Spin Starlets, Luna Periwinkle and Tiger Lily performed a Glow Show in connection with the Maple Leaf Pride Game on 4th of April 2023. They appeared live at Real Sports, a giant sports theme restaurant at 15 York Street in downtown Toronto where they danced and gyrated with light sticks and LED hula-hoops as part of the 2SLGBTQ+ focused celebration.
Toronto’s 2SLGBTQ+ Community and Leafs Hockey are Connected
At six o’clock on game night, all along Lakeshore Ave and especially down by the CN Tower, along Bremner and Simcoe streets, Leafs’ Hockey nation comes together for a match. There’s an excitement in the air and a strong gravity pulls everyone toward the Scotiabank Arena and surrounding restaurants.
Automotive traffic is snarled in a four-block radius as hockey fans in blue and white jerseys stream across the streets. They obey signals where possible, but the crowd is so large it still impedes the flow of things. There’s lots of honking and general carousing because most of the cars are also filled with ticket holders eager to get to their seats. Whole families, boys and girls, men and women of all ages and races enjoy Canada’s game. But does the list really include everyone?
Yes! Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment has gone to great lengths to try and make hockey more inclusive, donating vast sums to the Toronto Gay Hockey League, and supporting other minorities wherever possible. They’ve paid sensitivity trainers and professional 2SLGBTQ+ speakers to give talks on gender roles while implementing other forms of humanities training at the arena and beyond. Most visibly, they’ve directly embraced Canada’s 2SLGBTQ+ community by hosting Pride themed events during the regular scheduled hockey season (for seven years now since the first Pride Game in 2016). MLSE Executives like Mike Ferriman (pictured below) coordinate teams of people to conduct thought-provoking but also highly entertaining contests and giveaways on game night.
Mike Ferriman, MLSE Executive in Charge of Fun at Real Sports during 2023 Maple Leaf Pride Game
Maple Leaf Sports Has a very Popular Pride Night
Maple Leafs Sports hosted their annual Pride Night Game on Tuesday 04 April 2023 as Toronto played the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Scotiabank arena. Fans in the rink enjoyed multiple rainbow themed attractions. Leafs’ Hockey Nation celebrities hosted contests and t-shirt giveaways (also signed Leaf’s jerseys were given away) as entertainers performed live shows during intermissions.
Inside Real Sports, a giant double-decker sports themed restaurant built right beside the hockey rink, the Pride Game festivities were just as elaborate and considerably more generous (on a per capita basis). One of the games required attendees to wrap the blade of a hockey stick in rainbow coloured tape. The first participant to hold up an empty tape roll was the winner. You can see the moment below.
Audience members volunteered to compete for prizes on stage during Maple Leaf Pride Night.
Inside the Green Room at Real Sports on Pride Night
Real Sports was jammed to capacity at six o’clock on Tuesday April 4th with dinner plates at every table, but fifteen minutes later the place cleared out as most diners had tickets for the game. Over the next two hours it filled up again as the hockey match on the big screen drew many hundreds more people into the venue. Behind the scenes, in the green room, the drag queens, comedians, musicians and Spin Starlets awaited their turn on stage.
Spin starlets, Tiger Lily and Luna Periwinkle do last minute equipment checks.
As the entertainers prepared for their acts, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment staff busily folded t-shirts into tight cylinders for easy dispensing. Complimentary drinks and snacks were served and an air of congeniality extended to everyone in this inner sanctum.
Ivory Towers and her performers from Toronto’s thriving Church St. scene exploded with joy when their idol Vision Drag danced a musical number set to Shania Twain's, Man! I Feel Like a Woman! This performance was shown on the Scotiabank Arena scoreboard before players hit the ice, and it played in the green room to much applause.
Mariah Amber was Master of Ceremonies
Mariah Amber is very uplifting and was a good choice for MC because she represents the next generation of female media personalities in our local sports community. That being said, she’s already very experienced; Mariah is currently in her 9th season working for the Toronto Raptors as the official on-court host. Fans are well advised not to mess with her because she has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Mariah Amber, the Toronto Raptors in-court host was Master of Ceremonies at Maple Leaf Pride
With such credentials, it’s no wonder Mariah faced the crowd so courageously and had no trouble getting everyone’s attention when the hockey game wasn’t playing on screen. She introduced all the various talent show acts, starting with a musical number from Ivory Towers.
Ivory Towers touched the crowd at Maple Leaf Pride Game - 04 April 2023.
Adrienne Fish, a Toronto Comedian
Adrienne Fish performed a live comedy show and joked about being too poor to be single in TO!
Adrienne Fish is a professional comedian making her way in the Canadian entertainment industry with memorable TV appearances and spotlights at comedy festivals across the nation. Adrienne is funny and that’s hard in a big room where there are so many distractions. She talked about her love life and how Toronto area rents are so expensive she can’t afford to be single! LOL. Then she discussed meat and the relative mental age of the animals in the buffet, and while that was unsettling to some folks, others (myself included) appreciated the originality and authenticity of her ideas and applauded her humour with gusto.
After their show, Luna Periwinkle and Tiger Lily basked in the Leafs’ fans’ loving applause.
Spin Starlets Started their Act with Pixel Poi Light Sticks
Spin Starlets, Luna and Tiger Lily started with light sticks and then switched to LED hula hoops. Pixel Poi is a choreographed, high impact dance act using laser wands. These two must be gymnasts, because they both danced and did the splits on stage, swinging the glowing light sticks on little ropes in synchronicity. These wands have programmable colors and their pulsing and strobing effects can be set to music. The units have just under two dozen different settings and when combined with uplifting dance tracks they imbue a lot of excitement that’s very pleasing to behold. Their dance is mesmerizing in low light settings; the lights trail behind the poi as they literally paint the air.
As an organization, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies are certainly putting in the effort required to foster an environment that respects all individuals of diverse sexual and gender identities. The Maple Leafs Pride Game on Tuesday April 4 was their honest effort to support, empower, and uplift the members of our 2SLGBTQ+ community.
