Toronto was founded on November 22, 1917, by Eddie Livingstoneas. 
The Toronto Arena's replaced the Quebec Bulldogs. The Arena's 
became the St.Patricks in 1919. On Feb. 14, 1927 Conn Smythe took over the
struggling Toronto Arena's, remained them the Maple Leafs and the 
Toronto Maple Leafs were born on that day.


	In 1931, Conn Smythe went to work on building a ice palace for the
Maple Leafs. The Arena was built during the great depression where 
investment funds were scarce and financiers were skeptical. Smythe and his 
assistant Frank Selke used there negotiating skills to convince members of 
the business community such as Eaton's and Sun Life Insurance to invest. 
Eaton's eventually agreed to sell the plot of land on which the Arena now
stands to Smythe's group for $350,000.  

	In spring of 1931, demolition began at the corner of Church and 
Carlton Streets, and construction began in late May. The Arena was designed
by architects Ross and MacDonald and it was built by the Thomason Brothers.
Construction costs were minimized as a result of agreements made with
labor unions to provide the workers with stock in place of 20% of their 
regular earnings. Over 1,200 labors were employed on the project and they 
ended up building the arena in only six months. Conn Symthe then named 
his new arena Maple Leaf Gardens.

	Opening night was November 12, 1931. Tickets ranged from only 
$0.95 to $2.75. The first game in Maple Leaf Gardens saw the Chicago 
Blackhawks defeat the Maple Leafs 2-1. Their first season in the Gardens 
ended up ending in story book fashion because the Maple Leafs ended up 
defeating the New York American's in the finals and they won the
Stanley Cup.

	Even though the Maple Leafs had a great team through the 30's they
did not enjoy another Stanley Cup victory till the 40's

	In 1942 the Toronto Maple Leafs made history. The Leafs rallied 
after losing the first three games to the Detroit Red Wings to come back
and win the next four games and take the Stanley Cup back home to Toronto.
That was the first and only time a team has ever comeback from being down
three games to nothing to come back and win the Cup in the finals.

	In 1943 many of the Toronto Maple Leafs players hung up there 
skate's so they could go and fight in World War 2.
	
	Conn Smythe added many new players to join the Maple Leafs that 
were returning from the war. By doing so they won the Stanley Cup in 
1947, 48, and 49.

	In 1947 the Leaf's Howie Meeker set a league record by scoring 
five times in a single game. Meeker went on to win the Rookie Of The Year
Award by defeating the legend Gordie Howe for the honors.

	The 1948 and 1949 Stanley Cup victories were both sweeps over the 
Detroit Red Wings.

	The 1950's saw the arrival of two of the greatest Maple Leafs of 
all time, George Armstrong the chief of the Maple Leafs and the Leafs 
iron man the legend Tim Horton.

	The Leafs 1951 Stanley Cup victory went from Triump to Tragedy when
Bill Barilko who had just gotten the game winning overtime, Stanley Cup 
winning goal over the Montreal Canadians died when he plane crashed.

	In 1957 Conn Smythe after spending thirty glorious years with the
Leafs decided to give control to his son, Stafford Smythe.
	
	The early and late 1960's are fondly remembered by Leaf fans, with 
such players as George Armstrong, Terry Sawchuk, Johnny Bower and the 
great Frank Mahovlich the Leafs were able to win the Stanley Cup in 
1962, 63, 64, and 1967.	

	After the 1967 victory the Leafs management decided to rebuild, so
they decided to trade Frank Mahovlich in a trade which allowed Norm Ullman,
Paul Henderson and Floyd Smith to come to Toronto.

	A 1970 first round draft pick changed the Leafs forever when they
signed in my opinion the greatest Maple Leaf of all time Darryl Sittler.
Sittler is best known for his February 7, 1976 game against the Boston
Bruins when he had a unbelievable night by scoring six times and added
four assists in a 11-4 victory. Darrly Sittler is still the only man to
have a ten point night and it's a record that will probably never be 
broken.

	The Leafs continued to rebuild threw out the 1970's by signing 
such players as Lanny McDonald, Dave "Tiger" Williams and from the Sweden
national team Borge Salming, the greatest Swedish defencmen of all time.

	The best playoff performance for the Leafs was in 1978 when the 
Leafs defeated the heavily favored NY Islanders in the Quarter-Finals, when
Lanny McDonald scored the memorable series winning goal at 4:13 into 
overtime of game seven.

	There were only a few bright spots in the early 80's for the Leafs.
In 1981 Wilf "The Wolf" Paiment set a Leaf record for a right wing by 
getting 97 points. Another bright spot was Rick Vaive he had three 50 goal
seasons.

	Also in 1985 the Leafs signed rookie Wendal Clark. He had a very 
positive effect on the Leafs, his competitiveness spirit restored the 
Leafs self confidence and it gave the Leafs a leader.

	In 1990 the Leafs signed a great young goalie by the name of 
Felix Potvin. Potvin has steadily developed into one of the best goalie's
in the NHL. In 1993 Potvin was a finalist for Rookie Of The Year and he
has already played in two All-star games.

	In the playoffs of 1993 and 94 we saw the Leafs demonstrate their 
confidence and teamwork by reaching the final four two year's in a row. It
also showed that the Leafs can still compete for the Stanley Cup.

	The 1994 entry draft was very dramatic because it saw Wendal Clark
being traded to the Quebec Noriques for Mats Sundin. The Leafs fans missed
Clark, but enjoyed seeing Mats Sundin flying down the ice with his great
moves and putting the puck in the net.

	In March of 1996 the Leafs brought back Wendal Clark and along with
him came one of the leagues best defencmen Mathieu Schneider and the hard 
working checker Darby Hendrickson.

	Late last year the Maple Leafs another huge trade when they sent 
Doug Gilmour and Dave Elliet to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for 
Steve Sullivan, Jason Smith and Ayln McCaluley.

	The Toronto Maple Leafs offically moved out of Maple Leaf Gardens 
February 13 and moved in to the new Air Canada Centre 
on February 20 of 1999. 

 The Maple Leafs won there first game February 20th 1999, by defeating
the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in OT. Todd Warriner was the first player to
ever score a goal in the Air Canada Centre. The goal happened at 6:04
of the first period with Markov, and D. King getting the assists.

 The Air Canada Centre, located right in the downtown core, will be 
a world-class sports and entertainment facility and will be the premier 
arena for professional hockey and basketball in North America. 

 Designed with the fans in mind, the focus is on intimacy and customer
experience. The seating capacity for hockey will be 19,500 (including 
1,500 fans in 150 Suites and 300 in Standing Room) with excellent 
sight-lines throughout. 

 The facility will also house a club restaurant and bar with a view
of the ice. There will be televisions throughout the building,
including all washrooms. One percent of seating in the building
has been designed for the disabled, offering
physically-challenged individuals a choice of various ticket
prices. 

 The Air Canada Centre will have all of the characteristics of a
first-class, technology-advanced facility while maintaining the
spirit and legend associated with that of Maple Leaf Gardens.




	



Email:  chrisleafspage@hotmail.com