This and That: Kesler, Burkie and the Monster!

So because Tronna fans can't stay up late at night, and they want a 7pm game, CBC has scheduled the Canucks/Leafs game to start at 4pm PST. That's right, the game starts at 4pm. I would advise just to get over the start time, our bitching really won't matter, Toronto will win this round.

This game on Saturday really has no great benefits to the Canucks, besides 2 points. But could you imagine if Vancouver loses? Can you imagine the Toronto fans then? I don't want to imagine it, so instead, enjoy your news about the Canucks:

Kesler Contract Talk
Kesler's agent spoke to Kuzma of The Province about the contract that he feels that Kesler deserves to sign. It's gonna be big money, because Kesler is the type of player that is the heart and soul of a great team. In my opinion, Kesler is captain material. If he wasn't in his last year of his contract, I would be saying that he should be the captain instead of Luongo. Overhardt brings up an interesting statistic that the Canucks "won 74.36 per cent of their games (26-10-3) when the twins had less time than Kesler."

Schneider Ready to Go...
...But he's gonna have to wait until Sunday's game against Edmonton before he'll be able to play because of IR regulations.

Burkie acts like a 5 year old
In a phone interview to The Province today, Brian Burke talked about how he wasn't going to make a big deal of the tampering accusations that were made by the Canucks, but in the end, well you know that he is Brian Burke, and he's making a big deal of it. As per usual, Burkie has some gold quotes:

• “I’m certainly not going to pour any gasoline on a fire that as far as I’m concerned doesn’t exist. When other organizations talk or complain about the Leafs, I ignore it by and large.”
• “We weren’t copied with any of the correspondence or made aware of it so when all this talking was going on we were mystified, it was like, what are they talking about?” Burke said. “If we were going to bring a tampering charge against a team we would copy the team on it, make them aware of it. That wasn’t done so we were kind of in the dark on this.
• “If I didn’t see Mike, that wouldn’t be a snub,” Burke said. “In my building, I always go down and talk to the visiting GM, ask him if they need anything. I don’t know what Mike does. If I see him, I’ll say hi to him, but if I don’t see him I wouldn’t consider it a snub. . . . I’m not jumping off a bridge if I don’t see him and I’m not going to order a cake if I do.”

Now the last quote, it's like trying to figure out a girl is trying to say when she says "I'm FINE". Is he trying to guilt trip Gillis into hanging out with him? It's also kinda like when my mom says "Do what YOU think is right". It's just the ultimate guilt trip, you're so damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

The Monster!













"The Monster," Beauchemin said, offering up his best scary voice, albeit with a distinct Quebecois accent. "The Monster!"-Globe and Mail

My favorite addition to the Leafs this year is definitely Jonas Gustavsson.
Why?
Well he's Swedish, his name is Jonas, and his nickname is The Monster! (with the exclamation mark!).

















Rawr!

Those are three perfectly good reasons to love The Monster!

Reports out of Toronto that say that he might be ready to go for the Vancouver game on Saturday afternoon. It's not likely, but it would be nice because Mirtle saying that Schenner might be a healthy scratch, and really Schenn and Gustavsson are the only two things that I like about the Leafs.

Toronto fined for Wilson's comments, but cleared for tampering

Toronto got a slap on the wrist today. In a media release today, Bill Daly issued a statement that said that said that Ron Wilson's comments during the summer about the Leafs' interest in the Sedins prior to their contract being up, violated provisions of NHL by-law 15. The Leafs organization is being fined for his actions.

Though, the NHL has cleared Burke of statements that he made while on Leafs TV. Gillis pursued the NHL to look in to the matter for possible violation of the NHL's tampering rules.

An excerpt from the statement:

"That while unfortunate and inappropriate, the inclusion of a brief reference to the names of a pair of current Vancouver Canucks players in a television segment that aired once on Leafs TV last week did not constitute a tampering offense under League rules, and that no League action will be taken, or League sanction imposed on the Maple Leafs' organization as a result.

The Maple Leafs have been advised that the League likely would impose discipline for any future inappropriate conduct on their part that may cause, or may reasonably be perceived to cause, damage to the Canucks' franchise, or its relationship with its existing players and/or employees."

