9 out of 10

A result to scary even the bravest souls in professional hockey history, ten games and only one lonely victory.
well, this pumpkin must summarize the feeling that both Larry Tanenbaum and Richard Peddie must now be experiencing. F**** scaring isn't it????
In 2008 the Maple Leafs where valued at US$ 1.75 billion, today I wouldn't pay a fiver. Indeed they could offer it for free, I wouldn't take it. Thanks but no, too many troubles, on the other hand, the SENS, only happiness nothing to say abou these guys, as Johnie would say: Keep on going...

THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is a fact people on the other side of the Atlantic don't really know how much pleasure there is in a good street hockey in the end of the afternoon. Here is just a few pictures to tease. Great game, great guys.

Autumn is here therefore THE LEAFS ARE FALLING!

"The falling Leafs drift by the window.
The falling Leafs of white and indigo".

It is with an inexplicable pain in my chest (maybe the fact that I've been laughing so hard could explain the chest pain, you never know), that I come now to this blog to speak about the Leafs. How depressing has their performance been?? Well the answer seems pretty clear -- very depressing. Six games and not a single victory. They battled les Canadiens, which cannot be considered a hard opponent, as their performance has been extremely inconsistent. But the Leafs??? On the ground, as autumn leaves should be. Then came the Capitals. We are talking after all about a team that holds a realistic prospect of making the playoffs. So ok this one the Leafs could get away with: Leafs 4, Capitals 6. Third game and here comes a team that the Leafs love to beat -- the Ottawa Senators. Hstory has told that most of the games where these two Canadian rivals meet, the Leafs end up with the victory. But noooo, not this time. Toronto 1, Ottawa 2. Not a great victory for the Sens, but still a victory. Three more points on da big board! The citizens of old Hog Town must be having a hard time sleeping.
Three more games, three more humiliations. Pittsburgh scored 5, Rangers 7 and Colorado 4, and the Leafs adding up their goals from those 3 games could only muster what Pittsburgh got in one -- 5. It`s been 40 years since their last Stanley Cup, and it is now looking like it will be 41. It might be a good idea to consider creating a Don Cherry cup to give to the poor things. A trophy for the competition spirit and never giving up --I mean competing for 40 years and loosing season after season, many teams would have already hung their skates. Maybe the Leafs are a case of TAS. For those unfamiliar with the acronym here is what it means: "Try Another Sport". Who knows maybe... curling. I can see it now – “TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS CURLING CLUB". With luck, the Leafs` fans wouldn’t even notice the difference.

My Top Ten Must-See Hockey Games of the 2009-2010 Season

Thanks to the hockey blogosphere I got the idea of making a list of my Top Ten MUST SEE Hockey Games of the 2009-2010 season. Here they are, in reverse order of importance, starting with number 10. I've also given the reasons I wouldn't miss them for the world. Count on it, I'll be watching these games with interest!

Must-see Game Number 10

Sens on ice again

On September 15th Ottawa faces the Halifax Panthers in their first pre-season game. This will be my first chance to see the Sens in aciton in almost 5 months. Go Sens Go!

Must-see Game(s) Number 9

Sens vs. Montreal

On September 18th the Senators meet the Canadiens in an exhibition game that will have lots of drama! Wearing a new Senators jersey former Canadiens star player Alex Kovalev will face his erstwhile teammates at the Bell Centre, Montreal's home ice. (I’ll probably watch all Sens vs Montreal games – long-standing historical and family rivalries are at stake!)

Sens vs Toronto

On October 6th the Sens face their arch nemesis those miserable Maple Leafs in their very first game of the season! Go! Sens! Go!

Must-see Game Number 8

Opening game of NHL season – Montreal vs Toronto

On October 1st we have a treat of 4 Canadian teams making up the 8 teams who face one another on fthe first day of the NHL 2009-2010 season. This is when it all begins and will set the tone for the season to come. I'll be watching the Montral vs. Toronto game. A great chance to see the Sens two biggest rivals in action.

Must-see Game Number 7

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ first game of the season

On October 2nd we'll have a chance to see what form last year's Stanley Cup winners are in after the summer training. Its at home in Pittsburgh and it will be fun to see the home crowd go wild for their heroes. It'll also be a chance to see how Canadian player Sidney Crosby is doing keeping his inclusion in the Canadian Olympic Hockey Team in mind.

Must-see Game Number 6

Penguins vs. Capitals First Face-Off

It'll be great to see these VERY competitive local rivals lock sticks for the first time of the season on October 6th. Should be entertaining hockey.

Must-see Game Number 5

Buffalo vs. NY Islanders

I hate the Buffalos Sabres, so grab any chance I get to see them get thrashed! I think the NY Islanders have the best early-season chance of humiliating them.

Must-see Game Number 4

Hockey Day In Canada

On January 30th 2010 all six Canadian teams play each other! There will be great CBC coverage and HOURS of hockey-related Canadian TV. Its a great thing when Canadians dedicate a day to their favourite sport.

Must-see Game Number 3

All the hockey games in the Vancouver 2010 olympics

Canadian will be playing its national sport on home ice for the first time since the 1988 Calgary Olympics. I'll be watching as the Canadian team goes for Gold! There will be lots of great talent represented on all the competing national teams and it's always interesting to see the combinations of players the are created in the olympic teams.

