Well that was a fantastic way to ring in the pre party for the hockey New Year wasn't it? In all seriousness this IS the very first game of pre season and I was a little befuddled by RW's roster sheet and line combos tonight. First off, I'm at bit more of a soul kind of guy than I am a stats guy when it comes to my feelings on whats a good route to success when it comes to sports. Now, don't get me wrong,... because I LOVE stats. But team identity and more so how the players see and feel the game to have success as a TEAM and not an INDIVIDUAL is of paramount importance.
DISCLAIMER This is my first foray into writing in any way shape or form and I have no formal journalistic ability or let alone native talent for that matter so, bear with me.
Alright, 5-0 Sens and what can you say? Obviously not a whole lot as far as stats go. Yeah we could talk about how Gunner was probably the best looking Leaf out there tonight but was a -3 and how Hanson looked strong and determined but didn't put a biscuit in the basket for us and TOI, FOW, yadda yadda yadda. There's something a little deeper I want to talk about.... A problem.
Work ethic. There has come some affliction, some disease, some kind of accepted mental pacification to competitiveness on our team, especially when we are at home. We as fans are of course all too aware of the trend in recent years of not being able to win enough at the ACC. It's a concerning phenomenon that has remained; transcendent of whatever machination of team that has played there in the last 5 seasons. Brian Burke has often talked about how the hardest thing to change is the culture of the team and to an extent the fan base with it. How do we shake this identity of being perennial losers? Opposition teams come into our building expecting to beat us and we by in large part play the role of the doting submissive; tripping over our proverbial skate laces like some band of blue keystone cops fumbling about on the ice, disorganized, smashing into one another as our enemy dances through our laughingly porous defences. I cannot lie, as a Leaf fan I was prepared to be disappointed and in a way expected it even. It sounds terrible, I know; but is anyone really shocked or surprised by the ultimate outcome of tonight's tilt? Fresh in our minds is the awful experience of last October, amid all the good tidings which THAT pre season had brought us. Players talk about the honour, the tradition, the blah blah blah boyhood dream to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. More often than not those players are usually free agents who were drafted by some club other than ours. I think that here in lays some, if not all, of the problem. UFA's should be key additions to a team in my opinion and NOT account for the vast majority of a given teams rank and file on the opening night roster. I like Dion Phaneuf but I think a drafted player should be dignified with the 'C' and not a UFA or one acquired via a trade typically. This is obviously not a universal truth or some matter of fact, but in a place like Toronto it goes a long way to developing a towns idea of having its prodigal son, see one Wendel Clark.
Who was he?....
A guy that worked his ass off shift in and shift out, never complained and was honoured to do it for his team.
What did he have?.....
Work Ethic, and one hell of a wrist shot that didn't hurt either. He was a player we drafted who wore that jersey with the knowledge and understanding of what it takes to be a captain in this city, and through that defined an entire team by the example he set forth. I hope for the fans and Dions' sake that our current captain will lead by his example and not his words. Though I do like the team that Brian Burke has assembled I still find myself struggling with the question: Who and What exactly are we? Right now it seems to be a team that knows how to win a fight but lose a hockey game.
Thank you to anyone that actually read this, sincerely,
Lucas V Snow
