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This Bruins fan won't gloat over fallen Leafs
By BRUCE HALLIHAN
The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton)
Thu May 16 2013
As regular readers know, I've been a lifelong Boston Bruins fan. What most of you don't know is I also like the Toronto Maple Leafs.
True, they're a distant second to the Bruins, but as happy as I was to watch Boston's amazing, improbable, unprecedented comeback on Monday night, I was disappointed my father Ivan, a long-standing - and by extension, long-suffering - Leafs fan, was let down by his team again.
When we watched Darryl Sittler light up Bruins' rookie goalie Dave Reece for a still-NHL-record 10 points (six goals, four assists) in an 11-4 win at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1976, Dad didn't gloat.
So you won't catch me rubbing salt in an open wound now after Patrice Bergeron both forced and finished OT.
The Toronto Sun headline, 'The Choke's On Us' did that just fine after the Bruins rallied to win 5-4 or, if you're a mean-spirited sort, Five to Fore! More playfully, making the rounds on Facebook, is the picture of the Leafs crest, with 'Toronto Maple Leafs' lettering replaced with 'The Arse Came Right Out Of 'Er.'
***
The Leafs outhit the Bruins 349-296 - or about 50 to 42 on average - so even though the Bruins are moving on to the next round, I fear some of those hits will take their toll, if they haven't already.
On the other hand, I'm a glass half full kind of guy, so I think back to 2011 when a Montreal Canadien had an open net in overtime in Game 7 and the puck glanced off both Bergeron and Zdeno Chara before skittering wide. The Bruins went on to win their first Stanley Cup in 39 years (a year after blowing a 3-0 series lead and a 3-0 Game 7 lead to the Philadelphia Flyers, I reluctantly recall).
In fact, Dad called me just before midnight, with the Bruins leading the Vancouver Canucks 4-0, and said, "How do you like that, son?"
He already knew.
***
Will anyone agonize more over the summer than Matt (Now Frettin') Frattin? He rang a shot off the post in overtime in Game 4 and botched a breakaway deke which would have given the Leafs a 5-2 lead with three minutes remaining in Game 7.
Bear in mind, though, the Leafs were projected to finish 14th or 15th in the Eastern Conference and picked to lose to the Bruins in five games - not seven, and with a CBC Hockey Night in Canada record audience of 5.1 million fans tuning in.
***
The top three most disliked Bruins by non-B's fans: Brad (Little Ball of Hate) Marchand, the CN Tower-sized Chara who screened James Reimer on the game-tying goal and has the wing-span of a pterodactyl, and Milan Lucic.
So Leafs fans must have been taken aback when Lucic said this post-game: "The whole city of Toronto should hold their head high the way they (the Leafs) played in this series."
***
Someone going by 'Leafs need a centre' posted this on the TSN message boards: "Grabovski had heart and speed but at $5.5 million can't score on a soccer net." Grabovski had no goals against the Bruins after scoring just nine times in 48 regular-season games.
If the Leafs are thin down the middle, they're a little light on the blue-line too. In the 66-minute Game 7, four defencemen (Dion Phaneuf, Cody Franson, Jake Gardiner and Carl Gunnarsson) together averaged more than 27 minutes.
Fortunately, according to The Hockey News Future Watch 2013 issue, four of Toronto's top six prospects are blue-liners: Morgan Rielly, Matthew Finn, Stuart Percy and Jesse Blacker.
***
You wonder how much further along the Leafs would be if former GM Brian Burke hadn't overpaid to get Phaneuf from Calgary and goaltender J-S Giguère from Anaheim in 2010.
Burke, on the club's salary cap after those hits: "Right now it's like a new pair of underwear. It's uncomfortably tight."
***
Having been at this job for so long, I've had the opportunity to talk to many popular Maple Leafs, some on numerous occasions.
Gentleman Johnny Bower would easily be No. 1, and I'd only consider Fredericton's own Willie O'Ree, who broke the colour barrier with the Bruins in 1958, and Jean Béliveau of the Canadiens in his class when it comes to classy ex-NHLers.
Darryl Sittler, Bob Baun, Paul Henderson, Lanny McDonald, **** Duff, Frank Mahovlich, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Errol Thompson, Tie Domi, Mike Palmateer - all great to deal with.
I interviewed Eddie Shack when he launched his entertaining book Clear the Track. Shack, who's illiterate, quipped, "I've written a book before I've read one." Actually, Shark told his story to Ross Brewitt, but it made for a good one-liner.
I once got to sit down with enforcer Dave (Tiger) Williams for a 30-minute interview in the afternoon, then went to the Fredericton Inn that night to hear him speak before a crowd of about 400.
When it came to the Q&A part, then-Gleaner photographer Dorothy Scott asked Williams, "How many times did you have your nose broken?"
Without missing a beat, Williams looked at me sitting near the front row, and said, "Didn't you ask me that this afternoon? Oh, that's right, you didn't have the balls to." Needless to say, the crowd cracked up at my expense, as Williams gave me a gotcha! wink.
***
I correctly called six of the eight first-round NHL playoff survivors, including the upset wins by Ottawa, Detroit and the Rangers. I badly overestimated the Canucks, picking them to beat the Sharks in seven, and had the Blues dethroning the Kings in six. L.A. reeled off four one-goal victories in a row after losing the first two games.
In Round 2, I picked Pittsburgh over Ottawa in seven, Boston over the Rangers in six (even though Henrik Lundqvist is James Reimer with rebound control), Chicago over Detroit in seven and L.A. over San Jose in six.
