The Larry Hillman curse
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/toronto-maple-leafs-cursed-025716800.html
Montreal Round 1 2021
Leafs v Montreal Playoffs 2021
The H stands for Hockey by the way, not Habitants, and the C stands for Club, not Canadiens.
W-L: 24-21-11, .429
SRS: -0.14 (19th of 31)
Goals: 159 (17th of 31)
Goals Against: 168 (18th of 31)
W-L: 35-14-7, .625
SRS: 0.60 (5th of 31)
Goals: 187 (6th of 31)
Goals Against: 148 (7th of 31)
Looks like a walk in the park, right? 35 wins against 24?
Leafs lost the first game 2-1. They won the second game convincingly 5-1.
In Montreal for games three and four, Leafs took both 2-1, and 4-0.
That would make the series 3-1, against the rag tag Canadiens, obviously this one is a lock, much like game 7 in Boston in 2013 when they were up 4-1 in game 7 with nine minutes left. Did someone say cursed?
This is the corona virus year so all they need to do is beat the Canadian teams and they are rocking into the semi finals.
Hmm
Leafs then lose 4-3 in OT, 3-2 and 3-1 for another first round collapse.
Game 6
This one stands out. The third period opens with a scoreless tie.
Early in the 3rd, Montreal scores for a 1 0 lead. Watch the clip at 2:00 below and ask if this looks a goaltender interference call. It does seem to require a penalty and a no goal call. Shelly Keefe was of the same view. The unsuccessful decision to challenge the call caused a two minute penalty. The clip below fails to show an important second penalty.
https://youtu.be/ZSXh16SmBNg (1)
If you asked yourself who would be the most reliable player for the Leafs, chances are 99 out of 100 fans would say Mitch Marner. Yep, the same guy who tossed the puck over the glass while killing this penalty for a bench minor. Did I say cursed yet? The video is below.
https://youtu.be/X_tNe4ydeWg (2)
So make the score now 2-0 on the resulting two man advantage. What really should have been a disqualified goal and a zero zero tie has now become a two goal disadvantage.
Spezza scores with 8 minutes left (5:09 game clip 1 above). Brodie scores with 3 minutes left on a fortunate deflection and it is 2-2. (5:50 clip 1).
In OT, Travis Dermott gets stripped ( that is said charitably, as he coughed it up big time) in his own end and the game is done. Cursed ? This was just an incredibly inane play. Dermott picked a somewhat inopportune moment in which to reveal his inner Bobby Orr. A spinarama play, really, in OT in game 6, up 3-2, in your own end yet? Bobby Orr, he is most definitely not. Simply incroyable. (7:22 clip 1)
Game 7
I can barely relive this. Goal 1 goes to Montreal. Marner gets stripped of the puck, a very rare event and Campbell, who has played extremely well all series, flubs a big one. (1:57 below)
Montreal makes it 2-0 on a power play with a deflection off Perry’s knee (3:50) in later part of period 2. Cursed indeed. Montreal scores in the empty net, now 3-0. Leafs score late for 3-1 with 1 minute and a half left.
Montreal wins the Canadian division beating Winnipeg 4 games to 0, beats Vegas 4 to 2 and gets blown out in the Stanley Cup final against Tampa 4 to 1.
Tampa Round 1 2022
Leafs vs Lighting 2022
The Maple Leafs had a franchise record regular season in 2021-22, setting high water marks for wins (54) and points (115). They finished second in the Atlantic Division, seven points behind the Florida Panthers, the Presidents’ Trophy winner, and five points ahead of the third-place Lightning.
The first two games were in TO. Leafs won 5-0 and lost the second 5-3.
In Tampa, Leafs won 5 2 and lost 7 3.
Back in TO for game 5, Leafs won 4 3, which then led to game 6 in Tampa, with Leafs up 3 2 in games and in a position, dare I say, to win the series.
Then Kerfoot does what he does best. At 50 seconds below, he makes a nifty blind drop pass, albeit regrettably to the Tampa player, Palat, who makes the easy score. Quite the play for Kerfoot. Wait there is more.
As the third period opens, Leafs are up 3-2.
About midway through the third period, with Leafs killing one penalty, and yet winning 3-2, a-hole Kerfoot takes a dumb high sticking call against Victor Hedman, in their zone, nevermind. That makes 2 men down against the two time Stanley Cup champions. Good luck. The tying goal followed.
