We have seen teams try to get creative to motivate their players in the past. Maybe it's bringing in someone who has an incredibly tough job or an adventurous story to tell, going through their trials and tribulations and how it can make this group of hockey players overcome any hurdles they are facing.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs, they are bringing out a horse.
Specifically, the team are reportedly going to be bringing a horse trainer and a wild colt out in front of a bunch of prospects.
#Leafs are bringing in a horse trainer and a wild colt for an exercise for prospects in managing emotions and handling pressure in tricky situations. Wickenheiser: "It's going to be interesting ... the horse will not be on the ice and no one will getting on the horse."
— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) July 3, 2025
The Maple Leafs' development camp started Thursday with some on-ice sessions and the young players who hope to one day be the names we see in the NHL at Scotiabank Arena. But instead of sticking it to hockey, reported first by The Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan, the Leafs are planning on using this horse trainer and wild colt in some sort of exercise that will test the young prospects' ability to manage their emotions and handle pressure in high stakes.
Thankfully, assistant general manager Hayley Wickenhesier stressed that the horse is not going to be on the ice and no teenaged hockey player is going to be sitting on the horse. Well, that's good.
The Vancouver Canucks have prospects go through the athletic horrors of the Grouse Grind. The Philadelphia Flyers under John Tortorella had the rope skate. The Maple Leafs are bringing out a giant horse. Sometimes, it just rocks to be a fan of an organization that takes itself so seriously and will pull off something like this as something real that is happening.
Even other NHL teams are doing team-bonding activities like cooking some food together, or going go-karting, but so far, it's just getting a horse in a hockey arena and then telling young hockey players how it symbolizes their wild play and how they need to be tamed, or something.
I don't think there's a way that it's possible to stress this or even repeat this too much: The Toronto Maple Leafs are bringing a horse out for their development camp. A horse. And, apparently a wild one at that.
Never change, hockey men.