nhl lockout & the leafs

The NHL lockout has come to an end. I guess we will see the effects south of the border during the course of the shortened season, but every Canadian city will be fine. We're gonna have to see which American market will be hurt the most, maybe Anaheim? Dallas? Or Phoenix, if they can be hurt anymore? I don't think the American markets will be affected as much as analysts are thinking. Some of the league's loudest fans are in hockey crazed markets in the US. If you don't believe me, check out a game in Chicago or Madison Square Garden, home of the Rangers. I know, obviously original 6 teams (add the crazy Red Wings and Bruins fans to the mix) will be fine, but what about non-traditional hockey markets? Los Angeles, the defending champs should have no problem selling seats, while their Bay Area neighbours to the North in San Jose have notoriously been some of the most passionate fans in the league. Nashville and more recently St. Louis have been icing some great, competitive teams, and in turn fan interest has been extremely high. The Minnesota Wild made a huge splash landing the best defenceman and forward on the free agent market, Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, respectively, immediately vaulting them from the middle of the pack to the elite of the Western Conference. Philly and Pittsburgh have a rabid, menacing (ok, just Flyers fans are menacing) groups of fans, who are as loud and knowledgeable as any in the league. Anyways, point being, a few markets will suffer, but I wouldn't worry about the stability of the league in the United States. Bottom line is, if you like hockey, it is the best league in the World with the best players, and you will be back.

The Toronto Maple Leafs. Alright, so game on. We all know the playoff drought and the franchise mediocrity since 2004's lockout (and the terrible Leaf teams of the 80s). How will this Leaf season be any different you might ask. Well, who knows? If the first 42 games of last season are a sample, they look pretty good. The last half on the other hand, was an epic collapse of a team that was in contention for the better part of a season. Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul were incredible during the first half, and still good in the second, with Kessel netting a team leading 37 goals, adding 45 assist for 82 points (6th in the NHL). The Leafs were able to acquire an impact forward, former Flyer James Van Riemsdyk. Coach Randy Carlyle said he was going to try hit new winger at centre, presumably between Kessel and Lupul, who tucked in 25 goals himself in an injury shortened 66 game season. The second line should be interesting. The Clarke MacArthur-Nik Kulemin-Mikhail Grabovski unit was the Leafs best two seasons ago, but last year Kulemin and MacArthur regressed. I would imagine Matt Frattin will put some pressure on Leafs coaches to be promoted to the second line. He is a great young player who probably deserves to start the season on the second line and hopefully will. Matt Frattin has got 16 points in 20 games with the Marlies this season, and last season he had 10 goals in 13 playoff games.

The defence is looking pretty sharp, despite dispatching Luke Schenn to Philly for Van Riemsdyk. Captain Dion Phaneuf had a great season last year, making significantly less bonehead plays. By the end of the season, holes in his game were beginning to show and finished with a -10 plus/minus rating. However, the captain got more points last year than his first season and a half in Toronto, setting up or scoring much bigger goals. The shortened season may actually play pretty well in Phaneuf's favour, since he was one of the first half's best defencemen. THe captain netted 12 goals and 32 assists over a full 82 game campaign. His partner is Jake Gardiner, who Don Cherry recently called him the best player he has ever seen play in the AHL. Not that Don's opinion really matters, but he could be right. He has scored 9 goals in 22 games this season with the Marlies with a mere 6 penalty minutes. He isn't the toughest guy on the team, but he certainly isn't a pushover. Jake also tallied 11 points in 17 playoff games last season in the Marlies run to the Calder Cup Finals. The second pair of Carl Gunnerson and John-Michael Liles will probably play a lot of minutes against their opponents top lines, with Liles, a power play specialist set to anchor the team's attack on the man advantage. Having Mike Komisarek, his contract aside, on your bottom pairing means you have some depth on D, and is paired with Cody Franson - who is still actually unsigned, and with Mark Fraser, Mike Kostka and Korbinian Holzer breathing down his neck, the sixth d-man could be anyone of the above bodies. Franson's first season in Toronto was painful. He wasn't horrible or anything, but with his skill set he should have been a whole lot better. 

