Behind The Curtain
Filed Under Shower Curtain | Posted on December 3, 2008
The Greater Toronto Hockey League has more than 40,000 players and just as many tall tales.
Separating fact from fiction is a bit like trying to touch a ghost. There is everything and there is nothing.
It’s like taking a half dozen jigsaw puzzles, dumping them on a table and trying to put them back together. The pieces are all there, right in front of you, but …
“Things get funkier as you go further south of Steeles,” says the voice on the other end of the phone line.
“But the only thing I’m comfortable with being quoted on is the cost factor of hockey. I have friends who are still in the organization.
“I’ll give you the brush, you can paint the picture,” it says. “And, oh, don’t use my name.”
Everyone has a story.Nobody has a name. Not for publication. It’s enough to make a guy wonder who is running this organization. The Godfather didn’t cause this much trepidation.
“There is no politics in hockey,” says John Gardner, president and designated flak-catcher for an organization that is one of the most misunderstood and mistrusted in all of sports.
It has survived for 97 years, most of those under its previous flag as the Metropolitan Toronto Hockey League.
Tags: curtain, everyone has a story, ghost, godfather, greater toronto hockey, greater toronto hockey league, john gardner, puzzles, separating fact from fiction, sports, tall tales, toronto hockey league, trepidationRelated posts
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