The Toronto Maple Leafs are a Stanley Cup favorite this year and it couldn’t be less exciting.
Sports are a community that bring us together. That doesn’t mean sharing tweets and posting on Facebook. This means going to your friends house to watch a Toronto Maple Leafs game, meeting up at a bar, or attending the game in person, especially when the playoffs start.
Not only do sports promote social gatherings, but it promotes rivalries.
For the first time in 42 years, the Toronto Maple Leafs will face the Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs. This should be one of the biggest hockey events in recent history. Instead, there’s little electricity.
Sure, the games will still be exciting, but if we learned anything from the NHL Bubble or regular season, it’s not the same. During last year’s “play-in” games, Game 4 was arguably the greatest game in Leafs history, but at the end of the day, it was forgettable.
Although the Leafs stormed back from 3-0 with only minutes remaining to eventually win in overtime, nobody was in attendance or could gather to watch it together. Instead of sharing a wonderful moment with all of your die-hard Leafs friends and family, most people were stuck watching by themselves.
That’s not how sports should be enjoyed.
2021 Playoff Run Brings Little Excitement
Would I rather have no sports or sports without fans? Obviously, it’s sports without fans, but it’s just not the same.
After watching the Toronto Raptors win the NBA title two years ago, all I kept thinking to myself was, “Imagine what this city would be like if the Leafs won?” That’s no disrespect to the Raptors or their loyal fanbase, but the Leafs are the biggest hockey market in the world.
Watching the streets fill with red for the Raptors was incredible but seeing a blue-and-white parade stroll down Yonge Street for the first time since 1967 would be a dream come true.
The Leafs are now in a realistic position to win the Stanley Cup. They won the North Division and have one of the most balanced teams in the league. Their defensive-core is much improved, as well as their goaltending.
This should be the most anticipated playoffs in Toronto for the past 20 years, but it doesn’t feel that way. Maybe things will change when the puck drops for Game 1, but at this current moment, part of me wants this team to fail again, so we can enjoy the moment rightly.
Obviously the team could win multiple championships with this core group and we could get a real parade and watch in person, but after you win once, it’s hard to repeat.
Imagine if the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series after 108 years in Game 7 during a pandemic season and instead of celebrating in the streets of Wrigleyville, fans had to sit at home by themselves? It just wouldn’t have been the same.
Snapping a 54-year Stanley Cup drought would be amazing in any circumstance for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it clearly wouldn’t be as special, if they did it this season.
Let’s hope that this pandemic is somewhat over by July, so if the Leafs, do in fact, win the Stanley Cup, we can enjoy it with as much normalcy as possible.