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Sunday, November 18, 2012

toronto maple leafs 2012-2013 stats

preliminary data, as of 18nov12



weighted* scoring race

aucoin 14 x 2 = 28

grabovsky 13 x 2 = 26

kadri   13 x 2 = 26

kostka 13 x 2 = 26

nicholls 26

kulemin 12 x 2 = 24

biggs 23

leivo 23

gardiner 22

reilly 21

komarov 9 x 2 = 18

zigomanis 9 x 2 = 18

finn 18



weighted* scoring defensemen

kostka 13 x 2 = 26

gardiner 11 x 2 = 22

reilly 21

finn 18



unweighted plus minus

kulemin +9

biggs +8

komarov +6

nicholls +6

fraser +5

ranger +5

colborne +4



unweighted save percentage

rynnas .938

sparks .912

scrivens .888

owuya .838




* ahl / khl = x 2


Sunday, November 11, 2012

Weighted TOP 5 Maple Leafs Top Scorers 2012-2013

Toronto Maple Leafs Prospects Scoring Race

Josh Nicholls, Saskatoon Blades

The following scoring standings reflect Maple Leafs players or prospects currently playing in the KHL, AHL, NCAA or CHL.


11NOV12 - Overall top 5*

1. josh nicholls 25 whl
2. nikolai kulemin 22 khl
3. mikhail grabovsky 22 khl
4. keith aucoin 22 ahl
5. tyler biggs 21 ohl
5. morgan reilly 21 whl

* ahl / khl points = x 2
ncaa = x 1.5 (shorter season than canadian junior)
chl (whl/ohl/qmjhl) = 1


Tyler Biggs, now with Oshawa Generals

All of the above are playing up to expectations, while other Leafs prospects off to strong starts include Leo Komarov (with 5 goals, 7 points and a Marlies-leading Plus 5 rating), Mike Kostka (2 goals, 6 assists) and Jake Gardiner (4 goals and 3 assists). Jussi Rynnas has two shutouts and a 0.98 GAA after 3 starts.

Joe Colborne and Nazem Kadri appear to be rounding into form, and the Marlies have been looking tougher by the week.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Open Letter to Sandra Pupatello; Ontario Liberal leadership


This past March, a decision was made in your absence that has the effect of burdening Ontario taxpayers with a much lager deficit, while at the same time halving an industry and putting 30,000 jobs at risk.

The OLG decision to close profitable slots in Fort Erie, Windsor and Hiawatha racetracks was an attempt to cover up casino losses in Niagara Falls, Windsor and Sarnia, so those 3 locations can also have slots re-instated to increase Ontario government revenues.

The decision to end the entire Slots-At-Racing partnership in March 2013 takes Ontario away from a highly workable and fully equitable province-wide business agreement and positions the province to allow Las vegas mega-corporations to come in and take the lion's share of casino, slots and sports book betting revenues. The WORST thing would be to destroy rural and smalltown Ontario so that OLG can partner with a Vegas giant to create downtown casinos that nobody wants. OLG is NOT successful in the casino business, whereas the SAR partnership is their most profitable enterprise and is also the second biggest contributor to Ontario's coffers, right after the LCBO. The racetracks are the IDEAL locations to launch sports book operations, without the involvement of foreign partners.

An extension to the current partnership is the best solution, and sports book betting profits should be split along similar lines as slot revenues, with 75% going to province and 5% to local community (plus 10% for ractetrack operator and 10% for horse racing purses). Sandra, if you run on a platform that includes a two-year extension to Slots-At-Racing (including a return of slots to Windsor, Fort Erie and Sarnia), you will then have:

- 2.2 billion dollars more (over two years) to spend on healthcare and schools and keeping taxes low (OLG has no plans or ability to replace this revenue if SAR ends in March)
- about 10,000 new volunteers province-wide, many of whom live in electoral ridings traditionally held by Conservatives, and these horse people will work tirelessly for both your leadership campaign and the coming election

In addition to having extensive support across the province, if you run in Tecumseh-Windsor and support a two-year extension to SAR and re-instatement of slots at Windsor Raceway, you will have an incredibly strong and diverse local team to build upon.

You are our best hope for returning fiscal sanity to Ontario planning. When you support horse racing, SAR and budgetary sanity, you will receive tremendous province-wide support, and have a significantly smaller provincial deficit to work with.


