The National Hockey League confirmed during a press conference this morning that the Toronto Maple Leafs will play the Detroit Red Wings in the next Winter Classic game, scheduled for January 1, 2013. As rumours over the past month have indicated, the match will be held at Michigan Stadium (aka “The Big House”) in Ann [...]

On January 12, 1928, two hockey teams composed entirely of First Nations players took to the ice at Ravina Gardens on Rowland Street for a “a very speedy and clever game of hockey,” as one newspaper described it. It was one of the earliest stops on what would be a 2,200-mile motor coach tour. Over [...]

WHERE: Sunnydale Acres Park, in Rexdale WHEN: Wednesday, January 4, at 11 a.m. WHAT: The Maple Leafs held an outdoor practice in front of a large crowd of fans to celebrate the refurbishment of the rink at Sunnydale Acres Park. (The fix-up happened as a result of a partnership between the Leafs, their foundation, the [...]

Where pucks once flew 15 feet or more on the ice, shoppers will stare at a 15-foot wall of cheese. Today’s grand opening of the new flagship Loblaws store at Maple Leaf Gardens is a long-awaited step in the repurposing of a Toronto landmark. Along with Ryerson University’s Peter Gilgan Athletic Centre at the Gardens, [...]

Dysfunction has a long history in Toronto hockey. A hockey impresario in the amateur ranks, Edward J. Livingstone’s graduation to the professional game quickly devolved into bickering, power struggles, and lawsuits. As owner and manager of the Toronto Shamrocks—and later, the Toronto Blueshirts—of the National Hockey Association, Livingstone clashed repeatedly with his fellow owners. The [...]

If Tim Horton could run a donut shop, why couldn’t Bobby Orr lend his name to a pizzeria? Orr may have skated into the pizza business to fend off others hoping to utilize his name in the restaurant business. Around the time the first pizzas were delivered in 1970, Orr’s representatives sent lawyers after other [...]

“If you had all this pressure to fight while you’re in the NHL, after you have the pressure to live because you don’t have any other option. All you did was fight. You don’t know what you’re going to do.” —Former Montreal Canadiens enforcer Georges Laraque talking to the Globe about the impact that being [...]

One of the great things about TIFF is how they, for better or worse, serve as gatekeepers of Canadian cinema. Between their year-long mandates and their annual Canada’s Top Ten programme, TIFF makes a genuine effort to screen the best homegrown movies. (And if you’re reading this, TIFF, we’re only being a bit snipey. You [...]

Photo of the Canucks fan zone on Georgia Street in Vancouver by MikeWu. If any in this city doubted—at the outset of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs—the direness of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 44-year championship drought, chances are they’re doubters no longer. Two short months after the Leafs’ sixth consecutive failure to qualify for the [...]

Dave Bolland brings the Stanley Cup to Mimico. Photo by Christopher Drost/Torontoist. Late last summer, Chicago Blackhawks’ centre Dave Bolland treated Toronto to a Stanley Cup parade—of sorts. In a celebration that probably did not look quite like the one that exists in the dreams and imaginations of this city’s hockey fans (where Dion Phaneuf [...]

Every other week, Hog-O-Vision takes an illustrated look into Toronto’s future.