Leaf of the Day

Frank "the Animal" Bialowas was a minor-league fighter who got into three games with the Leafs in 1993-94.  He had no points and 12 penalty minutes, though I can't say whether that was from six minors, two fights and a minor, or a two and ten.

I'm glad we got to talk a little bit about old-timers yesterday because it gives me an excuse to have Leo Boivin as the LotD.  Leo is in the Hall of Fame mainly (well, entirely) for his work as a Bruin, so he's not really a

via img27.imageshack.us The thing I like best about LeafsTV (which I still don't have) is the old games that they show. It's not so much a Leafs/Thrashers game from three seasons ago as it is the really old stuff from the 60s and

Editor's Note: This is the most important LotD ever. (Allan Bester - looking not even 20 because he he probably wasn't - via img7.imageshack.us ) After seven games, the '84-85 Leafs were actually 3-4-0.  They were about to embark on a 0-7-3 run that

Wasn't getting a ton of inspiration from either this week's news or the coming game this Saturday, so I'll indulge in one of the other pastimes of the LotD - Leafs who you might not know but probably should. Today it's Tod

In reading the comments from the 1990-91 (BESTEST SEASON EVAR!!!1) bit yesterday, a couple of things struck me.  First was the assumption that I had a point, or an argument.  This is good, I guess, as it implies that more often than not, I might possess such things. Yesterday

The 1990 home opener. Fitting that it was against Quebec. I thought it might be worthwhile to depart from the normal LotD formula to talk about a particular Leaf team for today.  As the current losing streak grows, comparisons to the train wreck of 1990-91 are becoming more frequent and

via img263.imageshack.us I was going to look it up but Gord Stellick was nice enough this morning to mention that the '85-86 Leafs went 1-12-3 out of the gate, so for all the talk that this is the Leafs' worst start ever, take it with a

The Pens had so much fun the last time that they played Toronto that they celebrated with a brand new coach and a hot streak that they rode all the way to the Stanley Cup. You're welcome. Oh, and while we may not necessarily need that new coach,

Was all set to go with the LotD today, but today's news on Mr. Gustavsson (well, really the call-up of Mr. MacDonald) forces a bit of a change (we do try to be vaguely topical, even if on most days it isn't all that apparent and

I was listening to Sportsnet this morning and they were talking about the great start by Alex Ovechkin. He's the third player (in history? I suppose) to start off a season with three points in each of the first three games. He's at 5-4-9 after three

A number of years ago I was at a conference listening to a presentation on data warehousing.  The presenter was a Habs fan from Toronto (though in all other respects, his presentaton was very good). At one point, he addressed the audience (which was about 95% American) and asked, "

Last year was the 30th anniversary of the 1978-79 team, which wasn't really a milestone year or anything, but 30 was a nice round number and that team had a young Ron Wilson on the blue line.  Every Monday we had a member of that team as the

Well, last night the Leafs managed to do everything but win.  Details, details.... There was a lot to like in last night's game. Kaberle was playing like we haven't seen since Cam Janssen re-arranged his noggin. Stalberg made a bunch of great plays and showed a

Once again the season is upon us and it's time to pick an LotD that I hope will set the tone for this year.  Last year, it was Johnny Wilson, reflecting the newest and most important addition to the Leafs.  This year, it's a leap of

Sometimes the LotD just chooses himself. With Mats Sundin retiring in his typical understated fashion it finally closes the book on an excellent career. For the Leaf fans who found themselves split in their reactions to his departure it allows the healing process to really begin. Now we all can

If yesterday (Ed Belfour) respresented what I hoped could happen for Vesa Toskala, today represents more of what I actually expect. Wayne Thomas, like Vesa, came from an organziation with too many goaltenders.  He'd been Ken Dryden's replacement (one of them, anyway) in 1973-74, but with

Watching the game Saturday night and seeing this great big goaltender in the Leaf net, covering everything so effortlessly and looking like he really knew what he was doing, I felt this odd thing in the pit of my stomach.  As with most of these things, it was probably gas,

On November 7, 1988, I got home from school (I was in Grade 13, which isn't a joke - welcome to Ontario) and my mother told me, "Oh, the Leafs traded Courtnall to Montreal today." This was no surprise.  Courtnall, a speedy winger who had led

Continuing the trend of recently-departed Leafs, today it is Curtis Joseph. Cujo reached a milestone last season with his 450th career win and his total of 454 stands fourth-best of all-time. Of course, he also managed to tie Gump Worsley for first overall with 352 losses, proving that in order

Nik Antropov is normally my cautionary tale about letting your first-rounder play too soon, before he has fully filled out. In many cases, letting someone who's really still growing play against adults is a recipe for injury and it has happened to Leaf kids more than once. In

I was listening to the post-game radio callers on Friday night, when obviously the deal for Kessel was foremost on everyone's mind, far more than the game that the Leafs actually had won.  The Leafs' record of trading first-round picks has been a wee bit suspect and

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on Rick Vaive this morning, but if anyone has a good image for a virtual smack upside the head, we'll send it that way. There's a 50th anniversary this year.  There's an 50th

(Note: I didn't have a Pavel scan ready to go, so I took the closest approximation I had.) Well, (pre-season) Game 1 is in the books and the kids looked all right.  When faced with the never-ending question of "who is going to score goals for this