The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

No one could have predicted this. Not even the most optimistic Leafs fan could ever think that tonight they would beat the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Detroit Red Wings, and on their home ice to boot. There is really no reason for the Wings to have lost. If you look at both teams' rosters, their past won-loss records and the experience of each team, Detroit is the clear favourite to win hands-down. So Detroit, here's a smattering of excuses I'm offering that you are free to use to explain why you lost to a team expected to finish in the bottom of the NHL:

- We're still feeling the effects of the long Stanley Cup run

- The Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony put our legs to sleep

- It takes a little time to find your legs at the start of the season

- There's parity in the league and this is proof of it

- We were looking ahead to our opponents on Saturday night, the Ottawa Senators

- We're still trying to find the right line combinations

- We have new teammates and they're still trying to blend in

- We flat out sucked tonight

Other thoughts on tonight's North American NHL season debut:

- Props to Toronto, they tried their hearts out and deserved to win

- As if Leafs d-man Jonas Frogren won't be referred to by yours truly as "Frogurt" for the rest of his career

- I was getting a little tired of the CBC commentators going on and on about how good the Red Wings are. Look, we know they're good, but comments like "at this point of the game they've usually outshot you 10-1" and "he probably missed the net on purpose to get the tip-in" got a little ridiculous. NO ONE MISSES THE NET ON PURPOSE!

- Who can complain about Def Leppard performing Photograph in-between hockey games? Didn't need though to hear Don Cherry endorse them by declaring he'd like some sugar poured over him.

- We're down to two choices for the new CBC hockey night in Canada anthem...I have to admit, it sounded a lot better on the big TV then on a computer monitor. Between the two, I like this one.

- Vancouver's pre-game tribute to Luc Bourdon was very classy