About a month ago I made a prediction on here that the Leafs would make the playoffs. It wasn't because I was blinded by the blue and white, rendered incapable of rational thought from the memory of Greg Terrion blasting the puck through the five-hole for a 3-2 Hockey Night in Canada win over Chicago back in '82 (They partied hard into the night in Marmara, let me tell you).
No, it was all about the coach. Wilson is not your typical NHL head man and it just seemed to me that he was going to squeeze 10 more points out of the team than was expected. Last night's poor result aside (and even then you had to like that they fought back to make it close-ish), so far so OK.
A dirty little confession: I've been a fan of the Washington Capitals my whole life (I blame the drugs). The Leafs and the Caps. It's been a joyless existence. Except for 1998 when Wilson managed to find a way to get a mediocre Caps team into the final (something several far more talented Washington teams were no where close to - don't get me going on 1988). So, I've been a believer in this odd duck for sometime.
But, regardless of my own unexplainable bias, you have to like this little gem from Brunt's article:
“This is really special to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Before almost every game I tell our team that. There's a thousand people here tonight who might be seeing their only Leaf game. Let's have them leave the rink saying that my team played their heart out.”
Amen.
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