Author: Dave Hopkins

In one of the more anticipated games in early 2022, top NHL contenders came into the Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday pitting the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs and the red hot Colorado Avalanche.  With so many postponed games recently, it’s really not fair to measure teams by point totals but rather winning percentage to date.  The Avs are at an impressive .666 while the Leafs come in at .687.  Top teams indeed.  (BTW Carolina leads at 24 and 7 for a .750)

And why not – the Colorado squad presents a very deep roster lead by Nazem Kadri with 42 points, returning winger Mikko Rantanen with 36, Captain Gabriel Landeskog (coming off a hattrick) and superstar Nathan MacKinnon both with 33.  That is not counting superstar in the making D-Man Cale Makar with 28.  Makar and his mates on defence have in fact contributed 33 of the Avs 129 goals to date, including 14 of his own.  He and Devon Toews contribute over 25 minutes of ice per game.

As advertised, both clubs came out with a fierce pace to open the game.  A huge goalmouth save by Jack Campbell at the 6 minute mark showed he was in his zone.  Alex Kerfoot had been moved up to play with Austin Mathews and Mark Bunting due to the COVID related absence of Mitchell Marner.  It didn’t take him long to prove his worth as he floated in a beauty backhander to move the Leafs up 1-0 over his former team.  The Mathews show took over at the 5 minute mark as the Rocket Richard Trophy winner pumped in his 21^st and 22^nd in less than :30 seconds.  The first, from Reilly was another well-placed backhander and the second from Kerfoot was a typical sniper in off the post.  Coach Jared Bodnar gave starter Darcy Kuemper a “mercy” pull after the 3-0 goal, despite his recent 7-0 record.

You just can’t leave a team that has a ton of 7 goal games alone to sit around feeling sorry for themselves.  Sure enough, a sloppy, over passing play by Toronto lead to a MacKinnon goal on a nice 3-way passing play from linemates Landeskog and Rantanen.  3-1 after one.

The Leafs had to scratch Kase, Marner and Engvall.  In came Clifford, Seney (who ?) and the recently banished Nick Ritchie.  Guess who shows up with his second of the year on a second unit PP from dependable Wayne Simmonds ?  Daz right !  4-1 Tranna.  When was the last time you heard this ?  The Leafs have the second best defensive record in the entire NHL.  Soup Campbell of course has had a huge say in this remarkable stat with a slash line GAA 1.87 and a save percentage of .939.  None the less, the never say die Avs kept it interesting with a patient “walk the line” goal from Maker to make 4-2 after 2.  This game wasn’t over !

You can only rely on your goalie for so much.  The Leafs Jack Campbell had 49 shots sent his way and despite his herculin effort, it just wasn’t to be.  First it was Landeskog finally pounding in a rebound to make it 4-3 less than 10 minutes in.  The Avs relentless pressure did not subside until Comfer tied it up with 8 minutes to go.  The Leafs had been outshot 15 to 2 at this point.  Overtime !

Devon Toews put it away 5 hole to allow the Colorado club to win its 11 game in a row on home ice.  Great Game !

HOPPER NOTES: HNIC gave great support to the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA) throughout the broadcast.  Somewhat surprising to hear that a lot of high-profile hockey celebrities of colour did not show up for support.  Kadri, Dumba, Simmonds et al have led the way – it’s time for those “brand conscious” people to fall in line…great skating analysis (edges etc) from Kevin Bieksa pre game using Makar and MacKinnon as examples…so nice to hear “live” cheers from Colorado…could really do without that dumb KIT KAT TV spot from Brent Burns…gotta love the versatile Kerfoot – @ $3.5 mil, he’s a bargain…I was OK with Mikahev  on the left side with Tavares and Nylander…it doesn’t get any easier for Toronto, with future dates in St. Louis, Vegas and Madison Sq Garden…guys I wish I had on my team:  Devon Towes.

Discuss – feedback welcome – cheers !

Since the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs last met on December 14, neither team has seen much game action due to COVID and The Christmas break.  The Oilers have just 2 wins in their last 12 games.  A lot of blame has been laid at the feet of their goaltending tandem.  The “other” team has scored first in 9 of their last 11. 

Also on the hot seat is Oilers Coach Dave Tippett.  His team got off to a fabulous start, flirting with first overall and now they’re barely hanging onto a wild card placing in the west.  His frustration came out during a post game presser in New York the other night when he was less than supportive of that night’s netminder Mikko Koskinen.  Hard to believe Tippett would be on the block after only 33 games, but rumours persist that the Oilers have Mike Babcock on speed dial.

The Leafs came out as if this was to be another dominant performance over a wavering Edmonton squad.  They peppered 9 shots at Westport’s Mike Smith before the game was 9 minutes old.  Lo and behold, the Leafs scored on a fluke off the backboard to expose the dreaded 1-0 score against the visitors who have suffered the same fate 24 times this season.   This reporter started to think:  has this club really quit on Dave Tippett ?

The second half of the first showed some backbone emerging from the Edmonton squad with strong forecheck pressure forcing the home squad to scramble and chase the puck.  First, Brenden Perlinni tied it at the 10 minute mark up after some poor defensive zone coverage.  Later, league leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl popped in his 26^th after an even worse job of d-coverage from the Leafs top pair.  Were Leafs showing fatigue from only playing 2 games in the last 22 days ?  They did tie it up at the :30 second mark on a crease jamming deflection goal for the sudden scoring machine TJ Broadie.

The second period decided nothing.  The Oilers dug deep to try to control the breakout power of the Maple Leafs.  While missing McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, Tyson Barrie and Derek Ryan, the foot soldiers seemed to be stepping up.  Missed chances by Marner and Ryan Macleod were the only real excitement.  Mike Smith showed his superior puck handling skills throughout this stanza.  Anytime you have a 22-17 SOG usually implies a bit of a snooze fest.

Both clubs started better in the final period making for a great showcase.  In only his third game back from a broken thumb Ilya Mikheyev showed the Leafs’ faith in him by lifting in the winner for their 8^th consecutive PP goal.  Alex Kerfoot put it away with an empty netter at :15 seconds.  Leafs 4 Oilers 2.

HOPPER NOTES:  The Leafs missed right winger Ondrej Kase due to a minor injury…Leafs Nation agree it will be nice to see him, Mikheyev and David Krampf rocking that third line…the “Mic’d Up” segment only proved to show what a class act Zach Hyman really is…after 13 days off due to COVID, Jake Muzzin did not look out of place…other than basic inactivity, Austin Mathews has fallen behind in the Rocket Richard goal scoring race…as games began tonight, Leon Draisaitl lead the way with 25, followed by Ovie with 24, Anaheim’s Terry (with last night’s hat trick) @ 21 and Chris Kreider of the Rangers at 20 alongside Mathews, also at 20…if Tippett does get fired after tonight, does he immediately get hired by the Winnipeg Jets ?  Mitchy, Mitchy, Mitchy must you ALWAYS pass? 

Since my last report on December 14^th, a couple of things have changed:  the World was taken over by a fast moving variant of COVID, shutting down all kinds of activities – including the NHL, the lucky ones had pre-tested family gatherings, arenas were cut to a 1000 seat capacity, the World Juniors were cancelled and I put the final touches on my blog site hopperonhockey.ca

Pre-game reports said that both Toronto and Ottawa would ice near full rosters for tonight’s contest.  Exceptions for the Leafs were Jake Muzzin, Timothy Liligren and Nick Ritchie (healthy scratch).

As for the Senators, most notable missing were Josh Norris, Tyler Ennis and Shane Pinto.  Goalie Matt Murray has been down in Belleville for a couple of games and got the start tonight.  Tim Stutzle had moved into the centre spot with the number line along side Brady Tkachuck and Drake Batherson.

Well, as you might expect from 2 teams that have been off (Ottawa 13 days – Leafs 18 days) for a while the rust was very evident to start the game.  Passes weren’t sharp, breakouts were pitiful.  It took the Ottawa club 11 minutes to get their first shot goal.

 A fantastic defensive play by TJ Brodie sent David Krampf away on a short handed situation.  He waited patiently as d-man Justin Holl caught up to pump in is first of the season.  Just :27 seconds later, still short handed, Ilya Mikheev finished off a nice play with his superior speed to convert another Brodie play.

One of the major unsung heroes through this latest Toronto Maple Leafs renaissance has been some guy from Calgary, goes by the name of TJ Brodie.  Oh sure he’s steady, supported all those Marc Giordano years in Calgary.  He came to Toronto on a cap friendly deal and settled in.  Who knew ?

Brodie swoops in a wrap around for the only real hilite of the second period.  3- 0 Leafs.

A pretty tepid third period started with a beauty from Nylander followed by a power play from a re-sergeant Mikheyev – a guy who really wants to prove some folks wrong.  And who says Nylander hasn’t benefitted from those computer games ?  Bangs in another to make it 6 zip.

Hopper notes:  I didn’t think 33 year old Alex Biega looked out of place in his limited ice time…Kerfoot had 3 points to bring him to 100 – like the guy ! …SOUP comes up with another shutout on a kind of laid back night – stood tall when required…got to respect the job they’re doing in Ottawa – building a team with strong, fresh talent…they really need a big Policeman (Chara, Pronger type) to hold the fort….missed doing this…HAPPY NEW YEAE EVERYONE !!

Discuss – Cheers !

Since my last report on December 14^th, a couple of things have changed:  the World was taken over by a fast moving variant of COVID, shutting down all kinds of activities – including the NHL, the lucky ones had  pre-tested family gatherings, arenas were cut to a 1000 seat capacity, the World Juniors was cancelled and I put the final touches on my blog site hopperonhockey.ca

Happy New Year everyone !  It’s great to be back doing what I do, reporting on Hockey.  Join me post game for a full report on tonight’s Toronto Maple Leafs game vs the Ottawa Senators from the Scotiabank arena.

TSN’s Bob Mackenzie has leaked that this year’s World Junior Hockey Championships being held in Alberta have been (will be) cancelled due to growing COVID infections among the players.

Tonight’s Canada/Germany game was to be my first report on my brand new blog hopperoncanada.ca.

WHAT A FREAKING DRAG !!  More to come.

December 28/21

Day 3 from the World Junior Hockey Championships featured Canada against qualifier Austria.  The tournament has always shown off the skills of the elite level teams from Canada, Finland, the US, Sweden and Russia.  The second tier consists of Czechia, Switzerland, Germany and Slovakia.  Usually, a country who has been promoted from the “B” pool (eg Austria, Latvia, Kazakhstan etc) rounds out the 10 team loop.

As expected, the Canadian team dominated the qualifier throughout the first, outshooting Austria 25-5 and befittingly out scoring them 5 zip.  For the Austrian program, this tournament is about development and a chance to measure themselves against elite players from around the world.  A couple of standouts to this reporter were draft eligible Captain Marco Kasper, goalie Leon Somner and a rather large forward named Kilan Ropelle.  And, who can ever forget a player named Oskar Maier ?!?

Canadian hilites included an absolute beauty from 16 year old Colind Bedard (his second) and 2 power play goals.  Cole Perfetti and Owen Power continued their outstanding paly at both ends.

It’s early in the tournament, so let’s review Canada’s forward units (now down to 12) for tonight:

               Perfetti                Borque                 Wright

               Johnson               McTavish             Stankoven

               Neighbors           Greig                    Guenther

               Cuylie                   Desnoyers           Bedard

Bourgalt (injured – concussion) and Sourdif (suspended) were out of tonight’s contest.

During the second period, Austria showed a little more life (scoring in the last minute) but more importantly for Team Canada fans, as is often the case in these snooze fests, complacency seemed to be settling in for the home squad.  Connor Bedard roofed his hat trick goal and that was really the only thing that fans at Edmonton’s Rogers Centre had to cheer for.  6-1 Canada.

News from earlier in the day had Team USA having to forfeit their game against Switzerland due to two of their players testing positive for COVID.  Let’s hope that trend is put to a screeching halt and that our beloved tournament can continue unscathed.  The US is now 1 and 1.

The young Canadians woke up in the third as Perfetti (a gift @ :27 seconds), Bedard with his fourth (!), McTavish with 2 in :47 seconds and then Mavrik Bourque made the inevitable a reality.  In fairness to Austria, this was only their 5^th time at this tournament and was last involved in a game VS Canada way back in 1981.  Led by Dale Hawerchuk, the Canadians finished that game off at 11-1.  Austria got a powerplay goal to make the final 11-2.

HOPPER NOTES:  Team Germany is next (tomorrow at 7 pm), they had a hard-earned win against Czechia…next year’s tournament will allow 12 teams (incl Austria) in to the tournament.  My suggestion is to have the teams split into 2.  An “Elite 6” (Canada, Finland, USA, Sweden, Russia and whomever comes 6^th this year) all playing each other once.  The “second 6” (Czechia, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland x 2 qualifiers) will play off a similar 5 game Round Robin.  The top 5 “elite” division teams qualify for the quarter-finals as do 3 of the lower “qualifier” teams.  The other 4 are eliminated.  More meaningful games for the “elite” and a chance for a “B” team to rise to the top.

