Leafs `keeping the faith' in each other
`When times are tough, you tend to group together more,' says Steen of current plight
Paul Hunter, The Toronto Star
Published: Friday, January 18, 2008BOSTON -- The ongoing saga of the Maple Leafs' pursuit of Cliff Fletcher to be the team's interim GM has not been a distraction to coach Paul Maurice or his players.
"My only concern with that would be if Mr. Fletcher could skate with the guys on the ice," said Maurice yesterday.
Maurice said in some ways the proliferation of rumours surrounding the team - encompassing everything from his fate, to the futures of John Ferguson, Mats Sundin and almost all the other players - has helped the team focus.
If there was just one issue, it might be a distraction, said Maurice but because of the sensory overload, the players have tuned it out and channelled their injuries into simply playing hockey.
"I think in some ways, it does become a little bit easier when there's more going on around you to just come to the rink. You can't process all the other information so you just shut it off and play a little bit of hockey," said the coach.
"One (issue) is sometimes more dangerous than 10 because you focus on that one but there's so much going on around us and my sense is that for the players it's all hockey now all the time."
The players say they've become impervious to all the chatter.
"It's not that there's a rumour the coach is going to get fired or something like that. There's a rumour that everyone is gone," said forward John Pohl.
"There's just so much and there's so much media, it's just so excessive with everything that I think the guys just tune it out to be honest with you."
If anything, said Alex Steen, the constant bombardment of speculation about the club has brought the players closer together.
"When times are tough, you tend to group together more and support each other," he said.
"The last little while here, there's been a lot of negativity surrounding the team from media and the outside. But in this room, we all know there's only one way to turn this around and that's to stay positive and stick together and support each other and just battle through it. There's no easy way to get through this. We have to turn it around and the only way to do is just by hard work and trying to battle your way through it."
Central to that belief that Toronto can turn things around is captain Mats Sundin who speaks often about "keeping the faith" in the team. It underlines why he has been so adamant that he does not want to be traded.
"He's the kingpin. He's the man," said Maurice. "He sets the tone in the locker room and makes sure, as much as he possibly can, that everybody stays on board and stays in the fight. I think he's done just a marvellous job with it."