Members of the Toronto Maple Leafs visited Sunnybrook Veterans Centre Wednesday to commemorate Remembrance Day
“This is the Maple Leaf history that’s right in this room right now,” Leafs defenceman Travis Dermott told CTV News Toronto. “I don’t think you can really pride yourself on wearing the jersey until you meet the people.”
Veterans could be seen shaking hands and getting autographs from Dermott and his teammates Frederick Gautier and Alexander Kerfoot.
For the young players it was an opportunity to meet those who’d served their country, and in some cases, get an earful about how their team is doing.
“I was talking to one of the guys earlier and he was telling me how we gotta clean up our defence if we want to make a run at the playoffs,” said Kerfoot. “And I mean, I wasn’t arguing with him. He might have a point!”
But it may have been the retired players, Wendel Clark and Ron Ellis, who meant the most to these long-time fans.
“Being the oldest one here today, a lot of these folks were watching the game back when I started playing in 64,” Ellis said with a laugh. “So it’s nice to hear some of the memories from them.”
Ellis, whose father died last year, had a personal connection to the veterans in the room.
“My father joined the airforce during the war as soon as he turned 18 and it disrupted his chances to play in the NHL, so I was very pleased that I was able to work through the ranks and become an NHLer for my father.”
Some of the Sunnybrook veterans will be on hand for the Leafs pre-game ceremony Saturday when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers, in a centre ice tribute from the players and fans.
“At the end of the day all we do is play hockey and we provide entertainment to people and it’s nice to be able to brighten up some peoples’ days,” said Kerfoot. “But these guys are the real heroes and what they’ve done with their lives; we’re not going to accomplish anything quite like that.”
