TORONTO (Oct. 22) — Too bad, for the Maple Leafs and their fans, we aren’t six months down the road. Were this Apr. 22, 2025, I suspect our city would be on its collective ear. Reason is simple: the Leafs are playing, to start the current season, precisely as they’ve not performed for eight consecutive years in the Stanley Cup playoffs. To draw conclusions after six of 82 games in the regular schedule would, of course, be patently ridiculous. You can get that in the mainstream media; already, Craig Berube is the next Pat Burns and the Leafs are playing their best defensive hockey since the Roger Neilson era (1977–79). Again, there’s only 76 games left. But, why wait?

Point I’m making is the Leafs should figuratively bottle what they are selling at the moment… then pop the lid when it matters. From Anthony Stolarz in goal… to a mostly organized system in the defensive zone… a generally abrasive comportment… and, of course, the big–money boys up front leading the way. This, for the most part, has been a 10–day clinic on how to succeed from mid–April to mid–June. That it’s happening in mid–October is untimely, but still impressive. Yes, the Leafs have lost their only clash with a Stanley Cup contender (to the Rangers). And, the club is due for a midweek stinker, which could unfold tonight in Columbus against the bereaved Blue Jackets. Otherwise, Berube has gotten through to his charges rather hastily. The Maple Leafs are playing good hockey at both ends of the ice. With a fairly altered line–up from a year ago. With Stolarz looking Ken Dryden–ish between the pipes; Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman–Larsson providing veteran stability on the blue line.

Can it happen when the leaves outside are budding, rather than turning pretty colors? That’s the $40 million question in this corner of the hockey universe. And, it has been for nearly a decade. What the Leafs are showing, however, is that they can — over a stretch of games — morph into posture required for a deep playoff run. They just need to do it when the actual time arrives. Neither am I suggesting opposing clubs are skating with the same fervor as in the Cup hunt. But, the Maple Leafs are sufficiently talented that they shouldn’t march to the beat of a rival’s drum. I’m certain that’s the message Berube is drilling into their heads early in his first season behind the bench. Neither is it comprehendible that Sheldon Keefe didn’t try, until blue in the face, to impart the same message to the Core–4 and Co. So, again, we must wait until the spring before drawing appropriate conclusion.

But, the initial signs, for what it’s worth, are promising.

HERE’S HOW WE WATCHED THE LEAFS DEFEAT TAMPA BAY ON MONDAY. BETTER GET USED TO IT.

TUESDAY REFLECTIONS: As someone who remembers Saturday and Wednesday night hockey games on a ghostly, black–and–white television, watching the Leafs (Monday night) on an Internet streaming service required some adjustment. For the young people, today, it was likely the wave of the future. Make no mistake: If Amazon… Google… Facebook… or any of the on–line tech behemoths choose to bid on hockey distribution rights in Canada, they will blow the communications giants out of the water. Rogers and Bell are colossal enterprises, yet more like a half–filled piggy bank when compared to the monoliths created by Jeff Bezos, Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg. Who, in 2024, have a combined net worth (according to Forbes Magazine) of $543.5 billion. Amazon, which is producing a series of Monday night games via its Prime label, had a net income of $30.4 billion in 2023 (Rogers reported a figure of $629 million). Or, roughly six times larger than the price ($5.2 billion) Rogers paid the National Hockey League, beginning in 2014–15, for 12 years of exclusivity. A contract that expires after next season, in the spring of 2026. What will hockey look like on TV after that. It’s difficult to predict, but it should be a fascinating process, with money being thrown at the NHL as never before… When did we, as hockey watchers, begin to appraise the TV production based on intermission content? As a kid, I cared about the three periods of action. Yeah, I watched Ward Cornell (later, Dave Hodge) interview sweaty subjects, but the game is what mattered. Today, it’s much more about what Ron MacLean, Elliotte Friedman and Kevin Bieksa offer in the 20 minutes when both teams are in the dressing room. It’s the same way south of the border, where NHL all–timers Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Chris Chelios were recruited for intermission analysis. Our focus on what the TV renders has changed, rather dramatically, since my youth in the 1970’s. Today, the game is almost secondary… We can, of course, blame (or credit) Don Cherry for flipping the script. For more than 30 years, the country stopped after the first period, on Saturday nights, to watch Coach’s Corner. It was so popular in the early 2000’s that a reporter for The Canadian Press would actually cover the segment off TV in the Air Canada Centre and file a story on Cherry’s remarks. No intermission feature in the televised history of professional sport has ever grown to such proportion… Don’t ask me why, but the date Oct. 22 always reminds me of 1969, when I was 10 years old, and went to a Leafs game without Dad for the first time (actually, the second time; Dad gave me his ticket for Game 4 of the 1969 Stanley Cup quarterfinal between the Leafs and Boston. I went with his accounting partner, Bernie Kraft — that night still remembered for Punch Imlach being fired by Stafford Smythe immediately after the first–round elimination). On this day, 55 years ago, I walked home from Grade school with my pal, Jeffrey Spiegelman, and we concocted a plan to be together when the puck dropped that night at the Gardens: Leafs vs. Philadelphia. “Try and persuade him,” Jeff appealed as we entered my house. The call to Dad’s office, as I vividly remember, was a cinch. Not only did he give me permission to take Jeff, but he drove us down to the arena and picked us up after the game. As always, of course, stopping at Harvey’s on Avenue Rd. (between Wilson and Lawrence) for a late–evening burger and fries. Such great memories. I still have the Toronto–Philadelphia program and line–ups from Oct. 22, 1969 (below)… Flyers rookie Bobby Clarke (16) accrued his first NHL point that night… Cherry’s brother, Richard, wore No. 5 for Philadelphia… Pat Quinn (23) was on defense for the Leafs… Both Philadelphia goalies, Doug Favell and Bernie Parent (the original expansion duo from 1967–68) would eventually play for Toronto…

