I'll admit it. By the time the Sens had won 8 or 9 straight, the Leafs were doing pretty bad, and I was pretty concerned about the three February 6th tickets my girlfriend's sister gave me this past Christmas. It probably wasn't to late to get something for them off craigslist. Pretty much anything in return would be better than spending a night with the two of them, the gf and sis, (more leafs antagonists than actual hockey fans) rubbing a thrashing in my face all night, and presumably all year. 

Buuut then I remembered the game was against the godless Senators of Ottawa, and if there's a team that's more heartless and gutless than the Sens, it wouldn't surprise me very much, because they can't ever seem to be the best at anything.  

So many thanks Claire, for what was truly a great Christmas present. Here are my top 5 reasons I'm glad I didn't trade those tickets for a used blender. 

5. Getting to see Schenn unleash what is becoming a beast of a shot - and pot two. I hope there's more where that came from. 

4. Hearing the crowd chanting "Jiggy" for the last minute of the game en route to Giguere's second of two perfect games as a Leaf.

3. Seeing Carkner wobbling off the ice with teammates insistent that he receive medical attention in the dressing room, and the subsequent roar of the crowd matching the loudness of the fight itself. 

2. With the game in hand, seeing the wave make around 30-40 laps around the ACC, then culminate into a loud, vigourous "Go Leafs Go (Leafs)" chant, and capped off with a deafening cheer as the centre ice monitor shows a "we be-leaf" sign. I've never heard such a loud arena. 

1. Getting to hear 20000 people stand silently at attention for Brendan Burke. I've never heard such a quiet arena. 

This is something of a follow up to a post McCabe the Martyr made late after the Thrashers game. Here it is:

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Leafs too far back in the standings

Just out of curiousity, I took the current standings, and figured out what they would look like if the teams in the East maintained their pace from the last 10 games for the next 10. Obviously that’s not possible because a)the teams aren’t that consistant, and b)number of interconference games vary.
Still, thought it would be interesting:

Washington 60
New Jersey 54
Boston 50
Pittsburgh 54
Atlanta 45
Buffalo 43
Ottawa 43
Montreal 42
Toronto 39
NYI 38
Tampa 37
NYR 37
Florida 36
Philadelphia 31
Carolina 28

Sexy.

by McCabe the Martyr on Dec 8, 2009 1:30 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

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Sexy indeed.

Last night's victory over the Isles put the Leafs in some pretty good company. In the last 10 games the Leafs have managed 15pts. Along with Boston and New Jersey, that's tops in the conference.

I decided to recalculate tonight, you know, before we finish out the year against Boston twice, Washington, Buffalo twice, and Pittsburgh, and much to my pleasure, found this...

via lh3.ggpht.com

At the current pace, the Leafs would be in a playoff spot in ten games, with the Snes on the outside looking in. Things, for now, are looking up. 

Chemmy note: Robot Godzilla took some great pics at the Leafs - Pens game last night. He got some great shots of Kadri and of Gustavsson sitting in the stands. It's a shame the Leafs got whomped on at the one game everyone went to, but hockey's hockey and I'm sure it was a good time.

I made it down to Kitchener for the third game of the Rookie Tournament. These are some of the better pictures that I got..  If you really can't get enough, there's another 200 or so here. Enjoy. 

Continue reading this post »

 Today's infographic is a little bit more serious than yesterday's Public Service Announcement, but it makes me feel just as warm and fuzzy. The first is a rundown of each team's 09/10 salary cap hit as spent on each position. Is it a perfect representation of a team's direction? Of course not. There will always be mitigating factors like your discount players on Detroit, or players that play below their pay-grade, some of whom may or may not play for Ottawa this Fall, or other players that are putting up decent numbers on rookie contracts, but overall I think these numbers tell an interesting tale of teams that invest in defence, and teams that don't. 

Click images to enlarge. Or just squint, whatever. 

via i30.tinypic.com

Salary is measured by 09/10 cap hit, with numbers provided by nhlnumbers.com. I didn't include buyouts. (Screw you, Tucker.)

A closer look at the EAST.

via i29.tinypic.com