Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/593532
(replica dressing room) lucas aykroyd, (gretzky memorabilia) wayne gretzky's sports bar & restaurant, hockey hall of fame and museum W I N T E R 2 0 1 5 | G O I N G P L A C E S 39 (clockwise from top) The Stanley Cup, the most coveted of NHL silverware, is the centrepiece at the Hockey Hall of Fame's Esso Great Hall; Wayne Gretzky memorabilia at his namesake restaurant in Toronto's entertainment district; fans hone their skills in the Hall of Fame's NHL Be a Player Zone; The Hall of Fame's replica Montreal Canadiens dressing room, circa 1970s. the game on a two-storey-high HD TV is a sports fan's given right." Hockey, history and hedonism blended seamlessly for the rest of my visit. I met local historian Bruce Bell for a fascinating morning walking tour that started at the indoor St. Lawrence Market. Amid the local produce-seeking crowds, we spotted mousta- chioed former Leafs star Eddie Shack, 78, shopping for fresh-baked pies. After devouring a traditional peameal bacon sandwich at the market's Carousel Bak- ery, I was heartily amused when we walked north to Maple Leaf Gardens. The former Leafs' arena is now a Loblaws grocery store. Bell guided me to the red faceoff dot – in Aisle 25, flanked by shelves of beans and sauces – that marks where centre ice once was. As we took photos, a middle-aged woman whose cart we were blocking quipped: "Is this the first time you boys have been grocery shopping?" Yet no snarky remark could steal my appe- tite for discovering Toronto's hockey gems. In the red-brick Distillery District, once the world's largest 19th-century whiskey producer, I toured around on a Segway, parking my two-wheeled transport outside the Sport Gallery. e cozy shop sells repro- ductions of photos from Sport magazine (published 1946 to 2000). I got a kick out of "Best Buds" from 1948, with Leafs legends Syl Apps and Turk Broda facing each other in the dressing room. Further afield, I shopped solo for used hockey books in Bloor West Village, purchas- ing a (perceptively titled) 1982 paperback called T he G reat G retzk y by Edmonton writer Terry Jones at the cheerfully chaotic Dencan Books.