By Brian Baker
On Canadian soil, in sudden death overtime, Sidney Crosby took the feed from Jarome Iginla, tied up in the corner, and snapped the puck through a small sliver of daylight that U.S. goalie Ryan Miller failed to block.
The passion and celebration that ensued over the “Golden Goal” at the Winter Olympics in 2010 [...more]

By Brian Baker
Much like the World Hockey Association of the 1970s, the Kontinental Hockey League in recent years sparked fears in the NHL that high-profile players would be stolen from North American pro teams.

By Brian Baker
The history surrounding diversity and the changing face of the National Hockey League has the makings of a classic espionage novel.
In particular, the story of the Stastny brothers, Peter and Anton, raises intrigue with their defection from Czechoslovakia with the help of the Quebec Nordiques organization.
In 1980, Peter went to Innsbruck, Austria [...more]

By Brian Baker
He treated coaches and players abysmally. He angered fans who thought he drove the Leafs onto the bottom rungs of the NHL ladder. And he served a year at Milhaven Penitentiary for tax evasion.
But after Harold Ballard, full owner of the Maple Leafs upon Stafford Smythe’s passing in 1972, died himself in 1990 [...more]

By Brian Baker
The hallowed shrine to Canada’s sport — where every record, every artefact of relevance is stored — is the Hockey Hall of Fame.
However, the building that houses all the trophies, jerseys of legends and various trinkets wasn’t always at its Toronto location at 30 Yonge St.

By Brian Baker
Feb. 7, 1976 will forever be known as a record-breaking day for Leafs Nation.
With goaltending great Gerry Cheevers on the bench, Boston Bruins coach Don Cherry played his young backup Dave Reece against Toronto.

By David J. Bercuson
The struggle to unseat the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, and keep it from returning to power, is Canada’s longest war by far. On September 11, 2001 terrorists hijacked four US passenger planes; they crashed two of them into the World Trade Center in New York City, destroying the center, and [...more]

By David J. Bercuson
On September 15 and 16, 1993 a battalion of the Canadian Army engaged in battle for the first time since the end of the Korean War 40 years before. The Canadian battalion — 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) — was defending the approaches to Medak, a small [...more]

By Brian Baker
What is hockey without play-by-play announcing?
Since the days when families would gather around their cathedral radios of the 1930s, the voice of one sportscaster or another would capture the imaginations of Canadians.
Toronto Maple Leafs games were first aired November 1931 on Canadian National Railways Radio, a precursor to the CBC.

By David J. Bercuson
Canada is the only country in the western world that has a single unified military instead of an army, navy and air force. This unified military, named the Canadian Armed Forces, came into existence on February 1, 1968 just as the separate Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force [...more]

By Brian Baker
The farm system has been crucial in building some of the Maple Leafs’ greatest teams.
At the centre of development have been the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association, St. John’s Maple Leafs of the American Hockey League, and St. Michael’s Majors who fed the Marlboros.
On top of these minor league squads the [...more]

By David J. Bercuson
Canada was once one of the world’s most active countries in United Nations peacekeeping operations. In fact, Canadians took pride that their soldiers did not really fight wars from the late 1950s to the mid-1990s but instead put on United Nations blue helmets to help warring nations turn from the battle field [...more]

By Brian Baker
War was brewing for the National Hockey League in the early 1970s.
The source of ire for then-president Clarence Campbell was a new competitive hockey league started by California businessmen Dennis Murphy and Gary Davidson.
The two had jumped on the disputed reserve clause that bound players to NHL teams after their contracts expired with [...more]

By David J. Bercuson
Most Canadians probably knew nothing of Korea in the late spring of 1950. The Second World War was five years in the past and the more than a million Canadians who had fought the war were getting married, having children and settling into civilian life.

By Brian Baker
It cradles the booming voices, the vocal chords thrumming in jubilation as Toronto scores a goal.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs there have been three such homes, increasing in capacity through the years to welcome more members to their family.

By David J. Bercuson
Canada declared war on Germany on September 10, 1939 largely to support Britain and France which had declared war on September 3. At that time, Canada was a nation of just under 11.5 million people and one large group — the French Canadians — had traditionally shown themselves to be wary of [...more]

The synergy continues: our multilingual Canadian history series and the cultural community outreach of Maple Leaf Sports + Entertainment through, in part, their designated Cultural Heritage nights and other special events at Toronto Maple Leafs, Marlies and Raptors games.
Tomorrow (Friday) night, at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre for the MLSE’s South Asian Night/Raptors game, our series [...more]

By Brian Baker
The National Hockey League has its own list of names that will be forever immortalized. Besides the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 1960s dynasty, we can identify eight other periods in time when one team ruled.

By David J. Bercuson
Canada was not even an independent nation when it fought its costliest war ever, the First World War, which for Canada began on August 4, 1914. When the war ended on November 11, 1918, Canada’s soldiers — indeed Canada’s entire war effort — gained a vital step on the road to full [...more]

The last time Leafs Nation got to see their team hoist the Stanley Cup was at the tail end of their very own dynasty.

By Norman Hillmer
Canadian governments have been unsuccessful in describing their foreign policy. Prime ministers Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin each published glossy booklets outlining Canada’s role in the world. All were full of incoherent generalities and all were quickly forgotten.

As you may already have noticed Maple Leaf Sports + Entertainment (MLSE) has proudly supported The Canadian Experience series. We in turn have been proud to share the culture of hockey with our New Mainstream® audience through our special Canada’s Hockey Experience series on this site; but we’re also excited about new [...more]

By Norman Hillmer
As Canada emerged from the shelter of the British Empire after the Second World War, its foreign policy wore the sunny smile of Lester B. Pearson. Pearson’s amiable nickname was Mike, his boyish looks and breezy personality conveying the enthusiasm and innovation of a country coming into its own in the world.

By Brian Baker
The Stanley Cup may be the most prestigious trophy in hockey, but several others are also highly prized in the NHL.
The President’s Cup was first awarded in 1985–86 to the team with the best record during the regular season. Edmonton Oilers won it in its inaugural season.

By J.L. Granatstein
Frank Underhill was a noted Canadian historian a half century ago, even if he is now almost forgotten. But he wrote one sentence that still rings true:  Canadians, he said, were the first anti-Americans, the ideal anti-Americans, the anti-Americans as they exist in the mind of God. In no period of Canadian history [...more]

By Brian Baker
What is professional hockey without honouring its stars?
Since its inception 93 years ago, the NHL has doled out a cache of hardware to its top athletes. Lord Stanley’s Cup is the top honour but it wasn’t an NHL exclusive until 1926.

By J.L. Granatstein
“The Americans are our best friends,” one Canadian politician told the House of Commons early in the 1960s, “whether we like it or not.” Whether we like it or not. In other words, Canadians had no choice but to be close to the Americans, the economic, military and political superpower.

By Brian Baker
“Bill Barilko disappeared that summer, he was on a fishing trip,” Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip sings in the tune “Fifty Mission Cap”. He continues: “The last goal he scored won the Leafs the Cup.”
Indeed, on April 21, 1951, the Maple Leafs defenceman, all of 24 years old, snapped a point [...more]

By J.L. Granatstein
In the year before World War I began, celebrations abounded along the Canada-United States border. It was 100 years since the end of the War of 1812, and orators at great banquets in both countries hailed the century of peace between Canada and the U.S. The “undefended border” between the two North American [...more]

By Brian Baker
During the Maple Leafs dynasty of the 1960s a significant move was about to be made— one that would change the National Hockey League forever.
On March 11, 1965, league president Clarence Campbell announced the league expansion. Whether it was supported by Canadian fans though was another story.