33 Years Ago in Leafland; May 1, 1987

Spring of 1987. The Maple Leafs went on an improbable playoff run. They got to within a game of meeting the mighty Edmonton Oilers in the Campbell Conference Finals. I was a 15 year-old hockey mad kid enjoying the fortunes of my favourite team. What better time than now to look back at this memorable time of my youth and Leafs history.

"No excuses." This is what Leaf Borje Salming said after he inexplicably made a terrible blind pass in his own zone. He continued, "I heard someone holler. It was just a reaction pass. Too bad it had to be the one for the winning goal. What can you say...I feel bad enough." On the play, Salming came out of the right side of the Leafs end and without looking, simply threw the puck into the middle of the ice. It was a perfect pass to Wings captain, Steve Yzerman. Tic-tac-toe, Yzerman to Gallant to Probert, and the puck was behind Ken Wregget to make it 3-2 Detroit with ten minutes remaining.
John Brophy refused to blame the Leaf veteran, "He's not Superman. He's on the ice for 30, 35, 40 minutes. We were going with four defencemen at the end. The guy (Probert) wasn't picked up in the slot. One of our guys skated right past him." That 'guy' was Mike Allison, who to this point has been one of Toronto's best players in the post-season. Brophy added, "There's nothing we can do about it, but go and win the seventh game. I don't care what you write, we will. We'll make some changes, but I won't say until tomorrow."

Probert discussed the winner, his first goal of the playoffs, "Gerard was fighting for the puck in the corner, and I don't know if he saw me, but I was where I was supposed to be. I just wanted to put it in the net." He continued, "Right now, the series still isn't over. I haven't given Edmonton a thought. I'm not a goal scorer, but I hope I can get a couple more now." Yzerman commented on how similar the two teams are, "It's amazing the similarities between the two teams. We both have a lot of young players and some veterans, the goaltending on both teams has been outstanding."
Wings goalie Glen Hanlon continued his stellar play, "I've never played in a seventh game. But there's no need for us to get too uptight. We've already had some pretty closely played contests. Whatever happens, happens. If we lose, we lose to a good team that's defied the odds all along. If we win, well, we've been defying the odds ourselves."
Game 7 is set for tomorrow at Joe Louis Arena. A 15-year old me was anxious, yet still excited at the prospect that my team may very well be playing my favourite player (Gretzky of course) next week in the Campbell Conference Final. Ah, to be young and hopeful.


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