The Toronto Maple Leafs – Canada’s Team
The Toronto Maple Leafs have grown from one man’s dream into one of the most recognizable sports teams in North America. Since their creation, the Maple Leafs have not only been a fixture in the hockey world, the team also has helped lead to advancements in broadcasting, shown support for war efforts, and has become a tradition passed down through generations in families.
The team has a type of majestic feeling around it, one that allows total strangers to become instant friends once they both learn they share an allegiance to the Leafs Nation. It is an encompassing feeling that is shared by so many people throughout Canada and the rest of the world. During times of success, the enthusiasm for the team has an uncanny ability to bring people all across the country together and create a special feeling even in the most remote parts of the country. From car flags to jerseys, so much support is given to the team. Even in the Middle East during times of war in the world today, members of the armed forces decked out in Leaf jerseys, have participated in ball hockey games aired throughout Canada on Hockey Night In Canada to show their support for the team. In many instances, the Maple Leafs are there when people desperately need something to get excited about and to take their mind of everyday life.
When the National Hockey League was first created back in the early 1900’s, the Maple Leafs were not a part of it. In fact, Toronto had two teams before the Maple Leafs. The Toronto Arenas was the first hockey team based in Toronto. They had a limited following mainly caused by the outbreak of World War I. At the time, few people were interested in hockey as there were much greater issues surrounding Canada and the rest of the world. After the war the team underwent a name change and became known as the Toronto St. Pats. This name change did little to help the team though as they spent seasons toiling in last place and struggled to generate fan interest. In 1926, it looked as though hockey in Toronto would cease to exist as the St. Pats fell into a dire financial situation. Unable to pay their bills, the team was sure to fold. By the end of that year, the team was put up for sale at an asking price of $200 000.
Earlier that year, a young scout working for the New York Rangers, Conn Smythe, was fired prompting a move back to his hometown of Toronto. This would be the first step toward the eventual creation of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Smythe, who was an avid hockey fan as well as a Major in the Canadian military, noticed the St. Pats were up for sale and began to express interest in purchasing the team. After being fired by the Rangers, Smythe had returned to Toronto with thoughts of creating an even better organization in his hometown. Only $200 000 from assuming control of the St. Pats, Smythe had just one problem: he had only a mere $10 000. Raising $160 000 over the next few months through his business which distributed sand and gravel, Smythe went to the current St. Pats owners and using his strong persuasive skills, he convinced them that it would be a wise move to sell the team to a Torontonian who would ensure the team remained in Toronto. The current owners agreed and sold Smythe the team for $170 000. Hoping to change the fortunes of the struggling hockey team, Smythe immediately renamed the team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Smythe knew he needed to make a few drastic changes to draw interest toward the team. He came up with two ideas, one more attainable than the other but both certainly not out of his reach.
His first major change would be to go out and acquire a proven star for his new team. Smythe had eyed King Clancy for a while but knew he could not afford to pay his salary. Smythe, who was a known risk taker in business, decided to bet a considerable amount of money in a horse race. Smythe put his faith in a horse named Rare Jewel who had a jockey who had never won a race at Woodbine Race Track. Strangely enough it was Rare Jewel’s night and subsequently, Smythe’s as well, as the horse’s win brought Smythe a total prize of $11 000, enough money to go out and buy Clancy. Smythe immediately went out and acquired Clancy for an unprecedented $35 000 and two other players in return. With that move, the Leafs now had a superstar to build a team around.
His second change, by far the more difficult of his two ideas, was to build a brand new arena during the climax of the depression for his team to play in. The Leafs’ current home, the Mutual Street Arena, had become very tired looking and it lagged behind the times. Again Smythe did not have anywhere near enough money to accomplish his goal of building what would become Maple Leaf Gardens. Smythe, along with a few other business partners, formed Maple Leaf Gardens Limited. Instead of paying builders in full with money, Smythe decided to give them a stake in the company. Convinced he would be successful in the long term, Smythe convinced all companies involved with the project that this would be a worthwhile and beneficial undertaking. Begun in February 1931, the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens began at Church and Carlton on land that had been acquired from the T. Eaton Company for $350 000 and stake in Maple Leaf Gardens Limited. In just six months, the building was completed ready for its first game in November of 1931.