 
Anyone encountering baseball commissioner Rob Manfred should try and rub up against him for luck. Manfred’s sport is living right with an optimal match–up for the 2024 World Series: New York and Los Angeles (the two largest TV markets); Yankees vs. Dodgers for the millionth time (it never grows old); Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani. It’s a flashback to the late–70’s and early 80’s, when the rival clubs met three out of five years for the Major League championship. When Billy Martin and Tommy Lasorda were managers; Reggie Jackson and Steve Garvey the biggest names… The Leafs are 4–2–0 after six games. Even a football season cannot be defined by such early figures. The best two “starts” by the Leafs, however, in modern franchise history resulted in advancement to the Stanley Cup semifinals. In 1977–78, under rookie coach Roger Neilson, the club went 19–6–3 in its first 28 games. It played on until a four–game sweep by Montreal in the Cup semis, knocking off Los Angeles and the Islanders along the way. In 1993–94, while attention was laser–focused on the Toronto–Philadelphia World Series, the Leafs won their first ten games of the season, establishing an NHL record of nine victories out of the gate just minutes before Joe Carter beat the Phillies with his famous, walk–off home run. The Leafs prevailed at the now–dilapidated Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., downing the Tampa Bay Lightning. That team, under Pat Burns, was a hair better than the ’77–78 club: 19–5–4 after 28 games. It knocked off Chicago and San Jose in the playoffs before losing to Vancouver in the Western Conference final… Again, writing about this after six games is nonsensical. But, we are in Toronto… I’ve never been a big Ryan Dinwiddie fan and I’ve called for his scalp on several occasions this season. But, full credit to the coach of the Toronto Argonauts for a three–game win streak, late in the schedule, that secured home field for the Nov. 2 Eastern semifinal against Ottawa. First, the Boatmen knocked off the two best teams in the Canadian Football League (Montreal and Winnipeg) then blasted out of the gate in the playoff preview, last Saturday, against the Redblacks. A 28–0 lead in the second quarter could have been 42–0 had quarterback Chad Kelly not marginally misfired toward a couple of open receivers. The reason, however, I don’t trust the current team is two–fold: Somehow, this wobbly Argonaut outfit was self–righteous enough to stop playing after three quarters, allowing Ottawa to score at a 100–point pace. Seriously. The Redblacks outgunned the Argos, 25–0, in the fourth quarter. Converting a 38–6 laugher into anxiety for the home crowd until the final play. I also shudder at the Argo secondary. Though linemen Folarin Orimolade and Jake Ceresna, and linebacker Wynton McManis, are performing superbly, pass defense remains the Toronto Achilles heal. That and the club’s short–yardage game, which has been an embarrassment all season. Conversely, in the CFL, it’s all about peaking at the right time. As Montreal did a year ago. And, the Argos, two seasons back. Perhaps Toronto is doing the same this Autumn. But, I’m not convinced… It was quiet and dreary in the hockey world 30 years ago. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had locked out the players — a quarrel that would last 103 days (Oct. 1, 1994 to Jan. 11, 1995) before a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with Bob Goodenow resulted in a 48–game season. Even worse was 20 years ago, when Bettman and Goodenow began to stare each other down for the entire winter. The 2004–05 schedule was wiped out and there was no Stanley Cup champion… Best five hockey players (excluding goalies) of my lifetime: Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Guy Lafleur. With a boatload of others to consider. Yours?… Is there a more underrated sports media figure than Gino Reda of TSN? The guy has been in our home every night, it seems, since TV was invented. Actually, many nights since 1984, when Canada’s first all–sports network launched. What a stellar career. What a stellar chap.

