Leafs Fans Need to Stick Together

Leafs fans are a special breed. I would guarantee that we have the highest depression rate of any demographic in the National Hockey League, but like a truly dysfunctional family – we suffer together and we celebrate together. Not that there has been much to celebrate over the past decade except for a few meaningless yet incredibly satisfying playoff sweeps of the Ottawa Senators.

Our team is the laughing-stock of the NHL, our tickets are the most expensive and also impossible to get unless you run a conglomerate or have had season tickets in your family for the past 60 years. And the sad thing is, none of this is new information. It has been this way for years and will become progressively worse unless we finally see a Stanley Cup win on the horizon and the $300 obstructed-view seats become somewhat worth it.

But we need to be thankful for the small victories – like the recent addition of Dion Phaneuf and Jean-Sebastien Giguere to our team. Not since the acquisition of Doug Gilmour has Leafs Nation been abuzz with such positive energy. And it is that energy that is going to help us through our playoff drought. It may not happen this year, it may not happen next year. But seeing the recent results of those two huge trades that sent six of our underwhelming players out west made the light at the end of the tunnel seem that much closer.

As fans, we need to stick together. There will come a day when we have something to celebrate and all of the real fans will be glad they did not suffer a case of "bandwagonitus" and continued to chant "Go Leafs Go" like their lives depended on it. The car flags, the licence plates, the overpriced merchandise - it will eventually all be worth it. And always keep in mind that how matter how long it takes us to get there, a Stanley Cup victory in this city would be one of the most appreciated and celebrated events of our generation and the possibility of that alone is something worth dreaming about.

In the meantime, let's keep our heads up and our spirits high. We are second-last in the league and dead last in the Eastern conference – it can not possibly get any worse so we can only go up from here.