October 1997
by Barry Stagg
Maple Leaf Youngsters
Operating in perfect harmony with the publication schedule of the Downhomer, the Toronto chapter of Mensa (otherwise known as the Maple Leaf front office) will dispatch an eager bunch of young prospects to St. John's at the start of October. The 1997-1998 roster of the St. John's Maple Leafs will be youthful and it will have several genuine major league prospects suitable for elevation to Carlton Street and the Great White Way in the near future.
The progress of the minor league prospects will be monitored closely in Newfoundland. In fact I have it on reasonably good authority that Mensa involvement in Newfoundland surveillance will continue.. My information is that several self-identified Mensa candidates will be turning their finely tuned sense of criticism in the direction of the youngsters skating down by Quidi Vidi. There is no word in yet on whether this will detract from this cerebral group's steady vigilance of the pages of this esteemed publication. News of the members' efforts to diversify their civic contributions will be sought out and reported on these pages in the coming winter months.
As far as the new blood on the ice in St. John's is concerned, it will be a team peopled by the likes of Alyn McCauley and Jason Podollan and Jeff Ware. McCauley is a proven performer and inspirational junior star out of the Ottawa 67's who could be either the second coming of Kirk Muller or the clone of Dan Daoust. This year in St. John's should tell the tale. Podollan is the very fellow acquired by Toronto for the fabled but fading Muller. Podollan's Western Canadian junior career showed plenty of speed and offense which he has yet to duplicate in the NHL. A full season close to the salt water should give his career either a boost to the big club or a shove toward the oblivion of the East Coast Hockey League.
Jeff Ware is a first round pick from back in the distant past when Toronto had such baubles. His play in Ontario junior competition has been indifferent but Leaf management appears to believe he will get out of his ugly duckling stage with time and become a solid defensive citizen. The prototype upon whom the Ware development plan design is based is that of defensive master Sylvain Lefebvre. Alternate opinions on Ware tend to point out his tendency to adopt the Fred Boimistruck career model. Given time and some patience from the coaching staff, Ware may yet avoid the disasters that befell star-crossed youngsters such as Boimistruck, Jim Benning and Bob McGill in the horrible eighties. The Ballard era Leafs of 1981 threw these three kids to the wolves by playing them regularly in Toronto when they belonged back in junior hockey. Aborted and erratic careers for all three were virtually inevitable after their awful rookie seasons. Inevitability begat reality for all three.
The new coach over by the soccer pitch is PEI native Al Macadam who put in plenty of time as a productive winger with various NHL squads. His maritime roots render him much less likely to emulate the odd career path of last year's coach Mark Hunter who gave up the job to move to Ontario. Perhaps he never did clue in to the conventional technique used by most Newfoundlanders: moving to a job in Ontario instead of moving to 0ntario to get away from a job. However he is Dale Hunter's brother which may explain his decision for some of the more intellectually advanced sports fans. Perhaps you and I should leave that analysis to the Mensa lads who find such profundity in these things.
As an added attraction this season the Leafs will be dispatching Canada's answer to Noam Chomsky to St. John's for at least a ceremonial flourish or five. Team president and general manager Ken Dryden brings an new era of windy erudition to the Toronto front office. Unfortunately he also brings along a return to the indifferent paternalism of the Ballard era. While Dryden is an educated and articulate former player with an impeccable playing pedigree he brings to his job the same management background as King Clancy carried into Harold Ballard's bunker. Let us hope he lets the staff in St. John's get on with the real job of developing good hockey players while the political circus is confined to the Carlton Street boardroom.
Until next month: Be proud, be prosperous.