Tag: toronto maple leafs

Hockey Panic

I’ve written about this before, probably a few times, but I’m doing it again so there…

Is it like this in other regions of the world? I live near Boston, Massachusetts in the good ol’ U.S.of A. Folks in Boston take their professional sports teams seriously. Very seriously. Ridiculously seriously. We’re kinda nuts. It’s the same across all of the major sports. Red Sox fans are nuts about their baseball team. Patriots fans are nuts about their football team. Celtics fans are nuts about their basketball team. Bruins fans are nuts about their hockey team. Revolution fans… are there any Revolution fans? Is pro soccer even a thing?

When I say we’re nuts about our teams, I don’t mean that in a positive way. I mean that in a clinical, potentially dangerous, bordering on mental illness kind of way. We’re insane. Our entire well being is often tied directly to our favorite team. For example, a few days ago the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in game four of their first round, best of seven playoff series. For those of us who are out of control with the craziness kinds of Bruins fans, that win put us on top of the world. Nothing could ever go wrong. Life is good. Life is grand. Go Bruins, the sun shines upon us favorably, world without end, amen. Last night, however, the Bruins lost to the Maple Leafs in game five of the series. That resulted in a spiraling depression that can never be undone. Life is unbearable. Life is intolerable. Nothing will ever go right for us again. the world is ending and we should just put it out of its misery and get it overwith.

My question, again, is… are sports fans in other cities this freakin’ insane? Are fans in other parts of the world inclined to tie their mental health and sense of well being to their sports teams in such a way that the tiniest of victories result in unimaginable bliss and any loss results in crippling depression?

I ask because after last night’s Bruins overtime loss to the Maple Leafs, the depression is pretty crippling and life doesn’t seem terribly worth living. That could all change in an instant if the Bruins win game six tomorrow. If they lose again though… there will likely be a long parade of Bruins fans lining up on the Tobin Bridge, just preparing themselves for the possibility of a game seven loss which would lead to most of them hurling themselves off of the largest bridge in Massachusetts (the previously mentioned Tobin Bridge) to escape the pain and suffering caused by yet another Bruins choke.

Are all sports fans this insane, or is it just a greater Boston area flavor of insanity? Inquiring minds need to know. I’m guessing people all over the globe are nuts like this, but Bostonians are just a little more nuttier. We could be, at least.

Do I have to say it? Do I have to add a to this?

NHL Playoff Predictions

The first round of the NHL Playoffs start tomorrow. It’s time for my pointless, stupid predictions post. As is generally the case with pro sports these days, I have not been following the league as a whole that much, just my home town team. That means most of these predictions are very close to blind guesses on my part. Therefore I will also include a flip of a coin prediction and when it’s all over we’ll see if I was better at picking winners than randomness.

Are we ready?

As always, we will start with the Eastern Conference.

Panthers vs Lightning. The battle of Florida… in hockey… ugh. Nothing like cold weather spots in Florida. The Panthers had the better regular season, but I am optimistic that their luck is running out. I am going to pick Tampa Bay. It will probably go seven games, but the Lightning will come out on top. I promise this pick has nothing to do with the Panthers bouncing my Boston Bruins in the first round last year. Really. It has nothing to do with that. Now, which team does the coin pick? The rules are the higher seed (Florida in this case) is heads and the lower seed (Tampa Bay) is tails. It’s tails. The coin picks Tampa Bay.

Bruins vs Maple Leafs. I live in Boston. I root for Boston teams. There is no way I am picking against my Bruins. That’s a given. Beyond that, the Leafs have a killer offense, but it will not be a match for the Bruins defense and goalies. Sorry, Leafs fans. It’s going to be yet another in a long line of Boston wins over Toronto. Nothing personal, friends. The Bruins will just have your number again. The coin flip is heads so the coin picks the Bruins too.

The Rangers vs the Capitals. I hate both of these teams. I hate the Rangers more. That’s not why I am picking the Capitals this time though. The Capitals have been playing playoff intensity games for a while now. The Rangers breezed into the playoffs. The Capitals fought their way in. I think the momentum will carry the Caps through the first round. Probably not too far beyond that, but I’m looking for a serious upset here. The coin flip is tails so it also picked the Capitals. I see a pattern developing here.

Whalers vs Islanders. Okay, Robert. Stop calling the Carolina Hurricanes the Whalers. It’s not funny anymore. Then again… both of these teams were the parent club of the AHL team I used to have season tickets for. The Lowell Lock Monsters. Both teams pulled out on us and left my minor league team hanging. Due to that I can honestly say I friggin’ hate both of these teams. I want to pick the Islanders here, but they are from New York and I can’t pick a New York team without feeling gross about it. I’m considering it… but I think I am picking the Whale this time, even if it is painful to do so. The coin flip picks the Islanders though. Finally it picks the team I didn’t pick.

