My First Game At Maple Leaf Gardens.

I was eleven years old the very first time I attended a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game. The date was Saturday February 26th 1972 and it had snowed all day in the city of Toronto. I remember taking the subway down to College Street and then walking up the open staircase to the very busy and crowded street level.

The snow was now falling heavily as I walked up the stairs. The large snowflakes instantly melting as they landed on the stairway warming up from the hundreds of hockey fans now ascending them. On the street the snow had really begun to accumulate and the flakes clung to my woolen toque.

When I arrived at the top of the staircase I was now on Carlton Street and my direction was east. East to the Vatican of the hockey world, Maple Leaf Gardens.

The street was bustling, the crowd was large and everyone was heading in the same direction. I remember there were numerous bicycle vendors selling roasted chestnuts, popcorn and candy apples along the route. There was a slight bend on the street and just beyond the bend the Gardens historic large blue and white lighted marquee was now visible. 

It simply read 'VANCOUVER 8 P.M'.

As I got closer I could feel the excitement really starting to build and the smell of big league hockey in the cold winter air. I will never forget the smell of Juicy Fruit gum, popcorn, hot dogs and the old arena itself all just simmering as I entered through the main front doors.

There were program sellers inside, scalpers outside along with hundreds of snow capped hockey fans. It all made for a loud yet quiet, peaceful sound.

The Gardens did not have much of a foyer. Once you entered the front doors it was either right or left depending if east or west was printed on your ticket. My ticket read west across a dark green stripe. I turned left and approached one of the ancient blue and white turnstiles. An elderly gentleman ripped my ticket and gave me the top half before I entered. He told me to go over to and up the escalator. Reds were the best seats back then followed by the blues, greens and at the top the greys.

Dozens of large framed black and white pictures lined the Gardens very narrow interior street level corridors. An occasional newer colored photo of a recent player was visible, though most were vintage black and white. All former Leaf heroes, some capturing the proud moments of 40 years of Maple Leaf history. Old photos of former players smiling down on fans welcoming us all to this special place. 

For me it would become a religious place.

The Ford Motor Company had a car on display right at the base of the long narrow escalator slowly taking fans to the upper levels. Each escalator was manned by an usher at the top and bottom wearing a Captain like hat. It was his job to direct the fans over to the proper sections once they arrived on the proper level.

It just seemed as if everyone knew exactly where they needed to go. I remember the escalators were very narrow and only one person could stand on a step. I traveled up two narrow escalators until I reached my level where a large sign reading 'GREENS & GREYS' greeted me. I was sitting in the greens, section seventy. I cannot remember the exact row, but it was more than halfway down and to the right.

What I remember most was the brightness once I walked up the tiny ramp to the seating area. The television lights were all on. The two blue lines were so dark yet they were so bright like a couple first prize ribbons draped across the rink. The red checkered center ice line with the large blue Maple Leaf logo right at center ice became instantly etched in my mind for the rest of my life.

The ice was white, pure white. It glistened under the bright television lighting from the thin layer of water left on the surface from the Zamboni. The Zamboni was just finishing and within a few minutes the players would arrive onto the ice. The reason why we had all come to this special place, the hockey game was about to begin.

I soaked everything up that night like a thirsty sponge, nothing escaped my view. The large bulky square green score clock above center ice with the word 'Dominion' on top of all four sides. The large 'NO SMOKING' signs up in each corner on the white walls of the upper levels. The historic wood Gondola where the play-by-play was broadcast to a hockey starved nation.

It was as if the Gardens itself was the reason I went to the game and not the actual game itself.

I looked in awe at everything and when I die, I wish I could be buried at center ice. Program sellers were walking up and down the aisles and I wished I was one of them. To come to every game and get paid, I would do it for free. Other boys not much older than myself with large baskets, selling Cokes, peanuts and popcorn in the stands. They were all so lucky.

The three referees came onto the ice followed by the teams. I recall hardly any of the players were wearing helmets. The Leafs wore their home white jerseys and the Canucks wore dark blue. The game started and quickly just seemed to fly by. The first period, second and the third just seemed to disappear into the winter night. Before I knew it, the game was over.

My first Leaf game would now be a lifelong cherished memory, never to be forgotten.

The Leafs won 7-1 and Paul Henderson scored a hat-trick, he was the first star. Dave Keon and Norm Ullman also scored for the Leafs. Jacques Plante played in goal and got the win. Somehow I lost my program when I exited the Vatican of the hockey world, but I still had my green ticket stub. 

It was snowing even heavier as the crowd now made its way west, west to those familiar subway steps. It was a miserable night outdoors, but indoors the sellout crowd was joyous. The Leafs won and I had just attended my first Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game. Little did I know on that night that over the next five decades hundreds more would follow. 

And you know that old saying about never forgetting your first time with your first love. 

I know I never will.

*Update. Somehow I eventually lost my green ticket stub. However, after 30 years of searching to replace my lost program, I have finally been reunited with this treasured memento. I purchased the program on ebay for $40 which would have been well over three times as much as was spent for our pair of green seats and my original program from that night.