Leafs Game

I went to my first ever regular season Toronto Maple Leafs game last Tuesday (December 29th). I had never been to one before. Not even at the old Maple Leaf Gardens.

But, let's start from the beginning... Where did I get the tickets? I won them from RBC Dominion Securities. My financial advisors, Tyler and Andrew, invited me and a guest to one of their talks at the Estates of Sunnybrook. I asked Daphne if she'd like to go along.

The talk was good. I don't remember an awful lot right now because we were never given any notes or anything. At the end they had a draw for a number of prizes. They gave away at least ten by the time they came to the last draw for the grand prize. By this time I had pretty much given up hope of winning anything, but what do you know? They called my number and I was given the tickets.

After the seminar I went to my car only to discover I had locked my keys inside. Luckily the Estates of Sunnybrook is less than 10 minutes from my parents' place where I keep my spare set of keys. So Daphne drove me over to pick them up.

Fast forward two months. It's game day. I rush to make all my deliveries so I can make it to the game on time. It's a bit after 5:00 and I'm read to leave work to go to my sister's place so we can drive downtown. But where are my car keys? They're nowhere to be found. I'm guessing they fell out of my coat pocket sometime while I was making deliveries during the day. Really? Really? I call my sister to pick me up so we can go to the game.

After parking at the Green P parking lot at The Esplanade and Church Street ($6 after 6:00 p.m.) we walked less than 10 minutes to the Air Canada Centre. We arrived early enough to watch the warm up which was fun. Jonathan Bernier was in net, but James Reimer was also out warming up too.

The Leafs game is one slick production. Music is blaring all the time (even in between stoppages in play) and they have an live announcer who goes around interviewing people and giving out prizes and stuff. It's all broadcast on the jumbotron high above centre ice.

On this night the Leafs were playing the New York Islanders (who now play in Brooklyn). We had just played there two nights ago in a game the Leafs had won 3-1. Now the Islanders were in our house ready for a challenge. Well, we didn't put up much of a fight.

Only two minutes in the Islanders, Brock Nelson, opened the scoring beating Leafs' goalie, Jonathan Bernier, on a softy. But, less than a minute later, Leafs' forward Brad Boyes tied the score with his third goal of the season, 1-1. Disaster averted. Not so fast... By the end of the period the Islanders had potted two more goals to lead 3-1. Booo!

11 minutes into the second we opened the scoring to cut the lead to one, 3-2. But, less than 30 seconds later, the Islanders regained their two goal cushion on a terrible misplay by Bernier behind the Leafs' net. Are you kidding me? Augh!

The onslaught didn't end there. By the time the period had ended Bernier had let in 6 goals on only 15 shots. One of his worst performances ever I'm guessing. And it had to be in the only Leafs game I've ever attended (not including one pre-season game I went to a number of years ago).

James Reimer replaced Bernier in net for the third. He faced six shots stopping them all. The Leafs scored once to make the final, 6-3, saving themselves a sliver of dignity.

As it happened Reimer was supposed to start the following day against the Penguins, but couldn't because of an ongoing groin injury. Bernier stepped in and played a stellar game leading the Leafs to a 3-2 shootout victory. Why couldn't he have played like that the day we went? Sigh.