You Win Some

Try to keep things in perspective. I guess that's the moral of the story.

Last night, Colton Orr's game-winning goal was admittedly one of the most abhorrent, vile, revolting - and hilarious - missed calls that any sleazy, insecure reporter with no friends can ever remember.

Here's some perspective: That's Versteeg making contact with the puck, right around cross-bar height, but well below shoulder height, which is all it needs to be for him to legally knock it to the ice and then legally play it into the net. Which he does. Except - no goal. The Leafs do eventually tie the game, but then the Islanders score on the powerplay in overtime after the Leafs are assessed - get this - a goaltender interference penalty.

One of the great calamities in recent NHL history.

Imagine dancing around like their team deserved the goal and the win! It's amazing these nitwits can live with themselves.

Here's a remarkbly similar goal which proves that pitchforking a goalie into the net is indeed a legal tactic, and I think that the Leafs are not employing it nearly enough.

I love GRBRZRKR's spirited reaction in that one compared to Toskala's stunning apathy from the previous year. Clearly, and so dishearteningly, we kept the wrong goalie two summers ago. (Glove tap to Jared and Clawson for reminding me of these two plays and making me find them.)

Here's one that's eerily similar to Tim Brent's second goal. Puck in goalie's glove. Goalie's glove in the net behind the goalpost. Except - no goal.

Oh well. That's the way she goes. What goes around comes around. Sometimes the lucky bounces don't go your way, but it all balances out right? Over an infinite number of years? I can wait that long. I guess I'd rather have all my bad luck when we have a bad team and it doesn't matter so much, and then collect on the good karma when our team is a contender. I really hope that's what's happening now.

This is my favourite way to get screwed. It's called Intent to Blow. It means it doesn't matter if the puck goes in the net before the whistle, if the referee, in retrospect, wished it hadn't.

The point of all this is, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and sometimes you get screwed. No one should ever act like Leaf fans don't know what that's like. And most Leaf fans are aware they aren't the only victims of NHL ineptitude. Seems every team gets their (un)fair share. Just search on youtube for "disallowed goal NHL" and you'll find every team has their own little collection. Some of them are astounding, and some impact so heavily, like Brett Hull's skate in the crease, that they become a part of the folklore that drives their underdog image, their sense of destiny and purpose, or their desire to win.

Every year there's controversy, and every team has their list of complaints. But our list belongs to us and it's our right to vent and scream when we feel cheated. We'll defend the home side, same as anyone else, and so we should, and so should they. That's all part of cheering for your team and not being a passive, neutral observer.

It's part of the game and it happens to everyone, but it always sucks when it happens to you. It's senseless to dwell on it, but it takes more then a few make-up calls or lucky breaks the other way for things to feel repaired and fair and square. Eventually the frustration will pass, and winning definitely helps, but for certain dubious and unscrupolous events, only a Stanley Cup could make us ever truly forget.

You win some, you lose some. And what goes around comes around, we can only hope.

Dion "Difference Maker" Phaneuf

Since February 1st and the arrival of Dion Phaneuf - and the departure of Stajan, White, Hagman, Mayers, Blake, and Toskala - the Leafs have been clearly a different team. We've seen a few let-down games, but overall, the new, younger Leafs look energized, hard-working, and hungry.

Phaneuf has now played 15 games for the Blue and White. The Leafs record in that time, thanks to 5 wins in their last 6 games, including Thursday's shoot-out victory over the Devils, is 8-6-1, 17 points in 15 games, a .566 winning percentage. On pace for 92.9 points over an 82 game schedule. That's fairly promising considering this is only the beginning.

Phaneuf might not be having the offensive impact that people imagined - yet to hit the back of the net after 45 shots, with just 4 assists - but other newcomers are filling in the scoring gap created by the Jan-31st-Overhaul. Sjostrom has 2 assists after 8 games, Lundmark has 3 points after 10, and Caputi has 5 points already in just 9 games as a Leaf. The team's 40 goals-for in the last 15 games (2.66) is exactly in line with what it was for the first 56 games of the season (146) at 2.6 per game. The bigger difference is in the goals-against, which has gone down from 3.3 (185) in the first 56 games before Phaneuf, to 2.6 (39 goals) allowed in 15 games after.

For the month of March, Gustavsson is 4-0, with a .920 SV% and 2.16 Goals-Against. Kulemin has 9 points in the last 10 games. Grabovski returned to the line-up with a 5-game point streak and is a +3.

Kessel has 17 points in 15 games since Phaneuf came aboard. Bozak has 13 points in the last 15 games. Gunnarsson is a +9 over that same period, and Luke Schenn has scored 7 points and is a +3. Even Jeff Finger is a +3 in 7 appearances since Dion came to town.

About the only player who hasn't benefited from the turnover is Kaberle, with just 4 points and a -6 since Phaneuf's arrival. A combination of fatigue, unfamiliarity, fewer opportunities with less ice-time, and a little bit of bad luck, has seen Kabby's once consistent point-production fall off the side of a cliff.

"It's not just about the points, it's about the two points at the end of the night."

-Kaberle, March 14th

I like that quote. As long as WE get the two points, that is. Doesn't help much if they get the two points.

However, a player's lack of on-ice production can be counter-balanced positively - by the way the player perseveres, by the encouragement that they give their teammates, and by the enthusiasm they bring to their next assignment or opportunity. Even if their names don't appear on the scoresheet, we know who they are - we call these players difference-makers.

And now some Leafs Trivia to end this post with: Name the only 3 Maple Leafs who have appeared in all 71 games thus far this season... The answer: Tomas Kaberle, Francois Beauchemin, and... did you know it? - Colton Orr. That's right. Orr has skated on the ice for every game and has yet to lose his spot in the line-up or miss any action due to injury. Having recently surpassed 200 penalty minutes, I'd have to say that he's doing his job, and doing it well. Definitely want him back next year. Nice job, Cowboy Colt.

Rowdy Grabbo And Cowboy Colt

Just wanted to share something funny I noticed thanks to a comment by DGB at, where else, PensionPlanPuppets.

"When did Grabbo turn into Roddy Rowdy Piper?"

Well, if Grabbo is Rowdy Roddy Piper, then Colton Orr must be Cowboy Bob Orton.





















The resemblance is striking and the roles are about the same.
"We're real men... We're the kind of people that come out to fight."

Should be a fun year with Rowdy Grabbo stirring things up like a hilariously popular super-villain now that he has a bodyguard in Cowboy Colton Orr to stand in his corner and watch his back. We may not win every match, but at least our rivals will hate us even more, and we will always, always, have the last laugh.