Goaltending is still Toronto's biggest area of concern. James Reimer had a stellar rookie campaign going 20-10 with a .921 save percentage and 2.60 goals against average. Last season, his first full season as the starter, Reims save percentage dropped to .900 and his goals against jumped to over 3 a game. Marlies goaltender Ben Scrivens is 14-7 this season with the farm team, but has yet to establish himself at an NHL level. Luongo to Toronto still a possibility? Let's hope not, but it is no guff that the Leafs want/need a goalie, and Luongo/the Canucks want to break up. Hopefully the Leafs will continue to explore the possibility of the Kings excellent backup Jonathan Bernier, who would be a starter on almost any other team, but plays behind Jonathan Quick, one of the best in the biz. Quick just got off minor back surgery, and although he is cleared to play, the Kings are going to hold on to both of them. 

Whatever the length of the season happens to be, at least it promises to be exciting right from the start, with each game being crucial in the shortened season. Let's play some puck!

[didn't proofread.. tired. sorry for typos and autocorrects!]

world juniors 2013

Still no NHL. I think we're over it anyways. Quite often the best hockey of the year (at least in Toronto) is during the World Junior Tournament that kicks off every boxing day. The games, officially known as "2013 Ice Hockey U20 World Championship, are being held is Russia, who host the tournament after losing the Gold medal game to Sweden in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta last year. Canada placed third, winning the bronze medal game against Finland following a semi-final loss to the Russians. Their long time rivals came out of the gates full speed ahead and built up a 6-1 lead at the midway mark of the third period. The Canadians finally got their game going, 50 minutes too late, losing the game 6-5 after potting three quick goals to give Team Russia a scare. It was the first time Canada hadn't played in the gold medal game in 11 years. This year, the Canadians are sending out locked out Oiler young gun Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (who scored 18 goals in 62 games during his rookie NHL season) to captain a team that features six returnees, but is overall, a young team (relative terms for an under 20 event). But since the third place was the worst showing since 2001's bronze, change may not be the worst thing. A potential issue for team Canada is that if the NHL lockout resolves itself then four of their returnees will have to go back to their NHL clubs. Some owners are fine with their rookies playing for their country, others not so much. The final rosters must be submitted on Christmas day and no player can be added to the roster after said date. If we lose Nugent-Hopkins (Oilers), Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers), Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets), Dougie Hamilton (Boston Bruins) and Ryan Strome (New York Islanders), we could be in for a rough ride. The loss of the veterans would definitely be a tough blow, but a shortened bench for the playoff round of the tournament would be the main  obstacle to overcome. The NHL, in lieu of angering anymore Canadians, might want to wait until after the Juniors until they resolve their player-owner CBA bickering. 

Phil Housley, seven time NHL All-Star, takes the reigns of an American squad that's coming off their worst finish in the tournament since 1999's 8th place finish. Their roster this season only has three returnees: Kitchener Rangers/Anaheim Ducks' pick John Gibson, U of Michigan/Winnipeg Jets' pick Jacob Trouba, and the New York Rangers' first rounder in 2011 J.T. Miller, who is the only one actually playing pro hockey now, with the Rangers AHL affiliate, Conneticut Whale. In fact, all but three players on the Americans roster have been drafted by an NHL team and that's only because two of them aren't draft eligible until 2013. Toronto Maple Leafs goalie prospect Garrett Sparks and current Guelph Storm netminder is trying to make the squad, as is Leaf first round pick Tyler Biggs, who currently with the Oshawa Generals. The Americans have some big punishing D-men in the backend, not to mention all three of their goalies are huge, they are going to make it tough to get pucks to the net. 

