Shoots Left and Writes

 Game 50: Canucks vs. Leafs Simon B Toronto has 6 regular-season games remaining until the playoffs. They clinched a playoffs spot last game so what importance do these games have? Well, they'll be able to rotate guys in and out of the lineup to get the regulars some rest and make sure they're in good condition for the postseason. With that in mind, there were quite a few significant lineup changes before Thursday's clash with the Canucks Nick Foligno was out so his top-line spot was filled in by Joe Thornton. Pierre Engvall slotted into the lineup on the fourth line where Thornton was the last couple of games. On defense, Morgan Reilly and Jake Muzzin were both given the night off so Timothy Liligren was on a defensive pairing with Travis Dermott, and Ben Hutton (who was acquired from Anaheim at the deadline) made his Leafs debut alongside Justin Holl on the second line defense. Jack Campbell also got the night off so Dave Rittich was in the net. The Game In warmups, Wayne...

  Game 49: Leafs vs. Habs Simon B Four times in 11 nights. That's how many times the Leafs and Habs will play each other before the end of the regular season. And the way things are looking, these two teams are going to square off in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 1979. With that in mind, these next four games are sort of a "tune-up" for both sides to brace themselves for the likely first-round clash. No lineup changes for the Leafs since the last game. The Game Early in the game, the has taken a penalty. About 40 seconds into the man advantage, Mitch Marner shot the puck off of Jake Allen's pads and William Nylander was parked in his power play office at the side of the net to tap it home and give the Leafs the early 1-0 lead. Montreal did get the bulk of the chances however and they were outscoring the Leafs by a few shots. But even though they weren't getting the most chances, the Leafs have something that Montreal doesn't. They ha...

 Game 48: Leafs vs. Jets Simon B Toronto broke their mini-slump with a pretty good-looking win on Thursday, but if they were to this game they'd be 8 points up on the Jets with 8 games remaining. In short, if they can get two of three wins in this three-game set against Winnipeg, the North Division will be theirs. A big blow to the defense pairings was the loss of Zach Bogosian to a shoulder injury for 4 weeks. With luck and good care, he’ll be back healthy and strong just in time for round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Ilya Mikheyev was back into the lineup after missing the last two games with injury, replacing Pierre Engvall. Adam Brooks centered the fourth line with Thornton and Spezza on his wings. Campbell was back in the net.  The Game Last game against the Jets the Leafs scored 27 seconds into the game. The Jets returned the favor by scoring a goal in the first minute of this one. 39 seconds in, Winnipeg was breaking into the Leaf's zone and Paul Stasny flipped a ni...

 Game 46: Leafs vs. Jets Simon B The new guy is in! Nick Foligno made his Leafs debut last night. He was acquired just before the trade deadline on April 12th but had to quarantine for a week before joining the team in Winnipeg to make his first start as a Leaf. He was slotted on the top line with Matthews and Marner, which ought to have gotten the Jets’ attention as much as it did mine, for reasons I’ll get to in a moment. An injury to Zach Bogosian (both Zachs on the Leafs are now injured) meant that Rasmus Sandin got the call to play alongside Travis Dermott on the third defensive pairing. Jack Campbell got the start in the net. The Game Back to Foligno:it's unusual for a new player to start on the top line right away. Clearly Sheldon Keefe knows something I don't, because 27 seconds into the game, the Matthews line (with Foligno on it) opened the scoring. A beauty of a stretch pass by Marner sprang Matthews on a break and he sniped a short side on Hellebuyck to make it 1-0....

  Simon B I'm sure you saw this title and are a bit confused. How can football end? It's one of the oldest sports in history and it's the most widely played sport in the world. But over the last decade or so there's been a pattern in European football that has really put the fan's interest second. There are so many different competitions but it's always the same teams winning. Each country has its own domestic league of about 30 teams or so but it's as if there are 2 or 3 teams that can compete at the highest level and everyone else is left found for themselves because they don't have enough money to bring in top players and get better.  This is proof that in football, money is king no matter what.  Right Now, It's Not Enough The most prestigious award in European football is the Champions League trophy. Top teams in each domestic league get to participate but since it's the same teams who are always winning the domestic leagues, it's always ...

Game 45: Leafs vs. Canucks Simon B This was always going to be an interesting game. Originally the Leafs and Canucks were supposed to square off Saturday night, but the major Covid-19 outbreak that Vancouver suffered had the game pushed back to Sunday night.  This was a must-win for the Leafs. Vancouver hasn't played a single game in three weeks and pretty much all their players contracted the virus and a lot of them had symptoms (some worse than others). I gotta say that I really had to feel for the Canucks. They don't have their full lineup back and they've only had 3 or 4 practices since they passed the NHL's protocol and were cleared to play again. That said, the Leafs really needed to take advantage of a tired, weak, and undermanned Canucks team and come away with the 2 points.   The only significant lineup changes were that Auston Matthews was put back into the lineup on the first line with Mitch Marner, and William Nylander returned from his 7-day Covid protocol ...

