Kings-Maple Leafs: Remembering Game Seven 15 Years Later

I remember the 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs like it was yesterday. In fact, as I am writing this, it was exactly 15 years ago from today that the most heartbreaking sports moment in my life happened.

As you can see from my profile, the Toronto Maple Leafs are my favorite team in all of sports. There are the Toronto Raptors in the NBA, there are the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, and, of course, you got the Toronto Blue Jays in MLB as my other favorite teams in the four professional sports leagues.

I have seen the Cowboys and the Jays win major championships, but have not seen the Raptors and the Leafs. I’ll give the Raptors a pass since they have only been in inception since 1995. However, there is no team in all of sports that I would live and die for than the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs were an incredible ride to be on as a follower of the Maple Leafs—this was the first time in 14 years that they were able to ice a competitive team.

They hired Cliff Fletcher to be their GM in 1991, and he turned the team around in a hurry. He hired Pat Burns in 1992 after he was fired in Montreal and he also orchestrated the Big Nine player deal, in which they acquired Doug Gilmour from Calgary. He also made some key trades that got them Dave Andreychuk.

The Leafs finished the 1993 season with 99 points—a 32 point improvement from the previous year and good enough for third place in the Norris Division.  They entered the playoffs riding on the young goaltending of Felix Potvin and the heart and soul of captain Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour.

In the first round, they beat the Detroit Red Wings in 7 games on an overtime winner from Nikolai Borschevsky. In the second round, they beat the St. Louis Blues in another wild seven-game series, culminating with a 6-0 thrashing in game 7.

The stage was set and the excitement was building.

The Leafs were Norris Division Champs and about to face Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in the Campbell Conference Final, with the winner going to the Stanley Cup final, to play the Montreal Canadiens.

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