Leafs Affiliate Royals Review, March 4

The Royals Review

(Feb. 8-21)

READING, Pa. – Here are some notes of interest concerning players with Marlies connections (with this season’s ECHL statistics).

Ben Gordon – His goal against Trenton helped him become the 20th player in Reading history to score 20 goals in a season. He has 20 multi-point games this season.
His 21 goals equals his ECHL total from last year which was accomplished in 63 games. Still leads team in G, A, P and shots. His five-game point streak ended in the second game at Elmira. He’s seventh in the league in scoring. He’s still getting lots of ice time and working hard but the entire team has been going through lots of changes and struggling and he’s also been feeling those effects.

Robert Slaney – Was the second star for his three-assist game — a win over Trenton. Two of those assists came on the power play. Has been seeing a fair amount of ice time since returning from Toronto but hasn’t been doing too much with it.

Andrew Engelage – In his first ECHL game since Dec. 27, he allowed three goals in just over two periods — one even-strength, one power play and one short-handed.
Early in the third period of that game, with Reading on a power play, a turnover gave Trenton’s Jeremy Akeson a short-handed break. Engelage stopped Akeson’s first shot, but on the second shot Engelage appeared to sustain an injury as he fell face down and did not move. As Engelage was down and out, play continued until Akeson retrieved the puck, skated to the net and forced the puck through a defender for a goal. Despite the Royals’ protests that the play should have been stopped because of the injury, the goal was allowed. Prior to the injury he stopped 29 of 32 shots. Leads team in GAA. He’s on his second straight 3-day I.R. stint. He’s played so little this season, whether in Toronto or Reading, that it’s hard to imagine he’s made much progress.

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Barry Schickling can be contacted at Barry.DoubleSMedia@rocketmail.com

Blue And White Beat: Closing Olympic Thoughts

Closing Olympic Thoughts

High-fives celebrate all Canada’s achievements – not just men’s hockey

How fitting it was that Sidney Crosby, the highest-profiled member of Team Canada, scored the overtime winner to clinch the gold medal for the host country at the XXI Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

By firing the biggest goal for this country since his landlord Mario Lemieux clinched the 1987 Canada Cup, Crosby sent the nation into frenzied celebrations staged from BC all the way to his hometown of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia and beyond, and every town in between.

The win gave Canada not only its most coveted prize at the Olympics, but also its 14th gold medal, setting an all-time record for finishes atop the podium by one country in the Winter Games.

As one of several thousand participants of the joyful mayhem at Robson and Granville Street in Vancouver on Sunday, being among the collective euphoria of my fellow countrymen and women was truly intoxicating.

And yet, as I high-fived and embraced complete strangers waving their red and white flags, I couldn’t help but feel a sigh of relief – not necessarily just for the Steve Yzerman and the men’s hockey team – but for all 198 athletes of Team Canada.

For, if Zach Parise or any of his American teammates had been able to duplicate the magic in overtime that Parise did with 24 seconds left in regulation of that final game, all the ecstasy felt from Victoria, BC to Cape Spear, Newfoundland would have been tempered.

In that scenario, the baker’s dozen of gold medals would have still tied Canada with Norway and the former Soviet Union for the Winter Olympic benchmark. But far fewer people than who celebrated on Sunday would have noticed.

And that would have been a shame. For the traditional Olympic ideal has never been about NHL millionaires skating and shooting their way to glory, as hard-earned as their dollars may be, and as well-deserving as they are of their accomplishments.

Rather, the headliners of the Games should be the ones from Small-Town, I-Think-It’s-In-That-Province; those who are virtually anonymous for the other 3 years, 11 months and 2 weeks in between Olympics.

The Olympics should be about Ilderton, Ontario and its favourite son Scott Moir embracing his partner Tessa Virtue in a flawless ice dance skate that was superior in both its elegance and athleticism. Or, Virtue’s fellow London, Ont. native Christine Nesbitt shaking off the pressure of being favoured in the 1,000 metre event and delivering gold.

