US President Joe Biden in Canadian Parliament: « I like all your hockey teams, except the Leafs »

The Toronto Maple Leafs can never avoid being the butt of hockey jokes, even if it comes from US President Joe Biden.

The Commander-in-Chief was visiting the Canadian Parliament on his first trip to Canada since being sworn in in January 2021, and when talking about the relationship between Canada and the United States, he mentioned how they share sports leagues, including one of Canada’s national pastimes, hockey.

“I love all of your hockey teams (in Canada) except the Leafs,” Biden said during his remarks.

Biden cited the reason he didn’t like the Leafs because they beat the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 8 while he and his wife Jill were in attendance at the Wells Fargo Center. The Leafs not only beat the Flyers, but routed them 6-2 to complete a season streak sweep, which likely added to Biden’s unhappiness with the team.

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden has always been a Flyers fan, but also says marrying his wife ensured that rooting interest, as she was also a huge fan of the team. Biden is considered the first elected president to be a Flyers fan.

Biden probably doesn’t have much to cheer about this season as the Flyers have been inconsistent all year and don’t look set to challenge for the Cup or look like they’ll have high lottery odds in the draw. Connor Bedard raffle this year. The Flyers currently have the league’s seventh-worst record, going 27-32-12 with just 11 games left on the schedule.

It makes sense that they were swept by the Leafs at the time, as they’ve been a solid team all season and have essentially established their seventh straight playoff spot since December, although their magic number to clinch is still five points, helped by their 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. They currently sit fifth in the league with a 43-19-9 record.

That said, the Leafs’ regular-season success hasn’t spared them from being the joke of the league, as they’ve yet to win a playoff since 2004, losing seven straight first-round matchups, including six in a win or – Game 7 at home (or Game 5 in the case of the best-of-five play-in series against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2020 playoff bubble). It is currently the longest active drought for a series win, with the Panthers ending the previous longest last season with a series win over the Washington Capitals.

The Leafs also haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967, the end of the Original Six hockey era. It’s not only the longest active drought, but the longest ever in hockey, and is tied for the sixth-longest drought in major North American sports with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.