Le refuge ^_^

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The challenges of playing hockey in a Canadian market are well documented: higher taxes, over abundant media coverage, lack of anonymity, an unrelenting and vicious winter, way too much Rush in rotation on FM radio. What makes Canada such a great place to be a hockey fan makes it a difficult environment to play in. Canada is indisputably the centre of the hockey universe, and at that universes core is Toronto. The Greater Toronto Hockey League is over a hundred years old and the largest minor hockey league in the world. Despite their futility, the Leafs could sell out Rogers Centre for home games charging $1000 and first-born children for upper deck seats. The Marlies are flourishing in the AHL. Next years World Junior Hockey Championships (co-hosted with Montreal) are sure to be the most successfully attended and celebrated ever. And yet, as a player, what would entice you to ply your trade in the Big Smoke?The crowds at the ACC for Leafs game are an embarrassment to hockeys most important market. The stories of the suits in the expensive seats, absent for starts of periods and reticent to loosen their ties even as Brian Burke undid his, are well known. The arena is eerily quiet compared to its contemporaries, a conservative and reserved audience in a sport and city renowned for its maniacal fandom. And this is not indicative of Toronto crowds, as we witnessed during the Raptors playoff appearance this year, rowdy afternoons at Jays games at Rogers Centre, and the masses that turned out this year and last in Maple Leaf/Raptors Square. But those involved fans (who make up the vast majority of Leafs Nation) enthusiasms are negatively tempered by the lower bowls reservations, reservations bred by alternately flawed and complacent approaches to building a competitive team and the absence of a winning presence. As a player who is passionate about his vocation, why would you want to commit to an environment that doesnt match that passion, especially when the home ice advantage can be such an important component of the game?Often in pieces that claim players like Thornton are interested in playing for the Leafs, the prospect of coming "home" is cited as a key factor. The very notion of "home" is a flawed premise in this lazy argument. Even if you call "home" somewhere in Southern Ontario, as a hockey player you probably havent lived there since you were 16. Thornton has lived in San Jose for nearly a decade, is a naturalized US citizen, has a wife, a mortgage, perhaps a few pets, maybe a café he really likes to go to, a favourite pizza place, a butcher who cuts his ribeyes to just the perfect thickness. But the Toronto Sun is going to tell him where his home is.For many players, one might suspect that playing at home in front of an overbearing hockey dad, mum and her new husband, and sycophantic high school acquaintances just a few blocks from where that girl broke your heart is the very definition of hell. And is working in your hometown really all that enticing? How many of you work in your hometowns? Hardly any. Youve all moved to Toronto.Thornton is from St. Thomas, Ontario, which would place his NHL "hometown" in Detroit or Buffalo as much as in Toronto, and yet those markets media dont seem to be making the "coming home" argument. Torontos hockey media is the most intense in all of professional sports. Maybe Montreals is equal, but half of the vitriol and conjecture there is in French, and only a fraction of NHLers understand it. (Reasonably, even those of us who are bilingual dont really understand it.) In Toronto, there is endless speculation, much of it even based in fact. Each flaw, each mistake (on and off the ice) is dissected and disseminated ad nauseum. Trade rumours are fabricated on a daily basis, the ubiquitous "NHL executive" noted as an unimpeachable source. The discussion of hockey in Toronto has become an insufferable wall of noise for an uninvested observer, so imagine if the discourse directly affected your family, your income, and your life.It seems a lot to ask of a player to endure such amplified attention, especially given the fact the Leafs have not been a competitive team since 2004. And that is final circle of the NHLs Hell: irrelevance. Toronto is still recovering from the John Ferguson Jr. era. They have some formidable pieces in Kessel, Morgan Reilly, and Jonathan Bernier; a young skilled forward, puck moving defenseman, and promising goaltender around which to build. They have a top-ten pick in the coming draft, some interesting if not spectacular prospects (Stuart Percy, Matt Finn), and some movable pieces (Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner). Brendan Shanahan emanates stability and hubris. But theyre still saddled with bad contracts (Dion Phaneuf, David Clarkson), a suspect coaching philosophy, and a lack of depth. And to watch the Kings, Blackhawks, and Rangers this spring is to know the Leafs are far removed from that level of hockey.So if you were an unrestricted free agent, or a player on the trading block with some say in his future, why would you come to Toronto? Consider Thornton: Youre in your mid-30s, never won a Cup, live in the perfection of Northern California, in a market that sustains you but doesnt invade you, and youd chose to move to Toronto, with its high taxes, magnified attention, and with as much of a chance of winning a Cup in the next five years as Quebec City? Toronto is a world-class city, cultured and cosmopolitan, a great place to live and make a life. The Joe Thorntons of the world should want to play home games at the