Patience pays off

Growing up with parents raised around the Kitchener area, junior hockey, more specifically, the OHL was held in high regard, although usual from a Kitchener Ranger perspective. From what I understand from my dad, Kitchener is a great town for junior hockey and after sitting in the crowd at the Aud in 2008 for the Memorial Cup, I found out first hand how classy and knowledgeable the Kitchener fans are.

So of course when it was time to 'settle down' I picked a location that has not only an OHL team but one of the most storied franchises (if not the most) in the OHL, Oshawa. Of course, it helped to have friends living there. The Generals have such a storied past and graduated perhaps the best hockey player ever, Bobby Orr, into the NHL. Okay so I am biased towards number 4 but he ranks right up there with the likes of Gretzky, Howe and the Rocket.

Almost five years has passed since first moving to Gens Country (just made this term up if you hadn't realized...it's rather lame) and in that time I have purchased a couple jerseys for OHL teams but not one from my new hometown Generals. (The two were Brian Kilrea's Ottawa '67's and of course the Rangers). That all changed this year with the release of their alternate (a.k.a third) jersey. The retro blue sweater worn at the time Orr was in junior hockey. It was almost a given since I had been trying to decide whether I should buy the red or white Generals jersey for a while now. I saw the blues around the rink last year and was wishing those were an option to buy.

Thanks to the HST cheque that was just received I was able to make this purchase. Of course there was money left so I took a drive to Belleville and purchased their third jersey that I have wanted since the 2008 Memorial Cup. That's right the 'ugly' gold jersey with the red bull dead centre. I don't even like the Bulls but that jersey will definitely stand out wherever it is worn. Perhaps my love for that jersey stems from my sister's dislike of it, who knows. For me it is another jersey to add to my collection. 4 OHL jerseys down, 16 to go...maybe only 14. Brampton's is possibly the worst in sports and I don't know if I can bring myself to buy a Petes jersey, at least not if I want to retain my Oshawa friends.

On second thought...

maybe I will get season tix this year after all. Friend of mine contacted me and convinced me to buy tix this year and he would buy some from me. I may not get to all the games but I am sure to enjoy the ones I do get to. Now I only have to wait a couple months for my first game.

Winter without season tix

This winter is going to be a long one for me as I am giving up my season tickets for the Bandits. I'm hoping this is just a temporary thing and in a couple years I will be able to get them again but right now the future is uncertain. I'm thinking I'll need to do a road trip this winter at least once; I'm not sure I can go the whole winter without HSBC nachos or a beef on weck. I still have about a month before my renewal comes so maybe something can be worked out.

On to Round 2

The first round of the OHL playoffs seemed to go as expected. Barrie had no trouble getting by Sudbury by winning four straight; the defending Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires also won in four straight against Erie; Mississauga blanked Peterborough in their series; Ottawa, London and Plymouth had little trouble in their series as well as they all won four games to one; but Kitchener had a little more difficulty with Saginaw’s Spirit but still managed a four games to two series victory.

The only series to go the full seven games and the only series where the lower seed won was the Brampton / Kingston series where Brampton pulled out the game seven win for the series. Despite being the ‘underdog’ in the series I think most people expected Brampton to win this series with their star Cody Hodgson back in the lineup. Kingston gave all they had but in the end it was just not enough.

Round two sees Windsor play Plymouth, London play Kitchener, Barrie play Brampton, and Ottawa play Mississauga with the teams listed first having the home ice advantage. These series should be a little more competitive but I’m thinking all the favourites will win except for Ottawa so the true top teams in the league will battle for the league title. The second round action begins tomorrow night for all four series.

What a crazy season

The 2010 National Lacrosse League season has been a really crazy one thus far. Toronto started 6-1 and looked almost unbeatable but have since lost five in a row and are sitting in a tie for second place in the East division. Buffalo on the other hand started 0-4 but have won four straight and have gone from last in the entire league to tied for second in the East. The Rochester Knighthawks, with John Grant Jr back, has struggled to get the offence going and are in danger of missing the playoffs. They do have a game in hand on those teams tied for second so they are not that far behind despite their inconsistent play.

Out in the West, the Washington Stealth, without the services of Colin Doyle after his trade back to Toronto, is sitting tops in the league and became the first team to clinch a playoff spot last weekend. Perhaps the craziest story of all this year is that the re-tooled Edmonton Rush are sitting in second place in the West (above the 2009 champion Calgary Roughnecks) and are one win away (or a Colorado loss) from clinching their first ever playoff spot.

This coming weekend can see two more teams enter the playoff picture in the West. If Buffalo can continue their great play and defeat Colorado Saturday night, and if Calgary can beat either Toronto or Rochester, both Edmonton and Calgary will claim a spot in the 2010 playoffs. The East as usual will likely come down to the last weekend and tiebreakers will likely be needed to decide the seedings for a third year in a row.

Can this season get any crazier? I'm thinking it can but we will have to wait and see what the last four(?) weeks has in store for us. Craziness or not, I expect we will be treated to some great lacrosse as the season winds down.

Tavares truly is the leader

The crowd at the HSBC Arena on Saturday night seemed rather quiet prior to the start of the NLL game between the Titans, now of Orlando, and the hometown Buffalo Bandits. Perhaps the crowd was still in shock from the Bandits loss a week earlier to the worst place team in the East division and was expecting another horrible showing from the orange and black against the division’s best and the player of the month for February in Orlando’s goaltender Matt Vinc. As if this feeling of impending doom was felt by the players, just over two minutes into the game John Tavares laid a heavy check on Greg Peyser who crumpled to the floor (and laid there in a lifeless lump only to get to his feet showing no ill effects once the trainer came onto the floor) causing a bit of a skirmish. It all ended with Tavares and Mark Steenhuis in the box and a Titans powerplay.

