Comments for Battle of Ontario....
A 1 or 2 goal performance for Toskala would greatly improve these stats as well:
GAA 3.34 | SV% .900
You're counting on your goaltender to provide more scoring now?
Geez, Muppet.. think defense! It all starts there!
good luck
Toskala with the hat trick!
Well, maybe a Gordie Howe hat trick.
Okay, some saves and a win.
SHit. 2-1 Caps. Leafs look disorganized in their own end again. Jesus.
And the Lord said" Leafs Sucketh!"
They seem to have it together now. Although Kaberle might want to not be so rough with Brashear. He doesn't seem to like it.
I hate Ovenchkin.
SCHULTZ!!!!!!
oh dear. 4-1.
Raycroft is putting on the mask.
Cue the 25 Sens fans invading BoO now that the Leafs are losing and they have something to cheer about.
24,I'm already cheering the DOA @ the ACC
Make that the ACCident.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....and it isnt even Halloween yet.
So much for those improved stats for Toskala. 
I'm jealous that the Leafs play so many games while I get to watch 2 Sens games in what seems like a zillion days.
Its as if the leafs are re-enacting Ned Beatty's character in Deliverance. 
Fuck you NHL schedule maker....
Are the Leafs sure the ACC isn't built on cursed ground or something?
Just wondering and all :P
Holy Crap. 6-1.
Fuckin' hell. This one is done. They look like they want to hide.
I'll call this one 4-1 Toronto.
Tee Hee!
This one is done.
When the leafs go into the 3rd with lead like this, the game has just started..... 
Toskalime 13 shots 9 saves
Rayovac 6 shots 4 saves
What a tandem!
Kolzig with a goal ! ...this is getting ugly.
Maybe the leafs can tie it up in the shootout!
7 goals on 23 shots. One shudders to think how bad it would be if The Expensive Version Of Joe Corvo was in the lineup.....
JFJ has just requested an emergency meeting with the Dali Lama.
I guess having the next 4 games on the road can only help.
Time to move the ACC to Hamilton, or some other city where the Laffs can actually win!
I always sort of thought it was knee-jerk to blame the coach, and like Maurice even if I hate the Leafs, but they're so inconsistent I'm starting to wonder if anyone in the room is listening to him.
How were the goals? I.e., was it just bad goaltending?
Bad giveaways, bad defensive coverage and some unfortunate bounces off their own players... judging by the highlights.
Bad giveaways, bad defensive coverage and some unfortunate bounces off their own players... judging by the highlights.
That's a good summary.
Toskala certainly wasn't looking "on", but from the get-go the Capitals had the Leafs running around in their own end. Joe Bowen said it best about 4 minutes in: "they (Leafs) look like they have zero patience with the puck".
It was atrocious to watch.
The good news is that The Muppets are in sole possession of 4th place in the BoOB pool.
I'm still looking to trade one of my centerman as I'm using up those allocated games rather quickly, so stop by and have a look. I'd like D or a G in return, but left wingers might be good too.
I didn't get to see the game, but media reports I read/heard indicated there was much booing by the fans in attendance.
Just wondering, was that before or after the first goal against?
If Toronto played all 82 games on the road, would they finish first in the conference?
As a Sens fan, I must say I'm very thankful for Leaf fans.
The Leafs have lost by 5 or more goals 11 times since the lockout and are 9-1-1 in the next game so at least we have that going for us.
Last night was an absolute clusterfuck and the booing was so appropriate and probably nowhere near the level deserved by the play of the team.
Bunch of self-satisfied lazy pricks.
GO LEAFS GO!!
The booing started happening when it was 3-1 and the Leafs tried three times to clear the puck out of their end but it kept landing on Capital sticks and resulted in a goal.
The team deserved the cat calls.
Anybody who pays $85 to $275 to sit through that has every right in the world to be boo.
I don't know what it is about the ACC that freaks this team out, but four road games couldn't come at a better time. Damien Cox has a different take on the Leafs thus far:
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/NH.../article/
271765
Base on the replays, Toronto looked bad. Some encouragin things (for TO fans):
-Maurice pulled Vesa. Raycroft's 3? isn't bad in that spot.
-He needed too. Both to protect Vesa (and maybe JFJ) and because he was giving up soft goals.
