The Maple Leafs held a Fan Day event at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday. <\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
During the Leafs Fan Day event on Thursday, head coach Craig Berube<\/a> decided to take a turn in the shootout competition. <\/p>\n \u201cI was a little worried,\u201d the 60-year-old said. \u201cI felt not bad. But then I thought if I tried to make a move I might fall and that wouldn\u2019t be good so I opted to just shoot it.\u201d<\/p>\n Joseph Woll<\/a> easily turned aside the shot. <\/p>\n \u201cNot very good, eh,\u201d Berube said with a grin.<\/p>\n If Berube is feeling the pressure of a disappointing Leafs season, he\u2019s doing a pretty good job hiding it. There\u2019s a lot of noise in Toronto about how the Leafs fell from the top of the Atlantic Division to the bottom in just one season. <\/p>\n Berube expects nothing less. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a huge hockey market,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been in Philadelphia where it\u2019s a pretty big sports market too, not just hockey, but all the sports. There comes criticism with not doing well and that\u2019s part of the game and you gotta understand that that\u2019s just the way it is and you gotta deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Is it tougher in Toronto than Philadelphia? <\/p>\n \u201cSame,\u201d said Berube, who guided the small-market St. Louis Blues<\/a> to a Stanley Cup in 2019. \u201cI love this. I love it here. I think it\u2019s a great place. I really do. I get there\u2019s pressure that comes with playing here but, at the same time, I\u2019d rather have the pressure than no pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n The autopsy on the Leafs season is well underway in Toronto even though the body is still warm. The franchise is about to see its nine-year run of playoff appearances come to a crashing end. Even the market itself is taking some blame for what\u2019s happened. <\/p>\n During a recent interview on TSN 1050\u2019s OverDrive program, former NHLer Pat Maroon suggested all the media attention adds to the pressure on the Leafs. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of pressure outside the building and that\u2019s what you want when you play in Canada,\u201d said defenceman Troy Stecher<\/a>, who is playing in his eighth NHL city. \u201cYou\u2019re the star of the show. So, sure, there\u2019s pressure but, at the end of the day, we put a lot more pressure on ourselves than people think. It\u2019s how you handle it as an individual. In my opinion, pressure\u2019s a privilege. We\u2019re very fortunate to be in this spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Claimed off waivers from the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> in November, Stecher immediately made an impression with the Leafs and earned a regular spot in the lineup. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not trying to talk poorly of past places, but I played in Arizona where we played in front of 4,000 fans, you know, so those aren\u2019t very fun days either,\u201d the 31-year-old pointed out. \u201cSo very fortunate to be part of this organization and play in front of the support that we have. And just how much everyone cares, it\u2019s a really unique situation to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, there\u2019s criticism from the fan base and media at times, but there\u2019s also a lot of unconditional love. On Thursday, a crowd of 8,200 packed the lower bowl at Scotiabank Arena and cheered on the players as they completed drills and played some 3-on-3 hockey. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable how they stick with you and stay behind you,\u201d said centre John Tavares<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve noticed that on a day like today and certainly through the last number of home games with the difficult stretch that we\u2019ve been through here of late. Just the continued support that we get, it doesn\u2019t get lost [on me], personally, or the group.\u201d<\/p>\n Toronto has dropped nine of its last 10 home games. <\/p>\n The Fan Day event ended with Tavares passing an Auston Matthews<\/a> stick to a fan, who will be invited back for a game next season. <\/p>\n \u201cSeeing the excitement the young boy had to come to a Leafs game next year and get Auston\u2019s stick and just the emotional reaction was pretty amazing,\u201d the 35-year-old from Oakville, Ont. said. <\/p>\n Leafs not buying into the narrative that ‘Toronto is a tough place to play’ The Maple Leafs have failed to meet expectations this season and that’s led to commentary about Toronto being a tough place to play, but as Mark Masters reports, the current Leafs aren’t buying that narrative. <\/p>\n — <\/p>\n It felt like the Leafs needed a day like this. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat it does is it brings in some fun here today,\u201d Berube said. \u201cA lot of times when you\u2019re going through tough times you forget that the game\u2019s fun. You\u2019re playing the game because you love to play the game. Yes, it becomes a job and you get paid and all that, but today\u2019s none of that. It\u2019s just about having fun and enjoying the game today and giving back to all our fans and the community that supports us so well.\u201d<\/p>\n Defenceman Brandon Carlo<\/a>, who has not scored in an NHL game since Oct. 14, 2024, opened the scoring in the 3-on-3 competition. Stecher scored next and blew kisses to the crowd. <\/p>\n Steven Lorentz<\/a>, who snapped a 29-game drought with a goal on Tuesday, pulled off a great move in the shootout. <\/p>\n \u201cI went by \u2018Chief\u2019 [Berube] and said, \u2018Were you watching?\u2019 and he looked away,\u201d Lorentz said with a wide smile.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty nice, I gotta admit,\u201d Berube said. \u201cI was impressed.\u201d<\/p>\n There were plenty of reasons to smile on Thursday afternoon. <\/p>\n During an interview on the bench with legendary play-by-play voice Joe Bowen that was played on the video board, defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson<\/a> revealed that his newborn son will be named Louis William. <\/p>\n \u201cYou guys probably think it\u2019s named after Willy [Nylander], but it\u2019s not,\u201d Ekman-Larsson said to laughs.<\/p>\n At one point Bowen, who will retire at the end of the season, handed the microphone to Lorentz and had him call some of the action. <\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019m going to stick to my job,\u201d Lorentz said. \u201cLuckily enough [Max] Domi scored so I was able to do a \u2018Holy Mackinaw!\u2019 so that was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n The crowd roared every time a goal went in. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is probably one of the loudest crowds all year,\u201d Domi told Bowen during another interview. <\/p>\n For Lorentz, who grew up a Leafs fan in Kitchener, Ont., it was a full-circle moment. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a great all-around day,\u201d he said. \u201cYou got a bunch of screaming kids and they\u2019re having a good time. I remember doing that when I was a kid, too. My dad texted me before and just said, \u2018Enjoy it. Remember when you were able to do that as a young guy.\u2019 So, it was cool to be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n The March break crowd enjoyed seeing some of the Leafs players take part in a spirited game of \u2018Simon Says\u2019 led by professional Simon Sez caller Steve Max. <\/p>\n Lorentz was among the first to be eliminated. <\/p>\n \u201cClearly I got to work on my listening a little bit,\u201d he quipped. <\/p>\n Woll edged out winger Nick Robertson to be the last Leaf standing. <\/p>\n \u201cI was pretty impressed,\u201d Berube said. \u201cI mean, that guy was quick. I don\u2019t think I would\u2019ve lasted very long, but he did well.\u201d<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Even the player dogs got in on the fun with a race near the end of the event. Stecher\u2019s nine-year-old dog Phoebe posted the fastest time. <\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s in her element, man,\u201d Stecher beamed. \u201cBernese Mountain Dog [on] ice, she\u2019s happy out there, so proud dad. I got her my rookie year in Vancouver … very well travelled. She\u2019s still got it just like her dad.\u201d<\/p>\n Matthew Knies<\/a> struggled to get his dog Zoe off the mark, which led to some good-natured ribbing. <\/p>\n \u201cHe spent a lot of money training that dog and I think a few guys have given it to him,\u201d Lorentz confirmed. \u201cYeah, not Zoe\u2019s best performance. I\u2019ve babysat Zoe a few times and she\u2019s usually a pretty good listener, but clearly she didn\u2019t want to run to Kniesy today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, there\u2019s probably a lot of things that will be said,\u201d Tavares grinned. \u201cNot Kniesy\u2019s best performance.\u201d<\/p>\n — <\/p>\n Before the Leafs took the ice on Thursday, the Toronto Sceptres of the PWHL put on a similar skills showcase for the fans. Blayre Turnbull was asked if her or any of her teammates were starstruck spending time around the Leafs. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty normal for us,\u201d the Sceptres captain said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the great thing about what our league has done, it\u2019s kind of given us a platform to feel like we\u2019re professionals too. The Leafs have been around forever and it\u2019s cool to get to interact with NHL players but, for us, we feel like we\u2019re professionals. So, not saying we\u2019re on the same level as the Leafs by any means, but I don\u2019t think we\u2019re at the point any more when we\u2019re starstruck by NHL players too much.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sceptres, who joined the Leafs on the ice at the end of the event, are hoping to spend a little more time with the NHLers at next year\u2019s event. <\/p>\n \u201cMaybe be out there on the ice with the guys for a portion of the 3-on-3 or some of the skills competitions,\u201d suggested Renata Fast. \u201cI think that would be really fun.\u201d <\/p>\n The Leafs are thinking the same thing. <\/p>\n \u201cI thought maybe their winning team was going to play our winning team,\u201d said Lorentz. \u201cI think that would\u2019ve been cool. That would\u2019ve been a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe we go see their dressing room [at Coca-Cola Coliseum] next time instead of them coming here,\u201d Stecher said. <\/p>\n Sceptres not starstruck by Leafs at Fan Day; Fast hopes to play 3-on-3 with them next time The Sceptres participated in Thursday’s Fan Day in Toronto but there were no starstruck moments for Blayre Turnbull being next to the Leafs. Renata Fast shared her takeaways about one improvement that can be made for next year. <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Morgan Rielly<\/a> (flu) missed the Fan Day event.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n The Leafs announced on Thursday that Matthews underwent successful surgery to repair a MCL tear in his left knee. The star centre sustained the injury on a knee-on-knee hit by Anaheim Ducks<\/a> defenceman Radko Gudas<\/a> last Thursday. <\/p>\n Berube caught up with Matthews on Tuesday. <\/p>\n \u201cHe seemed OK,\u201d the coach said. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s a tough situation for him. You know, it\u2019s like [a] rollercoaster … He wins gold [at the Olympics], he comes back, we\u2019re not doing well, then he gets injured. A lot of up and down with him and it\u2019s tough. It\u2019s a tough way to go about things. But, like I said, that\u2019s the way it is right now and he\u2019ll deal with it and we\u2019ll do what we have to do to get him back healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n The recovery time is approximately 12 weeks. <\/p>\n Johnston details Matthews’ recovery timeline, heated exchange at NHL GM meetings TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston details the recovery timeline for Auston Matthews after Toronto’s captain underwent successful MCL surgery Thursday, the NHLPA seeking more player feedback on supplementary discipline, the fallout from the heated exchange between Gary Bettman and Eric Tulsky at the NHL GM meetings, and more. <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Lines at Thursday\u2019s practice: <\/p>\n Maccelli – Tavares – Cowan<\/p>\n Knies – Domi – Nylander<\/p>\n Joshua – Groulx – Robertson<\/p>\n Lorentz – Quillan – Jarnkrok<\/p>\n Myers* – Carlo<\/p>\n McCabe – Stecher<\/p>\n Benoit – Ekman-Larsson<\/p>\n *Rielly (flu) is absent<\/p>\n Woll<\/p>\n Stolarz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Maple Leafs held a Fan Day event at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday. — During the Leafs Fan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[4759,5,20,5172,4,66,31,32467,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-512642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-maple-leafs","11":"tag-mapleleafs","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-toronto","14":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","15":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-10","16":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116259662331213970","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}