Holy Tim Brent, Batman

I am certain that I will always remember where I was when James Reimer recorded his first NHL shutout: forced to stealthily stream the game online while stuck in a three-hour 12 person class, sitting on my hands and biting my lip to keep from slapping the table and screaming whenever anything awesome happened. As a result my lip is now about five times its normal size, my beer is tasting suspiciously like blood, and I have no idea what my homework for next week is.

Totally worth it.

What happened tonight was simply beautiful - Reimer was magnificent (and man, do I love seeing him smile), the penalty kill was better than it has been at any point in my recent memory, Rosehill bested Gleason in a bout to avenge the sucker punch (yes, I am going to call it a sucker punch, back off) Gleason sent Kulemin's way last Monday, and Tim Brent took his life and manhood into his own hands when he blocked three shots in a single shift when the Leafs were killing a 5-on-3. He then went on to clear the puck out of the zone despite being doubled over in pain because he's that fucking awesome.

Now it may have had a bit to do with Lebda being a healthy scratch, allowing me to briefly forget that he does in fact exist, but I've got to say that I am currently pretty damn pleased with this roster. The suprise top-producing players are performing well beyond what was expected of them, and even during the rough losses before the All Star break the team had shown up and played well for at least 75% of the full 60-minutes I would ideally like them to each game.

But tonight? 60 full minutes baby! And what's more, the boys in blue and white actually looked like a team. That's right - an actual cohesive unit!

This is both uplifting and completely terrifying as the trade deadline approaches and Burkie fails to admit that at this point in the season the Leafs are not actually contenders/buyers. Burkie, I'm begging you, PLEASE don't do anything stupid. To clarify, stupid moves would be things that result in Grabbo, MacArthur, Kulemin, Kaberle, Versteeg, Schenn, and - and this is very important - Tim Motherf'n Brent not finishing the season with a maple leaf on their chests. Phaneuf - well, do what you please with him. At this point I'm sure someone else must be capable of taking over locker room boom box duties.

In the meantime, I'm going to continue drinking the Moosehead Lager I just discovered that they carry at the brand new CVS four blocks from my apartment (Yay for Canadian beer in American pharmacies), order one of Pucking Hilarious' Optimus Reim shirts, and blissfully celebrate what had to be the most perfect and complete game I've seen the Toronto Maple Leafs play in years.