The Official Toronto Maple Leafs thread

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Pat Quinn is officially an idiot

The Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday announced that defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo has been assigned to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Recalled yesterday by the Maple Leafs, Colaiacovo recorded his first career NHL goal last evening in the team's 6-4 win over the Washington Capitals. In six games this season with the Marlies, he has registered two goals and four assists.

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Bill Watters (Leafs Lunch) said the Leafs sent down Carlo C down to the Marlies today with plans to bring him back for Friday's game. Watters claims the reason for the shuffle is because Carlo can be paid his Marlies contract saving the Leafs $10,000 for the two day demotion.

Coli played well - better than Berg or Belak anyway - his goal was flukey though. As for Quinn he took a puck and a stick to the face - in two seperate games

[callen]

i think carlo is better than aki, but he did cough up the puck for the caps to score thier first goal.... and btw max power who DO u cheer for? lemme guess u are a wagon hopping Sens fan????? GO LEAFS GO!

[Max Power]

pens...and i hate ottawa

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Hey just heard on sportsnet that apparently JFJ is shopping Jason Allison around

Allison, Antro and cash for some D - but who?

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I'm going to miss this game because I have some business to attend to- but I say the leafs sqeek by 4-3

IBM GAME NOTES Leafs vs. Sabres November 11, 2005 Pregame: 7:00 pm, Leafs TV -- Gameday Game: 8:00 pm, TSN, AM 640 Postgame: Following the game, Leafs TV -- After The Horn This is the first of eight meetings between the Sabres and Maple Leafs this season. Buffalo's first trip up the QEW to Air Canada Centre is on Thursday, December 29 at 7:30 p.m. Toronto doesn't play in Buffalo again until Friday, March 3 at 8 p.m. - the night that Pat LaFontaine will have his number 16 raised to the rafters. SABRES ALL-TIME RECORD VS. TORONTO ALL TIME RECORD: 136 70 45 18 3 LAST 10 GAMES VS. TORONTO OVERALL: 5-4-1 LAST 10 GAMES VS. TORONTO AT HOME: 4-4-2 TORONTO VS BUFFALO 2003-2004 SEASON Buffalo had a record of 3-2-1 against Toronto, and was 1-2 at HSBC Arena. Former Sabre Miroslav Satan led the team in scoring with 11 points (4+7) in six games, followed by J.P. Dumont with nine (2+7) and Chris Drury (3+2) and Jochen Hecht (2+3) with five each. Defenceman Bryan McCabe led Toronto with six points (0+6) in six games. Martin Biron played in five games for Buffalo, finishing with a 1-2-1 record and a 2.99 GAA. Ed Belfour played four games for Toronto, and was 1-2-1 with a 2.95 GAA. RECENT GAMES NOVEMBER 8 - WASHINGTON 4 at TORONTO 6 Alexei Ponikarovsky, Bryan McCabe, Mats Sundin and Carlo Colaiacovo scored in the third period and the Maple Leafs rallied for a 6-4 victory over the Capitals. Chad Kilger and Jeff O'Neill also added goals for the Maple Leafs. Capitals rookie Alexander Ovechkin recorded his fifth two goal game and second against the Leafs. Olie Kolzig allowed five goals on 32 shots and was replaced in the third by Brent Johnson. Sundin has recorded six points in three games since his return from injury. Final Shots: Toronto 34. Washington 30. NOVEMBER 6 - TORONTO 4 at WASHINGTON 5 Alexander Ovechkin had a two-goal performance to lead the Capitals to a 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the rookies fourth two-goal game of the season. Matt Pettinger added a shorthanded goal while Bryan Muir finished with a goal and an assist Jeff O'Neill scored twice and Kyle Wellwood had a goal and an assist for Toronto. Mats Sundin and Alexander Khavanov each added two assists. Olaf Kolzig had 25 saves for the Capitals. Toronto's Mikael Tellqvist, making his fourth appearance of the season, made 28 saves. Final Shots: Washington 33, Toronto 30. FILLING THE IN THE NEW NHL The Toronto Maple Leafs are tied for third in the NHL with 60 goals in 16 gmes. This includes 26 powerplay goals, accounting for 43.3% of their scoring production. 2005-06 REGULAR SEASON TOTAL GOALS (As of November 10, 2005) RK TEAM Games Played Powerplay Goals Total Goals 1. Detroit 17 27 68 2. Ottawa 13 19 62 3. Toronto 16 26 60 Philadelphia 13 21 60 Colorado 14 21 60 Boston 17 22 60 7. Carolina 14 20 58 8. Los Angeles 16 16 55 9. Vancouver 16 20 53 10 N.Y. Rangers 17 19 52

