Toronto Maple Leafs name/Regiment Question

[rasputin]

Sports question here.  One theory on the naming of the Toronto Maple Leafs is that they were named after Conn Smythe's WWI regiment, referred to as the Maple Leaf regiment.  Anyone know of any record of this unit existing?

 

[The Bread Guy]

Sports question here.  One theory on the naming of the Toronto Maple Leafs is that they were named after Conn Smythe's WWI regiment, referred to as the Maple Leaf regiment.  Anyone know of any record of this unit existing?

If the Leafs' web page is to be believed, it was a bit broader than that:

.... In February of 1927, Conn Smythe, who had built the New York Rangers franchise but was dismissed in favour of Lester Patrick, raised enough money to buy the St. Pats and prevented the team from moving to Philadelphia. Smythe, a military man, immediately had the Toronto franchise name changed from the St. Pats to Maple Leafs. He also switched the uniform colours to blue and white from green and white.

Although it is not known as to why he changed the name (from the Toronto Arenas) to Maple Leafs, here was Smythe's reasoning:

“The Maple Leaf to us, was the badge of courage, the badge that meant home. It was the badge that reminded us all of our exploits and the different difficulties we got into and the different accomplishments we made. It was a badge that meant more to us than any other badge that we could think of... so we chose it... hoping that the possession of this badge would mean something to the team that wore it and when they skated out on the ice with this badge on their chest... they would wear it with honour and pride and courage, the way it had been worn by the soldiers of the first Great War in the Canadian Army." ....

Also, moving this into "Radio Chatter".

 

[rasputin]

I've heard that before but I've also heard it linked directly to a regiment.  Wondering if it was a nickname at any point in time?  In looking at his WWI service record, I see:

25th Battery CFA

40th Battery CFA

8th Bde

Royal Flying Air Corps

 

[The Bread Guy]

There are folks way more expert than I am on the boards here, but also keep in mind that LOADS of Canadian unit cap badges in WW1 were based on a maple leaf - check here for some examples:

 

This might have been what Smythe meant about the significance of the maple leaf, given that it was a pretty common theme among (many/most?) Canadian cap badges of that era.