Washington is sitting and 9th and hasn’t accomplished anything with regard to the post-season as of yet, so I am unclear as to how a first round match-up with them is inevitable.

That being said, it really shouldn’t matter what the match-ups turn out to be. The Habs are either going to be good enough to win the East or they’re not.

The playoffs are an entirely different story than the regular season anyway. Living in southern Ontario, I’ve watched Ottawa own the Leafs during the regular season in past years, only to lose miserably to them in the playoffs each of those years. And Ottawa had its deepest run last year… when the Leafs were out of the picture.

I don’t care much for the match-up game.

The thing I’m seeing with Crosby very early in his career is that he’s already a yapper. Bitching, whining, complaining, moaner. The kid has talent, but if he keeps heading down this road (which I say he is), he’s not gonna end up being listed with some other top players in this league who kept their traps shut and just played the game. Yzerman and Sacik are 2 that stand out right away. I have never in the 20 year careers of either of these guys seen them crying to the ref. They took their lumps and played through the bad or missed calls and did all their talking with their point totals. Sacok was stuck in Quebec, winning nothing, getting nowhere for the first 5 or so years of his career, no playoffs but racking up 100 points a year…didn’t whine at all, stuck it out, and just look at him now. Totally respecatble players for our generation…and my hat is off to them both.
Sid, I don’t know if it’s the fact that you’re still a kid, or if this is gonna be a permanent thing with you…but talent only goes so far with Canadian hockey fans…the aspect of of respect is the rest. Quit your whining kid, play the bloody game. You got talent to burn and you’re reminding me of Sundin already. Grow up and play.

And the problem is this: it’s more than a matter of opinion at this point – almost everyone I talk to seems to cringe at the mention of his name, as if in unanimous agreement that he is a bad ambassador for Canadian hockey. Myself, I just see it as a further evidence that metrosexuality is consuming the world. The original definition of ‘manhood’ will soon be extinct, friends. Speaking of which, when are they going to build a bubble for these guys to play within, so that no profanities can be heard by the ever increasingly fragile ears of fans and no renegade pucks can ever again threaten to break a fingernail on the hand of a well manicured male hand.

Ice Man, I assume you’ve been to the ACC. What a picnic-like atmosphere they’ve got going in there, hey? That’s what happens when a hockey club goes corporate.

On a related note, here’s the ongoing argument in Toronto…

For as long as season tickets continue to sell out in record time, TMLSE feels absolutely no pressure to put a product on the ice that is actually worth watching. So, boycott the games, right? Nice try. The corporations affiliated with that hopeless organization have monopolized most of the seats, leaving the little guy in the purples with essentially no voice. Sound like a familiar pattern? You betcha it does.

Concerts?

Anyway, it’s like watching a game while sitting on a sofa in someone’s living room. At one point (during a game against Ottawa two seasons ago), I almost dozed off. Luckily, the waitress woke me up to see if I was hungry!