Discuss – cheers !

December 26/21

Thank goodness for our Team Canada Junior Hockey team.  We say this every year, but “we” are so stacked with talent, our 4^th liners and third pair would be all-stars back in their own leagues.  If the opening TSN montage “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” featuring past icons and championships didn’t get you all teary eyed, stop reading here ! 

The 2021, (D-man Owen Power), slam dunk 2022 (17 year old forward Shane Wright) and likely 2023 (16 year old sensation Connor Bedard) first round draft choices all wear Canada’s colours.  And with returnees like Cole Perfetti (F), Kaiden Guhle (D) and Dylan Garand (G) in the room you have got to like Canada’s chances to add to their globe setting pace with a 19^th Gold Medal.

During earlier games on day one Finland defeated a determined German team 3-1, while The Swedes hung on to beat the Russians 6-3 despite being up 3-0 in Red Deer.  The defending Gold Medallist Team USA and Slovakia play the late game (9:30 eastern).

WOW, that first period was exactly what a hockey starved nation needed !

After the usual nervous, scrambly start to these affairs, Peterborough Pete star Mason McTavish floated through the Czech zone, played an unexpected through the legs move and then roofed the 1-0 goal at the 4 minute mark.  Two Jake Neighbors’ offensive zone hits later and the Canadians seemed to be on their way setting the Czechs back on their heels.  But, before you knew it a video confirmed goal tied it at the 8 minute mark.

Then, all heck broke loose as 5 goals were scored in the next 13 minutes putting the Czech’s up 3 to 2.  It wasn’t until the :30 second mark before Donavan Suprango tied it up from Perfetti and Bedard.  

Man, what a period !  

The Canadians came back strong in period 2 helped by some boneheaded penalties from the Czechs.  At the 13-minute mark, one penalty led to another and then to another, leaving Team Canada with a million opportunities to put this game away.  Power from Perfetti and then Power’s hat trick goal (first ever by a Canadian D-man) made it 5-3.  The Czechs only had 2 shots on goal in the second while Canada piled it on with 15 of their own.  Also notable during this stanza was moving 2023 first overall Connor Bedard up the forward chart.  

I should also note at this time (as if it wasn’t already obvious) that I am unabashedly Canadian through and through and if I am ever asked who my favorite hockey team is, it is ALWAYS Team Canada.

One could sense that CZECH was done after two.  They were being outshot significantly, out hit and out hustled.  This is a team that boasted 10 drafted players.  They just didn’t have enough left in the tank after briefly taking that 3-1 first period lead.  Owen Zellweger topped things off with a PP goal to finish things off at 6-3. 

HOPPER NOTES:

After my Shameless “Homer” admission, may I pile on by saying that this is the 45^th Anniversary of this prestigious tournament and Canada has won 18 of them ?  Two of our predominant players, (Cole Perfetti and Owen Power) have won a gold medal for Canada before winning a World Junior.  I would LOVE to have either on my team !  Our strong “back end” supplied 5 of our 6 goals.  Our next game is vs Germany on Tuesday.  

Discuss – cheers !

The Toronto Maple Leafs came home to host the Columbus Blue Jackets after a not-so-successful 2 game trip to the centre of the continent.  After a hard-fought OT loss in Minnesota, the Leafs walked in to Portage and Main for a rather nasty 6-3 loss to the well rested Winnipeg Jets.  Fisticuffs and revenge were on the agenda that night and resulted in suspensions, fines and bad feelings.

For tonight’s contest the Toronto club were without Rasmus Sandin (knee 2-3 weeks), Mitch Marner (3-4 weeks shoulder) Travis McDermott (knee) and Jason Spezza (suspension).  In their place we saw Marlies rookie Alex Steeves (12 points in 12 games in the AHL) and 24-year-old Latvian defenceman Kristins Rubins playing third pair minutes with Liligren.

In what is being described as a transitional year, the 13-10-0 Blue Jackets were coming off a 6-4 win over San Jose.  That came on the heels of a 4 game losing skid.  Other than the first their first line of Boone Jenner centering Max Domi and Jakub Vorachek, defenceman Zach Werenski and a strong goaltending tandem, the roster is young and mostly unknown.

