Maple Leafs Outrage Fans With Skipped Post-Game Salute
The Toronto Maple Leafs wanted to ‘change things up’, so they skipped the post-game fan salute
Everyday in Tor it's something. Today, outrage because the Leafs ditched the stick salute to the fans. Player decision. Coaches didn't know.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) November 21, 2014
Oh.
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The Air Canada Centre, to be fair, has been less than welcoming of the hometown team this season. Multiple jerseys and scarves thrown on the ice have shown fan displeasure over the way the Toronto Maple Leafs have performed so far this season; as a player, it can probably get pretty tough to handle.
After the team overthrew the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 (on the heels of the two most dramatic collapses thus far in the season), it seems that the players just… skated off and into the locker room. On home ice.
According to the Score’s Josh Gold-Smith, the three stars of the game– James van Riemsdyk, Jonathan Bernier, and David Clarkson — did skate back out one by one to salute the audience when their names were called. After celebrating their victory, though, the team did nothing to acknowledge the packed arena.
Van Riemsdyk addressed the media about the situation, saying it was a decision the players had come to and they didn’t mean to offend any of the paying customers.
"“(We have) the most passionate fans in the world here and a lot of coverage for our team, so you know there’s going to be a lot of people giving their two cents – deserved or not,”"
Still… you can only claim you didn’t want to offend fans to a certain level of plausibility. This certainly sent a message to the fans — but possibly at the cost of some loyalty. No word on how the coaches/front office have reacted to the situation.
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