Maple Leafs’ opening night crowd doesn’t pass the test

The opening night victory against the Montreal Canadiens was sweet and all, but I won’t lie, Wednesday’s night game left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

And believe it or not, it had nothing to do with the actual game on the ice.

I won’t mince any words, that Scotiabank Arena crowd was downright embarrassing. Honestly, for the majority of the night, that building was so quiet you could hear the beer vendors from the 300-level hollering for business.

By now, we’re all familiar with the same old song and dance. The suits run the show in the lower bowl, and as long as they continue to fork out the dough, there’s not much anybody can do about it —including the Maple Leafs.

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s time to subscribe to the Brandon Belt school of accountability.

Full credit to Belt, too. The 35-year-old actually hit a dinger the very next day to ignite the Rogers Centre faithful.

With respect to the ongoing noise problem at Scotiabank Arena, what I’m getting at is it’s time for some prominent names to start making a stink about it. In case you missed, mercifully, Joe Bowen, the team’s legendary broadcaster, got the ball rolling during Wednesday night’s broadcast. Amen to that.

Furthermore, it would be great to see some of the players start to pipe up a little and keep the momentum going. Imagine Auston Matthews going on a Jay Rosehill-esque rant in the media venting about how quiet it is to play on home ice? Personally, I don’t think there’s that much to lose if that scenario were to play out. I mean, Joe Bowen’s getting praised for voicing out. And rightfully so.

Seriously, what are the suits going to do to protest, make even less noise?

Any way you slice it, this nonsense needs to stop.

Scotiabank Arena should be more like a house of pain for the opposition and less like an all-you-can-eat-buffet supplied with the finest foods from across the world.