Results tagged “mlse”

Having a Real GM is <em>Awesome</em>!

When Brian Burke arrived in Toronto last November, he promised a Maple Leaf team full of "pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence.” He wasn’t kidding: barely seven months into his tenure as the Leafs’ thirteenth general manager, Burke has begun creating exactly that.

Is Toronto FC Getting Real?

Nothing’s official yet; so far there’s just a rescheduled game between Toronto FC and the New York Red Bulls. It would appear, however, that the move was made in order to free up Toronto FC and BMO Field for what would be the biggest occasion in the fledgling team’s history: an exhibition match against Real Madrid on August 7.

Third Year a Charm for Toronto FC?

Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC have been busy the last few weeks preparing for their third season, kicking off this Saturday at 8:30 p.m. away against the Kansas City Wizards (live on GolTV and The Fan 590). As in years past, Canada’s only major professional soccer club is playing its first two games away from home to avoid any last gasp of winter weather before returning to the well-publicized mayhem of BMO Field on April 4. That may explain the relatively quiet media build-up to kick-off: the club is mostly noticed in Toronto for the spectacle of twenty thousand screaming supporters at every home game. That TFC is a professional club competing for top honours in a serious North American league often escapes notice.

Gardens of Stone

Ten years ago today, Maple Leaf Gardens hosted its final National Hockey League game. And ten years further on, we still haven’t learned the building's ultimate fate—still haven’t learned what'll happen to "the Grand Old Lady of Carlton Street," the last of the famed Original Six arenas.

The Brian Burke saga, or at least the first part of it, is over. We’re as surprised as anyone—Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment tends to struggle with straightforward tasks—but today, Burke was officially unveiled as the new President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tomorrow, our lives come grinding to a halt until mid-June.

Far be it from us to conflate professional sports with Bill Shakespeare—but the Toronto Maple Leafs’ actions before, during and after Tuesday's NHL trade deadline recall Macbeth’s famous words: full of sound and fury, yet ultimately signifying nothing. Charges of heresy will be duly acknowledged.

If you're reading this and it's between the hours of 7-9:30pm EST, do yourself a favour and tune into Hockey Night in Canada. You might be witnessing the end of an era in Toronto sports.

The saga of John Ferguson, Jr. is mercifully over: the beleaguered General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who's been a whipping boy for the team's misfortunes ever since his appointment in 2003, has been fired.

We have no problem admitting our man-love for Mats Sundin: he's been the captain of our favourite hockey team for most of our adult lives, he's one of the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all-time and he's a shoe-in hall-of-famer once he retires. Seeing him score his 500th career goal still ranks as the greatest sporting moment we've ever witnessed. We know we're supposed to be too old and too sophisticated to have favourite athletes...but if we weren't, Sundin would be head-and-shoulders above everyone else.

Say what you will about the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they’re not boring. Incompetent, sure, but definitely not boring—not even during their recent, well-publicized losing streak. The Leafs are a middling 3–4–3 in their last ten games, yet they're oddly compelling to watch: they’re tied for third in league scoring (this, despite the inability of some of its key players to put the puck in the net) and they’re by far and away the...

Council is dealing with the fallout of the landfill deal. The Star found data that the city could've bought land at the Green Lane landfill site for much cheaper last year but did nothing. Jane Pitfield realises a day after the vote that she voted the wrong way and ended up supporting the mayor.

Even the most hardened, macho, cynical, Valentine's Grinch couldn't refuse a heart-warming greeting from NBA MVP Steve Nash. The Canadian point guard is one of many Phoenix Suns players to be part of the organization's E-Greeting project.

Also there had to be some reaction to Kobe Bryant's 81 points.

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