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Sports Oakville Beaver s the losses continue to pile up and fans' frustration continues to grow, it's getting more and more difficult to remember that the Toronto Maple Leafs have a rich and, once upon a time, winning tradition. Heck, they even used to win a Stanley Cup or two. Thirteen, in fact -- a number that's hard to believe if you were born in the 1970s or later, like me. Things are so bad nowadays, the Toronto Star invited readers to submit their best Leafs joke and published the top ones in a recent newspaper edition. My favourite: "What did the Leafs fan do after the Leafs won the Stanley Cup? He turned off the PlayStation." It's enough to make Buds fans want to live in the past. That's where life-long Leafs fanatic Michael Langlois can help. The 56-year-old Oakville resident has launched a website where Leafs fans, particularly the longer-suffering ones, can read and reminisce about the glory days gone by. The site, titled Vintage Leaf Memories, is a blend of nostalgia, personal memories and unique anecdotes, focusing on Maple Leafs hockey in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Langlois, a Windsor native who chose to cheer for the Leafs in order to be different from his Montreal Canadiensloving father and brothers, feels there's a niche for his website. "There are a lot of websites and blog sites that certainly cater to Leaf fans, but it's mostly current stuff," he says. "You need that, and there's a market for that. But, for those of us who remember, in my case, the late '50s, you do have some pretty vivid memories. That was the genesis of this." Memories as broadcaster On the site, Langlois shares his memories of cheering on the Leafs as a youngster and his encounters with NHL players as a fan. But the thing Langlois believes makes his site particularly interesting is the stories he can pass on from his time as a broadcaster. SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2009 25 Chance for Leafs fans to remember the good times A them out of bed. "The environment I would interview in was different. It was not after a game, it was usually in person in studio or sometimes over the phone. We'd talk for 30-40 minutes. You don't get that nowadays." Langlois' subjects have included Maurice (Rocket) Richard, Larry Robinson, Wayne Gretzky and Dave (Tiger) Williams, baseball's Bob Lemon, Alan Trammell and Vida Blue, football's Jim Taylor and many others. The lengthy and personal interviews gave Langlois access to exclusive inside stories that he plans to share with his Internet audience. A recent story on his site detailed how New York Rangers defenceman Michael Langlois Andy Bathgate admitted to Langlois in 1976 that he once intentionally hit Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante -- who later invented the goalie mask -- in the face with a shot. "He told me he did it on purpose and told me the reason behind the story," Langlois says. "He's now retold the story but, back in '76, he said he'd never shared it." Langlois eventually left broadcasting to become a communications advisor. He now does seminars on public speaking and workshops on media awareness, working with professional athletes and coaches on occasion. Langlois, whose all-time favourite Leafs player is Dave Keon, spends 15-20 hours a week on his website. TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO He plans to post new material once every few days until THIS REALLY HAPPENED: Dave Keon enjoys a moment the volume of traffic to his site picks up, at which point with the Stanley Cup in 1967, the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs he hopes to post on a daily basis. won the NHL championship. He also intends to provide other longtime hockey fans with an opportunity to share their memories on the Langlois hosted a variety of sports radio shows over site. the years, allowing him to interview some of the biggest "I hope in the long run this becomes a site that will names in hockey and in sports. be home for a lot of people so they can go and con"I was not Dave Hodge or Ron MacLean. I was a tribute, and it will grow," he says, "and become a wellnobody who loved doing what I was doing," he says, regarded site as a home for a lot of hockey fans." "and you ended up talking to all kinds of people. In Vintage Leaf Memories can be found online at those days, you just had to pick up your phone, find out http://vintageleafmemories.blogspot.com/ what hotel a team was staying at, call them and get