Leafs 3 – 0 Habs

That game was as ugly as an Ed Hardy shirt.

(By the way, as a French, I want to apologize for Christian Audigier. We’re sorry for what he did to fashion in particular and good taste in general. But we’re thankful he left France long ago)

• Carey Price is being ridden like a discount whore right now. He gets his 1,583rd stard in a row this season
• is there any expression surrounding the Habs more tired than ’storied franchise’? Lots of stories…I get it.
• Scott Gomez returns to the lineup tonight
• Jay Leach was sent to San Jose today in a trade. And who says Gainey lets his stars leave for nothing?
• the Canadiens are officially the property of the Molsons tonight, so be on guard for some Vince McMahon shit. Oh, those crazy Molsons.
• some Komisarek guy is in the lineup for the Leafs tonight. Not sure what that’s all aboot.
• Edit: Jay Leach was picked off of waivers by San Jose. Bob Gainey lets his stars leave for nothing.

This goes without saying for most sports photographers but sometimes you just need to say it: ALWAYS KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE ACTION. A couple of nights ago a photographer by the name of Steve Russell was hit in the face with a puck that was cleared into the corner by goalie Ryan Miller during a Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres game. He was ok but it is still pretty scary. Russell kept shooting the rest of the game after trainers checked him out. Miller ended up giving him his goalie stick at the end of the game. Nice to see that Miller cared to see if he was ok. Check out the video.

Both “Dick” Griffin and “Bobcat” McCown have been beating the same idiotic drum for months. That trading Roy Halladay at the deadline last season would not have fetched as much as trading him during the off season.

Oh really?

I wonder then how they will react to this: Halladay wants deal done by spring

One of Halladay’s agent’s partners, Jeff Barry, has told the Jays that if Roy is not moved by the start of spring training, he will not discuss ANY move for the rest of his last season in Toronto. And since he has a full no trade clause, his word is the law.

Let’s leave aside for the minute that this asshole Barry is a complete scum bag for spouting off about Hallady’s situation to begin with…although that is admittedly hard to do, given the harm it does to the Jays.

Let’s instead think about the implications of this for the Jays. The rest of baseball now know that the Jays, if they want to trade him, must do so this off season and cannot hold out the hope of waiting till next year’s trade deadline. Do you think that gives the Jays more leverage or less?

And all this on the very morning when “I don’t care about value” Mr. Griffin pens yet again another hapless article stating, “The Jays were better off trading in July. Not true.” This is the same dinosaur who is obliviously contemptuous of the entire concept of Moneyball, of course getting it entirely wrong in the process, thinking it’s about rating OBP over stolen bases when all it’s about is finding undervalued assets, be they high on base percentage players, defensive gems, or as Billy Beane has recently pointed out, scouts! – and what is Anthopoulous doing right now? That’s right, he’s hiring a boat load of scouts (and using Tom Tango as a consultant…this guy gets it). Spending money wisely, what a concept. Alex rocks.

And let’s not forget McCown. Just last week, he, along with Shannon (who has been a massive disappointment as a guest host – his television insights being obviated by his inane attempts at commentary on other topics he has zero knowledge of…god help me, I almost miss Kelly…almost) was also reiterating his own clueless opinion that trading Halladay now would definitely land the Jays more in return. Specifically he said, “we talked a lot about this…before the trade deadline that the one interesting phenomena of the off season is that GM’s forget how bad they actually are…a couple of things here and there and all of sudden the market expands.”

McCown’s contention is that there are a greater number of potential suitors for Halladay now than at the deadline, because some of these new teams are able to delude themselves into thinking they are actual contenders and as such, will be looking to aquire a final piece of the puzzle like Roy.

Well here’s the thing, that premise (more teams interested) may well be true, but it does not follow that the Jays return increases. While there may be a higher quantity of teams now, at the deadline the fewer number of teams were far more motivated. I’d much rather have three highly motivated teams like we did at the deadline (Phillies, RedSox, Dodgers) than 8 only somewhat motivated teams now. And that is the position the Jays find themselves in. Plus of course to say nothing of the fact that by trading for him at the deadline you simply get more out of Halladay, an extra half season and a full extra playoffs. That simple fact alone all but guarentees that the offers the Jays receive now will be less. Because the team’s are receiving less.

I’ll try to put this into term’s that even Griffin could understand (although given the medifore I’m about to introduce, that’s doubtful):

Imagine you’re out at the bar and looking to pick up. When are your chances better? At 9pm with one of 10 completely sober young ladies, or at 2am with one of three bombed and horned up little tramps?

