Getting Away with One
Been a busy time around these parts. In Korea, school starts in March. My second one is now in first grade, and the first one moved up to second grade. This is the time of the year when Korean parents with young students are scrambling to get their kids ready, whether it's buying new supplies or making sure they won't get lost, etc, etc.
Both of my kids are in school now. That makes me feel rather old. Well, I am not a young pup by any stretch of imagination, but still...
And watching the Leafs and the Raptors since my last post has accelerated my aging process.
For HNIC, the Leafs came home, the fans gave John Tavares a Standing O during pre-game introduction after he got the rough treatment in his old stomping ground, and JT went on to score a goal in a 5-3 win over the Sabres.
Then the boys got off to a rousing start on the West Coast trip today, torching the Flames 6-2 behind Tyler Ennis' first career hat trick.
I've written a couple of times about how much I like having Ennis on our fourth line and how he could be a top-six forward on other teams. No one is more excited to see him score 3 than I am!
Also, Hyman scored twice. He now has a career-high 16 goals. He had one beautiful goal vs. Isles wiped out last week, and it was good to see him get a couple and connect so well with Mitch.
A lot to like about this one, from those goals to Freddie Andersen's excellent outing to fellow fans chanting "Fred-die!" and "Go Leafs Go!" in Calgary. Lots of blue sweaters in the stands. This was our first W over a quality opponent since beating the Knights in Vegas on Valentine's Days.
(We beat Montreal on HNIC last month but obviously, I don't regard the Habs as a quality opponent.)
The final score can be a bit deceiving, though. Freddie deserved all the chants he got in this one, as he cooly and calmly turned aside one quality chance after another. This game could have been a lot closer.
He made 35 saves in all and Austin Czarnik, who was apparently pursued by the Leafs during the offseason, had a couple of really good chances that he probably should have converted.
What I like the most about Freddie, and I am sure a lot of fans will agree with this point, is that he never seems to be rattled even when he faces a barrage of shots. And on the flip side, he also never seems to get too excited when he makes highlight-reel saves. If the score is hidden from the screen you're watching, you'd never know if the Leafs were leading or trailing by the look of Freddie's face or his demeanor.
I guess there are certain advantages to being an overly emotional goalie like Patrick Roy or Eddie Belfour. As long as they don't allow their emotions affect their play in net, it could be beneficial to the team.
It's just a personal preference, but I'd rather have a calm and quiet type like Freddie. I am a bit old school that way.
After watching today's game with so many of our fans in Calgary, attending a Toronto team's game at an away rink/arena/ballpark just moved up my sports fan bucket list.
I've never done that before and it just looks so cool on TV whenever I see Toronto fans stand up and acknowledge each other after goals and runs, etc, etc.
With the Leafs, tickets are really hard to get in T.O. and they're super expensive, too. I'd imagine it won't be terribly hard to get into games for, say, Florida Panthers, even with all those Canadians "snowbirds."
I love watching the Jays play in Seattle because those games always feel like home games. When the Raptors visited the Pistons the other day, there were quite a bit of "Let's Go Raptors!" chants, too. I'd love to have that experience.
Speaking of the Pistons, Dwane Casey handed it to us on his new home court, beating his old team 112-107 Monday morning here.
It was the kids' first day of school. Naturally, I couldn't watch the whole game. (I'd like to think I have my priorities set in times like this.) Since it was an OT loss and we blew some chances to win this thing, I didn't bother going back to rewatch it.
First, Orlando (another ugly loss that I also didn't rewatch) and now Detroit, two clearly inferior teams giving us all we can handle.
We had such a tough schedule earlier in the season that we'll now have the second easiest schedule, behind the Jazz, the rest of the season, based on the opponents' winning percentage. We're almost down going on the road out west, too.
Still, the team is keeping Kawhi out of action for "load management" purposes (I don't think I've ever heard that term before this season, and maybe it's because no Raptor has ever needed that before).
Having him all locked and loaded for the playoffs is the goal, and I understand that. But I feel like he's had enough rest already, unless the Raptors are hiding some sort of a lingering injury and Kawhi can't play with just one day off between games. We have a lot of new pieces in place now and every game down the stretch is an opportunity for the team to develop cohesion for the playoffs. I am afraid those opportunities are being wasted at the expense of trying to keep Kawhi fresh and healthy.
I guess you have to make sacrifices either way. If Kawhi keeps playing, there are obvious health risks. But if he sits too much and starts missing games that aren't the second end of a back-to-back, then the he won't get as many in-game reps with the likes of Gasol and Lin as he probably should.
