Don’t cancel the parade
Long-suffering Leafs’ fans remember `small’ highlights
What makes fans loyal to their team? Why stick with a team for decades?
For some fans of a longsuffering team, they have had the additional problem of enduring jokes from fans of other teams. Like that annoying old Maple Leafs chestnut, “time to cancel the parade.”
For guys of my vintage, like veteran radio broadcaster Doug Reynolds, the fascination with the Toronto Maple Leafs started in 1967 when Dave Keon led the team to its 13th and last Stanley Cup.
Reynolds remembers, “what I most disliked about (junior high) school was listening to the Habs fans at recess.”
“The 1970s were a frustrating time for Leafs,” said Reynolds. “My bedroom door was full of holes because I was punching it all the time. My mom thought I was nuts. But there were some pretty good times too.
“Darryl Sittler’s 10-point night versus the (Boston) Bruins in 1976. I almost went out that Saturday but instead stayed home. It turned out to be the best weekend in my life at the time. Something to finally brag about.”
Now retired from number crunching at the credit union, Bruce MacDonald remembers where he was when Sittler made history.
“I watched the game on the only big screen in Vancouver at the time, the Blue Horizon on Robson Street. It was like Paul Henderson’s winning goal in 1972 to me.”
MacDonald remembers being a Leafs fan going back to the late 1950s.
“It was almost a religion in our household. Saturday night hockey was never missed. My parents were avid fans. I recall Johnny Bower’s famous pokecheck in the 1966-67 series. The tandem of (Terry) Sawchuk and Bower was unbelievable. Time and time again Bower stopped Montreal breakaways. I particularly remember him stopping Henri Richard.”
Former Sydney native Dave O’Neill remembers how all the boys in his family got the Leaf bug from their steelworker father Ben.
“The only one of us who didn’t go for the Leafs was my oldest brother Tim and I think he was just being a contrarian to Dad. Jinxs, Greg, Kevin and I were always with the Leafs.”
O’Neill’s younger sister Trisha went for the Bruins, mainly because of Bobby Orr. My own brother fell under the BostonOrr spell and it’s never been lifted.
Kevin O’Neill’s earliest Leafs memory was 40 years this April when the famously moustachioed Lanny McDonald scored in overtime to defeat the New York Islanders in game seven.
“Unfortunately we got swept by the hated Habs in the next series.”
O’Neill says Lanny’s reward for all his good work “was to be traded by owner Harold Ballard and GM Punch Imlach to Colorado in 1979 to get back at Sittler for sticking to his no trade clause.”
It was akin to a revenge trade.
McDonald went on to Calgary in 1981, chased (Wayne) Gretzky for a scoring championship and co-captained the Flames to a Stanley Cup in 1989. Even Leafs fans were happy.
Diehard Bruce MacDonald lays the bad trades of the 1970s to the early 1990s at the feet of ownership.
“How many teams were we teased with that seemed to be going in the right direction, only to lose key players because of Ballard and at times Imlach. The only good trade was the Doug Gilmour 10-player `steal’
“The only one of us who didn’t go for the Leafs was my oldest brother Tim and I think he was just being a contrarian to Dad.”
Former Sydney native Dave O’Neill
from Calgary.”
Gilmour came to the Leafs in 1992-93. He became a major scoring presence and helped pilot the Leafs to 3-2 playoff lead over the Los Angeles Kings.
Kevin O’Neill recalls the sixth game with disdain. Gretzky high-sticked Gilmour drawing blood and eight stitches in the first minute of overtime.
“Referee Kerry Fraser swallowed his whistle, gave no penalty and Gretzky stayed on the ice, scoring seconds later.”
Los Angeles went on to win game seven.
Fraser said it was his biggest referring mistake in 2,100 games. Gretzky said game seven was his best playoff performance ever.
Had Toronto won the series they would have gone on to face Montreal in the Stanley Cup final, reviving the greatest hockey rivalry of all time.
The Habs won in five and the usual foolish riot ensued prior to
Montreal’s last parade.