Every good team needs the big guns to show up.  William Nylander and Austin Mathews are paid large to do just that.  Willy Styles got his 8^th (PP) in 6 and non-mustachioed Matthews got his 16^th on strong plays from each other and a suddenly point motivated Morgan Reilly.  2- 0 Toronto.  And, who should finally show-up when he’s really needed ?  Rictchie Rich gets his first as a Leaf (after 27 games) to make it 3 zip after one.

The second started as a pretty much free flowing back and forth – you know, the kind that coaches hate ?  A superior shoulder save by Jack Campbell at the 9 minute mark was shortly followed up by a well deserved goal by Bjorstrand to make it 3-1.  Not too much later, the momentum swung back to the home team’s favor as Captain Johnny tipped in his 12^th from a red hot Morgan Reilly to make it 4-1.  Not 7 seconds later, Austin Mathews put in his 17^th (again from Reilly) to make it 5-1.  Once the insanity was reeled back in, you could see why the Maple Leafs are ahead in the standings as they are.

The home team got off to a real sleepy start in the third.  And, before you know it D-man J Bean fires a net shot that Bjorstrand tips in to make it 5-2.  Texier made it 5-3 and you really had to feel bad for “Soup” and his unassailable 1.78 GAA and his .942 SV % as his teammates faded before his very eyes.  A 0.5 .second goal by Domi makes it an unjust 5-4 final.  A very charitable final score.

HOPPER NOTES:
4 regulars out of the line-up = a pretty good showing….Spezza getting 6 games seems over the top to me (not a previous offender)…kinda liked #46 Alex Steeves – great speed, playmaking – just wish he was bigger…I hope you will enjoy my World Junior reports starting on Boxing Day…players I’d love to have on my team, Zach Werenski (and his 26 minutes/night)…does TSN have less pee breaks than Sportsnet or is that just me…Kase was not out of place in Marner’s spot on the PP…Max Domi is a free agent next summer – the Leafs are weak on the left side.

Discuss – Cheers !

Any team in sports has got to be pleased with a five game winning streak, right ?  Tonight’s NHL contest between the Minnesota WILD and the Toronto Maple Leafs provides a head on challenge for 2 red hot teams in the “State of Hockey”.

The WILD has a similar past to the Leafs with multiple first round playoff exits and a pretty mediocre record since their debut back in 2000.  They are another one of those teams that Ontarians don’t know much about.  For instance, how many knew that Mikko Koivu, their long time captain, has not only retired but is due to become the first member in franchise history to his jersey (#9) retired ?

After another first round exit last May, General Manager Bill Guerrin decided to part ways with two of their franchise stalwarts, namely Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.  That made cap space available to re-sign 24 year old Russian star Kirill Kaprizov.  The former KHL sniper has 25 points in 22 games thus far and resides in the Top 10 of the scoring list.

Not surprisingly, Minnesota started their top line with Hartman centering Matt Zuccarello and Kaprizov.  They have scored a majority of the WILD goals to date and they set a good pace.  The Leafs were without the services of top 6 winger Mitch Marner, so Wayne Simmonds gladly stepped up.  Ondrej Kase was back in the fold after what was a poorly kept secret, “upper (head) body” injury.

A pretty good back and forth ensued with shots/chances pretty much even.  Coach Keefe tried a Matthews/Tavares/Nylander combo on 2 or 3 occasions to no avail.  Alex Kerfoot dropped down with the Czech brothers on those few shifts and didn’t look out of place.

It wasn’t until a rather robust late period shift before things really started ECO Centre rocking.  Simmonds, doing his job, defended a solid hit against Matthews and when it all settled down, he and Mark Foligno had a spirited dance. 

Jordan Greenway pumped in a Matt Dumba rebound to set the score at 1-0 with just 23.7 seconds left.

The second period started off like a penalty fest !  This wasn’t exactly playing into the home team as they currently stood at 27^th in PP with a rather pathetic 13.5 % rate.  This proved rather true when the first Minny PP recorded only a solid body check on Engvall.   But wait, a second PP opportunity allowed Zuccarello to make it 2 zip and the Wild seemed to be on their way.  This was verified on Foligno’s goal at 11:53.   A 9-2 hit advantage by the home squad helped accentuate the advantage.

