So, what is a Habs fan to do when he is stuck with tickets to six Toronto Marlie games? Scream and curse why I have been punished this way? Or, just realize, it is karma for slagging on Maple Laugh Nation all these years.
In the end, as a fan of hockey, whether it is in Montreal, Toronto, Nashville or Phoenix, I have started to attend the games. Of course, a nasty twist as well with the tickets I got saddled with, I had no choice in picking the games, none of them are games against the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Habs AHL affiliate. Karma is indeed a kick in the jewels.
The Marlies are a fun hockey experience in the end, the real Toronto hockey fans seem to be there, simply because they can afford the tickets. Ricoh is loud, the fans chant and scream, there are a lot of families and kids are smiling, laughing and happy and that is what really counts in the end.
Speaking of kids, Justin Pogge, I have seen him defeat the Chicago Wolves and look solid in the process and then stink up the joint against the Rockford Ice Hogs last Saturday.
In his last two NHL call-ups, eight days apart, he has been bombed for 11 goals in two games. Pogge needs to stay with Leafs and get the seasoning and fair shot he needs to prove value. The team is going nowhere anyway, so they might as well roll the dice and start him or dress him as a backup so he can get a feel of being a pro in the NHL.
The kid has obvious weaknesses, easily exposed in the NHL, with the Marlies, his size and athleticism allows him to get away for a lack technique and focus…most of the time. In the NHL, it simply does not, he seems to be unsettled, then again, he has no defence in front of him when he does start and he has this pressure to prove himself in “one-offs”.
Keep the kid up in NHL and get him to settle his feet and put that stick down on the ice, and in front of him, to cover the massive five-hole he has. He needs to decide, or have it decided for him, that he will be a butterfly goalie or a standup, aggressive goalie.
His physique reminds of J.S. Giguere of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks but this yo yo, pogo-stick action the Laughs put him through may end up creating Toronto’s version of Andre “Red Light” Racicot.
Just doesn’t seem fair to the poor guy to prove himself on one of the worst teams in the NHL.