Toronto Maple Leafs' Two Quick Moves on the Way to The Cup

A Leafs fan, living in Toronto, after all these years...

Prior to launching Solamon Energy, my daily corporate responsibilities included researching, writing and presenting business plans to investors, and in fact creating, operating and ramping new brands, but most importantly I had met Harold Balland, not once but twice back in the day, which nudged me to write on the side during the era of Brian Burke and Ron Wilson.

The first time in Maple Leaf Gardens at The Bunker, which is where as a teenager I (audaciously) asked for and received King Clancy's autograph on a magazine cover. Despite the rumours to the contrary, I found Ballard to be friendly, and nice.

Also, along the way I've had a chat and a game of pool with both Wendel Clark (and most recently at Summer Training Camps '13 & '14) and Dave Ellett at a long-gone but popular Queen Street West club called The Left Bank, and used to have late-night fun with Doug Gilmour when he captained the Leafs and lived in Toronto next to Drew Kiteley, leadsinger of Random Killing.

Speaking of "the hound" Wendel Clark, when Ballard and I met the second time, in the venerable Hot Stove Lounge at MLG, Boyce enjoyed a beer with Russ Courtnall and Gary Leeman, to name his the other linemates in the 80s. A few years ago, I wrote regularly for the Bleacher Report, and these are some of those last few articles before Wilson was shown the door...