Must-see Game Number 2

The 2009-2010 Stanley Cup Final

Self-explanatory, I think.

...and my Number 1 Must-see Game of the 2009-2010 season is....

The last Sens game of the season

Whether it be an early scheduled game, eastern conference final game, or, here’s hoping(!!), a Stanley Cup final game, I know I’ll be watching!

Comprehensive beginners' introduction to MY culture

Dear reader,
Until now, I have somewhat neglected my duties as an Ambassador! I should be representing MY hockey culture and way of life to those who are reading this blog. I have found the perfect video to introduce an absolute hockey beginner to hockey culture, Canadian hockey culture, Canadian culture, and Ottawa hockey culture...MY culture.
Here is a list of the words and phrases that will help you in understanding the video. Please watch carefully and look up any terms you don't understand online (maybe wikipedia would help). I think this video and vocabulary could serve as anyone's introduction to the culture I know and love.
Sincerely,
The Hockey Ambassador

Ottawa - Birthplace of the Stanley Cup

Rideau River

Lord Stanley

Stanley Cup

80 years ago

Senators

Senators Fans

HNIC (Hockey Night in Canada)

HNIC Music - Theme

1992 - Senators Reborn

Don Cherry - Don Cherry's suits, Don Cherry's straight talk

Ron McLean

Jackman

Superstition

Neil

Rock 'em Sock 'em

OPP

Oh Canada

Oh Canada in French

Playoff Beards

The Maple Leaf and the Canadian flag

1927 - last win over Boston 3:1

Referees

Face Off

Discovered Hockey Archive Footage Online

Yesterday I was reading D'Arcy Jenish's great history of the Montreal Canadiens, "The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory" (you can expect a book review when I'm finished, but so far I'm really enjoying it). I got the part when in 1945 during a playoff match between the Canadiens and the Leafs, Maurice "Rocket" Richard scored a dramatic winning goal and fans got so excited they threw everything they could find on the ice: hats, pennies, fruit, bottles, programmes and even something called toe rubbers (I've looked it up and they're rubber casings people used to put over their shoes to protect them in the winter snow and slush).

I started thinking how amazing it would have been to have been there when Maurice Richard scored that goal; to have heard the cheers, seen the chaos on the ice, smelled the smoke and booze of the Forum at that time, ducked those toe rubbers... So I thought I'd have a look and see if there was any footage of hockey at that time. Though I didn't have much luck on youtube, I discovered a wonderful cache of archive hockey footage on the CBC Archives site.

The site is run by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and funded by the Canadian government. It contains a huge number of radio, television, text and photographic archives of Canada's political, cultural and sports history. In the sports section, there is an entire site dedicated to hockey.

Sadly, I couldn't find the desired Rocket footage, because the CBC only began to televise hockey games in 1952, just a few years after that crazy night.

However, I was able to watch other great footage of Richard from the era and listened to some great radio interviews, including one with Gretzky, Richard and Gretzky's dad on him scoring 50 goals in 39 games.

The CBC Archive footage is available over internet anywhere in the world, so please check it out http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/

S- PUCK - tacular!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For any hockey fan this period that encloses July to October is what I could call limbo. It’s not happy nor sad, it is just there. NHL is over, Basketball is over, Football is also over, and we are left with things like golf and tennis to entertain our sports time on TV. Of course one could also re-watch all the passed games, but lets talk about it, watching old games just puts me puts me on the mood for new ones which on be here before October. So NHL is over, Pittsburg Penguin won the cup, and for my dear Senators we were left with the hope, of maybe next year.

Everything seemed calm and settled, until today, when I had the unexpected visit, one to make any hockey fan green of envy.

I had two NHLers over for some drink. Two of the greatest Calgary Flames players: Perry Berezan and Colin Petterson, they were here, on my living room, drinking my beer, laughing at my jokes, and I had, for a couple of hours, the honor of having the glorious Stanley Cup ring on my middle finger. The ring is huge, magnificent, and HEAVY! I think that most of its weight has to do with the effort and the amount of soul that was dedicated to the games that led to victory. I must confess that it was very difficult to give the ring back to its owner, although I know that you must deserve one of those, you must battle for it on the ice. I was left with a picture of it and some great memories of the visit, plus new friendships, the guys are really great: very charismatic, down-to-earth people with a lot in common with me, especially when the subject is Hockey.

Just more prove that the guys are awesome, not that they need any... but they can serve as an example, they have just come from a trip to Afghanistan, where they went to visit the Canadian army camp, and play a little hockey with the soldiers. I know it does not sound much, but if you had been in Afghanistan like those guys are, you would know that it means everything to know that some of your idols care about the job that you are doing, they care to the point that they go there and visit you. Great guys these two.

Check out Berezan's story here (http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=10097) and Patterson's story here (http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=11259)

I would also like to use this posting to make a public thank you note to Perry and Colin for all the memorabilia, and the care that you guys presented me with.
Thank you guys, you are the best!!!!!!!

This is Nicholas Wright posting from the Embassy of Hockey in London