New Faces in Leafs lineup?;Centomo plays first game in Greensboro
The St. John’s Maple Leafs may have some new local
faces in their lineup when they take on the Albany
River Rats in a series extremely important to the
Leafs Calder Cup Playoff hopes. Albany (15-25-7-5) is
currently two points ahead of St. John’s (17-29-5-1)
who sit eight points out of the last playoff spot
(currently held by Springfield.) Two teams, Saint John
and Albany are ahead of the Leafs.
Local Forward Mark Chaplin, who plays with the
Flatrock Flyers of the Avalon East Senior League, and
who used to play for Lou Crawford during his
Belleville Bulls coaching days, may suit up as an
emergency replacement for the team. Meanwhile, Mikael
Tellqvist will play both games in goal, so instead of
recalling Sebastien Centomo, Mike Minard or JF Racine
for a short period, it looks like the Leafs may go
with Flatrock goalie Mark Abbott who has skated as a
backup before.
Meanwhile, Centomo played his first game with
Greensboro making 36 saves, but earned a shootout
loss. Centomo is backing up former NHLer Daniel
Berthiaume (who must be like 60 now, isn’t he?)in
Greensboro who has shone with 20 wins, 9 losses, and 3
shootout losses with a 2.77 GAA in 34 GP. Who says you
can’t teach an old Daniel new tricks?
After the Leafs series against Albany, the Leafs take
on Saint John Tuesday and Wednesday. The Leafs hope to
win all of them if they want to keep their Calder Cup
hopes alive.
LEAFS NOTES
Jamie Hodson was in goal for Team Canada in a 4-1 loss to Russia at the Sweden Games. He’s expected back with the team on Sunday.
Leafs coach Lou Crawford was interviewed on Rogers
Television’s local entertainment program, Out of The
Fog last night. The female interviewer, who had little
if any knowledge of the team, mentioned Anders
Eriksson as the Leafs “top prospect”. She did,
however, ask about All-Star Brad Boyes, who Crawford
called ” a player who sees the ice well” and who has
benefited from the players he has played with.
Crawford also emphasized during the interview the need
for fans (who he called passionate) to remain positive
about the team and also mentioned the nurturing role
the coaches and staff of the Leafs have for the
players who play here.
The Leafs still lead the league in goals against with
189 but they’ve played 52 games, which is more than
most other teams in the AHL.
Local native John Slaney, who plays with the Philadelphia Phantoms, now holds the record for career points in AHL All Star points with 8. Congratulations, John! Meanwhile, how many times more can people confuse the Saint John Flames and the St. John’s Maple Leafs? During the All-Star broadcast, Brad Boyes (who got a couple of assists in the game)was mentioned as a member of “the St. John’s Flames”. It makes me wonder why we don’t just call the Leafs the Newfoundland Maple Leafs.
