LEAFS ACTUALLY WIN A SHOOTOUT

Things you may have noticed while preoccupied with the mystery of who put that mud in the freezer... who wants chocolate ice cream?

• NHL: Leafs 2, Florida Panthers 1 (shootout). Leafs play hit-the-logo for most of the night against Florida's Alex Auld (47 saves), the one-time member of the Manitoba Moose. (Gee, winters in Miami or Winnipeg? That's a tough call, seriously. Festival du Voyageur is a killer time, man.) Since the Leafs were getting stoned by Auld left and right, went to a shootout, where the Leafs actually won, with Mats Sundin and Darcy Tucker solving the Auld riddle.
  
  There's reason for cautious enthusiasm surrounding this Leafs club, even though Pavel Kubina's likely gone for a while, meaning five defencemen are now hurt.
• CFL: Argos 28, Eskimos 23. Hey, there's that Toronto running game that's been in absentia all year, with Ricky Williams as Mr. Inside and John Avery as Mr. Outside. And still the Argos barely beat a last-place Edmonton team, and needed a defensive touchdown to pull off that very mean feat. Oh, by the way, Edmonton is 0-6 this year against the East. Eat it, northern Alberta.
  
  The Argos are now 9-6. Where are all the columnists saying how the season was a "disaster"? Well, they were probably at the Leafs game, or on the road covering the baseball playoffs or the Buffalo Bills. Those are my best guesses.
• NFL: Denver Broncos 13, Baltimore Ravens 3. The Broncos earned themselves a spot on the Out of Left Field notice board -- they were four-point favourites against Baltimore and with a late 6-3 lead, could have run out the clock. But no, they had to punch in a touchdown, thus missing a chance to tie the three-week-old record for the lowest-scoring Monday Night Football game ever -- and blowing someone's pick for Baltimore to cover. Just like the Vikings on Sunday. What is it with these NFL teams and their fascination with the unnecessary late score?

Back later with a look at the baseball playoffs, plus a possible take on the Trailer Park Boys movie. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.