We had our chance to bend a hot coed over immediately in late July. Now we’ll have to be content to buy her dinner, listen to her witless banter, and probably not even receive any friggin tongue in return.

Christ.

Things that are good:

• Ryan Miller got a shutout!  And not just a Ryan Miller Shutout, but a real one.  Oh, Ryan.  Your shutouts make me so happy.  I may be freaked out about this spring when you’re so tired you can’t even get your skates on, but I have to admit that I’m completely in love with your badass play right now.
• Timmy K scoring!  And Jochen scoring!  And Henrik scoring!  Look at all that scoring love right there!
• Beating the Leafs.  Hahahahaha.
• Lars getting a three point night.  Larsiepoo, I love you.
• Jose playing a solid game after having a lot of time off.  Jose, I sincerely hope that you’ve been able to work through your personal issues.  And I’m glad you’re playing well.
• The Thrashers winning.  I love them.

Things that are bad:

• OH MY GOD ALEXANDER MOTHER EFFIN’ OVECHKIN WHY DO YOU INSIST ON HURTING ME LIKE THIS???  KNEE-ON-KNEE?  REALLY?  THAT WAS A DIRTY PLAY.  THERE, I SAID IT.  IT WAS DIRTY AND I’M MAD AT YOU AND IF YOUR ACL IS TORN I’LL NEVER TALK TO YOU EVER AGAIN I WILL BE VERY SAD.  YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IN BUFFALO IN A WEEK AND A HALF, MISTER.  I LET IT SLIDE ONCE LAST YEAR BECAUSE YOUR GRANDFATHER WAS SICK AND I LET IT SLIDE IN THE PRESEASON BECAUSE IT WAS THE PRESEASON, BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.  I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS EVASIVE BEHAVIOR ANYMORE.
• Now that I’ve worn out my caps lock, let’s continue in a rational manner.  Oh my good golly gosh, that was awful.  I’ve never seen him in so much pain before ever.  This is so bad.  The Capitals are in deep shit without him.  Team Russia needs him.  I want to see him play live.  Lars needs him.  I can’t believe he would do something so dirty.  Stupid, stupid Alexander.

I’m going to go hang out with Little Ryan, because he isn’t pissing me off right now.  Looks like it’ll be time to get the bobblehead bandaids back out again.

The Sabres won 5-1 against the Canes. Ryan Miller is awesome.

The Bills won 31-14 against Miami. Rian Lindell is awesome.

Can things get any better? Awww yeah. Beating the Leafs 3-0 will make it sooo much better! Tonight’s win makes a back-to-back-to-back win of Buffalo rivals. Eyebleaf and the long list of Toronto bloggers may rejoice for their team did not have to deal with the heavenly grit that is Goose. You didn’t even get a Patrick Kaleta! You can get an amen though if that will help heal the wounds…

Ryan Miller was hot again with a SHUT OUT, a great one for the photoblog, and almost getting killed again by a moving vehicle… ha (See Winter Classic zamboni). Tim Kennedy and HANK TALLINDER AND YO YOOOOO scored goals for the Sabres. Steve Montador “fought” the Leafs.

Goodnight.

Hahahaha.

Needless to say, for most educated Canadian hockey fans, this is a no-brainer, of course the Habs are Canada’s team.

Forget the jock rhetoric, MLSE and Toronto media hype machine, only one team truly represents all of Canada, all Canadians and every fabric of our awesome nation. Here is a recent poll that concludes the same. Canada is not just Toronto and it is no solely English, and the Habs and adoration for the club are evidence of that.

Toronto spinsters may think Toronto is the gold standard for hockey, the true “hockeytown” and the centre of the hockey universe but it isn’t. How can it be? THEY HAVEN’T WON A CUP SINCE 1967- the LAST time there were SIX TEAMS in the NHL!!!!

The Leafs are not the New York Yankees of hockey though they claim to be. You need to win, and often, to lay that claim. The Leafs are more like the LA Dodgers hockey, plenty of great history, some good runs and wins but nothing to really show of late (though at least the Dodgers have won in recent memory).

The New York Yankees of hockey are the Montreal Canadiens and we have the 24 cups to prove it and are the sole Canadian team to win it recently, in 1993. The Detroit Red Wings can even lay a better claim to the Yankee moniker than the loser Leafs.

Watching the Leafs plod through this season has been hilarious, more so on how local media covers them. A two-game win  streak is dissected and blown way out of proportion and it is all sunny skies and roses so quickly after the doom and gloom of a week ago. This city is dying so bad for a winning hockey team the media just about falls over itself trying to spin a good yarn out of horse crap.

