Monday, August 24, 2009

Win a copy of the 2009-10 Maple Leafs Annual

Maple Leafs Annual
To make it fair, Luke Schenn has
agreed not to use a stick this year.
When Alec Brownscombe contacted me this summer to ask if I'd like to contribute to the Maple Leafs Annual magazine, I had only two questions. The first was "Am I going to get Eklund cooties just from talking to you?" And the second was "When do I start?"

For those who missed the initial announcement, the Maple Leafs Annual is preview magazine put together by Alec and the folks at Maple Street Press. And they were kind enough to ask for a little help from their friends.

The result is a magazine that features a murderer's row of Leafs bloggers, the absolute best of the best from the Barilkosphere, including:
In addition, it also features:I received an advanced copy last week and I can tell you that this thing is really good. There's plenty of insight and analysis, the feature articles are excellent, and the whole thing looks sharp. No shoddy newsprint or cheap ads -- just 128 pages of super glossy, full-color, ad-free goodness. Alec and his team deserve a big thumbs up for this one.

The magazine is available now for pre-order. The first shipment going out this week, so get your order in now. It will also be available wherever magazines are sold in Toronto beginning in mid-September.

Win a copy of the Maple Leafs Annual
My contribution to the Annual is a piece on "The Ghosts of Truculence Past", a tribute to some forgotten Leafs from years gone by who would have made Brian Burke proud.

In the article, I make reference to someone I describe as "quite possibly the most truculent Leaf of all-time". But who? I'll send a free copy of the Annual to the first person who can guess correctly in the comments sections. (Those of you who already have an advance copy, no spoilers please.)

And no, it's not Wendel.

Update: We have a winner. Scroll through to comments to find out who.




119 comments:

  1. Wendel Clark

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  2. Oh...Not Wendel.

    Im gonna have to go with Bobby Baun.

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  3. Damian Rhodes?

    Danny Markov?

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  4. I left the Rhodes post, don't know why it's written as Anonymus.

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  5. Tim Horton? Lanny McDonald? Eddie Shack? Mikael Tellqvist?

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  6. "To make it fair, Luke Schenn has
    agreed not to use a stick this year."

    So he's not going to have the stick that's CLEARLY in his left hand?

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  7. The Thrill Todd Fing Gill.

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. Darcy Tucker? Pat Quinn? Red Horner? Dave Keon? The Big M? The Cheif? Paul Henderson?

    How many guesses per post? lol

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  10. the 'Albanian Assassin' Tie Domi

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  11. Its gotta be Paul Higgins

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  12. If Conn Smythe counts as a Leaf, and you'd be retarded if you thought he didn't, then I'm going with him. If for some reason he doesn't count (like the very logical, and therefore way beyond my mind's eye's field of vision, stipulation that it must be a player), I guess Tie Domi

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  13. Good guesses so far... but no right answer, although several guys mentioned did make the article.

    (And let's say one guess per post from this point on.)

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  14. Am I allowed one more guess? Punch Imlach. That's right, I can't even see the box.

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  15. Easy. Sylvain "Down Goes Brown" Lefebvre

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  16. Since I failed to search first and my guess was taken ill take a guy who played in my home town...Kypreos

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  17. Harold Ballard. He was just unsavoury.

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  18. It's gotta be Felix Potvin. Hextall still has nightmares about that night...

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  19. Burke would of loved to have Tiger around. If it isn't him, then you're wrong. :P

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  20. Blindfolded tank driverAugust 24, 2009 at 10:51 PM

    Dany Markov!

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  21. Rob Pearson... 20 plus goal/ 200 PIM season...The pride of Oshawa, Ontario

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  22. I'm figuring it will be a player who played around the time you began watching, so I'll limit my guesses from 80's onward.

    I'll go with Tie Domi

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  23. Sylvain Lefebvre?
    Tie Domi?
    Luke Schenn?

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  24. Rob Ramage, Brian Curran...


    I believe this is serious, but i just have to mention Shane Corson here!

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  25. Paul Higgins - 25 games, no points, 152 PM

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  26. Lots of great guesses, including several (Berg, Kennedy, Smitty) who made the list in the article. But no right answer yet.

    Here's a hint: the Leafs were this guys only NHL team. And the time frame is the 80s.

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  27. I have to go with Paul Higgins then. 0g 0a 135pm in 22games played. Those are some burkian numbers if I've ever seen them.

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  28. Ihnacak didn't have Burkian numbers, but his only NHL team were the Leafs.
    And there's some guy called John Gibson, but i don't if he played for someone other than Leafs.

    I promise, this is my last try.

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  29. Harold Ballard. You never explicitly mention that it was a player.

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  30. Mike Pelyk's HairdoAugust 25, 2009 at 9:40 AM

    Trappedinhabland has it. Jim Dorey. Forbes Kennedy might be second. Trappedinhabsland must be old.

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  31. Al Secord or Lou Franceschetti

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  32. Greg Terrion Baby!!

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  33. Does "the hit" on Gretzky by Bill McCreary qualify as truculence?

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  34. I say Carlton the Bear or Joe "Banana Joe" Lamantia

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  35. Lamantia is a great guess. RIP, Banana Joe.

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  36. Bobby Baun: Stanley Cup winner on a broken ankle

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  37. Chad Kilger! that guy would hit anything and everything!

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  38. Hmm - DGB never said it was a player. Ain't nobody more truculent than John Brophy.

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  39. @ 1967s

    It would make a lot of since to be Brophy. His only NHL coaching experience was the Leafs, and DGB never bashed him like he had with Maurice, etc.