This Bruins fan won't gloat over fallen Leafs
By BRUCE HALLIHAN
The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton)
Thu May 16 2013
As regular readers know, I've been a lifelong Boston Bruins fan. What most of you don't know is I also like the Toronto Maple Leafs.
True, they're a distant second to the Bruins, but as happy as I was to watch Boston's amazing, improbable, unprecedented comeback on Monday night, I was disappointed my father Ivan, a long-standing - and by extension, long-suffering - Leafs fan, was let down by his team again.
When we watched Darryl Sittler light up Bruins' rookie goalie Dave Reece for a still-NHL-record 10 points (six goals, four assists) in an 11-4 win at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1976, Dad didn't gloat.
So you won't catch me rubbing salt in an open wound now after Patrice Bergeron both forced and finished OT.
The Toronto Sun headline, 'The Choke's On Us' did that just fine after the Bruins rallied to win 5-4 or, if you're a mean-spirited sort, Five to Fore! More playfully, making the rounds on Facebook, is the picture of the Leafs crest, with 'Toronto Maple Leafs' lettering replaced with 'The Arse Came Right Out Of 'Er.'
***
The Leafs outhit the Bruins 349-296 - or about 50 to 42 on average - so even though the Bruins are moving on to the next round, I fear some of those hits will take their toll, if they haven't already.
On the other hand, I'm a glass half full kind of guy, so I think back to 2011 when a Montreal Canadien had an open net in overtime in Game 7 and the puck glanced off both Bergeron and Zdeno Chara before skittering wide. The Bruins went on to win their first Stanley Cup in 39 years (a year after blowing a 3-0 series lead and a 3-0 Game 7 lead to the Philadelphia Flyers, I reluctantly recall).
In fact, Dad called me just before midnight, with the Bruins leading the Vancouver Canucks 4-0, and said, "How do you like that, son?"
He already knew.
***
Will anyone agonize more over the summer than Matt (Now Frettin') Frattin? He rang a shot off the post in overtime in Game 4 and botched a breakaway deke which would have given the Leafs a 5-2 lead with three minutes remaining in Game 7.
Bear in mind, though, the Leafs were projected to finish 14th or 15th in the Eastern Conference and picked to lose to the Bruins in five games - not seven, and with a CBC Hockey Night in Canada record audience of 5.1 million fans tuning in.
***
The top three most disliked Bruins by non-B's fans: Brad (Little Ball of Hate) Marchand, the CN Tower-sized Chara who screened James Reimer on the game-tying goal and has the wing-span of a pterodactyl, and Milan Lucic.
So Leafs fans must have been taken aback when Lucic said this post-game: "The whole city of Toronto should hold their head high the way they (the Leafs) played in this series."
***
Someone going by 'Leafs need a centre' posted this on the TSN message boards: "Grabovski had heart and speed but at $5.5 million can't score on a soccer net." Grabovski had no goals against the Bruins after scoring just nine times in 48 regular-season games.
If the Leafs are thin down the middle, they're a little light on the blue-line too. In the 66-minute Game 7, four defencemen (Dion Phaneuf, Cody Franson, Jake Gardiner and Carl Gunnarsson) together averaged more than 27 minutes.
Fortunately, according to The Hockey News Future Watch 2013 issue, four of Toronto's top six prospects are blue-liners: Morgan Rielly, Matthew Finn, Stuart Percy and Jesse Blacker.
***
You wonder how much further along the Leafs would be if former GM Brian Burke hadn't overpaid to get Phaneuf from Calgary and goaltender J-S Giguère from Anaheim in 2010.
Burke, on the club's salary cap after those hits: "Right now it's like a new pair of underwear. It's uncomfortably tight."
***
Having been at this job for so long, I've had the opportunity to talk to many popular Maple Leafs, some on numerous occasions.
Gentleman Johnny Bower would easily be No. 1, and I'd only consider Fredericton's own Willie O'Ree, who broke the colour barrier with the Bruins in 1958, and Jean Béliveau of the Canadiens in his class when it comes to classy ex-NHLers.
Darryl Sittler, Bob Baun, Paul Henderson, Lanny McDonald, **** Duff, Frank Mahovlich, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Errol Thompson, Tie Domi, Mike Palmateer - all great to deal with.
I interviewed Eddie Shack when he launched his entertaining book Clear the Track. Shack, who's illiterate, quipped, "I've written a book before I've read one." Actually, Shark told his story to Ross Brewitt, but it made for a good one-liner.
I once got to sit down with enforcer Dave (Tiger) Williams for a 30-minute interview in the afternoon, then went to the Fredericton Inn that night to hear him speak before a crowd of about 400.
When it came to the Q&A part, then-Gleaner photographer Dorothy Scott asked Williams, "How many times did you have your nose broken?"
Without missing a beat, Williams looked at me sitting near the front row, and said, "Didn't you ask me that this afternoon? Oh, that's right, you didn't have the balls to." Needless to say, the crowd cracked up at my expense, as Williams gave me a gotcha! wink.
***
I correctly called six of the eight first-round NHL playoff survivors, including the upset wins by Ottawa, Detroit and the Rangers. I badly overestimated the Canucks, picking them to beat the Sharks in seven, and had the Blues dethroning the Kings in six. L.A. reeled off four one-goal victories in a row after losing the first two games.
In Round 2, I picked Pittsburgh over Ottawa in seven, Boston over the Rangers in six (even though Henrik Lundqvist is James Reimer with rebound control), Chicago over Detroit in seven and L.A. over San Jose in six.
