The Toronto Maple Leafs held their annual Outdoor Practice at Nathan Phillips Square (Toronto’s City Hall) February 12th, 12pm – 1:30pm. They could not have picked a better weather day, +6ºC clear and sunny all afternoon. When this day was circled on the 2023 calendar for an outdoor practice, in downtown Toronto, for mid February, surly they had no clue the weather lottery they were about to win!
It wasn’t much of a “practice” per say, more of a 3 on 3 ’round-robin’ mini Tournament for the excited fans. MLSE put on a great afternoon of fun for every one of the Leaf’s fans that came out to see and cheer on their heroes “up close and personal”. The MLSE staff were throwing high quality merchandise (shirts and toques) out into the crowd …and the fans were just loving it, as they yelled at the tops of their lungs to try and get some Leaf gear thrown to them, it was chaotic family fun.
After the on-ice practice, the Players took the red carpet and walked the fenced line, through the crowds, like bonafide rock stars to graciously greet fans, shake hands, sign autographs, speak with media and take selfies – all before boarding one of the three buses lined up on Bay Street waiting to take them away.
It was BIG SMILES all around by the end of this event. Good job Toronto Maple Leafs!
At the end of the day, it was a personal highlight (as a fan) to see some of these guys up close, and a big shout out to Mr. Joe Bowen, the greatest hockey announcer to ever call the game, to come out and call the practice.
Mustard Report did not apply for a Media Pass for this event, note to self, get a Media Pass for the next one, it was crowded.