The Ghosts in Maple Leaf Gardens

by Rick Ferguson

Overview

The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley cup since 1967-a burden that long-suffering fans have regrettably had to bear. Ron Bailey, the new director of player personnel for the Leafs, is more than frustrated with his beloved team, who last won the prestigious title when he was just three. Unfortunately, Ron worries that the cynical Canadian fans and media who fear it may be another forty years before the Leafs win another one might be right.

Just as he is about to give up hope, Bailey accidentally uncovers a possible reason for the Leafs' long drought-a curse that has been supposedly placed on the team by the father of Dale McCaine, a former player who, due to tragic circumstances, never had the opportunity to play for a cup. As Bailey's curiosity peaks, he asks for a meeting with the feisty and feeble Doug McCaine-who asks for a second chance for his deceased son to play for the Stanley Cup in Maple Leaf Gardens. Only then will he lift his curse.

In this sports adventure, a young hockey director must orchestrate the game of the century as the spirits of former Leafs' greats to band together to help a player's dreams come true.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781491707104
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/18/2013
Pages:	468
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.04(d)

About the Author

Rick Ferguson, a lifelong Toronto Maple Leaf fan, is a former high school hockey goalie and current player in adult leagues such as the ASHL and True North Hockey League. He works for Black and McDonald Limited as an estimator and lives in Bradford, Ontario, with his wife and two sons.

Read an Excerpt

THE GHOSTS IN MAPLE LEAF GARDENS

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By RICK FERGUSON

iUniverse LLC

Copyright © 2013 Rick Ferguson
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4917-0710-4

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CHAPTER 1

He Shoots ... He Scores

"There are less than three minutes remaining in this one Robert and it looks as if the Leafs are finally going to break out of their five-game losing streak!"

"Well that's right Jim, and it couldn't have come at a better time, what with the Leafs having lost their last five."

Leaf fans that followed their team on the radio felt sorry for play-by-play man Jim Gerber. They felt sorry for him because Gerber had to work alongside and carry a clown like Bob Swanson. They knew that the only reason why 'Big Bad' Bob Swanson was able to keep his job as radio colour man was that he was willing to work for almost nothing. Bob Swanson worked in the largest media market in the country and held the second most prestigious job in sports radio, second only to Jim Gerber's job as play-by-play man. Even though he was driving, Ron Bailey closed his eyes for a second while shaking his head. Ron listened as the diatribe continued. He was as interested in anticipating 'Big Bad Bobby's next screw-up as he was in the score and the time remaining in the game.

"Here's Sullivan stealing the puck at the blue line, a shot right on, the rebound,

THEY SCOOOORE ! Stevie Sullivan brings the Chicago Black Hawks within one as he picks the pocket—"

Ron Bailey pushed in the power button on his car radio so hard it might never come out. He did not want to hear which one of the Leafs defensemen were responsible for the giveaway that led to the goal. He would hear about it over and over again, on the half hourly sports updates, he would read it in the paper the next morning, and he would see it on Sports desk, probably twice. He turned the radio back on. He had to know what was going on.

"Awwww, you know Jim this is starting to look a lot like last week in Pittsburgh when the Leafs were up 4-1 with about half a period to play—I just don't understand!"

That part Ron believed, that "Boob" Swanson just didn't understand anything. He once asked his boss why a moron such as Bob Swanson was allowed to pollute the airwaves, but the Leaf General Manager justified it this way: "I think that Bob Swanson makes everything Jim Gerber says sound that much more intelligent." Ron had to agree. It was part of Ken Butler's job as General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs to decide who was awarded the rights to the Leaf radio broadcasts, but it wasn't up to the general manager to choose who the on air personalities were. He could influence the broadcasters' decisions if he chose to do so. It mattered to the hockey junkies in Toronto that the colour man on the team's radio broadcasts knew what he was talking about. The fact was that Bob Swanson was nothing but a schmoozing, blithering, homer, afflicted with verbal diarrhea that made the listeners ill.

"If the radio ratings are suffering because of who we have as colour man then I have a small problem," Ken Butler said, "if however the ratings are suffering because of how our team is playing," he told Ron, "Then we all have a big problem."

