Heather B’s fabulous post listing the 5 reasons she can’t cheer for the Ottawa Senators inspired us today. We gave liking the Sens the ol’ college try, but no dice. Other than deciding Tom Preissing is utterly adorable and is welcome to sign for less to play as NJ’s 6th d-man, we find ourselves at best unmoved by Ottawa’s line-up, and at worst, raving like rageful lunatics. Here, in no particular order, are just ten of the many reasons why we’re going to be cheering for the West.
1. Daniel Alfredsson. He used to be sort of lovable, playing a game that somehow combined equal amounts of flashiness and scrappiness, all while rocking a lost-puppy-dog look. Now that lovable air has turned rancid after years of failing as a captain and leader, the flashy skating seems gaudy when paired with Heatley and Spezza, the scrappiness is used for evil (we are perhaps the only people who believe he should have been penalized for that hit on Matvichuk in Game 1 against the Devils), and that puppy has grown into a dog (we don’t like dogs). No matter how well he does this year, he needs to string together at least two or three Cups wins in the next 5 years to make up in our eyes for the ten years of crumbling under playoff pressure. Sure, sure, Steve Yzerman toiled for years as a bad captain before finally getting it together, but anointing him as Mr. Leader Extraordinaire was acceptable because he won 3 Cups. Until Aflie’s got rings on his fingers, we’d like the love-fest to be tempered a bit.
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