In a rare occurrence, the Leafs face-off tonight against the Bruins. At least the some of the teams are coming to their senses with regards to playing divisional teams 8 times throughout the year. They fell 1 vote short of the majority (19 out of 30) for making changes to the schedule for next season. With the vote being that close to the two-thirds required to make a change, they will definitely have to take a closer look at this. I'm guessing that the majority of teams that were opposed to changing the schedule structure were west coast teams. They are the ones that have more issues with the longer travelling distances and expenses, and it's hard to argue that they don't. But playing a team 5 times in 14 games, as it has been for the Leafs, is a bit much. I'm sick of watching the Leaf-Bruins games.

An article in the Boston Globe today had a couple good quotes from Marc Savard and Coach Dave Lewis:

"It's getting brutal, you know what I mean?" said Bruins center Marc Savard, who has grown tired of the divisional matchup, as well as the emphasis on divisional play throughout the NHL. "And I mean that from the fans' perspective, too . . . who wants to see the same teams all the time?"

Coach Dave Lewis, when asked his take on the "Play Eight" emphasis of the divisional alignment, added, "I think they could take two of those games and utilize them somewhere else. I don't think you can force rivalries . . . take two of those games and put them somewhere else, that's my opinion."