Ken Butler's position was not an easy one, Ron concluded. The General Manager of any business had to be right about all of the decisions he made, but with a hockey team, the 'customers' are the fans, and are so much more passionate about the decisions, as if each one affected them personally. The Leafs' GM had to be right about whom the team selected in the entry draft, right about the trades he made, and right about whom he chose to coach the team. He had to answer not only the team's ownership but also to the fans for these decisions. He would also have to answer for who was chosen as the on-air announcers.

"Two Fifteen left to go in this one as they drop the puck at centre ice, from the face-off

And OH MY! Dave Moore is NA ILED by Ryan Vanden Bussche of the Hawks!"

"Awwww Jim, Moore was just nailed by Vanden Bussche and there's no penalty! I can't believe it!"

"Well there is going to be a penalty as the referee raises his arm. The play is called and Dan Marouelli signals an interference call. So at least the Leafs will be on the power play as this one draws to a close."

Ron was happy about that. If the Leafs had the man advantage there was less chance of them blowing a one-goal lead.

"The Maple Leafs with the extra man, are 0 for 6 tonight, Robert."

"That's right Jim—they have yet to score a power play goal in this game."

Ron wondered if every Leaf fan thought Bob Swanson was the worst case of halitosis that had ever fouled a microphone.

"The Leafs win the draw, the puck goes back to the point, and Korolev picks up the loose puck. It's going to be a race to the net, he's in on goal—he shoots he scores! Igor Korolev! Korolev ties the game on a breakaway as Terry Oddy couldn't handle the pass at the point and was left in the dust. Mother of pearl they have found a way!" the play-by-play man described.

Bob Swanson couldn't help himself. He added, "They've found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, Jim."

"I think you mean that the other way around, but in any event the Toronto Maple Leafs have seen a two goal lead evaporate here in the dying minutes and the only question that remains is can they hold on for the overtime that looms and salvage at least a point out of this one."

Ron had listened to this type of ending too many times this season. Like every other Leaf fan, he knew that ex-Leafs have a way of coming back and killing their former team. It's true that when any player gets traded he wants to show his former bosses that they were wrong—that they still have something left. But with ex-Leafs it was even worse. It wasn't just a coincidence—it seemed that the minute a player got out of Toronto that their play picked up, and the guy looked and felt like he was ten years younger.

"We'll use it to our advantage," the General Manager would tell Ron. "We'll remind the clubs we're trading with that the guy we're dealing will be reborn once he gets out of town."

Ron wondered which one of the Black Hawks was likely to score in overtime, and then it occurred to him. Yes, there were six ex-Leafs on the Chicago roster and two of them, Steve Sullivan and Igor Korolev had already scored in this game. So it stood to reason that one of the others would get the winner in overtime.

"The buzzer goes to end this one. Wait a minute, to end the third period!"

There, it had finally happened. After two seasons of working with Boob Swanson, Jim Gerber was finally being affected. The incompetence was contagious.

"And we'll be back with the overtime in just a moment. You're listening to Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey on the voice of the Leafs, 1430 CKFH."

Ron turned off the radio again as he reached the stop light at Bloor Street. The traffic on his route home from Maple Leaf Gardens did not usually move this fast. But then Ron wouldn't normally be leaving a game before it was over. He had been the Leafs director of player personnel only since the start of the season. The position involved many duties related to the team's roster of players, including the evaluation of prospects, both present and future. It was this duty that was taking him away from tonight's action on the ice. And from the sound of things he would have found it hard to sit through. In fact many of the Leafs games so far this year had been hard to sit through. He felt almost relieved that he had to leave the Gardens early in order to prepare a report for the next morning's organizational meeting. The meeting was to focus on the next step in the 'new direction' the hockey club would be taking. This so-called 'new direction' wasn't really all that new, and it wasn't so much a direction as an admission that they had made a mistake and overestimated the talent at hand.

Ron could not stand the suspense. The overtime would just be starting. If the team could hold on for just five more minutes, and at least come away with a tie, they would end the losing streak.

"We're in overtime," he heard Jim Gerber say, his voice always sounding raspier the longer a broadcast lasted, "and so far this year the Leafs record in the extra frame is 0-7 and 0."

Bob Swanson needed to fill the listeners in on this one. "Jim, the Leafs haven't earned as much as a single point in overtime games yet this year, which is a strong contrast to last season when they were 0-0 and 8. No, wait a minute; that was two years ago. Last season they were 4-2-and 12. Hey, that's not bad!" he commented.

