[URBAN NOTE] "It’s ‘about time’ Toronto Maple Leafs fans had something to cheer for"

[rfmcdonald]

Metro Toronto's Jessica Smith has an interesting interview up with CBC hockey journalist Elliotte Friedman. Briefly, the Maple Leafs' ongoing success may have saved the team's morale and popularity.

Hockey Night in Canada host Elliotte Friedman is a man without a team — he’s an unbiased observer — but he does know a little about “fandemonium.”

“Your city is just a little bit more enjoyable when your hockey team is good. It’s about time Toronto fans had this,” he says at the CBC’s downtown Toronto office, a couple of hours before he’s scheduled go on air for the HNIC pre-game show and the Leafs-Bruins game.

He grew up a Blackhawks fan, not a Leafs fan, but in the late ’90s and early 2000s, when the Leafs were good, he was caught up in the excitement, he says.

“They needed this badly because I think they’re in danger of losing a generation of fans,” he says. “If you lose a generation they’ll become Sidney Crosby fans or something else.”

[. . .]

Friedman predicts Boston will take the series in six — because of the Bruins’ experience, depth and Zdeno Chara — but says just having the Leafs in the playoffs has changed things.

“If they lose this series, will they be disappointed? Yes. But they’ll look at this season and say, ‘We’re back.’”