From the Branches: Hockey season is here!

There was actual hockey last night! With players in Maple Leafs jerseys!

Yes, it's just the rookie tournament in London; but with that going on, and our Top 25 Under 25 coming to an end, it really feels like the summer is over, and hockey season has begun.

Speaking of that tournament, our own JP Nikota was in attendance at last night's game and he wrote an excellent review of our favourite prospects.

Recap: Baby Sens 5, Baby Leafs 4 - Pension Plan Puppets
The Sens dump the Leafs in OT in a wide open affair.

And William Nylander's hair still has a mind of it's own.

The tournament continues tonight with the Baby Leafs vs. the Baby Habs @ 7:35PM. As far as I know the game will be broadcast only on Rogers' local London cable channel. As a gentle reminder: SB Nation/VOX Media does not allow links to websites where games are illegally live-streamed. Any comments that include them will be immediately deleted.

Other news

Transcript: Sheldon Keefe tees up the 2015 Rookie Tournament on Leafs Lunch - MLHS
Sheldon Keefe joined Leafs Lunch to preview this weekend’s rookie tournament. Discussion topics include William Nylander and Mitch Marner playing center.

Real hockey! (Kinda) Pens rookies beat Montreal 4-3 in OT with Sprong goal - PensBurgh
The Penguins top pick in 2015 draft, Daniel Sprong, scores in over time to send the Pittsburgh Penguins rookies over the Montreal Canadiens rookies in the first game of their tournament.

Blackhawks trade Kris Versteeg, Joakim Nordstrom to Hurricanes - Second City Hockey
Chicago finally pulled the trigger on a salary dump.

Team Europe World Cup players frustrated with format - Puck Daddy
Tomas Tatar isn’t sure how fans are going to feel about what he called Slovakia's "relegation" to Team Europe.

Our Top 25 Under 25 may be over, but you can still have your say! Commentor voting for the 20 - 6 positions closed yesterday with some... peculiar results. Given it's my contest, and I can do whatever I want, I am spontaneously changing the rules so that the five players with the most up-votes move on to the final round. Sorry, but Hyman can only win once. This means the following 5 have made it to round 3: Kapanen (+909), Brown (+780), Marincin, (+671), Holland (+665), and Johnson (+660). This is pretty similar to our own rankings, except Panik is out and Johnson in.

Voting will open whenever I get around to making the post later today. In the mean time you can vote in the poll below to have your say on who is the best player in the Leafs' organization under 25.

The Leafs best player under 25 is: