CrashingTheGoalie

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 the team (you want to tell me that Mike Gillis was well known…I don’t think so).

Okay, let’s continue. The Canucks started last year talking about the Stanley Cup. Roberto Luongo had, earlier in the year, set a new team record for shut-outs and in February looked as good as ever. Would you have believed the we would miss the playoffs…after being tied for first place with nine games left that season?

Would you have believed that Brian Burke, GM of the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks, would be the new GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs…less than a year later! And finally after the spring disaster and the summer of change, would you have believed one year ago that Mats Sundin would be a member of the Vancouver Canucks….a Canuck team with Roberto Luongo as the captain!

Talk about a year of change. Probably be best if you wore a neck collar from here on in…just to prevent the whiplash. And this week I heard one of the more unbelievable things I have heard in all my time of watching and reporting on hockey. It was truly astounding and many of you have already heard about it. A snippet of tape was played on the Pratt & Taylor show that was arguably the most low-class, stupid piece of commentary that I have ever heard. It came courtesy of Steve Simmons, a Toronto writer of some ill-repute. Simmons was saying, nay telling, all the Toronto fans at the game tonight to boo Mats Sundin. It was truly a jaw dropper. The gist of Simmons comment was that Mats had betrayed Toronto fans by not agreeing to a trade at the deadline last year.

Now, it’s been adequately reported elsewhere what Mat’s decision making process was. I accepted his reasons at face value. And I remember saying this summer that he would either sign with us or go home to Sweden. Mats confirmed that thinking this weekend and I say that no matter what you think of his play so far, that this is an honorable man. A man who gave everything he had, for most of his professional career, to the city of Toronto.

Do you think Burkie was going to try and re-sign him? And now pudgy little Steve Simmons wants the fans to boo him! Talk about no class. Would you boo Markus when he returns? I can’t imagine even one raspberry from our crowd.

Sure we expected the circus around tonight’s game. But as Shorty and Tom reported on the pre-game, it was about 50/50 cheers vs. boos…hell, I could hear the jeers in the background…on Hockey Day in Canada.

Unbelievable!

So the flu is running through the team tonight and Toronto is not as bad as we think. Any team coached by Ron Wilson will be a hardworking group. This game is not a gimme. But I don’t think, even with the influenza, that motivation will be a problem with our guys.

Don Cherry guarantees a standing O for Mats. I don’t care. I heard the boos again when he skated on the ice. Standing O? No, not quite. And anyway, it’s too late for that kind of redemption. But Steve Thomas? Oh yeah, he gets a standing ovation. We get a good three minute chunk of hockey without a whistle with the hockey savy fans booing every time a Canuck player touches a Leaf player. But finally, during the first commercial, they finally stand for Mats…well, about 75% of them do. Okay 85%. But still, the guy was the heart and soul of the Leafs for 13 years. I know a lot of classy fans stood up for Mats…but a lot did not. Yeah, class all the way as they boo him as soon as he touches the puck on the next face-off.

Okay, lots of speed, no big scoring chances…but some emotions arrive in a melee at the bench. Looks like some fire in Mats tonight as he starts shoving Dominic Moore around…I like the fire, but we get the extra two minutes. And on the subsequent PP, we get the Jim Hughson classic “Great Save Luongo!” I kind of miss that since Jimmy went big time. But our luck (mostly bad) on the PP continues when Willie gives the puck away and TO scores. The truth is we don’t have our game up to speed…yet. Two simple truths after the first; I saw more 3 on 2s against us in the first period than I’ve seen in the last eight games; and secondly, we need to answer TO’s aggressiveness. Brad May cannot be allowed to run around like that.

Better start in the second with a couple of chances, although we have no traffic in front of Toskala. That will be the key to this game. This guy is vulnerable and we have to crowd the net. The Leafs get lucky as the SOB rings on off the pipe and then we get some luck when a deflection gets by Bob Luongo…but not into the net. We finally get a call going our way and BAM! A patented Sami Salo one-timer slapshot puts us back into it. The Leaf fans know the game is turning as we slowly but surely start to play our game. And the Canuck game is generally high energy, but to be fair to the Leafs, Ron Wilson has created a hard working hockey team. It will take these guys a couple of years to turn it around, and you know that Brian Burke will try and hit a home run at the upcoming draft. If there is a Burkie trademark, it’s swinging for the fences.

With the Canuck energy at a fever pitch, Hagman is forced into an interference penalty but it turns into a momentum killer as Stajan blast one by Louie and the Leafs are back up by one. Louie buries his head in shame but if you look at the replay, it was a hell of a shot.

However, our second period was much better than our first with the Sedins playing the cycle, Ryan Kesler skating about 200 miles an hour and Mats Sundin getting past the tears.

The third period was all Vancouver except for the score. At about the fifteen minute mark I’m starting to formulate the excuses for losing a close one. But winning close ones is often the difference between winning teams and losing teams and with less than four minutes left, the Sedins combine with Burrows (who yep, crowds the net) to tie it up. Not a great goal, but iust nice to see that every Alexander Burrows goal doesn’t have to be on the highlight reel. It’s a dirty goal but on the play, we deserved it. Both teams let loose in OT, but both goalies stand tall (and big…and square to the shooter).

I harken back to the shorty that Stajan scored earlier when TO suddenly breaks in on a four on one. Apparently Stajan harkens back as well but this trime Bob Luongo snatches it out of the air and crushes it like a Saskatchewan mosquito. Toskala gets his own chance to stone the Canucks and we are headed to OT.

After Lou came back from his injury he was pretty vulnerable on the shootout and we lost a couple that we could have won. Tonight only Grabovski beats him but on our side Demitra once again proves deadly and coach AV, doing his Stephen Spielberg imitation, decides to risk the Hollywood ending. The truth was, it wasn’t a great move. Simple deke to the backhand. Would have been stopped by a lot of NHL goalies. But tonight, a simple deke was all that Mats Sundin needed to win the game for the Canucks.

Unbelievable.