So the Leafs got away with a warning from the NHL about future conduct. If we know what Brian Burke is like, this issue will come up again. But since the Leafs have deep pockets, if all the team will endure is a fine, will this really stop Burke at a future press conference or media interview?

Funny Things: Hating the Leafs, and Player Websites

Leafs-hate:












1. I apologize in advance for not posting this link last week, but Five for Smiting had an awesome post about Leafsnation. It's starts off: "I despise the city of Toronto, and everything in it."

You know you want to read it.

2. Nice excerpt from Leafs Abomination: The Dismayed Fan’s Handbook to Why the Leafs Stink and How They Can Rise Again in the Globe and Mail last week.

Best parts of the excerpt: Wellwood was fat, out of shape and too lazy to do anything about it. He was waived in 2008 and eventually picked up by the Vancouver Canucks where he required three tries to pass the club- mandated fitness test in training camp.

Win or lose, Wellwood was out on Saturday night, hitting any number of downtown clubs where bouncers were more than happy to whisk some Leafs and their friends past the velvet ropes and straight to the VIP areas. “The minute you show up at the club you cut the line, get a table, get a few drinks,” he says. “As a young kid it was a lot of fun, I definitely miss it. If Tie [Domi] was bringing you out, you got a lot of attention, but it was nice. It was tough for the guys who were married or had a girlfriend. There’s always some one who wants a cell- phone picture taken and next thing you know you’re on someone’s Facebook page and there’s a girl kissing you on the cheek. You have to be careful. But if you wanted attention from the girls, you could definitely get it. I just think it’s fun for them to hang out with an NHL player in Toronto. And if they’d had a few drinks it was even more fun.”

Hahaha....oh Kyle. For the except, click here.

Player Websites:
So I came across Christian Errhoff's website today and found the FACTS link mildly amusing.

FACT: Christian Ehrhoff is not only one of the most talented young defensemen in the National Hockey League, he is also an interesting person. That's why we decided to give you a closer look at his personality and to offer you some more information.

Puh-leeze. Someone please get Ehrhoff a better writer. He's also an interesting person? At least he likes Entourage and Sprite.

Canucks vs. Leafs

I have been wanting to create a blog for some time, but it has taken some time to get around to finally doing it. So the first post, comes right after the Canucks vs. Leafs game. This blog has been mostly created as an outlet for my hockey obsession, which it seems, has started to get out of hand. Perhaps a little scary out of hand according to my friends, but since they are also hockey lovers they still like me.

I have been a Canuck fan since I can remember. Memories of watching the games with my father have made me into a Canuck fan. As every season ticket holder says during their feature at the games, it was the '94 Stanley Cup run that really solidified my love for the team.

But as every Canuck fan knows, and every Leaf fan in Vancouver loves to point out, we have never won a cup. It has been many years trying to get to the playoffs, then only making it a round or two, but no cup. I've been buying into mediocrity since I started to love the team. But I will not choose to love another team, because they are my team.

I enjoy to watch hockey in general, and the current favorites of course change as the players get traded, but I still love my team more than the others.

Back to tonights game: Man was this game ever over hyped. Toronto, a team that has no chance of making the playoffs, has, according to CBC, a ridiculously good record for games played on Hockey Night in Canada. It was also the first time in Toronto for Sundin. And Wellwood. Oh the hoopla. And of course the game was being played in the centre of the universe.

The game itself, was not a great game played by the Canucks. How many times, did Edler not be able to keep the puck in the offensive zone? Giveaways by the Canucks? Through the 2nd and part of the 3rd, the cursing at the tv escalated.

But the Sundin mania, overshadowed the mediocre play of the defense. The ovation from the fans in Toronto was classy, and the boo's every so often when he touched the puck, not to be unexpected. But the ending was what CBC and a Canuck fan could have wished for. Burrows sends the game to overtime, in a game, when the Leafs really should have won. The shootout was really about Sundin. The goal was great for a nice two points on our playoff race and a nice ending to the Sundin era in Toronto, now maybe writers can move on and stop talking about it.

And, well it did feel good to beat the Leafs.