"You cant win with Jason Spezza as your captain."I have heard that phrase uttered countless times over the past few months, as the Ottawa Senators season has slipped away. In his first season as captain, Spezzas club has been a major disappointment. The Senators fell well short of expectations and predictably, Spezza is taking the lions share of the blame from his harshest critics. I have always said that the Spezza debate in this town is like Coke versus Pepsi. If you are a Coke drinker, its very hard to convince you that Pepsi is superior. The same goes for Spezza - those people who hate him cant be convinced otherwise. Its a black-and-white argument and its virtually impossible to sway someone from one side to the other.Anybody who has read or listened to me over the years knows that I fall into the camp of people who believe the Senators are a better team with Spezza down the middle. But in todays blog, I am not trying to convince anybody about Jasons ability as a player. You can judge that for yourself. What I do want to bring up is the idea that a captain is the person who sets the tone for how his team plays.The critics of Spezza will argue that because he has a penchant for turning over the puck and does not play as well defensively as some other players, he causes his entire team to play with a loosey-goosey mentality. If the guy wearing the "C" is taking risks with the puck, that is setting the tone for the 17 other skaters.Those people say that if Spezza was a real leader, he would play the game the right way in all three zones. He would be a rugged leader, who was more physical. He would be someone like Andrew Ladd of the Winnipeg Jets.If you were to write down all the characteristics you would want in a captain for a Canadian team, Ladd would meet all the criteria.• He is from Maple Ridge, B.C.• He plays the game the right way• He has Stanley Cup rings with two different teamsAnd yet, the Winnipeg Jets are a team that is a mess defensively. They have given up 234 goals – second-worst in the Western Conference.Their captain is there every night supposedly playing the game "the right way". His teammates see how he conducts himself on and off the ice. So why are they so bad defensively?Its because the captain can only do so much. And many times, we overrate the role of a captain on a hockey team. We assign certain characteristics to people and we have a hard time deviating from our original stance. In our minds, Ladd is a great captain – so the problem is with his Winnipeg teammates.But if Ladd escapes the criticism in Winnipeg for failing to get the Jets to play a more structured game, why does Spezza take the heat in Ottawa for the exact same thing?The tricky thing for Spezza is that he is also trying to fill the skates of the previous captain Daniel Alfredsson, who had a mythical status in this town.But before Alfredsson had his breakthrough moment as captain in 2007 in leading the Senators to the Stanley Cup Final, he had just as many detractors in Ottawa as Spezza does now. There was a prevailing sentiment that "you will never win with Daniel Alfredsson as your captain." Those echoes reached a crescendo when Jason Pominville walked around him for the series-ending goal against the Buffalo Sabres in the 2006 playoffs.However, after Alfredsson won over his critics in 2007, he was good for life in Ottawa and was never blamed for any of the problems.When it comes to the team that fell off a cliff in 2007-08 with one of the great collapses in NHL history?"Dont blame Alfredsson, that was all Ray Emerys fault."How about the team that missed the playoffs in two of the next three years?"Lets blame Hartsburg and Cory Clouston. Alfie is a great leader."When the Senators made the playoffs in 2011-12, they did so with the worst goals-against average of any of the 16 teams to qualify for the playoffs. They were kind of a mess defensively that year, but did anybody blame Alfredsson?Of course not.Because they had made up their minds that he was not the problem. Being the captain is all about perception. Alfredsson was always a good leader in Ottawa. He didnt radically change his approach in 2007 when they went to the Stanley Cup Final. Things just finally worked out in his favour and as a result, all of the questions surrounding his leadership vanished overnight.Spezza probably needs time to grow into the captaincy in this town, so he can experience his own defining moment as the leader of this hockey team.Whether he gets that opportunity or not is an entirely different question. Jim Umbricht Astros Jersey . Tony Parker had 33 points and nine assists and San Antonio never trailed in a resounding 116-92 victory over Portland, bullying the younger Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. Martin Maldonado Jersey . PETERSBURG, Florida – Its been almost seven years since the Blue Jays last won a series at Tropicana Field. https://www.cheapastros.com/223o-lance-m...sey-astros.html. Here at TSN.ca we will take a look back at the season by bringing together a panel of experts to help pick the best 50 players of the season. Mike Cuellar Jersey . It was the quickest three-goal sequence in Olympic history, with the latter two coming just eight seconds apart. Kessel, Lamoureux and Kendall Coyne all scored twice for the Americans, and Molly Schaus made 10 saves in her Sochi debut. Cesar Cedeno Astros Jersey . Judging by his performance Saturday night, Cotto has plenty left in the tank. Cotto became the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world championships in four weight divisions, stopping Sergio Martinez in their WBC world middleweight title fight Saturday night.Sacramento, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Bosh scored 30 points and Luol Deng added 25 to guide the Miami Heat to a 95-83 win over the Sacramento Kings. Heat star Dwyane Wade didnt play in his second straight game due to a strained left hamstring. Miami was also without Chris Andersen (illness), but managed to win for the third time in four games. Shabazz Napier had 12 points for Miami, which led by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter. We were just trying to get after them. Thats a very talented offensive team, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. We tried to put as much pressure on their perimeters as we could. Guys stepped up to that challenge. DeMarcus Cousins scored 17 to go with 11 rebounds to pace the Kings, who lost their second in a row. Cousins committed eight of Sacramentos 15 turnovers, which led to 17 Miami points. We just couldnt create pace all night, Kings coach Tyrone Corbin said. We just didnt look for opportunities early. We fell into the trap of pressure to play innto that pace.dddddddddddd Ben McLemore had 15 points, followed by Darren Collison with 13, Ray McCallum with 11 and Derrick Williams with 10. A 3-pointer from Shawne Williams at the conclusion of the first quarter provided the visitors with a 26-22 lead. Bosh then scored nine in the second when the Heat went 10-of-18 from the field. The second straight 26-22 quarter moved Miami ahead eight at the break. The Heat scored the final seven points of the quarter. The run extended to 12-0, which Bosh capping it with a 3-pointer for a 57-44 advantage nearly two minutes into the third. The difference was 75-61 going to the fourth. Game Notes Miami has won 19 of its last 21 games against Sacramento ... The Kings played without Rudy Gay, who was out with a left knee lateral joint capsule sprain. The injury occurred with in the first quarter of Tuesdays game versus Dallas ... Sacramentos Carl Landry (sprained right wrist) also sat out. ' ' '