Toronto Maple Leafs Folklore - by Moses

In 1893 the NHA was formed. At that time Toronto began their quest for the vaunted Stanley Cup. Most aren't aware, but we weren't the Toronto Maple Leafs. Between 1899 and 1902 we were known as the Toronto Wellingtons. The team was re-named the Toronto Marlboros, licenced by name from a Duke of the British Isles, Sir Winson Churchill's Grandfather. They remained until 1910, when a Lacrosse organization within the city bought the team becoming the Toronto Tecumsehs (a.k.a the Toronto Indians) for the 1911 season. The very next year they were re-named the Toronto Ontarios, as the Tecumsehs went bankrupt. The next year they were known as the Blueshirts and we took home our first Stanley Cup. From 1915-1919 our Hockey Team was called the Toronto Arenas and the Cup was brought home again in 1918. In 1920 the organization was known as the Toronto St. Pats, until 1927, when Conn Smythe bought the club and re-named the team the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Thoughout the proud history of the Toronto teams, we have won the second most Stanley Cups of all Franchises in NHA/NHL history (14 in total to date).
It was in 1931 that Connie Smythe built Maple Leaf Gardens, and Charlie Conacher scored the first Maple Leaf goal in our new Arena. Maple Leaf Gardens was considered a remarkable achievement as the Arena was lavish and extaordinaire, built during the 'great depression'.
During the 1930's there were many Maple Leaf greats. There was the 'Kid' line of Busher Jackson, Joe Primeau, and Charlie Conacher. Ace Bailey was likewise a star player with the 'Buds'. The blueline was anchored by King Clancy and Hap Day, with Frank McCool as our Goaltender throughout the decade. All told Toronto took home the Stanley Cup as the Maple Leafs for the first time in 1932. Ace Bailey lost his ability to play the game in 1934, due to a bodycheck thrown by the great Boston Bruin defenceman Eddie Shore. They shook hands publically, as Bailey forgave Shore (even though he couldn't play Ice Hockey anymore). That year they held the All-Star Game in Ace Bailey's honour, with the Maple Leafs hosting the best of the League.
At the start of the 1936 campaign Syl Apps Sr. came aboard, and he became perhaps the most iconic Leaf Captain of all-time (being named such in 1940).
In the forties, the Maple Leafs were led by Captain Syl Apps, Goalie Turk Broda, Harry Watson, Ted Kennedy, Cal Gardner, Howie Meeker, Gordie Drillon, and Sid Smith, among others, and won the prized Stanley Cup 5 times over the course of the decade.
Punch Imlach joined the Leafs brass during the 50's as Coach and Genereal Manager, and brought in Bill Barilko, Dicky Duff, Bobby Baun, Harry Lumley, and Tim Horton. Although the Leafs only won one Stanley Cup during the 50's, Toronto was still considered a powerhouse team. This of course was in the time of Gordie Howe's' Detroit Red Wings, Maurice Richard's' Montreal Canadiens, Bobby Hull's' Chicago Black Hawks, and Andy Bathgate's' New York Rangers (the Bruins were a little soft in the 50's).
The Leafs caught fire in the 60's and were a dynasty, winning the Cup three years in a row, 1962-1964, and in 1967 for good measure. Led by Hockey Guru Punch Imlach, the team featured George Armstrong as Captain, Johnny Bower and Terry Sawchuck as netminders, and Davey Keon. They teamed alongside mainstays Tim Horton, Bobby Baun, and Dicky Duff.
The Seventies saw Jacques Plante come to Toronto in 1970, a year in which we saw the emergence of future Captain Darryl Sittler. It is still a sour taste in this writers' mouth that the Leafs traded Bernie Parent to the Philadelphia Flyers for Doug Favell (a swap of Goalies) the next year. Norm Ullman was perhaps the best Leaf during this time, and led alongside Captain Davey Keon until Sittler took over the reign. During the 1973/74 season, Toronto saw future Hall of Famers Lanny McDonald and Borje Salming join the big club. At the start of the 76/77 year we saw the emergence of rookies Dave 'Tiger' Williams and goalie Mike Palmateer. Our Leafs peaked in 77/78 and beat the future dynasty New York Islanders in the Quarter-Finals, with the winning goal scored by Lanny McDonald on a wrist shot on Chico Resch that went five-hole. Although the Leafs looked primed to make a run for the Cup, the team was dismantled by Harold Ballard and we went on a downside into the eighties. It was in the early 80's that the Leafs provided the fans of Toronto with our first Maple Leaf to score 50 Goals. Rick Vaive did so three times in fact, and duly became the next Leaf Captain. The 1985/86 campaign saw Toronto with the first overall pick - Wendel Clark. Robbed at winning the Calder Trophy, Clark became an early fan favourite as he scrapped and scored goals at an alarming rate. This of course was the Brophy days where we saw three fights a game, yet rarely making the playoffs. The city loved to talk about Head Coaches Brophy and Demers, with the inference of our mortal enemy, the Toronto/Detroit rivalry. Late in the decade Wendel Clark was named our next Captain, and many would say he was a true great of the game.
It was in 1991 that Cliff Fletcher, our General Manager, traded away Gary Leeman to the Calgary Flames for Doug 'Killer' Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Rick Natress, and Rick Wamsley, perhaps the greatest Leaf trade to that point of Leafs history. We saw a resurgence of Leaf dominance (although our Leafs couldn't bring home the Cup). We made the Semi-Finals three times in the nineties, with Doug Gilmour as Captain in 1992/93 and 93/94. A true leader, Gilmour took a slash in the face from Wayne Gretzky in the Semi's of 1993, and everyone knows the rest. That team was stacked with solid players in the likes of Goalie Felix Potvin, Dave Andreychuk, Glenn Anderson, Mike Gartner, Wendel Clark, and Sylvain Lefebvre among others. The 1992-1994 Leafs was run by Coaching great Pat Burns, and he almost took us to the promised land.
As the nineties wore on we saw Curtis (Cujo) Joseph lead us to another Semi-Final appearance, on a team Captained by Mats Sundin. The Leafs of the late nineties showcased Gary Roberts, Larry Murphy, and a young Tomas Kaberle, this being the Pat Quinn era.
To start the 2002/03 campaign Eddie Belfour took over for Curtis Joseph in net (as Cujo signed with the Detroit Red Wings) and Sundin remained our Captain until 2007 - one of the longest reign of all Maple Leaf Captains. We never seemed to hit our stride though, and most hockey men would say that G.M John Ferguson put too much trust in Darcy Tucker, Pavel Kubina and Bryan McCabe.
Pat Quinn was replaced as Head Coach by Ron Wilson for the start of the 2008 season, and Brian Burke was brought in to run Hockey Operations for the Leafs during the following off-season. All Burkie has done since then is bring in a legitimate 50 goal scorer in Phil Kessel, as well as defenceman Dion Phaneuf and goalie Jean Sebastien Giguere. Giguere has made two apperances in the Stanley Cup Finals, winning the Cup once with the the Anaheim Ducks in 2006/2007. Ironically enough, Giguere won the Conn Smythe Trophy during the year in which the Ducks lost in the Finals. As a sign of things to come, Giguere had back to back shutouts in his first two games as a Leaf last year. Most would say that Dion Phaneuf is a strong choice as Leaf Captain, in the mold of George Armstrong, Davey Keon, Darryl Sittler, Rick Vaive, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin. We now see a Leaf team with enormous potential. We're one of the youngest teams in the NHL, and Burkie has brought in Kris Versteeg, Mike Komisarek, and Francois Beauchemin - ALL PROVEN WINNERS.