The 2023 Canadian Progress Club Sports Celebrity Dinner has a hockey-heavy theme, with some well-known former NHL ‘original six’ captains.
“We are getting to meet people you played against who are friends now,” said ex-Maple Leafs Captain Wendel Clark.
Clark’s former NHL rival Guy Carbonneau returns to the city where his professional career started.
Carbonneau played for the Nova Scotia voyageurs in the early 1980s.
“Looking back, I am happy I spent two years here in Halifax,” said Carbonneau, who would later become Captain of the Canadiens, winning two Stanley Cups in Montreal and a third cup in Dallas. “Always great memories.”
A Maple Leafs Captain for six seasons, Darryl Sittler’s favourite memories are scoring six goals and adding four assists in a game against Boston in 1976.
“The ten point game is something that a lot of leafs fan’s watch and remember,” said Sittler. “The Canada Cup goal in 1976 is one of the highlights of my career. But I never won the Stanley Cup.”
Doug Gilmour did win a cup in Calgary.
“It was an amazing time,” said Gilmour who is likely best known as being the Captain of the Maple leafs from 1994-to-97. “It is something that I’ll never forget.”
One thing, Toronto fans hope to forget is a string of recent playoff losses.
The Maple Leafs have not won a playoff round since 2004.
“We simply have to win more games than they do,” said Clark who also believes this Maple Leafs team has the talent and depth to go on a playoff run.
“They have played well and they just have to take it to April and May and prove it in that part of the season,” said Clark, who led the Maple Leafs to back-to-back Conference Final Appearances in 1993 and 1994.
