Author Lance Hornby joins forces with photographer Graig Abel to bring us Welcome to Maple Leaf Gardens: Photographs and Memories from Canada's Most Famous Arena Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com Rome has the Basilica of Saint Peter. India has the Golden Temple. The Middle East has the Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Canada has no such spectacular place of worship. But there was a time that (at least in English Canada) Maple Leaf Gardens was about as close as we came. Okay, so that's a bit of a stretch. But for hockey fans of a certain age there was no more hallowed ground than Maple Leaf Gardens. Hockey is the most dominant religion in Canada, after all. Built in 1931 thanks to the vision and determination of team owner Conn Smythe, the corner of Church and Carlton streets became the centerpiece of hockey excellence not only in Toronto, but from coast to coast (minus Quebec thanks largely to those hated rivals the Montreal Canadiens). Modern day fans may