Diehard Leafs fan from Scotland preparing for late-night playoff games
Posted April 18, 2023 2:41 pm.
Last Updated April 18, 2023 2:48 pm.
It’s that time of year Maple Leafs fans love and dread. Playoff hockey starts Tuesday night with game one of the seven match-up ceremonies against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Scotiabank Arena.
Leafs fans know all too well about the nervousness, stress, high blood pressure and even some nausea watching playoff hockey. But what about adding in a 3 a.m. start time?
Well, that’s what Victoria Stewart has to go through, a die-hard Maple Leafs fan who lives in Dundee, Scotland.
Stewart said she stays up until five in the morning for every game since she first fell in love with the team.
She stumbled upon the Leafs while taking in a local hockey game years ago and falling in love with the sport. So, there’s professional hockey over here and I just happened to go along with a friend one night and got really hooked up.”
“I downloaded the NHL app… and it came up with a list of teams and there was just something about the Toronto Maple Leafs that stuck out. I picked them and they’ve been my team ever since,” said Stewart. “It was a gut instinct thing, I don’t know what it was, but they were just meant to be my team.”
The fandom has grown from there, including a visit to Toronto. “I went out in November. So, my first game that was amazing, and I’m actually flying back out next month to go to my first Blue Jays game as well. so that’s exciting,” shared Stewart. “I enjoy it so much. It makes me happy.”
She also met her boyfriend, a native Torontonian, who was living close by and was a fellow Leafs fan.
“So, my boyfriend he actually studied over here. He went to medical school across in Ireland. So, we met across here because we were watching the Leafs at these ridiculous times during the night because we’re both up until 3 a.m. we bonded over that.”
And to further prove her diehard status, she even has three Maple Leafs-related tattoos. A Maple Leaf on her shoulder, hockey sticks on her wrist and the number 34, for Auston Matthews, on her ankle.
Stewart shares more of her love for the Leafs of her YouTube channel, on Instagram and Twitter to her over 18,000 followers
