Toronto Maple Leafs: Remembering Wade Belak
By Alex Hobson
Being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan is fun and games for the most part, but sometimes we need to get serious.
Today is January 31st, 2018. In other words, Bell Let’s Talk day. A day sponsored by Bell intended to bring awareness to mental health and the dangers of mental issues.
As unfortunate and scary as it is, there are many NHL players, as there are in all industries and all walks of life, who have been severely affected by mental issues. A couple of players we have lost to mental health include Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, and Tom Cavanagh.
There’s one player in particular I want to talk about, though. His name is Wade Belak.
Belak began his NHL career after being drafted in the first round, at 12th overall to the Quebec Nordiques. He made his NHL debut in 1996 for the team (now known as the Colorado Avalanche).
In 1999, Belak was dealt to the Calgary Flames and spent two seasons there before being claimed by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2001. It was then that Belak would become a fan favorite.
Everybody loved him. Standing tall at 6’5 and 222lbs, he would go on to become an enforcer for the Maple Leafs, always generating cheers from the crowd whenever he fought somebody. He was never much of an offensive player, but when he did manage to score a goal it would be incredible. Fans would go absolutely nuts.
One goal in particular that sticks out in my mind happened on December 4th, 2007. Belak was riding a 143 game scoreless drought and would snap it that night against the Nashville Predators. He would collect a rebound and put it past goaltender Chris Mason, and the building absolutely lost it. You would have thought it was a game-tying playoff goal by the volume of the crowd. It just went to show how much the Maple Leafs fanbase truly cared about Belak and what he brought to the team, despite not being a goal scorer.
On top of that, Belak was simply a great guy off the ice. Known for his dry sense of humor and his ability to embrace the fact that he better off getting on the scoresheet through penalty minutes rather than goals, he was also great with kids and all in all just a big teddy bear off the ice. He was the perfect example of somebody who appeared tough but would end up being the nicest guy you’ve ever met.
The Maple Leafs would trade Belak to Florida, and then he would end up in Nashville, where he finished his NHL career in 2011, having to retire due to arthritis in his pelvis.
On August 31st, 2011, the fateful news broke out that Belak had passed away. His mother had stated that he had been suffering from depression.
Belak was the third NHL player to have passed away throughout a four month span, the other players being Rick Rypien and Derek Boogaard. All three were in the NHL as designated fighters. It is impossible to remember this without thinking about what that role might do to players. The pressure to fight, to get punched every day, to live your dream, but not in the way in which you dreamt it, seems like a lot. Consider also that in addition to that, the tough-guy culture and the razor thin margin for staying in the NHL means playing through injuries and, more than likely, ingesting large amounts of pain pills, all the while doing a job at least half the people think is dangerous and unnecessary.
Even if you like fighting in hockey, the cost of having it seems too high. And while it’s all but impossible not to mention that when remembering these tragedies, it’s equally important to realize that you don’t need a reason to have mental health issue. They can happen to anyone, doing anything, at any time. It’s no more a person’s fault than having a physical injury or sickness, which is why it’s so important to take advantage of this campaign and make the point that people should talk about it without having to worry about appearing weak, or looking bad.
This just goes to show that mental health is no joke whatsoever. You could be the biggest, toughest force to be reckoned with out there. It affects everybody. For today, I encourage you to tweet using the #BellLetsTalk hashtag. There’s also a video on their Instagram page to watch, and if you have Snapchat, use the #BellLetsTalk filter on every snap you send. For every tweet, view, and snap sent, Bell will donate 5 cents to Mental Health Initiatives. Last year, they managed to raise over six million dollars, and are projected to donate over 100 million in total through 2020.
So, hockey fans, I ask you one last time. Join the conversation and end the stigma.