  Simon B It's been three weeks since the last race in Formula One. Back on March 28th, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton brought us an awesome battle on the last lap for first place. Hamilton did end up winning but the promise of a competitive season between Red Bull and Mercedes is something I'm sure all F1 fans will welcome. It looks as though Mercedes finally have someone to come challenge their dominance over the past 7 years.  Round 2 of the 2021 season was in Imola, Italy, for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and it was quite the race! It was a tricky race because the track was wet to start the race so most cars were on the Intermideiate tyres (used in medium wet conditions). Red Bull A mega race by Max Verstappen! He had a fantastic start from third place making up 2 spots passing Perez and Hamilton into the first corner and he Dominated from there on. He slipped up a couple times but all in all kept his pace really well. His Red Bull looked re...

  Simon B One of the things I liked the most about the way the Toronto Blue Jays handled their offseason was the amount of depth that GM Ross Atkins added to this young lineup. Depth is always important to any ball club but in 2021, it has a lot more importance.  2020 was a shortened season. But not by 20 or 30 games, it was a whole 102 games shorter than your usual Major League year. So what does this have to do with depth the year after? All of these players haven't had a full season of baseball in 2 calendar years so it's inevitable that some players are going to get hurt on the way to gearing back up to getting used to the full 162.  Saying all that depth was always going to be a major part of the Jays success this season but what has surprised many Jays fans is the fact that they need to rely on their depth so early in the season. The Injury Bug Every team in the majors seems to be hit with a lot of injuries this year but the situation in Toronto (well technically Du...

  Simon B 2 years ago this month, Valdimir Guerrero Jr. made his highly-anticipated MLB debut for the Blue Jays against Oakland. It was a Friday and I remember the buzz in Toronto was incredible. Guerrero was at the time  MLB pipeline's  top-rated prospect and he has some of the biggest expectations ever for a 20-year-old. He was to be the next big power hitter of the generation and people were hoping to see him hit 400 ft. bombs every other game. Valddy is the son of former Expo and Hall-of-Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr. so that alone comes with high expectations as well. I've never seen a player get the ovation that he did on that night in April 2019. The stadium was opened an hour early so that fans could watch their young prodigy hit in batting practice. When it was his turn, the batting cage was surrounded and every eye in the ballpark was focused on this 20-year-old kid with his signature bleached dreads who was hitting bomb after bomb. During that game, he got a stand...

  Game 44: Jets vs. Leafs Simon B The Leafs have lost two straight games and were by far the inferior team in both losses against the Canadiens and the Flames. But I've noticed a real sense of calm throughout Leafs Nation -- a calm that I’ve never seen before -- and it's a weird feeling. I'm so used to all of Toronto's sports media exploding after a single loss. That was because previous Leaf teams were so inconsistent and unpredictable that the exaggerated reactions were somewhat understandable. This year, the fanbase has a real sense of confidence in this team to bounce back from little slumps here and there. Coming into last night's game against the Jets, the Leafs had a tough lineup situation to work with. Auston Matthews was not in the lineup (the team didn't say why at the time I'm posting this) and William Nylander is still out under Covid protocol. Adam Brooks and Jason Spezza were slotted back into the lineup on the fourth line and with Matthews ou...

  Game 40: Habs vs. Leafs Simon B The situation heading into this game is very different than what I thought it would be 2 months ago. The Habs and the Leafs both started off their seasons very strongly and these two teams were looking like the best in the division. Montreal did fall off however and are now in the last playoff spot sitting in fourth. But that may not be so bad for hockey fans around the country because if the standing stays as they are, the Leafs and Canadiens will match up in a first-round playoff series. Just thinking of that gets me excited. But for now, let's focus on the game at hand. There are a few notable lineup changes in this game on both sides. The biggest being that Habs goalie Carey Price didn't make the trip to Toronto due to injury so backup Jake Allen got the start in the crease. Montreal's Brendan Gallagher was also out with a broken thumb. On Toronto's side of the equation, William Nylander was ruled out hours before game time with som...

  Simon B The 2021 Baseball season is finally underway! The Blue Jays were in action on Thursday and Saturday and are once again in action this afternoon against the Yankees for the first series of the campaign. I'll have a piece on the entire opening series up tomorrow but what I wanted to do today is see if I can find answers to some of the biggest unknowns this young ball club has coming into the season. My prediction for this Jays' team (if everyone stays relatively healthy and based on last year's performance) is that they'll be in contention for a wild card spot come September and I can see them getting into the postseason. But for that to happen, a ton of things need to go right.  pitching needs to be solid, they're big offensive guns need to live up to the hype and come up with some big performances. We'll just have to wait and see how things go.  No Closer, No Problem About two weeks ago now, the Jays announced that off-season acquisition...