Steve Dangle’s Top 15 of 2015

At the end of every December, it is customary to look back at the best of what happened in the past year. You know what’s even more fun? Looking back on the best of what you did!

My original plan was just to look back on my top ten videos from this past season but then Adam Wylde decided to be a jerk and tweet this.

Have it your way, Wylde. We’re doing a Top 15 of 2015 now!

Without further delay, here are some of my favourite videos (of mine) from 2015.

DANGLEPIE

As stupid as this video is, it was a turning point for me last season. After a crushing loss to the St. Louis Blues and the Leafs’ season effectively in the toilet, I just decided to embrace it. It was just barely past halfway through the season. If I was going to do a video after every game, I had to face the train wreck with a train wreck of my own. So as an homage to famous YouTube star PewDiePie, and with video game footage provided by DontBeSaad20, this was DanglePie.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Alex Ovechkin was on a tear, as he often is, and I decided to give him the props he deserved. One year later, Ovie is less than 10 goals shy of 500 and he will likely be the fifth-fastest player to hit that coveted mark. Considering this video was at the end of January, it was nice to escape the Leafs’ collapse and talk about a good team and a good player.

CLARKMAN

With the Leafs in full tank and rebuild mode, the first step was to ship out the team’s biggest contracts. The most unmovable looked like David Clarkson and somehow he was the first domino to fall. As soon as Adam got off the air on KiSS 92.5, he rushed to Oshawa to record a special edition of the podcast just to talk about the trade.

FUN

I didn’t think much of this video when I uploaded it but it really seemed to strike a chord with some people. I was tired of the Leafs, tired of the way they played, and tired of the way they were covered. That and my computer was broken. It’s a rare glimpse of me without the jump-cuts.

SCORCHED EARTH

I love making videos. Now that that’s out of the way, I couldn’t wait for last season to be over. The Leafs were bad; legendarily bad. Even for a team that hasn’t won a Cup since prior to the moon landing, things had never seemed so bleak. Now with Babcock, Lamoriello, and an excellent farm system, I hope this video is nothing more than a time capsule Leafs fans can look back and laugh at in the (hopefully) brighter future.

MCDAVID PERISCOPE

If you only watch one part of this video, just fast-forward to the moment I realized the Oilers had just lucked into Connor McDavid.

BABCOCK

The Leafs kept using the word “rebuild”. This was the first moment I actually believed them.

#CLOSERTOPK

Going to Las Vegas for the 2015 NHL Awards was cool on its own. Getting to essentially order P.K. Subban around while shooting a sketch was insanity. It was definitely a “my job rules” moment. I had some ideas and P.K. did a great job of bringing them to life and adding his own incomparable P.K. flare to it.

And for good measure let’s add in the outtakes. This one doesn’t count towards the 15!

PHIL KESSEL: AN ERA WASTED

This is another video I hope we can look back on like, “Haha remember when the Leafs sucked? That was hilarious!” I wasn’t even that mad about the trade itself when I shot it. What I hated was how the entire time Kessel was a Leaf essentially amounted to nothing. This video recently passed 100,000 views so I guess it struck a nerve.

LOU?!?

Since I started watching hockey I don’t think I’ve ever been so caught off guard by a Leafs move. What made it better is everybody else seemed to be surprised, including some of the most credible insiders in the game.

CONFRONTING PATRICE BERGERON

There were several interviews I was expecting to do on NHL Media Day this past September. Patrice Bergeron was not one of them. He just walked in to the area I was using to do interviews that day and… well what do you say? “Sorry I can’t interview you, Patrice. I’m not ready.” Not a chance!

Then an idea dawned on me and I realized I had been ready for this moment since May 2013.

FAVOURITE POKEMON

Sometimes people in the comment section say I’m too much of a clown. I thought this was an appropriate response.

IS A HOT DOG A SANDWICH

This, too. Every player I spoke to was such a good sport, so that helped.

A PITCH TO PROSPECTIVE NHL FREE AGENTS

With Stamkos-mania at a fever pitch I wasn’t totally sure what to do about it. Mike Cormack, who is essentially the beating heart of Sportsnet.ca, came up with the idea for this video and I just ran with it. In fact, I loved the idea so much that we shot it twice. We went out into downtown Toronto, shot the video for about two hours, only to discover that all of the audio had issues and was unusable.

Amit Mann was the man behind the camera that day and made the whole process of shooting twice way easier. He totally understood what I was going for and was a big part of why this is one of my favourite videos I’ve ever done.

GOALIE HUNTING

Sometimes I have no ideas all day and then one pops into my head at 7:30 at night in a Dollar Tree. This video of the ghosts of Leafs past is exactly that.

If you made it this far, thank you for indulging in my self-indulgence. More importantly, thank you for watching and allowing me to continue on this strange career path. You could watch any show, you could listen to any podcast, and you could go to any site on the big ol’ Internet, and if you spend some time watching my goofy little videos then I am honoured.

May 2016 feature lots of first-round picks and Babsocks.

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