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Hockey Knights in Canada, Les Rois de l’Arène

  • Mural
  • 1985
  • College Subway Station, Toronto

About the artwork

While waiting for the next subway at Toronto’s College Station, riders see two platform walls facing each other. One depicts players of the city’s NHL hockey franchise, the Maple Leafs; the other shows their historic rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. This well-known mural, which depicted the Maple Leafs’ biggest rival, enraged team owner Harold Ballard at the time.

The piece, made by Canadian artist Charles Pachter and called Hockey Knights in Canada, Les Rois de l’Arène, appeared in 1985—much to the dismay of the owner of the Maple Leafs, who tried to have it taken down. As the CBC reported in 1984, Ballard was furious that the Toronto Transit Commission station feeding fans into his Maple Leaf Gardens would depict his team’s arch-enemy. He even threatened to pull permission to use the Maple Leafs logo on the piece. Pachter—no stranger to artistic controversy—saw Ballard as a bully, and the TTC backed him up, confirming that the piece would not be in violation of copyright law.

Pachter’s piece was installed towards the end of the 1984-85 season, one in which the Maple Leafs held the worst record in the NHL. Said the artist to the CBC at the time, “The Leafs being in the condition they’re in, it’s good press for him.” In 1999, the team moved a few stops down the TTC’s Line 1 to Air Canada Centre. But the art piece, Hockey Knights in Canada, Les Rois de l’Arène remains in its original place.

About the artist

Charles Pachter, born in Toronto, is a Canadian contemporary artist. A painter, printmaker, sculptor, designer, historian, and lecturer, he studied French literature at the Sorbonne, art history at the University of Toronto, and painting and graphics at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

His work has been shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg. His mural, Hockey Knights in Canada, Les Rois de l’Arène, can be seen at Toronto’s College subway station, where the Montreal Canadiens face the Toronto Maple Leafs across the tracks. He holds honorary doctorates from Brock University, the Ontario College of Art & Design and the University of Toronto.

He was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999, and promoted to Officer in 2011. Pachter lives and works beside Grange Park in an award-winning residence and studio designed by Canadian architect Stephen Teeple. His work is on permanent display in his adjoining Moose Factory gallery. Pachter’s work has influenced a generation of young Canadian artists, including sculptor Harley Valentine.

Fun facts

  • When Pachter decided to depict hockey players in the blue-and-white uniforms of the Leafs along one platform and on the opposing side: the bleu, blanc et rouge of the Montreal Canadiens, his piece caused some commotion. If the TTC insisted on including the Habs in the artwork, Leafs owner Harold Ballard threatened not to allow the Leafs' distinctive logo to be used. But the TTC's position was that it was not in violation of copyright laws.