Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Jeff Blair
- David Shoalts, Mike Zeisberger, and Mike Cvitkovic on the roundtable

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Dean Brown, broadcaster for the Ottawa Senators

- Jason Spezza

- Ron Wilson, head coach of the Leafs

- hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Scott Morrison at 6:10

I hope everyone had a great weekend…Just a few comments before signing off for the night.

Let’s start with the Leafs

What a performance against the Senators. While Giguere certainly played a great game (getting his second straight shutout), the team limited the Sens to very few quality chances. I didn’t recognize #2…he was actually skating with the puck – not treating it like a hot potato. And then he started shooting it! Unreal…2 goals. Is it possible that Phaneuf has already had an influence on him? It’s probably too early to suggest this but, is it possible that Dion is team captain material?  Wilson keeps talking about how vocal he is and how different the dressing room is now.  I really like “b side” to the Leafs – Flames deal….Sjostrom is fast and smart. Paired with Kulemin and the team has a legit / quality shutdown unit.  BTW, I know Bozak may not appear to be lighting it up but, 10 points in 14 games is pretty damn good for the rookie. Kessel is really showing his stuff again. Do you think the Bruins would like him back about now?

BTW, the Leafs should be 3-0 after the Flames and Ducks deals…I’m with TSM, Wilson missed calling a time out to settle his team down in Jersey.

Brendan Burke Tributes

A lot of writers and bloggers had some great articles/posts over the weekend re: Brendan Burke – most did a great job (McGran not included). If you are only going to read 1 post, read Kevin Allen…He sheds some insight into how important family is to Brian and tells a great story about Brian reaching out to him during a tough time. You can read Allen here.

I also liked Ron Wilson’s post game comments. You really get a sense for how close he and Brian are. According to Wilson, Brian exchanged texts with Dave Nonis during the game. The boys gave him one less thing to think/worry about...Maybe even a smile. The next couple of days are going to be real tough for Brian – the funeral is on Tuesday. Thank goodness the schedule worked out and the entire team can join their leader. Wilson’s presser below.

wilson

If you want to read the official obituary and get details re: donations, you can find it here.

Super Bowl

Queen Latifah: thumbs down.

Carrie Underwood: I’m not a fan but she outperformed Latifah.

Halftime: I may have been in the minority but, I thought The Who was good. The drummer (Ringo Star’s son) looked just like Keith Moon!

So what did you think of the game? The score and the stats all point to a great game… but….for some reason; it seemed to go by quick and for me and not very exciting. It’s a good thing the Saints won because their coach almost blew it for them. Sean Payton will probably be written up in the papers as a genius but in my opinion both “gutsy” calls were dumb. Drew Brees deserves to be talked about amongst the greats….what a season, what a game. TSN starts their headline article with “Peyton Manning made his first major mistake of Super Bowl XLIV in the final minutes of the fourth quarter “… I need to watch the replay again but; my first reaction was that the received screwed up…his job was to come back to the ball on that play.

Congrats to the Saints and the people of New Orleans…you needed something to smile about.

Ov v. Crosby

Last comment….Ovechkin may have won today’s game – and he may win the cup.  I’m okay with all of that as long as Sidney brings home gold!

Happy Sunday night everyone.

LT

Hoakey or not, you know at some point today, someone or someones in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization suggested that the Maple Leafs put it all together for their President and GM who, well, one can’t really imagine what he is going through right now. His troops did exactly what he would want, pummel the crap out of hated Ottawa Senators, a team who came in riding a 12 game winning streak. To smoke them 5-0 was certainly a nice cherry on the sunday! It was, by far the best game the Toronto Maple Leafs played all year.

The highlight of the night, and perhaps the Maple Leafs season was Colton Orr dropping Matt Carkner like a sack of potatoes in the rubber match of their most recent fights.

As for how the players heard about Brendan Burke:

“We were on the bus and normally the guys just jump off and head right onto the plane, but we all kind of sat there for a few extra minutes, just thinking about what we were told,” Rosehill said. “It was a sad feeling for everybody.” You can read more about the Maple Leafs today and last night here

The game tonight was great to watch and something Leafs fans deserved. It was like a re-coming out party for Luke Schenn who appears to have been reborn since the arrival of Dion Phaneuf. Phill Kessel looked like the player Brian Burke traded for and well, JSG had us wishing they had given up on Toskala late last year!

If you take out Ron Wilson’s brain cramp from last night it’s been a pretty good 3 game start post trade for the Maple Leafs. They played well for 57 minutes last night and dominated games one and then tonight. Tonight was our playoff game. The buds take on the San Jose Sharks for a rare tilt with Ron Wilson’s old team Monday night and then are off until Friday night and a tilt with the St. Louis Blues on Friday night, to close out February. It’s almost too bad given how well, or how different they have been playing since the deals.

