Pretty soon the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to need a goaltender. Not two goaltenders. One. As in the one guy who clearly gives the Leafs the best chance to win every night he’s in there. A goaltender who stops not just the puck but also any conversation about who should playing most every night. Someone who can withstand a couple poor performances without finding himself watching from the bench for a game or two. As the first two weeks of this NHL season has demonstrated, the Maple leafs don’t have that. But they’re going to need it because it’s hard to think of a good team in recent NHL history that didn’t have a clearly defined no. 1 goaltender and a backup. It’s fine to say that having two players compete for the job on an ongoing basis is a good thing. But if that were really true, every team would do it. And they don’t, especially the good ones. The daily guessing game over who will play goal on a given night doesn’t do anything for team building or chemistry since it usually leaves one goaltender with his nose at least slightly out of joint, and the potential of a split between teammates who sympathize and those who don’t. It’s not a problem specific to the Maple Leafs. It’s a problem specific to human nature which is why most teams prefer not avoid this potentially damaging dynamic. And those who don’t deal with it, who let it linger too long, do so at their peril. Just ask the Vancouver Canucks about that. There are really two types of teams in hockey: those which have found their franchise goaltender and those that are in the forest still looking. The last time the Leafs had a definite no. 1 goaltender, an established NHL netminder who didn’t have to prove his worth on a week-by-week basis? Ed Belfour during the first season coming out of the great lockout. Goaltending is far from the only area in which the Maple Leafs have come-up short over the past decade but the near continuous passing of the torch from Belfour to Andrew Raycroft, to Vesa Toskala, to the Monster, to James Reimer and Jonathan Bernier is certainly part of the problem during that span. Of course had they decided to hand it to Tuuka Rask at some point during that span we wouldn’t be having this conversations, but I digress. The situation in Toronto still has some time to play-out. The Leafs have said for more than a year that they believe they have two No. 1 goaltenders. Sooner, rather than later, they need find out if they have one. Sydney Leroux Jersey . Seriously. Seven years of losing has brought many different faces, players and management, to the annual pre-season get-to-know-the-team round up. Amy Rodriguez USA Jersey . -- Isaiah Pead took a stutter step forward, then raced to the left sideline and travelled 60 yards up the field before finally getting tripped up by a leg tackle. http://www.officialsocceruswntshop.com/alyssa-naeher-usa-jersey/ . - Robert Griffin III has a sprained throwing shoulder that limited him in practice Wednesday as the Washington Redskins prepared for their season finale against the Dallas Cowboys. Abby Smith USA Jersey . It was well worth the wait. Manning and the Denver Broncos waited eight long months, then another 33 minutes to get the season started because of a lightning storm. Custom USA Womens Soccer Jerseys .com) - James Harden put the Houston Rockets on his back and willed them to an overtime victory on Thursday.Jared Cowen may have been handed a two-game suspension by the NHL on Wednesday, but the Senators defenceman is not planning on changing his style of game as a result. Cowen will miss the next two contests because of his bodycheck on Zemgus Girgensons in the third period of Tuesdays game in Buffalo, in which he made primary contact with the head of the Sabres forward. Speaking to a small group of reporters on Thursday morning, Cowen said he wont change anything if that situation arises again in the future. "Ill make that same hit over and over again. Just because I had a hearing or a suspension isnt going to change it," Cowen said. "It is harder to hit small guys when youre taller. You have to get down to come through instead of just coming through because you have to change your levels. Its a little bit harder, but at the same time, Im not going to change anything." The 22-year-old defenseman insists that he was not targeting Girgensons head on the play and that if he stops playing with that physical edge, he wont be as effective on the ice. "No, I wouldnt do anything differently. If I dont make that hit, I dont play and I dont play well," Cowen added. "Maybe I move a little bit to the left an inch or two and thats the difference. Thats all that it was." "I made a lot of hits in this league before and its the first time its ever been under question. One in a thousand hits is going to be bad or whatever you want to call it. I was making the intention to make a full body contact check and I guess I got a piece of his head." Cowen was under some scrutiny a couple of weeks ago for an errant elbow that caught the head of Red Wings sstar Pavel Datsyuk, who was forced to miss several games with a concussion.dddddddddddd The Sens defenseman says the league never mentioned his past incident with Datsyuk when doling out this two-game suspension. "It was never brought up that this was in relation to that one or that Im on some sort of list now. I think theyre not related at all," Cowen explained. "The Datsyuk one was totally reactional and accidental. This one was more of a missed hit or whatever you want to call it. I hope they werent considering the Datsyuk thing at all because that wouldnt make sense." During his phone hearing with the NHL department of player safety, Cowen argued that the play was not called a penalty on the ice and that Girgensons was not even injured as a result of the hit. In fact, the young Sabres forward immediately got up from the ice and charged towards Cowen. "He didnt say anything, but obviously actions speak louder than words," Cowen said when asked about Girgensons immediate response. "So obviously he was okay, too because he came after me and he wanted to do something. But I guess he was just faking it." The timing of the suspension couldnt have been worse for Cowen, who seemed to finally find his groove in the past two or three games. The young defenceman has been plagued by an inconsistent start to the season and appeared to be turning a corner in the past week. "Playing better and feeling better physically and just getting more into the rhythm, but this shouldnt stop that at all. Its one of those things I cant control. It shouldnt hinder me when I get back out there. Just stay skating and stay in good shape." ' ' '