It’s about the humility of moguls specialist Alexandre Bilodeau, who knew as soon as he crossed the finish line in first place that he’d be forever immortalized in pub trivia contests as the answer to the question ‘who was the first Canadian to ever win an Olympic gold medal on home soil?’ Bilodeau was quick to downplay his own achievement, reminding everyone that more gold medals were to come, and each subsequent gold would be just as important.

And for every tear that you shed watching Bilodeau gather inspiration from his brother Frederic who has cerebral palsy, you gushed a thousand more when Joannie Rochette took to the ice just two days after her mother Therese died suddenly of a heart attack at age 55, just hours after arriving in Vancouver to watch her daughter skate.

No one would have faulted the younger Rochette had she withdrew from the competition. Instead, in one of the most courageous displays of resilience, Joannie skated her way to a bronze medal – which in the opinion of this author – was worth a magnitude more than its weight in gold. Rochette was named a co-winner of the Terry Fox Award for showing perseverance, and was also selected to carry Canada’s flag into BC Place for the closing ceremonies.

When I joined the several high-five gauntlets on the streets of Vancouver, there is no doubt that in my mind I was thinking “This one’s for Sid!” And Toews. And Weber. And of course, Luuuuuuuu.

But I also wondered if many of you same hosers were also thinking “This one’s for Maelle Ricker”. And Russell, Manitoba’s Jon Montgomery. And Summerside, PEI’s Heather Moyse. And Charles Hamelin and his girlfriend Marianne St. Gelais, who joined Kristina Groves as Canadian multiple-medalists at these Games.

Don’t get me wrong. If the NHL chooses to participate at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, I’ll be alongside all of you drinking my Tim Horton’s, and my Molson’s and wearing my red maple leaf crested sweater (it’s not a ‘jersey’, eh?)

But nor will I be disappointed if the plug is pulled on the league’s 12-year, four-Olympics project. Because, in that instance, the outlet for a men’s tournament featuring each country’s best-on-best players will simply be replaced by another World Cup, Canada Cup, or whatever name the organize choose to call it. Neither Lemieux’s goal nor Henderson’s famous winner at the 1972 Summit Series was scored in an Olympic tournament. I don’t recall feeling any less patriotic when watching the footage of those moments.

To Jasey-Jay Anderson, and Denny Morrison. To Kevin Martin, Maelle Ricker and (ahhhh) Ashleigh McIvor. I was just as happy for you as I was for Rick Nash, Scott Niedermayer, and Jarome Iginla.

I won’t forget about you after the NHL is back in full swing and the cameras stop focusing on you.

Hopefully, neither will the rest of the country.

***

Just One More Thing….

Undoubtedly the biggest non-story of the Games was the attention given to the celebration staged by the Canadian women’s hockey team following their victory in the gold medal game. Long after the patrons had left the Canada Hockey Place arena, the women indulged in cigars and alcohol on the same ice surface on which they had shutout the rival Americans 2-0.

In particular, some critics felt compelled to give a spanking to 18-year-old Marie-Philip Poulin – the heroine who spanked Canada’s opponents by scoring the only two goals of the game – for her participation, as she is one month below legal drinking age in British Columbia.

Of course, those raising the furor were curiously silent when Canadian skeleton racer Jon Montgomery punctuated his gold medal win a few days earlier by chugging from a pitcher of beer while walking through the streets of Whistler and smiling for the television cameras.

Hockey Canada officials could not have been faulted had they challenged the outcry by asking why a male athlete can drink in public without retribution, but women have their wrists slapped for similar consumptions within the privacy of a virtually deserted arena.

Nevertheless, the reaction to the women’s hockey team’s impromptu party led to a prompt, but unnecessary, apology from Hockey Canada, which said in a release “The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or COC any embarrassment.”

The statement of contrition reinforces Canada’s reputation as a sometimes overly-polite culture, often at the butt end of jokes such as “How do you get 50 Canadians to leave a swimming pool? Just ask them to get out of the pool.”

