Bobby McMann took long road to Maple Leafs. His stops along the way were better for it

Every once in a while, Bobby McMann had to be kicked out of the rink.

Long before playing for the Maple Leafs became his full-time job, McMann was a Colgate University student-athlete obsessed with trying to improve his game. He’d show up to the arena in the morning, hours before practice, with a bagel and a stack of homework. After the skate, he’d convince teammates to run sprints or stairs with him. Then he’d return to an empty sheet of ice late at night, refining the skills that would have kept him lying awake in bed anyway.

“Bobby was the guy you had to sometimes be like, ‘Bobby, go home,’” said Dana Borges, an assistant coach with the NCAA Division I school at the time who spent countless extra hours working one-on-one with McMann.

“You almost have to make sure that you’re taking