Outside and wheeling like a kid again
Like the fans, players love annual practice at Nathan Phillips Square
John Tavares used to skate in Sam Gagner’s backyard in Oakville. Travis Dermott and Connor McDavid played shinny together on a flooded baseball diamond in Aurora.
The clichés are true. Hockey players, at least those that come from snowbound surroundings, love playing outside.
“There’s just a purity to it,” says Tavares. “There’s just some days I think about being outside, whether it’s during the day under the sun or at night under the stars. The sound of the skates on ice. The cold, crisp air. All that. So, yeah, there’s something special about it.”
The Maple Leafs will hold an outdoor practice Thursday at Nathan Phillips Square. They did the same thing last year, and added a wrinkle by taking the subway — in full gear, minus skates — from the Scotiabank Arena to the outdoor venue a few stops north.
Hockey and the great outdoors go together in many ways. The NHL has built a franchise with outdoor games such as the Winter Classic and the Heritage Classic that draw devoted followers. The Leafs have played in three outdoor games, though there does not appear to be any plans to include Toronto in outdoor games on the horizon.
So these annual outdoor public practices are all local fans have to look forward to. The players look forward to breaking away from what can be mundane or routine practices. “We spend so much time in the rink that time spent outside is that much more special, I guess you’d say,” Dermott says. “When we were younger we’d get out way more and practice in the rink way less. So it’s special.”
Morgan Rielly, who grew up in temperate West Vancouver, B.C., didn’t get to play outside as a kid. But Justin Holl, who grew up in ice cold Minnesota, did, playing on a rink built by former Leafs defenceman Jake Gardiner’s family.
“It was amazing, so much fun,” says Holl. “It’s hockey in its purest form. Getting together with your buddies and playing shinny for fun. I feel like that’s where you develop a lot of good skills, too.”
In part because it’s for the love of the game. And because there’s no adults telling the kids what to do.
“Exactly,” says Holl. “You’re just doing it for whatever reason. Dangle-fest.”
Frédérik Gauthier was another outdoor hockey enthusiast growing up in rural Quebec, about an hour from Montreal.
“Almost every day growing up,” says Gauthier. “My dad built a little rink in the backyard. I think we were there all winter. I think all the kids in the neighbourhood would end up on it, playing shinny. So almost every day. It was great.” The memories have lasted. Says Gauthier: “There were sometimes on the weekends you could be out there all weekend. Keep your skates on, go eat something quick and just go back out there and have fun.”
Says Dermott: “In Aurora, the ACC — the Aurora Community Centre — there’s a baseball diamond right across.
“They flood like the entire infield and outfield. It’s just a massive skating rink. Me, Connor and his dad would play keepaway for two hours.”
Holl had a variety of places to choose from. “We were outside all the time. We had a rink at my house. My dad always made a rink. I used to skate at the Gardiner house a lot. And then there were a bunch of outdoor rinks that were public that we’d go to a lot.”
Tavares last played shinny regularly outside in 2012, when the NHL lockout ended.
“Sam’s parents had sold the place, but when the lockout ended, we went out there,” says Tavares. “We came home for a week after being in Europe and the people that bought the place let us back out there.”
Dermott sounds like he’d keep doing it if he had the chance. He says he skated last year outside with family and friends.
“My girlfriend’s family has an unreal pond in the backyard, in Stouffville. Their land is decently wide but it goes way back and they have a massive pond in the middle. I gotta get up north and see how that pond is doing.”