33 Years Ago in Leafland; April 22, 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.

"I'm sure that everyone at some point in time thinks of the future and about playing in the Stanley Cup finals. It's not out of the question," explained Rick Vaive. Even coach John Brophy admitted, "We're tasting it a bit. Why shouldn't we think about it? Why not? We're allowed to think about it."
Brophy, who gave the team the day off after the Game 1 victory added, "I'm sure they're probably saying, 'Here we go again'. What do we have to do to beat these guys?"
Wings coach Jacques Demers sees no reason to worry about Dan Daoust shadowing Steve Yzerman. "The last change means nothing. There's no secret about putting somebody on a guy. You cannot take away just one guy. As it developed last night, we'd put Yzerman in and they'd put Daoust over the boards on the go. I'm not going to put Yzerman on the bench just because they put Daoust on him. He still had some great chances. I'm not concerned." Demers promised changes for Game 2, as it was obvious that Detroit's defencemen were too slow to handle the Leafs' skaters. He said he'll likely dress the younger and faster Rick Zombo and Steve Chaisson in favour of a few of the lumbering veterans. Demers said, "Every time there was a loose puck, we were the second man there. It seemed last night that we were never in control of the game." He also said he has decided who will play goal in Game 2, but won't reveal his choice.
Overseas in Vienna, Team Canada received some good news. After beating Switzerland in their third match, they surprisingly lost 5-3 to West Germany with a mediocre effort. However, after West Germany also beat Finland 3-1, the Finns protested. Apparently, West Germany's Miroslav Sikora (who scored the first goal in both games against Canada and Finland) was declared ineligible. Ten years before, Sikora had played in the World Junior Championships for Poland before defecting to West Germany. The 11-member IIHF executive committee upheld the protest by vote of 8-3. The Germans lost both the games, which were declared 5-0 victories for Canada and Finland. The reversal bumped Canada up into 2nd place with seven points, one behind the Soviet Union. Up next, a better effort needed against Sweden hopefully aided by the newest arrivals from the Washington Capitals, Scott Stevens and Larry Murphy.

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