The club posted a TikTok of the experience walking downtown Toronto before puck drop.
On Sunday, the Utah Hockey Club visited the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time, and with that, they had their first taste of Toronto’s notorious traffic as a welcome.
As Utah hit the road and ventured downtown towards Scotiabank Arena, the team bus got stuck in traffic, prompting all team members to get off and walk the rest of the way.
The experience was posted on TikTok in a vlog-style approach. Utah defenseman Maveric Lamoureux was the narrating voice in the video, explaining the uncharacteristic pregame mishap as the team ran late for pre-game meetings.
“Walking pregame to get to the rink because there’s way too much traffic,” Lamoureux said. “The bus is not moving at all. So it’s pretty much just the whole team walking the street. 5:15, our meeting is in one minute to get there.”
“I think that’s a first for everyone. (Have) never seen that before.”
The Utah social media channels even displayed the players stopping to take pictures with fans in the streets, including ex-Maple Leaf and current Hockey Club member, Alex Kerfoot.
The main reason for the disruption was due to Toronto’s 120th Santa Clause Parade, which took place on Sunday afternoon. The event led to a multitude of road closures with a new route this year and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), as a response, had increased services to stations along the route.
Coming into Toronto as an opponent is much different than if you play for the team as you understand makeshift ways around the downtown core. A week ago, the Edmonton Oilers came to town when the Taylor Swift concerts were happening, also disrupting their plans.
Conversely, Leafs forward William Nylander who has played for the club for parts of 10 seasons, is a heavy user of the TTC transit system, taking the subway for nearly every home game last season.
This is the lone trip to Toronto for Utah this season, with the Maple Leafs traveling as the visiting team in the new year on March 10, 2025 – meaning they will not have to worry about the traffic anytime soon.