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The Toronto Maple Leafs have played their final game at Maple Leaf Gardens. In an odd sort of way, it is unfortunate that the Gardens will remain in operation while the Leafs play elsewhere. The building was constructed for the Leafs, and it thrived because of the Leafs. For the "Grand Old Lady of Carlton Street" to continue without its blue and white tenant is to create a distinction never intended nor desired: a distinction between the building and the team.
MLG circa 1950 (CP)
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Ownership is giving the Gardens two years to demonstrate itself to be economically viable. But one senses that this will not happen. What made the building special for 68 years was its role in housing the most beloved hockey team in Canada. It was not the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra or any other events that happened within its walls. These were merely interruptions that hockey bore patiently in order to pay the bills. Nor was it the structure itself, with its narrow, cramped seating, crowded corridors or frustrating absence of restrooms. In a strictly technical sense, the arena had long outlived its usefulness as a sports and entertainment complex. One could bear the inconveniences when the Leafs played because nothing else mattered very much. Without the Leafs, the Gardens is simply an aging architectural relic from another era. With the Leafs, it becomes a cathedral for hockey worship.
Banners honour memories
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Much of the history appears to be lost among recent generations of hockey fans. When Syl Apps died several months ago, few seemed to notice. It is understandable that the younger Leaf faithful might wonder what all the fuss is surrounding the Leafs move to the Air Canada Centre. This generation has not been witness to much that is good about hockey. The great Maple Leaf teams played in the pre-expansion era. In those halcyon days, the Buds vied with the hated Montreal Canadiens for hockey supremacy. For the Leafs, there were no more Stanley Cups after 1967, no more parades. There is no equivalent to Joe Carter's home run for this generation of Toronto Maple Leaf hockey fans. With the possible exception of Darryl Sittler's incredible 10 point night in 1976, the few moments of Leaf joy in the 1970s and 1980s are isolated and peculiar to Leaf fans. No one outside Toronto finds significance in the Leafs' three semi-final appearances, because few care who finishes third. The Leafs have not made it to the finals in the past 32 years. Doug Gilmour's dramatic playoff goal against St. Louis in 1993? Lanny McDonald's overtime winner against the Islanders in 1977? Never heard of them.
When Harold Ballard assumed full ownership of the club in 1971, it was like the Dark Ages had descended upon this city. He forced Toronto to endure almost two decades of irrational behaviour and megalomaniacal control. He was a convicted felon who spent time in prison. It was during Harold Ballard's tenure that the Gardens became a "house of horrors", where young children were sexually abused by some Gardens employees. No one suggests that he knew what was going on. But corruption travels like water, seeping into all the cracks. Harold Ballard died in 1990, but his reign forever tainted the aura that surrounded this venerable old building. He is not a good man who desecrates this church.
Gardens light will no
longer shine on Leafs
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The Gardens emerged from this Inferno thanks to clear thinking people like Steve Stavro (the present owner), Cliff Fletcher and Ken Dryden. But in spite of all that happened, and no matter how bad the Leafs were, one thing was always certain. No one -- not even Harold Ballard himself -- could deprive Leaf fans any age of the excitement and anticipation a hockey game at the Gardens created. You felt it as you emerged from College Park subway station and walked along the north side of Carlton Street, negotiating the gauntlet of ticket scalpers and merchants looking to peddle their wares. As the din of the crowd became louder, you knew you were approaching the doors. In spite of the noise, entering the Gardens was always a moment of solemnity and reflection. Your ticket bought you passage upon a time machine, permitting you to share in the past glories for which Maple Leaf Gardens was a permanent repository. Even when (perhaps especially when) you sat in the upper grey seats, you felt like you belonged to an exclusive, secret society. Everyone around you knew what it meant to be watching a hockey game in Maple Leaf Gardens. It was unspoken and understood. It was something one never experienced when attending a concert or other non-hockey event in the Gardens.
It is something no generation will again experience at Maple Leaf Gardens. The Toronto Maple Leafs gave the Gardens life. The Leafs have moved elsewhere. What is left for the Grand Old Lady now, if not death?
[Colour photos by Hockey.Ontheweb.]
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