down Under

Back at a Grand Slam for the first time in more than six months, Milos Raonic looked right at home.

His opponent in his first round match at the 2012 Australian Open, 30-year-old Filippo Volandri of Italy, wasn't expected to cause Raonic a great deal of trouble. Nonetheless, Raonic was impressive in dispatching Volandri in three quick sets 6-4, 6-0 and 6-2.

For Raonic, dubbed the Maple Leaf Missile, it's his first major since falling and injuring his hip at Wimbledon last June. After mixed results following his return in September, he began the '12 season with a bang, defeating Janko Tipsarevic, ranked No. 9 in the world, to win the Chennai Open earlier this month.

It took the 21-year-old Raonic only one hour, 31 minutes to dispense with Volandri, and will now face Philipp Petzschner of Germany in the next round. Petzschner, 27, is ranked No. 63 in the world, and is 1-1 all-time against his Canadian opponent. Petzschner beat Raonic on grass in a warmup to Wimbledon last year, then later in the season Raonic avenged that result on a hard court in Stockholm.

Raonic had 13 aces and only four unforced errors in beating Volandri, while the Italian managed no winners in sweltering conditions and couldn't convert any of five break chances against Raonic. The Canadian has yet to be broken in any of 60 service games in 2012.

The day before on the opening day of the tournament, tennis commentator and former coach Brad Gilbert suggested that the hard-serving Raonic will soon become the first player to serve at greater than 160 miles per hour (257 kilometres per hour).