Dangle: Brendan Leipsic gave Leafs fans a moment to cherish

Leafs Brendan Leipsic scores his first NHL goal in front of his Parents in Vancouver.

Savour what’s good.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are last place in the NHL right now. It’s easy to blame them for that. (I’ve kind of made a career out of it.)

Really though, we knew what to expect. In a refreshing moment of honesty this past summer, the Leafs literally told fans to expect pain.

When the season is going the way it’s going for the Leafs, you have to cherish every positive moment you can get.

Brendan Leipsic gave us one to remember.

Leipsic scored a goal in his first NHL game. That’s a great story by itself: young kid gets called up, scores a goal on a well-established NHL goalie — and it’s the game-winner, to boot.

There are so many other little parts I love about it, too.

The most obviously awesome part about Leipsic’s first NHL goal was the fact that his parents were there to take it all in. Live in Vancouver, on Hockey Night in Canada no less, the Leipsic family got to see the boy they raised pot one in the big leagues. They write songs about that kind of stuff.

While everyone was focussing on the Leipsic parents hugging it out to celebrate their son’s first NHL goal — and that was indeed a beautiful thing to see — something else caught my eye in that short clip. Did you notice the two guys in Canucks jerseys sitting in front of the Leipsic parents? They stood up, hugged, and congratulated them on their son’s first goal.

It didn’t matter that their team just got scored on. It didn’t matter that the Canucks were losing. They understood the magnitude of the moment.

It might not seem like much to you but to me that moment was sportsmanship, humility, and the heart of what we love about sports.

Then there’s friendship.

Leipsic scores, the camera tightens on Ryan Miller, the camera switches to the Leafs celebrating, and then switches to a shot of Leipsic’s parents. Miss anything?

Richard Clune, who took the shot that ended up as a juicy rebound for Leipsic, made a beeline for the net to grab Leipsic’s first-goal puck.

Anybody could have been on the ice for that moment. Anybody could have assisted on that goal. But it was his friend, Rich.

leipsic_brendan1

I know, I know. The Leafs are still in last.

It was just one puck.

It was just one goal.

It was just one moment.

Rebuilds are full of moments and most of them suck. This one was a reminder of what all the pain is for.

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