MORE FROM THE PHOTO VAULT…

I recently came across four boxes of photographs I snapped with a Pentax camera at Argonaut games in 1976 and 1977. During my high school years. From old Exhibition Stadium and Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton. I set up a “dark room” in the laundry room of my boyhood home and developed these photos with the liquid chemicals of the day. Never imagining the digital universe on the horizon. I still have boxes of hockey and baseball images from nearly a half–century ago:

SEP. 12, 1976 (ABOVE AND BELOW): THE ARGOS MADE INTERNATIONAL SPORTS NEWS NEAR THE END OF 1975 WHEN THEY SIGNED GIFTED RUNNING BACK ANTHONY DAVIS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. SADLY, DAVIS ARRIVED WITH AN ATTITUDE AND NEVER BECAME CLOSE TO THE STAR RUNNER ANTICIPATED. IN THIS GAME AT THE CNE AGAINST HAMILTON, DAVIS KNELT (ABOVE) ON THE SIDELINE WHILE HEAD COACH RUSS JACKSON (HEAD–SET) AND ASSISTANT LAMAR LEACHMAN APPEARED TO BE DISAGREEING. BELOW: DAVIS (28) TOOK A PITCH–OUT FROM QUARTERBACK CHUCK EALEY (18) WHILE FULLBACK NEIL LUMSDEN (32) LED THE BLOCKING. THE ARGONAUTS BEAT HAMILTON, 31–22, BUT DID NOT QUALIFY FOR THE PLAYOFFS. DAVIS LEFT AFTER THE SEASON AND NOBODY MISSED HIM.

OCT. 2, 1976 (ABOVE AND BELOW): IT WAS A FOGGY AFTERNOON AT EXHIBITION STADIUM AS OTTAWA KICKED A LATE FIELD GOAL (TOP–RIGHT) TO GAIN A 20–20 TIE. THE SUN CAME OUT LATE IN THE GAME (BELOW) AND LOW ON THE HORIZON. SO, THE PLAYERS WERE LIT UP WHILE THE FOGGY BACKGROUND REMAINED. TORONTO RECEIVERS AL CHARUK (14) AND MIKE EBEN (9) WERE VISIBLE ALONG WITH QUARTERBACK CHUCK EALEY (18) RUNNING THE BALL.

ARGONAUTS LINEBACKER GEORGE ANDERSON (75), FORMERLY OF THE B.C. LIONS, LEFT THE FOGGY CNE PITCH. OTHER ARGOS WERE DEFENSIVE BACK BARRY FINLAY (27, BEHIND ANDERSON) AND CORNERBACK STEVE DENNIS (21).

OCT. 10, 1977: ONE OF THE FEW BRIGHT MOMENTS FOR THE ARGOS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 1970’s WAS A 43–2 BEATDOWN OF THE HAMILTON TIGER–CATS ON THANKSGIVING ’77 AFTERNOON AT IVOR WYNNE STADIUM. LEO CAHILL HAD RETURNED AS COACH THAT SEASON. CAHILL BROUGHT BACK HIS 1971 ARGOS RUNNER, LEON McQUAY, WHO SWITCHED FROM NO. 24 TO NO. 23 AND HAD A BIG AFTERNOON AGAINST THE TICATS. HIS LAST. AND, CAHILL’S LAST.

EMAIL: HOWARDLBERGER@GMAIL.COM