Justin Pogge Losses Ground with Leafs Fans in 6-1 Loss
January 28 2009, 2:47pm
Right off the bat, I’m not flipping on my previous feelings for Pogge.
I’m not going to say he’s a terrible goalie because of last night’s game, so don’t jump down my throat for writing this.
As many of us may recall, some weeks ago Justin Pogge played in his first official NHL game for the Toronto maple Leafs.
In that game he collected his first win and received get praise from the Leafs large fan base.
He won—If I remember correctly—6-2 against the usually subpar Atlanta Thrashers, and I thought at that time he had proved he was ready for the NHL.
After last night’s game, I still think he is ready.
I will not fall into the majority of Leafs fans who will likely say “He sucks! He got lucky in the first game.” Despite last night’s 6-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild, I still believe that Pogge is a solid goaltender; every goalie has a bad game here and there.
True, he may have been lucky in the Atlanta game, but he still showed in that game, as well as time in last night’s game, that he can make big saves and hold his team in the game (holding his team in, doesn’t apply so much to the Minny game).
The one thing we, as fans, can’t forget is that Pogge is still young and even younger when it comes to NHL experience. He has only two games under his belt and I’m sure by the time I wake up tomorrow and have published this, there will be enough stories on the major sports networks, about how Pogge isn’t ready for the NHL and needs to be sent down, to make your head spin.
Well, guess what? He isn’t—but keeping him the minors isn’t going to help him anymore! The only way for Pogge to improve is for Ron Wilson to give him more games at the NHL level.
You know what they say, practice makes perfect. However, a fifteen-year old doesn’t practice with 12-year olds to get better—he plays with people his own age. You can play one level all your life and be the best player on the team, but if you move up a level you could be just an average Joe.
Pogge needs to move up now while he can still develop quickly. Ron Wilson is defiantly smart enough to realize this himself—I just hope he can make up his mind about how many games he will give Pogge, before the end of the season.
So fellow Leafs fans, give Pogge a break before you decide to drive him out of Toronto. He is a good; he just needs time to adjust and get to know the team in front of him. Give him some credit; he’s come into a team that isn’t really trying at this point and has been asked by fans and possibly staff members to give it up at this point.
Trying to make a name for yourself in that situation can be tough.
Dec. 5, 2008 7:14pm EST.
I never really saw what was so special about Brian Burke. So what if he won a Stanley Cup with in 2007. Quite a few GM’s have won Cup’s. I never said Bruke wasn’t a good GM I just could not see what was so great about him. Why do people treat him like he is the god of all GM’s?
Last night he made his Toronto General Manager debut (just as Maple Leafs This Week will be making its Debut Saturday December 20th) In his first game managing the team the Leafs managed (no pun intended), to snap a five game winless streak! I must have had all my previous thoughts about Bruke thrown out the window, only one game and already they were off to a great start!
Anyone who has this thought going through your head right now, please, go into your Kitchen, find a really big knife.....and you should be able to where I’m going from here. The only thing Bruke could have done is changed the Mind set in the Locker room, other than that...he was only there for a day; he was barely the “official” GM. He had no time to do anything that would drastically change the team and how they perform.
To some, it may sound as though I am critisising Mr. Burke. This is partly true, but mostly I am only saying that Leaf Fans need to calm down and not get to excited, “that’s what she said” Andy Echevarria. Back to Brian Burke, he may have proven himself as a good General Manager, but why is everyone so happy he is here? What is he going to do with a team full of guys have No Movement Clauses (you gotta love that JFJ) in their contracts? He has to work around that obstacle before he can do anything here, which might be a little hard to do considering Fletcher already tried and to no avail.
The bottom line is this; Brian Burke is a good GM, but that is it, good nothing more, (The team he had in Anaheim was not the same thing he has to deal with in Toronto) he is simply overrated.
