A lasting buzz would connect Southern Ontario and Western New York. Bills Mafia and Leafs Nation, this is your year!
Two cities with storied sports teams, separated by a 60-mile stretch of highway and a border bridge that, with a NEXUS pass, should offer smooth entry for shoppers and tourists. Crossing the Peace Bridge in a southerly direction might offer the die-hard sports fan some top-shelf, meaningful NFL action led by a surging star quarterback. Conversely, if driving North, one might want to see the rise of an Original Six NHL team that boasts the most prolific goal-scoring phenom in the game today.
Photo courtesy Buffalo Rumblings
There is a renewed energy in this area that leans towards optimism. The two cities offer stark differences in population and general size. Still, Buffalo, New York, and Toronto, Ontario, both carry a bleak and, at times, unmentionable commonality about their most beloved sports teams. That would be despite knocking on the door and having the core makings of several championship teams.
Photo courtesy SportsNet
The Buffalo Bills and the Toronto Maple Leafs have carried a streak of well over 50 years since their last triumph in their respective sports and leagues. The Bills were the toast of the town and the best of the old AFL when they took back-to-back titles in 1964 and ‘65, while the Leafs overcame a Game 1 shellacking from the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final of 1967 to win the next four straight and their 13th Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Little did the exuberant, celebrating citizens of these two proud cities know that this would start a championship drought that would seemingly last forever. Enter Bills Mafia and Leafs Nation into the 2024-25 season, much like Willem Defoe told Charlie Sheen in Platoon, “The worm has turned for you, man…”
After reflecting upon the Bills’ seasons over the past 50 years, it is easy to see where heartache and disappointment became the norm. Their AFL Championships of ‘64 and ‘65 became obsolete following the eventual merger of the two professional leagues (NFL and AFL), which formed the singular and much stronger NFL as we now know it. With that came the Super Bowl, beginning in 1967, and the Green Bay Packers beating the Kansas City Chiefs. Legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi hoisted what would later become his namesake’s trophy, initiating a tradition that would become an emblem of American heritage.
Coach Marv Levy with QB Jim Kelly (photo, ESPN)
Bills fans endured a lasting period of misery following this pivotal moment. The 1970s saw only one winning season despite the Bills having the best running back in the league. The 1980s weren’t much better until a wave of star players, whose catalysts included Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, and the famous “Bermuda Triangle” defense of Bruce Smith, Shane Conlan, and Cornelius Bennett, began a new era of success. The turnaround came in 1988 with a much improved 12-4 record and Buffalo’s first AFC East Division title.
A run of success would peak in the early to mid-’90s, with this core group of players rising to lead the Bills to four straight Super Bowl appearances. The operative word being “appearance,” as the Bills lost all four in succession. The words “Wide Right!” are considered unspeakable in the Western New York area as they refer to Scott Norwood’s marginally missed kick that would have defeated the New York Giants in the final seconds of Super Bowl XXV.
Darryl Sittler (photo, Globe and Mail)
While not quite as heartbreaking, the Maple Leafs’ stretch of losing seasons and gradual rise and return to respectability are strikingly similar to those of the Bills. After their surprising Stanley Cup win of ‘67, the team endured a long stretch of losing seasons as the NHL and the game of hockey began to rise in popularity and revenue. The Leafs were fortunate to have one of the era’s best players, Darryl Sittler, and a young and exciting goalie, Mike Palmateer. But again, like the Bills, the Leafs could only boast one strong season, with a 41-29-10 record in 1978. They then came up against a brick wall in the second round of the playoffs with a matchup against the early formation of the New York Islanders dynasty.
Leafs Nation rarely speaks of “The Ballard Years” of the late 1970s and 80s when majority owner Harold Ballard seemed to have held the team down by not seeking and signing impact players. It wasn’t until a new brass and front office came in and began a movement that started behind the bench when coach Pat Burns led a group of tough, grinding players like Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk, Wendel Clark, and Peter Zezel in front of solid netminder, Felix Potvin. That group would offer fans a winning core of players through the better part of the 1990s. They would come close but never quite make it to the Stanley Cup final.
Both the Bills and the Maple Leafs would knock on the door of a championship again in future seasons. The Bills would fall victim to a strange and most unlikely, numerous lateral play in the final seconds at the hands of the Tennessee Titans that (might) have cleared the way for another Super Bowl appearance in 2000. The Leafs also made another close run, with star player Mats Sundin leading another formidable cast that included Darcy Tucker, Gary Roberts, and Tie Domi. Unfortunately for the Leafs Nation, the team, under Coach Pat Quinn, would fall short again in the playoffs by losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2003 Eastern Conference Final in six games.
It has taken a long while to return to a feeling of optimism and hope for these two fanbases, which share similarities in heartache and disappointment. The revival, however, is almost equally similar.
Despite early-round playoff losses in the past couple of seasons, the Buffalo Bills and Toronto Maple Leafs seem to have matured. Both teams sit at the top of their respective conferences and are looking toward a favorable playoff seed. Their core group has risen from having begun their careers within the organization. League MVP favorite quarterback Josh Allen of the Bills and three-time Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy (for most goals) winner Auston Matthews (who is just coming back from injury) are leading the way.
Both teams seem poised to break the hex of the past 50 years.
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References: www.hockeydb.com, www.nfl.com, www.wikipedia
Numerous seasons of agony as a Bills and Leafs fan