I feel for the players assemled for this year’s Leafs team. They are trying their best but if you don’t have the horses to run, the race can be a mighty long one, let alone just getting out of the barn.

• Jamie Lundmark scored 1 goal and assisted another
• Olli Jokinen scored 1 goal and assisted another
• Nigel Dawes put 1 in the back of the net
• Jarome Iginla provided 2 helpers on the night
• Moss assisted 1 goal

Obviously from those stats you can see that the great play of Jarome Iginla still continues. Iginla has egnited and is helping carry his team like the amazing captain he is. You can also tell that Jokinen and Iginla are looking like quite the combo. I think they have some serious chemistry together and although some doubt Jokinen’s ability to play with Jarome I think that pairing shall do quite well.

 Still the true star of the game was Kipper. He definatily deserves credit and full attention. With this win Miikka Kiprusoff is tied for the league lead for most wins. He always seems to be in the top 3 for that category. Kiprusoff was also named Friday’s 2nd star of the night. Well that’s the Flames story let’s move on to the Leafs Friday Night.

Toronto Maple Leafs def. Florida Panthers 6-4

 This was a high scoring afair no doubt. The teams combined for a full 10 goals. The two teams came in as two of the worst teams in the Eastern Confrence. With the Leafs sitting 14th and Panthers sitting 13th. Obviously picking up the win is just picking up some momentum and nothing more for these two as clearly they are not going anywhere good.

Both teams came into this with some hope of picking up a win. They traded goals all game long, but in the end the Leafs got the better of it. Many of the Leafs had great games with two Leafs scoring twice in the game. Hagman put shots on goal tonight and guess what? Both of the two ended up in the back of the net. Kessel also got 2 goals tonight putting 2/5 in. Stajan and Ponikoravsky added 1 each of their own to make it six.

With this win Jonas Gustavsson raised his total to 5 wins in the NHL. Not exactly a stats most goalies would be proud of, but look at this. Jonas is new to the league. He is playing for a team that has only won 6 games and he has won 5 out of 6 of those. Jonas Gustavsson is slowly adjusting and getting settled in to the NHL. Once he is perfectly comfortable with the game I think he can definitly be a top goalie in the NHL. Possibly the top goalie the Leafs have been missing for a while.

So that was a Friday for Calgary and Toronto. Two teams heading in different directions both picked up win. Let’s hope the Leafs can turn it around and the Flames can keep up the stellar play. I really like what Kessel is doing for Toronto. He has looked like a very amazing player. In 12 games Kessel has put up 11 points including 8 goals! He is shooting as much as the leagues best scorer for the past few years, Alexander Ovechkin. Things look good. With more than 50 games left to go for both teams things can be changed and play can be kept up. So Hockey fans keep watching what should be an exciting year, especially for Canadian Hockey.

Phil Kessel is a reason to celebrate in himself

Alright, so all wasn’t lost on the Toronto sports scene Friday night. Fresh off a win in Tampa Bay, the Leafs made it two in a row and points in three straight with a 6-4 victory over the Panthers. Niklas Hagman scored twice, giving him six in the past four games, and Phil Kessel added his seventh and eighth in his 12th game with Toronto.

Early on, this one looked like another long night for The Monster, who coughed up two goals in the first 2:04. Kessel scored just past the midway point of the first to cut it to 2-1, then tied things at four in the third period just 13 seconds after a Dmitry Kulikov power play goal had given Florida the lead just over four minutes in. Hagman’s second was the winner and Matt Stajan added an empty-netter to put it away. Alexei Ponikarovsky also scored and added three assists for the Leafs.

Everyone loves a trip to Florida, and it’s all the better if you’re a hockey team and you come out with a pair of wins. Shockingly, the Leafs actually have Saturday night off, returning home to face the Sabres Monday at the ACC.

I created this a week ago, let me know what you think!

Top of the morning, hockey fans! Here’s hoping Last week we defended the snow-white virginal honor of one Bill Belichick; this week, I was planning on penning a paean proposing punitive pressure on pumpkin-punching pain perpetrators –head shots have gotz to go– but when my hearing-ear dog Chocolate Satan woke me up this morning, I was reminded of the horrifying abyss that many of you refer to as Turkey Day.

"Hey, are you going to eat that?"

First, a quick history lesson: the origin of Turkey Day comes from our Founding Fathers, who, in remembrance of their harrowing escape from the dank depths of a Turkish prison, solemnly perform the Throttling of the Fat Brown Bird Ritual every year. This demonic ritual annually reminds us of the nightmarish terror of sinewy half-undead forms being tortured by hairy, sweaty hooded men by forcing us to watch the Detroit Lions.

