Peeter Põldre
Photo gallery – Photos by Peeter Põldre
Leo Komarov, Estonian-born hockey player, is back with the Leafs – PHOTO GALLERY!
jaan. 8, 2015 Estonian Life No. 2 2015
Leo Komarov, the Narva, Estonian-born (now Finnish) hockey player, is back with the Leafs. He first made a positive impact with the team two years ago, in the strike-shortened season. Last year, Komarov played in the KHL and won an Olympic bronze medal with the Finnish hockey team. Fortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he is back with the team this year.
Both television and print media have praised his hard-working, determined style of play. As reported by the Star's Rosie DiManno on New Year's day, “The Leafs have a bromance crush on Komarov..the hard-nosed hybrid Estonian-Russian-Finn”. Although known for his defensive play, Komarov has quietly become a scoring force. He scored the game-winning goal against the New York Rangers on November 8. A few weeks later, he suffered a concussion when hit by Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. Despite being out of action for a month, Leo is in eighth place in team scoring, with 5 goals and 13 assists! He only has 6 penalty minutes, attesting to his skill as an irritant to opposing teams without getting penalized for misbehaviour. The Wednesday January 7, 2015 rematch against the Capitals is captured in the photo gallery. The crowd was upbeat, with memories of the recent Canadian gold medal at the World Juniors and the debut of new interim head coach Peter Horachek (photo 16). Leo Komarov, wearing number 47, participated actively in the warm-up (photos 4-11) and showed how popular he was with nearby fans (photo 7). Note the sign in photo 8 – Leafs fans can come a long distance to see the team! With Washington in town, Ovechkin was typically the centre of attention (photos 17, 36,41, 49). Leo and Alex collided in photo 65 and one can imagine the Russian language coming from Ovechkin in photo 66. Leo played his typical hard-nosed hockey and assisted on the goal by Winnick (photos 45-47) but also picked up his third penalty of the season (photo 63). The Maple Leafs certainly had lots of chances (photos 20,22,23,32,40,53,72) and even one non-goal that was reviewed (photo 58). In photo 61, captain Phaneuf is without a stick, which always makes the game more challenging. Goaltender Bernier was not jumping for joy in photo 55. In photo 51, Leo had an up-close encounter with Steve Russell, one of Canada's great sports photographers. And finally, some goals captured on camera, photos 35,37, 64 and the empty-net effort by Ovechkin, the last photo 73. Special thanks to Steve Keogh, Director of Media Relations for the Maple Leafs, for allowing Estonian Life to update its community on Leo Komarov. And a final note, in 2013 Leo met with young Estonian hockey fans during a practice session. He and the Leafs donated an autographed stick and photo for an Estonian folk dance group's fundraising event.
Peeter Põldre
Peeter Põldre
