OK, time for an honest revelation.
I lived in Toronto for two years, going to journalism school, and it was, arguably, the most successful two years for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the modern era. It was practically impossible to not get caught up in the Leafs’ hoopla. The bars were packed. The team was great fun. They got to the Campbell Conference final both years (and it should be noted that those were the same two school years that the Blue Jays won their World Series titles. The most stunning 20 months of sports I’d ever witnessed live — and I’d grown up in Edmonton during the Stanley Cup years.).
But when I look back, and think about the guys on the Leafs’ roster, I don’t think about legends. Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark are iconic Leafs, for sure, but they don’t have god status. Not quite.
Dave Keon has god status. He was the greatest of the Maple Leafs, and despite the franchise’s struggles since the last Stanley Cup, in 1967, that still says something. He has also spent the past 40 years as far away from the Leafs as possible, and it doesn’t seem right. Dave Bidini, the wonderful frontman for the Canadian band The Rheostatics, wrote Keon and Me: My Search for the Lost Soul of the Leafs a couple of years ago. It is a magnificent book, one of the best hockey books I have ever read. I urge you to buy it. Bidini has been prolific, but this book gave me the greatest insight into a boy who grew up loving Keon, and the Leafs, and the greatest insight into what seemed to make Keon tick, despite Keon not playing much of an active role in the book.
I’ll cut to the quick. On Saturday night (CBC, 4 p.m.), before the Maple Leafs host the Montreal Canadiens, they’ll honour Keon, as well as the late Turk Broda and Tim Horton. Broda and Horton, great. But Keon? Stunning. Forty years of ice, thawing at last.
There rarely seem to be good-news stories around the Leafs. This is an excellent-news story.
And who knows. Sometime around the time they unveil these men’s statues next season, the Leafs’ 100th, their long-miserable fortunes might start to turn. That’s the sort of thing that happens.
The Home Team
It’s been a long road trip for the Canucks. Hard to believe they’ve won three out of four games — and, for at least one night, they can go to sleep knowing they’ll wake up still in the third and final Pacific Division playoff spot.
Jason Botchford has moved on to Pittsburgh, after a wild night that saw two big names from 2011, Alex Burrows and Brad Marchand, grab top billing once again, and another big name from 2011, Daniel Sedin, appropriately become the Canucks’ all-time leading goal scorer. Craziness.
Plenty of storylines in Steeltown, of course. Sidney Crosby has a five-game points streak going, which is not normally a big deal for him except that it’s been a bit of a tough season. He now has 39 points in 45 games, which is not even remotely impressive by Sid the Kid standards, but he’s climbed into a tie for 23rd in NHL scoring, and would it at all surprise you if he’s inside the top 10 within a few more games?
So Botch will serve up plenty on Saturday (Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040, 9:30 a.m.). Full game coverage, the Provies, you name it. Oh, and in Thursday’s Provies, I was surprised and delighted to see this video. So if you still hate the Bruins, good news: they still hate the Canucks, and hate you.
Boston, incidentally? Incredible city. Love it.
(P.S. Eddie Willes will also have a column this weekend — let’s call it a State of the Union on the Canucks as the all-star break quickly approaches. And hopefully Botch can get home at the end of the road trip.)
The Top-Five Weekend Watch
My colleague Paul Chapman is actually sort of mourning this weekend, because there are just three games remaining in the NFL season. I know what he means. That impending sense of loss, of something going. I sympathize with him. For once. So here’s a snapshot look at a superb weekend:
New England Patriots at Denver Broncos
It’s AFC Championship Sunday, featuring the latest showdown between the Patriots’ Tom Brady and the Broncos’ Peyton Manning. Manning may well be out of work, and at the end of his career, once this season is over. Brady, it seems, will continue to haunt opponents for the next 10 years. Who would doubt him? The guy is 22-8 in the postseason. He has won four Super Bowls. He is playing in his 10th AFC Championship game. Manning, meanwhile, is an old man inside an old quarterback’s body. Or something like that. Compelling theatre, I expect. (Sunday, noon, CTV, CBS, TSN 1410)
Arizona Cardinals at Carolina Panthers
Who are the good guys in the NFL? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Well, here’s one name for sure: Larry Fitzgerald. The Cardinals’ great receiver stood out, as always, last Sunday when in overtime he pulled off a stunning 75-yard catch-and-dash — easily evading the Green Bay Packers’ Clay Matthews — then scored the winning touchdown moments later on a lovely little flip pass from Carson Palmer. And then, amid all the insanity in his home stadium, Fitzgerald had the composure in a TV interview to send a shout-out to a longtime ESPN reporter who’s suffering from cancer. And that’s just the average day in Larry Fitzgerald’s life. So sure, the Panthers have had a memorable 16-1 season so far. But I’m thinking even their division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks, are cheering for them this weekend in the NFC Championship. (Sunday, 3:30 p.m., CTV, FOX, TSN 1410)
Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals
In Vancouver we enjoy moaning about the schedule. How hard it is. How much travel the Canucks have to do (and suffering through charter flights and first-class hotels!). How the Leafs come to town and the Canucks have to play at 4 p.m.
