Opinion: Habs will crush Leafs…no doubt

By Mike Williscraft
NewsNow

For those of you who want to get super hammered this holiday weekend, I have a drinking game for you.

Now, this space and this publication is every bit a no-fly zone for all things dealing with councillors from the municipality west of Lincoln and the number between four and six. After the carnival that was the May 3 meeting, it was clear everyone within “earshot” of this rag was in need of a cleansing.

That said, basic info will not be overlooked, hence the collection of briefs on Page 4, but here is what you really want to do if you want your weekend party to get off to a hardcore start…and it will only take 45 minutes of your time.

Now, I don’t want to encourage anyone to drink, but you may feel like it afterwards regardless of what municipality you live in.

There was another 45-minute donnybrook just to get the agenda set, similar to May 3’s offering. So, here’s the game: every time someone interrupts, acts rude, shouts “point of order” or “point of clarification” you do a shot.

If you can simply survive that 45 minutes, you would have to be considered an all-time drinker.

It would make for a short day/night for you, but you would be entertained.

As I am doing my level best to ignore this group as much as possible for the month of May, I will simply say, if you want to see what all the hype is about, set aside that little chunk of time and go to:

https://vimeo.com/grimsby councilchambers

– no spaces, though.

It would help make sense of much of what you hear.

If you are a first-time viewer, send me a letter to editor – would like to hear what you have to say.

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Now, on to something far more important than the councillors from the municipality west of Lincoln and the number between four and six… we’re talking Leafs-Habs.

It’s been since ‘79 that the two storied franchises tangled in the playoffs. That season resulted as it should have – a Canadiens sweep enroute to yet another Stanley Cup. Life was as it should be.

Fast forward 42 years, yes that’s right, it’s been 42 years and we have these guys hooking up again in what is easily the most bizarre circumstances in hockey history.

Honestly, I expect little from my boys. They eked their way into the playoffs and just don’t have much offence, so I suspect the Leafs will dispatch their foes in five games.

That said, I had to drop the gauntlet with a few hardcore Leafs fans in various light-hearted bets.

My friend who does the Hat Trick Hockey Pool for me, he’s going to win a wine tour of Niagara West courtesy of moi with Catherine and I escorting them about.

I had to set something up with Teddy Jaskula, who simply bleeds blue. I fully expect to be getting a column photo shot with me donning a Leafs cap for the week after the series wraps up. If the Blue & White somehow manage to pull a Round 1 choke like they did against the Bruins, I will be shooting a photo of Teddy in front of his sports bar with a Habs cap and jersey. Of course, it is all about the bragging rights – anything monetary pales in comparison…to me, anyways.

• • • • • • •

Now, good reader, when you coast through the front-page stories on this week’s editions there are two distinct stories to glean from those offerings.

With Town of Lincoln, those folks are right on the ball when it comes to preserving every iota of greenspace for the municipality. No town should be giving up any land it has control over with one proviso. If a trade of land is needed to enhance another project or make something possible which may not be without some movement – those are the only two circumstances I can see justification for selling off land.

It’s like with heritage properties, once they are leveled they are gone. With parkland, once it’s developed, it ain’t comin’ back. So good on Lincoln for preserving the Elizabeth Street park.

On the other front-page item. summer jobs…just cannot say enough about them. Nathan VanderKlippe was a no-brainer of a summer hire back in the day. He had “it” from the word go.

We all know the impacts of COVID-19 is a multi-headed monster. What I want to note is, there are other Nathans out there who need experience at whatever they want to do. If you are a business operator who has an option to hire a student or two but are re-thinking that to save a few bucks, think about the other end of the equation. Who knows, 20 years down the road you may find you hired an award winner!