But a group of star-struck visitors, some sporting Leafs sweaters and Raptors hats, were at their stalls, soaking up the players’ space for a few minutes — and release a little fan frustration, via Jackie, our tolerant tour guide.
By the time we set off from Gate 1 after her intro to the building’s history, she had heard all the concerns of a recent three-game Leafs losing streak, plus who they should deal at the deadline or retain as their favourite players. Whether or not the NBA squad should tank or try for tje playoffs once the roster got healthy was another comment directed her way as 20 men and women of all ages followed her excursion through the halls and elevators.
MLSE knew such interaction would be part of the experience when it launched a new Scotiabank Arena tour in the autumn to highlight both its completed and ongoing $350-million ‘re-imagination’ as the building reaches its 26th anniversary this month.
A peek behind the scenes was worth it for those who maybe can’t afford Toronto’s sports/concert scene or are drawn here simply by sense of history through its 108-year-old principal-tenant hockey team.
It piqued our interest at Postmedia to tag along and see what $30 gets you ($25 for kids and seniors) for about an hour to explore the inner sanctum, given that more than 39 million customers have come through its doors since 1999.
The 58-year Stanley Cup drought is kind of the elephant in the room when the sliding doors of the Leafs dressing quarters opened, but also where any lingering first-round playoff loss vitriol within the group flipped to Leafs Nation veneration.
Out came camera phones to snap the photo montage that the players see every day at the entrance. There were oohs and aahs and a rush to pose at the nameplate stall beneath the sweater and gear of their idols, led by Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, as well as the goalies.
Before entering, Jackie tested her charges on their logo know-how, from the Toronto Arenas to the green St. Patricks, back to basic blue after Conn Smythe bought the team in 1927. For those unaware, she explained the modern Leaf’s 31 points (a nod to the year the Gardens opened), the 13 veins inside (the number of Cups to date) and 17 veins in all, a link to the franchise’s founding year in the NHL.
“Time for a 14th Cup,” someone chirps from the back.
Another photo op — and a rare sight for this media regular — was the huge white crest in the middle of the room, which usually is covered by a blue mat during morning skates and post-game traffic. It’s a no-fly zone and guests dutifully stepped around, one man cautioning that to tread upon it would surely jinx the Leafs next night against Tampa Bay.
Two quick sidebars: The early 2000’s tour only showed the covered mat. One guide would tell excited visitors that on game night, just before puck drop, hefty coach Pat Quinn would dramatically reach down and yank the rug up to reveal the big Leaf and shout “go get ‘em boys!” When we asked a staffer to verify this tale, he laughed and joked that “if Pat bends over to pick up anything around here, there’s your story.”
Secondly, after this visit and during the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Leafs replaced the carpet completely for a blue-and-silver ceiling fixture logo, so the guests now have a collector’s item photo.
Then it was down the hall, past the visiting team’s den to the smaller Raptors’ room, a circular layout with enlarged doors for the tall timber on its roster. Where Kawhi Leonard sat in the 2018 title season is a popular question, while a couple of players’ shoes are passed around to compare foot sizes with civilians.
There’s a side trip up to the Raps’ practice court on the 300 level, though the team has moved workouts to the OVO Centre on the Exhibition Grounds and leaves the in-house gym for visiting clubs. Take note, the tour won’t include either team’s room on the day of a game or concert.
We were impressed at Jackie’s Reader’s Digest version of the 1998 Toronto Arena Wars, when the Raptors had their shovel in the ground first to re-fit the Post Office Delivery Building for what was then the Air Canada Centre. The haughty Leafs pooh-poohed the site, rattling their sword about erecting their own rink, first atop Union Station, while exploring a CNE site and even re-purposing the Gardens. Eventually, a truce created MLSE and hockey was squeezed into the Bay Street blueprint.
The bird’s eye view of it all was provided from a stop in the Foster Hewitt Media Gondola, the legacy five-colour seating plan adopted from the Gardens, infused with platinums at rink side and purples in highest reaches in homage to the early Raptors.
It’s where the tourists geeked out again, with a close-up of the 19 Leafs retired numeral banners. They range from No. 1 Turk Broda/Johnny Bower at centre spreading the length of the ice to the No. 93 of Doug Gilmour, the first Raptors edition for Vince Carter, all Leafs Cup banners and the 2018-19 NBA title standard.
Inside the gondola, guests could get near, but unfortunately not beyond the door of Hockey Night in Canada’s centre-ice broadcast position, where Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph crack wise on radio, Jimmy Holmstrom’s organ room, where Mike Ross announces goals and the Leafs management suite.
They settled for sitting where scouts and reporters watch games to hear Jackie tell how Darryl Sittler added his late wife Wendy’s signature to his No. 27 banner and the basics on arena conversion from hockey to basketball to concert mode.
A Red Wings fan wanted his photo beneath the gondola blow-up of Howe and Bower talking to HNIC’s Ward Cornell after a game in the 1960s and, of course, there’s Hewitt’s dominating portrait at his mic — the play-by-play pioneer with his famous words of welcome to “hockey fans from Canada, the United States and Newfoundland.”
“I can die happy now,” remarked one man as the hockey portion wrapped.
Lest you think the tour is all jock, there’s a look inside restaurants, clubs — including The Hot Stove, with yarns from its Gardens’ glory days. You can at least get to the door of Drake’s VIP invite-only lounge.
The long hall of Scotiabank Arena’s new art gallery is also profiled, with Canadian content including Black and Indigenous works in several mediums honouring stars and entertainers such as The Tragically Hip.
Tour trivia includes country music star Eric Church setting the building’s one-night alcohol sales record in 2022, despite the long and happy marriage of beer and hockey.
Fredericton, N.B.’s Colin Gallant and 13-year-old son Devin were in town for the Lightning game, the tour becoming a combo surprise Christmas present for Devin and 51st birthday self-reward for dad. Colin heard about the tour online as a Scotiabank customer and landed two spots.
“It was unreal to be in the Leafs room and see everything,” Colin said.
For Devin, a right winger on the Fredericton Youth Hockey Association’s U-15 Bruins, it gave context to what he’= had only seen on TV.
“I loved all the pictures on the walls,” he said. “You not only see what the rink looks like, you can feel it.”
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