The
National Hockey League was formed in 1917 for one reason -
to kick out Eddie Livingstone. The owner of the Toronto Blueshirts
franchise of the forerunner National Hockey Association, Livingstone
was accused of creating unfair advantages for himself and
his team. Toronto was granted a new NHL team, the Arenas (run
by the Arena Gardens), but Livingstone would still get to
lease his players to the team. They won the Stanley Cup that
first season.
The team
would be renamed the St. Patricks in the midst of a losing
stretch in 1919, but would once again reach the Cup in 1922,
with Babe Dye (with an overtime winner in game two and four
goals in the deciding fifth game) being the team's hero. They
would narrowly miss the playoffs in 1923, despite Dye's 26
goals in 22 games.
Toronto missed the playoffs five times in ten years between
1982 and 1992, but in 1993, a spark was lit. Doug Gilmour,
who had come over from the Calgary Flames the previous season,
scored 32 goals and 127 points to lead the team in scoring.
Dave Andreychuk had also come to the Leafs (from the Buffalo
Sabres) and would score 25 goals in 31 games, as well as being
the league's biggers power-play goal scorer. Felix Potvin
was solid with a 2.5 goals-against average. Toronto had their
highest point total in team history to that date, with 99.
The Leafs dispatched with the Red Wings in the first round
with an overtime winner in game seven, then won the Norris
division by winning over the St. Louis Blues.
With Montreal
facing the New York Islanders in the Wales Conference finals,
Canadians were once again dreaming of a Montreal-Toronto clash
for the Cup as the Leafs faced the Los Angeles Kings in the
Campbell conference final. Wayne Gretzky's hat trick in game
7 put a damper on that though, as the Kings moved on to the
finals.
Those
hoping for an all-Canadian Stanley Cup final in 1993 had to
make do with an all-Canadian Western Conference final (in
the newly renamed Campbell conference) in 1994. The Leafs,
however, were no match for the Vancouver Canucks, losing in
five games.
After
two years out of the playoffs in the late 1990s, the Leafs
made another charge in the 1999 playoffs, moving out of Maple
Leaf Gardens and into the new Air Canada Centre in the meantime.
Mats Sundin, who joined the team from the Quebec Nordiques
in 1994, had one of his most productive seasons, scoring 31
goals and 83 points. Sergei Berezin would also score 37 goals,
Curtis Joseph won 35 games with a 2.56 GAA average, and enforcer
Tie Domi racked up 198 penalty minutes. The Leafs ran past
the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins in the first
two rounds of the playoffs, but were ravaged in five games
by the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Maple
Leafs would reach the second round in both 2000 and 2001,
losing both times to the New Jersey Devils. In 2002, they
would dispatch the Islanders and Ottawa Senators in the first
two rounds, but would lose to the cinderella Carolina Hurricanes
in the Conference finals.
Curtis
Joseph left to go to the Red Wings in the 2002 off-season.
They immediately found a suitable replacement, Ed Belfour,
from the Dallas Stars. Belfour could not help their playoff
woes in the 2003 playoffs, however, as they lost to the Philadelphia
Flyers in seven games in the first round.
In 2004,
after posting a franchise record number of points, despite
finishing fourth in the Eastern Conference, the Leafs defeated
the Senators for the fourth time in five years, but made another
quick exit from the post-season against the Flyers, this time
in six games.
The
Toronto Maple Leafs are a massively popular team, with the
largest fan base in the NHL. However, they were also named
by Sports Illustrated to be the Most Hated Team in Sports,
making them also a highly controversial team.
Founded:
1917-1918
Formerly known as: Toronto Arenas (1917-1919),
Toronto St. Patricks (1919-1926)
Arena: Air Canada Centre (capacity 19,800)
Uniform colours: blue, white, grey
Logo design: a blue maple leaf with "TORONTO
MAPLE LEAFS" written inside in white lettering
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