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Wellwood oozes confidence Quinn grudgingly admires rookie's adventurous spirit 'It's going to take a lot more work to prove myself' Nov. 14, 2005. 01:00 AM KEN CAMPBELL SPORTS REPORTER The year was 1999, Kyle Wellwood's rookie season in the Ontario Hockey League and he was full of bold predictions. One day when he was talking to his agent, Wellwood mentioned that he would win the league's scoring title the next season. His agent reminded him that he'd be going head-to-head against some guy named Jason Spezza, but Wellwood didn't seem very concerned about that. The next season, he was the OHL's top scorer with 118 points, two more than Spezza. That wasn't the only prediction Wellwood made that day. He also told his agent that by his third year of professional hockey, he'd be playing in the NHL. Right again. "John (Maple Leafs GM Ferguson) called me a couple of weeks ago and said, 'Consider yourself on the team,'" Wellwood said. "I guess that's about as clear as you can get." Don't let Wellwood's golly-gee-I'm-just-happy-to-be-here act fool you. The 22-year-old rookie is brimming with confidence and it shows in how assertive he plays offensively. He isn't hesitant to try high-risk moves that can either make the highlight reels or the team's video session the next day. A case in point came earlier this season when, with the Leafs clinging to a one-goal lead, Wellwood tried to score on a breakaway by shooting between his legs. Leafs coach Pat Quinn was not the least bit impressed — largely because Wellwood failed to score — but he does admire the young man's sense of adventure. "He's deceptive and a lot of people don't know him," Quinn says. "He shows you things and he's not afraid to try and there are so many things you like about that attitude and the more he keeps showing he can do it on a fairly regular basis, the more (ice) time he's going to end up getting." Wellwood scored his fourth goal of the season in Saturday night's 5-4 overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens on a wonderful give-and-go with Nik Antropov. That gave him a respectable 12 points in 17 games and put him on pace for a 20-goal rookie season. More important, a player who was once considered too small, too lazy and not committed enough to the defensive aspects of the game goes into tomorrow night's game against the New York Rangers leading the Leafs in plus-minus at plus-6. And, depending on how Carlo Colaiacovo develops, Wellwood might turn out to be the best player the Leafs drafted in 2001. Colaiacovo, who was selected 17th overall, remains an unknown, largely because injuries have hurt his development. Karel Pilar (taken 39th) has health issues and if defencemen Brendan Bell (65th) or Jay Harrison (82nd) become NHL players, it almost certainly won't be with the Leafs. That leaves Wellwood, who was taken 134th and has made more progress than any Leaf prospect since then. "I figured it was going to take a lot of work for me to get up here and it definitely has," Wellwood said. "And it's going to take a lot more work to prove myself to be a good player here." The main reason Wellwood is playing at the NHL level is that he now gets it. The same player one member of the Leafs' front office once referred to as a "space cadet" has come a long way in developing his total game and has come to realize the conditioning level that it takes to be an NHL player. "I think I've figured it out over the past couple of years playing in the minors," Wellwood said. "Learning how to be a pro on and off the ice takes a while, but I think I've done that so far." Wellwood's history suggests that he takes a year to get accustomed to his new surroundings, then becomes a dominant offensive player. He won the scoring title in his second year of junior and scored 38 goals and 87 points for St. John's last season. "Being creative offensively has to be my strength," he said. "It's something that I have to do."

