The PAIN and joy of being a Toronto Maple Leaf fan

First off...my apologies for not writing anything for the past 8 days. It's been a hectic week and a bit and I've done a tonne of stuff. But how can I write about anything else right now?

The Toronto Maple Leafs season is over. They lost tonight 3-2 in OT and the Philadelphia Flyers won the second round series 4 games to 2. The Leafs made a valiant effort to get back in this game tonight. They were down 2 - 0 after one period. They outplayed Philly in the second and were still behind. Then, in the third they slowly started clawing back. With about 10 minutes left - Pilar scored the first one. Then with about 5 minutes left, Sundin tied it. The place was going nuts. With about 1:30 left on the clock, there was a centreing pass and Domi redirected it to the open side of the net. Esche stuck his pad out and stopped it. Overtime was just around the corner. Chances back and forth in OT and finally J.R. scored on a 2 on 1 with a beautiful shot to the top corner that beat Belfour.

Crazy ending to this game...
Crazy ending to this season...

Some observations:
- Nikolai Antropov has to be let go. Even if we get nothing for him...he is a waste of space and must go. He floats around the ice. Pat Quinn is continually loyal to him (and I'm not sure why) but he continues to put him out there for his regular shift. He did nothing of value and even screwed up a 2 on 1 at the end of the game with Niewendyk that could have avoided OT.
- Tie Domi played the best hockey I've ever seen him play. The last 3 weeks of Domi have been amazing. He's been buzzing around everywhere and hustling like crazy. I totally agree with Grapes...WHY THE HELL WASN'T HE PLAYING MORE???
- bringing back Fitzgerald and Reichal into the lineup was a great move. Antropov should have sat though - not Francis. Now Francis will have to live with the legace of playing his final NHL game as a 7 - 2 loser in that shallacking they took on Sunday afternoon.
- Sundin had a fantastic game leading his team tonight (and in Game 4).
- For Philly...so did Primeau in Game 5 and Roenick tonight in Game 6
- That hit by Tucker on Kapanen in OT was spectacular at first but upon further review - I think it was a viscous elbow right to his head - why is there no longer any respect in this game anymore???
- Belfour didn't stand on his head this time around but he sure did in the Ottawa series and had he been human...the Leafs wouldn't even be in this position. I don't think that Esche outplayed him at all though.
- I really like Hitchcock as a coach. Quinn - I'm not so sure of anymore. I think he's had ample opportunity to be a success in the past 6 years but now it might be time to try something new...
- Finally...Bandwagon Leaf fans really piss me off. I wonder how many tools are gonna take those flags off their cars tomorrow morning before they leave home.

My cheering now goes to the Lightning cause I want Tampa Bay to kick Philly's ASS and I am cheering for the Flames to beat San Jose so they can proceed to the Cup Final and hopefully win it all.


A visit from across the Pond

My bro is in town right now. He and his gf arrived on Saturday and they'll be here until Sunday. It's cool hanging with him and Pari. We are all having a good time and doing a lot of family stuff...most importantly with Anand's wedding coming this weekend - we have been seeing a lot of old friends and having a jolly good time (as some would say).


MMD 2004

I planned an event on Sunday which turned out to be a lot of fun. It was the first annual MMD (Marathi Man's Day). I told about 25 different peeps and in the end we had about 15 people attend (would have been more but there were some emergencies). Anyway...despite the $hitty rain and cr@ppy debacle of a Hockey game...the day itself was awesome and everyone had a great time. What motivated me to plan this thing (planning starting a month ago) was that our old Marathi crew don't see each other as much as we should. There is a whole group of us (currently ranging in age from 18 - 35). It was great to get together and go bowling, play fooz, air hockey, ping pong and carrom. We had a great time. And then topped it off by watching parts of Holleywood shuffle. Everyone who came repeatedly told me that they had a good time so I've very happy about that.


Moving?

We looked at some apartments yesterday and I think I found one that I am VERY interested in. The other place (Kdot's old place) isn't going to work anymore. For starters - the new landlord is a COMPLETE BEE-YATCH. She is very disorganized. Tries to make me feel bad cause she made assumptions and didn't base them on anything. Lies about losing my number or not having my application. She won't negotiate. She is trying to stiff me with Parking as well. And, when we saw the place empty yesterday - it just wasn't the same. It looked A LOT smaller. I am back on the renting vs. buying thing and trying to figure out what's going on...


Time for the bed now...
Great season Toronto!!! Just not enough!