Saturday, March 1:
A painful loss for the Stouffville Spirit last night, falling 3-2 in Huntsville and on the verge of elimination, now down three-games-to-two. It sounds as if they deserved a better fate, outshooting the home side 18-3 in a scoreless final period. And the scoresheet also suggests things got a bit nasty at the final buzzer. The locals return home Sunday afternoon for game six, a game I'll have to miss due to work commitments. But I sure wouldn't bet against this bunch forcing a deciding game.
Painful loss for the Toronto Maple Leafs, too, falling 3-2 in overtime at last-place Tampa Bay. Yes, they got a point, but with so many teams bunched up in the east, losing a point is just about as costly as gaining one. Meanwhile, who's worse these days, Ottawa or Detroit? The Senators haven't been worth a plugged nickel since they beat the Red Wings 3-2 January 12th, in a supposed Stanley Cup final showdown. They're 7-and-15 since. Detroit hasn't been much better. Yes, they rattled off eight wins in a row but have now lost 10 of 11 (six of them by one goal), after falling last night to San Jose.
I once worked with a radio talk-show host who used the phrase "Holy Cats!" when he was aggravated by a caller. And these days, I'm aggravated by the weather. Holy Cats, March roared in like a lion, with Friday night's snowstorm still raging strong when midnight rolled around. And following some rain on Monday, we're supposed to be hammered by a winter blast that will make yesterday's storm look like a stray flake or two. March is supposed to be wetter and colder than normal, and that will mean more snow after a near record-breaking February. I can't wait to cut the lawn in about nine weeks. I hope.
Monday, March 3:
It's goin' seven. The plucky underdogs refused to die yesterday as Stouffville forced a seventh game against first-place Huntsville with a 3-1 home win. And while Tuesday night's road game will be a challenge, the locals have won two games up there this season -- including one in this series -- and they should have come away with a win there in game five. I'll be surprised if they don't give a great account of themselves tomorrow. A win and the Spirit may be on their way to repeating the magic of two years ago when the underdogs won four rounds and went right to the league final. A loss, and heads will still be held high in knowing they took the division regular season champs to the limit. Either way, we've now seen how Stouffville handled a "lose-and-you're-out" game. Both clubs face it tomorrow and the pressure should shift to the home favourites. We shall see.
Finally a win for the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at Buffalo. Four goals in a single game for this score-starved outfit. A veritable flood.
Wednesday, March 5:
Now that's what I'm talkin' about! All the signs were there for a collapse last night for the Stouffville Spirit. After taking a 3-1 lead on the hosts in the deciding game in Huntsville, the first place Otters came to life with two goals from Josh Vatri in the span of a minute-38 in the second period -- the tying goal coming while shorthanded. And things looked bleak when Brad Williams scored for Huntsville seven minutes into the third period, giving them a 4-3 lead. But Mark Sullivan tied it for Stouffville with less than three minutes remaining and Corey Trivino won it three minutes into overtime. Two years ago, these Kardiac Kids did much the same thing in a stirring playoff run that had the whole town abuzz and it appears this year's edition has the same never-say-die pluck. Now it's the Aurora Tigers for the North Division championship. Aurora won the season series 4-2, including a 3-and-0 mark at home. The Tigers will have the extra home game (as would any opponent against the Spirit from here on in), so Stouffville has to steal at least one in their barn.
Friday, March 7:
Uncle!!! Aunty!! Anything!! Enough already with the never-ending snow!! A huge storm last Wednesday and another 30 centimetres or so tonight and tomorrow, they say. This is (almost) mid-March, for cryin' out loud! Most years, some of the golf courses are a week or so away from putting up the flags! This year, it might be July before the links open! I can't take it anymore! Oh, and, Wiarton Willie, if you're reading this, you may want to pack your things and start burrowing underground. If I catch you in my sights.....
Saturday, March 8:
Yes, maybe the referee erred in not awarding Manchester United a deserved penalty kick seven minutes into the match. But if that's your excuse for tumbling out of the F-A Cup, at home, against Portsmouth, then that's pretty weak. Sir Alex Ferguson is said to be livid at the official. Perhaps he should save some of that anger for his charges. And himself. United took Pompey lightly, just like they've done this year on occasion against bottom-feeders in the Premiership. They get no sympathy from me.
