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(Generic Witty Title), Sens Visit Leafs
by SENShobo on 10/06/09 at 08:51 AM ET
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From the National Post,
Let’s be honest, neither of these teams is what it used to be, though both imagine brighter days ahead. Burke is in his first full season as the Leafs general manager, coming to Toronto via Anaheim, coincidentally also Bryan Murray’s previous stop before he joined the Senators as head coach and now GM.
Having two colourful hockey men in charge offers hope that these provincial tiffs might warm up into something interesting again.
....
Until recently, the Senators were a scary scoring machine, but they are in the early stages of evolving into a Charlie Hustle squad—death by a thousand forechecks—under young head coach Cory Clouston.While the Leafs are coached by the esoteric Ron Wilson, they are being remade in general manager Burke’s likeness: subtle as a knee to the groin and about as friendly.
When the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins next clash, it will have all the intensity of a hot-blooded rivalry solidifying itself as one of the best post-lockout. When two teams meet that have both finally fallen from their glory days, and then years later come to accept it, you wonder if it will be two buckets of slop splashed onto the ice in a battle to see which one can survive the most zamboni scrapings.
Then you have those nights when still sloppy meets still blood-feud rivalry, and you know it’s the Battle of Ontario (someone could have made a killing copyrighting that).
Years back when Mats Sundin was handed a one-game suspension for throwing his broken stick carelessly, landing it in the stands; Alfie earned the hatred of Leafs fans and a good laugh from Sens fans when he broke his fourth stick in a game and waved it towards the stands in jest (to be fair, Alfredsson nailing Tucker from behind also raised some ire in the GTA, and the audio even became a good segment interlude for the fantastic Sens Underground podcast). Just two years ago, with the Senators heading for their most recent playoff appearance, and Mark Bell headed for prison, he decided to make his last meaningful game showcase his abilities and hopefully get him some jailhouse respect by taking runs at Redden (unsuccessful), Fisher (successful), and Alfie (showcasing the true colours of Toronto fans, booing as he got up from the ice).
There’s no need for introductions, no matter how many players are new to this dance.
At the Kitchener rookie tournament, the non-NHL relationships between players meant that the Senators’ rookies had more fights with the Penguins (over half a dozen) than the Leafs, even as the Leafs’ rookies looked in many games as though they wanted to impress Burke by playing as physical as possible, readily obvious in their opener. Tonight there will be no timidity.
Physical this. Hatred that. Two games in, there shouldn’t be much else to say.
While every Leafer will be questioning Wilson’s decision no matter who plays which minutes in net, the Senators will now see what it is like to have depth. In the past, so long as the pizza line still shone, an injury would only mean that a spare winger would jump onto the line and not a beat would be missed. “With centre Ryan Shannon out with an undisclosed ailment, believed to be a mild concussion, Clouston has revamped the forward lines.” (Ottawa Citizen) While the top line stays the same, Fisher moves over to center Kovalev and the now boosted Foligno, Regin drops back to center Cheechoo and the now elevated Neil, and Kelly finds himself flanked by Ruutu and the no longer press box warming Donovan. On the powerplay, Shannon’s spot on the point will be replaced too, likely featuring two units covered by Kuba, Karlsson, Campoli, and Kovalev.
All that because we lost the one-tenth version of the six million dollar man. (Two days in a row now I’ve taken pot shots at Shannon, but really, I do think he’s great. Honest.)
For the heck of it, some predictions, from the Ottawa Citizen,
James Gordon, Citizen web editor (sports), Hockey Capital blog
Senators 5, Leafs 4Ian Mendes, Sportsnet Senators reporter, Ian’s Sportnet.ca blog
Senators 2, Leafs 3 (shootout)Yep. I’m going to be that guy. I’m going to take the Leafs over the Sens. I can’t pick the Sens to win every game, so I may as well pick them to lose against teams like Toronto. If the Leafs win, I look like a genius. And if the Sens win, then it means the Leafs have lost. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
Wayne Scanlan, Ottawa Citizen columnist, Hockey Scanner blog
Senators 5, Leafs 3Peter Raaymakers, writer/editor, Silver Seven Sens blog
Senators 3, Leafs 1Graeme Nichols, writer/editor, 6th Sens blog
Senators 2, Leafs 3Ben Myers, writer/editor, Sens Army Blog
Senators 2, Leafs 3
SENShobo, writer/editor/slacker, SENShobo blog
It’s not always going to be skill that will beat the Senators this season, but teams with motivation. Yesterday I mentioned the motivation of Lundqvist, despite the lack of clear challengers, to prove he should be Sweden’s starter at the Olympics, and of Dubinsky to prove to his teammates that he was not being a bugger for holding out through part of training camp to avoid being the lowest paid player on the team (though who wouldn’t enjoy missing part of Torts’ training regime?). Tonight, now 0-1-1, the Leafs have to prove to Burke, Wilson, and Leafs Nation that they are worth the honour of wearing a jersey on their backs of a team that won the Cup only 42 years ago against their most hated of provincial rivals (don’t think too much about that). But since I haven’t made any predictions yet, and as much as I like Mendes’ thinking (and last year’s facebook friend contest), I have to go with the Senators, who clearly won’t be shaken up by seeing three of four lines and at least one powerplay unit switched up (unsuccessful in New York, though, that might not be a bad thing).
Senators 4, Leafs 2
...no, I didn’t think I’d be able to pass myself off as being a part of that sexumvirate. But it was worth a shot.
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Who is SENShobo?
Fully addicted to hockey, Andrew Dodds finds it safe to live in the alleys, considering his allegiance to the Ottawa Senators in the middle of Leaf County. He tries to bring you as many worthwhile Sens stories as he can find, along with his musings on the team and the NHL in general; musings indeed since he is but a humble hockey hobo.
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