Despite being down a man, Banditland came alive during that heated exchange. The Bandits killed the penalty and finally scored on a powerplay of their own on a shot from Steenhuis. The first quarter ended with the Bandits up 4-0 and Mark Steenhuis getting a natural hat trick. The second quarter saw some fights that left two Bandit players injured and the teams defence short two men. The scoring was a bit back and forth but Buffalo increased their lead by 1 leading 8-3 at half.

Orlando came out gunning in the third quarter and scored the next three goals to close the gap to two. The crowd was quiet once again as nervous tension built up. Buffalo escaped the third with a three goal lead though as Steenhuis stopped Orlando’s scoring run by netting his sixth of the game. Heading into the fourth, Buffalo looked more like they were trying not to lose but another big hit from John Tavares (this time clean) got the crowd and the team right back into the game. A short time later JT scored on the powerplay to get back a three goal cushion and the crowd began to sense victory. With over two minutes to play Matt Vinc was pulled for an extra attacker but Orlando was only able to score one goal with the extra man and Buffalo held on for the 12-10 win.

The tone was set early in that game, not that there was a big surprise after the division final last year, and the action didn’t let up until the final whistle blew. The officiating left a lot to be desired and the Titans players found the new carpet a little too comfortable but overall, that was a great hard hitting, action packed game. The kind of game Buffalo excels at. That win also gave Darris Kilgour his record tying 93rd regular season win. The only other coach with that many wins is the late great Les Bartley.

Visiting fans

On a recent road trip to the Bunker, I was decked out in my barber pole jersey showing my allegiance to the visiting team from Ottawa when a lady stopped by to ask about an entrance. I guess she was meeting someone at the main entrance. Since I travel a fair bit to the Bunker I answered her question but she didn't seem to believe me. She continued asking similar questions throwing in street names that I had to think about for a bit. Thankfully someone, presumably from the area, interceded and saved me from the redundant questions. (By the look on his face after I think he was sorry he stepped in).

First off, if you are not going to believe someone when they answer you, don't waste your time asking that person your question. Second, if the person is wearing a visiting team jersey chances are they may not know the answer to any question regarding the building or area. Thirdly, if you are unsure of things before you leave the house, take some time and look up the building or area.

Perhaps she didn't realize I was cheering for the visiting team but given the fact that I was the only person around at the time wearing barber poles instead of white or puke green of the Battalion she should have figured it out. At least I got a bit of a chuckle out of the whole situation.

Coming clean

Another victim in baseball's steroid era came clean about his use of the illegal drug earlier this week. On Monday, Big Mac (Mark McGwire) confessed to using steroids throughout his baseball career including during the spectacular 1998 season when he out blasted Sammy Sosa and broke Roger Maris’ long standing single season home run record. What a season that was too. Hardly a whisper of steroid use was uttered by anyone while the pair of sluggers filled stadiums all across America rekindling interest in a sport that seriously needed a shot in the arm.

As the chase flared up, Bud Selig was puffing out his chest at the excitement his little sport was creating in the media from coast to coast and beyond. For years he turned a blind eye to the signs and suggestions that some of his players were using performance enhancing drugs. Why would he say anything when his sport was finally getting over the damage caused by the recent labour disruptions? Selig saw the excitement generated in Oakland with the Bash Brothers and knew he had something he could lure the fans back with, home runs. And who better to lead the charge than the 1987 rookie of the year that hit 49 long bombs in his first full season.

Finally all this caught up to Major League Baseball and Bud had to act. Unfortunately, he isn’t standing up saying he messed up by letting his players use any method possible to gain the power to hit more home runs but instead is letting his players, those that helped resuscitate MLB and create excitement for the league again, take the fall.

Back to McGwire: Now that he has confessed many seem to think he belongs enshrined in Cooperstown and the mighty Hall of Fame. I was a fan of his while he played and even when Oakland began their spiral to mediocrity or worse (i.e. after losing to Toronto in 92?), I still followed him (and back in the day before internet and dedicated sports channels, that was hard to do). In fact I can remember my high school football coach calling me McGwire during tryouts because I would be wearing my McGwire jersey shirt. Considering I lasted only 3 tryouts before an injury forced me to quit the team that is quite something. Anyhow, even though I almost idolized him I don’t now, nor ever did, believe he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Check his stats. Batting average of .263 with 1596 strikeouts are not career numbers that belong in the Hall of Fame. He had only three seasons where he hit over .300 and only one of those seasons he played in over half the games. One season, even though it was perhaps the most exciting in recent history, is not enough for a spot in the Hall.

Do I still think he was a good player? Definitely. Deserving of a spot beside baseball’s greatest, purest players (with a couple exceptions)? No, but because his stats don’t dictate he should. He just fell victim to the times in which he played. Perhaps now that he has cleared the air Mark can go about his coaching duties and find a way into the Hall via that route. The steroid era of baseball will forever be a black mark on the sport to those that lived through it but let’s hope we can get past it quickly so we can start hearing more positive stories about the game and it’s players. Perhaps outing Bud Selig would go a long way in the cleansing of baseball…