Toronto – Perhaps it is good for Wojtek Wolski that the Avalanche comes to Toronto only once every three years or so now. He might go broke otherwise.
Wolski, who grew up in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, Ontario, purchased 27 tickets for family and friends for Wednesday’s game with the Maple Leafs. The price tag?
“A little over five grand,” Wolski said.
NHL players have to pay for tickets on the road – for home games they are allotted two free ones – so Wolski had a bite taken out of his paycheck to accommodate those who came to see him play in Toronto for the first time. The rookie is making $984,200 this season.
Fellow Avs rookie Brad Richardson, another Ontario native, bought 12 tickets for his family and friends and put them up in a suite.
Leopold frustrated
Defenseman Jordan Leopold continues to try to recover from hernia surgery that has kept him off the ice all season.
Leopold is on the trip but won’t play, and a definitive return date remains elusive.
“It’s feeling OK, but it’s not 100 percent yet,” Leopold said. “I’m just waiting to turn that corner and head that way. I thought I was heading that way a little bit earlier, last week, but things didn’t go that way. I’m frustrated, but that’s typical with any injury, I think. I’ve never been injured and had surgery in my life. I’ve got to be smart about it.”
Footnotes
Barbra Streisand, who played at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday and will again Friday, stayed at the same hotel as the Avalanche. … Defenseman Kurt Sauer played his first game of the season for the Avs. Ossi Vaananen was a healthy scratch. The other healthy scratch for Colorado was winger George Parros. … Maple Leafs players bore some nice gifts for captain Mats Sundin before the game. Sundin received a golf trip for four to Ireland and an encasement of his stick and puck he used to score his 500th career goal Saturday night.