In OT, Austin Matthews, of all people, loses an edge, resulting in a Tampa rush for the OT goal. Cursed? Perhaps.
Tampa goes on to the final game seven in TO 2-1. Tavares’s tying goal for 1-1 was rescinded due to a penalty to Justin Holl for interference immediately prior. Yes, cursed. (3:30 below) Rielly ties it 1-1 ( 5:10 below). Late in the second, Tampa makes it 2-1 on a rush in which Muzzin fell down, but a good play follows from Nick Paul, make it 2-1. (6:42 below) It was an entertaining game, but Leafs really deserved to win game 6. Thanks Kerfoot, you moron.
2002 Playoffs Carolina semi-finals
2002 Playoffs
Round 1 Leafs beat Islanders 4 games to 3.
Round 2 Leafs beat Ottawa also 4 games to 3.
Round 3 Leafs vs. Carolina
We all knew that the winner of this series would lose to Detroit, but that it is beside the point. Leafs really should have won this series. They lost 4 2 with three games going to OT. Leafs lost all three OT games. Carolina had the home game advantage.
Games 1 and 2
The first two games in Carolina were split. Each team won 2-1. The second game won by Carolina was in OT.
Games 3 and 4
Oddly enough, Carolina won both games in TO, 2-1 in OT and 3-0 in game 4. That made the series 3 1 for the bad guys.
Game 5
Leafs won this one 1 0 to make the series 3 2.
Game 6
I know that you know what happened. Leafs lost in OT 2-1 to end their season. Carolina got blown out by the Red Wings 4 1 as likely would have happened to the Leafs.
Tomas Kaberle, usually an excellent player, gives the puck away to O’Neill for goal one at the mid-point of period 3. (1:32) ughh
Miraculously, Leafs tie the game as Matts Sundin scores with 20 seconds left ! (1:53) Looks like Leafs are ordained by a higher power.
Regrettably, the devil was in charge. (2:09) It hurts much more when it is so close.
As unbelievable as this may sound, this was the last time Leafs were even close to advancing to the Stanley Cup finals. This was 2002. Make that, well, you do the math.
1993 Playoff Series Semi-Finals vs LA
1992-1993 Playoffs
This was the team of Doug Gilmour, Wendell Clark, Glen Anderson, Dave Andreychuk and Potvin.
In Round 1, Leafs beat Red Wings 4 games to 3. Leafs came back after losing the first two games.
In Round 2, Leafs beat St. Louis also 4 games to 3.
Round 3 vs LA Kings
The winner of this series was to play Montreal in the Stanley Cup finals. Toronto had the home game advantage.
You must watch the video below, just to see the hockey hair of Barry Melrose, the LA coach. What a horror show !
Game 1 in Toronto Leafs win 4 1
Game 2 in Toronto LA wins 3 2
Game 3 in LA LA wins 4 2
Game 4 in LA Leafs win 4 2
Game 5 in Toronto Leafs win 3 2 in OT
This puts Leafs up 3 games to 2 with the series headed back to LA for game 6
Game 6 in LA LA wins 5 4 in OT
The big issue in game 6, in OT yet, was the failure of the one referee to call a high sticking penalty on Gretzky, which if called, would have resulted in Gretzky being tossed from the game. A minute later, Gretzky scores and the game is over. Huge miss.
Kerry Fraser, the referee, did later admit that he blew the call:
After the game, the NHL’s director of officiating Brian Lewis came into the referee’s room and said, “Good job tonight, guys.” We really thought we got it right. There weren’t all the slow-motion cameras like they have today. It wasn’t until the next day that I saw another angle of the play on television. You could clearly see Gretzky high-sticking Gilmour.
That was quite big of him, actually, to admit it. Gretzky never did own up.
Game 7
Hence game 7 in Toronto for the series winner. Apart from the usual sell out crowd at MLG, there were 40,000 people watching the game at the Skydome. (as it then was) Harry Neal and Bob Cole announcing the game were simply fabulous. This was one of the most exciting games in recent, well, in the last 30 years or so.
Early in the third period, the score was tied 3-3.
With less than 4 minutes left, Kings’ journeyman Mike Donnelly scored on a rebound to make it 4 3.
This is at 1:43 of the clip below.
Shortly after this goal, Gretzky, coming around from behind the net, banked a shot off the skate of defenceman Dave Ellett, to make it 5 3. This one was, as admitted by Gretzky, a total fluke. (1:44 below)
Leafs scored to make it 5 4 with one minute left. (1:47). A great game but, alas, in vain. It could have, should have, been a Montreal Leafs final. Hard to imagine.
