[4][5] The song's lyrics describe the mysterious disappearance of Barilko,[6] who scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal for the Leafs over Montreal Canadiens in the 1951 cup finals.
[6][7] Four months and five days later, Barilko departed on a fishing trip in a small, single-engine airplane with friend and dentist, Henry Hudson.
[6] Eleven years later, on June 7, 1962, helicopter pilot Ron Boyd discovered the plane wreckage roughly 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Cochrane, Ontario, about 35 miles off-course.
Barilko was finally buried in his home town of Timmins, the same year that the Maple Leafs won their next Stanley Cup.
[12] The song's influence on public awareness of Barilko's story was such that the band devoted an entire chapter in the 2004 book 67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an Empire.