Toronto traffic forces Utah Hockey Club players to walk to Leafs game
It didn’t take long for the Utah Hockey Club to get a taste of Toronto living in its first-ever trip to The Six.
As Utah made its way downtown for Sunday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, its bus got stuck in traffic, forcing the players to get out and walk through the heart of the city to make it to Scotiabank Arena somewhat on time.
In a video posted to Utah’s TikTok account, defenceman Maveric Lamoureux narrated the team’s journey.
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“Walking pre-game to get to the rink because there’s way too much traffic,” he said. “The bus is not moving at all, so it’s pretty much the whole team walking the street…
“So I think that’s a first for everyone. (Have) never seen that before.”
Utah also shared photos of fans stopping players for pictures and the team walking past Union Station.
The newest NHL franchise lost 3-2 to the Maple Leafs on Sunday night. Toronto won its fourth-straight game and improved to 7-1 without captain Auston Matthews, who continues to recover from an upper-body injury.
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Mayor Olivia Chow addressed the incident at a press conference on Monday, where she explained the cause of the traffic.
“Once a year we’re at the Santa Claus parade, and with all the floats and all the cars coming out, that whole area was quite jacked up,” Chow said before apologizing to the team. “Santa didn’t conspire together with the Leafs.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also commented on the team’s commute to the game calling it “embarrassing” and saying, “Toronto is an absolute nightmare right now.”
“People are just avoiding going downtown now, and it’s going to hurt our GDP,” he added.
