Maple Leafs blasted for hollow, quiet home game atmosphere

There is simply no getting around it - tickets to attend a Toronto Maple Leafs home game are among the highest priced in the National Hockey League today, and regular fans have essentially been priced out in favor of corporate suits who are more interested in wining and dining their clients while checking the latest stock quotes instead of paying attention to what is transpiring on the ice.

And two former NHL players have had just about enough of it. Ryan Whitney and noted Maple Leafs fan Paul Bissonnette of the popular "Spittin' Chicklets" podcast took the Leafs to task for their hollow home atmosphere.

"What is going on? The other night, he (Auston Matthews) scored the third, I was like, 'is this a replay with no volume?'...but the noise. Are they cheering?...the silence is deafening," said Whitney.

"There might have been five hats on the ice. They're overthinking it. Just cheer and throw your f***ing hat on the ice," Bissonnette exclaimed. "The guy just got back-to-back hat tricks and pulled them out of a two goal deficit in the dying minute. It was even before that when it started, when they're doing the player introductions, Mitchie Marner is coming out, who's a 100-point guy for you, plays on the defensive side of the puck. You're going into their years now where they could potentially win a Stanley Cup. I don't even think the people stood out of their goddamn seats to put their [hands] together. It's the yacht club... I think they need to swap the upper bowl and lower bowl for one game and see how it plays out."

A recent study from the online gambling company Betway found that the average cost to take a family of four to a Leafs home game comes out to approximately $860.

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