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Rob Del Mundo is the author of Blue And White Beat, and is a regular columnist at TMLfans.ca

Follow TMLfans.ca on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tmlfansca

Blue And White Beat: Canada’s gold medal quest begins

Canada’s gold medal quest begins

Today marks the day that Canadian hockey fans have circled in their calendars since the men’s Olympic team skated off the ice in Torino, Italy with a seventh place finish in 2006. The red-and-white maple leaf-crested squad built by executive director Steve Yzerman takes to the ice for their first tournament game at the 2010 Olympics, facing off against Norway at Hockey Canada place in Vancouver (7:30pm ET).

Roberto Luongo, whose club team the Canucks place on the same ice surface 41 times a year, will get the nod in goal this evening.

Projected lines:
Nash-Crosby-Bergeron
Staal-Getzlaf-Perry
Toews-Richards-Iginla
Marleau-Thornton-Heatley
Morrow

Defence pairings:
Pronger-Weber
Niedermayer-Boyle
Keith-Seabrook
Doughty

Backup goalies:
Brodeur
Fleury

***

The trash talk started weeks ago between Canucks’ teammates Luongo and forward Ryan Kesler. The two men are on opposite sides of the heated and historic Canada-USA rivalry which is set for yet another collision course on Sunday, February 21.

Boosted by last month’s American victory at the World Junior Championship, Kesler quipped “It was a good win. It was even better beating the Canadians because they’re pretty cocky when it comes to hockey.”

“Was he playing there? I don’t think so!” retorted Luongo. “We’ll see, when it comes down to the real deal, what happens.”

Using Luongo’s reasoning, Kesler’s jab is better directed at the third member of Canada’s goaltending trio behind Martin Brodeur, namely Marc-Andre Fleury. Kesler played on the 2004 Team USA World Junior team that upset Canada in the gold-medal game.

***

This Day In Leafs History:
On Feb. 16, 1999 the Leafs made a trade with the Vancouver Canucks. The transaction makes for a great trivia question, “In between the time that Toronto played its last game at Maple Leaf Gardens and first game at Air Canada Centre, which player did the Leafs trade, and who did they get in return?” The answer is provided below.

***

Leafs at the Olympics:
Jonas Gustavsson – Sweden
Niklas Hagman – Finland (since traded to Calgary, after named to roster)
Tomas Kaberle – Czech Republic
Phil Kessel – United States
Ron Wilson, coach – United States
Brian Burke, general manager – United States

Named to team, but will not play because of injury
Mikhail Grabovski – Belarus
Mike Komisarek – United States

***

Leafs Notes:
While Dion Phaneuf is clearly the cornerstone of the January 31 trade between the Leafs and the Calgary Flames, the contributions of Fredrik Sjostrom should not be overlooked. The native of Fargelanda, Sweden has blazing speed and has been a fine complement to Rickard Wallin. A perennial doormat for the fans due to his lack of production, Wallin scored his first goal in nearly six years on Feb. 5.

As a result of the blockbuster deal in which Matt Stajan and Ian White were two of the Toronto players shipped to Calgary, the last of the draft choices that the Leafs had on the roster of the 2003 World Junior Championship team have departed from the club. The junior squad that won a silver medal in Halifax also had Brendan Bell (traded to Phoenix, now with Columbus), Kyle Wellwood (signed with Vancouver as a restricted free-agent) and Carlo Colaiacovo (traded to St. Louis).

The third acquisition of the Leafs-Flames trade, Keith Aulie, suffered a shoulder injury during Friday’s Marlies game in Manitoba and could be lost for the season. In an article in today’s Toronto Star, Marlies coach Dallas Eakins compared the play to the ugly Kurtis Foster-Torrey Mitchell incident in March 2008, when Mitchell and Foster raced for the puck on an icing, with Foster breaking his leg.

Still with the Marlies, forward Andre Deveaux has been suspended indefinitely by the AHL after throwing a roll of tape at a fan who allegedly directed racial slurs at him.

Trivia Answer:
Eleven years ago today, the Leafs traded forward Darby Hendrickson to Vancouver in exchange for defenceman Chris McAllister.

