Home is where Leafs Nation is
By Brian Baker It cradles the booming voices, the vocal chords thrumming in jubilation as Toronto scores a goal. For the Toronto Maple Leafs there have been three such homes, increasing in capacity...
View ArticleThe NHL’s toughest scrap yet
By Brian Baker War was brewing for the National Hockey League in the early 1970s. The source of ire for then-president Clarence Campbell was a new competitive hockey league started by California...
View ArticleLife on the farm
By Brian Baker The farm system has been crucial in building some of the Maple Leafs’ greatest teams. At the centre of development have been the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association, St....
View ArticleSaturday nights would never be the same
By Brian Baker What is hockey without play-by-play announcing? Since the days when families would gather around their cathedral radios of the 1930s, the voice of one sportscaster or another would...
View ArticleOne for the record books
By Brian Baker Feb. 7, 1976 will forever be known as a record-breaking day for Leafs Nation. With goaltending great Gerry Cheevers on the bench, Boston Bruins coach Don Cherry played his young backup...
View ArticleHockey’s hallowed shrine
By Brian Baker The hallowed shrine to Canada’s sport — where every record, every artefact of relevance is stored — is the Hockey Hall of Fame. However, the building that houses all the trophies,...
View ArticleLeafs Nation Post Ballard
By Brian Baker He treated coaches and players abysmally. He angered fans who thought he drove the Leafs onto the bottom rungs of the NHL ladder. And he served a year at Milhaven Penitentiary for tax...
View ArticleDiversity on the rink
By Brian Baker The history surrounding diversity and the changing face of the National Hockey League has the makings of a classic espionage novel. In particular, the story of the Stastny brothers,...
View ArticleThe second Russian invasion
By Brian Baker Much like the World Hockey Association of the 1970s, the Kontinental Hockey League in recent years sparked fears in the NHL that high-profile players would be stolen from North American...
View ArticleCanada’s golden pursuits
By Brian Baker On Canadian soil, in sudden death overtime, Sidney Crosby took the feed from Jarome Iginla, tied up in the corner, and snapped the puck through a small sliver of daylight that U.S....
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