Former Toronto Maple Leafs defender shares story from the Pat Quinn Era
Former Maple Leafs defenceman Cory Cross shares a story about teammate Danil Markov smoking cigarettes in the laundry room inside the locker room at the ACC.
Former NHL Defenceman Cory Cross suited up for the Toronto Maple Leafs for parts of three seasons between 1999 & 2002 and was entrusted to play a specific role as a physical shutdown defenceman. Besides the fact that Cross has some stories while playing the game for the Buds, one that happened off-ice is enlightening, hilarious and brutally honest.
Cross regaled a time when as a member of the Maple Leafs playing at the new Air Canada Centre (now Scotia Bank Arena) where a few of his Russian teammates would sneak off into the laundry room to have a cigarette between periods. Cross alluded to the fact that he can remember that Moscow, Russia native Danil Markov was the most likely culprit. Cross explained that you couldn't go outside anymore like you may have been able to while playing at Maple Leaf Gardens.
There was a time when numerous players across the league smoked and admitted to smoking. Although it still happens to this day you may be hard-pressed to find out who lights up and if they participate regularly or if it's just something they do casually.
But it's a different era now, especially considering studies that have informed the greater public of the risks associated with smoking you could likely imagine that the percentage of players in the league that do, is relatively low. But these athletes are grownups and can make their own decisions as to whether they want to or not. It's just next to impossible to smoke inside a National Hockey League facility in 2024.
| POLL | ||
Do you remember a time when players smoked inside the locker room in an NHL facility? | ||
| Yes. It wasn't that long ago | 70 | 82.4 % |
| No. I'm not old enough to remember | 15 | 17.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