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Rob Del Mundo is the author of Blue And White Beat, and is a regular columnist at TMLfans.ca

Follow TMLfans.ca on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tmlfansca

Reading Royals Review

The Royals Review

(Jan. 25-Feb. 7)

READING, Pa. – The difficulties of maintaining a winning minor-league hockey team are becoming much more evident for the Reading Royals. With about two months left in the regular season, the ECHL affiliate of the Maple Leafs and Marlies has lost players to call-ups at an alarming pace over the past several weeks – a rate that has made what looked like a fairly steady route to the playoffs much rockier. Reading has lost three straight, six of its last seven and is on a 5-10-0-1 skid. The Royals have slipped out of first place in the division for the first time since Dec. 4 and are five points behind East leader Elmira and four points out of a playoff spot.

More specifically, for the first time since the Leafs started their affiliation with Reading prior to the 2008-09 season, there are no Toronto-contracted players on the roster. As such, the Royals have resorted to waiver claims, and players from the International and Southern Professional leagues to keep a full lineup. Regular player movement from the Boston Bruins, a co-affiliate of Reading with the Leafs, also hasn’t helped the situation.

Here are some notes of interest concerning players with Marlies connections (with this season’s ECHL statistics).

Ben Gordon – The LW, who spent a couple weeks with the Marlies in late December and early January, had a third AHL call-up of the season, this time to Abbotsford. He’s returned to Reading but has gone into his first extended slump of the year. He needed a short-handed assist in a loss to Trenton on Feb. 6 to stop a four-game pointless streak, his longest of the season. His frequent call-ups, along with his having to adjust to a different lineup almost every night, have hurt both his performance and the team’s win-loss record. The good news is he continues to lead the team in goals, assists, points and shots (156) and plus/minus and is seeing plenty of ice time in all situations. In a three-game span between Jan. 27-31 he had 20 shots – but no points. (40GP-19G – 32A –+9 – 35 PIM) (Under contract to Reading.)

Eric Werner – The fifth-year pro defenceman must have seen the writing on the wall. As the only Toronto player in Reading who had yet to be recalled this season, he left the Royals and signed with Oslo Vålerenga in the Norwegian elite league. He has a pair of assists and is a plus-1 in his first four games in Norway. (Incidentally, another defenceman on that team is Regan Kelly, who played with the St. John’s Maple Leafs from 2002-05.) The Royals will struggle to find someone to absorb Werner’s quality ice time. (38GP-3G – 15A – +17 – 25 PIM)

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Barry Schickling can be contacted at Barry.DoubleSMedia@rocketmail.com

Blue and White Beat: Brendan Burke’s passing puts hockey in perspective

Brendan Burke’s passing puts hockey in perspective.

It is impossible to comprehend the loss for Brian Burke and his family, with the sudden passing of the Leafs general manager’s youngest son Brendan at just 21 years of age.

When the Maple Leafs skated off the ice at Prudential Center on Friday evening, having lost a game in which they held a two-goal lead late into the third period, words like ‘heartbreak’ and ‘devastation’ were used by the team’s fan and critics to describe the defeat.

Suddenly, when news broke of the car accident that claimed the life of Brendan and his friend Mark Reedy, age 18, the unspeakable tragedy overshadowed any on-ice result.

Brendan Burke was described as ‘a good kid’, and a tireless worker, by all who were fortunate to have known him. Messages of condolences immediately flowed onto the website of the University of Miami (Ohio), where the young Burke served as student manager of the Division 1 NCAA hockey team, the RedHawks.

“You never think of something like that happening, and when it does happen, it brings you down a little bit for sure, “ said a somber Francois Beauchemin on Saturday, the morning after the shocking announcement. Beauchemin recalled with fondness the celebration in which Brendan participated after his father managed the 2007 Anaheim Ducks to the Stanley Cup.

That championship team was backstopped by Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who Toronto acquired from the Ducks last week in a trade engineered by the elder Burke. “We can’t even comprehend what Burkie is going through at this point,” said Giguere. “We’re in shock. It’s not supposed to go that way. ”

Often in sports, athletes are described as being ‘courageous’ in descriptions of their performances on the ice, or on the field. But, as told in a story to ESPN just over two months ago, no one exemplified courage more than Brendan Burke when, in December 2007, he disclosed to his father that he was gay. With homophobic attitudes unfortunately still very much prevalent in hockey culture, Brendan’s news certainly had potential for backlash.

