Mattamy Athletic Centre — Attraction in Toronto

Metropolitan community University. The building also houses the MLG Loblaws store, joe fresh and LCBO. There are plaques out front:

MAPLE LEAF GARDENS Bill Bariko is hoisted on the shoulders of his leammates after scornd the Stanley Cup-winning overtime goal in 1951. the Maple Leafs won eight Stanley Cups here. imperial Oil - Turofsky Hockey Hall of Fame. One of the most renowned arenas in the history of hockey, Maple Leaf Gardens was the largest facility of its type in Canada when it was constructed in 1931 for the Toronto Maple Leafs. To build it, the team's General Manager, Conn Smythe, secured a group of investors despite the Great Depression. The 700 construction workers, who completed the arena in just five months, received 20% of their pay in company shares. Designed by the architecture firm Ross and Macdonald, its brickwork emphasizes both horizontals and verticals, while trusses, rather than columns, cr an unobstructed interior. The Gardens was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs for 68 years and hosted 19 Stanlev Cup finals. Other sports were also staged here, including legendary boxing and wrestling matches. For decades, it was Canada's largest indoor venue for cultural, political, and religious events. The Toronto Maple Leafs moved to the Air Canada Centre in 1999. The iconic Maple Leaf Gardens was purchased by Ryerson University and Loblaw Companies Limited, which completed its conversion into a multi-use facility in 2012. Designated under the Ontario Heritage Act

TORONTO'S BASKETBALL HISTORY On November 1, 1946, at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Toronto Huskies and New York Knickerbockers played the first-ever game in the Basketball Association of America, a league created by hockey arena owners to fill seats between hockey games. The Huskies folded at the end of the first season and the BAA merged with a rival league to form the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1949. As basketball grew, NBA teams tested the Toronto market. During the 1970s, teams like the Cincinnati Royals, Los Angeles Ossie Schectman of the New York Knickerbockers Lakers, and Buffalo Braves played at Maple Leaf Gardens. A failed plan to relocate the Cleveland Cavaliers here resulted in the creation of the short-lived Toronto Tornados of the Continental Basketball Association in 1983. In 1993, Toronto received an NBA expansion franchise and the Raptors entered the league in 1995. Until 1999, the team played at the SkyDome (later renamed the Rogers Centre). The Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors to win their first NBA title on June 13, 2019. Many Toronto-area players have excelled in the NBA, such as Jamaal Magloire, Cory Joseph, Iristan Thompson, and rndrew...

They've rebranded it the Mattamy Athletic Center and the official story goes like this: construction of Maple Leaf Gardens began on June 1st, 1931, and miraculously finished in under SIX MONTHS.. opening its doors on November 12th, 1931. A marvel of speed, engineering, and coordination. But anyone who's studied architecture or just has a functioning bullshit detector knows something doesn't add up.

Photos of the construction only show the dome going up. There's no visible documentation of laying deep foundations, pouring massive concrete seating bowls, or intricate old-world design elements being handcrafted from scratch in half a year. It's as if the skeleton of the building was already there.. WAITING.

What if Maple Leaf Gardens WASN'T built in 1931… What if it was REPURPOSED?

Think about it: the quality of design, the structural integrity, the acoustics, the grand archways, the subtle symmetry. This was not slapdash Depression-era construction. This was architectural precision that looks and feels older, wiser. Like a remnant of a forgotten craft. The kind of structural language you'd expect from a different civilization, one we don't build like anymore.

What they did in 1931 might've been just finishing the upper half: installing the roof, modernizing the facade, and putting a stamp of ownership on a building that already had a story buried beneath it. A strategic act of rebranding.

The real timeline? Unknown. The real origin? Possibly much older. But one thing's for sure: you don't build a cathedral of sport with handcrafted precision and permanent bones in five and a half months. Unless, of course, you're not building at all. You're...

For someone like myself who was originally born in Toronto, who BLEEDS TML BLUE, and have been to approx 50 concerts there in the 80's...and Hockey, of course, this new so-called Maple Leaf Gardens :-( , :-( , :-(.....this is just a travestiy. I've been gone 15-20yrs now and recently had to come into Toronto this past Jan. I walked from the Delta Chelsea Hotel, up Yonge to Carlton, turned right and saw my all-time favorite building in the city, took some outside pictures, then my big mistake was to go inside the rink to see what they had done....total SHOCK!!!!, UNBELIEVABLE!!!, almost had to find the W/R to go throw up, very disappointed. MLSE could have used it for the Marlies.....didn't see Loblaws, could care less, and would be more dissaponted to see how they butchered it (building)..........Could not believe that the new stupid university rink looks like its at the same level as where the very last grey seat was?, or even a bit higher?......no nostalgia left, all gone, all u c is the dome roof....big deal, no Maple Leaf Gardens feel left to it.........Gone r the goosebumps you'd get from standing at the old ice level and looking up and around, way up..............thumbs down to what it...