The Official Dave Ayres CC "All Thing Leaves" thread

[Topper]

Wasn't it the MSG faithful used heat coins with lighters and toss them on the ice in front of the visitors bench?

[Hockey Widow]

Christy Clark Twitter: #jerseygate? About time. Most Canadians would rather be arrested than put on that jersey. cc @davedotca
10:46am - 20 Jan 15

This should cause a great reaction from Ontario!

[BurningBeard]

a cry for attention.

You summed up the current state of the franchise perfectly in half a sentence.

[Strangelove]

TWO jerseys.

OOPS, make that FOUR jersey-tossers... and a waffler:

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/01/20/je ... with-leaves

Four times during the game, Maple leaves jerseys were tossed onto the ice at the ACC — two of them landed on the playing surface during play. At the end of the game — where the leaves lost five in a row — a waffle was also reportedly thrown on the ice as a symbol of how awful the team performed

[Madcombinepilot]

Lol...

Who wants to sit through a game for 2 hours to have a 1/2 cooked smelly waffle in his jacket, on the off chance he gets to throw it on the ice???

Can you imagine what that fan would smell like??


I mean damn.. Sitting beside that dude, I wouldn't be able to watch the game.

I would just be thinking about syrup and bacon...

[Strangelove]

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/01/22/ma ... eal-season

OTTAWA - Clicking on the radio during the drive to the Senators' optional practice on Wednesday morning, you are greeted by the familiar chimes of circus music on the local sports radio station.

What's the deal?

Are Barnum & Bailey doing a gig here? Is Cirque du Soleil setting up at the Canadian Tire Centre?

Nope. In this instance, something more fitting of a big top has come to Ottawa.

Indeed, the Maple leaves are in town. And with this particular segment of talk radio focusing in on the blue-and-white sideshow, the circus theme seemed to be appropriate on this day.

TRAINING CAMP TRIBULATIONS

"Phil, do you hate your coach?"

That was the first question asked of Phil Kessel on the opening day of training camp back in September.

Nothing about his conditioning or his hopes for the team. He hadn't even officially laced up his blades yet and already he was being scrutinized.

Responding to an article in which leaves assistant Steve Spott allegedly suggested to a coaching symposium that Kessel was "uncoachable," Kessel said no, he did not despise then-coach Randy Carlyle. Spott later added that the issue had been "overblown."

Overblown? He hadn't seen anything yet.

JERSEY-GATE

Since it's the freshest of the soap opera episodes, how about the penchant of bitter leaves fans chucking their jerseys on to the ice?

Everyone seems to have an opinion on the subject. But this much is certain: If you throw a sweater on the playing surface during a stoppage, you're disgruntled. If you do it while the play is going on, you're an idiot. A player or official could get hurt, so use some common sense.

It has escalated to the point that the police have gotten involved. As for the leaves organization, it is banning culprits who are Tom Brady-ing jerseys down from the stands from the ACC for a year.

"You shouldn't be able to walk away scot-free from interrupting a venue," forward Nazem Kadri said.

He has a point. Then again, if his team was accruing more points these days, maybe this wouldn't even be an issue.

Because it wouldn't be happening.

SALUTE-GATE

After dropping back-to-back games to Buffalo and Nashville by a combined score of 15-4--the Predators humiliation taking place on home ice--the leaves opted not to take part in the stick salute to their fans moments after a 5-2 win over Tampa Bay on Nov. 20.

Although the players wouldn't admit it, sources suggested the decision was made in response to jerseys having been thrown on to the ice during the first six weeks of the season. This supposedly was the players' way of showing their disdain for those acts.

Bad choice.

So heated was the backlash, team president Brendan Shanahan came into the dressing room after practice the following day and reportedly told the players such conduct was unacceptable.

Meanwhile, certain leaves players came up with the lame excuse that they were just trying to "change things up." Sure enough, during their next home victory, they did the salute again, only this time in their own end instead of centre.

If you were to pinpoint an issue that really caused a rift between the team and the fans, this would be it.

YOU'RE BUSTED (X2)

Having one player in the organization fail a test for a banned substance is bad enough.

Having two is enough to make GM Dave Nonis grind his teeth in anger.

Earlier this month, winger Brad Ross was hit with a 20-game suspension for violating the American Hockey League/Professional Hockey Players' Association Performance Enhancing Substances Program.

The Ross incident came after forward Carter Ashton had served 20 games for testing positive for Clenbuterol, which he said he took unknowingly through an inhaler that a summer training partner gave him to deal with an asthma attack.

"Our disappointment is the tens of thousands of dollars we spend (reviewing) substances for our players," Nonis said. "Regardless of how it got into his body, anything they put in should come from us. We're 100% certain that the supplements we provide are clean. We recommend not putting in anything we don't endorse.

"We provide a great deal of education, but it's something we have to continue, pound it into his head and not let up on it with leaves, Marlies and our prospects yet to come."

An embarrassing series of events for Nonis and the entire organization. Unfortunately, in this free-falling year, not the only ones.

TARGET PRACTICE

Much has been made about polarizing captain Dion Phaneuf. Specifically, do his teammates respect him?

Judging by what's happened in the past week, it seems his opponents don't.

Last Thursday in San Jose, veteran Joe Thornton, peeved at the leaves captain, wound up and took a slapshot directly at Phaneuf, narrowly missing him.

