Sunday, April 16, 2006

i'm so wrong

here's the thing, upon revisiting the clip of the goal mentioned in my last post, I can see the Canuck bench door open and two players standing. Those two were probably the Sedin twins. I'm sorry official scorer, I was being a tight ass.

I'm just wrong about so much sometimes, that instead of being a person who criticizes, instead, I'd like to give thanks.


I'd like to begin by giving thanks today to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Thank you for still trying to make the playoffs. Even though I counted you out weeks ago, you did your best. Like a procrastinating university student, you waited until your back was up against the wall, the night before your paper was late and absolutely couldn't be handed in any later, and even though you put up an A+ effort, in the end, the late marks drop your grade down to a C. But I was there while you put the A+ effort in, and I know that if you had just done that with a week to go before your paper was due, instead of the night before your paper was due, you would have been in the playoffs.

Thank you to Mats Sundin, who played the best hockey of his career during a ten game stretch when everyone was waiting for you to fall. You never fell, the mountain to climb just happened to be bigger than we thought. If I ever have children to tell a story, I will tell them the story of Mats Sundin, and how he carried the Maple Leafs even though victory was not in grasp.

Thank you to Jean Sebastian Aubin, you were the best goalie to wear the uniform of the Maple Leafs this year.

Thank you to Ed Belfour. You had possibly the worst season of your illustrious career, but not once did you come out and say anything bad about a defence core and forward line up that played like shit in front of you.

Thank you to Tie Domi. Tie, dressed or scratched, you are the embodiment of what a Maple Leaf fan would be if they played for their team.

Thank you to Matt Stajan. Even though you didn't get the playing time you deserved until late in the season, you made up for it by playing like a one man army when the Leafs were short handed. Everything that can be done should be done to make sure you are a Leaf for your whole career.

Thank you to Tomas Kaberle. Even though you weren't the highest scoring defenceman on the team, you were the one player that I could see saying to himself "fuck it, I'm joining the rush and we're scoring." More often than not the plan would fail, but the effort and the artistry was not lost on myself.

Thank you to Ian White. I've seen you play one whole game. I would like to see you play one whole season based on that one whole game.

Thank you to Jason Allison. You broke your hand in a fight, standing up for a fellow teammate in that disaster that was the March road trip in Montreal. Because you broke your hand in that fight standing up for a teammate and missed the rest of the season, you lost out on multiple salary incentive clauses that would have kicked in. Although some detractors say that you aren't the most fleet of foot on skates, the game slows down when you have the puck on your stick. To all those critics that site that the Leafs only sign high priced mercenaries, I would like to present to you Jason Allison, a man who lost dollars in the name of standing up for a teammate. How many other NHL teams can say they have a player who has done the same?

Thank you to Kyle Wellwood. Dude, you gots mads skillz with the puck. Another season or two and you'll be a point a game player. Just keep that head up.

Thank you to Alexander Steen. Your awareness on the ice is far greater than the years you possess would suggest.

Thank you to Alexei Ponikarovksy. You are about to become a scary force to opponents in the NHL. I'm glad that you're Leaf. Keep making those hits to open up passes.

Thank you to Carlo Colaiacovo. Come back healthy next season.

To all you and to all the rest that I have neglected to mention: Thank you for the effort you made and for the nights you made watching you play enjoyable. The high's are not the high's without the low's. No matter where you are next year, feed off that emotion you felt right after St. Louis scored tonite.

Go Leafs Go.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Best post ever. I can't believe you were sober enough to put this together after the bar on Saturday.

Unknown said...

Thanks. There's a lesson here, I should drink more often.

I don't think I was sober. I loosely remember having written something the night before when I woke up on Sunday.

Friends don't let friends drink and post.