“I had a million good reasons to love and admire Brendan. This news didn’t alter any of them,” replied Brian Burke, the man who builds his teams on pugnacity and testosterone, in the ESPN piece. “This takes guts, and I admire Brendan greatly, and happily march arm in arm with him on this. I hope the day comes, and soon, when this is not a story.”

In the wake of the tragedy, the Leafs team responded by performing just as their boss would have wanted. They halted the Ottawa Senators’ 11-game winning streak on Saturday, dominating their opponents from start finish by a score 5-0.

For good measure, the University of Miami crushed Lake Superior State 10-4 on the same night.

Brendan Burke would have been flashing the trademark smile with which he greeted everyone.

“I’ve known Brendan since almost the day he was born, “ said head coach Ron Wilson. “It’s just the worst thing that any parent can possibly imagine.”

During the Olympic games next week, several athletes will be crowned as heroes. The American hockey team, managed by Brian Burke, will certainly be affixed that label should they repeat the Miracle on Ice from thirty years ago.

However, when placed in a proper perspective, the greater hero – for his openness in the face of a prejudicial culture – is Brendan Burke.

His voice is forever silenced, but the best way for the hockey community to honor his memory is to look past the stereotypical attitudes that unfairly cloud the lives of openly gay men and women.

When the day does arrive at which a person’s sexuality isn’t an issue in the dressing room, Brendan Burke will be remembered as the pioneer of the cause.

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Rob Del Mundo is the author of Blue And White Beat, and is a regular columnist at TMLfans.ca

Follow TMLfans.ca on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tmlfansca

Blue and White Beat: ‘Sense of entitlement’ is over – Burke

‘Sense of entitlement’ is over – Burke

About a half-hour following the announcement of the Leafs acquisition of Dion Phaneuf, Leafs general manager delivered news of a second transaction on Sunday.

Goaltender J.S. Giguere, with whom Burke won a Stanley Cup in Anaheim in 2007, is now a Maple Leaf, with netminder Vesa Toskala and forward Jason Blake heading to the Ducks.

By coming to Toronto Giguere, a Conn Smythe Trophy winner seven years ago, is reunited with not only Burke but also his mentor, goaltending coach Francois Allaire.

“Allaire was instrumental in turning Giguere into a top-flight goaltender in the National Hockey League,” said Burke. “I’ve never had a goalie that worked this hard. He takes every scoring chance in practice as a personal challenge. “

While Giguere’s goals-against average (3.14) and save percentage (.900) do not place him among the league’s elite backstops, both numbers are still superior to Toskala’s. With over nine full seasons of NHL experience, Giguere serves as an ideal tutor to young netminder Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson.

The deal makes economic sense for both teams. Anaheim’s contract extension for Jonas Hiller solidifies the Swiss goalie’s role as the team’s starter. For Toronto removing Blake’s contract is a relief of a huge financial burden. The winger’s 50 goals in 206 career games were certainly below the standard expected of him when he signed a $20-million five-year contract in 2007.

“We’re saving a bit of money this year,” concluded Burke after both of Sunday’s transactions were made official.

Giguere looks forward to the reunion with his old coach. “I’m excited to be working with (Allaire) again,” he told reporters. “He’s taught me how to work, and what it’s like to be an NHL goalie. He gave me a great foundation. Everything that I do on the ice, technical-wise, he has taught me almost everything about it.“

As for the prospect of Giguere – the teacher – engaging Gustavsson, the pupil, in a tug-of-war for the starter’s role, Burke hopes that the tussle evolves into a competition that perpetuates throughout the entire team.

“Great teams have goalie controversies,” said Burke. ”We’ve got to create tension where there’s enough talent on the roster and a high enough battle level that the coach has decisions to make.

“We’ve had a sense of entitlement, and we’re trying to change that,” noted Burke when assessing both moves of the day.

“It should be clear to our players that hard work is going to be a big part of playing for the Leafs.”

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Rob Del Mundo is the author of Blue And White Beat, and is a regular columnist at TMLfans.ca

Follow TMLfans.ca on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tmlfansca

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