Interesting Clips
In 2019, Leafs were winning the Bruins series 3-2 with what should have, could have, been the decisive game 6 in Toronto.
Boston again advanced to the Stanley Cup final. It was not comforting to see Boston lose game 7, in Boston yet, to St. Louis, nor to see Brad Marchand in tears watching St. Louis celebrate its only Stanley Cup victory. (well, maybe a tad) We all know that schadenfreude leads to bad karma, so there will be no joy taken in Mr. Marchand’s misery.
Our sympathies to Brad…
Gotttttta love the Beebs: (after 3 game loss in March 2021)
Billy Harris
Billy Harris was my childhood idol. He played for the Leafs, of course, and won three successive Stanley Cups in 1962, 1963 and 1964. He was later traded to Detroit Red Wings in 1965. In 1967 when the League expanded, he was selected by the Oakland Seals after which he was traded to Pittsburgh.
Billy was a slick smooth skating dispsy doodle centre for the Leafs wearing #15. He also, although not contemporaneously, had lived not 25 yards from where I lived in east end Toronto. I was at 32 Ingham Ave. and Billy used to live at 45 Sparkhall.
I, like Billy, also went to Withrow Public School for grades K to 8 and Riverdale Collegiate Institute for high school. Apart from little hockey talent, we were living the same life. The little hockey talent was on my side, just in case you were confused.
Every kid in the hood wanted to be Billy Harris when playing ball hockey and ice hockey but I always thought I had a higher claim.
When I was in practice I met a client who was best friends with Billy, who was by then, then since long retired. For some reason this history came up one day, when obviously we were in serious trial preparation – or maybe not. Paul, I forget his last name, suggested he introduce me over lunch. I said, maybe not. By then I had met a few boyhood sports legends and the memories did not meet the person I saw as a kid. 1Paul assured me that I would not be disappointed, so we did meet Billy over lunch to share some stories. He was a wonderfully intelligent self-patronizing guy. After that, I had met him around town a few times here and there and he was always a true gentleman.
About five years after that he passed away from cancer. For some crazy reason, I began collecting his hockey cards on e-bay. I had his card for every year as a Leaf. I had forgotten that he had also played for Detroit and a team in Oakland called the Seals but I soon had all his cards.
One day I got a phone call from a lady asking me why I was always bidding on his cards, apparently against her. I told her the story. She then told me that she was married to one of Billy’s two twin boys and then she was looking for the card when he had played for the Seals as the card showed an animated graphic of him skating with his twins. I did indeed have the card, which I sent to her as a gift.
Back in the day, the Toronto Telegram, which by the way I had by the way delivered door to door, used to have a slick glossy magazine every Saturday which featured a full page colour photo of a Leaf player. She, in turn, sent me autographed version of this photo of Billy. Karma kickback indeed.
She also asked me to represent her and her family in a lawsuit against Billy’s then common law spouse when he died with respect an issue over some hockey memorabilia. This I could not do. I did not want to tarnish my wonderful memories of my hockey hero with a lawsuit.
Coaching Career
To make this story complete, Billy became head coach of the Swedish national ice hockey team in 1971–72. He then became the first head coach of the Ottawa Nationals in the WHA‘s inaugural 1972–73 season and coached Team Canada in the 1974 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. Harris went on to become an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers under Glen Sather for two seasons beginning in 1981–82. He ended his coaching career after serving as a head coach in the OHL for the Sudbury Wolves in 1982–83 and 1983–84.
Billy Yet Lives
As fate would have it, thanks to my son and his darling wife, 2 Billy Harris is ready once again for a playoff run. This must be a good omen.
Personal Stuff
In the winter of 2022, while visiting New York, we happened onto a Canadian bar in the city. What better way to spend an evening watching the Leafs plays the Habs, so we thought. Montreal was a last place team, so this should be a push over, so we thought. We left after two periods when Leafs were losing 4 0.
The Rotten Leafs, James in the summer of 2016.
The Last Dance 1967
In 1967, the Prime Minister of Canada was Lester Pearson, the President was Lyndon Johnson. The best movie was a Man for All Seasons. There were no cell phones and the internet was roughly another 20 years away. All hard to imagine. This was the last year for the Original Six teams.
It has definitely been a while, hmmm…50 something…you do the math, its too scary for me.
Funny
