The Passion that Unites us All

Sawchuk and Bower

The team that stands the test of my time are the Toronto Maple Leafs, who when I was able to watch my first game in 1961-62 season became my Gods of Olympus. The names of Bower, Army, Pulford, Horton were barely known to me then. Heck I had not even discovered hockey cards until 1963 as I found a card, dirty, snow covered on my way home.
    I wiped off the grime and snow and stared at it just I was walking home from school at Frankland Public, my Grade 2 class, and it was an unknown item to me.  It was a card with a picture of a man, maybe my fathers age in a uniform, with a stick in his hand. I stood for at least 30 seconds, turned it over, and the name was Bathgate, Andrew, he apparently played in New York, and had a C on his shirt.
    I took it home and showed my mother, who asked me why I was picking up stuff from the ground !!  That night when my Dad got home, I asked him if we could drive to Kirkpatricks on Broadview Ave, just at the Danforth.  I was hooping I could get a hockey stick. He said after dinner we could go, so it then I got the bug, having my own stick meant I needed a net, a puck, skates, and the backyard was flooded in January, and my Dad made me my first net out of old pipes, and a new nylon netting.
    That winter I was able to watch the first period with Foster and Bill Hewitt, then bedtime, bath and to dream about this new discovery, the game of hockey.
    Such are the humble beginnings of a rabid Leaf fan.