This early Maple Leaf Gardens program cover featured Mutual Street Arena, initially called Arena Gardens or just the Arena, was an ice hockey arena from 1912 until 1931, with the opening of Maple Leaf Gardens, it was the premier site of ice hockey in Toronto, being home to teams from the National Hockey Association (NHA), the National Hockey League (NHL), the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) and the International Hockey League (IHL). It was the first home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who played at the arena under various names for their first 13½ seasons.
In the early days, long before cell phones and social media, hockey fans would arrive at their arena anxious to buy the latest game program giving them the latest info they needed to follow their favourite team. The advent of digital design and sophisticated photography has dramatically transformed the look and feel of the classic game-night program that captured the attention of fans. As early as the 1920’s, portraits and caricatures captured the scope of what fans would find at the rink.