Top Toronto Maple Leafs Pop Culture Moments of All-Time
There have been many great pop-culture moments in Toronto Maple Leafs history.
As a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s always gratifying to see our beloved Buds represented in various forms of popular culture.
As most Leaf supporters are situated a few kilometres north of the US border, we are inundated with American popular culture that generally focuses on the NBA, the NFL, and Major League Baseball.
Members of Leafs Nation rightfully believe that their favorite sport and favorite team are worthy of equal attention and may grow weary of hearing about the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Yankees and the LA Lakers.
This is why our ears perk up a little bit at any mention of our boys in blue and white beyond the local media.
Over the century-long history of the Toronto Maple Leafs pop culture references to the team have been relatively few and far between.
This makes it particularly noteworthy when our Buds do get the occasional pop culture tip of the hat. This article will feature some of those moments when the Leafs received notice from sources far beyond the local hockey broadcast or sports news.
Clear the Track Here Comes Shack
No individual Toronto Maple Leaf has being so well remembered in song as the animated Toronto Maple Leafs forward of the 1960s and 70s, Eddie the Entertainer Shack. In a song titled, “Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack,” Eddie Shack became the topic of a hugely successful local novelty hit song.
The song was the brainchild of Brian McFarland of Hockey Night in Canada.
McFarland wanted to have a song recorded for his friend, Leafs agitator, Eddie Shack. McFarland had no musical training or connections, but managed to get a song written with the help of his brother-in-law who did possess some musical ability and was able to come up with some music to accompany words written by McFarland.
McFarland found a local Toronto bar band called The Secrets to record the song in early 1966.
The song was released shortly thereafter on Toronto radio stations and Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack became the number one record in Toronto for two weeks in 1966 outperforming singles by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
As the song goes: “Clear the track, here comes Shack. He knocks them down and he gives them a whack. He can score a goal, he’s got a knack…Eddie, Eddie Shack.”
The local success of the song led to a rift between Shack and McFarland. For several years Shack was upset that he had never received any royalty from the recording. McFarland had provided Shack with a number of free records to give to his friends, but Shack truly believed he had some legal right to a royalty.
Despite bickering about the royalty issue for 30 years Shack and McFarland managed to put the royalty issue behind them and remain friends to this day. (With some info from Wikipedia)
Raised on Robbery by Joni Mitchell
Canadian folk rock legend Joni Mitchell featured a prominent Toronto Maple Leafs reference on her song “Raised on Robbery” from her album hugely successful 1974 album, Court and Spark.
“Raised on Robbery” is a raucous rock and roll number that details a routine barroom meeting between a man who is betting on the Toronto Maple Leafs and a lady in “lacy sleeves” who is out for a good time while stuck in a room full of folks watching a hockey game involving the Leafs (we can assume that it’s Saturday night and Hockey Night in Canada is on the air).
The meeting happens at a place called the Empire Hotel which has been rumored to refer to existing Empire Hotels in either Huntsville or North Bay.
The reference to the Maple Leafs is brief but noteworthy given Mitchell’s status as an internationally-known recording artist. Few listeners outside Canada would have picked up on the Leafs mention, however.
Featured on the song playing electric guitar is the leader of the Band, Robbie Robertson of Toronto, who himself sported a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey on the back cover of the final album released by the Band, Islands, in 1977.
Raised on Robbery today is a staple of oldies’ radio and can occasionally be heard on Toronto AM radio stations due to its status as a minor hit for Mitchell and a venerable piece of Canadian pop music content.
Austin Powers Movie Franchise
No other pop culture figure has proved to be as dedicated to the promotion of the Toronto Maple Leafs as the Scarborough actor and comedian, Mike Myers. Myers has proven to be every bit as rabid in his support of the Buds as Drake has for the Raptors.
Myers has been dropping references to his hometown and favorite sport since his very first movie, Wayne’s World.
That initial Myers film featured hangouts such as Stan Mikita’s Doughnuts and the Gas Works-tributes to Timmy’s and the legendary Yonge Street rock and roll club, respectively. The movie itself was set in the town of Aurora, Illinois which was clearly inspired by Aurora, Ontario.
Meyers made his first reference to the Maple Leafs in the Austin Powers movie franchise with the first installment, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, where he named central characters after Toronto Maple Leafs stars of the 1990s, Doug Gilmour and Nikolai Borschevsky.
