The Long Overdue Hockey Post
I spent about 90 percent of my working hours on Monday writing a 1,800-word feature on the state of Korean men's national hockey program (will run next week). After a rocky start, the story kind of wrote itself. Still, it was a long day over the keyboard.
So how do I decompress from all that writing? By writing more about hockey!
I just finished up my Raptors post. It's just past 1 a.m. Gonna do a quick one on my thoughts on hockey over the past few days.
Leafs vs. Canadiens in the Playoffs?
I touched briefly on our win over the Habs in the previous post. I watched the Raptors-Knicks game as the Leafs were playing. So I went back and watched the hockey game in its entirety because I wanted to watch the Canadiens and see what the hype was all about. We hadn't played them since the first day of the season in October and I hadn't seen the Habs' other games, either.
I must say I was pretty impressed with their game. This was a fast-paced game, lots of back-and-forth between the two teams. The 5-on-5 play was breathtaking, and in comparison, power plays actually slowed down the pace of the game. The Canadiens did a solid job controlling the neutral zone, but apparently not good enough to beat us, ha!
I can count in one hand the number of Leafs games I've missed this season. And I think the Canadiens are one of the few teams that can skate with us. They have decent forward depth, and Carey Price is a world-class goalie when healthy.
But I've already written before that I'd feel a lot more comfortable facing these guys than the Bruins in the opening round of the playoffs. And I think our OT win on HNIC validates my view.
The Habs may be able to skate with us, but they don't have our scoring depth up and down the lineup. If teams are trying to engage us in a track meet, then it will only play into our hands. We'd only be happy to play that kind of game.
(This is where I almost fell asleep on keyboards.. Resumed writing Tuesday evening.)
Teams like the Bruins can be a tough matchup because they slow the game down and they're more physical than the Habs. Their top line of Bergeron between Pastrnak and Marchand is a far tougher matchup for JT line than the Habs' top uni of Drouin-Danault-Gallagher. I guess the Habs have better secondary scoring but our bottom-six guys can handle them in a seven-game series, I think.
Because the teams used to be in different conferences, and because they were almost never contending at the same time when they ended up in the same conference, the Leafs and the Habs haven't met in the playoffs for quite some time. I just looked it up, and we've played the bad guys 15 times in the playoffs, and not since 1979.
The league would certainly like the showdown. I'd be up for it. I don't have quite the hatred for the Habs that I have for the Senators, but I know it will be a different story come playoff time. After all, I didn't used to have any feelings whatsoever toward the Sens until we met in the playoffs in the early 2000s (and crushed them, too).
Bob Cole's Last Game in Toronto
Bob Cole called his final game in Toronto last week against the Senators. Because he's been calling the game for so long, hockey fans across many generations are familiar with him and grew up listening to him on Hockey Night in Canada. The man is an institution.
I certainly have my Bob Cole memories. But more so than the NHL games, my favorite Bob Cole moments came in the Olympics.
Canada's win over the U.S. in the 2002 Olympic gold medal game is my No. 1 sporting moment. I think it's going to take a championship win by a Toronto team to top that. Anyway, Cole was at the top of his game in the gold medal game, just like our boys in red and white.
Oh man, I still get chills watching these goals. Love Cole's call on Sakic's final goal. "Surely, that's gotta be it!"
Now, I hate to be so critical of the legendary broadcaster, but it was painful to listen to his call on the Leafs-Sens game. He was often behind plays. And even though this was a Leafs broadcast, he sounded way too subdued on Leafs goals. He didn't even identify Leafs goal scorers, and he called it like this was a Senators game. I suppose this is so because he has called more Senators games than Leafs games recently.
(Ironically, I found this online petition to get Cole off the Sens playoff games. Not sure when this was, but probably a couple of years ago when they reached the Eastern finals.)
Vin Scully can call baseball games even as he's approaching 90 because the pace of the game is slow enough. Hockey is a different animal. If you lose your edge as you age, it's a tough game to call.