But Turkey Day isn’t just about unspeakable suffering; it’s also about having dinner with your family. Indeed, it’s said that our Founding Fathers refused to sit at the same table with their in-laws unless it was written in-the-law that it was mandatory to do so; many say the choice of turkey as the centerpiece was chosen specifically for it’s bland, taste-free repulsiveness. For many early Pilgrims, an Indian massacre was a welcome respite from awkward family conversation.

But enough about ancient history: this Turkey Day, I’m coming to you live (bet you didn’t think journalists could do that, huh? Well, we can, we simply choose not to for metaphysical reasons) from the table of one Gary Bettman, who has locked his family in a wooden crate on an icefloe and invited some hockey luminaries to share this special day instead.

Me: Thanks for having me over, Gary, I really appreciate the chance to break bread, talk turkey and suck stuffing with you today.

Gary Bettman: No problem, Todd..er… did you bring the black tar heroin like I asked?

Me: (whips out garbage bag full of discarded Target receipts) Got it right here, my friend!!

Gary B.: In that case, Welcome to El Casa de Dolor, my palacial estate, built upon the bleached bones of those that would question my decision-making ability. What do you think?

Me: (glancing around) There’s definitely a lot of stuff in here I’m thinking about stealing.

Gary: I kno–wait, what?

Me: I said, ‘Gary Bettman is a name synonymous with effective, results-driven leadership and shall go down in history with the greatest Napoleon complexes of all time.’

Gary: That’s what I thought! Here, have a seat. (motions me between Chris Pronger and Brian Burke)

Could this finally be the year?

Me: Sweet! ‘Sup, Li’l Chris? What it is, B-Dawg? WOOF!!

(Burke throws a haymaker, Pronger launches an elbow as I duck. They belt each other in the face)

Me: Cool! I’ve always wanted to do that!

Burke: I’d ring-a-ding-ding your coconut, if I could wipe away enough of my own blood to open my eyes!

Pronger: Why are my elbows covered in ketchup again? Is the food here already?

Burke: That’s not ketchup, you imbalanced imbecile! That’s the Blood of Odin that runs through my veins and on to your Members Only jacket!!

Pronger: Actually, it’s a Prongers Only jacket.

Me: Speaking of nosebleeds, where’s the grub? Where are the other guests of honor?

Gary: My enemies are as ruthless as they are dumb. To ensure that those who disobey me do not come near my dinner, I have set up an intricate series of puzzles and quests, which one must solve in order to pass to the Boss Level… where they will face the robotic clone I send in my place to all public speaking engagements, press interviews and Stanley Cup-awarding ceremonies. Then they must answer me these questions thr–

Me: Waitaminute, why I didn’t have to go through any of that?

Gary: Are you challenging me? Next question!

Pronger: Me! Me! Pick me!! Hey! Why do they call it “taking” a dump, when I’m only picking it up to fling it at passing motorists and Red Wing forwards?

Burke: (angrily) So it was YOU that flung feces on my Escalade!! Lemme at ‘im!! (jumps over table, picks up serving spoon and starts going to town on Pronger’s cranium)

Pronger: My brain tickles. I must be thinking about something important.

Gary: Brian!! Cease your truculence this instant!

Burke: (decks Bettman in the chin, starts foaming at the mouth) NEEEAAAAAGGGHHHHGGGG!!

Gary: (twitches on the floor, soils $45,000 pants) Collin… thhhavve me…

Me: That’s my cue. (grabs Burke’s wallet, containing half of Toronto’s salary cap in unmarked $100s) If you guys need me, I’ll be in Tijuana with Thora Birch and four sticks of Land O’ Lakes unsalted butter. Toodles!

Pronger: Ok, bye!

I’ll update the remainder of my Turkey Day from the El Jefe Airlines flight I’m on to parts unknown. Tune in next week when I visit some Pittsburgh-area homeless shelters with Sidney Crosby — their relentless Crys-by taunts may surprise you.

A bunch of us J-school buddies were talking sports in relation to the way they are perceived by men and women differently. Ultimate fighting was mentioned regarding it’s role as a symbol for hypermasculinity but I saw it as being somewhat homoerotic. Men wrapped around each other, half naked, crotches in face? I’m sure you see where I’m going with this.

The sports considered to be the most ‘manly’ (football, hockey, rugby…) have the same sentiment. Greased up alpha males playing a high contact game, yet overcompensatingly hetero.

In ghettoizing these sports as strictly heterosexual, people who fall outside of this definition are left at the wayside or are stuck in the closet.

And now, a breath of fresh air.

