Ahem. Go, Sens, uh, Go

If you go to the Toronto Maple Leafs fan forum and announce, as one unfortunate recently did, that henceforth you are going to cheer for the Ottawa Senators as they make a run for the Stanley Cup, the reaction will be immediate, intense, and unfavourable, to put it mildly. "Don't let the door hit you on...no, wait a second, I hope the door whacks your ass on the way out" is one of the milder things I saw.

You probably wouldn't see this reaction, at least to this degree, if it was any other team. But the Sens and the Leafs have a history. No matter where the respective teams finished in the regular season, we owned them in the playoffs, eliminating Ottawa three times in four years. Then, of course, the Sens completely dominated us two seasons running, one of many reasons we didn't make the playoffs and have a chance at kicking them to the curb again.

And there's been the accompanying soap opera to ratchet up the hatred. For whatever reason, more Leafs seem to get hurt at the Corel Centre/Scotiabank Place than in all other opposing rinks combined. In the course of one season alone, the Leafs lost Bryan Berard, Mats Sundin, Nik Antropov, and Danny Markov--to injuries on Ottawa ice. (Well, perhaps we shouldn't count Antropov, as he gets injured putting on his skates.)

Then there's the "Ratboy" incident. In the final moments of a close game, Leafs captain Sundin snapped his composite stick on a scoring attempt. Frustrated, he threw the upper half of the stick into the stands and was promptly suspended for the next game...which happened to be against the Sens. In that game, with the Leafs losing 7-1, Sens captain Alfredsson snapped his stick in half and pretended to do the same thing, causing an uproar on the Leaf bench. Alfredsson instantly earned himself the eternal enmity of every non-thinking Leafs fan (which is most of them, I'm sorry to admit). He's booed lustily every time he touches the puck.
Me, I found it funny. And considering that Sundin and Alfredsson are very close friends--still--I figure Mats must find it funny, too.

No matter. Ottawa has supplanted Montreal as the team Leaf fans most love to hate. That they are one series win away from the Cup--while Toronto is years away from even contending--has everybody in a real lather.

Well, guess what. I'm cheering for Ottawa, Leafs fan cred be damned.

The alternative is to cheer for the winner of the Detroit/Anaheim series. I predicted Anaheim would win the Cup this year, but I've no real like for the Ducks, especially Chris Pronger, who pulled a Vince Carter on the Edmonton Oilers last year. As for Detroit, I'm an equal unfan of Dominik Hasek, who--talented as he is--likewise suffers from motivational malaise on occasion.

Besides, the last thing we need is another American team winning the Cup. Beyond the team itself and their mothers, it's not as if anybody gives a fart. Even Detroit, which fancies itself "Hockeytown", has struggled to sell out games this year.

I'll admit Vancouver would have been preferable. But I've decided there's nothing to stop me cheering for Ottawa. It's not as if I've abandoned the Leafs. It's more like the Leafs have abandoned me, actually. Whatever their braintrust might say, it's clear they have no real interest in even competing for the Cup. And why would they? The Air Canada Centre is full every game.
Nope. I'll cheer for anyone I feel like. Canadian teams take precedence, of course, and this is the third straight season one's been in the final.

(I do draw the line at Philadelphia, though. I'm not a barbarian.)

GO SENS GO!