So the game after the game is over and Canada won 8-1. The big game is now on Wednesday so let’s see how that goes before we make any decisions or final thought on goalie gate.

As I suspected the piece that Brady found on CTV’s website was indeed written by Damien Cox. The same story ran in today’s Toronto Star under a different headline. This of course led to some more coverage.

Bill Houston picked up on Damien’s column:

“Look, maybe Cox has a man crush on Brodeur, I don’t know. But Brodeur played poorly in Canada’s 5-3 loss to the Americans and, arguably, should have been pulled the first period, when he gave up the puck in a goofy baseball attempt to clear it, which led to a goal, and also let in a softy.

To bring him back against Germany tonight would have been ridiculous and irresponsible. Of course, you make a change. I would have gone with Marc-Andre Fleury, but Luongo is certainly a better choice than Brodeur.”

The article was just so blatantly slanted as pro Brodeur. The comments were so over the top in his defence it’s nearly impossible to ignore.

Brady tore on off of Brodeur on the Watters show today which was followed up with an interview with Cox himself. As far as I can remember Cox has only appeared on this show once before, when Brady tore a strip off the headline writer at the Star on one of Damien’s column.

Brady was courteous to his guest yet he did ask the important questions too. Cox was asked out of the gate whether or not he had spoken to Brodeur directly to provide the basis for his comments on how Brodeur felt. Cox was clearly uncomfortable with the frankness of the question. He said that he hadn’t spoken directly to him but that he “knew how Marty felt”. It’s rather interesting because Cox says that we all know that Brodeur is THE classy athlete and that he would be mad at Damien for putting his feelings out there. Which is kind of odd isn’t it. I mean Cox is patting him on the back, praising him yet at the same time sharing Brodeur’s feelings that certainly paint him out to be at the very best selfish.

To me the highlight of the interview came when the issue of bias came up. Cox said that there were people who were suggesting that Damien is biased towads Brodeur because they are friends and they wrote a book together. Cox took a minor swipe at Brady’s named partner, Bill Watters by saying that there are people who think Bill Watters shouldn’t speak about the Maple Leafs because Watters is a disgruntled former employee! Now, 2 things. One, Cox has already admited to his relationship with him. Although he “didn’t get an exact quote from Brodeur” he does “know this is how Brodeur feels”. He does talk to Broduer’s people regularly. There is no way Brodeur or his people get word out about his feelings without his approval. Cox is biased towards him. Similarly, Watters is biased against the Leafs when it comes to ANY issue that relates to ownership. He is similarly biased against the owners of the Argos who may or may not have dismissed his son. It doesn’t take a genius to know EXACTLY what is going to come out of Watters mouth when it comes to MLSE. He looses all credibility when he does discuss them. Similarly, the more Damien talks Brodeur the less credible he will be.

Let’s hope this is the end of goalie gate, 2010.

From Washington.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Houston is here

You can find cox and brady here

Last night’s game with the Ducks was a breakout for many Maple Leaf players. Hagman and Kaberle come to mind as obvious choices. Clearly the monster allowed the Buds to relax a little enroute to 11 power plays. It is not going to be easy if they have to rely on 11 powerplays every night to win a game. I am pretty sure that the Maple Leafs out of the first period were just under 10 minutes in time with the man advantage.

So with a few guys appearing, at least for night to get their game on, there is one guy who just clearly is out of it. His play, for lack of a better word, sucks. That would be none other than whipping boy Jason Blake. Forget for a small second the amount of cash he is earning. Forget the number of years he is playing and just look at the stats through the first several games. Through 9 games he has 1 goal, 2 assists, he is a -7 with 6 penalty minutes and 31 shots on net. At this pace he should be thanking everyone alive if he gets close to 20 goals this year let alone the 25 he had last year. It has become more and more apparent that the guy simply can’t play. He looked totally lost and disinterested throughout the entire game last night. Talk about a guy destined to play for the Marlies right now. I can’t for the life of me understand why Burke hasn’t followed through on his promise to bury guys who aren’t performing irrespective of their contract. Here is a guy who makes big bucks for no, not little, no bang. There has to be someone down on the farm who can produce as well as he can with a small percentage of the salary cap hit.

As demoralizing as it can be for a team to have a goalie let in easy shot after easy shot, it has to be equally as troubling to see a guy as untalented as Blake is get 12-16 minutes per game. Hell Luke Schenn has seen his ice time rocked back under 10 minutes and this clown is nearly averaging 15? Schenn’s a rookie. Enough is enough Brian, swallow hard, bite the bullet and bury JFJ’s wonder boy. Perhaps, not likely you can do something with him on re-entry waivers. Blake is totally ineffective offensively. He is a liability defensively. And to top it off he makes a lot of money.

All of those things to me scream of demotion. So far, in this respect Burke has yet to walk the walk. He has said he would do it. We are just waiting for him to do it. Let’s hope that Blake is the first to go, setting an example of the others who are out there floating.

@yyzsportsmedia

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

Some people may be scratching their heads over this one, but tonight you don’t want to miss the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Avalanche. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Maple Leafs (or Laughs depending on what side of the Leaf Nation fence you sit on). Many NHL analysts wrote the Avalanche off from the get-go, but early on in the season this team has been proving the nay-sayers wrong. Thanks, in part, to the play of rookie Matt Duchene. Granted this 18 year old hasn’t lit it up point wise (2 assists), but the amount of energy and enthusiasm he’s brought to Colorado is invaluable. Plus with the amount of chances he’s created for himself you can be sure that first goal will come sooner then later. The Avs have also been getting spectacular goaltending from Craig Anderson. He’s started every game so far and has already backstopped the team to big wins over San Jose, Vancouver (shutout in that one) and Boston. The same cannot be said for Toronto. Vesa Toskala has the league’s worst save percentage (.812) for starting goaltenders and has let in the most goals (19). The man expected to push Toskala, Jonas Gustavsson was placed on the injured reserve last Thursday with a groin injury and was expected to miss at least a week. So Joey MacDonald is now the back up. Toskala and the Leafs got pummeled last night 7-2 by the New York Rangers and it wouldn’t be surprising to see head coach Ron Wilson give MacDonald the start tonight. If the Leafs are going to pick up their first win of the season they’ll have to stop giving up first period leads. In their five games so far, Toronto has been outscored 8-2 to the first period. With the lack of scoring for Toronto, one has to wonder if GM Brain Burke is counting down the days before Phil Kessel will be healthy and ready to play. Unfortunately by that time the Leafs may be in so low in the standings that Kessel’s return would be too little to late.