- The Leafs are trying to play better in their own end. They really are. But it's so new to them there's holes galore and nobody's sure what to do in situations they haven't practiced. That's why it looks like pond hockey.
Anybody who pays $85 to $275 to sit through that has every right in the world to be boo.
If that's what turns their crank, they're sure getting their money's worth.
No wonder MLSE doesn't need to change anything. In what other business can you essentially screw your customers with poor management and poor product and still rake in money hand over fist?
I guess the answer is in any monolopy where there is insatiable demand and no competition. Shouldn't Leaf fans be pushing for another NHL team in the GTO simply to spur the Leaf ownership into action?
HEre's a two step plan to fix the Leafs. It takes money, but MLSE has that in abundance.
Step 1) Buy the Nashville Predators
Step 2) Trade the entire roster for their entire roster.
Be sure to include the GM and Coaching staff as part of the deal. Don't even let them be in the same room as the current guys for any length of time.
No wonder MLSE doesn't need to change anything. In what other business can you essentially screw your customers with poor management and poor product and still rake in money hand over fist?
This is a sport to the fans and not a business. Emotions go far beyond dollars and cents and the team has been a passion in this city for almost 100 years. Good times come and go. Fans stick with the team through thick and thin.
That's how.
Not to mention that even if the regular fans stayed away then the corporate seats that are infinitely more expensive would still cover the costs. Not to mention that staying away doesn't improve franchises.
If it was a crappy restaurant then people would stay away but then again no one gets a restaurant's logo tatooed on their entire back.
Just me? oops.
Assumptions, assumptions
http://www.cnn.com/FOOD/news/9904/17/
food.tatoo.update/
Gee - I don't know if I'd classify the Caps goals as soft.
The first is a deflection by a player all by himself in front of the net.
The second was a weird rebound off of the boards.
The third went off a defencemen's leg.
The fourth featured Antro trying to play goalie in the slot and screening Vesa completely.
But you are right in saying that the team looked like a pond hockey team last night. They must have thought that it was going to be an easy win. Dummies.
Yeah ok. But cmon - 4 goals in 14? minutes and less than 15 shots I think. You've got to give your team a chance, especially in that game.
I stand corrected! What a deal! I wonder if Quizno's would run that promotion.
We've got'em right where we want'em must be the mindset in that leaf locker room right now. The league has a false sense of security about playing in the gardens, we're just waiting for the ideal moment to strike. Go leafs!
False?
Eventually it will be false. Right now it must be very real.
Just like the Leafs won their last 9 home games last year. This year of course the plan is to start it a little sooner.
I noticed a couple of news outlets calling the Leafs "enigmatic" today. The only other hockey related item connected to that word is any story about Sergei Samsonov, and it's usually used to say "isn't supposed to suck this much."
Conrad - I think that that is the actual definition in the dictionary.
Other accepted definitions are:
- More frustrating than a half-finished BJ.
- Causing pleasure and pain in equal measure erratically
- #@_%(*&#)%&@*%)@$%*
Not to mention that even if the regular fans stayed away
I'm not advocating that, as I understand sports are a passion that defies logic.
But imagine a team in Hamilton. One that starts to put a solid product on the ice, and shows signs of success. As soon as that happens, some of that corporate money starts to move. The team, with careful marketing and lots of local player appearances, starts to connect with the hockey fans of the GTA. Pretty soon, the money starts shifting from MLSE to this new upstart.
MLSE, to preserve the value of their asset, and ensure consistent returns, is now forced to ice a competitive and higher quality product.
Both teams sell out, and both teams are kept honest by the potential for dollars to shift to the other if the on-ice product falters.
Isn't that an ideal outcome for Leaf fans in particular, and hockey fans in general? Doesn't it respect one of the biggest pro-hockey markets in the world?
At least they won at MSG when I was there.
MLSE, to preserve the value of their asset, and ensure consistent returns, is now forced to ice a competitive and higher quality product.
This supposes that MLSE aren't paying out. The Leafs are near the cap, are they not? And before the cap, they spent way more than other teams, right? They're paying a lot for McCabe, Kubina, Sundin, Tucker, Kaberle, Toskala, Blake...the issue isn't that they don't want to win games to save money, the issue is that they spend their money stupidly when what they need is a youth movement. Trade off those expensive assets to teams who are competitive now and re-stock the draft picks / prospects chest.
