playing hockey in a Canadian market are we

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The challenges of playing hockey in a Canadian market are well documented: higher taxes, over abundant media coverage, lack of anonymity, an unrelenting and vicious winter, way too much Rush in rotation on FM radio. What makes Canada such a great place to be a hockey fan makes it a difficult environment to play in. Canada is indisputably the centre of the hockey universe, and at that universes core is Toronto. The Greater Toronto Hockey League is over a hundred years old and the largest minor hockey league in the world. Despite their futility, the Leafs could sell out Rogers Centre for home games charging $1000 and first-born children for upper deck seats. The Marlies are flourishing in the AHL. Next years World Junior Hockey Championships (co-hosted with Montreal) are sure to be the most successfully attended and celebrated ever. And yet, as a player, what would entice you to ply your trade in the Big Smoke?The crowds at the ACC for Leafs game are an embarrassment to hockeys most important market. The stories of the suits in the expensive seats, absent for starts of periods and reticent to loosen their ties even as Brian Burke undid his, are well known. The arena is eerily quiet compared to its contemporaries, a conservative and reserved audience in a sport and city renowned for its maniacal fandom. And this is not indicative of Toronto crowds, as we witnessed during the Raptors playoff appearance this year, rowdy afternoons at Jays games at Rogers Centre, and the masses that turned out this year and last in Maple Leaf/Raptors Square. But those involved fans (who make up the vast majority of Leafs Nation) enthusiasms are negatively tempered by the lower bowls reservations, reservations bred by alternately flawed and complacent approaches to building a competitive team and the absence of a winning presence. As a player who is passionate about his vocation, why would you want to commit to an environment that doesnt match that passion, especially when the home ice advantage can be such an important component of the game?Often in pieces that claim players like Thornton are interested in playing for the Leafs, the prospect of coming "home" is cited as a key factor. The very notion of "home" is a flawed premise in this lazy argument. Even if you call "home" somewhere in Southern Ontario, as a hockey player you probably havent lived there since you were 16. Thornton has lived in San Jose for nearly a decade, is a naturalized US citizen, has a wife, a mortgage, perhaps a few pets, maybe a café he really likes to go to, a favourite pizza place, a butcher who cuts his ribeyes to just the perfect thickness. But the Toronto Sun is going to tell him where his home is.For many players, one might suspect that playing at home in front of an overbearing hockey dad, mum and her new husband, and sycophantic high school acquaintances just a few blocks from where that girl broke your heart is the very definition of hell. And is working in your hometown really all that enticing? How many of you work in your hometowns? Hardly any. Youve all moved to Toronto.Thornton is from St. Thomas, Ontario, which would place his NHL "hometown" in Detroit or Buffalo as much as in Toronto, and yet those markets media dont seem to be making the "coming home" argument. Torontos hockey media is the most intense in all of professional sports. Maybe Montreals is equal, but half of the vitriol and conjecture there is in French, and only a fraction of NHLers understand it. (Reasonably, even those of us who are bilingual dont really understand it.) In Toronto, there is endless speculation, much of it even based in fact. Each flaw, each mistake (on and off the ice) is dissected and disseminated ad nauseum. Trade rumours are fabricated on a daily basis, the ubiquitous "NHL executive" noted as an unimpeachable source. The discussion of hockey in Toronto has become an insufferable wall of noise for an uninvested observer, so imagine if the discourse directly affected your family, your income, and your life.It seems a lot to ask of a player to endure such amplified attention, especially given the fact the Leafs have not been a competitive team since 2004. And that is final circle of the NHLs Hell: irrelevance. Toronto is still recovering from the John Ferguson Jr. era. They have some formidable pieces in Kessel, Morgan Reilly, and Jonathan Bernier; a young skilled forward, puck moving defenseman, and promising goaltender around which to build. They have a top-ten pick in the coming draft, some interesting if not spectacular prospects (Stuart Percy, Matt Finn), and some movable pieces (Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner). Brendan Shanahan emanates stability and hubris. But theyre still saddled with bad contracts (Dion Phaneuf, David Clarkson), a suspect coaching philosophy, and a lack of depth. And to watch the Kings, Blackhawks, and Rangers this spring is to know the Leafs are far removed from that level of hockey.So if you were an unrestricted free agent, or a player on the trading block with some say in his future, why would you come to Toronto? Consider Thornton: Youre in your mid-30s, never won a Cup, live in the perfection of Northern California, in a market that sustains you but doesnt invade you, and youd chose to move to Toronto, with its high taxes, magnified attention, and with as much of a chance of winning a Cup in the next five years as Quebec City? Toronto is a world-class city, cultured and cosmopolitan, a great place to live and make a life. The Joe Thorntons of the world should want to play home games at the ACC. The challenges of the market need to be offset by a tradition of winning and the only way for Toronto to do that is to build a stable and competitive franchise through hoarding draft picks and young controllable players, and eschewing the temptation of quick expensive fixes like Clarkson, or Thornton. The best thing for a successful NHL would be a dominant Toronto Maple Leafs team. Given the teams last decade, however, it seems like that wont happen until Hell freezes over. Fortunately for