The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team hasn’t been doing very well this year. They started off looking pretty good, but before long they began playing poorly. Soon, they were near the bottom of the NHL’s Eastern Conference standings. At one point, the Leafs were 14 points away from earning a spot in the playoffs, which meant they probably wouldn’t get to play in the playoffs.
But the Leafs have come back. They won seven of their last nine games and they now have a good shot at making the playoffs.
The Leafs need to catch up to the Buffalo Sabres, who are four points ahead of them.
Toronto has 14 games left to play in the season. They need to get 22 more points. If they do, they will probably get to play in the playoffs, which begin in late April.
There will be 16 teams in the playoffs. The Leafs haven’t gotten into the playoffs since 2004. They haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967.
The last time the Leafs made the playoffs was in 2004 when they were knocked out by the Ottawa Senators. But even if the Leafs don’t make the playoffs this year, the growth of all-star forward Phil Kessel and goalie James Reimer have given Leafs fans reason to cheer.
The Leafs next game is on Wednesday, March 16 against the Carolina Hurricanes. The game will be shown on TSN at 7 p.m.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Many hockey fans love watching it on television even though they don’t play hockey in their own lives. Other people love to play hockey, but don’t enjoy watching it on television.
If you had to pick, would you rather play your favourite sport or watch it on television?
Select a side and brainstorm three arguments to support your decision.
Reading Prompt
This article includes a lot of information about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Read the article carefully and then retell it to a friend or parent. Remember to add details from the text in your explanation.
Primary
Demonstrate understanding of a text by retelling the story or restating information from the text, with the inclusion of a few interesting details (OME, Reading: 1.4)
Junior
Demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details (OME, Reading: 1.4)
Grammar Feature: Writing numbers
This text includes many numbers. Circle or highlight all of the numbers in the article.
Some are written in words (e.g. one, nine, seven) and some are written with numbers (e.g. 22, 16, 1967). When we write numbers that are smaller than 10, we write them using words. When we write numbers that are bigger than 10, we use numbers. Why do you think people write this way?
