If These Walls Could Talk: Toronto Maple Leafs: Stories from the Toronto Maple Leafs Ice, Locker Room, and Press Box

by Lance Hornby

Chronicling the Maple Leafs for 35 years, longtime Toronto Sun beat reporter Lance Hornby provides access into the Maple Leafs’ inner sanctum as only he can. From the heyday of the 1940s when Toronto won five Stanley Cups in Maple Leaf Gardens to the current star-laden era with Auston Matthews and John Tavares, this book provides a one-of-a-kind, insider’s look into the great moments and interesting anecdotes from the Leafs’ storied history. Read about how a lifetime pass to Leafs games was lost in a poker game; why Charlie Conacher dangled King Clancy by his feet from an open hotel window; how Mike Babcock learned he was related to Dave Keon; the wild times of the historic Gardens during the chaotic Harold Ballard era; and the legendary pranks of Doug Gilmour, whose sense of humour only was rivaled by his skill on the ice.

Genres: Hockey, Sports

236 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished a book on the Dallas Stars and thought to myself "I should read another hockey book" and somehow got on this one next. It was interesting and well written, it just was a book in which the subject matter didn't really interest me. I'm not a Leafs fan, but I like the personal stories and how much trouble the previous generations could get into, its a sad fact of life that while we do have a lot more amenities in this current time you also lose a lot of privacy that previous generations had.

It's also interesting to see how the expansion of the NHL affected the Leafs, when it was the Original 6 they were almost blase about winning the Stanley Cup, it was almost like they thought "Yeah we've got a good shot so if we don't win this year eh there's next year". Players were falling asleep on the bench in the 60's, that's how untroubled they were. Now fast forward post-expansion and land in the current drought era, the Leafs haven't won the Cup since 1967 and the entire fan base seems almost rabid at this point. The team has stopped measuring the distance in players but in rebuilds, in decades, in entire coach tenures. The day they win again the entire city might just go crazy and anarchy might ensue for days. So while I didn't particularity care about the Leafs while reading this, I did enjoy the attitude and stories of each generation.

[Brendan Sheehan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book while entertaining suffers from extreme disorganization that keeps it from being a much better book. The book switches from topic based chapters (coaches, road trips, etc) to historical ones that it is hard to keep track of everything going on and how it is connected. The art of the segue seemed to be missed. More connective tissue would be great.

Nevertheless if you are a Leafs fan the stories are entertaining and the author approaches his subject with enough seriousness to convey persuasive arguments but understanding at the end of the day this is a book for fans.

It is not a great history of the Leafs but if you know the club very well it provides a great deal of colour to the story.

[Hunter Hintz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a well-written book and had some good stories about the leafs

[Victor Saville · Rating 3 out of 5]

decent stories over the years of Leafs hockey and around the NHL.

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

heated rivalry has taken me places I wouldn’t go with a gun