Shoots Left and Writes

  Simon B Tonight is game 7. No matter what craziness went on Saturday, were all back to watch tonight. I know that it's going to be nerve-wracking tonight. I know that if you're a Leaf fan you've probably got 0% confidence because we've done this a million times. But do yourselves a favor and enjoy your day.  I'm posting this 12 hours before puck drop. Make the most of those 12 hours. Have a nice lunch if you can, spend time with family and loved ones, don't worry about the game because we've got to understand that life will go on after tonight, whether the Leafs win or lose. Good luck to both teams and enjoy the game! If you have any other sports topics you'd like to read about, let me know in the comments or send me a message in the "Contact me" section in the sidebar!  Thanks for reading! I'd love your comments and questions.  Please share with friends and take a moment to subscribe (head to the sidebar and sign up under the "subsc...

 Round 1, Game 6: Leafs vs. Habs Simon B No words can describe how I feel at this moment. Normally I write these post-game pieces the morning after games so I get a chance to sleep on them and reflect. But not tonight! I'm not going to look at any notes, I'm going straight from the heart. After all, this is the way life is. The Leafs go to game 7. Even when they dominated in games 2, 3, and 4 and it looked like they were cruising to a series win, I still doubted them based on one thing: the crest on their jersey. The part that annoys me the most about this is that every loss they've had in these playoffs has been avoidable. Game one: Tavares went down and they couldn't really pull it together, understandable. Game five: a terrible start where they storm back and have a chance to win in overtime but lose it on a horrendous turnover at the blue line. Game six: for the first 45 minutes of the game, it looked like they didn't want to be there! Frankly, I don't think...

 Round 1, Game 5: Habs vs. Leafs Simon B This game was a crazy roller coaster of emotions! From being down 3-0 to Jake Muzzin of all people scoring two goals to get them back in it to Nick Suzuki winning it a minute into overtime, a lot of storylines came out of this game. John Tavares gave the Leafs a big morale boost, back on the practice taking shots only a week after his collision. JT was also in the house for the game, cheering on his team who had a chance to close out the series last night. For the lineups, Rasmus Sandin was back in for Travis Dermott. I think this was the wrong move by head coach Sheldon Keefe because Dermott looked really good in game 4. Keefe should have given Dermott the chance to prove his consistency by showing he could do it in two straight. Sandin had been good up to this point in the series but game 5 was one to forget for him. He didn't have the same impact he had had in the first three games of this series and wasn't bringing the same amount of...

 Simon B This is the second part of my European Championship preview.  If you want to check out the first preview piece I covered groups A, B, and C in my earlier blog post,. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on groups D, E, and F. Group D England - Croatia - Scotland - Czech Republic I like the way this group has two teams that are going full out to win the tournament, and then two middle-class teams that aren't favorites to win but I'm sure will give the top teams a run for their money. I'll start with England . They're young, fast, skilled and they've got nothing to lose because this is just the beginning of a long road of success that England has built for itself. They surprised everyone by making it to the semis in the World Cup in 2018, and it looks like their lineup has only gotten better since then. A back four of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harry Maguire, John Stones, and Luke Shaw, show a lot of promise: dynamic on offense and big and strong in their o...

  Round 1, Game 4: Leafs vs. Habs Simon B The big controversy before last night's game 4 turning point game in the series was who would get the start in net for the Leafs. It was the second half of a back-to-back so some argued that the start should go to the rested option in Frederik Andersen. Others said that they need to see if Jack Campbell can play well in two straight nights. The Leafs decided to go with the latter. I agree with that decision but not because I wanted to see how Jack would perform in a back-to-back situation (the playoffs are not the time to experiment) but because between him and Andersen, he's been the most consistent netminder all season. Sheldon Keefe did make a few changes from the lineup he iced in game three. Rasmus Sandin was given the night off so that Travis Dermott would get some playoff action and not keep him too cold and Riley Nash was taken off the fourth line and was replaced by Adam Brooks making his first appearance of these playoffs. The...

  Round 1, Game 3: Leafs vs. Habs Simon B And so our series shifts to Montreal. Not that it matters too much, because fans are not a factor in this series just yet; Montreal only plans to allow fans in their building in game 6 (if it happens). Toronto was certainly on a high after the last game and Montreal was hungry for revenge. Despite that residual energy, I was surprised that both teams took most of the first period to get up to full playoff intensity. But once they picked up the pace, both goalies stole the show. And for a low-scoring game, it was really fun to watch. Leafs’ head coach Sheldon Keefe made only one lineup change for this game: Riley Nash was slotted into the lineup on the fourth line (which put Simmons on the third and Kerfoot on the second) because Nick Foligno is day to day with an unspecified injury. Foligno skated in warmups but didn't feel right so he watched this one from the press box. The Good One name: Jack Campbell. His night started off relatively ...

 Simon B *Pour la version en français de cet article, allez dans les options à gauche et choisissez "français" dans la section langue. The Euro Cup is only 18 days away. Time is flying by as most national team managers are now releasing their squads for the upcoming European Championship beginning on June 11th, with Turkey and Italy kicking off the tournament in Rome. The interesting thing about this Euro compared to years past is that there isn't one specific host country the way there normally is (for example in 2016, all the games were played in France). This year, a whopping 11 different countries are set to host games! I am surprised, because of all the international travel that’s going to take place while the pandemic is still raging in some parts of Europe. However, most players have been vaccinated (with at least their first dose) so there is less risk. But UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) has decided to go ahead with the initial plan.  Spain, Scotla...

 Round 1, Game 2: Habs vs. Leafs Simon B "If they lose game two though, they're in trouble." That's how I ended last game's post-game piece. What I loved about the way the Leafs played game two is that they went into it knowing very well that coming back from being down 2-0 would be extremely difficult. Obviously, captain John Tavares was on every player's mind, clearly evident after the players dedicated the 5-1 game two win to number 91. With JT out of the lineup, though, head coach Sheldon Keefe made significant moves. Unlike the last game, I agreed 100% with the way he configured the lines. The top line remained the same (Matthews - Marner - Hyman) and rightly so; they've been the best line all season no matter who is on the leftwing. Even though they had a tough game in the series opener, this line had a much better one last night as they imposed their will on Montreal's "shutdown line" centered by Philip Danault.   The second line was a...

 Round 1, Game 1: Habs vs. Leafs Simon B First and foremost, I'd like to send my thoughts out to John Tavares, his wife Aryne, and his two young kids. A scary injury like the one we all saw last night was extremely difficult to watch as a fan so I can't even imagine the scare they must've gotten when they saw it. This kinda felt right, didn't it? The Leafs losing game 1. Everyone in Tronto sports media is saying that the Leafs would be able to deal with the Habs in 4 or 5 games. Montreal would put up a good fight but they are no match for this new look Leaf team. I still think the Leafs are winning this series but after game 1, it's clear that Toronto isn't just going to mow down the Habs the way people said they would. I'll explain why a bit later on but first let's look at the lineup. This was the lineup that Kyle Dubas has been trying to put together dating back to October 2020 when he signed Simmons, Thornton, and Brodie. The idea behind it is pretty...