From one superstar to another.
Auston Matthews won’t soon forget his introduction to Aaron Judge.
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Before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch on Tuesday night prior to the Blue Jays’ game against the New York Yankees, Matthews met the Yankees slugger and spent some time in conversation with the 6-foot-7, 280-pound Judge.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever felt that small next to somebody before,” Matthews said. “Really cool to meet a guy at the top of his sport and having an incredible season. It was fun.”
Mitch Marner and Michael Bunting tagged along with Matthews and the Leafs linemates sat behind the Jays’ dugout. Marner said he was taken aback to learn that Judge wears size 17 shoes.
“When he was running the bases, it looked like a bit like clown shoes,” Marner said. “But what a great guy. What he’s doing right now is unbelievable. It was special to watch him.”
How about Matthews’ pitch, which was caught by Jays ace Alek Manoah?
“Honestly, not as nervous as I thought I was going to be,” Matthews said. “The whole week, everybody was telling me throw off the rubber, (but) the mascot didn’t let me. It was a fun experience with that kind of atmosphere and with the Yankees in town, it was super cool.”
The Leafs linemates also had a chance to chat with former Jays star Josh Donaldson, now patrolling third base for the Yankees.
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
Exactly 50 years after Paul Henderson scored the most iconic goal in the history of Canadian hockey, members of the 1972 Summit Series-winning Team Canada were honoured in a pre-game ceremony before the Leafs and Montreal Canadiens clashed in a pre-season game.
Earlier in the day, a news conference involving several integral Canadian players, including Henderson, Ken Dryden and Serge Savard, was held at Real Sports.
As you may have heard, Henderson’s goal with 34 seconds remaining in the eighth game of the series sunk the Soviet Union.
“Everything fell into place for me,” Henderson said with enthusiasm to a packed room. “It was the highlight of my whole career, there is no question. I like to say I’m the only guy who played professional hockey for 18 years and scored one goal. That’s basically what it is. I’ve been celebrating now for 50 years.”
Dryden recalled what he was feeling in the hours leading up to the decisive Game 8.
“I had never felt my legs like jello, and that’s what it felt like to me,” Dryden said. “Before when I had been nervous, I knew whatever I was feeling in my stomach, by the time the game would begin, it would be gone.
“What I was not sure of, when it goes to your legs, what happens then? Will it go away? It was trying to get through that time and get to game time and knowing that game was right there in front of us. That’s all that was in your head. It took over all of us.”
Plans to honour Team Canada began to take shape approximately a month ago in a phone call to Ron Ellis from Leafs president Brendan Shanahan. With a smile, Dryden noted the coincidence that the Leafs and Canadiens happened to play against each other 50 years after Canada’s dramatic 6-5 win in Game 8.
Players from the Leafs and Canadiens wore replica Canada sweaters during the ceremony. During TV timeouts, highlights of each of the eight games were shown on the centre-ice scoreboard.
TRAINING KAMPF
Centre David Kampf returned to the Leafs after he was absent for two days for personal reasons.
“I just had some family business to do, everything is good and I’m happy to be back,” Kampf said.
Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe continues to go with some different looks as he tinkers with his bottom-six forward group.
At practice for the non-game players on Wednesday, Kampf skated between Zach Aston-Reese, who is expected to sign after coming to camp on a PTO, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel.
“I’ve got great faith and trust in him to just be himself and do what he does, no matter who his linemates are,” Keefe said of Kampf. “As we get into next week, we’ll maybe start to find some continuity there for him, but the reality is when you’re in his type of a role, generally, players around you move around a bit.
“His role really isn’t going to change all that much, no matter what the situations are. For him, being adaptable is important, and he certainly is that.”
LOOSE LEAFS
Defenceman Jake Muzzin, who had been out because of back discomfort, on Wednesday participated in practice for the first time since camp opened. Muzzin was on the ice for the first half with the other non-game players, skating alongside usual partner Justin Holl, but didn’t return following a flood midway through. “The reports I got were very positive,” Keefe said. “He could have continued, (but) we just thought we would take it a little bit at a time. Everything went really well.” … Forward Pierre Engvall (ankle) continues to skate but his participation in practice is not imminent, Keefe said. Forward Adam Gaudette, who suffered a shoulder injury against Ottawa on Saturday, skated on his own on Wednesday … Will Matthews score 60 goals for the second season in a row? We believe he will. BetOnline has set the over/under for Matthews goals in 2022-23 at 56.5.
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