Good morning fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs and associated hockey programs.

After being the only good hockey division in North America this season, the QMJHLs Maritime Conference is catching up to the rest of the world and cancelling games:

The USHL is continuing along as they have all season:

One of the newest (oldest) Maple Leafs is having a good time in Switzerland on the ice with two goals and five assists in six games, off the ice though....

HC Davos in quarantine for precautionary reasons

( Also, am I the last person to learn Joe Thornton is in Switzerland?)

Inside Joe Thornton's return to Switzerland ahead of Maple Leafs debut

In World Juniors news, the coach is cracking down on players who....arrive on time for practice?

Now sports have a lot of arbitrary rules but holy shit this is stupid.

They weren't late, they weren't drunk, or hungover, mouthing off. They arrived at the designated time.

If you want them on the ice 15 minutes early, change the start time. Things like this are just mind fuckery.

In other Maple Leafs-ish news, Kasperi Kapanen is ranked much higher on a Penguins top 25 under 25 than he ever was as a Leaf (he was #6 this year).

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: #2 Kasperi Kapanen

In other news, the players are rightly mad:

Players feeling angry, betrayed by NHL’s new CBA amendment proposals

A former league official is suing the NHL for wrongful termination:

Former NHL official alleges league fired him for being whistle-blower on racism - TSN.ca

"In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, lawyers for Laurence Sullivan, a former crew official who recorded in-game statistics during Lightning games in Tampa Bay, wrote that Sullivan should be rehired by the NHL and that he should receive punitive damages for his treatment....During his tenure with the NHL, Sullivan alleged that colleague Pat DeLorenzo Jr. repeatedly used the N-word and other racist language at work."

In other uplifting news:

Joe Murphy's fall from NHL champion to homelessness — and brain trauma's role | CBC Radio

“You get your bell rung, and [turn to] self-medicating both with alcohol and with painkillers, and the toll that takes on players after doing that year after year after year,” he said."

Before we go, here's a palate cleanser:

From The Branches