Like many Toronto Maple Leafs fans in recent years, I find myself attending fewer games in person than I used to. Ticket prices have soared beyond the average person’s budget and even for those with plenty of cash, ticket availability is often a problem.
That leaves road games as the only viable option for some people to see the team in live action. Detroit, Buffalo and Ottawa are close enough (for some) for a day trip, while several other teams are just a little further away if you’re willing to stay overnight. I was fortunate enough to find myself passing through Raleigh, North Carolina last year when the Toronto Maple Leafs were in town, and was able to buy a single lower bowl seat online for less than the cost of a nosebleed standing room ticket in Toronto.
Going to see a Carolina Hurricanes game at the Lenovo Centre (previously known as PNC Arena) brings to mind several differences from what one would normally experience at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena.
Thankfully, those differences do not include getting punched out by an enraged Philadelphia fanatic (that IS what fan is short for) for daring to be a Leaf fan at a Flyers game, but I digress.
Watching a Maple Leafs Game in Carolina Is Not the Scotiabank Arena Experience
First of all, the arena is not downtown. It sits out in the suburbs, surrounded by forest, with a gigantic parking lot. Entering the parking lot, there is a fifty-ish woman waving a giant Hurricanes flag yelling out, “Who loves hockey?! Who loves the Hurricanes?!” As I go by, I answer “I love hockey, but I’m a Leafs fan!” Without missing a beat and not even looking at me, she replies in a southern drawl, “That’s your problem, honey.”
Once into the heart of a sea of vehicles, dozens of tailgate parties take over. Pickup trucks, camper vehicles, barbecues, coolers, and music. One group of enterprising fans has brought a generator and hooked up a BIG-screen TV, speakers, a small fridge, and strings of patio lights to go along with their patio umbrellas and reclining chairs. THIS is what we need in Toronto.
Once inside, I walk around the concourse to find a much broader and interesting selection of food available than what can be found at Scotiabank. Nothing is cheap, but the prices are not outrageous. Microbrews are available at a cost similar to Canadian venues, but I’m able to purchase 2 (two, as in one more than one) Hurricanes-branded tallboys for less than 20 bucks total.
The biggest difference watching the Toronto Maple Leafs in the southern USA rather than at home is interacting with the fans themselves. Even though the Hurricanes (formerly the Hartford Whalers, see hockeydb.com) have been in Raleigh since 1999, the atmosphere seems quaintly hopeful and somehow still new to the sport of hockey. In Toronto, patrons (excluding the despised corporate crowd, who don’t count as fans) are guardedly optimistic if the team is doing well, jaded if things are not looking good, but always highly opinionated and very knowledgeable about the game.
In Carolina, I was seated amongst a group of guys in their late twenties. I asked if they played the game themselves. “No, never played ice hockey. Never even skated.” What about their friends and relatives? “Nope.” Surprisingly, the young men next to me had been season ticket holders for several years. It struck me that NOBODY that age is a Maple Leafs ticket holder. You have to be rich, first of all, and you need to wait a few decades on a waiting list to get season tickets in Toronto.
Never in a million years would you expect to see an explanation of what icing means flash across the scoreboard at Scotiabank Arena. Or see a message that “cheaters get what they deserve” when the opposing team takes a penalty. Or have to listen to the stadium PA guy absolute losing it announcing a Carolina powerplay while sirens and airhorns and other noisy doodads shatter everyone’s eardrums.
Maybe the fact that I’m mocking that means I’m a hockey snob. But the Carolina fans loved it all, so more power to them. Hockey can always use more fans, and travel gives us the opportunity to experience the game in a new light.