The Buds had come close to the Stanley Cup finals in 1993 and except for the infamous non-call on the Gretzky high stick infraction against Doug Gilmour, the Leafs should have had a Stanley Cup final berth against the Montreal Canadiens.
Myers rewarded those Leafs heroes of 93′ by including their surnames with characters in the first Austin Powers film. The significance of the names Commander Gilmour and General Borschevsky were completely lost on the vast majority of viewers, but were there specifically for the amusement of members of Leafs Nation.
A General Clark would appear in Austin Powers in Goldmember as a probable reference to Wendel Clark.
The third installment of the franchise, Austin Powers in Goldmember, included a scene with the character of Mini-Me sporting a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater, as well as a scene showing a TV news ticker announcement stating, “Maple Leafs Win Stanley Cup”.
The sting of losing the 1993 conference final to the Los Angeles Kings on that missed Gretzky high stick would warrant a cinematic exorcism, and Myers provided that in another film.
The Love Guru
Following the obscure Toronto Maple Leafs references that Mike Myers had included in his Austin Powers films, the comedian decided to go overtly Leaf fanatic with his film, The Love Guru.
The Love Guru was almost universally panned by critics and flopped at the box office. It was the last film that Myers made for many years and even made some lists of worst films of the year for 2008.
For a pop culture junkie and Leafs fan this little matters as the film has practically been scripted as an excuse to put the Toronto Maple Leafs in a major Hollywood movie-that’s as noble as an excuse as any I can think of for producing a film.
The story goes as follows: The Toronto Maple Leafs are on another severe losing streak and Leaf fans are up in arms against owner Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba). The Leafs are losing because their star player, Darren Roanoke is depressed due to his wife’s affair with Los Angeles Kings’ goalie Jacques Grande (Justin Timberlake).
Bullard hires the L.A. New Age guru Pitka (Myers) to bring Roanoke out of his funk and save his marriage.
Bullard believes that the Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup with Roakoke playing well and the Bullard curse handed down from her late father ( a very thinly-veiled reference to late Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard) will be forever lifted and life will be good again.
Guru Pitka hopes that changing the fortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs will land him everlasting fame as the world’s top guru.
The film is definitely not for the kiddies for those who are easily offended, as I had to leave out character nicknames and story details to keep this article G-rated.
As a comedy, it does have its moments-especially if you appreciate juvenile humor. This little matters, however. This is a Hollywood film about hockey and the Maple Leafs. It is the ultimate example of Mike Myers using his star power to put his hometown and favorite team in the spotlight, and kudos to him for doing it.
Fifty Mission Cap by The Tragically Hip
Leave it to the lads from Kingston, The Tragically Hip, to produce a gem of Canadiana, a paean to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the legend of Bill Barilko in one fell swoop.
“Fifty Mission Cap” appeared on the Hip’s 1993 album, Fully Completely. At time the Hip were at the peak of their popularity having become the most popular rock band in Canada, and with the release of Fully Completely they were making major inroads internationally as well.
This meant that a lot of people who weren’t necessarily Toronto Maple Leafs fans got to hear this song.
The song revived interest in the tragic story of Leafs defenseman Bill Barilko who disappeared on a fishing trip only months after scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal against the Montreal Canadiens in 1951 to win the Buds’ only cup of the 1950s.
More than a decade would pass before the Leafs would win the cup again. In 1962, Barilko’s body was recovered near Cochrane, Ontario, and that year the Maple Leafs would win the first of their four Stanley Cups during the 1960s.
As Tragically Hip singer and lyricist Gord Downie observed in the song, “The last goal he ever scored won the Leafs the cup. They wouldn’t win another until 1962, the year he was discovered.”
The appearance of the song on FM rock radio coincided with the resurgence of the Maple Leafs in the early 90s following the worst decade in team history.
Everything changed for the Leafs with the addition of Doug Gilmour (another fine Kingston product). Suddenly, with Leafs contending in playoffs once again, it was no longer shameful to be a Leafs fan, and this song became sort of an anthem of the time and the team’s climb back to respectability.
“Fifty Mission Cap” has acquired a legendary status of its own much like Barilko, its subject.
When the song’s author, Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, passed away in October of 2017, the Maple Leafs organized a tribute at Air Canada Centre featuring a moment of silence for Downie accompanied by the lowering of Bill Barilko’s retired number 5 banner.
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It was a fitting moment for two Canadian icons-one a legendary Maple Leaf and the other a legendary member of Leafs Nation.