Monday, October 09, 2006
The sky is falling?
Three games into the season, my Sens are 1-2, including a humiliating loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-0 in their own arena. I've heard no less than two people tell me the Sens won't even make the playoffs. I've heard lots of people calling Martin Gerber the worst goaltending signing in this young NHL season. Pull the plug on this team, it's over.I would like to take this time to disagree with these viewpoints. You know, being a Sens fan, aside for being a glutton for punishment for years & years of underachieving, is that you can't win. What if Ottawa was 3-0 right now? "Yeah, regular season, who cares, wait for the playoffs." Ok, so now they have a lousy 1-2 start. "See, they suck. They'll be lucky to make the playoffs."
Aside from all this, you can't tell anything from three games into an 82 game season. If you could, Steve Reinprecht and Kyle Wellwood would be battling it out for the Art Ross trophy. So to dump all over a team for losing back to back is a little shortsighted. Perhaps examine what the team is doing wrong, for sure, but to say they have no chance this year is taking it a bit far.
Here's my view on this: These losses are a bit necessary in the long term. Last season, things came too easily for Ottawa. They wouldn't really have to try, and they would win. Some people say that Ottawa didn't show much heart, but really, they didn't have to. There were blowing out teams by 3+ goals on a regular basis. So when it came playoff time and the matches were 1 goal contests against Buffalo (three of Buffalo's four wins were decided in OT) this wasn't an area Ottawa was familiar with. So when they played horribly against the Leafs, they got what they deserved: an a** kicking. Saturday they were behind the proverbial 8-ball early when Buffalo scored into the first minute and the Sabres managed two 2-goal leads, but at least in the 2nd and 3rd periods they were trying and didn't quit, closing the gap twice to one goal (but still coming up short). These are needed growing pains for the season to get ready for the playoffs.
We will likely see a reunion of the pizza line Thursday against the Flames as they clicked immediately when Murray put them together again. We aren't seeing Fisher & Schaefer click with Alfredsson so far, so let's go back to what worked before and try new line combinations.
Let's not blowup the team and trade Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson to Long Island for Alexei Yashin.
One last thought: Another good thing that came from the 6-0 spanking from the Leafs is a renewal of the rivalry between these two teams. Last year, it wasn't really close so there wasn't much excitement to the games. Now...hey, how is Ottawa going to respond? Did the Leafs just get lucky or are they the real deal? Are we going to see McGrattan and Belak chuck the knuckles after their lousy tilt on Thursday? Is Gerber going to run home and cry to momma? Lots of stories here, which will make for a game to look forward to. And really, that's what we always want when watching some NHL action.
# posted by SBP : 10:59 PM
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Benstradamus,
Thank you for your post. The single biggest problem with the sens this past decade that is absolutely consistant year to year that makes me most embarrased to be a sens fan is the fans themselves. The glowing mass of critics are the ones who suck and choke at key moments. If an audience could win MVP Edmonton's would have done just that last year, cause they definately had something to do with the teams success.
Moving-on.
Ben your column was insightful, true, te and a la marque. Somewhere in the back of my mind I beleive you have this golden dream that your blog will one day be discovered and launch you into a poker/sens journalism career. This post was the one that has the capacity to do it.
Thank you for your post. The single biggest problem with the sens this past decade that is absolutely consistant year to year that makes me most embarrased to be a sens fan is the fans themselves. The glowing mass of critics are the ones who suck and choke at key moments. If an audience could win MVP Edmonton's would have done just that last year, cause they definately had something to do with the teams success.
Moving-on.
Ben your column was insightful, true, te and a la marque. Somewhere in the back of my mind I beleive you have this golden dream that your blog will one day be discovered and launch you into a poker/sens journalism career. This post was the one that has the capacity to do it.
# posted by 
: 7:02 AM, October 10, 2006
: 7:02 AM, October 10, 2006
Well...I agree with the first part of the first comment. Not sure Ben has been shortlisted for the Pulitzer just yet. But Sens fans are the most fragile fans I have ever seen. It almost makes me wanna cheer for the Leafs. As soon as things turn south, they jump off the bandwagon...even three 'effing' games into the season. And peope wonder why I don't cheer for my hometown team....
And one final blow before I go. There will be no pizza on Thursday. Just a 1-3 Sens team.
And one final blow before I go. There will be no pizza on Thursday. Just a 1-3 Sens team.
# posted by : 1:45 PM, October 10, 2006
: 1:45 PM, October 10, 2006
John, thanks for the kind words.
As for Sens fans, yeesh, both of you hit it right on the head. Maybe it's just because we only hear the loudest of them and it may not reflect the average Sens fan, but it seems they have that "doom & gloom" attitude and jump on and off the bandwagon at will. I will say it here: First place or last, I will support the Ottawa Senators and always consider myself a fan. If I based my loyalty on the team's fanbase, I'd be cheering for the Leafs, too.
As for Sens fans, yeesh, both of you hit it right on the head. Maybe it's just because we only hear the loudest of them and it may not reflect the average Sens fan, but it seems they have that "doom & gloom" attitude and jump on and off the bandwagon at will. I will say it here: First place or last, I will support the Ottawa Senators and always consider myself a fan. If I based my loyalty on the team's fanbase, I'd be cheering for the Leafs, too.
Ben,
Screw the Sens and come over to the dark side. Okay....this time Ben probably hit it on the head. There are too many moronic Sens fans who never shut up. These idiots who know nothing about hockey (Okay..very little about hockey) are the same ones who inisist on calling the Team 1200 to bitch about everything. And it's this same fan who sits on his hands at the games and never makes a sound. Unless he/she is booing. I hate to make generalizations but...that what you get when your fan base is made up of far too many Hab fans. And since they jumped ship from Les Habitants I think you can tell how 'loyal ' of a fan they are.
I can't for the life of me imagine a scenario where I cheer for the Sens. But if they somehow lucked into winning a Cup (ha!) I would pick up the phone (if I wasn't right beside him) and congratulate Ben Patrick because I know he's a REAL and LOYAL fan who never gives up on his team.
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Screw the Sens and come over to the dark side. Okay....this time Ben probably hit it on the head. There are too many moronic Sens fans who never shut up. These idiots who know nothing about hockey (Okay..very little about hockey) are the same ones who inisist on calling the Team 1200 to bitch about everything. And it's this same fan who sits on his hands at the games and never makes a sound. Unless he/she is booing. I hate to make generalizations but...that what you get when your fan base is made up of far too many Hab fans. And since they jumped ship from Les Habitants I think you can tell how 'loyal ' of a fan they are.
I can't for the life of me imagine a scenario where I cheer for the Sens. But if they somehow lucked into winning a Cup (ha!) I would pick up the phone (if I wasn't right beside him) and congratulate Ben Patrick because I know he's a REAL and LOYAL fan who never gives up on his team.
# posted by : 2:36 PM, October 11, 2006
: 2:36 PM, October 11, 2006Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
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