Story Time : Like the Pros

Simon B

    When I was a lot younger, I always fantasized about playing in the NHL. Not only did the fact that you could play hockey interest me a lot but I was captivated by the opportunity to go to so many cities and train in elite level facilities with really cool locker rooms. On TV, they sometimes show little parts of the dressing room and the facilities that players use on a daily basis to perfect their craft. 

    Even today, I'm constantly trying to find behind-the-scenes looks at how hockey teams operate. I know now that so much goes into getting any professional sports game going. from the teams preparing, training, and practicing,, to the logistics of traveling, to getting fans into seats (pre and post pandemic). I would've given anything to just get a chance to tour the ACC (now Scotia bank Arena - Home of the Leafs) and see all the things that my favorite players have access to.

I got my chance!

Back in grade 3, my friend Benjamin's mom worked for Kraft. The company Kraft had a sponsorship deal with the Leafs at the time. As a benefit of sponsorship,once a year the Leafs set up an event where Kraft employees could go SKATE ON THE ACTUAL LEAFS ICE! One day at school, Benjamin asked me if I wanted to come with him and his parents. That wasn't even a question, and that Saturday, I was lacing up my skates in the Air Canada Center. It was my first-ever live visit to the ACC. I was amazed at the size of everything. I was overwhelmed to see so many seats, and the Jumbo-Tron at center ice was gigantic! 

    One of the coolest moments was when I looked up at the rafters and saw all 13 Stanley Cup banners with the Leafs logo on it and the year they won, right up to their last victory...1967, over forty years before I was born. I saw  all the banners of the Leafs’ retired jersey numbers: Darryl Sittler, Doug Gilmour, Mats Sundin, Johnny Bower, George Armstrong...the list goes on, and it's much longer today. I looked into the benches, the penalty box, and even tried to look as far as I could see down the tunnel that leads to the dressing room. 

The ice was the smoothest ice I've ever skated on. Benjamin and I played out different game scenarios even though we had no sticks or pucks. And somewhere there's a picture of us lined up as if we were about to take a faceoff at center ice. I kept thinking to myself "Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Phil Kessel, Drew Doughty, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos have all skated right where I'm skating! This is awesome!" 

I also remember reading all the ads on the boards, and then looking at them on TV the next time the Leafs had a home game just to be able to say: "I touched that!" To this day, there is still an ad for Red Tag behind the net on the right side of the ice when you watch on TV. That was undisputedly the best day of my life. Until another day rivaled it...

Behind The Scenes

    I mentioned how I was just as interested in the games as I was in everything behind the scenes. A year later, in grade 4, my parents took me back to the ACC for Leafs "Fan Fest," which was a day for fans to tour the Arena, play games, and those with the money could pay to meet some of the players. I was so excited to see all of this! First I went to the visitors’ locker room, and I thought that was the coolest thing. 
But that was nothing compared to the Blue Paradise of  the Maple Leafs home dressing room. I got to sit in the players locker stalls, and check out their conference room, and even look inside the coach's office! That's the day I decided I wanted to work in sports: be it player, coach, manager, scout, reporter, or writer, sports was the way to go.

Back Again

I've been back to the Scotiabank Arena 4 times since then: 

1. I got tickets to a game when I was in grade 5. It was the last home game of the season that year: Leafs vs. Blue Jackets. Our tickets were in the nosebleeds, but my dad and I went down to ice level to get a close look at the players during warm-ups. We found some empty seats behind one of the nets, but my dad said that we should go to our actual seats. I asked him if we could check out the other side of the rink and he agreed. When we got there, I forget how it all went down but a really nice guy said we could sit with him right at ice level! It was so cool to watch the players crunch each other less than 6 feet from you! The Leafs lost that game 5-1 (classic Leafs) but I didn't care, I had just been to a real NHL game.

2. I went to see a professional lacrosse game. My dad's buddy had season tickets for the Toronto Rock, and gifted me and my dad two tickets to see the Rock play. They were great tickets and it was a great game! 

3. I went to see a figure skating performance. Honestly, while I appreciate the athleticism of figure skaters, the experience of event itself wasn’t exactly as exciting as the Leafs or Rock games were for me. I spent most of my time looking up at the banners, logos on the ice and whatever cool quirks the arena may have. 

4. I saw team North America play Finland in the World Cup of Hockey.  was amazed to watch Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid play together, and the sheer speed of those players blew me away.

Go Caps Go?

    My aunt Judy (who has an awesome blog of her own) and uncle JJ live in Washington DC and  my family and I have sometimes visited them there during spring break. Last time we went, I got the awesome chance to go see the Washington Capitals play the Nashville Predators. While our seats were at the very top of the arena, the shape of the Capital One Arena gave us a great view to see the whole play. I had the view broadcasters usually have. The game went to overtime but Nashville scored the game-winner. It was pretty loud in the building for the whole game but when Nashville ended it, the whole place went silent and everyone headed for the exits at the same time. Everyone felt the same way I did: disappointed. I had a sign that read "I'm from Toronto, I came to see a home team win!" I was very proud of this sign and on the way out of the arena, a security guard complimented me on it.

The Wrap

    This was a different post than what I usually write,but I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. All these moments helped pave the path to writing on this blog so I thought I'd give them their moment in the spotlight. 

    I would love to go see the Leafs in person again once the pandemic is over to get that sensation of being on an the emotional rollercoaster of a hockey game with 20,000 of my closest friends. There’s is one event I want to see that I still haven't had the chance to: the IIHF World Juniors. The energy in the stadium during those games is amazing! Especially when it's in Canada! 

Thanks for reading! I'd love your comments and questions.

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