re leaf slump over in apr newshub ists ca dchhabra stpl ists ca deepak chhabra writes on march roger maynard wrote in reply to an article by graham hudson you don t think he is performing under pressure now the major differences between playoff hockey and normal hockey is play ing every other night which is physically exhausting and you play the same team in a consecutive string of games is this what you mean by pressure have you even thought about what you mean by pressure or are your thoughts like most of the rest of this drivel simply half baked this was mar ramsey cs laurentian ca for anybody who would like to check he went on in another article to say paraphrased playoff hockey is just an expression used by announcers to convince simple minded folks like yourself that what you are seeing is a better product than a regular season game now however in article apr ramsey cs laurentian ca roger maynard writes with a win over a tough whaler squad the leafs showed all doubters what playoff hockey is all about so roger what exactly is playoff hockey all about or is it a convenient phrase to use in certain circumstances only you see when you spout off with flame bait too many times sooner or later it catches up with you nice try deepak but tough whaler squad should have clued you in to the fact that my leaf woofing was tongue in cheek if playoff hockey is any more intense than the regular season variety then it is because the teams are facing each other at least consecutive times in days and hockey being the contact sport that it is some things will be carried over that might dissipate during the regular season but that is only for some of the players many of the rest who have been playing with injuries who miss their families or who like grant fuhr would really rather be playing golf don t really give a damn of course i can t say this for sure but i believe that this is fairly typical of human nature and i don t think that hockey players are above having what i consider typically human attitudes with the recent salary escalations the key players are actually losing money by participating in the playoffs the ones who regard the playoff take as some kind of a bonanza are fringe players who are unlikely to consistently be a force in the playoffs now i know some of you are going to come back with winning spirit and all of that crap but these players are professionals after all while they may love to play the game that love is entirely incidental to their purpose which is to make a decent living of course the coach is a professional as well and part of what he is being paid to do is motivate the players so if the coach does his job well enough the players may respond with a winning effort the second season is after all merely an exhibition the true champions of the league are the division winners the teams that come out on top after the long struggle of the season the stanley cup playoffs merely accord victory to the team that has remained healthy and hot the emphasis on the playoffs with their sudden death appeal has been promoted by the media and the owners with profit purely in mind even if pittsburgh loses the playoffs we all know that they were really the best team in the league over the year they proved it cordially as always rm roger maynard maynard ramsey cs laurentian ca
