Kitchener, Ont. arena subs in for Maple Leaf Gardens in new Börje Salming TV series

The Aud in Kitchener is being showcased in a new television series currently streaming on Crave.

Filming for ‘Börje: The Journey of a Legend’ began back in 2022. The show tells the story of the late Börje Salming, the famed hockey defenceman, who played for theToronto Maple Leafs.

Salming was with the team for 16 seasons, from 1973 to 1989, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996. He died in 2022 after a battle with ALS. Salming was 71.

The Aud is serving as the television replica of Maple Leaf Gardens in the series.

"A lot of our users feel a lot of pride and community in our building,” Allyson Samms, the Aud’s supervisor for events and bookings, said. “To showcase [it] on an international scale, there was a lot of support."

Filming at the Aud ran from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1, focusing on the main bowl of the Dom Cardillo Arena. Crews then moved to the Kinsmen Arena and surrounding rooms from Nov. 4-7.  

Toronto Maple Leafs' defenceman Borje Salming is shown in this undated file photo. Salming, who starred for the Toronto Maple Leafs over 16 NHL seasons, has died at 71 after a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Staff

Player stalls were put in the dressing rooms, era posters were put up on walls, old hockey nets and equipment were brought in, and the benches were made to look like there was cement behind them. The Aud even has a corner that was used to replicate former Leafs owner Harold Ballard’s “Bunker.”

Allyson Samms shows where "Ballard's Bunker" was filmed at the Kitchener Aud for ‘Börje: The Journey of a Legend’ TV series. (Colton Wiens/CTV Kitchener)

According to Samms, one of the main selling points was how the Kitchener arena already looked.

“The colour of the seats, they are the same as the Gardens. The Gold, the red, the blues,” she explained.

Empty seats at the Aud in Kitchener. (Colton Wiens/CTV Kitchener)

Bob Egan, the city’s film and music officer, said location scouts were looking at six different arenas in southern Ontario. They then reached out to see if the Aud would be a good substitute.

“The same architect that designed Maple Leaf Gardens has designed the Aud here in Kitchener,” Egan said. “They loved the idea.”

Production not only wanted a building that looked the part, he explained, but they also needed supportive staff that could collaborate and make things work.

“The flexibility and the accommodation of the staff of the Aud, that’s really what made them choose Kitchener,” Egan said.

Commercials have been shot at the Aud before, but Egan said the filming was the longest in recent years.

“It put Kitchener on the map as a film-friendly town,” Egan said.

‘Börje: The Journey of a Legend’ is currently streaming on the Bell Media platform Crave.