Toronto, most of it freezes over every January, so the wait may not be that long. Jeremy Boykins Jersey . Listen to the Rangers vs. Kings live on TSN Radio starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. You can also stream the post-game press conferences live on TSN. Wholesale Seattle Seahawks Jerseys . Rudy Gay made the tying basket in regulation and a 3-pointer in overtime that gave Sacramento the lead for good, and Fredette scored a career-high 24 points to help the Kings beat the Knicks 106-101 on Wednesday night. http://www.cheapseahawksjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-richard-sherman-jersey .Brady threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Julian Edelman midway through the fourth quarter, and New England beat the San Diego Chargers 23-14 for its eighth win in nine games. Malik Turner Jersey .ca. Kerry, I hope you address Ron MacLeans comment during the second intermission of Game 4 in Montreal-Tampa series. Basically, he suggested that the NHL should not have used a referee from Quebec, following the Game 3 disputed non-goal, because the referee could be biased towards Montreal. Justin Currie Jersey . LOUIS -- The Tampa Bay Rays have placed right-handed pitcher Joel Peralta on the 15-day disabled list with an undisclosed illness. HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros arent getting too ahead of themselves after opening the season 2-0. Still, taking the first series of the year from the New York Yankees is a pretty big deal for a team that has lost 324 games in the last three seasons combined. "Obviously no one expected us to come in here and win a series from the Yankees and no one really expected much from the Astros period," starting pitcher Jarred Cosart said. "If we keep playing together like this and keep finding ways to win games, who knows what can happen." Dexter Fowler homered and tripled, and Matt Dominguez added a home run late to help the Astros earn a 3-1 victory on Wednesday night. Houston won the opener 6-2 on Tuesday and put a damper on the first series of Derek Jeters final season. Jeter was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. "They played well, they pitched well today," Jeter said. "It would be nice to score some more runs, but sometimes the other teams are going to have games like that." Fowlers leadoff homer put Houston up, and he scored the second run after his triple in the third. The Yankees scored in the seventh before the Astros added an insurance run with Dominguezs homer in the bottom half. Cosart (1-0) allowed four hits in five scoreless innings, and Josh Fields pitched a perfect ninth for the save. Hiroki Kuroda (0-1) yielded three hits and two runs with five strikeouts in six innings. The off-season trade for Fowler has paid immediate dividends for Houston. The longtime Colorado player had a pair of doubles on Tuesday and is now the first player in franchise history with two extra-base hits in each of his first two games with the team. "Being a leadoff guy youre a catalyst, and thats what Im always trying to do, just get on base and let the other guys do their jobs," Fowler said. "If we work together as a team well win a lot of games." Fowler had a lucky charm on Wednesday night as his infant daughter Naya Iman, attended her first regular-season game. "It was awesome," he said breaking into a huge smile at the mention of his daughter. "I was looking for them, but I didnt see them. Shes probably in there sleeping. Just for her being here is awesome, thats all you can ask for." The Astros were up 2-0 in the seventh when Yangervis Solarte grounded into a double play, with runners at first and third, and Brett Gardner scored on to cut the Yankees deficit in half. It was the first majoor league plate appearance for Solarte.dddddddddddd The two-out homer by Dominguez off David Phelps landed about three rows up in the right field stands to stretch Houstons advantage to 3-1. Carlos Beltran doubled off Matt Albers on the first pitch of the eighth inning before Albers struck out the next three Yankees. Cosart allowed just two singles through four innings. He ran into some trouble in the fifth, and after consecutive one-out singles by Gardner and Brian Roberts. He escaped the jam when Kelly Johnson grounded into a force out before he retired Jacoby Ellsbury. Jerome Williams made his Astros debut when he replaced Cosart for the sixth. He walked Jeter on four pitches, and Brian McCann singled on a sharp grounder with one out to leave runners at first and third. But he retired the next two to end the threat. Albers, Williams and Chad Qualls have performed in the first two games after being brought in to reinforce a bullpen which blew 29 saves last season. New York went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position, but Beltran said its too early to be concerned about the offence. "Were going to be fine," Beltran said. "We havent been able to put anything together, but this team has what it takes to play better and win ball games. We dont need to worry about it." Fowlers leadoff homer came a day after he started his Astros career with a leadoff double. Houstons next hit came on Fowlers standup triple that bounced off the wall in right-centre with one out in the third. Robbie Grossman reached on an error by first baseman Teixeira when his grounded bounced off Teixeiras glove, allowing Fowler to score and make it 2-0. New York turned a double play to end that inning, and Houston didnt have another baserunner until Grossman hit his first career triple with one out in the sixth. But Kuroda ended his night by retiring the next two to end the inning and leave Grossman stranded. The Yankees intentionally walked Jose Altuve to load the bases with two outs in the eighth. Houston came up empty when pinch-hitter Carlos Corporan grounded out. NOTES: Andy Pettitte threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game. ... Jeter, who announced in February that he was retiring, got a pair of cowboy boots with Yankees pinstripes, a 10 gallon cowboy hat, and a set of golf clubs as the Astros honoured him in a pregame ceremony. 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