Nitzy's Hockey Den

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. "We should have had a better team in Newmarket to get us through. You can't win with American Leaguers. Mind you they tried hard enough, but there were no Tom Ferguses among them," stated Leafs owner Harold Ballard, referring to the lack of depth Toronto had in the AHL when injuries hit. Ballard continued griping, "Who is this 27 (Miroslav Ihnacak) anyway? You can't expect him to step in. We spent so much money to go over and get him (from Czechoslovakia), but he's just stealing money." For starters, Ballard decided to lessen the load on Leafs GM Gerry McNamara and appointed his assistant , Gord Stellick as GM of New...

TSN is in the process of revealing their All-Time teams for each Canadian NHL team, on May 4 they get to Toronto. I figured I'd do my own selections using the same criteria they will be. The rules are as follows: There are a few choices that are obvious and easy. The goaltenders are Broda and Bower, no questions asked. These two are not only number one and two in franchise victories by far, but they've won 9 of the Leafs Stanley Cups and four of the six Vezina Trophies.  Auston Matthews has to be the current player on the All-Time team (I don't agree with this requirement, but I'll play by the rules) and luckily he makes the games played threshold. His 0.56 Goals per Game are second only to Charlie Conacher among Leafs with 200+ games played.  The problem with Toronto is that so many of their greatest players have been Centres, there will be some good ones left off this squad. The top two defencemen is another easy choice in Borje Salming and Tim Horton. Ea...

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. "I don't want to make any excuses, but I'd like to have a shot at them again with Fergus, Frycer, Kotsopoulos, Leeman and Osborne in the lineup. No team in the NHL can have five players of that calibre missing from their lineup no matter what you have on the farm team," exclaimed Leaf coach John Brophy, clearly making excuses. In addition to these injuries, Rick Vaive and his damaged hand did not play the last two periods of Game 7, Wendel Clark was at about 50% with various ailments and Borje Salming was obviously fatigued and skating on one good leg thanks to a charley horse. Brophy may have had a good point. Nevertheless, Det...

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. "I think there's a little more pressure on them than us. We'll go into this game with the same attitude we had in games one and two. We'll play well defensively and skate like we can. Let them put pressure on themselves." This was the thoughts of Leaf forward Greg Terrion prior to Game 7 of the Norris Divison Final. He concluded, "Let them worry about putting a show on for the crowd. Our feeling is that no one said it was going to be easy and it hasn't been. It's come down to one game." Rick Vaive offered, "People say the momentum is on their side because they've won two in a row. I don't agree. Th...

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 Le...

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. "Our backs are against the wall. If we don't take this game at home it'll be tough going back to Detroit for the seventh game," stated Leaf winger Steve Thomas. Wendel Clark admitted that as well as Glen Hanlon was playing in the Wings net, he has not got to the Leafs psychologically, "Not yet anyway." John Brophy even suggested he may consider playing Clark at centre or defence saying,"I could play him on defence and he'd be as good a defenceman as we've got." Brophy also suggested that Clark's lack of production in Game 5 was caused less by the checking of Joey Kocur, but more the play of his  own...

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. "You can't win with the crew we had tonight. We had about six players standing around and acting like passengers," stated John Brophy after his Leafs were shutout 3-0 by Detroit in Game 5 of the Norris Final. Brophy continued, "I don't think we ever got into the game. The first goal was a gift. We stood around and watched them put it in the net." Lee Norwood  blasted a shot from the left point that beat Wregget on the glove side as he was being screened by Mel Bridgman. Brophy continued, "On the second goal we had a chance to get the puck out of our zone, but our right winger (Brad Smith) was standing outside the blue...