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 1st Scotiabank game - pre-season 2026 - 2027  September 29, 2026 - vs - The Montreal Canadiens (Incidentally, and keep this in mind when you are reading this essay ... ticket prices are up this year ... for the Sept. 29 Habs game, Ticketmaster wants $268.58 each FOR STANDING ROOM!) It's been 59 years since the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup.  That's long...

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...