ALLARD: IS THIS WHAT IT'S ALL BEEN ABOUT, ALFIE?

The one, the only Jean-Pierre Allard checks in during the lead up to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final.

Some frigging bleeding hearts in this sens-less village had the audacity to rake me over the coals when I dared to question Daniel Alfredsson's mindset on the eve of this year's playoffs.

Let's roll back the tape, shall we, for all those who conveniently forgot how our brave captain, who has been elevated to the status of demigod everywhere around the GOGA ever since he eliminated the Sabres in with an overtime goal in Game 5 of the East final, reiterated his position on l'Affaire Pominville.

He was asked if he would change a single thing on that infamous goal that did the exact reverse to Ottawa a year ago. (Namely, sent them scurrying for all the Golf Town outlets before hitting the links, though if I had been Ottawa mayor last May, I would have immediately passed a bylaw that called for all the Senators and its employees to hit Lynx Stadium for the rest of the season instead.)

Anyways, Alfredsson declared that he would not change a thing if faced wih the same situation, fearful that he was of getting a penalty on the play, which would have negated Ottawa's man advantage at the time.

Naturally, I cried bloody murder over this questionable attitude.

Well Daniel, say hello to your brother in arms and compatriote, Sammy Pahlsson, who is also your international teammate for Sweden and who, while you were skating gingerly by him with a little over five minutes left in a scoreless Game 2, pulled a Pominville on you. That you had one chance to stop him and failed is bad enough but replays seem to indicate that you had two occasions to do anything to prevent him taking a shot on a surprised Ray Emery.

Incidentally, that is the same Pahlssson who thought nothing of wacking Alfie on the wrists in Game 1, clearly demonstrating in the process that he wants to win the Cup at all costs.

So here's hoping that our brave captain has hit himself over the chest enough times with mea culpas that it has not only woken him from his finals' funk but that the noise was overheard by coach Bryan Murray, who also needs to wake up and shake up his listless team.

The obvious start would be to bench Jason Spezza tonight, at least for the first 20 minutes. The selfish kid needs a reality check and the only way to drive home the message is to make him ride the pines. Before you all get a hairy and start thinking that Edna Babblecock is back with her nonsense, consider that there has been a precedent for benching underachieving stars.

Look no farther than the 1942 Leafs -- the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit before the 1975 Isles duplicated the feat -- who benched their top line in Game 4 to start an improbable comeback.

Maybe I missed it among the zillion stories on the Senators but I don't recall anyone informing us that all the Senators watched the games of the Detroit-Anaheim Westgern final. I bet you they didn't, hence the reason why they were so unprepared for the Ducks in Anaheim, especially their masterful checking line. Nor do I recall reading that Joe Corvo and Tom Preissing, two players who toiled in the Western Conference for a few years before joining the Senators this year, chipped in with scouting reports on the style of hockey favoured by Anaheim.

Finally, I must admit to being a tad embarrassed by the Ottawa team offering excuses for their paltry performances thus far. Excuses are for losers. It is sincerely hoped that should the Senators lose tonight and/or Game 4, or the series for that matter, that they will recognize their worthy opponents and give them credit for being superior in every aspect of the game instead of whining that the referees were biased, that the ice was not up to standards and that they had their first three-time zone trip of the year at the time when it mattered most.

If they need to bitch about something, then how about start right at home and look no farther than all those media cheerleaders who did them, and most of the fans, a great disservice by painting the Senators as invincible, something they clearly were not, while failing to report how powerful the opposition was.

Win tonight though with a 60-minute effort and everything is forgotten for a couple of days.