Pat Burns is one of only two men, along with Dick Irvin, to serve as head coach of both the Leafs and Canadiens. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

The loss of Pat Burns will be foremost in our hearts and minds tonight. As I've told a few friends in the press, Pat conjures three key memories for me.

The first is from 2003 in Anaheim, Calif. I was up early to catch a flight back to New Jersey for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. The Ducks had beaten the Devils hours earlier to force the deciding game. Pat, the Devils' head coach at the time, was already up and pacing around on the lawn in front of the hotel, talking on a cell phone. At 5:30 a.m.!

I thought, poor man. Pat already had a history of tough experiences: the 1987 world junior brawl in the Czech Republic; the 1989 Stanley Cup final series that his Canadiens lost to Calgary; Game 7 of a 1993 conference final, which his Maple Leafs lost to L.A., and here we go again. But Pat elected to dress an old warhorse, Ken Daneyko, and the Devils won the Cup.

Another memory I have of Pat is that he was terrific at firing up his teams as they walked down the tunnel to the ice for games. He spoke French to guys like Patty Roy, Felix Potvin and Martin Brodeur, and he spoke police officer to the rest.

I'll also remember when Pat came down to Bob Cole's golf event in St. John's, Nfld. He kept up! More than the Cup and the three Jack Adams Awards, for that he has my eternal respect and love.

Pat Burns and Dick Irvin are the only two men to coach the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens, which brings us to the show this evening.

Here's the lineup for Saturday:

With apologies to Grapes (and he agrees with this), week in, week out the best moment on Hockey Night in Canada occurs right at the outset.

That's when kids hockey teams launch Scotiabank Hockey Tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET, where the "it" factor of Hockey Night is clear. I'm really excited about this week's stars, the Sherwood Parkdale Atom AAA Falcons of P.E.I.

Two of the boys on the team are Kennedy Gallant, the great grandson of former NHLer Forbes Kennedy, and Kyle Kennedy, Forbe's great nephew.

It's neat because we're featuring Toronto at Montreal tonight. When these arch-rivals met to open the season in Toronto on October 7, Forbes, who played 11 years in the NHL with five teams, was one of the former Maple Leafs who participated in the on-ice pre-game ceremony. So he started the season, his descendants will begin tonight.

There is one other six degrees of separation with the Kenndys helping out. In 1956 Forbes was a rookie attending the Chicago Blackhawks camp. His coach came in to the room at one of the very first practices and said: "Fellows, you know I always told you, that if you did not give 100 percent, you could not play on this team. Well, I can't give 100 per cent, so I'm leaving. I cannot coach anymore. I have to go home."

The team veterans got up and shook his hand. No one said a word. The coach was Dick Irvin Sr. Soon after that speech he succumbed to cancer. It's a small story, but I know it was one of Dick Jr's favourites.

It's a night of grand tradition.

• Bob Cole, Garry Galley, Glenn Healy and Elliotte Friedman will be at the Bell Centre for the Leafs at Habs.
• Elliotte's prepared a story on Tomas Plekanec for Inside Hockey. Or is that Inside Tennis. Tune in for that topspin of the night.
• Peter Puck tells us about the Original 6.
• Tragically Hip guitarist Paul Langlois has a solo album coming out and we're tracking one of his new songs to open up at 7:00 p.m. ET.
• We'll also feature a little ditty by renowned Boston club DJ Steve Porter. Steve's famous for mixing athletes quotes with music and has carved out a niche worth millions of online hits. Check it out around 7:05 p.m. ET.
• Don's in the Coach's Corner and it's Mike Milbury, Eric Francis and Pierre LeBrun on the Hot Stove.
• There's another great match-up in Game 2 of our doubleheader. We move from the forever rivals, Toronto and Montreal, into the recent arch enemies, Chicago and Vancouver. Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson and Scott Oake are at Rogers Arena for the defending champions and the Canucks. Scott's guests on After Hours are Jonathon Toews and Manny Malhotra.
  

Pat Butcher, in his book The Perfect Distance, the story of Steve Ovett versus Sebastian Coe, wrote, "nothing becomes a champion like a great rival".

That's what's in store tonight.

Enjoy!

Ron