Sweden makes its first trip to the tournament as defending champions since 1982. The hallmark of Sweden over the last few years of the tournament has been their phenomenal goaltending. This year is no exception with Erie Otters goalie and Blue Jackets draft pick Oscar Dansk manning the pipes. That if he gets the starters job… Niklas Lundström, a veteran of the Swedish national stage, put up amazing numbers in the IIHF U18 tournament in 2011 and is currently playing for AIK in the Swedish Elite League. Upfront the team has some returning firepower despite losing leading scorer Max Friberg (he's now 20). Returnee Filip Forsberg, Washington's first round pick will be a player to watch for his creativity, explosive shot and great two way play. Sweden's main concern may be in the back end, with no returning members from their championship squad from a year ago, but have a great two way defenceman named Hampus Lindholm, currently of the Norfolk Admirals in the AHL and the Ducks first round pick last year, who could be their anchor.

It will be a great tournament. It always is. The Russians are perennial favourites and hosts; no one should take them lightly. Not to mention the Czecs and Fins always ice some very tough teams… Canadians can click HERE for TSN's broadcast schedule of the tournament and here's your 2013 Canadian World Juniors (NHL team in parentheses):

GOALIES:

Jordan Binnington, Owen Sound Attack (St. Louis)

Jake Paterson, Saginaw Spirit (Detroit)

Malcolm Subban, Belleville Bulls (Boston)

DEFENSEMEN:

Dougie Hamilton, Niagara Ice Dogs (Boston)

Scott Harrington, London Knights (Pittsburgh)

Ryan Murphy, Kitchener Rangers (Carolina)

Xavier Ouellet, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (Detroit)

Griffin Reinhart, Edmonton Oil Kings (New York Islanders)

Morgan Reilly, Moose Jaw Warriors (Toronto)

Tyler Wotherspoon, Portland Winterhawks (Calgary)

FORWARDS:

Anthony Camara, Barrie Colts (Boston)

Phillip Danault, Victoriaville Tigres (Chicago)

Jonathan Drouin, Halifax Mooseheads (2013 Draft)

Jonathan Huberdeau, Saint John Sea Dogs (Florida)

Charles Hudon, Chicoutimi Sagueneens (Montreal)

Boone Jenner, Oshawa Generals (Columbus)

J.C. Lipon, Kamloops Blazers (2013 Draft)

Nathan MacKinnon, Halifax Mooseheads (2013 Draft)

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Oklahoma City Barons (Edmonton)

Ty Rattie, Portland Winterhawks (St. Louis)

Brett Ritchie, Niagara Ice Dogs (Dallas)

Mark Scheifele, Barrie Colts (Winnipeg)

Ryan Strome, Niagara Ice Dogs (New York Islanders)

Added treat... 1987 tourney… Canada and Russia. If you know, then you know! Can you say double disqualification? 

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news feeds nov 5

The election down south is just a few days away and the race is too close to call. Obama and Mitt are neck and neck going down to the wire. Not that it matters, and it shouldn't sway voters, but Obama is getting way better celebrity backers. If you listen to what any celebrity who isn't schooled in such affairs, and don't take it as opinion, well, just.. good luck. I'm not saying that nothing good comes out of it though. Will Ferrell will do anything to get your vote. Jay Z has 99 problems and a Mitt ain't one. I don't live in the U.S. so I don't care all that much, but since they are right in our backyard (or front yard?) what happens down there will affect us somehow someway eventually so I have to care just a little bit. I don't know the fine print of the candidates platforms, and I couldn't make valid arguments one way or another for either candidate anymore than the candidates themselves can find a solution to the perpetually slumping American economy. I'm just saying, if you can give Bush eight years, you can give Obama the same.

