A look at how Toronto ‘hockey bubble’ will be set up for Penguins
As the Penguins get ready for existence inside the Toronto hockey hub, we tracked down a guy who could paint a picture for us of what the surroundings will be like for the team.
Mike Zeisberger joins us for Wednesday’s podcast. He’s based out of Toronto and writes for NHL.com.
According to Zeisberger, Toronto wasn’t really in the running to be a host city for much of the process until they submitted a second bid.
That second proposal got the players away from downtown and Scotiabank Arena where the games will be played and into an area of the city that was more barricaded from the outside world. It also gave the players more space in the bubble itself.
Via “The Score,” the hub “will be a ‘40-acre campus-like bubble’ that would grant players access to facilities including BMO Field, Coca-Cola Coliseum (home of the AHL’s Toronto Marlies), the Toronto Raptors’ practice facility, and Hotel X, which has 400 rooms.”
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun also said that food trucks and an outdoor movie theater would be set up.
“Right along the lake, four miles from Scotiabank Arena — if that — is a place called the Canadian National Exhibition (grounds). It’s where the Blue Jays used to play at Exhibition Stadium. It’s now where Toronto Football Club (MLS soccer) plays,” Zeisberger explains. “You can cordon that off to the public, this huge area. The hotel is there. The practice rink — where the Marlies play — is there. They’ll set stuff up on the ground where the players can go out to barbecue, or things like that. There’s enough space.”
Zeisberger says there are only a few roads into the area, and one of them requires you to enter through something called the Princes’ Gates, an ornate stone structure. That’ll help keep fans and media away.
“In Pittsburgh, if you were to go from the (Rivers) Casino to north of PNC Park, something about that size,” Zeisberger explains in local terms for us. “It’s easy to keep people out. And there’s no reason for them to be there aside from (the hub itself).”
Zeisberger says the proximity of the Coca-Cola Colosseum for practices was also a big deal in the NHL’s eyes. Plus, there are many large exhibition halls and places to house sports and garden shows.
So perhaps the prospect exists to do some things socially distanced in wide spaces such as those.
During our conversation, Zeisberger gives us a full sense of what life will be like for the players as they spend their time in Toronto. We get into shifting out to Edmonton for the conference finals. Also, he tells us how the Maples Leafs will — or will not — have a sense of home ice advantage. And we talk about the state of the battle against covid-19 in all of Canada.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.