Maple Leafs 1, Senators 2
Published March 10, 2009 @ 09:42 in Toronto Maple Leafs

Curtis Joseph reached quite the milestone last night. He's the sixth goalie in league history to allow 2,500 goals. Congratulations, Cujo!

In other news, Jason Spezza was caught cheating. Dude was using an illegal stick. The Sens have to cheat to win, spread the news.

Current Record	Last Games	Season Leaders
25-28-13 63 points 4th in Northeast Division	2-1 Loss vs. Ottawa 4-1 Loss vs. Edmonton 2-1 Win vs. Washington	J. Blake - 51 M. Stajan - 46 Ponikarovsky - 42

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Maple Leafs 1, Oilers 4
Published March 8, 2009 @ 11:06 in Toronto Maple Leafs

I was at this game, and I can tell you the Oiler fans were as loud, if not louder than the Leaf fans. It's only the second Oilers visit to the ACC since the lockout, and I think every transplanted Edmontonian in the city made it out last night.

The game itself wasn't particularly exciting from where I sat. I only caught the last two periods, and we seemed to lack a certain intensity. That, and skill. The Timbits game was far more exciting.

At least I witnessed Martin Gerber's home ice debut as a Maple Leaf. That's something else I can tell my grandkids about.

Current Record	Last Games	Season Leaders
25-27-13 63 points 4th in Northeast Division	4-1 Loss vs. Edmonton 2-1 Win vs. Washington 4-3 Win vs. Ottawa	J. Blake - 51 M. Stajan - 46 Ponikarovsky - 41

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Swansea Hockey Plays the ACC
Published March 8, 2009 @ 10:07 in Family, The Best of Toronto Mike, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last night was one of those once in a lifetime experiences you never forget. It's a story I'll be telling for some time. Last night, I was a very proud papa watching my son play on ACC ice in front of 18,000 spectators.

I'm going to document everything here, because that's what I do. When I'm an old man I suspect I'll get a kick out of revisiting these archives, so this entry is for Old Toronto Mike.

We boarded the Tim Hortons bus at Rennie Park at about 5:30pm. It was rainy, but warm. James' stick and hockey bag was placed under the bus and he found a seat next to his buddy Cam where they could watch the on-bus movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks.

From Rennie Park to the ACC isn't a particularly long journey, so they didn't get through much of the flick. We drove into the ACC via a ramp on the south side of the building. We parked next to the bus that brought the Oilers to the game. We waited in this area while security checked every bag and then we waited a little more for our reps from Tim Hortons. The Tim Hortons people would take us the rest of the way.

We were taken to our dressing room via the back of the ACC, where we saw all the extra seats used for the Raptors basketball configuration, as well as several basketball nets and hockey nets. I'm not sure, but I think I also saw Oliver Miller stored away back there.

Our dressing room was next to the Raptors' room, and down a hall from the ACC ice. They put the game on television and asked that the kids be in full uniform with 8-minutes left in the first period. We were divided into a blue team and a white team and the kids got new Timbits uniforms. James got #10.

With 8-minutes left in the period, and the game tied at zero, the players lined up, goalies first and then toggling between blue and white. While waiting to take the ice, Carlton the Bear showed up, as he would drop the puck. Then, I heard our team announced by Andy Frost and the game began.

The game itself is a blur to me. It happens very quickly, and you're trying to pick out your #10 from the glass. Others took video, so I'll be able to see it soon. I can tell you that the game ended in a 1-1 tie, the crowd went nuts for the entire 4-minutes, James thinks he touched the puck, but isn't sure, and the intensity I witnessed far surpassed what I'd see the remainder of the Leafs game.

It was a job well done, and the reward was another box of Timbits, another bottled water and a couple of tickets for us to watch the last two periods of the Leafs game. Oh yeah, and a Carlton the Bear puck and temporary tattoos.

After the Leafs loss, we made our way back to our old dressing room and returned to the bus. There, well past their bedtimes, our Timbits (the players, not the donuts) watched more of Alvin and the Chipmunks before reaching our destination, Rennie Park.

I hope the 18 kids who got to participate in this amazing experience never forget the night they played at the ACC. I know I never will. I've got a bunch of pictures in this Flickr photoset in case my memory starts to fade.

Here's video evidence of Team Blue's goal I captured with my good 'ol digicam.

Update: Another Timbit dad put together a video recap of the evening. At the 3:18 mark, you can see me high five James. Check this out:

And Gail captured some awesome raw footage from her centre ice seat. Check out her handywork:

Update: Here's the official ACC video that was shown on the scoreboard.

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Maple Leafs 2, Capitals 1
Published March 6, 2009 @ 10:44 in Toronto Maple Leafs

I admit it. I'm wrong about a couple of things.

Firstly, this is not the worst Leafs team in the history of the franchise. The Maple Leafs are 5-0-3 in their last eight, which won't get them into the playoffs, but will likely take them out of the John Tavares lottery.

Secondly, Martin Gerber was great yesterday. I didn't see that coming.