Well, the Penguins are hosting the Canucks, as you know, at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Then they make a quick jaunt to their nation’s capital and get up Sunday morning and promptly get ready for another 12:30 p.m. ET game. Yes, I know they don’t have to leave their time zone. Yes, I know it’s an easy flight. But it’s also not a normal weekend schedule. They’ll get over it, I’m sure, but let’s just remind ourselves we’re not alone here.
P.S. Alex Ovechkin has 937 points going into the weekend. Sidney Crosby has 892 points going into the weekend. They will forever be tied together. And they’re still incredible, nearly 12 years after they were drafted. (Sunday, 9:30 a.m., NBC, Sportsnet 360)
Canadian Figure Skating Championships
The aforementioned Paul Chapman made fun of me earlier today, said there was no way I was watching even one minute of the figure skating. He’s wrong. It’s on the TV outside my office. Here’s the thing: We are exactly at the halfway mark between the Sochi Olympics and the South Korea Olympics. Figure skating is kind of a big deal in this country when the Olympics come around. So why shouldn’t we have at least half an eye on what’s going on in Halifax this weekend?
Patrick Chan, who took last year off competitive skating, is back. He’s a three-time world champion and a seven-time national champion. Will he wrestle back what I am sure he thinks is rightfully his from young Nam Nguyen, who took the title in Chan’s absence last year? (Friday: women’s short and ice dance short, 11 a.m., TSN; men’s short and pairs short, 4 p.m., TSN; Saturday: women’s free and ice dance free, 10:30 a.m., CTV; pairs free and men’s free, 7 p.m., CTV)
Australian Open
The Thriller from Thornhill, Milos Raonic, was full value for his win over Spain’s Tommy Robredo in the second round. Now the tournament’s 13th seed faces the 21st, Serbia’s Viktor Troicki. That match should be underway by 6 p.m. Friday. Around the same time, you might want to check out the match between regular Aussie Open darling Victoria Azarenka and the world No. 127 Naomi Osaka of Japan, who is somehow one of the tournament’s final 32 women.
Assuming Raonic wins, fourth seed Stan Wawrinka is likely to be waiting in the fourth round. (Friday: 4 p.m., TSN2/3; 7 p.m., TSN1/4; midnight, TSN1/3/4; Saturday: 4 p.m., 6 p.m., midnight, TSN1/3/4/5; Sunday: 4 p.m., TSN3/5; 6 p.m., TSN1/4; midnight, TSN1/3/4/5)
Also on Tap from Province Sports
The Whitecaps are set to kick off training camp — they’ll have medicals and fitness tests over the next few days before hitting the turf at UBC Ken Woods Field next Tuesday — which means Marc Weber will be writing this weekend. His likely subject? Midfielder Pedro Morales, who couldn’t have been too thrilled with his 2015, a season that was more successful for his club than it was for him. He’s spent a good chunk of the offseason here, getting ready to go. And he’s the key man going forward, no matter who the Whitecaps have picked up in recent weeks.
Spencer Kyte, meanwhile, is writing about UFC megastar Conor McGregor. He’s been in the news again this week, because he really can’t help himself when it comes to insulting opponents, or heralding himself perhaps just a bit too much: “Me and Jesus are cool,” he said. “Gods recognize gods.” Umm, OK. And that might be ESK’s reaction, too. Because there’s a chance this could all come back to bite McGregor. Maybe not in the way you might think, or he might think. But stuff happens.
Finally, my main, main man Steve Ewen, who must have the journalism world’s most diverse Rolodex (do people still have Rolodexes?), is serving up perhaps the greatest beauty that will appear in the Sunday Province: a story on Tyler Breeze. He’s a WWE wrestler. His career is inspired by the great Gorgeous George. And … he’s from Penticton.
Going Nuts About Nads
The other day, we were roasting the Edmonton Oilers’ Matt Hendricks for what he did to the Florida Panthers’ Aaron Ekblad.
Last night, he sent out this tweet:
There’s not much to say, other than check out the video of “the incident” — and some of the hilarious reactions.
I Leave You With This
We’re on the verge of the weekend. It’s very exciting. And we need a song that can celebrate our impending freedom. A one-hit wonder. Yes, a one-hit wonder.
And I’ve got just the one:
Genius.
Have a great weekend. Patrick Johnston joins you after the conference championships with the Morning Skate on Monday.
