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(Ed. Note: Well, here it is. The long gestating Toronto Maple Leafs Eulogy. Usually, we have the fans that hate eliminated teams the most be the ones to remember them fondly. But since the Leafs making the playoffs was such a monumental deal, we decided to go in another direction: Allowing the caustic Leas fans from Pension Plan Puppets to eulogize their own team. Here’s what happens when year of cynicism collides with sudden adoration for a Leafs team that lost in seven to the Bruins.)
By Pension Plan Puppets
Today we say goodbye to the 2012-13 Toronto Maple Leafs.
We come not to mourn their passing, but to celebrate how the 2012-13 Toronto Maple Leafs lived, loved and were led by a great man known as Randolph Robert Carlyle.
The world will long remember these Leafs for their ability to generate quality shots and for limiting their opponents’ quality chances.
Hockey fans, no matter their allegiance, will recall this team for the terror they struck in the hearts of the opposition by playing not one, but two enforcers for a few short minutes each night.
The 2012-13 Leafs will be remembered for changing their culture. They will be, and should be, remembered by the Jack Adams-worthy work of Coach Randy Carlyle.
GettyIf Coach Carlyle had to summarize this year’s Leafs in a single word, the word he would choose is “team toughness.”
As team founder Conn Smythe famously said, “if you can’t beat ‘em in the alley, you can’t beat ‘em on the ice” and nothing proves team toughness more than mutually agreed upon fights between fourth liners who barely see the ice (look all the way down to players 25 and 26).
The 2012-13 Leafs led the NHL with 44 fighting majors, and, as Coach Carlyle has taught fans everywhere -- teams cannot succeed in the NHL unless you’re willing to drop the mitts almost
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