ACC. The challenges of the market need to be offset by a tradition of winning and the only way for Toronto to do that is to build a stable and competitive franchise through hoarding draft picks and young controllable players, and eschewing the temptation of quick expensive fixes like Clarkson, or Thornton. The best thing for a successful NHL would be a dominant Toronto Maple Leafs team. Given the teams last decade, however, it seems like that wont happen until Hell freezes over. Fortunately for Toronto, most of it freezes over every January, so the wait may not be that long. Phillip Lindsay Broncos Jersey . Wheeler scored at 4:58 of overtime, with Scheifele getting an assist, and the Jets beat the slumping Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Sunday night. Karl Mecklenburg Broncos Jersey . The 27-year-old hit .209 in 86 at-bats last year after missing the 2010 season following surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. http://www.thebroncosstoreonline.com/Youth-drew-lock-broncos-jerseys/ . -- What Anthony Jennings lacked in experience, LSU more than compensated for with a talented supporting cast in the Outback Bowl. Dennis Smith Youth Jersey . On Thursday theyll learn even more. Despite the cloud of uncertainty that has followed them around from the moment general manager Masai Ujiri was brought in to put his stamp on the franchise, the Raptors have surpassed all pre-season expectations. Joe Flacco Broncos Jersey . -- J.R. Sweezy was the one part of the Seattle Seahawks offensive line that had avoided injuries or having to change positions this season.RALEIGH, N.C. -- No lead was safe for either Pittsburgh or Carolina until James Neal ended a back-and-forth game in overtime. Neal scored at 1:03 of the extra session to lift the Penguins past the Hurricanes 4-3 on Friday night. NHL scoring leader Sidney Crosby had a goal, and Chris Conner and Deryk Engelland each scored in the third period. The Eastern Conference leaders rallied from one goal down in the third period and took a 3-2 lead -- only to let it slip away late in regulation before Neals goal in OT gave them their 13th win in 15 games. "Thats where our team has matured and changed, and I think we regrouped and didnt let it bother us," Neal said. "We come right back and get one." Neal, who also had two assists, ended it by beating Justin Peters with a wrist shot off a slick give-and-go from Jussi Jokinen -- the former Carolina forwards third assist. "When we got our third one, I felt pretty good about it," goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. "Disappointed to give up that third goal, but it was nice to see (Neal) finish it up for us." Fleury stopped 31 shots in his 500th career game. "Marc was our best player tonight, for sure," coach Dan Bylsma said. Drayson Bowman scored with 2:29 left in regulation. Nathan Gerbe had a goal and an assist, Andrej Sekera scored and Peters finished with 22 saves for the Hurricanes. They let a third-period lead slip away for the second straight game. Carolina also lost its seventh in eight games with four coming in overtime, and fell 20 points behind the Penguins. "When you look back, you feel like you had a really good hockey game," Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. "Its during those first 60 minutes, we had some opportunities to capitalize, and when you dont, youre going to be in tight games and youve got to know how to play with the lead then. Its a very thin line of winning and losing. When you give up a couple of chances and they score, thats the difference." Engelland -- who was playing in his ffirst game since serving a five-game suspension for a check to the head of Detroits Justin Abdelkader -- put a hard shot past Peters with 6:45 left to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead.dddddddddddd But Bowman forced overtime when he slipped his late wraparound past Fleury. Engelland was one of a few Penguins making their return to the ice. They also got defenceman Brooks Orpik and forward Tanner Glass back from injuries. Orpik missed eight games with a concussion while Glass was out for the past month with a broken hand. The Penguins tied it at 2 at 1:58 of the third period when Conner slipped a backhand past Peters. That came after Carolina built a 2-1 lead following a wild end to the first period and start to the second. Sekera scored the games first goal in the final moments of the first period, beating both Fleury and the buzzer with a high backhand that was upheld by a brief review that determined that there were 1.3 seconds left. That came about a minute after the Penguins had a goal disallowed because the whistle blew before the puck crossed the line during a pile-up in front of Peters and defenceman Ron Hainsey. Crosby then tied it 16 seconds into the second when he slipped a backhand past Peters for his NHL-best 55th point. But the tie didnt last long -- Gerbe put Carolina back up 14 seconds later by converting on Alexander Semins hard shot. "You cant be afraid to have the lead and play," Muller said. "Youve got to keep playing the way you played the first two periods. You cant sit back. Thats what we tried to emphasize." NOTES: Penguins C Evgeni Malkin (lower-body injury) missed his sixth straight game, though he did take part in the teams morning skate. ... The Hurricanes activated G Anton Khudobin from injured reserve and assigned him to their AHL affiliate in Charlotte, and placed D Jay Harrison on IR with a concussion. ... Pittsburgh RW Pascal Dupuis will have surgery on his right anterior cruciate ligament and could miss the season, coach Dan Bylsma said before the game. ' ' '