On to the Western Conference…

Stars vs Golden Knights. I don’t know. I really don’t. I want to pick Vegas but… no, I am going to pick Dallas. I could go either way with this one, but let’s officially pick The Stars. The coin flip picks Vegas.

Jets vs Avalanche. Again, I could go either way with this series. My gut is telling me to pick the Avs for the upset, but I don’t think I can bring myself to do it. I am going to pick The Jets and I will probably kick myself for doing so. The coin is tails again so it picks Colorado. That coin sure does love the underdogs, right?

Canucks vs Predators. Okay, I am going to pick an underdog this time. Nashville will take this one in an upset. As silly as it is to have an NHL team in Tennessee, I foresee a Vancouver choke coming. The coin flip agrees with me as it comes up tails for the fifth flip in a row.

Oilers vs Kings. Last but not least. I have always like The Kings. I haven’t always liked the Oilers as they beat my Bruins in the Cup Finals in both 1988 and 1990. Eventually something happened (I don’t know what) and I started to like them too. I am going to pick The Oilers this year. Sorry, Los Angeles. Edmonton is going to beat you. Nothing personal, it’s just business. Hockey business. The coin flip finally comes up heads so the coin picks Edmonton too.

There you have it, folks. My stupid, pointless, blind, uninformed predictions for the first round of the NHL Playoffs. It’s Stanley Cup tournament time. The best post season in all of professional sports. The games start tomorrow. The Bruins take on The Maple Leafs tomorrow at 8:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

Go Bruins!

When Did the NHL Lockout Truly End

Technically the NHL is still locked out.  The legal documents are still being drawn up.  The owners expect to ratify the deal tomorrow at the Board of Governors meeting.  The players will have an electronic vote over the interwebs to see if they approve of the new deal.  The talk now is of training camps opening on Sunday, and the season starting on January 19th.  It should be noted that the 19th is one day after Gary Bettman’s deadline to cancel the season.  Oh well.

So the lockout has not officially ended, but it effectively has ended.  But when we look back at this years from now, what will be the moment we look at as the moment the lock out ended?

It will be the moment when the Toronto Maple Leafs fired General Manager Brian Burke.

This is the dick move of all dick moves.  They waited through the off season after the Leafs failed to make the post season for something like the seventh straight season.  They waited through four months of lockout.  Then, suddenly, just a few days before training camp opened on the insultingly shortened season they gave him the axe.

There are rumors going around that he got canned over Roberto Luongo.  There was talk of a trade in the works and the speculation is that Burke did not want to pull the trigger, but Leafs ownership did.  I’m of two minds on Luongo.  First, as a Bruins fan, I love to see him lose.  He choked like a chump in the cup finals against the Bruins and it was glorious to see.  How dare you tell Tim Thomas how to play the puck!  Tim Thomas might be a right wing nut job, but he already had a Vezina in his closet and was a shoe in for a second.  Forget the fact that after your little bit of friendly advice he went on to win a Stanley Cup (at your expense) and a Conn Smythe (again, at your expense).  What a jack ass!

Of course I am also a lifelong fan of the Lowell Lock Monsters and Luongo was, for a brief time, one of us.  I tend to go easy on him for old times sake.

But given the way he has tended to lose his sanity during the playoffs, and how he still remains saddled with the can’t-win-the-big-game label (unfairly thanks partly to the first three rounds of his Cup run, but mostly due to that shiny gold medal he won in the Olympics), there is no way any serious GM would have pulled the trigger on any trade, unless The Iron Lung (that’s what we called him in Lowell… well, that’s what my brother, sister, sister’s ex, and I called him) were some sort of inexpensive throw in.  Nope.  Not going to take that deal, friends.  Luongo has to win a Stanley Cup before I would consider dealing for him.  Let the Canucks deal with him.

Regardless of the why or the how the Leafs fired Brian Burke, the fact is that suddenly those few of us who still follow the NHL are talking about something besides the lockout.  Today is the day that we actually start moving on.

I will be damned if I give this asshole of a league a dime this year, but I suddenly am not bitching about the labor dispute and the work stoppage.  I suddenly am wondering if Chris Bourque can make his dad’s old team.  I’m suddenly wondering if Tyler Seguin can score 50 goals in 48 games.

Go Bruins!