Jason Maslakow is known across Canada as Dart Man, a supreme fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Seventy-two hours ago he wasn’t. How come? His remarkable ascendancy to national awareness is a story of Maslakow’s love of the team plus an astonishing cocktail of fan fever, modern media and corporate savvy. It started Saturday night in Washington when the Kitchener man was in the stands for Game Two with his face and beard made up in the blue and white. By Monday, the Leaf organization had arranged to hoist a banner of Dart Man into the rafters of Air Canada Centre. He was (and is) lionized on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and seen as an essential off ice player in any Leaf playoff victory. Maslakow is a suitably unassuming man, married, with a not-bad sense of humour. Asked on CP24 what he would do about the movie Dart Man, he said he thought he looked a lot like Brad Pitt. Dart, by the way, is slang for cigarette.
