Air Canada Centre - Toronto Maple Leafs

Trip Notes: Made this trip with Chris (boyfriend at the time). Absolutely loved Toronto. Visited the Hockey Hall of Fame twice....spent many hours there looking at all the memorabilia and watched many of the films. Stayed at the Best Western down the street from Maple Leaf Gardens. If only it was still open. :( Visited River City Sports for the first time. We could've shopped there all day (and I hate to shop). What a great city! Fell in love with Canada on this trip. Ice skated on an outdoor rink downtown.


Arena Notes: Game was sold out so we had to buy scalped tickets. Nice arena. Very cool fans. Sat next to two really nice people....a father and son. Sat close to center ice on the 3rd level. Great seats. Didn't take any pictures on this trip. What was I thinking??? Walking distance from hotel and in the heart of the downtown area. Was also located near the subway, many restaurants, and bars. It was in a good part of town...then again I have yet to see a bad part of Toronto. Took a tour of the arena the morning of the game. Got to see the end of the Avs practice. They took us to many behind the scenes rooms and also in Tie Domi's suite. Nice arena! The arena was opened in 1999. Prior to the Air Canada Centre, the Leafs home was Maple Leafs Gardens. Air Canada Centre seats 18,800 hockey fans. I don't believe they have a mascot. Retired numbers are 5 - Barilko, 6 - Ace Bailey, and 99 - Wayne Gretzky.


Game Notes: Two struggling teams battled to a 5-5 tie, but the Colorado Avalanche have to be feelingbetter about themselves after rallying from a pair of two-goal deficits against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Alex Tanguay and Adam Deadmarsh each netted a pair of goals before Chris Drury scored on the power play with 6:55 remaining for the Avalanche, who have just one win in their last seven games (1-4-1-1).

After Deadmarsh's second of the game made it 5-4 with 14:03 left in regulation, Drury took a pass from Ray Bourque and ripped a one-timer from the blue line between goaltender Curtis Joseph's pads for his 17th goal of the season.

"We didn't give up," Drury said. "We knew we had to work hard on the road against a very good team. We just threw pucks at the net and capitalized. It's a good point on the road."

It was another rough night for Joseph, who was pulled in his previous start on Thursday after allowing five goals on 20 shots in a 5-2 loss at Philadelphia.

Patrick Roy also was less than stellar for Colorado, yielding more than four goals for the first time since December 15.

"It was surprising with two of the best goaltenders," said Maple Leafs center Yanic Perreault. "A couple of lucky bounces and a lot of power-play opportunities probably had (something) to do with it."

Perreault scored twice in an 11-second span midway through the second period for the Maple Leafs, whose winless streak reached a season-high five games (0-2-3-0).

"We started the game well and we still found a way to lose a point," said Toronto captain Mats Sundin. "The end result was disappointing. We made a few mistakes and when you play a team like the Avalanche, they're going to capitalize on them."
First-period goals by Dmitri Yushkevich and Mats Sundin gave Toronto a 2-0 lead, but the teams combined for six tallies in a wild second period.

Tanguay personally lifted Colorado into a 2-2 tie, scoring twice in just under five minutes. He got the Avalanche on the board off a 2-on-1 at 3:09 and banked the puck off Yushkevich to tie it at 8:07.

But Perreault came within four seconds of tying the team record for quickest two goals. He broke the deadlock at 9:20 with a power-play marker and made it 4-2 at 9:31 after Avalanche defenseman Jon Klemm misplayed the puck inside his own blue line.

"It was two quick goals and we took the lead. It was just too bad we couldn't hold it," Perreault said. "We played hard against a great team tonight, so hopefully we can build on that the rest of the season."

Deadmarsh answered 61 seconds later on the power play, but Tomas Kaberle atoned for an earlier defensive miscue and restored Toronto's two-goal cushion at 12:22.

Deadmarsh completed his first two-goal game of the season 5:57 into the third period, getting Colorado within 5-4 with a slap shot from the right point that sailed through traffic and over Joseph's left shoulder.
"We've been saying for a few games now that we need to wake up. And I think it happened in the second and third periods tonight," Deadmarsh said. "Sometimes you talk in the dressing room and things still don't happen on the ice. But hopefully things are starting to come around for us again."

(*Game notes taken from espn.com*)