Anshu - That is very much the ideal situation but that article in The Star tried to make it seem as if it was something that Leafs fans could make happen.
Apparently JFJ is trying to do just that so we'll see how successful he is in accomplishing that process.
MLSE, to preserve the value of their asset, and ensure consistent returns, is now forced to ice a competitive and higher quality product.
This is so frustrating hearing this over and over from outsiders of the team.
I don't understand how an ownership group who has missed the playoffs twice since 1999 are suddenly not committed to winning? What about trading away the farm for guys like Brian Leetch or Owen Nolan at trade deadline trying to win (buy)a cup? What about spending $20M more than everyone else on salaries for the last 15 years? Would an ownership that isn't committed to winning actually spend $3M to install a new humidifyer at the ACC when by NHL standards it was fine? Would MLSE spend to the cap? Would they have the highest paid scouts and minor league brass in all of the NHL?
Toronto came out of the old CBA limping because we dropped $20M in salary and had aging players on the team. JFJ seems to be trying to turn the team into a new CBA-friendly outfit without going into a 10 year rebuilding project. His plan was to turn it around in 3 to 4 years. The jury is out to whether he's doing a good job or not, but it has nothing to do with MLSE as far as I'm concerned.
Should Toronto have bought out everybody on the team? Should they have traded Sundin 3 years ago, and should he have re-signed Brian McCabe? That's all questions everyone asks, but it still has nothing to do with MLSE fleecing the people.
Toronto came out of the old CBA limping because we dropped $20M in salary and had aging players on the tea [...]
Wait a second, this seems pretty revisionist to me -- limping? Weren't most of the big Toronto contracts only counted against TO in relatively small amounts? Did you actually drop $20mill?
JFJ has continued to try and spend to win, doing stuff that might have made the Leafs competitive without a CBA. The fact that he simply didn't understand what it meant to his team is far more troubling than the fact that he lacks the creativity to be effective. He's playing catchup now.
suddenly not committed to winnin?
MLSE announced in June that JFJ needed help and they wanted a senior GM to hold his hand. Two weeks later they gave up the search with the same guy who needs help still at the helm. This translates to a commitment to winning to you? It feels more like indifference to me...
Weren't most of the big Toronto contracts only counted against TO in relatively small amounts? Did you actually drop $20mill?
We were a team built on a $67M budget and suddenly we could spend $39M. Take away the 24% salary cut and it's somewhere below $20M.
Toronto did not actually have to saw off that money, but as a winning team they were operating at that cost in 2002-2003, a team with no young stars and all older vets. Neiwendyk, Roberts and Mogilny all gone the next year. Nolan, bought out. Marchmant, not resigned.
That's a huge core of scoring and leadership, all gone and no room to replace those positions and no young players either.
It was the team's fault. They should have prepared sooner. Or bought out the whole team? Hard to say. Starting from scratch and sucking shit for a decade is pretty abysmal. JFJ's plan has been a quicker turnaround removing only some parts and trying to build minor league equity in other faster and smarter ways. Moving the Marlies here. Getting better coaching down there. Drafting under better scouts. Etc. Is it working? Again, we'll see by the end of this year. JFJ might not be here to see his project bear fruit if it has any to bear...
Its an interesting point that MLSE has not been afraid to spend money, and that in itself is an indication they want to win.
In that light, increased competition wouldn't help, as the real issue is that despite their best efforts, they're not winning. More competition won't change those "best efforts".
Maybe the only option really is to boo your team at home, because you won't get satisfaction as a fan any other way.
Increased competition will definitely make the franchise better. It won't change the amount that it spends on players' salaries because they already maximize that but it would help solve the problem of them not having the most ridiculously extensive and experienced scouting department as well as the best in everything else.
The problem is that the people with the purse strings are dumb.
Regular fans not going won't help because the suits will remain and they are the valuable customers for MLSE.
Kill me now.
Well people don't grow up from suits. And with real competition in Ontario now, Toronto's apathy to it's fans may well squander one of the best brands around. In fact, with a 10 to 15 year lag time, they may already have.
The bandwagon fan that moved to the sens in the past few years (more than a few jackass acquaintances)will come back when if the Leafs make the playoffs/any noise in those playoffs.
The Leafs brand won't suffer anymore than Nike's does when some sweatshop is exposed. At least the Leafs aren't actually evil.
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