HOCKEY LAST NIGHT: LEAFS FANS WAIT FOR OTHER SKATE TO DROP

Little late for a full post, so we're just going to do it quick 'n' dirty... will update sometime late morning...

Even for Leafs fans, it's a little early to start making tin-foil Stanley Cups -- wait until the New Year, at least -- but wins such as last night's 5-1 waltz over the Montreal Canadiens are giddiness-inducing.

The Leafs are doing to their fans what (insert fantasy celebrity here) does to you during the 15 minutes between waking up and actually having to get up: No Mats Sundin, no Andrew Raycroft, and they whipped Le Club de Hockey Canadien but good.

So is it rude to point out that the Leafs' record after 19 games (11-5-3) is only three points ahead of where they were at the same point in '05-06? Probably. The Leafs still aren't a complete team (who is this season?), but now they're at least making a pretense of playing a good team game, something that hasn't been there since Pat Quinn's first two seasons, 1998-99 and '99-2000.

Bruins 4 Senators 3: Hands up, everyone who thought Zdeno Chara would enjoy a win in his first two meetings against his old team. It's all that damn Spezza's fault. They should trade our so-called superstar... whoa, sorry, apparently I was channeling the anger of a Sens fan. Seriously, we're feeling their pain here.

Sabres 5 Flyers 4: Daniel Brière gets the equalizer and the OT winner for Buffalo. In "evena blind pig finds an acorn" news, Petr Nedved, the guy no one wanted when he was put on reentry waivers a few days back, had three assists for Philly.

Flames 3 Canucks 2: So much for someone starting a "Fire Playfair" blog -- the Flames have won three in a row. Vancouver has one win in seven starts against divisional opponents. How Jarome Iginla tucked that backhand underneath Roberto Luongo for the first Calgary goal is beyond me.

The Canucks shouldn't feel too bad since they're so depleted on the back end.

Wild 3 Kings 2: This one's an example of how the unbalanced schedule skews record; the Wild (11-4-0) have already played and beaten L.A. three times. This looks like the kind of game that Minnesota typically lost last season, when they always seemed to end up going to shootouts and losing. Manny Fernandez notched his 100th career win.

'Canes 6 Pens 2: Erik Cole and Penguins d-man Brooks Orpik were on the ice for the first time since that illegal hit last season when Cole broke his neck, and no one on either team did anything to disgrace the game. Pittsburgh didn't even dress their enforcers, Eric Cairns and Andre Roy.

FOUR NATIONS CUP

Well, Canada's women's team completed their all-but-inevitable win at the annual tourney by beating the U.S. 5-2 in the final of the annual Four Nations tourney. The U.S. didn't get on the board until Canada had built a four-goal lead.

Kim St-Pierre started in goal for Canada, but Colby Cosh (the Colby Cosh) left a comment here a few days ago about first-time national team goalie Shannon Szabados that she "might just ruin women's hockey for good. I'm not too certain anyone is ever going to be able to score on her."

HOMETOWN BREAKDOWN

It's too soon to tell if this will last, but the Fronts knocked off Eastern Conference-leading Barrie 5-4 last night for their second win in a row.

Fronts d-man and Orleans native Ben Shutron, who like his team has been having some rough nights, got the game-winner 8:31 into the third. Jason Guy stopped 39 shots and probably figured in prominently when the Fronts killed off two penalties in the game's final 10 minutes.

Kingston doesn't get much time to savour it, though, since they play Kitchener this afternoon.

Back with more later. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.