The Ultimate Toronto Maple Leafs New Year’s Day Trivia

The Answer to Question 7

C – An 8-1 loss to the Sabres in 2000.

This may have been the toughest question to answer due to reality mixed into a number of possible responses. We can dismiss option E immediately.

The link between Kessel and hot dogs is as a result of comments written in the Toronto Sun. On July 2, 2015, Steve Simmons wrote, “The hot dog vendor who parks daily at Front and John Sts. just lost his most reliable customer. Almost every afternoon at 2:30 p.m., often wearing a toque, Phil Kessel would wander from his neighborhood condominium to consume his daily snack. And now he’s gone. Just like that.” Kessel did not eat hot dogs en masse for a New Year’s Day charity event.

Option D was a combination of fact and fiction. Canada’s first professional basketball team was the Huskies who played their home games at Maple Leaf Gardens. The franchise lasted just one season, 1946-47. The reason they disbanded is due to the ownership group bleeding money. It is believed that the owners lost $100,000 in their only year of operation.

Both options A and B happened as described. Neither were known as the New Year’s Massacre because while they were stains on the Leafs  history, they didn’t take place on Jan. 1.

Ballard, the man who many believe cursed the  Toronto Maple Leafs, did in fact fire his GM after being released from the hospital. McNamara’s club had only won one game in 1988 after playing 21 games. They were also in last place in the league, which is what likely prompted Ballard to ask for McNamara’s resignation.

Sadly, the swap of goaltenders, Rask for Raycroft, did happen no matter how hard you try to forget it. While the deal was a massacre for Toronto, it went down on June 24, 2006.

The term “New Year’s Massacre” was coined by general manager Pat Quinn in response to the horrible effort put forth by this Leafs group in the game they played on Jan. 1, 2000. The Sabres were all over Toronto that night, beating them 1-8 in Buffalo. The lone Leafs goal in that game came on the powerplay off the stick of their captain, Mats Sundin.

Question 8

When Gregg McKegg was recalled from the Toronto Marlies to the Maple Leafs on New Year’s Day in 2015, which player was placed on the IR to make room for him on the roster?

a) David Clarkson

b) Joffrey Lupul

c) Stephane Robidas

d) Colton Orr

e) Nathan Horton