Toronto Maple Leafs Week in Review

Well looking back on the past week in sports news stories on the web, there is no shortage of things to talk about so I will just get started.

On Saturday, November 22, the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted a very good young team in the Chicago Blackhawks. The Leafs outplayed the Hawks very badly for the first forty minutes of the game, but could not finish them off.

The young Hawks hung around and ended up winning the game. The Leafs got a single point for their efforts.

The big thing for me personally in the game was the retirement of Wendel Clark’s jersey. I am a big Wendel fan, as I am sure all Leafs fans are. Clark never took a night off, and was always there when called upon. His picture would appear in the dictionary under the term “Hockey Player”.

It was just too bad that Wendel’s back could not hold out, and he had to retire a little earlier than I would have hoped. For so many years, he carried a bad Leafs team. The big hit, the big goal, or the big fight—Wendel would do it all.

Pound for pound, he was one of the toughest guys to ever lace up a pair of skates—just ask Bob Probert who got all he could handle from Wendel, despite outweighing him by about 30 pounds.

Patrick Roy’s jersey was retired the same night in Montreal. Patrick was a great player, no doubt about it—but I always found him to be pretty full of himself. Wendel, on the other hand, has always been humble and shown class and dignity. It’s just too bad he never got his name on Lord Stanley’s Mug.

On Sunday, November 23, Montreal hosted Calgary in the 96th Grey Cup. I thought the game would be close, and picked Montreal because they were at home. Wrong again honey.

The game was very close in the first half, but in the second half Henry Burris took control and played pretty flawless football. Full credit has to go to his offensive line, too. They gave Burris great protection, which allowed him to make plays. Calgary won the game by a score of 22-14, and poor Anthony Calvillo was the bridesmaid yet again.

On Tuesday, November 25, the Leafs hosted the Atlanta Thrashers. I must admit that I missed most of this game because I was with my daughter for her potential high school open house. From what I did see though, this had to be the Leafs' worst game of the season.  They stunk out the ACC, losing 6-3.

The bright spot for the Leafs has been the play of Ian White, who scored two goals.  He has been steady all year for Toronto, whether playing forward or back on the blue line. 

On Thursday, November 27, the Leafs went into Ottawa to resume the battle of Ontario. Vesa Toskala played great, and allowed the Leafs to escape with a point after losing in a shootout. They never would have got there without Vesa playing a great game.

On Saturday, November 29, the Leafs hosted the Philadelphia Flyers, one of the hottest teams in the East right now. Toskala played great again, and seems to have really taken up the challenge issued by coach Ron Wilson. The team defense was pretty sound in front of Vesa too.  The Leafs played one of their best games of the season to date, cooling off the Flyers, 4-2, in front of their new boss Brian Burke. 

Yes, the worst kept secret in the NHL became official as Burke signed a six-year contract to be the Leafs' president and general manager. The Leafs will now become a tougher team, with more Canadian content as Burke puts his finger print onto the team.

You may remember that I wrote a while back about Burke coming to the Leafs when they hired Ron Wilson as coach. They are good friends. and should complement each other well, if their egos don’t get in the way.

I was pretty sure that Mr. Burke would be coming here.  Wiith his ego and track record, why would he not want to work in the center of the hockey universe?

Next up for the Leafs is another western road trip. They are in LA tonight and play in San Jose tomorrow. Wayne Gretzky’s Coyotes are up on Thursday, before they return home to face the Washington Capitals

“No Guts No Glory”