And as far as I am concerned, Cole has clearly seen better days in the booth.
So how do I decompress from all that writing? By writing more about hockey!
I just finished up my Raptors post. It's just past 1 a.m. Gonna do a quick one on my thoughts on hockey over the past few days.
Leafs vs. Canadiens in the Playoffs?
I touched briefly on our win over the Habs in the previous post. I watched the Raptors-Knicks game as the Leafs were playing. So I went back and watched the hockey game in its entirety because I wanted to watch the Canadiens and see what the hype was all about. We hadn't played them since the first day of the season in October and I hadn't seen the Habs' other games, either.
I must say I was pretty impressed with their game. This was a fast-paced game, lots of back-and-forth between the two teams. The 5-on-5 play was breathtaking, and in comparison, power plays actually slowed down the pace of the game. The Canadiens did a solid job controlling the neutral zone, but apparently not good enough to beat us, ha!
I can count in one hand the number of Leafs games I've missed this season. And I think the Canadiens are one of the few teams that can skate with us. They have decent forward depth, and Carey Price is a world-class goalie when healthy.
But I've already written before that I'd feel a lot more comfortable facing these guys than the Bruins in the opening round of the playoffs. And I think our OT win on HNIC validates my view.
The Habs may be able to skate with us, but they don't have our scoring depth up and down the lineup. If teams are trying to engage us in a track meet, then it will only play into our hands. We'd only be happy to play that kind of game.
(This is where I almost fell asleep on keyboards.. Resumed writing Tuesday evening.)
Teams like the Bruins can be a tough matchup because they slow the game down and they're more physical than the Habs. Their top line of Bergeron between Pastrnak and Marchand is a far tougher matchup for JT line than the Habs' top uni of Drouin-Danault-Gallagher. I guess the Habs have better secondary scoring but our bottom-six guys can handle them in a seven-game series, I think.
Because the teams used to be in different conferences, and because they were almost never contending at the same time when they ended up in the same conference, the Leafs and the Habs haven't met in the playoffs for quite some time. I just looked it up, and we've played the bad guys 15 times in the playoffs, and not since 1979.
The league would certainly like the showdown. I'd be up for it. I don't have quite the hatred for the Habs that I have for the Senators, but I know it will be a different story come playoff time. After all, I didn't used to have any feelings whatsoever toward the Sens until we met in the playoffs in the early 2000s (and crushed them, too).
Bob Cole's Last Game in Toronto
Bob Cole called his final game in Toronto last week against the Senators. Because he's been calling the game for so long, hockey fans across many generations are familiar with him and grew up listening to him on Hockey Night in Canada. The man is an institution.
I certainly have my Bob Cole memories. But more so than the NHL games, my favorite Bob Cole moments came in the Olympics.
Canada's win over the U.S. in the 2002 Olympic gold medal game is my No. 1 sporting moment. I think it's going to take a championship win by a Toronto team to top that. Anyway, Cole was at the top of his game in the gold medal game, just like our boys in red and white.
Oh man, I still get chills watching these goals. Love Cole's call on Sakic's final goal. "Surely, that's gotta be it!"
Now, I hate to be so critical of the legendary broadcaster, but it was painful to listen to his call on the Leafs-Sens game. He was often behind plays. And even though this was a Leafs broadcast, he sounded way too subdued on Leafs goals. He didn't even identify Leafs goal scorers, and he called it like this was a Senators game. I suppose this is so because he has called more Senators games than Leafs games recently.
(Ironically, I found this online petition to get Cole off the Sens playoff games. Not sure when this was, but probably a couple of years ago when they reached the Eastern finals.)
Vin Scully can call baseball games even as he's approaching 90 because the pace of the game is slow enough. Hockey is a different animal. If you lose your edge as you age, it's a tough game to call.
And as far as I am concerned, Cole has clearly seen better days in the booth.
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