Maple Leafs going with a new look for their ice crew

Lance Hornby
Toronto Sun
March 7, 2014

Don’t be surprised if hockey timeouts suddenly become must-see viewing at the Air Canada Centre, especially with the dominant male audience.

The club has made the move to an eye-catching ice-cleaning team of young women to shovel excess snow and clear any hazards during regular stoppages. After a series of ‘tryouts’, 10 hockey enthusiasts were picked for the inaugural Maple Leafs Ice Crew, which started back with Monday’s game against Columbus.

Their assignment is the same as the men, clean the entire ice three times a period in 90 seconds or less, avoiding players and referees.

“We always want to try new things for game operations,” said Shannon Hosford, vice-president of marketing and communications for MLSE. “This is something our fans said they wanted. We had used a female group for a couple of games (borrowing the popular Marlies squad during the recent ACC labour dispute). It has been successful with other NHL clubs.”

Indeed, teams such as the Kings, where MLSE president Tim Leiwecke came from, and the Islanders have made celebrities and club ambassadors out of their ice recruits, complete with revealing costumes and promotional calendars.

“We’re just going to start slowly,” laughed Hosford. “This might lead to something later on. Right now, they only have one job.”

The 10 women include eight who play in various women’s leagues in the GTA and two figure skaters, with an average age of early 20s. They’ll be paid $70 a night, same as the regular part-time game-night staff and adhere to the policy of avoiding talking to players in the course of duty. Not that the Leafs aren’t aware of the change, more dramatic when compared to the Gardens era when such a concept would’ve been dismissed by Conn Smythe.

“Yeah, you notice them out there,” chuckled goalie James Reimer. “They’re coming right by you when you’re going to the bench.”

Sometimes Reimer has to move to allow them to sweep his crease, but he insisted he’s so wrapped up in his own thoughts, he paid no attention to the males who do the same repair work.

“They might say a quick ‘good luck’ to me, which is fine,” said Reimer.

Winger Troy Bodie recalled the Anaheim Ducks had a similar female cast.

“They were called the Power Players or something like that,” he said. “If this is what our fans like, it’s fine with me. We’re too busy catching our breath at that point in a game.”