Leafs Camp in Full Swing

(BOD - Audrina Patridge)

Those of you who read this space consistently over the winter months know that I am not a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Desultory results since the lockout mixed with ownership who seem to have no idea how to run an NHL franchise have all contributed to my apathy.

Plus, baseball is my sport of choice, which is tough to reconcile as a Canadian because all I am forced to hear about literally every month of the year is hockey, hockey, hockey. The main sports networks in this country devote an entire day of television coverage to hockey’s trade deadline. That’s right. Over 12 hours of coverage focused on fourth line bruisers switching teams to the interest of no one except their immediate families. Riveting stuff.

Tewks, if you dislike hockey so much, why are you writing about it in September during training camp?

Excellent question. I’m writing about the Maple Leafs so I can be the voice of reason in a sea of craziness that has people predicting Toronto is poised to make a deep playoff run. The franchise sucks and they will continue to suck for quite a long time.

Brian Burke loves to talk about making his teams a ‘Top 6, Bottom 6’ delineation when it comes to his forwards. Well, Burkey, all I see is Phil Kessel and . . . that’s pretty much it. I don’t think a team has ever competed for a Stanley Cup with a ‘Top 1, Bottom 11’.

I’m fairly positive that the members of the Toronto media are inclined to agree with me, evidenced by the focus of their articles to this point: team toughness.

All I’ve read over the past few days is how much ‘intensity’ the Leafs are showing at camp and that guys are fighting despite being told not to by the coaching staff. However, the coaching staff doesn’t mind since they love players who ‘play with passion.’

Ever since Brian Burke introduced the words truculence, belligerence and pugnacity into this city’s vocabulary, that’s all anyone seems to care about. Newsflash, folks. It takes more than a few knuckle-dragging Neanderthals to make a Stanley Cup contender.

And why the hell would you want players fighting each other during training camp? It just seems stupid. What if someone gets hurt and misses a part of the season for little more than childish fisticuffs?

Michael Liambis, one of the dreamers at the camp, fought Jay Rosehill during the first scrimmage because Rosehill wallpapered Liambis’ teammate, Carl Gunnarson, into the boards. Liambis fought Rosehill because he said he was “protecting his teammate.” So, you’re concerned for the health and well-bring of one teammate and you’re showing going to show that concern by fighting another teammate. Can someone explain to me how that makes sense?

Let’s summarize Maple Leafs training camp thus far, shall we: so, not only are players fighting against the wishes of the coaching staff (which shows they can’t follow orders), they’re fighting each other (doubling the injury risk), and seem more concerned with dropping their gloves showing how tough they are rather than put pucks in the net.

Yikes. It’s going to be a long winter in the GTA.