'A first for everyone': Toronto traffic forces Utah Hockey Club to walk to Leafs game

The Utah Hockey Club got the full Toronto experience Sunday night ahead of their first-ever matchup against the Maple Leafs—bumper-to-bumper traffic that forced the team to walk to the game.

“I think that’s a first for everyone. Never saw that before,” Utah defenceman Maveric Lamoureux tells the camera that documented the team’s stroll to Scotiabank Arena.

Lamoureux said the team’s bus was “not moving at all” in the Sunday evening traffic, just hours after the Santa Claus Parade and resulting road closures.

“So it’s pretty much the whole team walking the street,” he said, noting that they would probably miss their 5:15 p.m. pre-game meeting.

The Utah Hockey Club, formerly the Arizona Coyotes, met the Leafs for the first time Sunday night. The Leafs came away with a 3-2 win, extending their win streak to four behind Mitch Marner’s two-goal push in the second period.

Toronto traffic, though, remains undefeated in its ability to push high-profile visitors out of their cars and onto the sidewalk. In July, former One Direction singer Niall Horan was forced to walk to his own concert because of the gridlock. Later that month, race car driver Lochie Hughes needed to rent a bike to get to the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy on time.

In September, Mayor Olivia Chow said the city’s traffic congestion plan is working, but acknowledged that the economic impact of congestion is “severe” and costs up to $11 billion annually.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford reacted to the news on X, saying the city’s traffic is a “serious problem” that could be fixed in part by “brining sanity back to bike lane decisions”

Earlier this month, the government tabled a bill which would require municipalities to ask the province for permission to install bike lanes when they remove a lane of vehicle traffic. As well, the province added a new regulation that would see sections of bike lanes on three major Toronto roads ripped out.