Will it ever be, 'Go Leafskis!'?

By JIM KERNAGHAN -- London Free Press Quite aside from all the calamities being painted by those in the Y2K disaster industry, a very real one presents itself to some in hockey.
Not a computer catastrophe as 2000 draws nigh. More a conflict of hockey schools leading to a sort of crash of sensibilities.
It's about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Specifically, it's about the Maple Leafs' current fortunes. What would happen if they were to win the Stanley Cup? -- the last Stanley Cup of the 20th century secured by a roster containing the greatest number of European players in the history of the competition.
It would not go down well in some areas, you may be sure. You can almost hear the late Harold Ballard shouting down (or up, depending on your point of view) about dirty Commie rats infiltrating the team he ran with such mixed flair. Sneakily, the Mirthful Girthful would likely add.
What of Donald (Grapes) Cherry? The unrepentant ripper of European players could well strangle on conflicting emotions, rendered speechless by his love/hate relationship with the Leafs/European players.
Among all those many Leaf fans there are definitely some who withhold their admiration for European players. It is a quandary. On any given night, the Leafs might dress 10 Euros to eight North American skaters. There'd be much hand-wringing all around, you may be certain.
It's early, even for the more excitable of Leaf fans, to confer a Cup based on little more than a strong early jump to the leadership of the league. A what-if schematic shows bold lines leading to the playoffs, dotted ones to the Stanley Cup. If the dots get connected . . . .
There's a long run of games between now and when the regular season ends April 9. Injuries, slumps, streaks and all manner of the unforeseen tend to toss wrenches into any sense of order.
But this is a strong Leaf team, threatening to repeat as the leading team in the NHL's swing toward offensive hockey. The question is whether it will be a strong team over the long haul, and whether it can step back into the more defensive stance so necessary for the compressed playoff run.
You can foresee pressure developing, no question, on the guys from Minsk, Moscow, Stockholm and Prague. This is a European-dominated team. They're all aware of the knocks.
That is to say, they've heard that they shine during the season and yearn for the Danube once the playoffs roll around.
That they don't take playoffs as seriously as Canadians and Americans.
That they don't understand the aura of the Stanley Cup and its depth of meaning to Canadian teammates and fans.
Consider past Jekyll/Hyde acts such as the wondrously gifted Kent Nilsson, who looked like heavyweight champ Ingemar Johansen during the regular season but resembled a Swedish meatball come playoff time. Or various Russians who played like they were defending Stalingrad in December but were reaching for rip-cords by spring.
It is fashionable to laud Leafs' new saviour, Dmitri Kristich, but it should be noted his output with the Bruins last season included a very modest stretch run -- one goal in the last two dozen games. Which Kristich will we see come spring?
Still, in a league that now comprises an all-time low 56.6 per cent Canadian content, it's only a matter of time before a team comprising a Canuck-European split wins it all. Last time a team won with no Europeans on the roster was when the Montreal Canadiens turned the trick in 1993.
Take out the goalies and Canadians are actually outnumbered on the Leafs' 20-man dressed roster: Russians Kristich, Sergei Berezin, Igor Korolev, Alexander Karpovtsev, Nikolai Antropov, Dmitri Yushkevich and Daniil Markov; Swedes Mats Sundin and Jonas Hoglund, and Czech Tomas Kaberle dominate to an extent that would have Ballard twirling in his tomb.
American Brian Berard completes the foreign contingent.
As mentioned, a Stanley Cup is a long way off from the perspective of one month's play. Should by some chance the Leafs happen to win it, though, two guys with a large part in it won't be around to take a bow.
They are former associate general manager Mike Smith and former European scout Anders Hedberg, the men who secured most of the players and both since released by the club.

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