Well, it all started last Sunday. What a crazy week it’s been. Let’s see what tomorrow will bring. I am not a betting man, but with the Olympic freeze kicking in Friday here’s betting Dave Nonis get’s little sleep this week.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Irrespective of the record, a win tonight was a must. The Toronto Maple Leafs have to find ways to beat the Ottawa Senators. Losing to them is unacceptable. So you can imagine my disapointment when I got into my Orlando hotel to learn that the buds had lost to the sens.

Is anyone else finding it hard to stay focused on the good ship maple leafs these days? I read the papers every day, I listen to the radio shows and watch the highlight shows, but for whatever reason (the mounting loses perhaps) apathy has set in. There is nothing much to read, listen to or watch with this team. Have we finally reached the saturation point in coverage or is it just that things are so bad there is nothing really to write about. For years it was management and ownership. With Burke in place it seems that the MSM can’t go there anymore so…….what do they do? By the looks of things lately- not much. It’s as if everyone is waiting for Master Burke to act, the other shoe to drop so to speak. I guess we all know it is coming- it’s just a matter of when right?

Let’s hope for my own sanity it is soon.

TSM

@yyzportsmedia

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

Last season on December 2 the Toronto Raptors were 8-8 going into their game against the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High State. The Raptors got blown out 132-93 and then head coach Sam Mitchell was fired and Jay Triano took over as the intern coach. Fast forward 11 months, the Raps are 4-4 and face the Nuggets in Denver tonight. Toronto is coming off a tough loss to Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night. Hedo Turkoglu had a chance to win the game on a last second shot, but rimmed out and the Raps lost 101-100. Turkoglu had a season-high 20 in that one. Chris Bosh also had another solid performance. For the fifth straight time he had a double-double, finishing with 25 points and 10 boards. Denver is a well rested team. Their last game was on Friday night and it was a 105-79 beat-down of the reigning NBA champs, the LA Lakers. Carmelo Anthony led the way for the Nuggets, scoring 25 points and that’s while being guarded by defensive specialist Ron Artest. Although both teams are among the top of the league in offensive production it will be a tough one tonight for Toronto. Denver hasn’t lost at home yet this season and the last time the Raps beat the Nuggets was March 23, 2007. That win as in TO.

On the ice it will be the battle of Ontario as the Toronto Maple Leafs face the Ottawa Senators tonight in the nation’s capital. The last time these two teams met was just over a month ago. The Senators scored two goals in 37 seconds and beat the Leafs 2-1 in Jonas Gustavsson first start in net. It will be the first game in this bitter rivalry for Phil Kessel. Kessel was still recovering from shoulder surgery and missed game one. Since his return he has by far been the best Leaf, scoring four goals and getting three assists in six games. If head coach Ron Wilson can find the right line mates, Kessel may end up being even more dangerous.

Are you panicking? No, really. Three games in, have the alarm bells started to ring? When the Blue Jays were on their tear early on, where you ready to annoint them playoff bound? When a guy hits a homerun or scores a goal in game one of the season, do you project their season totals???? I mean really.

We Toronto Sports fans take a lot of shit. Some of it is deserved. Most of it is fabricated in attempt to sell papers (who reads em) or radio ads(who listens)… Listening and looking around this town, you would think the Maple Leafs are this years version of the Detroit Lions. Wholly smokes folks, it’s 3 stinking games. It’s three games with how many new faces? Get a grip.

The good news, I think is that most of the hysteria is media generated. No one I know has hit the panic button yet. It is way too early for that. With all due respect, those who call in to Leafs talk aren’t, in my mind anyways representative of Leafs fans. Seriously, do you know anyone who calls in to those shows? That is not to say that people don’t…It’s just that the notion that those who do are speaking for the larger group is bunk. I mean the larger group doesn’t think that the guy from Maple is bang on when he suggested the Jamal Mayers for a first round draft pick.

So, is it the media who creates hysteria and the fans feed off of it, or are fans really panicked as has been suggested. I am not buying that it is the fans. I don’t see it, I don’t hear it and it makes no sense. It makes about as much sense as the Bruce Garrioch Ron Wilson story today.

Look, this is really simple. If the Leafs are any worse than they were last year when the season ends and lottery positions are finalized, Brian Burke is going to have some explaining to do. If the Boston Bruins are on the podium with the Maple Leafs pick things have gone dramatically astray. If this team regresses after the overhaul the lineup has undergone, something is amiss. It’s really that simple. To reach that conclusion after game 3?????????? I am sorry. We aren’t, collectively anyways, that dumb are we???????

I certainly hope not. Saturday could be ugly by the way. If the same Leafs team shows up that did against Ottawa, Pittsburgh may have a field day.

Chins up leafs nation. It’s a long haul, and we’ve only just begun.

