The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley Cup since May 2, 1967, and you know what, it doesn’t matter.
Led by George Armstrong up-front and Terry Sawchuk in net, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens to win their 13th Stanley Cup in franchise history.
53 years and almost two months later, 13 continues to be an unlucky number for the Leafs.
There’s something enjoyable about the lovable loser in professional sports. Whether it was the Curse of the Bambino or Curse of the Billy Goat for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, there was always an excuse or narrative as to why those teams never won a championship.
Unfortunately, the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have a similar narrative as to why they haven’t won a Stanley Cup in over 50 years.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Loved: Win or Lose
You can point to the Harold Ballard years as a reason, but Ballard has been dead for 30 years, so we can’t exactly blame him for recent events. We can blame Kerry Fraser for never calling a high-stick on Wayne Gretzky, but even if they won that game, they still would have had to get past Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Vegas Golden Knights were in the NHL for one season and became more successful than the Toronto Maple Leafs in the past half-century. Even the non-traditional NHL markets like the Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks and Tampa Bay Lightning have all won Stanley Cups in the past 20 years.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a number of teams good enough to make the playoffs, but have never been strong enough to make the Finals.
Since 1967, the Toronto Maple Leafs have reached five Conference Finals, failing to win every one of those series.
So why does it matter if the Leafs never win a Stanley Cup?
It doesn’t matter because the fan-base is so loyal that the team could go 0-82 and people will say, “there’s always next year.”
The joy of being a Toronto Maple Leafs is about the heartbreak. It’s the same reason why people enjoy watching car-crashes.
By watching this team suffer, it helps us cope with our own hardships in our daily lives.
It would be boring if the Leafs were like the Detroit Red Wings dynasty of making the playoffs every year and competing for a Stanley Cup, wouldn’t it?
Isn’t the pain and struggle the most fun part about being a Leafs fan?
We like to talk ourselves into thinking that the Leafs would win that next Game 7 on the road in Boston, but we all know the night is going to finish with us depressed sitting in the dark, drinking a five-finger whisky, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Like every Leafs fan in the world, obviously I want to see a Stanley Cup championship before I die, but even if I don’t, it’s not that big of a deal.
The roller-coaster ride of emotions is almost more fun than winning a championship. When the Toronto Maple Leafs finally win a Stanley Cup, that party will be epic, but what will that next season be like? Will we be so satisfied from a championship that we won’t care as much to follow every game, or will we be even more invested for a repeat?
We’ll just have to see what happens if this team ever wins, but if they never do, the love and admiration will always be there.