Keefe went to plan ‘B’ moving Spezza up in to the Marner hole.  Jason thanked his coaches’ faith by finalizing a fluke goal to break the goose egg.  Not to be outdone, Spezza popped in a PP goal to make it interesting and as the piez de resistance, he set up a beauty for Mathews to tie it up before the buzzer. 

With the Leafs outshooting the WILD by 20-7 in their comeback second period, they came out firing on all cylinders to start the third.  That momentum came to a screaming halt when Minny got a favorable penalty call at 4:46 and then again shortly thereafter to give the home side a 1:48  – 2 man advantage.  Nada.  Back and forth these clubs went – eventually ending it @ 3-3 in regulation.

What a great overtime from both clubs – chance for chance, save for save.   Inevitably, the Leafs were drawn in to their first shootout of the year.  Kirill Kaprizov won it.  Final 4-3 WILD.

HOPPER NOTES: 

Didn’t hang around, but I sure hope Jason Spezza was one of the stars…guys I wish I had on my team:  Matt Dumba…Matt Reilly, in on all 3 goals – he’s coming on…I’m sure ShannyDubas would like to have a couple of 6’6” 230 pounders in their line-up…gotta love the way Coach Keefe has taught his forwards to “mix and match” no matter what the circumstance…cap issues aside, when Ilya Mikelov is ready to go again, who goes first Engvall or Ritchie ?

Discuss – Cheers !

Round 3 in California for the Toronto Maple Leafs – finishing a 4 game road trip that so far stood at 3 for 3.  Sunday night’s opponent was the slightly surprising Anaheim Ducks and their 11-7-3 record, sporting an 8-3-1 line at the Duck Pond including 7 of their last 8.  The Leafs hadn’t swept the Golden State since back in the early Babcock days.

Again, us “back east” folk don’t see or hear much about them thar California hockey clubs.  There’s this guy named Troy (wish I had him in my pool) Terry who already has scored 13 goals.  Some of us have heard tell of goalie John Gibson – his slash line is 2.53 GAA/.920 sv % and a 9-5-2 win record that will likely get him on to the U.S Olympic squad.  We all know of 36 year old Team Captain Ryan Getzlaf, the big Saskatchewan stud who has carved out a superstar career of 50 point + seasons (98 in ’08), a Stanley Cup, gold medals at the Olympics and world Juniors.  Just gotta love the guy.

The Leafians came to witness the renaissance of a Ducks team that has been at or near the bottom of the league for quite some time.  They were looking for an opportunity to win 12 games in a month and their 7^th straight road win.  From what this reporter saw in the first, they are on track to do both.  Toronto added newly re-acquired Kyle Clifford and McDermott to replace Semyonov and Liligren.

The Leafs struck back in the second.  Good pressure in the O Zone led to a nice feed from Mitch Marner back to TJ Brodie whose point shot was re-directed by Austin Matthews for his 10th of the year.  As the Leaf chances continued to pile up, ever popular winger Michael Bunting pumped in a no brainer from Marner and Jake Muzzin for a well deserved 2 – 0 lead to end the period.  Broadcasters Gord and Ray pointed out that the third team US goalie position (behind Hellybuck) may be on the line.

 The Duck fans were barely back in their seats for the third before Kerfoot lifted the Leafs to a 3-0 lead from linemates Tavares and Nylander.  A kind of flakey goal from the Ducks Lindholm seemed to inspire the home side.  It sent them on a 5-6 minute barrage of pressure and shots from all over the rink.  Soup stood tall and the Leafs Nation in the crowd cheered him on.  Coach Dale Eakins pulled goalie Gibson with over 3 minutes to go to help promote that momentum build.  This led to a totally non-selfish exchange between Nylander and Kerfoot on a breakaway to put it away.  Not long later Wayne Simmonds put things out of reach with a slam dunk rebound to make the final 5 to 1.

HOPPER NOTES:

Congrats to the Hamilton Ti-Cats and the Green Riders for moving on to the their division finals (vs Argos and Blue Bombers) next weekend…great to see Bobby Mack back on the panel (here’s a rumour starter for you: Was Jeff O’Neil not in the studio because of Mackenzie’s disparaging remarks about O as a “floater” ?)…I find it kind of ironic that the Ducks have a guy named Silverberg on their roster (or was that Goldberg ?)…even coming back to the team that originally drafted him, you’d think that Nick Ritchie would put in a game – NOPE…I thought Jim Benning would have been gassed way before Bergevin…

Discuss – CHEERS !