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Fuelled by six extra-large cups of coffee, Kimberly, the matriarch of the Kirkof family, was first in line and waited for more than 19 hours in the Air Canada Centre galleria for free tickets to watch the woeful Toronto Maple Leafs in two months.

The Leafs yesterday revealed they added a fifth preseason game on Sept. 22 against the Buffalo Sabres at the ACC that will be a freebie for their long-suffering fans, including Kimberly and Thanas Kirkof and their four children.

The Kirkofs of Toronto's East York area are on the Leafs' season-ticket waiting list. Earlier this week, they received an e-mail memo from the NHL franchise that there would be a fan-related announcement in Toronto yesterday. They were hopeful tickets would be made available for the entire family. They had attended games before, but never together.

The Kirkofs learned a lesson earlier this summer when Marah, 15, and her mother waited six hours in line for teen pop-rock band Jonas Brothers and were shut out.

"I thought the Leafs were more important than the Jonas Brothers, so we weren't taking any chances," Kimberly said.

Kimberly was a constant in the wait for the Leafs tickets, while the rest of the family took shifts keeping her company. The Leafs were taken by the devotion of the Kirkofs so they gave the family a tour of the ACC, including the Leafs dressing room, yesterday morning.

The 41 years without a Stanley Cup and the three seasons in a row without a Stanley Cup berth has not lessened the passion the Kirkofs have for Leafs.

"I'm zero for my lifetime," said Thanas, 39, a building designer who was wearing a well-worn Leafs leather cap. "But at the beginning of the season, if anyone asks me who will win the Stanley Cup, I always say 'the Leafs.' "

"Leafs fans are devoted fans, win or lose," Kimberly added. "But it would be more fun if they won."

There were close to 1,000 fans in attendance at the announcement yesterday and they each received free tickets, including the other Kirkofs: Bolton, 12, Nikala, 10, and Kole, 8, as well as Kimberly's sister Amanda. The remaining tickets will be distributed through contests and giveaways. Coca-Cola is the sponsor of the event.

The 2008-09 NHL regular season schedule will be released today. The season opens Oct. 4 and 5 with a pair of two-game sets in Europe between the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins in Stockholm and the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague.

One of the season highlights will be the New Year's Day outdoor affair at Wrigley Field between the hometown Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings.

The Wings will raise their 11th Stanley Cup banner at Joe Louis Arena against the Leafs on Oct. 9. In the other game that night, the Calgary Flames are in Vancouver to play the Canucks.

The Flames open at home against the Canucks on Oct. 11, while the Edmonton Oilers' home opener is Oct. 12 against the Colorado Avalanche. The Montreal Canadiens open in Buffalo against the Sabres on Oct. 10 and at home against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 15. The Senators open the season at Scotiabank Place on Oct. 11.

CBC's annual Hockey Day in Canada on Feb. 21 will be hosted from Campbellton, N.B., and will feature three all-Canadian matches: Ottawa at Montreal; Vancouver at Toronto; and Calgary at Edmonton.

The 2009 NHL all-star game at the Bell Centre in Montreal will be played on Jan. 25 and the entry draft will be hosted by the Canadiens on June 26 and 27.

The league will return to the schedule format it employed in 2003-04. Since the 2004-05 lockout, the NHL experimented with an unbalanced schedule that was supposed to develop divisional and conference rivalries by decreasing the number of games against teams from the other conference to only 10.

This season, teams will play only 24 games against their four divisional foes (compared to 32 the past three seasons), 40 against the rest of the conference and 18 against the other conference. The breakdown against the other conference will be one game against each of the 15 foes and three games against wild-card opponents.