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- open phones with McCown from 4:05 to 4:40
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
5:20 Dave Naylor, The Globe & Mail
5:45 Scott Moore, CBC Sports Executive Director
6:05 Ed Olczyk, NBC & Versus
6:30 Rob Becker, Our Legal Analyst
6:45 Alan Ashby, Blue Jays Analyst

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Pascal Leclaire, goaltender for the Ottawa Senators
- Rob Higgins, fantasy hockey expert
- hockey insider Scott Morrison at 6:10

One game by itself doesn’t say a whole hell of a lot does it? So I am not going to hit the alarm or panic button as many of the Toronto media suggest we nutty Leaf fans do. However, watching tonight’s game was like going in back in time to when the Maple Leafs were coached by Paul Maurice. They looked totally disinterested in the game, unprepared and unwilling to do whatever it took to win. From my seats at the ACC, it was a sad effort by the blue and white to say the least.

A couple of weeks ago, a Boston Red Sox pitcher plunked Adam Lind with a pitch. The next night Roy Halladay plunked David Ortiz. Payback, the code or whatever else you want to call it. You hit one of ours, we hit one of yours.

Brian Burke said his teams would have: “Proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence” there wasn’t evidence of that tonight.

Viktor Stalberg get laid out by Anton Volchekno and who payed him back???????? I mean every kid who ever played hockey knows that when one of your guys gets hit, someone goes after that guy or another skill guy on the other side. It’s just the way it works. Doesn’t mean you have to kill someone, or injury them. Rosehill, Exleby, Orr, Komisarek were all in the lineup tonight- none delivered. The guys who Burke identified as the plumbers clearly left their plungers at home tonight.

From the stands, and it is one game, 2 things were very evident. First, their is a leadership void so far. The Leafs still lack an identity. They still don’t have the one guy who can pick them up and put them on their backs. They don’t have the guy who can throw the big hit and get them going. Second, for whatever reason, Luke Schenn is wound up sooooooooooooo tight. No idea why but it looks like he is feeling the stress big time. He is clearly fighting the puck, and a result he is turning it over repeatedly.

My overall take away. Despite a lengthy training camp, the new guys aren’t yet comfortable and the team doesn’t yet have leaders. Until those two issues are addressed, it’s going to be difficult to win games like tonight. With Stalberg out, we really had no offensive spark. Gustavsson played well enough to win. The Leafs did look very comfortable in front of him, way more so than in front of Toskala.

A trend? A pattern? Time to panic? No… Something to keep an eye on? ABSOLUTELY. As I said when they acquired Kessel, the pressure on Ron Wilson just got amped up a notch or three. A few more efforts (or lack there of) like tonight and, well you know…..

By the way, little TSM had the time of his life. He soaked it all in and can’t wait to go back. He, of course wants to see the Penguings play the Leafs next time. Anyone interested in a road trip to Pittsburgh???

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Puck Drop: 7:00PM ET

The storyline is simple – It’s The Monster’s coming out party as Wilson has elected to go with the kid.  I was of the opinion that Wilson might go with Toskala to counter the media / fan backlash and to try to squash the “goalie controversy”….I’m glad he didn’t.  I’m looking forward to going to tonights game and seeing what this kid can do.  Is tonight going to be reminiscent of the night Felix The Cat started over Grant Fuhr?  Or when Palmateer came to the rescue when Wayne Thomas faltered?  We’ll see…it should be fun at the ACC tonight.

Projected Lines vs. Sens

The line-up below was provided by TSN – Ice Chips…mapleleafs.com did not post anything.  Neither Finger nor Mayers are listed as injured but do not appear to be in the line-up.  Kulemin is up and in for Primeau.

Forwards:

Stalberg – Stajan – Blake
Ponikarovsky – Grabovski – Hagman
Kulemin – Wallin – Stempniak
Rosehill – Mitchell – Orr

Defencemen:

Kaberle – Komisarek
Beauchemin – Schenn
White – Exelby

Goaltenders:
Gustavsson
Toskala

LT

Today is an important day. No, really it is. Today is an important day for both myself and little TSM. Today he and I share a right of passage. Tonight, little TSM will see his first Maple Leafs game LIVE. It is hard to believe how much time has flown since he and I watched our first game on television. He was 2 days old, the Leafs were playing the Habs, in Montreal. He had just come home from the hospital and before he went down for his part of the night, we sat on the couch as Travis Green scored his first of the year from Nik Antropov and Tom Fitzgerald. I have to admit, I don’t remember my first game at the old Maple Leafs Gardens. I remember going a lot as a kid. I actually can remember the smell of the old barn. I remember so many of the games that I saw there, but I can’t really remember my first game. So I hope that he will remember tomorrow night, his first experience at an NHL game, at a Maple Leafs game.

Don’t get me wrong, I have taken him to lots of sporting events. We used to go to lots of Plymouth Whalers games. Then it was the Barrie Colts. He’s been to a few Raptors games, one ARGO’s game and to a couple of Blue Jays games (both here and in Detroit) and yes to a Marlies game, a TFC match and even the Rogers Cup. This will be his first Maple Leafs game. I am not sure who is more excited, him or me.

So hopefully the boys show up. Hopefully the scalpers, I mean brokers are in full force. Hopefully the organ is loud. Hopefully he gets an autograph or three, or maybe catches a puck. Hopefully, he has fun and asks to go again.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia