Wow! The Bitter Maple Laughs Fan Thread!

[gohabsgo]

sweet watching the game last night, seeing the Loafs get their butts kicked 7-2. The Habs will step up and win all their remaining games, including the final game on Saturday against the same Maple Losers, giving the Laffs and their fans an early start to the golf season !

 

[anon_vlad]

Yeah Raycroft is a sieve

As a teen, I was surprised to be threatened by my own teammates when I made a negative comment about our goalie. There is apparently an unwritten rule that teammates and fans don't criticize their own goaltender.

Perhaps it is a measure of how consistent Raycroft's poor play has been for years that no Toronto fans have yet defended him on this board. Even commercial sites, for example, http://www.megahorn.com/hockey.html take his sub-mediocrity for granted.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I watched the Rangers-Maple Laughs game last night (more of it than I wanted due to being stood up on a date) and all I have to say is that Sean Avery has more guts than every player on the Maple Laughs combined.

As for Claude Julien being fired, Lou Lamoriello has done this previously. He seems to believe that even if a team does well in the regular season, it is sometimes good to shake things up before the playoffs begin to try and trigger a new chemistry. He has won 3 cups, and 1 of them was in 2000 when they did the same thing, firing Ftorek and then bringing in Larry Robinson to lead the team to Stanley Cup glory. It says here that Lamoriello knows what he is doing.

 

[Techman]

Lamoriello may think he knows what he's doing but it's still damn unfair to fire a coach that has led you to a very successful season. I hope they get bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

 

[joelcairo]

Lou Lamoriello is a hockey genius so I imagine he made a good move as usual. Still, it's shocking and I feel sorry for Julien who seems to be a good coach and a good guy. I thought he was shafted in Montreal but this has to hurt him a lot more because his record was good and he's being bounced from a good team this time.

I also feel sorry for Paul Maurice and Mats Sundin, 2 guys who are way too classy for a sad sack bunch like the Maple Laughs. Christ, imagine having to report to a GM like John Ferguson Jr. and coach a team where your #1 goalie is a human pincushion like Andrew Raycroft! Imagine having to Captain a team filled with whining crybabies like Darcy Tucker. Imagine playing out of Toronto, where the gullible fans actually think that your no-talent bunch of misfits might one day win a Cup.

 

[gohabsgo]

Why didnt Lou give Julien a chance in the playoffs ??

I agree with joelcairo, Tucker is the biggest whiner and crybaby in the league!

 

[Esco!]

He's known for that, its not the first time either.

The cops are now investigating him can you believe that, all this over a verbal argument

 

[EagerBeaver]

Carbonneau

It's funny that you mention that about Carbonneau because while I was in Montreal over the weekend I saw him on TV being interviewed in French. Although I did not understand a word Carbonneau was saying (I don't speak French), based on his tone and body language, I said to myself, "this dude is whining."

 

[Esco!]

Stop making up stories & check your facts. The cops are not investigating anything & have stated it's a non-issue

Geez dude, you live in Mars Pa and you're telling me whats going on here in Toronto???!!!!

I live here and I heard on the news that cops were investigating the incident.
Also a complaint with the league has been filed: http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...plaints_probe_070403/20070403?hub=TorontoHome

.

 

[spin]

So many of these kids risk their future & abandon the chance of obtaining an education when they join the Major Junior 'A' hockey ranks. The percentage of players advancing to pro hockey after playing junior is very small & they wind up having to start their lives all over or working at low-paying jobs.

Hang on a minute here.

The percentage of kids who actually CHOOSE to play Junior "A" hockey of their own free will is very HIGH - Don't over generalize the entire system!

A high percentage of these players have an opportunity to play hockey at a Canadian Univesity when they are done with Junior Hockey - We don't need scholarships up here, just because they decline the NCAA doesn't make them idiots!

Low paying jobs are for everyone not just ex hockey players

 

[JustBob]

It's funny that you mention that about Carbonneau because while I was in Montreal over the weekend I saw him on TV being interviewed in French. Although I did not understand a word Carbonneau was saying (I don't speak French), based on his tone and body language, I said to myself, "this dude is whining."

Wow, that's compelling evidence! lolll

Oh, and that:

He's (Carbonneau) the biggest whiner in all of hockey!

That's the silliest thing I've heard in a thread filled with silliness. What was I saying again about sports fans and 10 y/o's?

 

[spin]

Wow Doc you just don't get it do you???

Corrections to things you got worng, in no particular order:

1) It does Not cost a bundle to go to a Canadian University

2) You do not play Canadian University hockey INSTEAD of playing Junior, you go after your Junior carreer is over.

3) There is Major Junior and then there is Junior A - stop mixing them together.

4) You have a much better chance of playing pro hockey if you play Junior rather than NCAA (yes there are exceptions) BUT Canadian Major Junior hockey is much stronger than NCAA.

Finally, the entire last paragraph of your previous post reads like a script from an afterschool special, cheesy movie, or some CBC behind the world of junior hockey special - Boy has awesome skills, boy makes bad decision, boy gets girl pregnant (or boy gets hurt-both work), boy ends up flipping burgers...

Please! Choosing to play Junior hockey has no impact on whether or not you will one day work at a low paying job.

Oh by the way I do pretty well for myself thank you, but your concern is noted.

 

[spin]

Few Major Junior 'A' hockey players go to university after their junior hockey career has ended. To the few who do, i tip my hat off to them. I give them all the credit they deserve.

Wrong, wrong, wrong - Just look at the roster from any Varsity Canadian Hockey team, almost every guy on every team played Junior somewhere before.

Not anymore. It was the case 10 years ago, but the NCAA is now as strong (if not stronger) than Canadian Major Junior Hockey.

Sorry my friend not quite - Just for a quick example off the top of my head in last years NHL entry draft there were more than twice as many kids selected from Canadian Junior hockey (WHL,OHL or the Q) as there were from the NCAA in the first round alone! (15 to 6 I believe) After the first round the number get even more lopsided in favor of Canadian Junior.

NCAA has come a long way BUT not really even close to Canadian Major Junior, listen Doc you just have to check the numbers.

I don't know why you are refusing to believe that it does not cost "a bundle" to go to university here in Canada???

Are you even Canadian??? Do you have any idea of what it costs to go to university here???

 

[z/m(Ret)]

Nouvelle Flash!

Dans l'espoir de secouer sa troupe, l'entraîneur Paul Maurice a rappelé, des Blaireaux de Ste Thérèse, le no. 32, Johnny Turcotte, un dur à cuire que l'entraîneur compte utiliser dès ce soir, contre les Flyers. Voici un extrait vidéo.

 

[Techman]

...they have a university degree to fall back on.....a UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE EDUCATION

I wonder how many kids who go to school on any athletic scholarship actually graduate with a degree? And of those who do, how many of them have had someone else do the work and their exams for them? I'm sure there are a hell of a lot more parents in the US who push their kids into basketball, football and baseball hoping to strike it rich on their kids' backs than there are in Canada pushing their kids into hockey programs. How many failures are there that we never hear about compared to the rare successes that we do?

By the way Doc, tuition fees here in Quebec run around $2500.00/year. That's affordable even for someone slinging burgers at the local burger joint.

 

[Techman]

It cost my buddy $30 000 to send his kid to school last year. Another friend of mine just graduated & he owes $200 000+.

In Quebec??? Where were these kids living? In penthouse apartments? Sharing an apt with a couple of other students would cost about $300 a month, add about another $400 for food, say $300 for tuition...that's about $12,000 a year. Is it too much to ask a kid to get a job to help pay for the expenses? Even a McJob would cover the cost. Why travel 10 hours when you can get a cheap apartment?

 

[Techman]

No apology necessary. Tuition and other costs outside Quebec are considerably higher. The cost of higher education in Quebec is so low as to render it a joke. And the students here still claim it is too high. Imagine being able to study medicine or law at the high cost of 2500 bucks a year? And they still complain!

 

[z/m(Ret)]

Leafs struggled to a OT win -vs- the worse team in the NHL tonight: not impressed.

This is a side issue but I never liked this thing about division winners being ranked 1,2,3 in the Conference because, quite often, it advantages the team ranked 6th and hurts the team ranked 5th. The rule also gives undeserved home ice advantage to the team ranked 3rd. As it stands, the Rangers, with 92 points would be playing the Trashers, with 93 whereas Pittsburgh would be playing Ottawa. If the rankings were determined by the total number of points, then Atlanta (losing home ice advantage) would be playing Pittsburgh (regaining home ice advantage) and the Rangers would be playing the stronger Ottawa.

 

[joelcairo]

That says a lot about the Glorias, who are only a single point ahead of the Leafs. If the Leafs are as bad as you claim, are the Glorias that much better? Everyone who knows hockey (obviously, you know as much about hockey as i know about rockets) is in agreement that Canada's team (the Leafs, of course) went through a rash of devastating injuries to key players back in late December to the month of March (Tucker, Wellwood, Peca, Kaberle) and this is the only reason why they're almost tied with the Habs at this time of the year. If it wasn't for those injuries, they'd be cruising along, wondering who their playoff opponent would be.

Doc, Doc, for your own sake, please kick this nitrous oxide habit that is taking over your life! Your opening statement - the basis of your silly post here - is irrelevant because I am NOTa Habs fan either, as I have made abundantly clear in many posts in this and other threads (all of which I suspect you have read). I agree - and have stated on this board - that the Habs and Laughs are evenly matched - meaning that neither has any hope of winning the Cup this year or probably any other year in our lifetimes.

Meanwhile your hypothetical nonsense about the couldas wouldas and shouldas that would have taken place without their injuries is pure speculative bullshit. Gee I guess no other team in any professional sport ever had injuries? Face it: dealing with injuries is something that is key to success in sports. Didn't the Avalanche win a Cup with Peter Forsberg out because his spleen was removed? Well Doc, Forsberg by himself is worth more than the 4 zeroes (or as you humorously referred to them "key players" - guffaw) and all the rest of the Laughs put together. By the way it's easy to say what "would" have happened Doc but it's also stupid because no one knows what would happen in any situation until it DOES happen. Was Toronto hindered by injuries to "key players" (translation: zeroes) when it was humiliated 7-2 by the Rangers the other night? No? Then why didn't your beloved Leafs dominate...instead of getting their asses handed to them in an embarrassing shellacking?

Oh, and Doc, congratulations on your immense knowledge about rockets (equivalent, as you stated, to my knowledge about hockey). I am pleased that you are an expert on both rocket science and dentistry because it certainly seems that you don't know shit from shinola when it comes to hockey.

 

[Cosmo]

He cheers for Detroit.