Bryan McCabe Admits Boos Sting/Viewers Respond
Posted February 28, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Bryan McCabe admits he was wrong.
The Leaf defenceman has no defence for a boneheaded giveaway that cost his team a goal and a chance to get back in a key game they would eventually lose to the Buffalo Sabres.
Errors in hockey are nothing new. But it’s not often that Leaf fans are so fed up with watching their heroes flail in futility that they practically boo them off the ice.
The hoots and hollers rained down on Andrew Raycroft at the A.C.C. Tuesday night. But there was special venom in the voices of the boobirds as they heckled McCabe.
The object of the derision admits it hurt. But he also notes not everyone can be perfect all the time.
“I know, it was disappointing, you know?” he agrees petulantly. “We got shelled at home. We have to regroup … What can you do? Can’t control it, you know? I’m a guy who works my ass off every night, you know?”
Critics point out McCabe is earning $28.5 million in a new contract. And they expect that will buy perfection.
“I made a mistake,” McCabe concludes. “Hockey is a game of mistakes. That’s the way it goes. My teammates know what I do for them and that’s all that matters to me.”
One of them, Hal Gill, thinks the fans are being unreasonable to a player who’s been a key cog in the organization.
“If you want a winning team, support him, you know?” he shrugs. “That’s Fan 101, you know, support your team. And you know, it doesn’t happen sometimes. It’s frustrating.”
For a change, Mats Sundin was playing defence.
“He’s been one of our best defencemen for the last four or five years and has been playing great,” he reminds.
Even coach Paul Maurice was standing staunchly behind his deflated defenceman, noting it happens to the best of them.
“I think he’s a strong-minded lad and been here long enough to know that that’s going to happen in a 6-1 game. Somebody is going to get looked at it and somebody will get booed and I think over the course of his career here, he has had a lot more cheers than he has boos.”
The spotlight on the Leafs is always bright in Toronto, but it’s especially glaring now that the playoff ledge is looking further and further out of sight.
There are only 18 games left for the Buds and while they have a few games in hand on some of their nearest rivals, time is running out.
And so, it appears, is the patience of even the staunchest Leaf lover.
We asked and you answered. Here’s your reaction to the booing of the Leafs Tuesday night and what you think needs to be done to turn things around.
“It’s time to let go of John Ferguson Jr.
“The time has come to change the management . Because we tried everything – changing the players, changing the staff, even changing the coach. Therefore a change of the GM would be the only thing left to do.”
“The next GM should be [Doug] Gilmour. He would make moves in the best interest of the team.”
Sunny Dass
“I am fed up with excuses from overpaid babies and dumbass greedy ownership!!!!!!!!!!”
Shawn Lanigan
“I made a mistake. Hockey is a game of mistakes.”-Bryan McCabe
“What the hell is he talking about? If anything, hockey is a game of trying your damnedest to avoid making mistakes. I don’t follow hockey a great deal, but sometimes the things these boneheads say are dumber than the things they do.
“Imagine, celebrating the 40th anniversary of our last Cup win. To me, that says ‘Yep, we got the Cup back in ’67 and have been playing like absolute crap ever since.'”
Kathy in Thornhill
“For a team that sits just points out of contention, this is when the team needs their fans the most to stand behind them …
“Fans need to stop trying to pinpoint players in particular and try looking at the whole picture. I can understand their frustrations, I am frustrated, but they are our team, and need us now more than ever.”
Chad Cortese
“I think consistency is the fix for the Leafs. They need to really play as one. Which they haven’t been doing lately.”
James from Brantford
Jim Saclamacis
“If anybody’s to blame for the poor team the Leafs have, it’s the fans. Who sells out games year after year, regardless of the team’s performance? What kind of message are we sending the owners? That they can stick anybody out there in white and blue and still make money.”
Larry Kwan
And finally this response from a Markham viewer, who seems to speak for many fans in not blaming the players.
“Stop watching and supporting the team!
“It’s become more and more clear that M.L.S.E. has no interest in bringing a Cup to Toronto.
“Year in and year out they ice a team that looks just good enough to get to the playoffs, but never good enough to win the Cup. Just good enough to get our hopes up.
“Not since ’93 have the Leafs put a team on the ice that was a contender for the Cup.
“Forty years and counting and people are sick to death of it.
“Starting now, no more Leafs for this guy. I’ll turn my TV back on and open my wallet back up when we have a team that can win the Cup, or we get rid of M.L.S.E. a.k.a. the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund.
“But I won’t hold my breath.”
Jamie McColl
