leafs Page 12 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Justin Bieber Is A More Dedicated Sports Fan Than You
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: the Biebs is a Maple Leafs fan, so he can't be a bandwagoner, right?...

Wade Belak, Another NHL Enforcer, Found Dead (UPDATE: A Suicide, According To <em>Toronto Sun</em>)
Longtime NHL defenseman Wade Belak, who spent much of his career with the Maple Leafs, was found dead at 35 today in his Toronto hotel, according to a report from QMI Agency in Canada....

Maple Leafs' Swedish Goalie Prospect Is A Terrible Rapper
Toronto signed Mark "In Da Park" Owuya, a 21-year-old goalie prospect from Sweden, to an entry-level contract on Thursday. Last season, Da Park had a 2.18 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage in goal for Djurgarden, of the Swedish Elite League....

One Ref's Fall Over A Ceremonial Carpet Is Another Ref's Fall Over The Same Ceremonial Carpet
We're not sure where this clip came from, as the Leafs missed out on the playoffs for the sixth straight year this season, but sometimes — like when two men whose job it is to be alert on ice fail to observe and avoid the same ceremonial carpet laid out in front of them, for example — context just...

Here's What Happens When A Same-Sex Couple Considers Kissing On Kiss-Cam
Now that the world has deemed the humorous display of two people of the same gender not kissing on the kiss-cam to be homophobic, what will the world make of the kiss-cam cutting away when two people of the same gender are poised to kiss? Is it homophobic? Is it funny? Does it make you angry?...

The Hardest Hit In Last Night's Maple Leafs-Flyers Game Was In Warm-Ups
Dion Phaneuf and Mike Komisarek were dutifully going through their warm-ups before last night's game in Philadelhpia when they collided. Hard. Neither player was injured, and the Leafs went on to win, 3-2, which I guess is why the announcers are so comfortable giggling about it on-air....

Checking Back In With Those Ridiculous NHL Superheroes
They're rolling out the remainder of the NHL's Guardian Project, and yes, our worst fears are realized. The Maple Leaf superhero is a tree....

Hockey Fans Throw The Darndest Things Onto The Ice
After the Philadelphia Flyers got done beating up on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night, a disgruntled fan threw waffles onto the ice. This confused winger Colby Armstrong....

Hockey Agent Gets 10 Percent Of His Client's Goalie Mask
Maple Leafs prospect Jussi Rynnäs's mask features, among other oddities, a photo of his agent. He would have named his kid after him, but Rynnäs's firstborn was sacrificed to his death metal band of choice, as per Finnish law. [Globe and Mail]...

The Mennonites No Longer Hate America
Just hours ago, Goshen College, a private Mennonite-affiliated school in Indiana, played the National Anthem before a sporting event for the first time in their history. It wasn't without controversy. Of course....

Jonas Gustavsson, IR-Upper Body (Heart Surgery)
Toronto's Monster will have his second procedure in three months to fix an irregular heartbeat. Wouldn't be the first time Leafs fans questions their players' hearts. [Toronto Star]...

Chris Bosh Now Owns The Internet
Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and the blogosphere to bring you everything you need to know to start your day....

Gretzky Heads To Toronto In 46-Player Trade?
A new book claims former Leafs owner Harold Ballard once tried to trade his entire franchise to Edmonton. (He wanted to swap cities with the Oilers in exchange for $50 million.) Then Janet Jones would have married Darryl Sittler. [TorontoStar]...

A Peek Inside The Mind Of An NHL Head Coach
Spoiler....There's not much there. Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson inadvertently gave TV viewers a look at his super-secret game notes and as Orland Kurtenblog says: "this kinda destroys the illusion that an nhl coach works on a higher level." [Kurtenblog]...

Tough Actin' Keith Acton Is The Only Lucky Maple Leaf
The good news: The former player won nearly $100,000 in Canada's national lottery. The bad news: $100k isn't nearly enough to quit his job as Toronto's assistant coach. [Toronto Star]...

The True Origins Of The Ryan Leaf Photo
Unfortunately, this photo of Ryan Leaf isn't a recent one. Nope, it's from January of 2008. The man who took the photo emailed us to share what exactly happened that evening....

Ryan Leaf Used To Be Carried In The Arms Of Cheerleaders (Update)
When we last heard from Ryan Leaf, he was taking a leave of absence from his West Texas A & M coaching job for some "personal" issues. I guess he sorted those out....

What Hockey Really Needs Is Better Manners
Ok, technically, using this spin-o-rama move on a penalty/shootout shot is not illegal—because it explicitly says so in the rule book. (Seriously, the NHL rule book contains the word "spin-o-rama." Amazing.) So it's fair ... but is it nice? The Devils' Bobby Holik doesn't think so....

Brian Burke Officially In As President, GM of Terrible Hockey Team
Starting today, the Toronto Maple Leafs can scratch "incompetent and/or old GM" off the list of reasons why they never win anything. Yes, in the least surprising news to come out of the NHL since Gary Bettman admitted he didn't know how to read or write, the Leafs announced that Brian Burke will ta...