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Gerber, Leafs Roll Into Ottawa
by SENShobo on 03/09/09 at 08:44 AM ET
Comments (2)
The Battle of Ontario resumes tonight, even as it is hard to call it a battle when neither team looks poised to make the playoffs, when the past few days have seen a couple thousand tickets still available. Even if it is denied on all counts at all levels, at least among the fans it is a battle for the opposite end of the standings.
With just one look, you can see who’s gearing up to go. The Sens traded away a first round pick to acquire a promising puck moving defenseman in Campoli, and a potential top six forward in Comrie. The Leafs traded away a pair of their more promising forwards, and after Gerber saw his career all but wash away in Ottawa, sent down to the AHL, he now finds himself in blue and white. On TSN, an interview saw Gerber describing his time in Ottawa as “a bad marriage.”
Ok, maybe there just might be room for some battle tonight.
At the moment, the Senators sit fifth worst in the League with 60 points, as good as they can get while still holding onto the longshot lottery pick that could make use of all four jumps its grants to slide into first pick overall. Tampa Bay held on last year; maybe it’s time that the non-last place team wins. A win tonight, however, and the Coyotes and the Sens switch places. After ages of the lower rung teams seeming out of reach, their current leads are as thin as one, four, five, and nine points to the bottom four spots.
Of couse, hockey is about winning, and so the goal will be to beat the Leafs, and even if they should win tonight and their next game Wednesday, they will still find themselves behind their provincial rivals. Ironic that the goalie who so earned the dismay of a fan base has now taken his act down the 401. Give it a year or two, though, and there should be a return of the fire.
A return, no doubt, since Ottawa is not spending time waiting for answers, they are seeking them. Not an answer for today, but Murray has gone out and made his first post-deadline UFA signing, a three year entry level deal for Craig Schira of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, courtesy The Province. Last year, Murray picked up the much sought after Jesse Winchester in the same way, and this time there looks to be just as much hope in the news.
First of all, Schira is a defenseman, and a puck moving one at that. He pulls in at just under both 6’ and 200lbs, with one of his most sought after qualities being that he shoots right, the recently injured Smith being Ottawa’s only right shot on the back end (Lee has been called up to replace Smith for the time being). In 68GP, he is 16-41--57 and +40, fifth in scoring for defensemen last I checked. The blue line is crowded in Ottawa, but whichever defense corps in whichever League he joins, he will be a boost to it immediately, and hopefully in time he can round into an NHL-calibre defender.
Last night, Nick Foligno had dinner with his father and brother, head coach and player, respectively, for the Sudbury Wolves, in town to play the Ottawa 67’s. Foligno hopes that his brother, Marcus, will round his way into the NHL soon, this being his draft year, according to the Ottawa Sun.
“He’s a different player than I am,” said older brother Nick, who scored two goals against the Sabres Saturday. “He’s a big boy and he’s a lot more physical, he fights a little bit more. He’s more of a power-forward type in the sense that he can run over guys, whereas I try and maybe go around them.
....
Marcus, who has 11 goals, 18 assists and 94 PIMs in 62 games for the Wolves, honed his aggressiveness on Nick.
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Nick would relish having Marcus as a teammate.“It would be awesome. I’d love it,” he said. “He’s got a lot of work to do. But he’s a kid that’s going to work hard and try to attain those goals. He’s got all the skills.”
I had mentioned this before, but it remains to be seen if there is any real chance of it happening. Also according to the Sun, Marcus is expected to go in the second round, his skating being the knock that keeps him out of the first. He is currently ranked 98th among North American skaters, a fall from 16th to 23rd between preliminary and mid-term rankings of OHL skaters.
As it stands, Ottawa is missing only its third round selection (to Nashville, for moving up in last year’s draft to select Erik Karlsson), with an extra second (from Columbus, with Pascal Leclaire for Vermette) and fifth (from Phoenix, for McGrattan) round selection available. It does leave some room for the brothers to join up, just as the Leafs have the opportunity to select the highly-ranked Braydon Schenn to join his brother. But, of course, these remain mostly fantasies that seldom pan out on the part of the siblings. Still, it would be intriguing.
But, at least for now, it is the final romp of the season that politely and respectfully requests attention. On to face the Leafs; I wonder if Hilary Duff might finally be in the audience to cheer on Mike Comrie, and show Ms. Underwood how to properly dodge, or wave to, the cameras that always seem to pick them out so easily.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | SENShobo | Permalink
Comments
the past few days have seen a couple thousand tickets still available.
Of course there are tonnes of tickets available in Bandwagon Land. Who’s dusting off their old Habs jersey for the playoffs?
Posted by Pension Plan Puppets on 03/09/09 at 11:26 AM ET
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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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As far as I can tell .. Ottawa remained faithful to Gerber during most of this marraige .. He was only faithful for one stretch during the start of last season ..
Posted by closet from Ontario on 03/09/09 at 11:25 AM ET