All World Hockey by T. Michael Travers

Please Note: The following is really only for Leaf fans. If you think it's worthy, please pass it on to other members of Leaf Nation. It's very long (some would say a 3-beer read) and will take time if you decide to proceed.  I wrote it in bits and pieces while waiting for Leafs off-season news to develop ... and I was holding out to see where Patrick Kane would land (do you think he would have helped Matthews?) and, of course, what about Morgan Rielly? Y ou might say that I have a million questions ... No interest? Fair warning ... HIT  DELETE... Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club Opening Night of the regular 2026 - 2027 season September 29, 2026 - vs - The Montreal Canadiens It's been 59 years since the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup.  That's long enough for men to walk on the moon ... long enough for hockey to arrive in the desert and, apparently, long enough for Florida to become a better hockey territory than Ontario. Tampa won two -- S...

I sent this note to you because you will understand the passion with which I wrote it and the heartbreak. It's about family and friends.  And, the most important friend ... "My Best Friend" Who is your best friend?   A person with whom you grew up?  You went to grade three with?  Your "best" man?  Your golf partner? For me, my best friend was my brother-in-law,  Emilio Matteo Campanile. His nickname, "Mel", was given to him by a teenage girl who lived across the street from him and couldn't pronounce Emilio. Mel grew up in Anglo-Saxon Toronto in the 1930s on Chestnut Street, behind the Sick Children's Hospital. At that time, before the hospital was built, the area looked like that scene from New York City’s “Little Italy” in The Godfather. A few of the original 12-foot-wide homes on Elm Street are still there. His father was a barber who raised a family of ten children in their tiny house with 15-cent and 25-cent haircuts and shaves. Emilio wa...

Terrible Ted and Gentleman Ted Hockey is back. The 2026 Cup Playoffs are around the corner. Every player in today's NHL owes Ted Lindsay. Each one should sign over a personal cheque to him at the beginning of this New NHL in recognition for the stance he took on their behalf against the Original Six NHL owners. Al Waxman as Adams For all players, he demanded better pay and better working conditions. His pioneering work as the architect of the NHLPA was so important that the CBC filmed a movie about his life and the battle he had with team owners. The movie It is titled Net Worth. Incidentally, that money, if Ted were ever to receive it, would go to help others through his Ted Lindsay Foundation, as it provides important research funding for a cure for Autism. If you're an NHL player today and you earn 3 or 5 or 10 million dollars, it's because of what Lindsay did for you. I wonder how many of today's hockey-playing millionaires even know his name and th...