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By HOWARD BERGER
TORONTO (Mar. 8) – If there is one aspect of day-to-day existence that has vehemently betrayed Brian Burke during his tenure as GM of the Maple Leafs, it is timing.
Well beyond hockey, we can only imagine Double-B pondering how things may have turned out for his family had son, Brendan, been driving in clear weather back […]

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By HOWARD BERGER
TORONTO (Mar. 3) – Brian Burke’s obliteration of the John Ferguson-era Maple Leafs is nearing its spectacular end, with one remaining task to be completed over the summer. This thorough and remarkable tear-down has been accomplished in less than two full seasons. It is astounding to realize that 33 players dressed for the […]

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By HOWARD BERGER
VANCOUVER (Feb. 28) – The men’s hockey tournament here at the 2010 Winter Olympics proved indiscriminate after Russia, Sweden and the Czech Republic were sent packing in the playoff quarterfinals. Few hockey observers on the planet expected that triumvirate to be absent from the final four. Less astounding, to be sure, is the […]

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By HOWARD BERGER
RICHMOND, B.C. (Feb. 22) – The goaltending judgement Team Canada coach Mike Babcock encountered today was central to the men’s hockey tournament here at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, but it should not be viewed with historic implication.
For as long as the game has been played – in the NHL and internationally – coaches […]

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By HOWARD BERGER
RICHMOND, B.C. (Feb. 20) – While hockey flag-wavers from coast-to-coast in this country are a bundle of nerves today, I find it incredibly alluring that some actual competition has broken out in the preliminary round of the Olympic men’s tournament.
Anticipated romps by Canada over Switzerland and Russia over Slovakia on Thursday did not […]

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By HOWARD BERGER
VANCOUVER (Feb. 14) — I am not certain right now, nor may I ever fully understand, where Brian Burke is getting his strength from these days. Just more than one week after encountering the most difficult, painful and potentially debiliating circumstance imaginable — the death of a child — Brian has somehow shown […]

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By HOWARD BERGER
RICHMOND, B.C. (Feb. 12) — If you are old enough to remember Team Canada sweeping hockey gold at the Salt Lake City Olympics, you might be wondering where the past eight years have gone. I know I shake my head more often than I care to admit at the unrelenting passage of time. Here […]

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By HOWARD BERGER
TORONTO (Feb. 5) — As a father, I don’t know that I can summon an adequate way to impart the sadness I am feeling right now for Maple Leafs’ president and general manager Brian Burke.
You just wonder: How can Brendan Burke be gone?
For those that aren’t aware, the youngest son of the Leafs’ […]

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By HOWARD BERGER
TORONTO (Feb. 3) — You can call it “just one night” if you wish, and it may, indeed, turn out to be an illusion. But, the calm, workmanlike manner in which the Maple Leafs dispatched the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday seemed to offer more than a brief pause of inadequacy. No suggestion, here, […]

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By: David Alter
Out the past month with a shoulder injury, it should be known soon what Mike Komisarek’s status will be for the season and Olympics.
Komisarek will undergo further tests, but at practise today he did take some physical contact which he hadn’t done before
“I’m trying to make my case” Komisarek said when talking about the rough […]

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