The challenges of playing hockey in a Canadian market are well documented: higher taxes, over abundant media coverage, lack of anonymity, an unrelenting and vicious winter, way too much Rush in rotation on FM radio. What makes Canada such a great place to be a hockey fan makes it a difficult environment to play in. Canada is indisputably the centre of the hockey universe, and at that universes core is Toronto. The Greater Toronto Hockey League is over a hundred years old and the largest minor hockey league in the world. Despite their futility, the Leafs could sell out Rogers Centre for home games charging $1000 and first-born children for upper deck seats. The Marlies are flourishing in the AHL. Next years World Junior Hockey Championships (co-hosted with Montreal) are sure to be the most successfully attended and celebrated ever. And yet, as a player, what would entice you to ply your trade in the Big Smoke?The crowds at the ACC for Leafs game are an embarrassment to hockeys most important market. The stories of the suits in the expensive seats, absent for starts of periods and reticent to loosen their ties even as Brian Burke undid his, are well known. The arena is eerily quiet compared to its contemporaries, a conservative and reserved audience in a sport and city renowned for its maniacal fandom. And this is not indicative of Toronto crowds, as we witnessed during the Raptors playoff appearance this year, rowdy afternoons at Jays games at Rogers Centre, and the masses that turned out this year and last in Maple Leaf/Raptors Square. But those involved fans (who make up the vast majority of Leafs Nation) enthusiasms are negatively tempered by the lower bowls reservations, reservations bred by alternately flawed and complacent approaches to building a competitive team and the absence of a winning presence. As a player who is passionate about his vocation, why would you want to commit to an environment that doesnt match that passion, especially when the home ice advantage can be such an important component of the game?Often in pieces that claim players like Thornton are interested in playing for the Leafs, the prospect of coming "home" is cited as a key factor. The very notion of "home" is a flawed premise in this lazy argument. Even if you call "home" somewhere in Southern Ontario, as a hockey player you probably havent lived there since you were 16. Thornton has lived in San Jose for nearly a decade, is a naturalized US citizen, has a wife, a mortgage, perhaps a few pets, maybe a café he really likes to go to, a favourite pizza place, a butcher who cuts his ribeyes to just the perfect thickness. But the Toronto Sun is going to tell him where his home is.For many players, one might suspect that playing at home in front of an overbearing hockey dad, mum and her new husband, and sycophantic high school acquaintances just a few blocks from where that girl broke your heart is the very definition of hell. And is working in your hometown really all that enticing? How many of you work in your hometowns? Hardly any. Youve all moved to Toronto.Thornton is from St. Thomas, Ontario, which would place his NHL "hometown" in Detroit or Buffalo as much as in Toronto, and yet those markets media dont seem to be making the "coming home" argument. Torontos hockey media is the most intense in all of professional sports. Maybe Montreals is equal, but half of the vitriol and conjecture there is in French, and only a fraction of NHLers understand it. (Reasonably, even those of us who are bilingual dont really understand it.) In Toronto, there is endless speculation, much of it even based in fact. Each flaw, each mistake (on and off the ice) is dissected and disseminated ad nauseum. Trade rumours are fabricated on a daily basis, the ubiquitous "NHL executive" noted as an unimpeachable source. The discussion of hockey in Toronto has become an insufferable wall of noise for an uninvested observer, so imagine if the discourse directly affected your family, your income, and your life.It seems a lot to ask of a player to endure such amplified attention, especially given the fact the Leafs have not been a competitive team since 2004. And that is final circle of the NHLs Hell: irrelevance. Toronto is still recovering from the John Ferguson Jr. era. They have some formidable pieces in Kessel, Morgan Reilly, and Jonathan Bernier; a young skilled forward, puck moving defenseman, and promising goaltender around which to build. They have a top-ten pick in the coming draft, some interesting if not spectacular prospects (Stuart Percy, Matt Finn), and some movable pieces (Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner). Brendan Shanahan emanates stability and hubris. But theyre still saddled with bad contracts (Dion Phaneuf, David Clarkson), a suspect coaching philosophy, and a lack of depth. And to watch the Kings, Blackhawks, and Rangers this spring is to know the Leafs are far removed from that level of hockey.So if you were an unrestricted free agent, or a player on the trading block with some say in his future, why would you come to Toronto? Consider Thornton: Youre in your mid-30s, never won a Cup, live in the perfection of Northern California, in a market that sustains you but doesnt invade you, and youd chose to move to Toronto, with its high taxes, magnified attention, and with as much of a chance of winning a Cup in the next five years as Quebec City? Toronto is a world-class city, cultured and cosmopolitan, a great place to live and make a life. The Joe Thorntons of the world should want to play home games at the ACC. The challenges of the market need to be offset by a tradition of winning and the only way