Stoney Point - March 19, 2019 - Looks like Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Mike Babcock agrees with many of the team's fans who felt the Buds should have acquired some defensive help at the trade deadline. See this quote from yesterday - "You're supposed to build the best program you can so you have as much depth so you don't miss people. If you have enough, you don't miss a beat and you just keep going. There's other teams that have done a better job when different players are out than we have in keeping on going. That just tells you what state we're at, and you just gotta keep adding better players."

Clearly, the Leafs miss Travis Dermott and Jake Gardiner. What NHL team wouldn't feel an impact if two of their top four defencemen are out for a prolonged period. In saying that, lets not be naive enough to believe that the return of Gardiner will solve the team's defensive wows. He is a valuable player who moves the puck well, but he is not the strongest in his own end of the rink. Reports are suggesting that Dermott is scheduled to return in the first week of April and Gardiner's rehab has not progressed as hoped. Gardiner is expected back at some point after that.

Garret Sparks raised some eyebrows on Saturday night and upset some fans with his comments. After giving up six goals in a loss to the last place Ottawa Senators, the back-up goalie with 34 games of NHL experience said, "We need more emotion from everybody. We need people to get angry. We need people to step up and get mad and take it personally. Maybe I should start over thinking these starts and just play some hockey,” said Sparks, "It’s been challenging. Me and Fred both have been trying to make saves for this team - that’s all we ever try to do. We know we’re missing some guys [Jake Gardiner, Travis Dermott, Kasperi Kapanen], but we also have some pretty good players in the lineup in their place, so we’re not going to use that as an excuse."

I recently saw this tweet and liked the idea of the Calgary Flames reverting back to their retro uniforms.

Seems like a regular sentiment, but here is another example of the class act that Mike DiPietro is. Best of luck in the playoffs Mikey!

It's that time of year. Admittedly, I am not much of a basketball follower but March Madness is always fun. It is a chance for the uninformed fan (like me) to throw a few bucks at a crazy long shot bet and have some fun seeing how long it takes to lose your money!

Former Spit Jeremy Bracco continues his strong play in the AHL for the Toronto Marlies.

The Windsor Spitfires made the playoffs on the final weekend of the year. They are the eighth seed in the Western Conference and the 16th seed of the 16 playoff teams. Based on this positioning, the Spits draw their rivals, the London Knights, in the first round of the playoffs. The Knights finished with 99 points and a 6-4 record in their last 10 games. The Spits finished with 60 points and a 1-5-2-2 record in their last 10 games. I hope I am wrong, but my prediction is the Spits will not win a playoff game this year.