Sunday, October 4, 2009

Must be autumn, the Leafs are falling

Why must it always be politics or religion? I hear you asking. Some have been churlish enough to suggest that Walt has no interest in things that amuse normal people, like the sex lives of the stars. Or sports. Wrong!

In fact Walt is a big (of girth? ed.) sports fan. I follow both of Canada's official sports -- winter and summer -- as well as Canadian football (the 3-down game, Yankee friends) and baseball. The NHL season got under way this week, so let's talk hockey!

First, les Glorieux...or maybe not. I refer to les Canadiens de Montréal, le Tricolore, les Habitants. I'm a longtime fan of the Habs, because you have to respect and admire excellence. 24 Stanley Cups, compared with a dozen or so for any other team. You could look it up.

However, this year's "centennial edition" of the Canadiens doesn't look like being a Cup contender. Or maybe they do. Team no-name -- who are those guys? -- have played over their heads in their first two games, and have managed to eke out one-goal overtime wins despite being outshot by a margin of about 2 to 1. Kudos to Carey Price! And please don't wake me up.

And then there's the Leafs. In their first two games they've had 10 goals scored against them. Last year they finished dead last in the NHL goals against department. This they could finish 31st in a 30-team league.

The Leaf defence is porous and then there's the goal situation. Toskala gave up 3 goals on 10 shots in the first period last night. Then they brought in "the Monster". He allowed another three goals and gets charged with the loss to Washington, but actually didn't play too badly. But he's not going to keep the Leafs out of the basement single-handed. Leafs need some capable defencemen...immediately!

No comments:

Post a Comment