[BE-LEAF-ABLE]

Leafs commit $2 million to Hockey Canada

Canadian Press

11/14/2006 4:48:39 PM

TORONTO (CP) - The Toronto Maple Leafs have committed $2 million to Hockey Canada programs so the national governing body of the sport can have a significant presence at the NHL team's new training facility.

''Everybody is a winner in this,'' Darryl Sittler, a community rep for the club for which he once starred, said in an interview following the news conference Tuesday.

The facility is to be completed in 2008 in the Lakeshore-Etobicoke neighbourhood. There will be one Olympic-sized and three NHL-sized ice surfaces, a spectator area for up to 4,000, close to 30,000 square feet of Leafs and Marlies training space, and medical and physiotherapy rooms.

''Toronto is a big city and the more ice surfaces you have the more opportunity kids get to participate and play,'' said Sittler. ''If you have a facility available to coaching and officiating clinics, it's going to make everybody better, I think.

''We're proud to be a part of it.''

TSN : NHL - Canada's Sports Leader