At ACC Tonight to Live Blog Leafs Game from Press Row
Published December 14, 2009 @ 13:38 in Toronto Maple Leafs

If you're a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, or if you're just naturally curious about what it would be like to watch an NHL game from the press box, you'll want to check back here tonight around 7pm. I'll be live blogging the game from the press box, giving you a little insight as to how they set up members of the media and what kind of access we get.

I'll start a new entry as soon as I'm connected to the ACC wifi and then I'll just update that one entry throughout the game, so click on over and press F5 every few minutes.

This should be fun.

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Maple Leafs 6, Capitals 3
Published December 13, 2009 @ 08:26 in Toronto Maple Leafs

Ovechkin got his three points early, and then disappeared. That's when the Kessel and Stajan show began as we doubled the league's top team.

Now on to the important stuff. I heard former Leafs captain Darryl Sittler watched the game from press row. That's exactly where I'll be tomorrow night to take in the Leafs ~ Sens game at the ACC.

I've been told by MLSE that it's business casual, so I've got to leave my #5 Bill Barilko jersey at home. I've also been told I have wifi, so I'm bringing my laptop. That means I should be able to live blog the game from the press box, which will be pretty cool.

I promise to let you know exactly what it's like to cover this team with a press pass, and if any former Leafs captains are on press row, I promise a picture or two.

So dial up this blog during Monday night's game and press F5 every few minutes for real-time updates. Cool, eh?

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Hero of the Day Ringtone - Must Have for Leafs Fans
Published December 12, 2009 @ 18:51 in Toronto Maple Leafs

My current ringtone is a homemade cut of Metallica's "Hero of the Day". It's a sweet 15 seconds that reminds me of the Wendel Clark All Heart montage on YouTube.

My kids love All Heart and I sincerely believe it should be mandatory viewing for all primary school students in Canada. My Twitter crush Down Goes Brown once wrote the definitive guide to the Wendel Clark "All Heart" video, and I highly recommend it.

If you want to enjoy that feeling All Heart gives you every time you receive a phone call, here's the ringtone I created for myself. Save it down to your PC and throw it on your mobile phone. Merry Christmas.

Hero of the Day Ringtone

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Maple Leafs 2, Bruins 5
Published December 11, 2009 @ 09:11 in Toronto Maple Leafs

Don't look at the score. It's not too late, is it? It's just that the score in this game is misleading. 5-2 implies an overwhelming win by the home team, but we were down 3-2 in the third and pressing hard to tie this one up.

Here's a sobering fact. The Leafs have only one win in nine games against Northeast division rivals. It's good to soak in a sobering factoid like that when we start to fantasize about playoff races and such.

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Maple Leafs 3, Islanders 2
Published December 10, 2009 @ 09:25 in Toronto Maple Leafs

Warning! The Leafs are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. This is not a drill. The Leafs are creeping into the Eastern conference playoff picture.

Now let's get serious about what matters. The Wayne Primeau - Nikolai Kulemin - Lee Stempniak line needs a name. I'm open to suggestions...

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Maple Leafs 5, Thrashers 2
Published December 8, 2009 @ 09:02 in Toronto Maple Leafs

I love playing the Atlanta Thrashers. We're 11-4-1-2 at home against the Thrashers the past decade and Tosky is 6-0-2-1 against them in his career.

We dug ourselves a pretty deep hole. Despite going 6-2-1 in our past nine games, the Leafs are still stuck in 29th, ahead of only Carolina.

Still, hope springs eternal. We're only 5 points out of a playoff spot.

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Maple Leafs 2, Bruins 7
Published December 6, 2009 @ 08:33 in Toronto Maple Leafs

Sometimes, things work out for the best. I really wanted to watch last night's Leaf game, when Phil Kessel returned to Boston, but I was trapped at an office Christmas party without a television in sight.

As it turned out, I was saved from witnessing a dog of a game in which we were pummelled by the Bruins 7-2. I'm convinced Tuukka Rask will haunt us for all of eternity, so of course he got the win.

Ron Wilson said it best. We stunk and we'll move on.

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Toronto Mike in Press Row for Leafs vs. Sens
Published December 4, 2009 @ 17:57 in Press Recognition, Toronto Maple Leafs

For the past couple of years, I've had media passes for Toronto Marlies games. This gets me in the door, gives me access to the press box and all the goodies in there, and let's me sit in whatever seat is empty. As much as I enjoy Marlies games, I've always dreamt of parlaying my AHL media credentials into a similar deal with the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, a team I've loved for as long as I can remember. It looks like I'm getting my wish...

I've been called up to the big leagues! On Monday, December 14th, with the hateful Ottawa Senators in town, I'll be watching the game from Press Row at the ACC. That's right, Toronto Mike will be in the press box, tweeting and blogging all the action.

A big thanks to MLSE for setting this up. I was actually offered a spot in the press box this coming Monday, but my son's got a big game of his own and I couldn't let him down. The game against the Sens should be better, anyway.

Now this should be cool.

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Maple Leafs 6, Blue Jackets 3
Published December 4, 2009 @ 08:26 in Toronto Maple Leafs

At least we have Phil Kessel. He scored another two goals last night and even won a fight as the Leafs won easily in Columbus.

Kessel has four goals in four games and 10 in the past 13. No Boston Bruin has 10 goals this season. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

And lest we forget, it was another great outing by Joey Mac, who deserves the start on Saturday. And Jason Blake, a man who hadn't scored in his previous 12 games, managed to double his season total from two to four in just one game. Kessel would have needed 8 to do that, and he missed the first 13 games.

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Brian Burke Gives Up On Jiri Tlusty
Published December 3, 2009 @ 19:37 in Toronto Maple Leafs

Stop me if you've heard this story before. The Maple Leafs have traded a player who was once the most promising prospect in the organization. Yes Leaf fans, it's happened again.

In October 2007, I wrote this about Jiri Tlusty.

Jiri Tlusty, the only teenager in the Maple Leafs farm system, will make his NHL debut tonight against the Penguins. He was selected in the first round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and, other than Justin Pogge, is the only half-decent prospect we have.

In the end, Tlusty appeared in 74 career NHL games for Toronto over the past three seasons. I know him best as a pretty solid member of the Toronto Marlies. You know him best as the guy who emailed pictures of his wang to someone who posted the pics on the web.

And for a brief period of time in 2007, you all thought I had that picture on this site.

Brian Burke has traded Jiri Tlusty to the Carolina Hurricanes for prospect Philippe Paradis. I'm sure he'll tear up the NHL and become a star.

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