for Toronto to do that is to build a stable and competitive franchise through hoarding draft picks and young controllable players, and eschewing the temptation of quick expensive fixes like Clarkson, or Thornton. The best thing for a successful NHL would be a dominant Toronto Maple Leafs team. Given the teams last decade, however, it seems like that wont happen until Hell freezes over. Fortunately for Toronto, most of it freezes over every January, so the wait may not be that long. Steve Bono Jersey . TSN 1290s game day coverage begins on Monday, June 9 at 5:30pm ct as the Blue Bombers take on the Toronto Argonauts in pre-season action. Bombers game day broadcasts on TSN 1290 are hosted by Winnipeg Blue Bomber Hall of Famers Troy Westwood and new addition Chris Walby, alongside beat reporter Darrin Bauming, who delivers regular reports on the team for TSN 1290 all-season long. Mike Wilson Jersey . Toronto announced the deal with the restricted free agent on Saturday. The terms were not disclosed. http://www.custompatriotsjersey.com/custom-bruce-armstrong-jersey-large-441f.html . “The fact that he was willing to do the deal the way we wanted it to be done showed that he wanted me to be a part of something great," Lowry said, noting that Ujiri willingness to sign off on the proposal that both Lowry and his agent presented to the GM was the final straw that convinced him to return. Bob Dee Jersey . The Philadelphia Eagles acquired running back Darren Sproles from the New Orleans Saints for a fifth-round draft pick on Tuesday. Ty Law Jersey . Olsen, who is 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds, can play either centre or guard. The 25-year-old Olsen played 16 games and made four starts in 2012 with the New Orleans Saints.HOUSTON -- The Seattle Mariners couldnt do anything against Houstons Collin McHugh in his first start against them this season. Sundays game was a lot different. Robinson Cano and Willie Bloomquist each drove in two runs, and the Mariners pulled away in a four-run third inning to beat the Astros 8-7. Bloomquist broke a 1-all tie with a two-run double against McHugh (2-1) and Cano followed with his first triple since June 3, 2012. McHugh, who entered with a 0.59 ERA and 19 strikeouts in two starts, gave up six runs -- five earned -- and eight hits in four innings. He allowed three hits and struck out 12 in 6 2-3 scoreless innings against Seattle on April 22. "We had no knowledge of him the first time, and the young man threw the ball pretty good," Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said. "This time I thought we had better at-bats, gave him stressful at-bats. His pitch count was up, and we were able to take advantage of it." Houston manager Bo Porter said McHugh struggled with his offspeed pitches Sunday. "What you saw today was a Seattle Mariners team making an adjustment from the last time they faced him," Porter said. "He didnt have the sharpness to his breaking stuff like he did that day in Seattle." Brandon Maurer (1-0) allowed four runs and six hits in five innings for his first win since Sept. 28 against Oakland. McClendon was proud of how Maurer got out of the fifth. "It was a big inning in a lot of ways for him from a mental standpoint," McClendon said. "I think he learned a lot. And I think maybe he grew up a little bit." Danny Farquhar allowed one run in two innings for his first save since that Sept. 28 game. Farquhar allowed a two-out single to Jason Castro that pulled Houston within one run in the ninth, then struck out Matt Dominguez to end the game. Alex Presley and Jonathan Villar homered, and Chris Carter and Marc Krauss had two RBIs apiece for the Astros, who lost for the seventh time in 10 gamees and dropped to a big league-worst 10-21.dddddddddddd It was the second straight game with a homer for Villar, who leads the team with five and his 14 extra-base hits are most among American League shortstops. Cano hit an RBI groundout in the first after Michael Saunders singled leading off and took third on McHughs errant pickoff throw, which went for an error. Saunders is hitting .444 with four RBIs in four games in the leadoff spot. Presleys leadoff homer tied the score in the second. After Canos triple, Corey Hart singled for a 5-1 lead in the third. "Just not executing pitches very well is what it comes down to," McHugh said. "I just missed with a couple of pitches here and there. They put some good swings on it, and that really took the wind out of the sails in that third inning." John Buck, who had three hits, doubled and scored on Saunders single in the fourth. Buck had two doubles for his 10th career game with more than one double and first since July 20, 2010. Carter, who entered with a .169 average, hit a two-run double in the fourth -- three of his four homers and seven of his 12 RBIs have come off Mariners pitching. Seattle boosted its lead to 7-3 in the fifth when Jerome Williams walked Dustin Ackley with the bases loaded. Villar homered in the bottom half. NOTES: The Mariners optioned OF Abraham Almonte to Triple-A Tacoma after the game. A corresponding roster move is expected on Monday. ... Houston designated LHP Raul Valdes for assignment and recalled LHP Darin Downs from Triple-A Oklahoma City. ... Astros starter Scott Feldman, who has been on the DL since mid-April with right biceps tendinitis, felt good after throwing 60 pitches in a simulated game on Sunday. ... McClendon said there wont be any pitch limitations on RHP Hisashi Iwakuma in his next start after he threw 81 pitches Saturday in his first outing after coming off the DL. "Theres no reason why he cant go 100 or 105 pitches next time out," McClendon said. ' ' '