Here we go again!

Round 2. Sens versus Devils.

Before the series against Pittsburgh started I proclaimed that the secret to success would be to score early and often. By and large, that's exactly what the Sens did. For once we didn't have to wait until after 9pm to see the Senators score their first goal of the playoffs - usually after seeing their opponent score two or three.

That was nice.

We have to do the same thing again, only this time we're up against a much more experienced team with one of the all-time best goaltenders in between the pipes. How much will that affect the team? Not much, according to the player interviews in both local newspapers these days.

Ottawa has beaten New Jersey in one series. It lost in game 7 due to one bad play. Alfie and the boys have shown that they could play just as well as New Jersey head to head before, and if it weren't for one bad bounce or play, we could just as well see Ottawa be up 2-0 in series against the team from the swamp.

It's tough being a Sens fan. We set the bar so high, achieving the goal each year is almost impossible. My wife seems to think that there are 29 major losers each and every season, and the only team worth applauding is the team that hoists the Stanley Cup. That's nonsense, I say, but nothing short of a trip to the finals will please the majority of fairweather fans in this town.

A loss tonight will result in four hours of post-game whiny phone calls on the Team 1200. Calls to all open line shows tomorrow and Saturday will defeatist in nature. We have an inferiority complex.

So let's win one for the city tonight. Let's see if we can chase Brodeur out of the net as we did earlier this season, scoring six on him before Clemenson came in. If we don't, I hope that the team isn't declared dead before the series is truly out of reach. After all, weren't the Devils down 2-0 in its series only two weeks ago?

GO SENS GO! Y'all can do it!!!

"Friend" gives no respect - come on... it's the playoffs!

I guess I should be faulted for believing that I could get away with playing golf on Saturday with 19 other friends and acquaintances. I asked people before they hit the links to keep the score of Saturday's game to themselves if I happen to walk by them later on in the day. I managed to keep the results largely under wraps until after the round came to an end.

Earlier in the day I had been told that the clubhouse was closed. I was pleased to hear that, figuring that this would prevent people from lounging around too long (I was the day's organizer and thus could not simply pack up and leave whenever I wanted to.) I was dismayed to hear that at the late hour at which we finished our round, enough people had hung around to justify opening the bar. Great.

I was among the last people to enter the clubhouse at the end of the day. With most people seated at tables talking to each other, I asked them once again not to reveal any knowledge they might have of the game.

Nary a second had passed when one fellow golfer looked me straight in the eye and stated: "Penguins. 4-3." I was shocked! What about "don't tell me" did he not understand?! When I expressed my bewilderment and jokingly chided him for pulling my leg he pulled out a $20 bill instead, daring me to match his wager to show how convinced I should be that he was being truthful.

Not willing to be suckered into a bet where one of the two parties involved already has complete knowledge, I politely declined and went upon my business. After all, I had 18 other people to keep happy and willing to come back to future events! Once I got home I fired up the PVR and grudgingly sat down to watch the game. Sure enough, the Sens lost 4-3 despite some pretty decent play, especially when compared to past years' efforts!

Why did he do that? He knew how much I enjoy playoff games. He knew that I love golf even more and, through the magic of technology, I could have my cake and eat it too that day. The fun was sucked out of the day in less than three seconds.

Come on, people - if you come across another person who makes a plea similar to mine on Saturday, just use some basic common sense and resist the urge to burst his or her bubble. After all, the playoffs come only once a year for the Sens. For other teams (like the Maple Leafs) - well, you never know when they'll get in the playoffs again... so if they do ever make it some year hence, be nice to that Leaf fan and don't blow it for him or her. You never know when their next opportunity to watch a post-season game will come!!

People who complain about "homer" broadcasters: be gone!

You know what really grinds my gears? Toronto Maple Leaf fans who call the Team 1200 and accuse play-by-play broadcasters or call-in show hosts of being "homers". These people who call all seem to believe that these members of the media need to be neutral and unbiased.

