Oral testimony to epic playoff loss to Boston
Jason Maslakow, the Dart Guy, still feels sore about Toronto’s 2013 Game 7 OT loss. Leafs host Bruins tonight but one game particularly feels tender, even today
The Maple Leafs are back in the playoffs against the Boston Bruins, the team that broke the hearts of Leaf fans everywhere on May 13, 2013.
For many fans, Game 7 of the first round of the 2013 playoffs is still fresh in their memories: The Leafs had a 4-1 lead with five minutes to go. After a nineyear post-season hiatus, it looked like Toronto was set for a playoff run. But then, an epic collapse. The Bruins scored three goals in quick succession to tie the game 4-4. The game went to overtime, and Boston centre Patrice Bergeron, who had the game-tying goal, scored 6:05 into OT to leave the Leafs and their fans stunned.
Boston would reach the final, but lose to Chicago.
Some fans share their memories of that fateful game.
The Leafs had not been in the playoffs for nearly a decade. A young, resilient team had clawed its way to a Game 7, and fans were hoping for the best. Jason Maslakow, a.k.a. Dart Guy, Leafs super fan: As a Leafs fan, you get a little bit annoyed of the reference back to 2013 because it was five years ago. John Tory, mayor of Toronto: I want you to know you brought back some awful pain here.
Mark Micelli, creator of viral reaction video: I remember feeling excited about the opportunity to just watch playoff hockey again with my father and brother. We were all superexcited to see what was going to happen with the Leafs being big underdogs going into the series.
Mark Masters, reporter at TSN: Boston had always been the team they could not beat, that embarrassed them the previous year. There was like one game in Boston that was like 8-0, it was a disaster. Boston just seemed to have their number.
It was such a monumental game that people remember where they were.
Chris Hadfield, astronaut: I was in space the last time they were playing the Bruins in the first round of the playoffs. I wore my Leafs T-shirt underneath my Russian space suit. There’s really specific gear you’re supposed to wear under your pressure suit but I thought, you know, what the heck? This is my last space flight. What are they going to do, fire me? Kathleen Wynne, premier of Ontario: I was actually on the road that evening and I remember listening to Game 7 with my staff over the radio because we didn’t want to miss it.
Micelli: I had just gotten a GoPro and was using it for shooting, mostly kiteboarding and wakeboarding content. For Game 7, I decided to set it up based on the chance I might catch some memorable reac- tions from the guys.
The Leafs had a solid first two periods, and were up 2-1 going into the third. Phil Kessel and Nazem Kadri each added a goal with 15 minutes left in the period.
Hadfield: They were starting to play just as we were getting ready to undock (from the space station), and the last I heard was that we were ahead, and the team was doing well.
Micelli: The Leafs went up 4-1 in the third. At this point we were sure the Leafs had just pulled it off and were going to be heading to the next round. There was even score checking going on for the other game to see who the Leafs might play in the next round.
Joel Gallant, cameraman at Sportsnet: We’re getting ready, we’re booking flights for the second round, getting ready for thinking about the next round.
Masters: Journalists were making hotel reservations for the next round. They were go- ing to move on to face the New York Rangers, so people were on their phones and on their computers and getting reservations in New York. Everyone was looking ahead to that.
Gallant: We’re now getting ready to go into the locker room after the game to do all of the interviews.
Masters: It just seemed like, ‘Geez, they got ’ em.’ They looked fast, Boston looked slow and it looked like this upset was really going to happen.
And then the momentum shifted.
Maslakow: It’s probably not going to be a popular opinion, but I knew the game wasn’t over yet, and there was something in the pit of my stomach that just told me this might not be over yet. Gallant: It happened fast. Tory: It gets to be 4-2, but everyone is still kind of relaxed, two-goal lead with about five minutes to go. Maslakow: As the momentum started swinging in Boston’s favour, I tried to remain positive but I just didn’t have a good feeling. Gallant: And then, sure enough, it happened again.
Micelli: I really got nervous once the Bruins scored the 4-3 goal. It was at this point you almost knew they would tie things up late. Gallant: When they were within one goal, people start saying, “They’re going to lose this.”
Masters: We’re watching the game on a monitor and we were all looking at each other, we could not believe this is happening.
One last chance as the game goes into OT.
Micelli: When the Bruins scored in overtime, I was in shock, then anger, then probably disappointment, and then anger again.
Hadfield: We bounced to a stop near the town of Kata Ganda in Kazakhstan. They handed me a satellite phone so I could talk to my wife, and say hello to Helena, and the first question I — well, I said, ‘Hello, love’ — and then the first question I asked was, “So how did the Leafs do?” And reality sets in. Gallant: They choked, they blew it.
Masters: I already had my story written, I had to change everything.
David Fergus, bartender at the Wheat Sheaf Tavern: Everyone was pretty distraught. We had a bar full of Leafs fans and maybe like three Bruins fans. It was very hard to take for a lot of people.
Wynne: It was such a tough loss that night. I remember having to console one of our staff on the drive home.
Gallant: It just turned it into the somber mood like, now we got to go into that dressing room and talk to them.
Masters: It was like a funeral in there, you could hear a pin drop, the guys were just shocked, they were stunned, they were just trying to come to grips with everything.
Hadfield: I think, in all truth, the better team won that year. It was just the way it was.