An article published by the Star features Brendan Burke, a 20 year old student at the University of Miami who works for the school’s hockey team and happens to be openly gay. He also happens to be the s0n of Brian Burke, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ general manager. Papa Burke is as loving and accepting of his son’s orientation as any parent should be.

Although Burke may not be a star athlete just yet (or ever?), the influence of his father may bring forth a new sense of liberalism within the realm of high-contact sports.

“If my acceptance can turn into more acceptance on the part of other people, that’s great,” Burke said.

Right now, as the Star reports, “there are no openly gay individuals working in hockey operations in any of the major pro or amateur leagues.”

Perhaps it’s time for a change.

And one

The Toronto Raptors? Never heard of ‘em. There are embarrassing performances, and then there are outright horrible ones that make me make me wanna deny my team’s existence. It happens far too often in Raptorland. I’m on my way to bed, but I’ll check in with more on the Raps’ ugly effort in Charlotte tomorrow.

On the positive, the Leafs came out with a 4-3 win in Tampa Bay, catapulting them to sole possession of 29th place in the league at 5-11-7 (or 5-18, if you don’t speak hockey). I might have more on them tomorrow too, or maybe I won’t. You’ll have to wait and see!

When I first heard about John Bucigross’s story of Brendan Burke going public with his homosexuality I was quite stunned that someone involved in college sports would dare go public with that knowledge.  When I think about it, it really is kinda depressing that we are stunned and that this needs to be big news.

Here we have a courageous athlete, son of a famous hockey executive, who doesn’t feel as though he can continue his college hockey career because he doesn’t want anyone to find out he is homosexual.  He makes excuses about not getting enough playing time and being discouraged.

The sports world in general is not exactly the most receptive atmosphere for homosexuality.  There is a lot of testosterone and macho-ness, certainly ones sexuality defines a great portion of ones character in this setting.

Brendan Burke was a team manager for his university hockey team.  He is now a gay team manager for his university hockey team.  It is sad to say that Brendan will now be known for not only being Brian Burke’s kid, but also be known as someone who came out of the closet.

It really is no surprise that gay pro and college athletes– and make no mistake about it; there are gay athletes– choose to keep this a secret.  Its not exactly something that people overlook easily.  It just seems so out of place in today’s culture for an athlete to be gay.

I think, because of brave people like Brendan, this will soon change.  I’m not saying every gay athlete will suddenly run out on to the field with a rainbow flag strapped to their back, but I think one day it will be accepted that there is a possibility that your favourite athlete, or a player on your favourite team might be gay….and it won’t matter.

Yet more bad news to report from Toronto…

The Maple Leafs have announced that goaltender, Vesa Toskala, has been placed on injury reserve. Midway through the Leafs and Islanders game last night, Toskala made his way to the Leafs bench and could be seen having a brief conversation with head coach, Ron Wilson. Shortly after, Toskala was replaced in net by backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson.

Reports say that Toskala has a ‘tweaked’ groin and thus far he will be out for an undisclosed amount of time.

To view video of the Leafs discussing Toskala’s injury follow the link to TSN. http://watch.tsn.ca/nhl/clip238853#clip238853

The bad news out of Toronto continues.

Despite firing 61 shots on goal last night, the Maple Leafs managed to lose yet again. Undoubtedly, the first star of the game was Islanders’ goalie, Dwanye Roloson who stopped 58 of the 61 shots. The game ended with only a couple minutes remaining in overtime, with Josh Bailey scoring the game winning goal.

The leafs played pretty well, actually coming back and erasing the 3-0 deficit they found themselves in midway through the second period. However, making a comeback and still eventually losing in OT has to be deflating for the Leafs, as they had seemingly began to gain some momentum. Although the Maple Leafs are showing signs of growth and improvement, it seems as though, unfortunately, the team will be featured in the BadNewsBaird Blog for many times to come.

Read the Leafs and Islanders game summary in the Toronto Sun: http://www.torontosun.com/sports/hockey/2009/11/24/11900691-sun.html

As the title of my first blog entry suggests, I am BadNewsBaird – The Bearer of Bad News.  I will use this blog to highlight and comment on recent and current occurences of bad news around the National Hockey League. I will do my best to cover all player injuries, suspensions, and other unfortunate events. As a Toronto Maple Leafs fan I will unfortunately, also be reporting and commenting on the woes of the hockey team throughout the NHL season.

Stay tuned for the beginning of my blog entries…

Of course, check out www.nhl.com for scores, schedules, and standings of your favourite NHL team.

Also check out www.mapleleafs.nhl.com for up to date news on the Toronto Maple Leafs.