Ron headed up Mount Pleasant Road, and as the play resumed it became painfully obvious that the Leafs were not going to recover from blowing a lead. As Jim Gerber was fond of saying (when referring to the opposition) 'Their collars are becoming just a tad too tight at this juncture.' They were choking, indeed.

"Bryan Berard has just scored from the face-off, and he's being mobbed by his teammates. While we were away, Steve Sullivan won the face-off after Igor Korolev was thrown out of the face-off circle and he drew the puck back to Berard at the point who blasted a shot at the 1:21 mark of overtime! Can you believe it?"

Sadly, Ron Bailey could believe it. He had predicted that an ex-Leaf would score. He had just predicted the wrong one. He forgot about Berard, who left the Leafs after his tragic injury in '99-00. Ron's thoughts turned from the game (a loss which kept the team at winless in January) to the topic of tomorrow's meeting. He could almost hear the General Manager's low steady voice telling his brain trust of his latest decision; the much speculated rebuilding of the team.

"Much was expected of our players as we headed into training camp," the GM would begin, and then would stop to drink from a glass of water he always kept close by. He thought it comical for the GM to begin this way, as it almost looked like a ventriloquist performing the drinking-from-the-glass-while-the-dummy-sings routine. "It looks," the GM would continue, "like the talent on the present roster is not going to be good enough to get us in to the playoffs."

'Yes, it does look that way, even to a blind man,' Ron thought. This decision had been reached about two months earlier, by most fans, and even as far back as last summer for many, when the Leafs failed to sign any free agents or make any major deals to improve the team. In fact it seemed as if they were going in the opposite direction, trading away a couple of the team's leading scorers while getting little in return. The media had portrayed it that way—that the team had been dumping big contracts in order to improve the bottom line. It was no secret that the team was for sale. Owning the Toronto Maple Leafs would be the ultimate sports high for any deep-pocketed suit in Toronto. The club had been for sale since its former owner had died from cancer, and left the team to the Salvation Army in his will. The charity was eager to complete the sale and use the funds to construct a new hospice for the homeless. The conditions of the will were bizarre, however, and called for many convoluted conditions to be met before the charity could sell the team. The will was being contested in court indefinitely.

"If a deal goes through, a new ownership group will want their own people in place, and we may all be looking for work," the GM had once said. "It may not matter—we may all be dead and buried before ownership changes."

Ron wasn't afraid of being out of work—it's just that it was a treat to finally be able to work in his home town.

As he neared his Avoca Avenue apartment, Ron began to mentally organize the project that had him leave the Gardens early that night. The club was preparing to make a big trade, and while the trade deadline was more than two months away, the offers had already started to become interesting. Part of Ron's job was to organize and collect all data relating to the evaluation of the players involved in prospective trades. His report would help to assess offers the club had received; the first one, from the Pittsburgh Penguins involved Vaclaz Artis, the Leafs leading scorer. Artis was a young Czechoslovakian who was having his best season since his rookie season four years ago, but who was unhappy with his contract, and had demanded a trade (although the media were not yet aware of this.)

Artis was a skilled play maker, but he wasn't a hard worker and this was a team desperately in need ofleadership. Ron had to update the file on the three young prospects being baited.

The second trade offer came from Dallas, and the Stars wanted the Leafs goalie, John Dennis, who was a spectacular playoff performer but who had struggled recently, and who was now considered expendable. Another big contract was the obstacle here. Dallas was offering a decent defenseman, but there was some concern about the player's health.

The third offer was from Carolina, and was perhaps more to the Leafs liking. The Hurricanes wanted Artis and David Burks, the one-time point man on the power play who now was getting a bit grey in the whiskers, and who also was making big bucks. The Hurricanes offered two former first-round picks and a second-round draft choice. The General Manager wasn't too interested in draft choices, which he called, 'Like stock in a company that no one has ever heard of.' The two prospects involved hadn't panned out in the NHL, and Ron had to dig up every shred of dirt that there was on these two. He also had to research all of the draft information available from three years ago, and try to find out if there was any reason to think that they might still be worth their draft selection.

As Ron entered his apartment he noticed that the red light on his answering machine was flashing. He hit the replay button while he thumbed through his mail. Only the new copy of Canadian Sports card Collector caught his attention as he heard the first message.

