HOCKEY LAST NIGHT: WITH RIVALRIES, SOMETHING GETS LOST IN TRANSLATION

The Leafs beat the Senators in a shootout thriller, but Co-Blogger Neil Acharya, who was part of two rivalry games as a fan yesterday, wonders if the NHL's schedule has sucked some of the life out of the Battle of Ontario.

Yesterday the Merseyside Derby took place at Anfield, with Everton drawing against Liverpool, 0-0.

And just to think, a packed Northern England town, a rivalry known as the Friendly Derby and what... you're telling me it only happens twice a year? On the same night, across the Atlantic, the Leafs and Ottawa Senators played for the seventh time this year.

Over in Liverpool today, I wonder if they were screaming that there should be penalty kicks to decide a winner after the match ended in a tie. I mean, 100-plus years of football, the fans wouldn't know anything about what should stay in a game, and what should be changed. Oh, and as for what is probably the fiercest rivalry in Western Europe and North America, the Old Firm, Celtic vs. Rangers in the Scottish Premier league, take a guess how many times they meet each year? Give up? Three.

I understand 100 per cent that the NHL is not promoting the eight-game divisional battle for Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal. I understand that is is so Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Carolina can get a hate on for each other. But its not about the amount of games, it's about an instant in time and a build-up over time. The Red Wings and Colorado Avalance had a rivalry build up in an instant, one hit, Claude Lemieux's hit on Kris Draper, the rest is history. A football rivalry, such as Everton vs. Liverpool, happens over years. No subscribing to the ludicrious notion that the recipe for a rivalry, is just taking two teams with no history and drowning them in games.

Flames 4 Canucks 3: This actually happened... with about eight minutes gone in the third the CBC's Jim Hughson mused, "I wonder if we'll see the teams play for overtime, like I've seen so often of late," inferring that he's none too happy with teams trying to push for three-point games. Wouldn't you know it, but less than a minute later Byron Ritchie's tip-in put Calgary ahead to stay.

Islanders 4 Canadiens 2: Montreal gets tripped up by your classic sleepy Saturday afternoon trap game. Maybe they were looking ahead to tomorrow's grudge match vs. Pittsburgh. Gee, you think?

Pens 2 Capitals 0: Who is this Marc-André Fleury you speak of? James Mirtle has a great take on the Pin-goins, who are really going places, so to speak.

Oilers 3 Avs 1: Dwayne Roloson, aka the Warren Zevon of goalies, makes 18 of his 37 saves in the third in Edmonton's biggest win of the year.

NHL Scoreboard

HOMETOWN BREAKDOWN

The 67's were so flat that coach Brian Kilrea left the bench after one period of an eventual 8-4 rout at the hands of the Toronto-St. Mike's Majors, who ended a 13-game losing skid with in their "home" game at Scotiabank Place. (May this be the first of a Toronto rout of Ottawa today.) How's this for poetic justice? St. Mike's Kaspars Daugavins, whose delay-of-game penalty led to Ottawa's overtime winner Friday, earned four points.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca and neil__acharya@hotmail.com.