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Canadians get to revel in the release of the latest polymer bank note, the $20 bill! On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada will begin circulating the new $20 bill, the most widely circulated of all bills in the country. In late 2012, the Bank of Canada issued the $100 bill as a polymer bill first, ahead of new $50 note unveiling in March. The 10$ and $5 bills will be issued in the new format by the end of 2013. There has been criticism of the new bills. They do not tear, that comes as advertised, but they do appear to melt, or fuse together, like if you have two notes in your wallet and you sit on the bus or something. Just don't roll like a hustler. There is also reports of optical lens in bank machines not picking up the new bills, dispensing money unknowingly to super stoked and potentially dishonest customers, causing major headaches for some retailers. The bottom line is it doesn't look like Monopoly money anymore. It looks like plastic Monopoly money. 

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Gross and inappropriate alert.

Want to bone Justin Beiber? Who doesn't? At long last, a Biebs sex doll is on the market. The plastic, bi-sexual (really?.. it's a doll) blowup sex doll was made by Pipedream Products and is available for purchase on Amazon, prices ranging from $20-$138. The description is the best part since you can't make this stuff up: "When he's not busy beating up paparazzi or beating off, he's up to his high-tops in hot Hollywood tail! But the Beave-ster doesn't have this effect just on women - he turns straight men gay faster than you can peel his skinny jeans off! So what are you waiting for, inflate this lil' pricks ego even more and have your very own Beaver bash!" Justin's name is actually used, it is cleverly disguised as Just-In Beaver, I'm just going to assume to avoid legal issue. Ya, so… ya. Enjoy?

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Phone photographers, at long last, Instagram is available on your desktop in the way of actual profiles. You still have to take the pictures from your phone, but others can view your photos from any device. Instagram said it will be launching profiles for all users in the next week with your (or my) address being http://instagram.com/[user name]. "We're launching Web profiles to give you a simple way to share your photos with more people and to make it easier to discover new users on the web, " the company said in a blogpost. Instagram was launched in 2010 and currently has 100 million registered users. On September 6 this year, a deal that had been in the works since April finally closed, with Facebook absorbing Instagram, and its thirteen employees for a $1 billion cash and stock deal. The program allows you to upload photos from your phone, then apply a filter to it, all while confining it to a square shape similar to the Kodak Instamatic and the classic Polaroid photo with the white border. 

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Have you lost weeks of your life to Civilization 2? If not, you might not want to read on due to the degree of nerdiness. Anyways, I played this game for hours at a time in my early teen years, on the family's first (at least fully functional) computer, a Pentium I with a whopping 75MHz clock speed. Didn't matter, the game ran, and I could stream albums with my Real Media Player. Wow, did the Real Player ever sound like crap. I listened to Offspring's "Smash" and Propagandhi's "How To Clean Everything" about a million times while playing until the early morning hours. Then I just stopped playing for whatever reason (girls), and didn't play it for probably ten years until I saw it floating around a newsgroup, so I immediately downloaded it. There have been many a sequel to Civilization II, played 'em, but for some reason CIV2 hass the perfect mix of simplicity of graphics and complexity of game play to make it my favourite. There is a gentlemen over on tumblr who has been playing the same game of Civ for 10 years. He swears that he does have a life, and has other games on the go, but always goes back to check out his game that he has played all the way until the year 3991 (the game stops keeping score/ends in 2020 if you don't land your spaceship before then). He goes by the tumblr handle Lycerius, and said his world is down to three nations, dwindling resources, and is severely polluted from all the nuclear wars. "Peace seems to be impossible. Every time a cease fire is signed, the Vikings will surprise attack me or the Americans the very next turn, often with nuclear weapons. Even when the UN forces a peace treaty. So I can only assure that peace will come only when they are wiped out. It is this that perpetuates the war ad infinitum." The war has been going on for 1700 years (in game time), and the constant nuclear bombardment has melted the worlds ice caps over and over making it impossible to farm on. Game creator Sid Meier had this to say of the gamer: "There's no way we could have tested for this. I can't say that we ever though anyone would play a game of Civ for that long. It's exciting a fan of the series would dedicate 10 years to playing one continuous game." Once he is done wiping out the wretched American and Viking civilizations he plans to rebuild the World. "My goal for the next few years is to try and end the war and thus use the engineers to clear swamps and fallout so that farming may resume. I want to rebuild the world. But I'm not sure how." 

