On Nov. 5, the Hockey Hall of Fame honours its latest inductees. What if this year the Leaf faithful had a say?
THEY ARE THE energy guys, the brawlers, the checking defencemen and the less-than-perfect but totally memorable goaltenders. In a hockey town such as Toronto, fans fall in love with the most colourful of characters — the ones that hearken back to hockey’s heyday.
When talk turns to fan favourites, the name Wendel Clark is never far behind. One of the most popular Leafs,well, in history, Clark’s rugged play and penchant for the odd brouhaha, combined with a deft scoring touch, endeared him to Leafs fans for all time.
This was also the case with Dave “Tiger” Williams, who was a record setter in the penalty-minutes category (he still holds the all-time mark for career penalty minutes), but despite his time in the box, he managed to pot quite a few goals, as well. Williams’s enthusiasm for the game is legendary, and despite being traded to those bums in Vancouver, he is still considered one of the most popular Maple Leafs. These guys might take their playing style from another legendary Leaf by the name of Eddie Shack.
The novelty song “Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack” was entitled in his honour. Shack spent five seasons as the Leafs chief agitator and won a Stanley Cup with the team in 1967.
And who can forget goaltender Mike Palmateer — the born-and-bred Torontonian was unlike any other goalie in the league, and that wasn’t always a good thing: nicknamed the Popcorn Kid, Palmateer was cocky, colourful and always entertaining — or even a Leafs legend such as Bill Barilko, immortalized in song by the Tragically Hip. Despite being a checking defencemen, he ended up scoring a Stanley Cup winning goal in 1951, then promptly disappeared. His body was found 11 years later.
The list goes on and on. Steve “Stumpy” Thomas quickly endeared himself to Leafs fans, as did Darcy Tucker. Other fan favourites include scoring machine Rick Vaive as well as spark plugs such as Peter Zezel and Bill Derlago. If there were an NHL hall of fame for fan favourites, surely it would be plastered with Leafs’ blue and white.
