Leafs Nation invades Florida ahead of Game 3 despite ticket restrictions

Toronto Maple Leafs fans have descended on the balmy U.S. city of Sunrise this weekend ahead of tonight’s playoff matchup with the Florida Panthers, despite the home team’s best efforts to keep Leafs Nation out.

The Leafs are set to play Game 3 of their best-of-seven second-round NHL playoff series against the Panthers tonight at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida – about an hour’s drive north of Miami.

But when tickets went on sale for the game this week, Leafs fans were shocked to find out that only U.S. residents were permitted to buy tickets online.

The Panthers had limited the sale of tickets to give “local fans first access” to the game.

The restriction was lifted after 24 hours, but the Panthers’ decision to try and shut out Leafs fans may not have had the desired effect.

“[My dad] wasn’t able to access them himself when the schedule was announced, of course, so one of his friends who lives in the U.S. was able to get quite a few tickets for both Game 3 and 4 in Florida,” said Torontonian Rina Hayre.

“Great time to have a friend in the States.”

And for those without friends in the U.S., many social media users with American addresses offered to help Leafs fans in search of tickets to the game.

“Alright, Leafs fans. If you need tickets for road games in Florida, hit me up,” said one Twitter user.

“I’m a U.S. resident. I got you.”

Leafs fans could also purchase tickets from the resale market, which were still cheaper on average than tickets to a Leafs home game, even after they’d been marked up.

Tickets for Game 3 went on sale at 11 a.m. on Monday and were soon listed on sites like StubHub, with the cheapest pair at the time going for $244 each – less than half of what a ticket to Game 1 in Toronto cost.

“As soon as I saw the notification on Ticketmaster that you needed to have a U.S. address in order to get tickets – I've been through this before because I went to Arizona in December to watch the Leafs play there and they did a similar thing – you just go to a reseller site and other people will flip you their tickets,” said Toronto radio host Brent Albrecht.

“I just went to StubHub. That's kind of my usual ‘go to’ and I got the tickets that way.”

Cost was a major factor for many Leafs fans when deciding whether or not to travel to Florida for an away game.

Considering the price of home tickets, especially ones close to the action, it was marginally more expensive to travel to Florida, book accommodations and purchase away tickets than it was to go to a Leafs game in Toronto.

“The rationale was, a local home game was over $1K for two tickets - approximately $1,300 - while Florida was under $2K for two tickets, two nights at a hotel and two return flights,” said Leafs fan Amanda Long.

Not to mention that the destination in question is in balmy South Florida – about a half-hour’s drive from the Atlantic Ocean.

 

“I was looking at tickets for [Game 2 in Toronto], and the cheapest ticket I saw was like $500 for the worst sightline in the arena,” said Albrecht.

“So I was like, well, if I could pay $500 and go to Florida where the weather is a lot better than it is here right now and still see a game in the playoffs, that sounds great to me.”

The ticket restrictions also seemed to have a galvanizing effect on some Leafs fans, seemingly making them even more determined to get into FLA Live Arena for Game 3.

“I can’t believe the [Panthers] are restricting tickets to try and keep Leaf fans out,” said one Twitter user.

“I wasn’t planning on going to Florida, but now I’m going to make it my personal mission. You can’t stop the Leafs passion from getting into your building no matter how hard you try!”

Many fans were also quick to point out that the Panthers are an organization that relies on the thousands of Canadian snowbirds who live in Florida during the colder months and support the team through season ticket sales.

During the regular season, visiting Canadian teams, including the Leafs, are typically well represented in the stands.

Toronto Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri celebrates with fans during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

“I went to Florida, right before the pandemic actually, for a Leafs game in Sunrise, a regular season game, and I couldn't believe how many Leafs fans were there,” Albrecht said.

Leafs Nation is sure to turn out tonight in larger numbers than ever before, and the boys in blue will need all the help they can get.

Toronto dropped Games 1 and 2 of the series at home against the Panthers, leaving them two losses away from elimination.

The next two games will be played in Sunrise, and if the Leafs can’t get a win in either contest, their season will come to yet another disappointing end.

The good news for Toronto is that they haven’t had any trouble getting road wins in Florida so far these playoffs.

They won all three games in Tampa in round one, giving Leafs Nation hope that they can still find a way to climb back into the series and make it to the semi-final of the Stanley Cup playoffs – something they’ve done only five times since they won the cup in 1967.