HOCKEY LAST NIGHT: LEAFS IN A STAAL, SENS WIN SNOOZER

Wait... add the cereal first, then the milk...

Pens 4 MarLeafs 1: Time to nut up, Leafs Nation, since everyone's injured and the team is going to be leaking oil for the next little while. It's not a sign of character to go around feeling lousy because the team is losing, and besides, it's New Year's. We've been through much, much worse than Sidney Crosby (three assists) using our players as set decoration, not to mention last night's piece de resistance of the Condo Builders' prize $5.75-million defenceman Bryan McCabe getting his pocket picked by 18-year-old rookie Jordan Staal for the game's final goal.

We're Leafs fans. We never needed Phil from Marketing to drum up a lame nickname like Sens Army, just to throw out a random example. We're Leafs fans. We got through the darkest days of the Ballard-Brophy era, we've almost got over Gretzky getting away with cutting Dougie Gilmour in '93, and we stayed awake through Ken Dryden's press conferences without needing a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart (although that was a close call a couple of times). Nothing can knock us off our perch. We're Leafs fans. You say the Senators are coming into the ACC tonight? In the parlance of our time, Bring 'em on.

Senators 1 Rangers nil: Two nights before New Year's Eve, they partied like it was 1998-99 -- this was a throwback to the dullest games of pre-lockout hockey, with the Sens scoring 32 seconds in and protecting that lead like it was the formula for Coca-Cola. Ray Emery made 27 saves, "none of the spectacular variety" (The Team 1200's words, not mine) for his second straight shutout, and with the Leafs so short-staffed, he could easily carry his goose-egg streak into the new year. It's a big win for Ottawa with Mike Fisher and Jason Spezza out for the next month, but in terms of entertainment value, this game was a failure; I passed on it and opted to pony up $5.95 to watch an OHL game over the Internet.

NHL Scoreboard; World Junior write-up (and it's good to be on the same page with Peter Loubardias)

Today's better games: Thrashers-Sabres, 7 p.m.; Sens-Leafs, 7 p.m.; Habs-Lightning, 7:30 p.m.

HOMETOWN BREAKDOWN: SHUTRON STOPS CANN JOB

Orleans native Ben Shutron, who's borne the brunt of the Kingston Frontenacs' team-wide defensive woes (see his -17 plus-minus rating), solved the Peterborough Petes' Trevor Cann (pictured) in the seventh round of the shootout to give the Fronts a 3-2 win and snap a six-game losing streak.

Cann was the sole reason the Petes (outshot 49-21) earned a point, but Fronts goaler Daryl Borden was also pretty darn good in his second game back from a knee injury, stopping seven of the infidels in maroon-and-white in a row before Shutron ended the game with a nifty move to the backhand.
The 67's six-game win streak ended with a 5-3 loss to Erie, but that's just the law of diminishing returns; Brian Kilrea's bunch can't feel too bad about being sixth in the OHL's Eastern Conference, tied with Peterborough (who's apparently going to off-load some veterans) and one point ahead of the Fronts, but with three games in hand on both. Plus newcomer Jason Bailey, the 2005 Anaheim draft pick, now has goals in each of his first two games since joining the 67's from the University of Michigan.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.