There's another dark cloud hanging in this winter's skies, directly above Maple Leaf 
Gardens, but one of our favourite correspondents, high aloft in his jaunty autogyro, has 
churned the air just enough to allow an optimistic ray of sunlight to shine through.  
      The Leafs, of course, decamped for the new Anonymous Corporate Centre last season, 
leaving the legendary Gardens to St Michael's Majors of the OHL.  Like hyenas circling an 
exhausted lion, developers are poised to pounce on the majestic old presence on Carleton 
Street -- slavering to buy up the property, tear down the very last of hockey's great 
cathedrals, and sell the space for some asinine high-rise condo or office project.  
    "When I hear that there is talk of selling MLG for development," says our overly modest 
correspondent, who requests anonymity, "I wonder what is next?  Here is truly a monument to 
hockey's heritage.  If nobody jumps in to try to save this Canadian national treasure, something 
stinks in Ontario and it ain't Lake Erie that I'm talking about!  Here's an idea that I know will 
never happen because it makes so much sense:  the NHL should buy the site and use it for 
special events as the NHL arena.  Wouldn't this be great for a league for whom, if there isn't 
bad PR, there is no PR?  Wouldn't it also be some much owed homage to Canada?  It could 
be hockey's Wembley Stadium and a part of the Hall of Fame combined!  And if they used it 
for charitable concerns mostly, or as a non profit, it could even work financially!"  
      Hands down, this has to be the best idea since mandatory resurfacing between periods.  
The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown has Doubleday Field, home to the annual Hall of 
Fame game, a block and half away;  the Football Hall of Fame in Canton stands adjacent to the 
gridiron on which its own annual Hall of Fame game is played.  What could make more sense 
than to keep the Gardens, a mere stone's throw from the Hockey Hall of Fame in downtown 
Toronto, up and running as a complement to the Hall?  The Montreal Forum, Detroit's Olympia, 
Chicago Stadium, Boston Garden, the Auditorium in Buffalo -- they're all gone.  If the Gardens 
are razed, nothing -- not a trace -- of the great NHL palaces will remain.  Nothing remotely 
like them will ever be built to take their place;  you can't manufacture history.  Young fans will 
never, ever, have the chance to know what it was like to experience a game in a unique arena 
with the mighty architectural mass, singular details, and quirky angles of the great old buildings 
where legends like Morenz and Clancy, Shore and Sawchuk, Howe and Orr actually skated 
and where the hopes and cheers and memories of thousands upon thousands of fans spanned 
the history of the game.  
      The Gardens isn't some derelict building requiring millions of dollars to renovate.  It's as 
perfectly functional today as it was when it opened in 1931.  With the league and all 30 NHL 
clubs chipping in, purchase of the building would be a painless investment.  With St Mike's, 
perhaps a Toronto area college team, and a selection of charity events and concerts, the Gardens 
could easily be kept busy, and a break-even proposition if not downright profitable.  And what 
a PR coup it would be for a league that's earned nothing but criticism from fans and the media 
for the contempt its shown Canada, the fans, and the game's heritage.  There's every reason 
to do it and not a single reason not to.  
      So, fans?  Do we sit around and mope and grouse about it among ourselves again and 
wonder "how can they do that?" when the wrecker's ball hits MLG?  Or do we take some action 
and try to get the league dunderheads to recognise a great idea?  Write, phone, fax, e-mail the 
NHL, and spell out for them, as you'll have to, what common sense and simple respect for the 
game dictate.  Save the Gardens!  
     The most logical targets for your calls and correspondence are Bettman, Senior VP Stephen J. 
Solomon, and Public Relations Director Andrew McGowan, all at the NHL offices in Manhattan.  
The address is 1251 Avenue of the Americas, 47th Floor, New York City, NY 10020-1198.  
The main number is (212) 789-2000;  the fax number is 789-2020.  Keep it polite or you'll get 
nowhere with them.  Less influential but more sympathetic, VP for Public Relations and Media 
Services Gary Meagher, and Public Relations Coordinator David Keon, are at the NHL's 
Toronto annex:  75 International Boulevard, Suite 300, Rexdale ONT  M9W 6L9.  The phone 
there is (416) 798-0809, the fax number 798-0819.                                          -- KER / JZK