Utah Hockey Club Had To Walk To The Arena For Game Against The Leafs Thanks To Brutal Traffic

We’ve all been in traffic so bad that we thought to ourselves, “I could probably get there faster if I ditched the car and hoofed it,” and for the Utah Hockey Club, that turned out to actually be the case in Downtown Toronto.

Utah was on the road Monday night in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs and on the way to the game the team got caught in nightmarish rush-hour traffic that, according to the Associated Press, was also thanks to several streets being closed for the city’s annual Santa Claus parade.

It got so bad that the team had to abandon ship and jump off the team bus to walk to Scotiabank Arena for its pregame meeting.

The team even posted a video of it all happening.

Utah seemed to have a good laugh about it, but in the end, the walk may not have done the players and their legs any good. They wound up losing to the Leafs, 3-2.

The incident even caught the attention of Ontario Premier Doug Ford — yes, he is the brother of late-hard-partying Toronto Mayor Rob Ford — who called it “embarrassing.”

And it is embarrassing, but I’d like to play Devil’s advocate: what if this is just another form of home-ice advantage? Maybe if teams come to the rink after walking several city blocks, they’ll be just that extra bit more tired come the late stages of the third period.

I don’t know, as a hockey fan, I kind of want my team to play in an area with horrible traffic.

Believe it or not, this wasn’t the only instance where hockey players were forced to walk to the rink at the last minute.

Minnesota Wild player Travis Boyd — who was on his way to join the team in Calgary after getting called up from the AHL’s Iowa Wild — had to walk to the Scotiabank Saddledome thanks to a snowstorm that caused some big-time traffic delays.