My mission is to see the Flames play in all 30 NHL arenas, a mission that began in October of 2005 while at a local pub watching the Flames take on the Oilers. With the previous season’s work stoppage, and the season before’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals, Flames tickets had become a very hard item to come by. I was then struck with the idea of combining two of my favourite activities; watching hockey and travelling. You can follow my quest to visit all 30 arenas right here…
November 14, 2009 – Toronto, ON
The time had finally come to make a trip to the self-proclaimed “centre of the universe” to visit the Air Canada Centre, home of the 2nd last place Toronto Maple Leafs. Being the Leafs, these weren’t easy tickets to come by, but I was going to be visiting it sooner or later, so why not this weekend? A friend of mine’s brother was able to secure some tickets, so we ended up with lower bowl tickets, free of charge, which really helped make this trip possible.
The Air Canada Centre, or ACC as it is known, is located in downtown Toronto, just south of the CP Rail tracks. The arena, which is also home to the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, opened in 1999 and replaced the much more storied Maple Leaf Gardens. It is located a couple hundred yards from a subway station and is easy to get to from anywhere in the city. Outside the arena, there is still a lot of construction going on, as two luxury condominium buildings are currently going up. Talking to some Torontonians, I learned that in one of the buildings, for an extra $300 per month on your condo fees, you can have the Maple Leafs’ symbol on your door and access to a Leafs and Raptors themed sports pub. Only in Toronto.
We entered the arena at the main entrance on the West side of the building. There isn’t anything overly spectacular about the entrance, although it does feature a television studio for Leafs TV. Touring the concourse, there was a variety of different concessions, including Japanese and Greek cuisine, sandwich stands, pizza stands, and Tim Horton’s. For beer, there was the ironically named “Lord Stanley’s Mug,” a brew pub, featuring an attached Molson brewery. The unique thing about beer in the ACC is the price; $14 for a large beer. You read that correctly, fourteen dollars! Granted it was quite large, but fourteen dollars? Without a doubt, the most interesting concession was a hotdog stand called “Burkie’s Dog House,” featuring a cartoon of Leafs’ GM Brian Burke and a selection of specialty hot dogs. I didn’t think I’d ever see a concession stand named after a General Manager, but judging from CBC and TSN’s hockey coverage there is a major obsession with Brian Burke in Toronto; an obsession I just don’t understand. I’m still trying to figure out why they show Burke every time Toronto scores or is scored on.
The seating bowl of the ACC is similar to most new arenas, with two tiers of seating and a row of luxury suites between them. There are also two sections of luxury suites at each end of the ice in the upper bowl. Hanging from the rafters are a row of banners honouring their many retired numbers and another row celebrating their Stanley Cup victories. I enjoyed seeing they hadn’t left room for any more Stanley Cup banners to be hung. Perhaps this 42-year drought is no accident. The best part of this seating bowl was the amount of Flames jerseys in the crowd. I think it might be the most Flames fans I’ve seen at an away game that wasn’t in Phoenix or Anaheim; I was quite surprised.
The game was being billed as “80’s Night” and featured a brief ceremony before the game with Wendel Clark and Russ Courtnall. I thought it was a little strange that the Leafs would chose to dedicate a night to what was arguably their worst decade of hockey. To each their own I guess. The game started off with a bang, as Jarome Iginla and Eric Nystrom scored 16 seconds apart only 2 minutes into the game. This was followed by two back to back fights, including Colton Orr issuing a beating on Brian McGrattan. Despite being outshot by the Leafs 20-4 in the 2nd period, the Flames were able to win the game 5-2, with goals from Bouwmeester, Nystrom, Boyd and two from Iggy. Following the game, during the Three Stars presentation, I was excited to see that both Iginla and Kipper, 1st and 2nd stars respectively, skated out onto the ice when their names were announced.
I was a little surprised at how timid the Toronto fans were. I suppose there isn’t much to cheer about these days, but we didn’t hear a peep from a single fan in attendance, be it good natured ribbing or off-colour remarks meant to insult. I thought it might also be because we were sitting in the lower bowl where there tends to be more of a corporate crowd, but we didn’t hear anything in the concourses or the streets of downtown either. I had been a little nervous heading into this game, knowing the Flames recent track record in Toronto, and not wanting to face any rabid Leafs fans after a Flames loss. Fortunately, the only thing we needed to worry about was where to go for a celebratory beer after the game.
The following day we headed over to the Hockey Hall of Fame, located on Front Street, only a few blocks from the ACC. I thought the Hall was very well done and we had a great afternoon reading about so many great players and moments in hockey history. Some of the highlights for the Flames included Lanny’s booth in the main hall, Doc Seaman’s Stanley Cup ring, and seeing the Flames’ names on the Cup itself. I would highly recommend the Hall of Fame to anybody visiting Toronto.
That’s fourteen arenas down, sixteen to go.
-TheRev
Air Canada Centre Fast Facts
Seats: Section 106; $203; brother of a friend
Score: Flames 5, Maple Leafs 2
Arena Rating: 6/10
Unique Concession: Concession named after the GM. (Burkie’s Dog House)
Souvenir Stick: Maple Leaf, plastic; Hall of Fame, plastic
Public Transit: Subway one block away
Unique Arena Trait: $14 beer
Swag: None
Photos
Next up is a return to Southern California to see the Kings and Ducks…
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