33 Years Ago in Leafland; April 10, 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.

Rick Matsumoto of the Toronto Star declared Mike Allison as "Toronto's best player in the two games in St. Louis." He continued, "Certainly there's nothing fancy about Allison's game. He's no whirlwind skater like Russ Courtnall or a pure speedster like Al Iafrate. He's a plodder who is at his best in a close-checking game where he can dog the opponents like a persistent hound onto scent of a fox. The corners of the rink are his turf." Allison himself said, "The Blues are playing a close-checking game. It's basically them trying to shut us down. That's fine with me because then there's no one flying by me and making me look bad."

Allison was acquired from the New York Rangers the previous summer in exchange for Walt Poddubny. In 71 games for Toronto in 86/87, Allison produced 7 goals and 23 points, Poddubny meanwhile scored 40 goals and 87 points for the Rangers. For his part, Allison believed he still has some offensive skills, "I honestly feel I can score goals. Obviously, though, I haven't done it this year." Back in 1980/81 as a rookie, Allison scored 26 goals, 64 points, over his last five seasons with New York however, he scored a mere 37 goals. He admits that he no longer minds his defensive role, "It's kept me in the league. Sometimes you can't contribute a whole lot and when you do there are no stats to go along with it. However, games like this one make you feel that you can contribute to the team."

Another Leaf getting kudos for his play is goaltender Ken Wregget. Brophy said of Wregget, "Our goaltending has been excellent. He saved the game last night off Wickenheiser. "He was referring to a glove save Wregget made on Doug Wickenheiser after a miscue by Al Iafrate. "It was just one of those things. If (the puck) hits you it won't go in." Wregget stated. He added, "In a series like this, the team that makes the least amount of mistakes will win. You have to make sure you're not the guy who makes one. As for Brophy, he didn't plan to change his strategy for Game Three, meaning he will use a couple of dozen of line combinations. "It worked last night. I switch lines all the time. Everybody plays with everybody on this team." The fact that Toronto had escaped St. Louis even in the series was perhaps the biggest indicator as to how well guys like Mike Allison and Dan Daoust were playing, seeing as the Leafs had received little or no production from young scorers Courtnall, Thomas, Clark et al. Game Three goes Saturday Night at the Gardens.