“Dear God and Lord Stanley, thank you for bringing us together here in Toronto and please help Steven Stamkos find his way home.” The whisper echoes through the cavernous halls of Toronto Maple Leaf tower.

“Dear God and Lord Stanley, thank you for bringing us together here in Toronto and please help Steven Stamkos find his way home.” The Tower is deserted so there is no one to feel the walls pulsate rythmically with the ghostly chant.

“Dear God and Lord Stanley, thank you for bringing us together here in Toronto and please help Steven Stamkos find his way home.”

To find the sorcerous source of the spell being cast we have to travel deep below the tower to the rarely used Toronto Maple Leaf sacrificial chamber. The torch light makes the rough hewn stone dance as it flickers and thirteen shadowy figures sway and chant.

“Dear God and Lord Stanley, thank you for bringing us together here in Toronto and please help Steven Stamkos find his way home.”

The thirteen stand in a wide circle. At the centre of the circle a young bulls bleeds out from a fresh cut to the throat. The cut is shallow. It takes over three minutes for the animal to fall. The chanting continues past the death throes. The bulls legs kick in weaker and weaker  reflexive spasms. The sound of thunder echoes across the chamber.

“Dear God and Lord Stanley, thank you Bringing us together here in Toronto and please help Steven Stamkos find his way home.”

Lighting now flails out from the bull wildly, arcing against the floor, ceiling and walls. The rumble of thunder becomes a crushing torrent of sound. Twelve of the thirteen are thrown to the ground. Through gritted teeth the last man standing refuses to yield.

“Dear God and Lord Stanley, Thank you for bringing us together here in Toronto and please help Steven Stamkos find his way home!”

There is a blinding flash. Silence at last fills the chamber. In the endless space of the next moments Mike Babcock, Lou Lamoriello, Kyle Dubas, Mark Hunter, Mats Sundin, Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clarke, Dave Keon, Dimitri Yuskevich, Jeff O’Niell, Darcy Tucker and Darryly Sitler all get to their feet slowly. The thirteenth man, who never fell, is Brendan Shanahan. He blinks rapidly to clear his vision. Stunned by what he sees.

In place of the slaughtered bull there is a twisted lump of writhing meat. Blood seeps from many seams to pool on the floor of the chamber. One of the seams slowly folds back to reveal a mouth and three pale blue eyes.

“Kill me.” The horrible thing groans.

With no hesitation Brendan reaches into his sleeve and lets fly a throwing dagger, which hits the creature directly in the  middle eye. The lump starts to shudder and the groaning becomes more of a squeal. Brendan lifts his foot and slams it down onto the dagger, driving the steel deep into the mishapen nightmares brainstem. It sags and seems to deflate. Silence fills the chamber until Brendan speaks.

“We’ll be right up guys.”

The great Leafs of old all shuffle to the elevator hidden in the chambers stone wall.

“It was worth a try” Darryl says as the doors close.

Brendan, Mike, Lou, Kyle and Mark stand alone in the chamber. Brendan holds out his hands and the others reach out to form a new circle. After a moment of silence they speak in unison as if the words were a spell, and maybe words do hold the power to create.

“Dear God and Lord Stanley, thank you for bringing us together here in Toronto and please help John Tavares find his way home.”