NHL Hockey Trivia: Maple Leaf Gardens In Toronto

For nearly seventy years, Maple Leaf Gardens was the home of the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs. The arena, known in short as MLG, was also home to several other teams over the years in the sports of indoor soccer, lacrosse and basketball. Test and expand your hockey knowledge of Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens with the following four hockey trivia questions.

Q. Besides the Toronto Maple Leafs, what other professional hockey team called Maple Leaf Gardens home?

A. The Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association called MLG home for the 1974-75 and 1975-76 season after played their first year at Varsity Arena. The Toros began as a WHA franchise in Ottawa and moved to Birmingham for the 1976-77 season.

Q. In what season did the Toronto Maple Leafs win the first Stanley Cup in their new home?

A. The Maple Leafs began play at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931-32. The team won the Stanley Cup that year with a final series victory over the New York Rangers. Toronto swept New York in the best of five series with the final game being played at MLG. Of the three games, only one was played in New York and Toronto each with the other played in Boston due to the Circus taking over Madison Square Garden in New York. Starring for Toronto that year were Busher Jackson, Joe Primeau and Charlie Conacher.

Q. What was the first NBA team to play home games at Maple Leaf Gardens?

A. The Buffalo Braves of the National Basketball Association played a total of 16 home games at MLG over four seasons between 1971 and 1975. The Braves are the predecessors of the current Los Angeles Clippers. The franchise played mainly out of the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium from 1970-71 to 1977-78. They then moved to San Diego where they took on the Clippers name for the first time. The franchise lasted in San Diego from 1978-79 until 1983-84 before moving north to Los Angeles.

The Toronto Raptors never called Maple Leafs Gardens home. The NBA franchise began play for the 1995-96 season and played home games at the SkyDome until the Air Canada Centre opened for the 1999-00 season.

Q. In what year did Maple Leaf Gardens host the first annual NHL All-Star Game?

A. In October of 1947, the first official NHL All-Star Game was played at MLG. 13 years earlier, in 1934, the first NHL All-Star game of any kind was played as a benefit for Ace Bailey. The 1947 game featured the defending Stanley Cup champion Toronto Maple Leafs against an All-Star team from the other five teams in the league. The All-Stars came out on top 4-3 before a crowd of 14,169 with Doug Bentley scoring the winning goal in the third period, assisted by Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard and Milt Schmidt.