Leafs

Jonathon Gatehouse on the fun and futility of Toronto’s playoff run

GM’s off-ice bluster and bombast never translated into success for the Leafs

A light, twinkling snow fell against the towered streets as I made my way to the rink last night, my first visit in two years. That this blog had such pull with the Leafs’ press office made me remember the means by which I’d crashed other media rows in past years: fudging credibility to sit in old Memorial Auditorium to watch the Sabres; an anthem-singing guest appearance at the Gardens on the eve of my wedding; and a plea to a novice university pop writer from Expos’ brass in the late 80s to cover a team that no one outside of Quebec wanted to cover. On this visit, however, it appeared as if I’d found legitimacy, passing easily through the glass doors of the rink to the tableclothed media desk in the guts of the Platinum Club, securing my card—my name on it and everything—from a nice woman in whom I confessed procedural unfamiliarity. “That’s okay,” she said, adding, “The elevator is just around the corner,” guiding me with the voice of a nursemaid and a flight attendant’s wave.

Sports empire doesn’t want Ryerson to keep Leafs name attached to new venue

A tip of the hat to the much-maligned Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment oligarchy.

Al Strachan has written what will henceforth be known as “The Definitive Hatchet Job on Brian Burke.”

I continue to be fascinated by the Leafs slow-motion renovation project. This morning the Star provides the latest: Gretzky’s not coming. So cross another name off the list in this long process of elimination. Other names to forget about: Ken Holland, Scotty Bowman,