I once sat in a hotel bar in northern Newfoundland reading a book I failed to understand.

So my eyes drifted in boredom, surveying the empty, dusty beer bottles behind the bar, the cracks in the glossy wooden table, the crumbs.

And then my eyes fell on an older fellow wearing a plaid jacket and trucker cap.

The fellow was watching the Toronto Maple Leafs on the television hung in the top corner of the small room.

He acted like a man watching his horse fall behind at the track: arms fluttering, rubbing his forehead, pleading

This year, for the first time since the early 1990s, I imagine the fellow reclining in his favourite chair with a cool beer, his lips curling.

Such is the madness of the Leafs' fan.

Toronto started its 2011-2012 campaign fast out of the gate.

With an 8-3-1 record, the Leafs are currently first in the Northeast Division with 17 points and second overall with a game in hand of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who lead the league with 18 points.

Leafs' forward Phil Kessel leads the NHL in scoring with 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in 12 games, while teammate Joffrey Lupul sits sixth with 14 points (8 goals, 6 assists).

That offensive firepower is necessary for a club playing with number one goaltender James Reimer on injured reserve after starting the season 4-0-1 (which includes a shutout and a .912 save percentage).

Number two Jonas Gustavsson's stats are less impressive, with a 4-3 record and a .886 save percentage.

No problem, no problem, there are no problems, I imagine the fellow from northern Newfoundland will be thinking – while strangling the neck of his beer bottle with white knuckles – as he watches the Leafs take on the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight.

Haven't you heard? It's the Leafs year.

The Leafs fan – most easily recognized among us by distracted and tormented eyes, like someone worrying whether they left the oven on after leaving their house – lives with the perpetual fear of betrayal.

And with good reason.

A reminder (as if needed): the Leafs last made the playoffs in 2004 to the Philadelphia Flyers in the conference semi-finals and last won the Stanley Cup in 1967 over the…is it really relevant at this point?

The organization knows how to dangle hope, reaching the Conference Final in 1993 and 1994 with the likes of Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour and Felix Potvin.

Well. Haven't you heard? It's the Leafs year.

A rage filled my lungs while I watched that old fellow in northern Newfoundland wail at the screen and pound his fists on the bar.

And my lungs are filled with the same contempt each time I cross a simpering citizen of Leafs Nation, tip-toeing on the edge of madness.

Lately the Leafs have given even the fans in Toronto less and less reason for hope.

That there exists a single Leafs fan outside of the Greater Toronto Area is as perplexing as String Theory.

They're everyone. They're here. Watching the screen intently, white knuckled and wild eyed.

Perhaps this year they will exhibit the same grace in defeat as the fans in Vancouver.