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NHL Toronto Maple Leafs

Ron Wilson’s Comments About Toronto Maple Leafs Crowd Aren’t Wrong

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Wilson

Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson has spoken out about the team’s recent struggles, and he isn’t necessarily wrong.

Wilson compared the atmosphere at the Air Canada Centre at the start of games to a morgue given that the platinum seats, the best seats in the arena, are often empty to begin periods and sometimes stay empty for half the period. He said fans only cheer when things are going “miraculously well,” and said it was despicable that fans have thrown their jersey onto the ice in protest of the team’s pathetic play.

Wilson has practically been a ghost since being fired by the Maple Leafs and considering the timing of his comments, the former coach certainly isn’t passing on an opportunity to kick the Leafs while they’re down. However, despite how bitter his comments are, the sad truth is that he may be right.

Considering Toronto likes to claim it’s the hockey capital of the world, the fans are hardly as loud as other markets around the league. Yes, fans in Chicago and Montreal have had much more to cheer about over the past decade, but even smaller non-traditional hockey markets have become louder and more passionate than the Air Canada Centre crowd. There’s no question attending a Maple Leafs game in Toronto has become more of a place to be seen rather than a place to cheer on the home team.

People attending the games would rather drink and socialize then focus on the event they likely didn’t pay for because they’re focused on their various business deals. The ACC is more a place where businessmen finalize their deals or attempt to impress clients than it is about supporting the blue and white. Just look at the crowd that surrounds the glass in the first 10 rows — hardly anyone is actually wearing a jersey or the team colors.

Yet, when observing games at the Bell Centre or the United Center, all one can see is a sea of red.

The truth is, there are thousands of diehard Maple Leafs fans who blindly follow the team despite it not coming close to a hint of success in decades. Unfortunately, those aren’t the fans in the arena, so labelling the Air Canada Centre as a morgue might be a harsh comment from a bitter former employee, but it is an accurate one. Anybody who claims the crowd in the ACC is one of the 15 loudest crowds in the league would be lying.

The Maple Leafs like to consider themselves the New York Yankees or Dallas Cowboys of hockey. However, fans of those organizations would never allow seats to be empty behind home plate or at the 50-yard line. Toronto is one of the easiest places to play in the entire league and given the history of the franchise, that has to be what’s truly despicable about the team.

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