On The Eve of the New Season: North of the Border Editio

Originally posted by xcanuck:
You'll get alot of people telling you to watch the games at Gretzky's but to be honest, it's a lousy atmosphere to watch the games in. Where you should go really depends on where you are in the Toronto area, since it's such a huge place. If you're downtown, I'd suggest Philthy McNasty's - a stupid, horrible name but it used to be the Peel Pub and it's a great sports bar. PM me with your exact location and I'll give you more specific suggestions.

Ottawa is 4.5 hrs at a minimum (e.g. no traffic on the 401 out of Toronto). A healthy drive but watching playoff games in Canada is something every hockey fan should do at least once.

Not sure what qualifies as downtown, but I'm staying near St. James Park, less then a mile from the Inner Harbor. I prefer a pub with locals to a touristy place like an ESPN zone or something (keeping in mind that I will be rooting for Anaheim over the Canucks, so try not to get me killed).

Bummer on Ottawa - I thought it was closer. Maybe I should shoot for Buffalo.

Originally posted by vansmack:

Originally posted by xcanuck:
You'll get alot of people telling you to watch the games at Gretzky's but to be honest, it's a lousy atmosphere to watch the games in. Where you should go really depends on where you are in the Toronto area, since it's such a huge place. If you're downtown, I'd suggest Philthy McNasty's - a stupid, horrible name but it used to be the Peel Pub and it's a great sports bar. PM me with your exact location and I'll give you more specific suggestions.

Ottawa is 4.5 hrs at a minimum (e.g. no traffic on the 401 out of Toronto). A healthy drive but watching playoff games in Canada is something every hockey fan should do at least once.

Not sure what qualifies as downtown, but I'm staying near St. James Park, less then a mile from the Inner Harbor. I prefer a pub with locals to a touristy place like an ESPN zone or something (keeping in mind that I will be rooting for Anaheim over the Canucks, so try not to get me killed).

Bummer on Ottawa - I thought it was closer. Maybe I should shoot for Buffalo.

Philthy McNastys isnt downtown….

the Loose Moose is a cool place to go, but may be a little of a young crowd…but its definitely not boring! esp once the game ends and it gets late and its right on Front St. Its the place


but i moved from T.O. when i was 17 and when i come back to visit, we usually dont hit the sports bars.

its a bit of a walk from St. James, maybe 7 or 8 blocks. but you may want to get that far away from Church St, so you dont end up getting hit on all night!! :eek:

Cool thanks. I'll have time to check it all out…

Any other siggestions of things to do are welcome. I will be spending at least one day at the HoF.

Originally posted by vansmack:
Cool thanks. I'll have time to check it all out…

Any other siggestions of things to do are welcome. I will be spending at least one day at the HoF.

make sure you get your picture taken with the Cup!!!

Originally posted by le sonick:
make sure you get your picture taken with the Cup!!!

I have that from when the Kings were playing the Habs in 93. It might be nice to get an updated picture though, because back in 93 I refused to touch the cup, but now that I'm an old man I think it might be alright.

Can I get a Bro Hymm chorus from the congregation?

I would love to be able to join in this discussion but there's just no hockey on tv down here. Even the sports part of the evening news don't even give it a mention. I stopped in for a quick beer in a bar in West Palm Beach last friday and they had the playoffs on for about 15 minutes until the twat of a bartender switched it over to some snoozefest baseball crap…..at which the stands were deserted I might add.

Needless to say I downed my beer, told the twat behind the bar what I thought of him and went home, leaving no tip for said twat!

Originally posted by le sonick:
Philthy McNastys isnt downtown….

the Loose Moose is a cool place to go, but may be a little of a young crowd…but its definitely not boring! esp once the game ends and it gets late and its right on Front St. Its the place


but i moved from T.O. when i was 17 and when i come back to visit, we usually dont hit the sports bars.

its a bit of a walk from St. James, maybe 7 or 8 blocks. but you may want to get that far away from Church St, so you dont end up getting hit on all night!! :eek:

Huh? Philthy McNasty's is next to the Royal Alex on 276 King St. That's pretty much right downtown. And it's a sports hangout. Granted, I haven't been there since last fall but I think it's still around.

The Loose Moose moved from Adelaide, did it? It was always crowded with a young-ish crowd. I was in there before the changover and that was a great place to watch hockey.

Go Sens!!

Originally posted by xcanuck:
Huh? Philthy McNasty's is next to the Royal Alex on 276 King St.

maybe theres more than one! :)

i dont hang at sports bars in toronto, though, but buddy has a 52" flat panel TV in his basement, with bubble dome hockey table and a kegerator! thats all you need isnt it?