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This is gunna be a good game - The bruins will be hungry - first goal is gunna mean alot for either team as the momentum will be contingent on this. I think it'll either be a Bruin blow-out , or 5-3 Leafs.... 8)

IBM GAME NOTES Leafs vs Bruins November 23, 2005 Pregame: 6:30 pm, Leafs TV -- Gameday Game: 7:30 pm, TSN, AM 640 Postgame: Following the game, Leafs TV -- After The Horn Tonight's game is the fourth of eight meetings this season between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. Following the game the Bruins fly back to Boston to face the Flyers Friday afternoon. The Leafs will next see action when they face the Carolina Hurricanes Friday night. Start time is 7 p.m. at the RBC Center. TORONTO VERSUS BOSTON: HEAD TO HEAD 2005-2006 SERIES: 2-1-0 ALL-TIME RECORD: 248-252-98-2 (157-92-51-0 at home) LAST GAME: November 17, 2005 at Boston (Maple Leafs 4, Bruins 1) NEXT MEETING: December 22, 2005 at Boston CURRENT STREAKS: Toronto (1 win) RECENT GAMES NOVEMBER 19 - ATLANTA 1 at TORONTO 5 Alexei Ponikarovsky scored twice and had an assist to help the Maple Leafs beat the Thrashers 5-1 for their season-high fourth straight victory. Bryan McCabe added a goal and two assists for the Leafs. Ilya Kovalchuk scored the lone goal for the Thrashers. Toronto outshot Atlanta 13-2 in the first period and scored three goals. Alexander Steen opened the scoring beating Adam Berkhoel with a wrist shot 50 seconds into the game and Ponikarovsky finished it at 9:49 of the second to make it 5-1. Final Shots: Toronto 38, Atlanta 32 NOVEMBER 17 - TORONTO 4 at BOSTON 1 Eric Lindros had a goal and an assist, and Mikael Tellqvist made 31 saves to lift the Maple Leafs to a 4-1 victory over the Bruins. Toronto scored two power-play goals. Giving the Leafs the top power-play unit in the NHL. Nik Antropov put the Maple Leafs ahead 1-0 in the second period, while Brad Isbister tied it for the Bruins with 13 seconds left in the frame. Nik Antropov, Mats Sundin and Darcy Tucker rounded out about the scoring for the Leafs. Jason Allison and Bryan McCabe each had two assists for the Maple Leafs, giving McCabe seven points in last three games. Final Shots: Boston 32, Toronto 28 THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX Over the course of the last five games Toronto has seen a drop in trips to the penalty box, averaging 6.2 penalties per game, while giving up an average of 5.4 powerplay opportunities. The Leafs complied a 4-1-0 in these contest and are holding opponents to a 2.2 goals per game average. This is in contrast to the previous 10 game where the Leafs were averaging 8.8 penalties per game and giving up an average of 6.8 powerplay opportunities. Toronto was 5-5-0 in those games, with a 4.4 opponents goals per game average. WINNING WAYS Ed Belfour ranks first all-time among active NHL goaltenders in wins and shutouts (tie). Belfour also ranks third on the all-time NHL win list, eighth (tie) on the all-time NHL shutout list and seventh this season in wins. ALL-TIME NHL WIN LEADERS RK GOALTENDER SEASON CAREER 1. Patrick Roy 550 2. Terry Sawchuk 447 3. Ed Belfour 10 445 Jacques Plante 437 5. Tony Esposito 423 6. Martin Brodeur 7 410 7. Glenn Hall 407 8 Curtis Joseph 9 405 9. Grant Fuhr 403 10. Mike Vernon 385 LEADERS OF THE PACK Bryan McCabe's 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists) and Tomas Kaberle's 17 points (one goal, 16 assists) place them first and tied for fifth in NHL defensive scoring. Their combined 47 points make them the highest scoring defensive tandem in the NHL. POINTS BY AN NHL DEFENCEMAN RK PLAYER Goals Assists Points 1. Bryan McCabe 9 21 30 2. Lubomir Visnovsky 8 16 24 3. Joni Pitkanen 7 14 21 Wade Redden 4 17 21 5. Tomas Kaberle 1 16 17 Ed Jovanovski 5 12 17 Sami Salo 6 11 17 Mathieu Schneider 4 13 17 Alexei Zhitnik 2 15 17

[callen]

Well the leafs are coming off another strong win from Saturday nite against the Habs... looks like we have thier number this year! SHould be a good road trip to Florida this week, if we stay focused there is no reason we cant get outta there with 3 wins

[callen]

lindros has been lacking lately, but he is still getting it done it little ways... tonites game was a little bit lackluster, but overall the leafs are doing quite well. We were worried about alot of guys stayin healthy and producing and overall I am happy with results, could always be better but good stuff so far, but not fantastic.

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ya they're doin okay - agree about lindros - but for fuck sakes they need to sit Domi for Wilm... hes absolutely useless... and for a 2 yr 2.5 mil - my GOD!!!!