Four days later, Carolina's Eric Staal, with Phaneuf between him and an empty leaves net, blasted a bullet that whizzed by Phaneuf for his second goal of the game.

"I knew it was (Phaneuf)," said Staal, who had dropped the gloves with the leaves captain earlier in the game. "I was either putting it in by him or hitting him with a good one."

Curiously, none of Phaneuf's fellow leaves came to his aid during either of these incidents.

You connect the dots.

NELSON WHO?

Jonathan Bernier is a standup guy and one of the nicer hombres you'll meet in the Toronto dressing room.

Having said that, he put his foot, ah, skate in his mouth when asked about his thoughts regarding the late Nelson Mandela.

When the Raptors celebrated the first anniversary of Mandela's death, Bernier offered this answer while walking down the red carpet at the Air Canada Centre.

"Well, obviously, he's been, uh, a tremendous, uh, athlete ..."

The personable Bernier later apologized for his major faux pas, claiming he was flustered at the time.

Maybe. But how could the Raptors throw him under the bus by posting the video of his response?

Another embarrassing moment.

AND LET'S NOT FORGET ...

That the leaves lost six of their first seven games after firing Randy Carlyle. Wasn't Carlyle supposed to be the problem here? Guess not completely ... Or Kessel referring to Star columnist Dave Feschuk as an "idiot" ... Or the fact that, earlier that day, former leaves coach Ron Wilson suggested that Kessel was uncoachable ... Or the fact that leaves forwards went 337 minutes, 23 seconds without scoring against an opposing goalie until Kadri found the back of the net against Carolina on Monday ... Or that the leaves scored just one goal on a four-game road swing against the Ducks, Kings, Sharks and Blues.

That's it for now. But stay tuned. We're only at the all-star break. There could be plenty more to come.

One of the greatest seasons ever for a Leaf-hater!

The Leaves right now are a bigger mess than they've ever been.

And they aren't gonna be digging themselves out any time soon:

Leaves gambled and have so far lost on the Gardiner contract ($4M X 5!)

Leaves gambled and have definitely lost on the Clarkson contract ($5.25M X 7!)

Leaves gambled and have definitely lost on the Robidas contract ($3M X 3!)

(Robidas is done like dinner after 2 broken legs the previous year, he'll be 38 in 6 weeks)

The Kessel + Phaneuf contracts are looking worse + worse as their respective shitty characters are exposed.

(8 X $8M + 7 X $7M!!)

The Reimer extension is looking dumber + dumber ($2.3M)

Their 4 most-improved players are all free agents this summer...

Bernier(RFA), Kadri(RFA), Franson(UFA), and Santorelli(UFA)

And the guy responsible for all of this is STILL the GM!

[Topper]

Doc, try to contain yourself.

[Strangelove]

I mentioned in the OOTS thread last night about Phaneuf losing his mind on an innocent Michalek:

http://giant.gfycat.com/SoulfulGranular ... arling.mp4

So let's see, Dion

... slew-footed, slashed, crosschecked him (twice), KICKED him

... then Captain Pylon drops his gloves, pops Michalek's lid off and starts wailing away

(while Michalek is still on his knees, gloves on).

And no PP for Ottawa.

There was NO REASON for Frankenstein to attack Michalek.

If the Brainless Wonder was just pissed off at life, he should have accepted Gryba + Neil's offers to go.

But nooooooooooo.... BWAK BWAK BWAAAAK!!!

Fucking mugs Michalek (and the refs let him get away with it - benefit of being a Leaf)

Like the guy in the linked article above says: No wonder Dion is one of the least respected players in the game.

And he's the CAPTAIN of a team!!

He's a headless chicken who signs off on Salutegate and lashes out at the press and the fans.

It took the morons of Moronto a few years to figure it out...

Worst. Captain. Ever.

[Strangelove]

Doc, try to contain yourself.

Wow, good reading!

Despite all the HORRIBLE decisions, I say the one solitary thing that did the most damage to the evil leaves was

... the salary cap.

They used to spend their way out of trouble.

I always said the salary cap would screw the Leaves on the ice (not profit-wise of course).

Ahhh, it's a wonderful Leaf-hating life.

[dbr]

Thought you'd enjoy this one Doc:

[Strangelove]

^^^ Thanks Dave, it’s beautiful!

Notice the Leaves high-point was on December 16 after beating the Ducks 6-2 (95.22% chance of P/Os)

Now, I’m not one to honk my own horn, but I think it important to point out:

viewtopic.php?p=220226#p220226

They're doing well because this has been the easy part of their sched.

They're doing well because 20 of their 30 games thus far have been at home.

They're doing well because they lead the league in PP opportunities at home (by a huge margin).

Starting now their schedule gets tougher.

The annual fall of the Leaves will begin any time now.

They will very likely miss the playoffs.

...

Did I mention they're gonna miss the playoffs?

HONK HONK!!

[Blob Mckenzie]

And where is the pushead Tuna ?

He is as gutless as the Pauser . Then again if I took that many beatings I'd probably hide too. Pauser likes it at hfboards where he can squeal to the mods every time someone rips apart another one of his shitty posts. Come on Tuna come back .

[Topper]

Leaves fan went to Hamilton to toss his jersey on the ice during a Marlies game.

Gotta love the All Star break

[Strangelove]

Leaves fan went to Hamilton to toss his jersey on the ice during a Marlies game.

YEEEOOOOOOOOOOWW!!!

[Topper]