I'll take the pluck of the Stouffville Spirit instead. The job of stealing a game in Aurora has been accomplished, thanks to last night's 3-1 win in the opener of the North Conference final. But this is where things have to change. The Spirit did the same thing against Huntsville, only to lose game two at home. They can't afford to play that dangerous game against the Tigers tomorrow afternoon.
Amazon.ca to the rescue again. On Tuesday, I received an e-mail from the folks who run my favourite author's website, telling me that Stephen White's latest novel was in bookstores in both the U.S. and Canada. So, like a fool, I popped into my local Chapters-Indigo-Coles-Smithbooks monopoly store the following day to pick one up. Only to be told that they won't be stocking it until March 18. After telling the unfortunate clerk who happened to offer his assistance what I thought of his employers, I drove home and ordered a copy via Amazon that night. Yesterday, it arrived by mail, 36 hours after I placed my order. I'm already a delicious 100 pages into it and will likely have devoured it by the end of the weekend. With blizzard #6,814 of the winter roaring all around me, I've precious little else to do. Except shovel. When the snow stops. In mid-June.
The thought of turning the clocks ahead in the midst of a major snowstorm seems ludicrous, but here we go. We lose an hour of sleep tonight. A sure sign of (ha-ha) spring!
Sunday, March 9:
2 a.m. Oops, make that 3 a.m. And it's still snowing, a storm that started Friday evening. Unbelievable!
I've said it before -- it's not so much the eight points that separate the Toronto Maple Leafs from the playoffs (although, that's now pretty daunting with just a dozen games left). It's the fact that they have to leapfrog five teams in order to qualify. Five teams with more points. And the tie-breaker formula (most wins) does them no good. With 30 wins now, they're at least two shy of everyone they're chasing and five wins behind eighth-place Philadelphia.
UPDATE: 5:30 p.m. "Master, the terror is over, the elements sweetly rest!" My neighbour across the street won't get his dump truck -- with the back now filled with snow -- out of his driveway until Canada Day. But admittedly, it was fun joining Steve, The World's Greatest Next-Door Neighbour, as we double-teamed some driveways in the 'hood with our snowblowers. And The Bride was part of it, too, tackling the walkways with a shovel while us boys played with our 5 hp toys.
Stouffville's game two woes continue. A 4-1 win by Aurora today at the Arena evens the series at a game apiece and makes the Spirit's job that much tougher.
Monday, March 10:
I thoroughly enjoyed the 6 p.m. drive home from work in the sunshine today, the first one without headlights since last autumn. There are those who are against the daylight saving time move to March that was implemented last year. I'm not one of them.
And with sunshine (and baseball talk on sports radio) came the realization that the regular season for the grand old game is less than three weeks away. Once the new vehicle has been purchased, a couple of road trips will have to be part of the upcoming spring-summer. The definite one is New York-Washington -- to say goodbye to both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium and to say hello to the new Nationals Park. We won't be there for opening day (as we were last year for RFK Stadium), but we're certainly planning a visit -- the earlier the better.
Thursday, March 13:
No room for error for the Stouffville Spirit tonight. They host Aurora, down two-games-to-one in their North Conference final. The locals were in a similar spot against Huntsville and won game four, eventually surviving in seven. But it's a dangerous game to play.
Am I the only one who thinks Eliot Spitzer and ex-Steelers coach Bill Cowher could be identical twins?!
Friday, March 14:
And tonight could be the end. A 5-2 loss last night has the locals really up against it. They need to win three in a row, two of them in Aurora. I don't like their chances, but I won't write them off.
A great time was had by all last night, as the sports department threw a retirement party for longtime writer Neil Stevens. It was also karaoke night, so I made a point of warbling through Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women" in Neil's honour, seeing as he's Dylan's greatest fan. What was unexpected -- and great -- was seeing the who's who of Toronto sports journalists in attendance. Great, in that they made time to wish Neil well and great -- personally -- because I hadn't seen many of them in years. I used to travel the sports world with these guys and it didn't take long for the stories to start flowing.
