Late on the night of March 10, not long after the Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1, I was heading out of the press box at Scotiabank Arena after filing my story and stopped to chat with colleague Dave McCarthy.
McCarthy, who covers the Leafs for NHL.com, was leaning back in his chair and taking in the view of the rink, now empty after the crowd of 19,124 had departed, undoubtedly buoyed by the Leafs’ victory.
“When do you think we’re going to be back here for a game?” McCarthy said, referring to the coronavirus fears that were seeping into society.
Though the National Hockey League had implemented limits for media — dressing rooms were closed a few days earlier and we had to keep social distance during scrums with players — the Leafs were slated to practise the next day at Ford Performance Centre in preparation for their home game on March 12 against the Nashville Predators.
“Two nights from now, for Nashville,” I said to McCarthy.
Not quite. Leafs practice went off as scheduled on Wednesday, but all sports fans know what happened that night: Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus, and within hours, the National Basketball Association put its season on hold.
The NHL followed in kind the next day, and as I left Scotiabank after the morning skate on Thursday was cancelled, had no idea when any of us would return.
I wouldn’t have guessed July 28, and wouldn’t have guessed it would be for an exhibition game against the Montreal Canadiens, in preparation for a best-of-five qualifying round against the Columbus Blue Jackets. With NHL players living in bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton, no less.
I don’t live in Toronto. On Tuesday, I drove into downtown for the first time in nearly 20 weeks.
Covering a hockey game in an empty rink was bizarre, to say the least, but getting into the rink was just as weird.
No buzz outside the building. No fans clad in Mitch Marner or Auston Matthews or Morgan Rielly sweaters, whooping and hollering in anticipation of the opening faceoff, just over an hour away. No scalpers. Not that it was keeping me up at night, but I won’t have to wonder again what it might be like to head into an NHL building at 8 a.m. on a Sunday.
Once inside through Gate 5B — I had to search for it, as I’ve never entered that way — the unusual outscored the usual.
Bag check, yes. But now temperature check, a list of questions regarding anything approaching possible COVID-19 symptoms, bottles of hand sanitizer and wipes supplied by the NHL (and bearing the NHL logo).
Up to Section 312, not the press box, to take a seat at a temporary desk. Other media sat rows away, some in other sections.
The game itself? Hockey was hockey. I loved that we could hear Nick Robertson call for a pass from Kasperi Kapanen, from the far end of the rink, for a scoring chance.
All of the sounds were magnified — hits, shots, the puck off the glass, yelling from the bench.
But NHL hockey in an empty rink? It felt wrong.
I got home in time to catch the third period of the Flames/Oilers game. That wasn’t as strange. Camera angles didn’t show the thousands of idle seats in the upper bowl at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
In person at the SBA, the empty sections loomed.
I’m glad hockey is back, but with everything else in life impacted directly by the pandemic, wish that there was a fast-track to normalcy.
Never mind calling this “the new normal.” Let’s hope that what we knew before coronavirus took over is something we can realize again.
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