‘While We Wait’ News And Notes

So, we wait now. We may find out tonight, as London is up 3-1 in the series. We’ll see what Kitchener can do. Rogers Television 22 will broadcast the the game tonight, as well as any remaining games.

I’m so torn . . . I really do want London to win, because our guys then go to the Memorial Cup. BUT I hate London and so really want to see the Rangers knock them down, and I’m cheering for Kitchener along with my family who lives there. Torn, I tell you!

In the meantime, some news and notes:

*From the Ottawa Sun Chris Stevenson writes, Talbot soldiers on. A quote from Killer:

"He's our unknown soldier," said Kilrea. "I just think he's underrated.

"From our standpoint, and rightly so, Danny Battochio is the story of the series (against Peterborough), of all three series. We all know Mancari's got bunches of goals, Bonello's got the points along with him and Hulit's been dangerous.

"But the guy who sort of plays in the shadows is Talbot. He doesn't score a lot of goals, but he's been hot throughout. He's not a heavy goal scorer, but take a look at his team value ... the assists he gets. The killing of the penalties. The faceoffs. He's always out against the best line.

"Defensively, if I'm in the last minute, he's on the ice. He's just one of those guys who plays his own end so well. I know within the team we know his value, I just don't know if everybody else does."

I know we do. He’s the one guy who worked consistently all year long. He rarely had a bad shift, but on the other hand, he never did anything super-flashy or dramatic. He just went out there and did whatever was needed at the time, and that is worth a ton of flash. You knew that when everyone else on the team was falling apart, say emotional outbursts and resulting penalties, Talbot was the one who would be out there killing off the penalties, cleaning up the messes. He was the one player about which you felt confident, knowing that he was going to hold the fort for at least another few minutes or settle things down. And some of us pegged him a while ago as the most underrated player. Any team would benefit from having a Julian Talbot as a teammate.

Talbot [3.20.2005].

*From the Sault Star Bill Montague writes, Down and out after being traded by Hounds, Staubitz now on Cloud 9. Snippet:

Nearly four months after his emotional departure from Sault Ste. Marie, Brad Staubitz was chuckling over the telephone and talking about fate and destiny and being at the right place at the right time.

The former defenceman for the Soo Greyhounds is playing a substantial role in one of those rags-to-riches fairytales as his Ottawa 67’s appear destined for a berth in the Memorial Cup.

Love him.

*From the Ottawa Sun Barre Campbell writes, 67's have erased all doubts. He notes that Elgin Reid will be ready to return for the next round, which is great news.

*From the Peterborough Examiner Mike Davies writes, Petes overagers leave for the last time. Snippet:

Stewart said his team may have been too satisfied with simply reaching the third round.

“We have to compete every single game. We can’t just be satisfied with previous accomplishments. Taking that into consideration for next year, we have to know we can do better and when we play to our potential, we’ll win games,” said Stewart. “I think at the beginning we were kind of satisfied with what we’d accomplished already. Going into last season we weren’t really expected to do that well, so making it to the third round is pretty decent in the playoffs. I guess we, maybe, eased off the pedal a little bit during the final series which we shouldn’t have done. We showed how we can play in the fourth game but it was just a little too late.”

An unsure time in their lives. I wish them all the best with their careers as they go forward.

*From Peterborough This Week, After the disappointment, full marks.

*And the OHL has a pic up of Branch awarding the Eastern Conference Championship Trophy, the Bobby Orr Trophy, to Will Colbert [link].