Season Preview part II

Now that the first game is over and I’ve had time to think things over, let’s go a little more in depth, and be a little more critical.

First order of business, hats off to the Leafs on the 2-0 win last night, I had to miss the second period due to a meeting, but I saw the Phaneuf goal, with an assist by Kessel. THAT WAS EXCITING!

Though Toronto did pull through quite well, they had some AWFUL play in the 1^st period, and gave the puck away in their own zone maybe, what, 5 or 6 times? How they got away with playing like that I haven’t the slightest idea. I wish guys like MacArthur, Connolly, Kadri, and of course Orr, were playing last night, the Leafs line-up seemed incomplete. Here’s hoping they’re stronger when they play the Senators tomorrow night…

Second of all, since I forgot to mention it yesterday, one thing I’m not looking forward to watching is this “new NHL.” I’m completely against what Shanahan is doing right now; he’s over-policing the league’s players and ruining a key component of the game. I support everything Don Cherry said last night in Coach’s Corner, especially the part about Scott Stevens. Hey Shanahan, how many games would Stevens get for the hit on Lindros in 2000? Or all his other big hits?

Hey Shanahan! How about this hit from the 2010 NHL Playoffs?

Turns out Sutton got suspended NO GAMES AT ALL! NOT EVEN ONE! You’re telling me Sutton could be gone for a month for THAT? Ridiculous, if players didn’t skate with their heads down, these “headshots” wouldn’t happen. The fact that there was NINE suspensions by Shanahan in the PRESEASON makes me really disappointed. MacArthur being one of them had me really worried the Leafs would be dead on offence.

Overall my focus this year is ultimately going to turn to how the game is played, and how physical it is. Just like Cherry said, if everybody’s gonna play like they did in the first period of Leafs & Habs last night, who’s gonna pay $175 for those tickets? Just wait for a nasty headshot/touch-icing to be the turning point, then hitting will be GONE. That’ll be a sad day...Believe me, I LOVE HITTING AND FIGHTS. Here's hoping Shanahan somehow loses his support for his job and has to give it back to Colin Campbell.

Leafs fans should be treated better than this

Playing pond hockey in 2008

Living in Michigan and being a die-hard Leafs fan is a hard thing to do. First of all, you have to actually care, and try to follow them as best as you can. The only Canadian TV channel I ever get to watch is CBC from Windsor, meaning those games are almost always the only ones I will ever get to watch. To keep up, I do watch every Game-In-Six on the Leaf’s website, basically a highlight reel of the game, goals, fights, etc. Though I may only get to watch about 15 live games during a season, I watch ALL the Game-in-sixes. If you don’t call that die-hard, I at least call it passionate.

Second of all, you’ve gotta have the balls to openly be a Maple Leafs fan, and take all the shit that goes along with it. Going to high school with a Leafs jersey on would sometimes even be an unpleasant experience, especially during playoff season. In my time at grade school, I only saw ONE OTHER PERSON ever wear a Maple Leafs jersey/sweater, back in 9^th grade. The one time we both wore ours the same day, and stood next to each other in the hall, was likely one of the coolest things I had ever done. Sadly that guy moved away about a year later, so I was now the lone Leafs fan.

A few days ago, I got a facebook message from a friend still in high school, she walked into her Law & Society class and there was a kid with a Leafs jersey on. When I read this I literally yelled at my computer, “WHAT??? Nawwwwwwww, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING…….THIS IS AWESOME!!!” I’m telling you, this kind of occurrence doesn’t happen much. Hats off to that kid, he probably got a lot of hate, just like I did. Even the Pittsburgh fans gave me hate! And they’re already in metro-Detroit of all things. Why are you telling me Canada sucks when over half your team is made up of Canadian players? (Or European, which doesn’t constitute American either)

Third, and the most obvious, you have to continue to be patient, as I have. The first season I caught onto hockey was right after the lockout, 2005-06. The Leafs had been making the playoffs consistently until the lockout, since then everything went downhill. After two 9^th place seasons, Toronto started to fall apart. Players started to leave, most importantly Sundin, leaving me quite disappointed in ’08 when he sat out half the season considering retirement, then simply joined the Canucks for millions. 2008-09 and 2009-10 were sad years for the Leafs, not even a team captain, the only club worse than ours was the Oilers. (And I felt bad for them too) We didn’t make the playoffs in 2011 either, so that’s six straight years. Many years of saying “we’ll make it next year” have never amounted to anything.

My teenage years of being a sports fan mainly consisted of my team letting me down, year after year after year. Though I have also been a fan of the Red Wings, the passion isn’t there like it is for Toronto. I get sick of bandwagon hockey fans, ones that simply yell at the TV and tell the players to “GO THE OTHER WAY” and get all pissed off at the goalie when he lets in one goal. That pretty much describes half the Red Wings fans I know, sadly. Who knew that when you have a classy hockey team like Detroit, who’s been in the playoffs every season since the early 90’s, you’d spoil all your fans in the process. Well, if anything, I can proudly say that I’m still proud of my team, even when they suck. I still watch every Game-in six, every game I can catch on CBC, even when they get curb-stomped by Boston or Buffalo or the Capitals, I’m still tuned in, because that’s all I get to watch.

Which brings me to my point. Yeah, lookin’ at you Leafs TV. If you check out a good amount of NHL team websites, you’ll find that many of them carry their preseason games online, live stream, for free. For Toronto, one of the biggest hockey cities in the world, Leafs TV thinks it can monopolize even PRESEASON GAMES for Christ sake, and make you subscribe to Leafs TV Interactive to watch them. Their “freeview” feature is only available to LeafsTV customers, so it’s actually not even free.

What a bunch of scumbags. I remember curling up in a blanket next to my desktop 2 years ago, eating a bowl of ice cream, watching the Leafs & Wings in a preseason game. They won it 5-4 in a shootout, had to be one of my favorite memories of the Leafs. What a shame that the Maple Leafs organization doesn’t give back to the fans. They’re the most valuable franchise in the NHL, at $505 Million, with an operating income of 82 million. Is there no room in the ACC for some love for the fans? Fans like me, who after following the team like mad, even when they’ve been mediocre the whole time, get shit on like this? A 2008 poll on all the teams of the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL finds Toronto ranked 121^st out of 122 in rewarding fans. And LeafsTV is now part of the problem. So fuck it, I guess I'll just go to Joe Louis Arena and see a Red Wings game for $30 a ticket, while Morbidly Obese Cats in Toronto continue to price the same type of ticket at over $200. Us fans can only do so much!

Nice new logos

So the moment we were all waiting for, if the name didn't make it more than perfect, the logo sure helped.

And here is the new logo for the new Winnipeg Jets. Of course you had to expect that some alteration was coming, but True North did a great job and didn't make the logo outlandish or anything like some modern hockey team logos, imagine if they did a Windsor Spitfires job with the plane logo! (I still think the old Spitfires logo looks way better than the new, cartoony one)
I like how this logo is almost "Canadian" in its own right, with respect to the Air Force, AND Canada in general by even throwing a maple leaf in there. Hats off to True North, I'm behind every move they've made so far.