Last Christmas, with my Toronto Maple Leafs clicking along about fourth or fifth in the NHL standings, Matthews netting goals in threes (it seemed) every other night, Ilya Samsonov looking like Johnny Bower between the pipes, and even Sheldon Keefe exuding confidence behind the bench, my daughter gave me a most appropriate gift. It was a Leafs blue T-shirt, complete with logo and an inscription.
“Just once before I die,” it reads.
She took a photo of me with it on and put it on her Facebook page. As you can imagine, it sparked a lot of response – 248 to be precise (almost as many followers as a Leaf fourth-liner). “Here’s hoping,” said one. “As a Habs fan, I feel for you.” “After 20 minutes of playoffs, I’m not convinced.” “All digits crossed.” “If they couldn’t win it back when they had Gilmour and Clark, then I give up.”
One friend poked fun at my daughter with and accusation of “Parent abuse.” Well, we all know how things went – three strong comeback games against those nasty Boston Bruins, and a sloppy misstep in Game 7 overtime and it was all over. And I put my Leafs T-shirt into the laundry until next season.
But I’ve been thinking. There are plenty of good things about the Leafs losing in the first round. The first and perhaps most important beneficiary is my health. I won’t have to lose sleep any longer this season whether they’ll get embarrassed by any other Eastern Conference rivals, such as Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, or Columbus Blue Jackets.
I won’t mindlessly consume bags and bags of chips and beer after nerve-racking beer while the Core Four’s scoring stats fade deeper into oblivion. I can watch some PBS TV programs this spring that I’d have otherwise have ignored. Or, even better, I’ll enjoy the spring outdoors while all those other NHL teams crash and bang inside arenas and their fans fuss and worry through the quarters, the semis and the finals.
This week, I read all the coverage by Toronto media about what the Leafs should or shouldn’t do for next season. The Star’s Rosie Dimanno told the MLSE brass “don’t break this group up.” While Kevin McGran, her Star colleague, pondered dumping Coach Keefe, dealing Captain John Tavares away to play out his senior years (at age 33) somewhere else, or trading Mitch Marner “to a sunshine state where he can be the best player and live in relative anonymity.”
But then Marner spoke to the media scrum on locker-room-clear-out day, last Monday; he was asked what it means to be a Leaf. “It means the world,” he told eager reporter scribes. “Obviously, we’re looked upon as kind of gods here, to be honest.”
And maybe that’s the elephant in the room. Perhaps Leaf fans – myself included – revere these guys to the point that it goes to their heads (and forsakes their hands and feet). Marner went on to say how much he appreciated that kind of admiration, as “with the Raptors a couple of years ago, the love (fans) still have for a lot of those players that they had to trade off this year.”
In other words, professional hockey (particularly under the commissionership of Gary Bettman) has evolved away from the game, away from loyalty to a community, to a world of loyalty where the only symbol that matters is the dollar sign at the bottom of the business ledger.
I’d quickly add, however, that the other good part of the Leafs early exit, is now I can cheer on a group of athletes who haven’t traded the joy of hockey for the pursuit of fame and fortune – the Women’s Professional Hockey League.
For my money (and attention), nothing compares to the heart and passion and coming back from the brink drive (the Leafs took a page from them for a while this year) we’re seeing now among the women’s pro teams. For the moment, the WPHL has most of my hockey-viewing attention.
So, next fall I’ll probably pull out and wear my daughter’s Christmas gift – the T-shirt with the Leafs logo and the inscription, “Just once before I die” – because even after 57 years I’m still hopeful I may live that long. In the meantime, I won’t lose any sleep over it because this week for me summer hockey began.
And for us recreational hockey players, it’s about skating year-round, the ribbing of the post-game locker room, and of course the prospect of a cold one afterwards. And until next spring, that’s almost as good as the Leafs winning another Stanley Cup.