Hello and welcome to my site.

I made a conscious decision (with the help of close friends) a few weeks ago to funnel even more time and energy into the hockey coverage I create moving forward.

Life hasn’t necessarily been kind to me of late (an understatement but let’s not dwell on that) so I’ve tried to turn that into something positive by focusing on hockey and pushing back some barriers.

Let’s be honest here. I suffer from low self-esteem and quite frankly I despise the sound of my voice but I’ve always wanted to make videos about my passion and the thought of my own podcast was intriguing.

So I took the (for me) bold step of creating two AHL related videos which you can find here on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSK9pei_eW-BBEmNw2EAYVw?disable_polymer=true

There will be more of those type of video’s along with a much larger video relating to the history of the AHL, which should be recorded and released next week. The plan is to make regular content through the season in the hope folks like what I produce and enables a subscriber base to build. Have to shoot to score, right?

The podcast

Again just an idea to promote my passion for the AHL with the plan to talk about the league and produce a show every Sunday. The general intention of trying to be informative whilst encouraging others to take a keen interest on the prospects and interesting stories which present themselves in the minors.

It’s turned into something slightly different at this stage with a wider look at hockey and inviting on some really interesting guests which should broaden the reach of the podcast. I know that it’s impossible to make people like your content but it has a better chance if finding a larger audience with which to connect!

I still intend to write and all my Toronto Marlies work will continue to be hosted by the fantastic folk at https://mapleleafshotstove.com/ who I’m incredibly lucky to be associated with.

As for my other writing, that shall still be uploaded to this site and I’m pushing to write at least one article a week on various topics.

In summary this is my shot at pushing myself across boundaries I never thought I would breach to see whether my shtick is capable of…….well, sticking I guess?

I’m doing this with no expectations of what the future may bring or even with the intention of actively looking to be hired or becoming the next Steve Dangle as someone suggested. I’m going to have some fun with this all and see where it takes me……….if anywhere.

Sadly I’m not in a position to go out and buy fancy new kit in the shape of new microphones or a camera with which to shoot with and having to make do with free tools that are available. It is what it is, in that respect. The podcast is hosted on a US site so no income is possible through that genre and my fledgling YouTube account will probably never generate money.

However, if you do enjoy my work and would like to help put me in a position where I could afford to buy better equipment to improve the quality of my work please consider either becoming a patron here https://www.patreon.com/markukleaf or even make a one-off donation through PayPal paypal.me/markukleaf

If anyone does make a donation or becomes a patron I’ll be sure to give you a shoutout on my next podcast and video as a thank you and I’ll be accepting future video request topics if you so wish.

Also please feel free to share my work anywhere and everywhere. That is priceless.

Thank you for reading and your continued support.