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Bad Religion's sixteenth full length, "True North" is slated for a January 22, 2013 release through guitarist Mr. Brett Gurewitz's Epitaph Records. The pre-sale is up on the BR site and they also released a track from the album as well. "True North" has 16 tracks so fast, melodic punk rock with not one of the track eclipsing three minutes. Bad Religion's last album was 2010's "Dissent Of Man." In other Los Angeles 1980's punk band news, the Descendents have a documentary coming out chronicling the bands history. It covers the bands early surf rock days as a three piece, the bands Milo-led lineup, the break up/re-group as ALL, then the reformation of the last (and classic) Descendents lineup. The band has released six albums as the Descendents, eight as ALL, and one as Tony All (original Descendents bassist Tony Lombardo's songs with Stephan, Karl and Bill as the backing band). Here's a trailer for the documentary "Filmage: The Story Of the Descendents/ALL":

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Seminal New York indie band Texas Is the Reason is set to play at Lee's Palace in Toronto on March 8, 2013. The band reunited earlier in the year to play the Revelation Records 25th Anniversary Show apparently sparked something in them and have lined up eight shows, most on the east coast omit shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles to close out the mini-tour. The band formed after Norm Arenas left former Youth Of Today vocalist Ray Cappo's project Shelter and teamed up with former 108 drummer Chris Daly to form a group that would leave behind the macho attitude and the religious preaching (Shelter and 108 were both Hare Krishna hardcore bands) of their former projects. The band released one full length "Do You Know Who You Are" after which the were heavily courted by major labels. Tension mounted within the band and they dissolved on the eve they were supposed to sign their first major label contract. Daly went on to play in Jets To Brazil and Arenas DJ'd in Chicago for a few years. Here's a song from their first EP:

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There is still a hockey lockout on. One year ago today, Tyler Seguin sniped his first career hat trick at the ACC against the Leafs scoring three goals of irony as the man he was traded for, Phil Kessel, sat on the bench watching. Bruins 7. Leafs 0. Compared to that score, the lockout doesn't hurt so much.

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bettman & fehr. you both suck

McDonald as captain of the Rockies

RE: The NHL lockout. The are enough reasons for any Maple Leafs fan, even the most optimistic, to be upset over the entire state of NHL hockey in Toronto.  The Maple Leafs haven't iced a quality team since before the lockout and have had a handful of decent teams (notably the early 2000s two final four appearances and a division title), and obviously the Dougie years which featured two straight final four appearances, but basically the team has been terrible since the they shipped star and fan favourite Lanny McDonald to the hapless Colorado Rockies in December 1979, also my birth year and month so I feel at least cosmically responsible (the deal also made Darryl Sittler turn in his captaincy and want out of T.O). But with the team failing to reach the playoffs between lockouts, I don't think the team has ever been in worse shape. No real identity and no direction. I stopped getting Leaf tickets two years ago since I was sick and tired of paying a couple thousand dollars for two seats 10-12 games in the upper bowl and then leave disappointed every time. Last year was the first season in years where I just said no to the prices, not that I'm being a cheap screw but if you aren't going to ice a decent team (or a downright embarrassing team sometimes) I don't know how you can justify raising the prices at the ACC that 1% every single season, especially when you easily lead the league in team revenue. Last year I got my puck fix at a handful of AHL games and not once did I come away feeling cheated. And that all I ask… you can lose, just don't be pathetic. Some Leaf analysts are insisting that the lockout may be a great thing for the team giving their core of younger talent another year of maturation. Well the lockout isn't good for anyone involved. The players, the fans, the workers at rinks all around the NHL, hell the parking lot guy. Oh and the perception that both the owners and players are greedy pigs isn't helping. The NHL has made great strides in the US market since the last lockout and all that good work could become undone since a lot of Americans are much more casual fan (speaking in generalities of course - check out the fans in Boston and Philly to name a couple hockey crazy cities) they will simply just tune into something else. It is the opposite to the baseball lockout in Canada, where casual fans turned away (two years removed from winning a World Series in Toronto no less) and haven't ever come back. The difference is baseball can survive without Canadian support, I'm just not sure that the NHL can survive without that of the United States... SO JUST PLAY HOCKEY

