WARMINGTON: Joe Bowen disappointed Leafs fans so quiet in The Vault

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Joe Bowen has called thousands of Maple Leafs hockey games but this time he’s calling out the fans.

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Maybe it will help.

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Because when it comes to raucous fan support inside Scotiabank Arena, there is certainly room for improvement.

Ironically, the loudest and proudest Maple Leafs fans have always been those outside the arena rather than inside. Not everybody can afford a mortgage payment for a hockey ticket. But those who don’t have the financial means or connections to go inside for a game love their team just as much or even more.

And they show it every time.

Perhaps it’s time to trade those sitting in the stuffy platinum seats for those fans braving the elements in Maple Leaf Square to help get some noise going in Toronto’s barn. Have the people in the square sit in the good seats and have the suits stand outside where there there are no butlers or five-star chefs.

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Certainly the fans outside the arena can’t be faulted for any lack of enthusiasm. They show plenty.

But inside is a whole different story.

Leafs Nation you have been called out and now it’s time to respond. That is, if you want to see any more playoff hockey at the Scotiabank Arena this spring. And there is time to respond to all of this with a better showing on Saturday for Game 4.

When a visiting team comes into town to play the Toronto Maple Leafs in The Vault at playoff time, they are supposed to feel the harsh reality of it being a road game in hostile territory.

Instead, critics are now making the point that the atmosphere inside Scotiabank Arena is more like that of a bank when it should be a rink where opponents fear and hate to play.

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Is it true that Maple Leafs fans are now so corporatized they have become a non-factor in the game and, in fact, help the visiting team?

Not everybody agrees with the voice of the Leafs. Many on social media point out it’s up to the team on the ice to garner enthusiasm. But I understand what Bowen was getting at.

The first part of the game the fans were great. But then they fell asleep. So they need this wakeup call.

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There was a time during the NHL hockey playoffs that a bad call on the home team could result in riots in the street. No one ever wants to see that. But the idea that the Maple Leafs could get robbed like they did Wednesday night by bad officiating and the fans don’t say much about it, shows how things have changed in the modern era.

These days, it seems the jumbotron or specially designated fan influencers don’t lead a cheer, it doesn’t happen. Case in point, in Game 3 against the Boston Bruins when the Leafs fell behind and need a big goal, the fans at Scotiabank Arena – who were impressively loud in the first half of the game – seem to disappear later in the game when they were needed most.

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There was no frenzy or fanaticism at all. This was noticed by iconic Maple Leafs radio play-by-play man Joe Bowen and called out by him.

“The idea of going to any sporting event to support the home team is to be proactive” and “give the team energy when they need it” and “not sitting down waiting to be reactive,” Bowen posted to X.

He went further by saying “the players can’t say it but I will. Tonight’s crowd was very disappointing.”

Of course, it would be better if the players on the ice would take the lion’s share of the blame, but I get Bowen’s point. I thought the fans were great in the first half and I wrote about it as well. After Natalie Morris’s stirring national anthem performance, the crowd was into it and stayed that way through the first Leafs goal.

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But when the rails came off, the fans disappeared and seemed to be waiting for a spark to come from someone other than them.

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Bowen has always been sensitive to this and has told me in the past when the Maple Leafs blew their lead in Boston back in the 2013 playoffs with a late goal to cap a three-goal deficit and force overtime that the fans in TD Garden didn’t leave their seats in between the end of the third period and overtime – they just stood and cheered the whole time.

The Bruins pulled off a miracle in overtime and the rest is history. Bowen has always credited the Bruins fans for playing a role in that magical, movie-like comeback.

Maybe it’s time to take some advice from Bonsie and for Leafs fans to step it up for Game 4.

Don’t worry about the sushi, aged scotch or ice cream bar in the private box. Instead, fans should treat it like it’s a war out there and let the Leafs players know they are the seventh man.

Fans can’t do much about what happens on the ice, but they sure can let the players on it know what they think.

And they can let the Bruins and the referees hear their collective opinions loud and clear if they so choose to.

It’s not the opera. It’s playoff hockey. And it’s time for the fans at the game to develop their own playoff grit.

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