Then again, these guys are professionals. They know what they're doing. At least I hope they do!
Both of my kids are in school now. That makes me feel rather old. Well, I am not a young pup by any stretch of imagination, but still...
And watching the Leafs and the Raptors since my last post has accelerated my aging process.
For HNIC, the Leafs came home, the fans gave John Tavares a Standing O during pre-game introduction after he got the rough treatment in his old stomping ground, and JT went on to score a goal in a 5-3 win over the Sabres.
Then the boys got off to a rousing start on the West Coast trip today, torching the Flames 6-2 behind Tyler Ennis' first career hat trick.
I've written a couple of times about how much I like having Ennis on our fourth line and how he could be a top-six forward on other teams. No one is more excited to see him score 3 than I am!
Also, Hyman scored twice. He now has a career-high 16 goals. He had one beautiful goal vs. Isles wiped out last week, and it was good to see him get a couple and connect so well with Mitch.
A lot to like about this one, from those goals to Freddie Andersen's excellent outing to fellow fans chanting "Fred-die!" and "Go Leafs Go!" in Calgary. Lots of blue sweaters in the stands. This was our first W over a quality opponent since beating the Knights in Vegas on Valentine's Days.
(We beat Montreal on HNIC last month but obviously, I don't regard the Habs as a quality opponent.)
The final score can be a bit deceiving, though. Freddie deserved all the chants he got in this one, as he cooly and calmly turned aside one quality chance after another. This game could have been a lot closer.
He made 35 saves in all and Austin Czarnik, who was apparently pursued by the Leafs during the offseason, had a couple of really good chances that he probably should have converted.
What I like the most about Freddie, and I am sure a lot of fans will agree with this point, is that he never seems to be rattled even when he faces a barrage of shots. And on the flip side, he also never seems to get too excited when he makes highlight-reel saves. If the score is hidden from the screen you're watching, you'd never know if the Leafs were leading or trailing by the look of Freddie's face or his demeanor.
I guess there are certain advantages to being an overly emotional goalie like Patrick Roy or Eddie Belfour. As long as they don't allow their emotions affect their play in net, it could be beneficial to the team.
It's just a personal preference, but I'd rather have a calm and quiet type like Freddie. I am a bit old school that way.
After watching today's game with so many of our fans in Calgary, attending a Toronto team's game at an away rink/arena/ballpark just moved up my sports fan bucket list.
I've never done that before and it just looks so cool on TV whenever I see Toronto fans stand up and acknowledge each other after goals and runs, etc, etc.
With the Leafs, tickets are really hard to get in T.O. and they're super expensive, too. I'd imagine it won't be terribly hard to get into games for, say, Florida Panthers, even with all those Canadians "snowbirds."
I love watching the Jays play in Seattle because those games always feel like home games. When the Raptors visited the Pistons the other day, there were quite a bit of "Let's Go Raptors!" chants, too. I'd love to have that experience.
Speaking of the Pistons, Dwane Casey handed it to us on his new home court, beating his old team 112-107 Monday morning here.
It was the kids' first day of school. Naturally, I couldn't watch the whole game. (I'd like to think I have my priorities set in times like this.) Since it was an OT loss and we blew some chances to win this thing, I didn't bother going back to rewatch it.
First, Orlando (another ugly loss that I also didn't rewatch) and now Detroit, two clearly inferior teams giving us all we can handle.
We had such a tough schedule earlier in the season that we'll now have the second easiest schedule, behind the Jazz, the rest of the season, based on the opponents' winning percentage. We're almost down going on the road out west, too.
Still, the team is keeping Kawhi out of action for "load management" purposes (I don't think I've ever heard that term before this season, and maybe it's because no Raptor has ever needed that before).
Having him all locked and loaded for the playoffs is the goal, and I understand that. But I feel like he's had enough rest already, unless the Raptors are hiding some sort of a lingering injury and Kawhi can't play with just one day off between games. We have a lot of new pieces in place now and every game down the stretch is an opportunity for the team to develop cohesion for the playoffs. I am afraid those opportunities are being wasted at the expense of trying to keep Kawhi fresh and healthy.
I guess you have to make sacrifices either way. If Kawhi keeps playing, there are obvious health risks. But if he sits too much and starts missing games that aren't the second end of a back-to-back, then the he won't get as many in-game reps with the likes of Gasol and Lin as he probably should.
Then again, these guys are professionals. They know what they're doing. At least I hope they do!
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