With these two moves, Smythe had rekindled the spirit for hockey in Toronto, one that still exists today. During their first season playing out of Maple Leaf Gardens, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup bringing Smythe’s championship dream to fruition.
The Maple Leafs have also played an influential role in the development of sports broadcastng. As the popularity of the team grew through the 1930’s, Foster Hewitt became the voice that was synonymous with hockey and the Toronto Maple Leafs. When sports first began to be broadcast over the radio, facilities were often extremely uncomfortable. Hewitt was influential in the development of broadcasting facilities and often placed them in precarious areas in order to obtain the best view point of the game.
When he first began to broadcast Leaf games, his broadcast location was a small glassed in booth at ice level. He found it difficult to keep track of the game from such a low level so he decided to try another location. Hewitt went to the Eaton’s store on College Street and watched pedestrians from windows on each of the store’s levels. He determined it was easiest to follow people at a height of between eight and twelve stories high. Later that season, he had a gondola built and suspended it above the ice surface at Maple Leaf Gardens where he began calling the games from his ideal vantage point. His decision to locate the broadcast booth high above the ice surface led to many of the modern day rinks building elaborate gondolas for broadcasters, journalists and scouts to get the same excellent view of the game.
Foster Hewitt coined the phrase, “He shoots, he scores” and over the years more and more Canadian families would gather around their radios to hear him say it. Hockey broadcasts became a very important aspect of many families lives during the ‘30’s, ‘40’s, and ‘50’s as it provided a reason for the whole family sit down and enjoy time together participating in a tradition that has come to be a major factor in Canadian life.
When World War Two descended upon Europe, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ popularity was strong. Despite the fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs organization was flourishing, Conn Smythe, a devoted military supporter, encouraged his players to offer their service to the armed forces. He told his players that upon their return, their spots in the lineup would be waiting for them. Several players did enlist and among the ones who did were Syl Apps, the team’s offensive star, and netminder Turk Broda. Both men served in the war for two years from 1943 until 1945. When they returned for the beginning of the 1945 – 1946 season following the end of the war, both men received heroes welcomes and went onto help the Leafs win three consecutive Stanley Cups in 1947, 1948, and 1949.
Having some of the players choose to serve in the war gave the Maple Leafs yet another respectable quality that showed people that they were capable of doing what is most important during times of need. Many people respected and admired the decision of the players to serve in the war despite being in the midst of flourishing careers at the time.
Over the years, generations of people have become Maple Leaf fans. The support for the team has taken on such gigantic proportions that, to a foreigner, it could almost be mistaken for religion. Few other sports teams posses the type of following the Maple Leafs do. The legions of fans can only be rivalled by those of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
The main reason why there is so much interest in the team is because following and supporting them has become a family affair. When children are first born, it is almost a right of passage when fathers give their children their first Leaf jersey and pass down the love of the Leafs by gathering infront of the television on Saturday nights to watch Hockey Night In Canada. For some families, bringing their children to see their first live game is a major event in their kids’ childhoods.
The Maple Leafs are a team with a storied and successful history. They have won a total of eleven Stanley Cups, second only to the Montreal Canadiens. Some of the best players of their time have played for the Maple Leafs, Apps, Clancy, Bower, Mahovlich, Sittler, Salming, and Sundin to name a few. There have been players with remarkable stories play for the Leafs. Bob Baun scoring a game winning goal in the 1964 Stanley Cup final on a broken leg and Bill Barilko scoring the winning goal in the 1951 Stanley Cup final and disappearing the following summer in a plane crash are two of the more prominent stories in Leaf history. There have been the great moments and the tough times, the ultimate highs and the lowest of lows but all that would not have been possible without the people that support this team. The people all over Canada and the rest of the world who have made the Maple Leafs a part of their family for the last seventy-five years are the reason the Maple Leafs are what they are today. Without the fans, there would be nothing. The fans make this team, never forget that. For as long as we remember it, the Toronto Maple Leafs will remain the most special teams in all of sports history.