Saturday, March 15:
The initial pictures and videos suggested greater damage was to be uncovered as time went on, but thankfully tornadoes are not hurricanes or earthquakes. Last night's twister that hit downtown Atlanta left a mess but did so in a very narrow swath and so while there is a big clean-up today, no one died or suffered any life-threatening injuries. Not that tornadoes are anything to dismiss lightly but this could have been far worse.
Over and out. A 3-2 loss in Aurora last night means the end of the season for the local six. But again, the Spirit went further in the playoffs than anyone had a reason to suspect. Always a younger club and more of a development team than one built for a championship, Stouffville's becoming a franchise you want to avoid in the post-season.
Monday, March 17:
I do love this time of year. Should be a great early spring for sports! Baseball camps are nearing an end and the start of the regular season (13 days away) is so close I can almost taste it. Hockey is getting very interesting: the race for playoff spots is heating up in the NHL; the OHL playoffs start this week and Tier II junior playdowns have separated the wheat from the chaff and the teams remaining are the real deal. And March Madness kicks off later this week. North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas and UCLA have nailed down the top seeds in the NCAA basketball tournament and last year's finalists didn't make it in this year -- two-time defending champion Florida and Ohio State are on the outside looking in.
Can't say I've ever been a Kevin Martin fan and that goes all the way back to 1991 but it's pretty impressive to roar through a Brier undefeated. The team I feel for is Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons. Those guys had Martin beat on Friday night, only to have a pick ruin what likely was a winning shot.
If ye're a-drainin' the green suds t'night, make sure you get home safely!
Tuesday, March 18:
Well, how convenient. The NHL finally gets around to suspending Anaheim's Chris Pronger for stomping on the leg of Vancouver's Ryan Kesler. Eight games, making Pronger eligible to return on the final day of the regular season, all rested and rarin' to go for the playoffs. Chris Simon received 30 for much the same offence and is complaining that Pronger is getting the "star treatment." Personally, I think Pronger's kick -- bad as it was -- was not made with malice in mind. I think he just wanted to free his leg and in frustration, let his foot fly the way you'd try to kick off a stubborn snow boot that remains attached. Problem is, in hockey, feet are enclosed by sharp skates and the sight of Richard Zednik spewing blood after getting cut by a teammate's skate is still fresh in everyone's mind. Pronger? Ten to 15 games in my book, including whatever playoff games fit in that total. This is his eighth NHL suspension and he got off easy -- twice -- in last year's playoffs.
Friday, March 21:
I have proven once again that I know as much about U-S college basketball as the dot on this "i". I'm in two March Madness pools and on day one I managed 11 correct and five wrong in one pool and 10-and-6 in the other. What really killed me was my sleeper pick of Southern Cal -- and they slept all the way out of the tournament. I had the Trojans going to the Elite Eight in one pool and the Sweet 16 in the other, but they couldn't beat Kansas State. As a result, the pace is on now is a tie for 14th in one group of 21 players and a tie for 20th in another group of 22. Nice start!
Dave Phillips, the oft-quoted Environment Canada meteorologist, mentioned yesterday that, ha ha, the first day of spring was not the first springlike day for most of the country. No kidding. And he added that temperatures will be lower than normal for the next six weeks. Now, I'm not a violent sort, but there's a certain albino groundhog up Wiarton way that had better be makin' tracks if he knows what's good for 'im. Early spring, my foot!
Sunday, March 23:
How much longer are the troglodytes who run the National Hockey League going to allow touch-the-puck icing to remain a part of their game? Another serious injury last week -- a broken leg -- was suffered as a direct result of this archaic rule. In virtually every other league in hockey, icing is called as soon as the puck crosses the far red line. Not the NHL. The powers that be seem to think taking away the mad chase for the puck (which occurs, say one in 50 icings) is somehow good for the game. How often have you seen a goal result from a forward beating a retreating defenceman to the puck and setting up a score? Once or twice in your lifetime? How often have you seen a serious injury result from the same mad dash? Plenty more times, I'll wager. Implement the no-touch rule. Now.
Have a happy and safe Easter!