Current Record	Last Games	Season Leaders
25-26-13 63 points 4th in Northeast Division	2-1 Win vs. Washington 4-3 Win vs. Ottawa 5-4 Win vs. New York	J. Blake - 51 M. Stajan - 45 Ponikarovsky - 40

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Martin Gerber's New Crest
Published March 5, 2009 @ 17:56 in Toronto Maple Leafs

It's all making sense now. I was baffled when the Toronto Maple Leafs picked up Martin Gerber, but I see now there's a method of Brian Burke's madness.

Take a look at the custom crest they have Martin Gerber wearing here in Toronto.

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Olaf Kolzig, Jamie Heward and Andy Rogers are Maple Leafs
Published March 4, 2009 @ 16:47 in Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Marlies

Stop the presses, we're not quite done yet.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired G Olaf Kolzig, D Jamie Heward, D Andy Rogers and a fourth-round pick from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for prospect D Richard Petiot.

Where do I start... firstly, I've seen a bunch of Marlies games up close this year, and I know Richard Petiot. I like him, but I actually thought Staffan Kronwall was better, and we let Kronwall go for nothing.

As for the players coming to Toronto, Olaf Kolzig is the biggest name, but he's pushing 40. And didn't we just pick up Martin Gerber? And did we need more back-up goaltenders? We've already got Cujo and Pogge. We now have four back-ups and zero starters.

Jamie Heward is a former Leaf who recently played in Russia. Andy Rogers is a youngster who will likely suit up for the Marlies in place of Petiot. That gives us two Marlies named Rogers (Kyle Rogers is the other) making me wonder if Marlies sponsor Rogers is behind this wacky trade.

Will someone in front of a television explain this one for me? Please...

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Is That It? Are We Done?
Published March 4, 2009 @ 16:24 in Toronto Maple Leafs

During his first trade deadline day as Leafs GM, Brian Burke made two trades. That's it. And he traded the two guys we all knew were being moved. And both Nik Antropov and Moore scored us a combined two second round draft picks and one conditional pick. That's it.

Oh yeah, he also picked up Gerber and Reitz off waivers. Yes, that Gerber and no, I hadn't heard of Reitz either. Gerber and Reitz. That's it.

I can't believe I had all hands on deck for the entire day so we could pick up Gerber, Reitz and a few draft picks.

That's it. We're done.

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Dominic Moore Traded to Buffalo for Draft Pick
Published March 4, 2009 @ 15:10 in Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs have dealt centre Dominic Moore to the Buffalo Sabres for a second round draft pick.

Dominic Moore was a pleasant surprise for the blue and white, claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Wild just over a year ago. He's got 12 goals and 29 assists in 63 games so far this season.

Maybe we'll sign him in the summer as an unrestricted free agent...

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Nik Antropov Traded to Rangers for Draft Picks
Published March 4, 2009 @ 15:03 in Toronto Maple Leafs

Nik "Bane of my Existance" Antropov has been traded to the New York Rangers for a 2nd round pick and a conditional pick.

Admittedly, Antropov had a pretty decent season last year, but he's still my appointed whipping boy in the absence of Aki Berg. The native of Kazakhstan played his entire nine-year career with the Leafs after being selected 10th overall by the club in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.

Back in 2006, I wrote this love letter to Nik Antropov.

Watching the first two periods of tonight's hockey game between the Leafs and Red Wings I kept having the same recurring thought. Why is Nik Antropov still on this team?

He's done absolutely nothing this preseason to justify his existence. He's been invisible again tonight, getting less than seven minutes of ice time without recording a single shot on net. In my opinion, he's hogging a roster spot that would be better in the hands of Johnny Pohl. He doesn't even appear interested in playing and I've seen enough.

Antropov is the new Jonas Hoglund, only worse. With Aki Berg gone, he's also my new whipping boy.

Farewell, Nik. Don't let the ACC door hit you in the ass on the way out!

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The Day Martin Gerber Broke My Heart
Published March 4, 2009 @ 14:27 in Hockey Canada, Toronto Maple Leafs

In a baffling move, Brian Burke picked up Martin Gerber earlier today. I'll never forget the name Martin Gerber. On February 18, 2006, he sent me to Swiss Chalet.

I don't know what to say...

In 1924, we beat the Swiss 33-0 in the Olympics. This, my friends, is a long way from 1924. Today, we hit a hot goaltender Martin Gerber who stood on his head and made 49 saves on 49 shots from Team Canada. What should have been a fairly easy win became a most difficult game to watch as our guys failed to deliver and one of our former guys, Paul DiPietro, potted two for the wrong team. As tough as this was to digest, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn't an elimination game. We've had our taste of defeat, let's hope we heed this dire warning and take out our frustrations on Finland tomorrow afternoon.

Where did I go in disgust after watching our boys get humiliated by the Swiss? Swiss Chalet, naturally. The only way to eliminate a bad Swiss taste in your mouth is to supplant it with a good one.

Martin F**king Gerber.

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