-Disgruntled NHL/Maple Leafs fan

Remember that time two shorts years ago when hockey was about perfect:

news feeds august 17

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All three members of Russian female punk band Pussy Riot have been sentenced to two years in prison after screaming in protest "Mother Mary, please drive Putin away" in Christ Savior Cathedral, one of the biggest churches in Moscow. The three young women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich have already served five months in detention which will count towards their sentence. The judge found them guilty of 'hooliganism motivated by religious hatred', and was convinced they intended to insult the church and undermine public order. The support in Russia for them to be freed was a paltry 5% in a recent poll, even with heavyweights like Madonna lending her support. People have been more sympathetic in other countries, with rallies at 2PM Moscow time (6AM EST) in many major cities, and right here in Toronto a protest begun a noon today at the Russian consulate at Bloor and Church streets.  A call me juvenile, I like hearing straight faced news reporters saying Pussy Riot. 

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Remember how the late Steve Jobs' mansion was broken into a few weeks back? Well, his personal iPad has wound up in the hands of a clown. Kenny the Clown, a San Francisco area entertainer, was given the tablet by a friend who is now charged with burglary (along with the iPad he got away with iPods, Macs, jewelry and Jobs' wallet) and is due in court on Monday. Kenneth Kahn, his non-clown alias, loaded it up with songs to use in his act, but not once took a look through the photos or anything else on the device. The police had to confiscate the iPad. The clown, who had a sad face painted on the following day, went back to work with his Blackberry Playbook which crashed after playing 33 seconds of "Play That Funky Music."

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A well known activist in the Santa Monica area is suing the city because she says the city's new parking meters' wireless signal is deteriorating her health. Denise Barton's symptoms include ear infections, ringing in her ear and neck pain and is looking for $1.7 billion in damages to make up for it. "I know it seems a little big, but they can't do things that affect people's health without their consent. I think that's wrong." She is also asking for an additional $1.7 million each month that the meters are operational. The wireless signal she refers to is for the meters to process credit card payments, as well as to send out text messages to the driver when their time has almost expired. A USC professor says Barton is going to have a tough time proving these allegations, noting "there is no evidence that cell phones, wireless networks or other low-level emitters cause adverse health effects. The first cell phone was introduced in 1973, and the epidemiological data do not show significant changes in the incidence of cancers since that time. It is very difficult to prove that these energy sources do not cause health problems, but there is no data that they do."

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This is the strangest combination since Ted Danson and Whoopi Goldberg. Warner Bros are teaming up with the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment?) and the Scooby Do gang in an all-new animated feature. Apparently, what happens, is that Shaggy wins tickets to the Wrestlemania in WWE City (original) but a mysterious ghostly bear is there and might ruin the whole thing! OMG! The gang teams up with the wrestlers to solve the case. Featured wrestlers, and thank God other than Vince McMahon, I don't know any of them, include Triple H, John Cena, Kane, The Miz, Brodus Clay, Santino Marella, Sin Cara, AJ and the previously mentioned WWE CEO McMahon. STOP RUINING MY CHILDHOOD WITH TERRIBLE MOVIES! …and that's all I have to say about that.

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Does the NHL lock out after such a great season last year? Guess we'll see by September 15 at the latest.

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And just because I'm going to see Down By Law for the first time in years on Monday, here's a tune, Down By Law's Clash inspired single from their fourth album "All Scratched Up," here's "Radio Ragga." Enjoy!