"Ron, its Ken Butler. I just wanted to remind you of our 9:00 tomorrow. I'll need that report on the analysis of the three offers. See you!" That was it, short and to the point as most of the General Manager's messages were. Ron could never understand why the General Manager found it necessary to call and remind everyone of the meetings he scheduled. The last thing that was said to him as he left the building was, "See you at the meeting tomorrow, 9:00 sharp!"

It was almost as if the General Manager thought he wasn't important enough for people to remember to attend his meetings—he was constantly sending reminders as if his worst fear was to walk into a meeting room and find no one there.

Ron listened to the next message: "Hey Bailey, its Moore. I wanted to thank you for those shitty seats you got for my in-laws. Thanks a lot—awful nice of you, asshole!" CLICK.

That was expected of David Moore, Leafs defenseman (who was known as Shithead Moore in the dressing room.) He was the one who bitched about everything, from the kind of drinks in the trainer's room to the length of the bus ride from the hotel to the practice rink. Now he was complaining about the complimentary pair of gold seats he had been given for his in-laws. They were Ron's personal season's tickets, which although in the corner, were still close to the ice.

"How did they like the price, Shithead?" Ron wondered, as he fired up his lap top and began to prepare his report for the morning.

"Maple Leaf Gardens, this stop"

Ron took the TTC to the Gardens the next morning. Riding on the subway was a welcomed change from driving. He appreciated the opportunity to read the morning sports rather than trying to listen to it on the radio. As he turned the pages of The Globe he noticed the headline around Neil Power's column LEAFS TO DEAL AR TIS FOR FUTURE ? The article went on to state

"The future is not now for the Toronto Maple Leafs but rather tomorrow, or the next day. This is a franchise that has many tomorrows but not very many todays. Since Ken Butler took over this club he has made many shrewd moves, including stealing Vaclav Artis from the New York Rangers for some yesterdays. But now he must admit that while this team was built for today (meaning the present) the Leafs present is not very pretty. They sit three points out of 30th place in a 30-team league. This team was designed around playoff-savvy veterans for today, and the hell with tomorrow. But tomorrow is finally here, and the Leafs are not. Ken Butler has realized that this team is not even good enough to make the playoffs and so the direction has changed again; they will trade today for tomorrow. Artis will be dealt, likely to the Carolina Hurricanes for Radim Vrbata, Mike Zigomanis and a draft choice. These players are not household names now, but perhaps they will be. After all, as Scarlet O'Hara said, 'Tomorrow is another day"

Ron sighed and closed the paper. He would never stop being amazed by the ability of the media to uncover facts like the details of a trade that was supposedly confidential. Every team had what the media referred to as a 'mole', and the Leafs were no different. No one knew for sure, but the suspected mole on the Toronto club was the media relation's director Tommy Stukko.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from THE GHOSTS IN MAPLE LEAF GARDENS by RICK FERGUSON. Copyright © 2013 Rick Ferguson. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

He Shoots ... He Scores, 1,
"Maple Leaf Gardens, this stop", 9,
The Centre of the Universe, 20,
The Way It Was, 39,
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, 51,
Got 'em ... got 'em ... need 'em, 59,
The prospect from Tulsa, 65,
Where everybody knows your name, 81,
The men in black, 95,
Coach's corner, 111,
The Leafs I Knew, 118,
Get your tickets early for the media circus, 139,
A 'Three Pipe' problem, 147,
"The weather today in Montreal is ...", 156,
New York, New York, 161,
The last cuts are the deepest, 166,
"Hello out there ... we're on the air", 183,
A 'Le Mans' start, 195,
"God ... I love Florida!", 201,
On the road again, 210,
'Same old Leafs', 214,
Winter wonderland, 226,
Two solitudes, 232,
The good old hockey game, 238,
The Bomber returns to Toronto, 245,
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!", 257,
Busher Jackson comes back, 269,
You've always got time for Tim Horton, 275,
The All Star bleak, 279,
The dead trade line, 297,
Post season or post mortem, 314,
A little money riding on the Maple Leafs', 327,
"In Philadelphia, it's worth fifty bucks!", 356,
'Start spreading the news', 379,
Never on a Sunday, 398,
"Hello, Canada", 419,
The Maple Leaf Forever, 447,