Sports Guy North

R.I.P. Leaf Land

Normally I would write a humorous obituary for the Leafs season at this point. This being Easter and all, however, I've decided against it for the sake of my mom's sanity. I feel bad that the Leafs had their mini-run to end the season, because it unrealistically got most Leafers hopes up. Pulling off a big win against Ottawa didn't help either, followed by Carolina managing to come back against Tampa, and getting a powerplay in overtime. Every step along the way just made the inevitable reality that much more painful. When Tampa got penalized I said "Power Plays that are 4 on 3 are dangerous. Especially with Tampa. They get breakaways. I think this is it, the Leafs are officially done." I got a hell of a look for saying that, and a worse one when it came to fruition. For that very reason I am not touching the Leafs in this post with a 50 foot poll. It's just too soon. All I'm going to say is that the 8 games in a row that the Leafs lost when McCabe was injured is what cost them. If they won even half of those games they'd still be battling for 6th right now. They also made a goalie change much too late. Belfour obviously wasn't Eddie anymore, but for some reason the move to Telqvist came too late.

His injury then also opened the door for J-S Aubin to steal the show. Up until recently, Aubin's time in the minor leagues has been almost as big a disgust to me as Mogilny's. In 1998 when he came in the league with Pittsburgh he played 17 games and only lost 6. He played some great hockey in Pittsburgh on some very bad teams, and through it all he managed to keep a .902 save percentage for his career. When the Leafs signed him I remember asking the JF if they were going to be smart enough to use J-S as a starter instead of Eddie. Although he knew they should, he also knew there was no way. I was excited about his signing, though, and am less surprised about his recent play than most. He always looked like a top goalie in Pittsburgh, and it's nice to see him getting the chance to show it again. He and Telqvist will make a great duo next year, and I just hope the Leafs brass will be smart enough to realize that instead of needlessly throwing money somewhere else. Let the rebuilding officially begin (a couple months too late, of course).

Playoff Time

With Tie Domi now setting tee times, the playoff picture is coming more into view (at least in the west), and we even know a couple of the pending match ups. Like every year, not everyone's teams will be making an appearance in the playoffs,but there's always something to cheer for. For me, it's that Detroit wins their series, as I have tickets to game 5 of their second round. I hope also to see them either play Anaheim or San Jose, since those are the top 3 teams, as well as the 3 most entertaining teams in the West. For others, it's cheering against Edmonton for different reasons than I have (ie. perhaps some Canucks fans sympathize with this group). In any event, there's one thing that unites all hockey fans in the playoffs, no matter what rink or golf course their allegiances are playing on: Playoff Hockey Pools.



For those of you out there still looking for pools to get in on, there are a few that come to mind. First off is a normal one, for most Canadians at least: Rogers Sportsnets Playoff Fantasy Hockey. The prizes are semi-decent - $500 at Boston Pizza and a $1,400 TV for first, and other prizes for 2nd to 5th as well as for 1st and 2nd in each individual round. If you're looking for a group to join after you sign up, go for group name "A A A a Sports Guy North" and the password is 123.

A couple of new pools that are new and interesting are on EBay.ca - EBays 2006 Playoff Hockey Pool, and on futureshop.ca - Future Shops Free Playoff Hockey Pool. The futureshop pool may not allow groups, but it does have great prizes. $25,000 worth to be exact. The EBay pool requires an EBay user ID, and awards $15,000 in prizes. If you're looking for a group there, go with League Name: EBayoffs and League Password: ebay. Each of the three pools is different in its own way, and offers great prizes. Between the three of them, there should enough to keep you until June, but if you know of any other good ones that I missed, feel free to let me know.

Rucchin of the Year Nominees

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions for Rucchin of the year, there were a lot this year. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the poll up on my site. As of right now, it looks like the nominees are going to be Cheechoo, Straka, Tucker, Carter, Morrison, Knuble and Kozlov. I think 7 nominees is more than enough. I might cut Tucker and Morrison out by tomorrow and get it down to 5. We'll see. If you disagree with the nominees, or if you have a favourite Rucchin not in the list, hurry up and make your opinions known. If no one makes a good case, then these will be your choices come tomorrow. Consider your vote wisely, we're actually going to be sending an award to the winner this year!