Читать книгу Hope and Heartbreak in Toronto. Life as a Maple Leafs Fan онлайн

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In the end, the Leafs dispatched Carolina in the game following the ceremony — ironic, because it was precisely the same Hurricanes who defeated the Leafs in six games in the Eastern Conference final later that spring. Joseph played well both during the first game back and the rest of the season, but then left for greener pastures, signing with Detroit because he felt they offered him a better chance to win a Stanley Cup. Well, umm, of course, but Cujo never won a Cup in the Motor City like so many former Leafs had done previously.

And so there you have it. What should, or could have been a crowning moment for the Maple Leafs and their fans — celebrating an Olympic gold medal, the pursuit of which had gripped both the city and country for a fortnight — only hastened the exit of arguably the team’s best player; certainly its best puck-stopper in the post-1967 era. The prolonged melodrama that played out from March through to early July was a little like watching your cute ex-girlfriend leave town with an aging rock star because she couldn’t get along with your dad.