The irony in that is that the so-called "national broadcaster" CBC who broadcasts games played by all six Canadian teams is hardly neutral and unbiased. The main duo couldn't be bigger Maple Leaf supporters despite the fact that they are our best "national broadcasters". Leafs vs. Calgary? Go Leafs! Leafs vs. Vancouver? Go Leafs! Even during the Olympics a few years ago, Team Canada was referred to as the "Leafs".

Go away, Leaf fans. I'd be shocked if you called in your own post game shows or the Fan in Toronto complaining about Toronto broadcasters favouring Toronto when on the air. I don't listen to Dean and Gord or Dave Schreiber expecting them to praise the opposition. I don't listen to the Team 1200 morning or drive home shows expecting anything other than what they currently offer.

Before going after team broadcasters, be they in Ottawa, Atlanta or Syracuse, how about complaining to those who are not officially tied to any team and get them to sharpen their pencils and see more than the blue and white when on a so-called national broadcast. Until then, let radio stations in cities where other teams play do their thing. That's what they're there for, and that's why their fans tune in... to hear about their team.

Sens 6 - Pens 3 (Ottawa leads series 1-0)

"Score first, and score often..."

For just about the first time in Senators playoff history, Ottawa positively crushed the Pittsburgh Penguins in game one of this first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I don't know how many game one efforts were flat and uninspired. Tonight, the Senators came out flying, scoring and hitting.

In the dying moments of the game it seemed that a number of Pens tried to physically intimidate the good guys. It was so refreshing to see Mike Comrie come over and drop the gloves, challenging a Pittsburgh offender to a fight if he so wished. We never saw this kind of guts before. That's the kind of guts a team needs to survive a long playoff run.

As a huge fan who has suffered from major bouts of playoff disappointment year after year, I am relieved to see that - if nothing else - the team can show the grit and determination it has... and that it can actually make good use of it as well.

I'm sure the call in shows on the Team 1200 will have caller after caller ready to plan the Stanley Cup parade route. We're a fickle bunch - if we ever lose a game in this post season the naysayers will come out of the woodwork and declare us dead and will demand that players be traded and that coaching staff and management be fired. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Hopefully coach Murray will sit his team down and remind them that four wins are needed to win a series. The Penguins are inexperienced as far as playoffs are concerned and it showed that they were very nervous when the game started. They settled in and things looked better from Pittsburgh's perspective... until the Sens found a new gear in the third. They won't cough up quick and early goals every game - so Ottawa has to bear down and ready itself for a fight.

They could win the series in four... or six - nothing can be taken for granted. Perhaps a new playoff leaf is being turned - let's make sure of it before we get too far of ourselves - and that goes for "us fans" and "them players"!!

Keep it up - it's a GRRREAT start!

Here we go... puck drop time!

Alright... so tonight's the night the Sens try to exorcise demons from their past. Key to the game for all involved (fans, media, players and coaching staff): SCORING. I don't know how many times in the nine previous years that the Senators had sub-par debuts or how many times they hit so-called "hot goalies".

Score first, score often and make those Penguins beg for mercy!

GO SENS GO!!!!!

Baldly heading into the playoffs!

So... I've done quite a bit over the years to try and do my best to help my team make it as far as it possibly can in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In what, nine or ten consecutive seasons, I have obviously not done my best.

This afternoon my father asked me if I had the guts to get a "playoff-style haircut" - of course, this involves the shaving of one's head. Without hesitation, I agreed to do it. After some hesitation on his part, he agreed to do it too and so after work off we went to the Bayshore Hairstylists and asked two barbers who were waiting for action to hack it all off.

I'd love to say that I have the utmost confidence in the Senators as they head into the 2007 playoffs. I've had blind faith in them for years as every year for what, four or five years, "this year IS THE YEAR". Not so, we have discovered.

So off with the hair, let's see how it goes. I'm going to try to contribute daily to chronicle the thoughts of an insane Sens fan through yet another year of trials and tribulations called the Stanley Cup Playoffs.