Leafs love knows no borders
Fans will be out in force on Western swing
Anyone who grew up a teen in Toronto in the 1970s has to be jealous of Mitch Marner.
The generation that watched t he Argonauts fumble in front of 40,000 fans, the Maple Leafs suffer under Harold Ballard and the expansion Blue Jays get crushed, all without an NBA presence, lived in lean times.
But Marner, barely 20, is part of a spry Leafs team set to contend for years, which plays in the same building as the Raptors, who are in search of a fifth- straight playoff appearance. The Jays hit a speed bump after consecutive playoff trips of their own, but just down the road, Marner’s favourite football team, the Argos, were in Sunday’s Grey Cup final. BMO Field co- tenant Toronto FC is a couple of wins from the MLS Cup and the Leafs’ farm team is leading its division.
“It’s very cool now,” Marner said before the Leafs left for Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver t his week. “I haven’t been to a TFC game yet — definitely one thing I want to do because it looks like a lot of fun — but it’s great to see Toronto doing so well in all the sports.”
For the Leafs, the love doesn’ t end when they leave home for trips like this week’s three- game road swing. Despite Edmonton and Calgary winning Stanley Cups and Vancouver getting to the final twice, the Leafs enjoy a strong measure of support in those cities.
A lot of it has to do with Foster Hewitt, whose pioneer coast-to-coast broadcasts in the 1930s and 40s, when the Great Depression, wartime and winter drew families closer, truly made the Leafs English Canada’s team, with a string of Cups to back it up. The grandsons and granddaughters of that era passed that loyalty along.
The players clearly get a charge out of going West — they picked up three of six points last year after two of a possible 10 in a couple of previous treks.
“I enjoy going back to where I grew up in B.C., but I’m always taken aback by the amount of support we get,” defenceman Morgan Rielly said. “The amount of blue jerseys, the number of fans, it’s nice to go out there and feel we have that support.”
Rielly said friends and Leafs fans he knows from his junior hockey days in Moose Jaw, Sask., will make the sixand-a-half-hour drive to Calgary. Patrick Marleau’s folks came from little Aneroid, Sask., to Winnipeg for the Leafs’ season opening night win earlier this year.
“No one’s ever questioned the willingness to travel of people from the Prairies,” Rielly said with a laugh.
Other Westerners on the Leafs include Regina’s Tyler Bozak, Saskatchewan-raised head coach Mike Babcock and Nylander, who was born in Calgary during father Michael’s time as a Flame.