There will be playoff hockey taking place in the city of Toronto this spring, even involving players wearing blue-and-white, maple leaf-crested jerseys. Okay, so it’s only the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leaf’s farm team, who’ll be chasing glory, but in this city, you’ve gotta take your winning teams where you can find them.
The Marlies open their chase for the Calder Cup tonight at Ricoh Coliseum, with a best-of-five first-round series against the Rochester Americans (7 p.m.). The Marlies boast a talented roaster of Leafs-to-be, and Ricoh Coliseum offers an intimate setting to watch the play up close and get a Leafs-like experience at a fraction of the price.
For their first-round playoff series, the most expensive tickets at the 9,500-seat Coliseum cost just $39, less than one-tenth the price of the highest-value platinum level seats at the Air Canada Centre ($416). A great view can still be had from the fanzone at just $10 per ticket.
You can also find yourself just inches away from the team as they walk directly through the concourse to get from the locker room to the ice. The opportunity to high five a potential Leafs superstar such as Nazem Kadri, Joe Colborne or Ben Scrivens is particularly popular among kids.
The youngsters also go wild for Marlies mascot Duke the Dog. He is a lot easier to get a hold of and snap a picture with than, say, Carlton the Bear (Leafs), the Raptor or Ace (Blue Jays), even if the pic won’t earn you quite the same kudos when you post it on Facebook.
For fans, the club’s playoff push offers a chance to at least partially quench what has been an eight-year thirst for NHL postseason play in Toronto.