One step closer. Vancouver really wasted their opportunity on Tuesday night….

Bummer I won't get to see the Ducks while I'm in Toronto (I would have enjoyed that) but I'll take the r&r while Detroit and San Jose beat each other up.

We're just about to head up to Detroit to see the Sharks/Wings game on Sat night. Always good to see a game at the Joe but can you believe tix are still available??

I felt really bad for Luongo - he put on a stellar performance and his team let him down. Well, what was left of the team. A few people were playing injured and others, like Matt Cooke, Jeff Cowan, and Ryan Kessler were out completely. The Sedins put in a poor performance. To me, the Canucks look like the Sens did two years ago (but with better goaltending). With the proper management, they'll be a force in a couple of seasons.

im hoping that the rangers can pull off a win tonight. its looking doubtful as i fully expect the sabres to get their ass kicked into gear, but itd be a great upset. now if only i could find a way to score some tickets.

Originally posted by xcanuck:

I felt really bad for Luongo - he put on a stellar performance and his team let him down. Well, what was left of the team. A few people were playing injured and others, like Matt Cooke, Jeff Cowan, and Ryan Kessler were out completely. The Sedins put in a poor performance. To me, the Canucks look like the Sens did two years ago (but with better goaltending). With the proper management, they'll be a force in a couple of seasons.

I dont think the Canucks have nearly the offensive talent the sens had even a couple of years ago, they need to add some free agents, but if they get some offense they could be real good

Heading to the Loose Moose for the Sharks/Red Wings game to check it out, and if I don't like it, I'll head to Philthy McNastys. I ran past the LM this morning and it looked alright, save for the map of Texas on their sign!?!?!?

Much like the Sharks wasted an opportunity on Wednesday, the Rangers also wasted a golden opp last night. There's a lot of Buffalo fans up here (at least there were in ther bar last night). I was surprised with the fervor of support for the Raptors too. They may not have been the most basketball savvy, but they were supportive throughout.

I ended up watching the Manchester Derby in my hotel room this morning (good luck finding a soccer bar here). The Official Bar of Man United Supporters closed down last fall apparently.

To answer your questions - the Loose Moose moved to Front Street, and Philthy McNasty's moved to King Street. I didn't enjoy either very much during the afternoon hockey but I did win $200 at a poker tourney at Philthy's and the night time crowd at the Loose Moose for the Sens game was very fun. And the wait staff at LM was smokin' hot, second only to Jack Astors, who weren't as trashy. All in all, Toronto has been a good time.

Back to hockey…

The Sharks blew the series when they let a 2 goal lead in game 3 slip away. Ron Wilson is taking a lot of heat up here for how he misused Thorton all series long and the rumor is he lost control of the team before Nabakov screwed the pooch and was attacked in the locker room.

Ducks in 6
Sabres in 7 (though I'm rooting for the Sens)

rumor is he lost control of the team before Nabakov screwed the pooch and was attacked in the locker room….

who, or what is 'the pooch'?

And where is Erika Lindross selling her wares these days?

Originally posted by Roadbike Mankie:
who, or what is 'the pooch'?

In this scenario, I'm using the words screw the pooch to describe the horrible gaff he made in Saturday's game where he came out fo the net and failed to clear the puck ending up in a simple open net goal for the Red Wings.

But usually, the pooch is a dog, and to screw the pooch is a cleaned up version of an old military phrase to "fuck the dog," which used to mean to goof around. Now it means to make a huge mistake.

Originally posted by Roadbike Mankie:
and where is Erika Lindross selling her wares these days?

She is currently ruining any chance for the Dallas Stars to win a Stanley Cup.

Lindros supposedly may retire

Originally posted by xcanuck:

Originally posted by vansmack:


Ducks in 5.
Sharks in 7.
Sabres in 6.
Senators in 6.

And to my Canadian friends, I will be in Toronto May 4 - May 8. Where should I watch the games? And, how far is Ottawa from Toronto should I decide to drive to Game 6?

Good predictions. Can't argue too much with them. The only one I can see going the other way is the Sharks/Wings series. Battle of the goalies there.

And so it turns out - Sens vs Sabres. Wings vs Ducks.

I'll take Sens in 6 and Wings in 7.

We went to the Wings game on Sat - seriously good times. It's so great to watch hockey in an arena where people understand the sport and care about it. At least four octopi hit the ice (the last one mere seconds before the end of the game resulted in a delay of game penalty for the Wings but who cared at that point?). And $5 bottles of Molson. Good times…