    Damnit. That was my pick too.

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  40. We have a winner.

    Congratulations to 1967ers for identifying the white-haired, fedora-sporting, permanently cranky Leafs coach (and minor league legend) John Brophy as the quite possible the most truculent Leaf of them all.

    Here's Wendel backing up the claim:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zqny9BDoqs

    1967ers, send me your contact info and I'll get the magazine on its way to you.

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  41. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  42. CRAP I was going to say Eddie Shack

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  43. Well done '67ers.

    All preorders shipped today btw people.

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  44. Basil Mcrae would have been better

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  45. Igor Korolev?

    No? Really?

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  46. As a lifelong Habs fan, your incredible dedication (blind faith) to the Leafs has impressed me immensely, and you even had me questioning my team loyalty with your amazingly witty video analysis and inspiring Wendel moments.

    But alas--as with everything in Leaf Nation--your site has jumped the shark (Owen Nolan perhaps) and you now choose to peddle press books, promote yourself, and heap praise on your unworthy peers.

    It was great while it lasted.

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  47. Go away.

    This is August, the slowest month of the year in the hockey world. There's very little of anything to report on, and since DGB hasn't been known to make many predictions in the past there's hardly anything to discuss around here.

    Wait until the pre-season before assuming that DGB has sold out.

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  48. Fair enough. DGB has earned the benefit of the doubt.

    But aren't the top 10 stories on TSN all hockey-related? Can't we read a fake script of the Team Canada workouts? Or a behind-the-scenes interview with (presumably drunk) ex-NHLPA ombudsman Eric Lindros on what he thinks of Paul Kelly? Or even sing along to a rewrite of Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans" that centres on the Heatley debacle (something about the whites of his eyes)?

    As the slowest month, August allows the most room for creativity. DGB: we're counting on you.

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  49. I'd like to see that play-by-play recap of the All Heart video he said he'd do. It would be the longest and best post in DGB history, easily.

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  50. Leave it to the one Habs fan that can write in full sentences to use that power for stupid.

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  51. Thanks PPP. I can understand why you would take issue with my last posting, since you're one of the unworthy peers.

    You see, where your kneejerk reaction is to say "Hab fan stupid... Cooooookiee!!!", I have no doubt that DGB would think about it a little and come up with something warranting a "touche" (that's French, and rhymes with "shower").

    For example, you could make fun of how badly the Habs were beaten by the Bruins last year, especially Komisarek by Lucic. As a Vancouver resident, I'm especially sensitive to the Lucic angle. Komisarek's never been the same after that fight...

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  52. When did touche start rhyming with shower? How the hell do the french pronounce shower? shoo-eh?

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  53. How do you say "shower" in French?

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  54. I don't know a lot of french words, but 'Habs' tends to follow the few I say.

    Hansmoleman

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  55. you could make fun of how badly the Habs were beaten by the Bruins last year, especially Komisarek by Lucic.

    Yes, please.

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  56. Adrain Dater at Versus lists his Top 10 fighters ever. DGB ain't gonna like it!

    http://www.versus.com/nw/article/view/82296/?tf=nhl_article.tpl

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  57. Habs93Forever - You've got me! I'm mortally wounded that some anonymous Habs fan likes Down Goes Brown more than me. Whatever shall I do to get through the rest of my life.

    Considering you wrote this:
    Or even sing along to a rewrite of Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans" that centres on the Heatley debacle (something about the whites of his eyes)?

    as a story idea should you really be insulting anyone else's writing? Maybe Johnny Horton should have used you to fire another round although you don't seem to have a mind to lose.

    Finally, ss a Vancouver resident you likely speak some English so I'm shocked that you don't realise that touché and douche don't really rhyme. Although it makes me laugh to think that some guy's walking around the city replying 'touche'.

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  58. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  59. touché might not rhyme with douche but Habsfan is a douche.

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  60. Can I guess ... Cory Cross? Every seems to have forgotten that gem...

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  61. PPP: Toosh! Man, you really got me on that one! Do you mean there's an accent aigu in that fencing term??? Wow, and here I am living in a bubble. You would have given Ali a run for his money in Zaire, let me tell you.

    Tom: Thanks for proving that non-Leaf fans do follow DGB, as opposed to just Leaf fans tolerating PPP.

    I've responded to that Versus fight article on my blog here: http://habs93forever.blogspot.com/

    Furcifer: Who is Habsfan? Sounds like a real gent.

    HabsTwit: Cory Cross... HAHAHAHA!!!! Good one!

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  62. haha link whoring on a Leafs site. Anything for a click eh champ?

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  63. Now come on, if I'd wanted Leaf fans to come to my site, I would have made it an active link.

    Like this.

    Something tells me Leif's Nation just isn't ready yet for the sheer awesomeness of my blog.

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  64. This is August, the slowest month of the year in the hockey world.

    Suddenly, the news about Jason Allison receiving a tryout with the Leafs makes more sense.

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  65. Suddenly, the news about Jason Allison receiving a tryout with the Leafs makes more sense.

    :O

    You're right!

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  66. Habs93 - Lives in Vancouver, cheers for the Habs, goes to Leafs blogs.

    Leave this guy alone; he's clearly confused.

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  67. habs93forever is obviously trying to steer attention away from the fact that the habs are going to get destroyed this year... its ok little buddy, embrace the blue and white and everything will be alright.

    ps: your blog sucks

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  68. Got the Annual a few days and and have been reading away during stolen moments at work

    Thanks muchly!

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