Sheldon Keefe explodes at Leafs players in practice
The Leafs bench boss was hot!
HockeyFeed
The Toronto Maple Leafs were apparently going through the motions during today's practice session, drawing the wrath of head coach Sheldon Keefe.
According to multiple beat writers, Keefe was heard loudly throwing out expletives at his players for what he felt was a lack of effort and focus during the skate.
Afterward, questions naturally arose as to what was behind the outburst, which Tony Ambrogio described as being completely out of character.
"Part of that is that there are positives and negatives to not playing. In practice time, you work on some things, but the negative piece of it is that you are not necessarily game-ready. You are trying to manufacture that," he said.
"As much as you want guys to compete at a high level and work in practice, it is not the same as a game when you are going against your teammates. When you are trying to maintain high standards and habits that you want to bring into games, it is difficult to do when you don’t play for a bit."
He continued:
"You are going to play against a team that has been playing, so you are trying to manufacture that through practice time. Certainly, you want to get in a rhythm here. It has been unnatural how our schedule has been over the last month or so."
"We would like to start building our game and building some positive momentum. Having games without disruptions is part of that. We have to take care of the first game in front of us and look to build that momentum with a busy stretch coming up."
The Leafs take on the division rival Ottawa Senators tomorrow night at Canadian Tire Centre from the nation's capitol city.
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