Joseph Trainor, Publisher
Horses and Hockey Blog

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Top 30 Toronto Maple Leafs 2012-2013 Roster

Here are 30 players that just may be invited to Toronto Maple Leafs 2012-2013 training camp, if there ever is one:


1. Kessel, F
2. Lupul, F
3. Grabovski, F
4. Phaneuf, D
5. Gardiner, D

6. Van Riemsdyk, F
7. Reimer, G
8. Liles, D
9. Bozak, F
10. Kulemin, F

11. MacArthur, F
12. Kadri, F
13.  Connolly, F
14. Steckel, F
15. Gunnarsson, D

16. Frattin, F
17. Scrivens, G
18. Lombardi, F
19. McClement, F
20. Komarov, F

21. Brown, F
22. Rosehill, F
23. Orr, F
24. Kostka, D
25. Ranger, D

26. Holzer, D
27. Rynnas, G
28. Komisarek, D
29. Aucoin, F
30. Fraser, D

Notables:

31. Franson (unrestricted FA playing this year in Europe)
32. McKegg (playing well with Marlies)
33. Colborne (getting closer to another shot)
34. Reilly (likely to play with Team Canada Juniors)
35. Ashton (physical presence suits NHL)

More depth in the system: Zigomanis, Hamilton, D'Amigo, Deschamps, Biggs (Oshawa Generals), Owuya, Scott, Blacker, Percy, Ross, Acton, Gysbers, Yeo, Abbott


Marlies facing tougher AHL rosters

Where the Marlies previously had an advantage over other AHL teams due to their core of veterans and promising prospects, the influx of NHL players thus far in 2012-13 has flattened the playing surface. AHL stars such as Aucoin, Zigomanis and Kostka are joined by young Leaf Jake Gardiner and a wide range of prospects.

While everyone was focused on names like Kadri, Colborne, Frattin (out with an injury) and Holzer, other names have played as well or better.


Ranger, Kostka, McKegg and Ryan

Paul Ranger is playing like he plans on returning to life as a Top Four NHL rearguard. Mike Kostka is solid as Gardiner's partner and it's not difficult to envision the pair of them patrolling the Maple Leafs' blueline. Other top Marlies defenders include Korbinian Holzer, Mark Fraser, Jesse Blacker, Simon Gysbers, and Dylan Yeo .

Up front, Greg McKegg and Kenny Ryan have contributed to a potent offence that also includes Keith Aucoin, Mike Zigomanis, Joe Colborne, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov, Ryan Hamilton and Jerry D'Amigo. Depth forwards include Carter Ashton, Brad Ross, Spencer Abbott, Nicholas Deschamps, Greg Scott, and Will Acton.


No goalie is ready yet

Though Ben Scrivens is slated to be the backup netminder for the NHL squad, neither he nor his Marlies teammates have shown that any of them are ready for a promotion. Scrivens proved himself at this level the past two years and appears ready for a shot, however if the NHL does come back this year, Burke would be wise to sign a free agent goalie with some big league experience, for as a minimum it would push Reimer and Scrivens to earn rather than be allocated their positions.


Kadri and Colborne; one bright light

If one compares their NHL stints with their average play in the AHL, both Joe Colborne and Nazem Kadri have played better in the bigs than they have in the minors. As a team, the Leafs have also played well with either or both of these gents in the lineup. This means they are able to rise to the occasion, and also they do not feel overwhelmed at the top level.


If NHL plays in 2012-13, which Marlies will make it?

100% - Jake Gardiner

80%+ - Matt Frattin, Ben Scrivens

60-70% - Mike Kostka, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komariov

40-50% - Paul Ranger, Korbinian Holzer, Joe Colborne, Jussi Rynnas

20-30% - Keith Aucoin, Mike Zigomanis, Jesse Blacker, Mark Fraser, Ryan Hamilton, Greg McKegg, Mark Owuya, Kenny Ryan

10-15% - Nicholas Deschamps, Carter Ashton


The newfound parity in the American Hockey League means that, at least until the NHL returns to action, the Marls will be in a battle every night. The tough games are also revealing to scouts who is ready to step up, and NHL GMs are taking notice.







Highlights of OMAFRA Report on Ontario Horse Racing



As a way of avoiding a profanity-laced rant, I am going to begin my dissertation by offering up some bright lights contained within the wholly misguided and overwhelmingly disappointing Final Report of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel.



Amid a plethora of misunderstandings and assaults on taxpayer reason, one ray of hope emerges:

The panel recommends that the horse racing industry be permitted to offer new gaming products.  Options include:  a racing-specific lottery; sports book (betting on single sporting events, which could be legalized if pending federal legislation is enacted); and a new pari-mutuel product called historical horse racing (which involves betting through an electronic terminal on the outcome of past races, which are not identified to the player).   

These new products could potentially generate revenue that could be used to offset the need for direct public funding, enhance live racing in Ontario and return revenue to the treasury.


First, racing does NOT receive "direct public funding", but rather has always provided revenue to the government from the beginnings of the industry. The SAR Program being discussed is the second-most economically successful public-private partnership in Ontario's history, after only the LCBO.

In any case the point of promoting these "new products" is that essentially, OMAFRA believes we can develop gambling options in concert with OLG for the benefit of both, which we have a tremendous precedent for. It's called Slots-At-Racing, and the program has provided over $10 billion to the public treasury of our province, while at the same time vaulting Ontario's Standardbred horse racing industry to a position of world dominance.

