CrashingTheGoalie

by desertdawg
The first few games back from the long road trip can be quite daunting. First off, there’s the business of jet lag and travel fatigue. If you’ve ever been on an airplane flight for longer than an hour, you know what I mean. Airports and airplanes are not built for relaxation. Even first class [...]

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by Ron Spence
Hector “Toe” Blake was a Habs’ rookie when Howie Morenz was in the autumn of his NHL career. Toe later became Maurice Richard’s linemate.
“He was an inspiration for all of us,” Blake said of Morenz. “…his skill was truly remarkable. Howie loved hockey and it was his whole life. He used to work [...]

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by Ron Spence
Roberto was talking like some New Age parishoner.
“It’s the kind of experience I would want for my whole career,” he said. “You want to be in a city where people care, where there is life in the building, an energy.”
It sounded like the ‘nucks’ captain was getting in touch with his mind-body-spirit.
Many fans [...]

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by desertdawg
What a difference a few months makes. I remember the furious battles of the chat boards last summer when the fan bases between two teams started firing the verbal Tomahawk Missles into each other’s camp. The battle became so heated that word out of Ottawa indicated Steve Harper was considering invoking the War Measures [...]

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by Ron Spence
Matt Anderson had it all. He had a 100 mph fastball. He was voted an All-American at Rice University, and he was selected 1st overall in the June, 1997 MLB draft. 
For all of this, the 6′4″ right hander received a $2.5 million signing bonus.
The kid from Louisville was a real prodigy and in his first [...]

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by Ron Spence
We’re at the end of February and 20% of the NHL’s coaches have been fired (Dennis Savard of Chicago, Barry Melrose of Tampa Bay, Peter Laviolette of Carolina, Craig Hartsburg of Ottawa, Michel Therrien of Pittsburgh, and Tom Renney of the New York Rangers) so far this season.
The pundits were predicting the NHL’s demises long before the season [...]

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by Ron Spence
This isn’t written to the majority of Leafs’ fans who attended the Vancouver vs. Toronto game on saturday night. It’s not to those of you who: stood up and applauded, stayed seated and applauded, or didn’t stand or applaud.
It’s to the minority of you who booed.
*****
You see, I’m a bit slow sometimes [...]

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by desertdawg
If someone told you last year, say around this time, that one year later Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison would be gone. That Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler would be (excellent) top six forwards! That Nonis would also be gone and a little-known players’ agent by the name of Mike Gillis would be running [...]

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by Ron Spence
Bob Essensa was one of my favourite Canucks’ goalies – and a finer person to boot.
He was a standup guy who could get down and stack his pads with the best of them.
And he was another goalie who was dicked around by the ‘nucks.
He helped to carry Felix Potvin through the regular 2000-01 [...]

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