‘We are a wounded fan base’: Jamie Neugebauer talks Toronto Maple Leafs
Photo Source: @MapleLeafs
The one and only Toronto Maple Leafs.
For some, they are the pinnacle of sports teams in Canada, while for others, you could not name a more disliked team in the country.
“There are two types of people in Toronto,” said Jamie Neugebauer, a WHL and SJHL analyst born and raised in Toronto. “There are people who love the Leafs, and people who hate the Leafs despite everybody around them.”
After a shaky start to the season, the Leafs have really caught fire lately, and have been one of the best teams in the NHL as of late. Last night, the Leafs destroyed the Colorado Avalanche 8-3 in Toronto, and have now won five in a row.
“The haters are very quiet,” said Neugebauer. “And I think people love to bash the Leafs, but what can anybody possibly say right now?”
The team has also caught the attention of Rod Pedersen himself, who has them ranked as the fourth best team in the league right now.
The Leafs are now 17-6-1 and have been very dominant over the last month. For Pedersen and Neugebauer however, there is still something missing on this team to take them to the next level. But that isn’t stopping anyone from enjoying the Leafs.
“I still don’t think they have the ‘it’ factor,” said Neugebauer. “This is a very, very talented hockey team as much as people love to hate them.”
When asked about the post season however, he wasn’t as positive.
“I’m not getting my hopes up too high,” said Neugebauer.
At the end of the day, fans have seen this story year after year from the Leafs. Running away with a great regular season and getting slammed in the first round of the playoffs.
“We are a wounded fan base,” said Neugebauer. “Every year it’s the same thing.”
Only time will tell if the Leafs can make a deep playoff run, and finally break the curse.
But until then, fans can look forward to a matchup with the Minnesota Wild, and the Winnipeg Jets this weekend.
You can put the Edmonton Oilers on the same page as the perennial loser Toronto Maple Leafs. High support with their respective fanbase and at the paying gate but always hiring the wrong personnel. All that money leading to major disappointments.
The Oilers came around in 1979 and have 5 Stanley Cups and a 7 trips to the finals which should have been 8 in the modern era. They had the greatest player in history only to get the next greatest player in history in present form. We have the Ballard era, Stavros era, Ferguson Jr era, Burke era, Nonis era – 3 first round picks all from Bellville that in a 21 team league should have set us up for 10 years. We traded Russ Courtnall for John Kordic. We traded a pick for Tom Kurvers resulting in not getting… Read more »
There are teams I will watch and think – gee imagine being a Bruins fan and those uniforms and Shipping Up to Boston. Perhaps the Flyers and all those tough teams and players, tough town too. The reality is save for a blip here or there, their history is no better. I get asked why. Why the Maple Leafs. All I l know is that similar to the Saskatchewan Roughriders I became a diehard in 1967. That is impressive because I was not born until 1974. This team when it gets it done and there will come a day when… Read more »