Here's another section worth discussing:

It is important to note that, due to modern technology, horse racing now operates in a global market.  Nearly two thirds of pari-mutuel wagering in Ontario is on foreign product.  Ontario tracks net about $20 million a year from bets placed on Ontario races by horseplayers outside the province.  Many of today’s horseplayers closely follow and wager on racing in international markets that provide a quality racing product on a consistent basis.  Growing Ontario’s share of this competitive world market is crucial to achieving long-term sustainability. 

Ontario’s gross pari-mutuel handle has been slipping in recent years.  It reached $1.2 billion in 2001 and was approximately $1 billion in 2011.  The future of horse racing in Ontario depends on maintaining and expanding the pari-mutuel pool.  Without a strong take-up of Ontario product by horseplayers, the industry will require unsustainable levels of public support.

Agreeing with the above, one must understand that while the handle is flat to down over the past decade at most tracks, we have also allowed intense competition in the form of slot machines directly on our premises. Considering the appeal of online poker and expanding global sports betting, we have held our own and have a strong foundation to build upon, if we are not assaulted by self-motivated OLG bureaucrats.

One must also respect that the highly competitive nature of both Ontario's Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses is a socially beneficial offshoot of the highly rewarding SARP business agreement. The biggest problem with most if not all of the horse racing industry arguments has been the focus on the damage ending SARP will do to horse racing, when that is just the obvious outcome of a terribly short-sighted and faulty decision. 

The focus needs to be on the massive losses to taxpayers that WILL RESULT from ending SARP prematurely. OLG has ZERO concrete plans to replace this $1.1 billion in annual funding that horse racing currently provides to the government, yet the program is slated to end in FOUR MONTHS! Ending SARP now will add $1.1 billion dollars to Ontario's yearly deficit. Add to that the costs of unemployment insurance, welfare, bankruptcies, lost tax revenue and retraining of horse people and the costs of this error will approach $2.5 to 3 billion annually.

Additionally, the local communities that lose $75 million annually by ending Slots-At-Racing will also bear the brunt of increasing unemployment and declining tourist dollars.

Okay, now here's the bullshit "solution" offered in the OMAFRA Report:

the panel proposes a racing schedule with a total of 800 race days, about half the current total.




The 744 race dates they would like to cut are 91.7% Standardbred racing days (682) proposed for elimination, and this massacre is based on a faulty premise:

Currently, more than 60 per cent of purse money awarded in Ontario horse races comes from SARP – a source unrelated to the horse racing customer.


Oh really... I remember a fiscal crisis in Ontario during the 1990s when the Government needed money and had no place to put its slot machines. We offered them our parking lots and facilities and instant access to the most dedicated gamblers... so to say that Slots-At-Racing is "unrelated to the horse racing customer" is disingenuous at best and fraudulent in reality.

I know of more than a few couples where the man bets on the horses and the woman plays the slots, and they arrive in one car. So is ALL that slots money actually unrelated to horse racing? Of course not, statements like that are in the report as an attempt to justify a boneheaded decision by government ministers based on faulty strategy from OLG executives. They closed profitable SARP locations in Fort Erie, Windsor and Hiawatha precisely to cover up significant casino losses in Niagara Falls, Windsor and Sarnia, and now they propose ending SARP so they can venture further into operating casinos. Yikes; taxpayers take shelter!!!

I have a plan to expand and renew SARP so that within five years it provides over $2 billion annually to provincial and local governments, while continuing to re-invest in local communities and farms that support our world-class horse racing product.

I ask for a one or two year extension to SARP so that the Ontario deficit and unemployment situation will not worsen, and to provide time for me to prepare and present my plan. We will attempt to maintain our Standardbred industry at the top of the planet, while working to improve our Thoroughbred product for the international market, expanding both industries so that total employment by 2018 will be in the 75,000 to 80,000 range, up from the current 55,000 to 60,000. Supporting and promoting local tracks and rural communities also boosts Ontario tourism, while closing tracks decimates local restaurants and lodging facilities.

Within ten years my plan to build upon the Slots-At-Racing Program will see employment in the 85,000 range and horse race tracks annual contribution to the provincial treasury will exceed $3 billion annually, through a combination of pari-mutuel, slots, sports betting and new methods of playing horses directly from your corner store.

As part of my request for a two-year extension to Slots-At-Racing, I am proposing a single ticket that can be used to play Woodbine, Mohawk, Flamboro or Georgian Downs multi-race Pick 4 wagers, and this ticket will be purchasable and processable through regular OLG terminals. A portion of these revenues will be allocated to each racetrack and community that participates in SARP, as a way of continuing to grow the racing / OLG partnership with modern technology, and providing ongoing support to small-town Ontario and rural agricultural communities.

Please suggest to your local Mayor or MPP that a two-year extension to SARP should be enacted, and I ensure you that my plan to grow Ontario's horse racing industry will then gain traction, and sanity will return to Ontario's fiscal planning.


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