'He Just Said How Effing Awesome This Was': Steven Lorentz's Happy To Help Father Mark Fulfill Lifelong Dream As Maple Leafs Fan

PHILADELPHIA — Steven Lorentz grew up a lifelong Toronto Maple Leafs fan. When he joined the club this summer and eventually signed a one-year, $775,000 contract with Toronto, he knew immediately hesitate he was going to take his father, Mark, for one of those annual team bonding trips.

"I kind of knew in my mind I was going to bring him, especially with the Leafs logo," Steven said. "It's just extra special for him to see the team he grew up cheering for and myself just behind the scenes and meeting people all across the organization, players, coaches, ex-players, you know, who he would have watched and listened to on the radio when he was younger."

The Leafs are currently in the middle of their annual mentors trip. The group gathered for Toronto's 3-2 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday before flying out for a two-game road swing through Philadelphia and Raleigh, North Carolina. The mentors gathered for a dinner on the road. For Mark, from nearby Kitchener, Ontario, it was a dream come true to sit down with Maple Leafs alumni Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark, and Joe Thornton, who are also chosen mentors for the trip.

"He texted me last night and he just said how effing awesome this was to experience this," Steven said of his dad. "I'm just so happy that he's enjoying himself."

It's particularly rewarding for the Lorentz family as Steven is enjoying a breakout season from a personal level. After winning the Stanley Cup as a depth option with the Florida Panthers last season, Lorentz is one of four players who has played in all of Toronto's 41 games this season. He's established himself as an everyday bottom-six forward with the club after previously bouncing in and out of a competitive lineup.

As Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube looks to make a shift on the fourth line for added toughness in their rematch with the Flyers, it's Lorentz who got promoted to the third line a sign of the coach's trust in the player.

But even as a fourth-liner, Lorentz has been a constant.

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"We just know our identity and there's no secret to it. When it's pretty black and white what the coach wants out of the line and he makes that vocal, especially he did that at the start of the year, it makes it easy to go play your game," Lorentz said. "You don't really have to focus on trying to do too much and going out there and, you know, being flashy or when it's just simplify, create energy, you know, throw your body around and it makes it easy. And then once you kind of start doing that and you get that confidence, then you can start making some plays and again, the confidence just kind of develops."

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