When Darryl Sittler started with the Maple Leafs in 1970, their Stanley Cup drought was just three years old.
But the former captain still bleeds blue – make that Type O positive for optimism, at age 72.
“Maybe this is the year, finally, those hockey gods will be with us,” Sittler said Monday, while glad-handling his club ambassador duties for the team charity golf event at RattleSnake Point in Milton. “Then we can win a few rounds and challenge for the Cup.”
Sittler, like many others, thought the team was on its way this decade, adding top picks Auston Matthews, who is the latest in a long line of captains to follow him, plus William Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner.
It must have been particularly hard for Sittler to witness Marner’s departure this past summer. He’s always talked up his fellow first-round London Knights pick, who had moved to fifth in franchise scoring within 175 points of passing him. Marner leaves for Vegas under a dark cloud of discontent.
“Mitch was such a part of our team, such a great player,” Sittler lamented. “You talk about his goals, assists and creativity, which were awesome to watch, but he was very good defensively. He was an all-around player. I guess for Mitch, sometimes these things happen and he’s moving on. We’ll miss him here.
“In my era, the Harold Ballard days, and Punch Imlach (in his second coming as GM) they traded a lot of guys, Lanny McDonald and a number of others. It’s not the nicest thing in the game, but you learn to adjust and it’s your job, you blend in with the new guys. The logo on the chest is the most important thing.”
Sittler was feeling nostalgic for a couple of other reasons on Monday, the 49th anniversary of his goal to win the first Canada Cup against the former Czechoslovakia at the Montreal Forum, which was his only major title trophy. It was also grandson Luke’s 21st birthday.
And we couldn’t resist in the middle of a golf course to ask him about the famous early ‘70s commercial for Wheetabix whole grain cereal he shot with fellow Hall of Famer Norm Ullman. After a beautiful Sittler swing from the fairway, Ullman was more concerned whether his young friend had eaten a healthy breakfast.
“Those ads were fun, but you were never able to do them in one take,” Sittler laughed. “I see it all the time on YouTube now, people are always bringing it up.”
The other cereal commercial Sittler loves to watch was an SCTV network show parody, John Candy portraying him versus Joe Flaherty as Montreal’s Guy Lafleur. Wearing the team’s stars familiar No. 27 and 10, they start with an amicable bowl of ‘Cornabix’ that devolves into a language dispute and hockey-style brawl.
Lhornby@postmedia.com
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