Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Leafs v. Sabres: Where are the fans?!

As Don pointed out, the haute couture segment of Leafs Nation has frequently embarrassed the true fans of the team. Tonight, however, will show that those true fans represent la creme de la creme (ummm, where are the accents?) of fandom. Toronto's followers will routinely fill the rink in Ottawa, Montreal, Buffalo, and even Columbus and Pittsburgh now. Meanwhile, the same cannot be said for the support of the aforementioned clubs. Sure, Toronto is expensive but the opposition in those cities raise their prices for Leafs games and gouge fans of the blue and white.

Tonight's game will probably feature a fairly evenly split crowd hoping to see the Leafs continue the Sabres woes against Ontario-based teams. The Leafs' goalie with a heart of gold Andrew Raycroft will be looking to reprise his game-saving role from the last Leafs-Sabres meeting, one of his best performances of the year. Paul Maurice will be banking that the players' fear from Monday night will be incentive enough to step their game up the level necessary to compete with the Sabres. The Soviet Bloc and Wellwood will continue to be counted on to provide the offence until Mats returns on Friday or Saturday.

The last time these two teams met the talk (Edited to clarify) among my friends was all about how badly the Leafs would be beaten. The talk again is that if the Leafs do not perform significantly better than in the last three games that they could go the way of the Lightning. Hopefully, the negative talk spurs the team into again producing a top-notch effort in the Queen City.

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