Leafs heat up the off-ice energy
Fan experience to get a jolt of fun from permanent teen anthem singer, new announcers and Blue Crew
The Toronto Maple Leafs youth movement is not limited to teenaged hockey players like Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
Another teenager will be at centre ice all season — 15-year-old Martina Ortiz Luis — belting out “O Canada” as the team’s first permanent anthem singer.
The Woodbridge youth will have her Air Canada Centre debut Sunday when the Maple Leafs host the Montreal Canadiens in an exhibition game.
“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t going to be nervous at all,” said Ortiz Luis, a Grade 10 student at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts in North York. “But I’m really excited to bring energy to the crowd. Hopefully I don’t mess up the words.”
Not that the fans have had much to cheer lately, but the ACC can be dead at the best of times. Among the things the Maple Leafs haven’t been very good at through the years is their in-game presentation. Rambling hosts. Ads that interrupt the flow. Amped-up music that stops the fans from cheering.
So the game-operations department has been undergoing changes. In addition to Ortiz Luis, the team will unveil an entirely new in-house game crew Sunday, with an eye to energizing the crowd.
Broadcaster Mike Ross has replaced Andy Frost as the in-game announcer.
Leafs TV reporter Danielle Emanuele and former Much Music VJ Scott Willats have replaced Lauren Howe as the in-game hosts.
A15-person Blue Crew will interact with fans, trying to get the crowd going.
“It’s an important part of our fan experience and an important part of how our players feel and how they’re energized,” said Shannon Hosford vice-president of marketing and fan experience for the team. “Our fans are an important part of that.”
Ross and Ortiz Luis each had dry runs of their new jobs at exhibition games in Halifax and St. Catharines.
Ross said he was humbled at replacing Frost, who had been at the helm since the 1999-2000 season. Ross is just the fourth Leafs public-address announcer since 1931, following Red Barber and Paul Morris, who han- dled duties at Maple Leaf Gardens, and Frost.
“It’s clearly an exciting time to be on this team. I have a very small role in it, but 100 years is a big momentous milestone,” said Ross. “As a history buff, it’s an honour to be in this position. I mean, Paul Morris and Andy Frost. I’m not looking to replace anybody. Those guys are legends.”
The firing of the popular Frost, a long-time DJ on Q-107, was the most controversial of the changes over the summer, but the hiring of a permanent anthem singer is also a marked change.
Although other teams, like Boston, Ottawa and Detroit, have permanent anthem singers, the Leafs have long rotated the job. MLSE brass decided the centennial season offers a good opportunity to create a new identity and new traditions.
“We’re looking to celebrate the teams and the players of the past, but we also see it as an opportunity to look ahead and to signal change,” said Hosford.
“We not only wanted to reflect the young team on the ice with what we’re doing in the stands, (but also give) our fans more opportunities to be engaged.”
Hosford said the anthem job is Ortiz Luis’s as long as she wants it, but understands that bigger and brighter might await the talented teen.
Ortiz Luis started formal voice lessons at age 3 and trained at the Royal Conservatory of Music with an eye on being a professional singer-songwriter. It’s clear she feels part of the Leafs team and takes seriously her role in getting the crowd pumped.
“I know the anthem really brings energy to the audience,” she said. “I’m a big fan of all Toronto’s teams, the Blue Jays, the Raptors. This year, I’m really excited because I know we have a lot of new young players on the Leafs. I think they’re going to do well. And I think that starts with energetic fans.”
“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t going to be nervous at all. But I’m really excited to bring energy to the crowd.” MARTINA ORTIZ LUIS LEAFS ANTHEM SINGER