Monday, March 24:
“I can’t control the reactions of my players in the heat of action,” says Quebec Remparts coach Patrick Roy after Saturday night's disgusting display in game two of their playoff series with Chicoutimi. Then sir, may I suggest that you've no business coaching hockey anywhere. And it's quite obvious that you have no control over your goaltender -- your own son Jonathan -- who made an ass of himself by going after the Sagueneens' goalie at the far end of the arena and then (after pummeling the goalie, who wanted no part of a brawl) flipping the bird to the crowd and acted as if he'd just won Wrestlemania XXIV. The QMJHL brass will decide what punishment is to be meted out today. Anything less than throwing the book at both of them will be a copout. It won't happen, but I'd suspend the both for life. What a classless pair!
Wednesday, March 26:
Nice. The gutless QMJHL lets Patrick Roy off with a five-game suspension and his son -- a back-up goalie, mind you -- off with seven. And what's worse is the fact Quebec won 6-1 last night on home ice, chasing beleaguered Chicoutimi goalie Bobby Nadeau in the first period with a quick 3-0 lead. So father and son will wink at each other, agree that "sending the message" worked and the clueless wonders who run the "Q" will marvel at the extra cash generated by the publicity and the increased gate at le Colisee. And the Remparts now lead the series 2-1 with game four at home as well. Arrrgh!!
I won't write off the Toronto Maple Leafs (no, not my team by any stretch) until they're dead and buried. But last night's loss just about finishes them off. If they lose in regulation Thursday in Boston, it will. Toronto cannot beat either the Bruins or Philadelphia in a tie-break. They can match them in wins but not in points gained in head-to-head games -- thanks to a few three-point games in the mix.
Friday, March 28:
OK, now I guess I can write off the Maple Leafs. For the third straight year, they only got serious about winning hockey games when they were all but out of it. You can't take half a season off and then decide to get down to brass tacks. And if it's the same deadwood on the roster next season, it'll be time to quote Yogi Berra's deja vu line all over again.
Yep, "sending the message" was the answer for the Quebec Remparts. They now lead 3-1 in games going into Chicoutimi tonight. But if the Sags are losing badly, I wouldn't be surprised if they "send a message" of their own. The chowderheads in the league office must be salivating at the thought of the Ramparts -- and thousands of fannies in their large arena -- in round two, especially when the Roy sideshow returns to the bench and ice, respectively. The almighty dollar wins again. Suspensions should be a deterrent, not a joke.
I bought a car today! A 2008 jet-black Acura TSX. A convertible was tempting but the deal I couldn't ignore the deal I was offered. The totally redesigned 2009 models arrive in the showroom next week so they were keen to move the '08s.
Sunday, March 30:
Two days. That's all I needed. Just two days for nothing to happen to the 2002 Buick Rendezvous I've been driving for seven years. But no. As I was on my way to get it appraised for trade-in yesterday, I pulled into the Esso at Highway 7 and Markham Road for a quick interior vacuum -- and blew the left front tire. What wonderful luck! And it was impossible to get at the tiny replacement tire underneath. Thank heavens for CAA. A quick tow to the just-about-to-close Stouffville Canadian Tire and a confirmation that they had the needed tire in stock allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief. They fixed it first thing this morning. But the sidewall puncture was caused by a rusted piece of metal that had come away from the concrete island at the Esso station. I suggested to the twerp of an attendant that he should inform his manager about the hazard and was met by a "whaddaya-want-me-to-do?" shrug. There was a time when a service station actually meant service.
Monday, March 31:
OK, a few days, not two. The new car is waiting for me to pick up but I'm not ready to get it yet (now that's a switch). It'll take a few days for the cash to transfer from my investment portfolio to my chequing account. The Acura boys were a bit concerned about that, and how that will play out as part of an official March sale, but it can't be helped. I made it clear Friday that there could be a bit of a delay. With luck, I'll close the deal Thursday and have a couple of days off to get familiar with the new vehicle.
Nice debut for Nationals Park in Washington last night with the home side winning on a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth. The new park looks like a gem and I can't wait for a "road trip" to see it!
March isn't exactly "going out like a lamb," as it should considering its debut. It's wet and windy today but it could be worse. This rain could have arrived as snow, but instead will help a great deal with melting the mess we still have.
