Hockey Night In Canada Podcast: Dreading the Stanley Cup drought
Taking a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs' championship woes
The Hockey Night In Canada podcast is a weekly CBC Sports production.
In each episode, host Rob Pizzo is joined by colourful characters within hockey to discuss great moments and great players and talk about today's stars. The Hockey Night podcast brings you beyond the boxscore with insight you won't find anywhere else.
For many people hockey has a voice. It's the narrative that makes it come to life. The soundtrack for the story of so many great games, glorious moments and achievements.
This week, Pizzo talks to former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Gord Stellick about those 52 (and counting) dry years for the team and also gets some insight from broadcaster Sam Rosen about the moment his beloved New York Rangers ended their 54 seasons in the doghouse.
WATCH | Gord Stellick on Leafs possibly ending Cup drought:
Ask some hockey fans and they will gladly furnish you with reasons to dislike Toronto, but if you want to wring a few drops of sympathy for Hogtown — you only have to whisper "1967".
The great Maple Leaf drought turns hockey lovers purple with pain in Toronto, but what can be learned from the lean times? And is there a glimmer of hope shining in the five-year window opened by Auston Mathews' signing? If anybody has the authority to dissect Toronto's misery, it's Gord Stellick. He presided over some punishing Toronto years and went on to write the definitive book about the scrappy original six team that last won it for Toronto.
LISTEN | Dreading the Stanley Cup drought
We know that misery loves company, so we should point out that Toronto is not alone in its 52 winless years. The St. Louis Blues have never won a Cup and they came into being as a team the same year Toronto last won the championship. Does that distinction make their situation technically not a drought? Is it better or worse to still be waiting for that first-ever championship?
And as for the New York Rangers — 1994 was a grand year, of course, and when Sam Rosen called that first Stanley Cup win since 1940 — it proved to be the most-watched moment in Madison Square Garden history. Rosen's call in the final moments really was one for the ages. They snapped out of a long bad streak, but check your calendars. The team is now 25 years into their latest drought. So is New York actually suffering a 79-year drought with a single blip back in the 1990s or is that too cruel to ask?
The Hockey Night in Canada podcast is a cbc sports production. Host Rob Pizzo dives into NHL talk on timeless topics each week. Free at Itunes, stitcher, Google podcasts, or wherever you get your other listens.
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