A few nights ago, I watched a truly Canadian reality show on CBC called “Hockeyville”
The show is designed to select a small town somewhere in the country to be dubbed “hockeyville” that will receive $100 000 in arena upgrades and the chance host an NHL pre-season game in the fall. Each town makes their case as to why they should win and viewers are asked to vote on who should be selected as the winner. It got me thinking about what Toronto would need to do if we had to plead our “Hockeyville” case.
Firstly, we have to acknowledge that we are a “hockeyville”. To those who say we are a “Leafs town, not a hockey town”, I have to disagree. Although may all may own Leaf jerseys, we also proudly wear our Don Mills Flyers, Downsview Beavers, Goulding Park Rangers, Scarborough Young Bruins, and countless other jerseys. If you look at the statistics provided by the GTHL, they speak to the fact that we are a hockey town and not just a “Leaf’s town”. The facts are that 34 000 kids play on GTHL affiliated teams (House League and Rep) on 2 300 teams.
Over 500 games are played each week in 51 arenas, with an annual player, parent, and fan attendance of 696 000 people annually that has grown by about 9% annually over the past 3 years.
We are a "Hockeyville" when you look at the cars outside of the rinks, the kids who wear their team's jerseys, hats, jackets, and other merch. We're just afraid to admit it!
To make our case as a “Hockeyville” (and to do it credibly), we must:
1. Start from the bottom up.
First and foremost, we need to start with kids. We’ve got to take the Wii generation and teach them that playing foot hockey at recess and ball hockey after school is much more fun than their gaming systems. We need backyard rinks where kids can learn to skate and hone their skills during a game of shinny, Hockey Night in Canada as the Saturday night ritual, hockey card trading, and get them actually playing the game. When you look at the small towns competiting for Hockeyville, they invest in their players and leagues. Hockey is a big part of life in the town and for us to be successful, we need kids off the couch and playing the game.
2. Recognize that Memorial Cups and Calder Cups come before Lord Stanley’s Mug.
Hoping that this year, we’ll win the Stanley Cup with a big parade down Yonge St. isn’t going to happen. Not this year, not next year, and likely not the year after.
For Toronto to win the Stanley Cup, we need understand that we need the players in the leagues below to start winning, selecting the best of the best in the drafts, and developing a culture of winning is critical to winning the Stanley Cup. The Leafs understand this. That’s why they’ve built a scouting infrastructure like none other in the NHL. The challenge will be to get them to let the players develop in the lower leagues before throwing them onto the ice at the ACC.
If you look at the composition of the Toronto Marlies, it looks radically different than it did last year, because we’re starting the process of developing Marlies for Leafs futures, which is making each game exciting to watch. Getting the prospects playing at the Ricoh who will be wearing TML jerseys in the future and instilling in them the confidence and the skills to win is critical to Burke’s job as Leafs GM and will give Wilson the tools he needs to win.
3. Make Substantial Investment into the Leaf’s Future
We need to accept that the Leafs are a team that has needed substantial change since the 1970s and although it is finally coming, we’re a long way from the end-state. This year will not be the worst, definitely not the best, but certainly one of the most important in the club’s history, because of the draft. We need to start gearing up for the draft by securing more picks, better picks, and making wise choices. That way, we can focus on our area of greatest need….goaltending.
For the Leafs to have any chance at becoming a competitive team in the forseeable future, we need someone between the pipes capable of helping Pogge make the transition from the AHL to the NHL and the skill needed to help keep us in the game when our inexperience shows. From there, we need develop the prospects that will lead us to the Cup through the work of experienced players helping our forwards and defensemen make that same transition from the AHL to the NHL.
This will be a slow and labour intensive task, but one that will result in a party down Yonge St. that the city has never seen before.
GO HOCKEYVILLE GO!
You can email Chris with comments and questions about the blog, Duke’s Dog Pound Supporters Club, or the Marlies anytime to dukesdogpound@yahoo.ca.
No comments:
Post a Comment