TORONTO -- Greetings from wintertown, where it snowed so hard here last night I looked out the window of my hotel and thought it was fake. Seriously, the flakes were so thick it looked like someone was dumping clumps of feathers. But it was snow.
And now my flight is delayed. Such is life.
The Panthers should have stuck around T-town a little longer, perhaps celebrated their big win over the Leaves at least for a moment or two. Instead the team trudged on to Ottawa, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't Ottawa.
The team stays out in the sticks, and there isn't much to do once the sun goes down. Maybe Murf the Surf knows of some late night fun in Kanata -- cow tipping anyone? -- but that too is doubtful.
-- The local media is not afraid to pile on the Leafs in their time of woe and sorrow. Neither are their fans. The folks who stuck around for last night's game took much joy in booing Vesa Toskala after he gave up Florida's fourth goal, then really let Andrew Raycroft have it as he skated into place.
When the Panthers started tearing it up in the third, Raycroft even received mock cheers. There were still people in the building at 7-0, but once Florida made it 8-0, the floodgates opened and the arena emptied out.
Hey, if you laid out the kind of dough it takes to see the Leafs here, you would have stuck it out as well.
-- Mats Sundin through the Toronto Star: "Everyone who wore our sweater tonight should be ashamed.'' Yikes. Last night's debacle is only fueling more trade rumors surrounding the Leafs' captain. Word I'm getting is that he isn't waiving his no-trade. We'll see. Toronto is in sunny South Florida at the trade deadline, so that could be fun.
-- Talk about getting pummeled, the Panthers are running into an Ottawa team that's anything but red hot. The Sens lost to Montreal last night and their lead in the Northeast is down to a single point. Without Heatley and Alfredsson, the Sens are a shell of their former selves. This is a huge opportunity for the Panthers to escape Kanata with a W.
-- PS: One of the nicknames for the Leafs is 'Buds.' Weak, I know....
-- Flight's delayed another hour! Yippee! It's 10 a.m. If anyone wants to do a live chat on the comment board, feel free to leave question and I'll answer as long as I'm here in TO...
-- Sad day in South Florida if the Shaq deal indeed goes down. Sure, the trade makes a lot of sense to the Heat, but our region loses a bunch when the Big Fella heads west. I mean, hey, I'm not paying the $20 million it takes to keep him around...
-- Count me in as a guy who's going to miss Bobby Knight. See you at Cardinals camp, General...
Nice to Zed get off the schnide in a huge way the past few games...
Posted by: panthersfan | February 06, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Did you at least get to Timmy's this morning?
Posted by: Steven Wise | February 06, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Now that it is the year of the rat, lets see if the organization realizes that the last time it was the year of the rat we made the finals.
Let's go Panthers!!!!!!
show that the rat attack is back
Posted by: Season Ticket Holder since day one | February 06, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Do you have any knowledge if the hell we gave the managment at the panther season tkt meeting got back to JM and the players?
Posted by: jh | February 06, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Georgy - you still in toronto - let's hang out!!!!!!!!
i'm 5 minutes from the ACC
you see bosh at the game? he rocks!
Posted by: Ben | February 06, 2008 at 12:41 PM
p.s. - you eaten at harvey's right? the greatest fast food chain ever - if you haven't i strongly suggest you do - it'll change your life it will
Posted by: Ben | February 06, 2008 at 12:43 PM