Following The Game 6 Win, Leafs Coach Mike Babcock Reflected On The Deadly Toronto Attack That Left 10 People Dead
Following yesterday’s attack that left 10 dead and 15 injured, the Air Canada Centre was electric. I love me a good National Anthem but watching fans sing ‘O Canada’ last night gave me chills. And then the Maple Leafs, helped by incredible goaltending from Frederik Andersen with 32 saves, went on to tie the series 3 – 3 with a 3 – 1 win over the Bruins.
Despite the excitement, the atmosphere stayed somber for the post-game press conference and Monday’s tragic events were clearly heavy on coach Mike Babcock’s mind. During his first few minutes with the press he is reflective not just on the attack but on hockey, and what it’s all about if you love the game.
Before anyone had a chance to ask questions he addressed the room:
“Obviously again, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the people that lost their lives today, and all the people that are injured. Senseless deaths to say the least. Changes the new normal in a family’s life forever, whether it be no mom, no dad, no sister, no brother. Whatever it may be.
…we’re fortunate to live in such a fantastic city with great first responders and the work they’ve done. It’s so important that we rally around these people. Help out and do everything we can. We’ve got a fantastic city. We can’t let this get in the way of what we’ve got going.”
“Given the wide gap between the hockey game and what happened, how did you handle that news? Did you guys talk about it ahead of time?”
“Well we didn’t talk about it in a big group. We just… spent the whole time talking about it. So that’s all everyone was talking about right from the get-go. The bottom line is it was our job to do what we could out here tonight.”
“What did your team show you tonight?”
“This series is fun… It’s high end. They got high end players. But we think we’re gonna win. And so we’ve thought that all along. We started poorly and we’ve crawled our way back. And now we have the opportunity of a lifetime. And that’s what we talked about tonight. This is fun. This is where you wanna be. Going to the 3rd period – this is fun….
You want to be in these moments in your life – you don’t remember everything in your life – what you do is you remember moments. You remember, and you want to create those moments. You want to create memories. Here’s an opportunity for us to create memories with a good group of guys who like each other a lot, play hard for one another.
Now we’re gonna go ahead to Boston, get that clam chowder like we talked about, and go ahead and win the game.”
On to game 7 tomorrow night. Hope they get that chowder and bring back the W to make a happy memory for a city that needs it. If you’d like to see how you can help the victims & families of the attack, click here.