‘I Had A T-Shirt On’: Alberta-Born Maple Leafs Head Coach Craig Berube Not Bothered By Winter Weather in Toronto

It takes more than a chilly Toronto morning to rattle Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube.

Born and raised in Calahoo, Alberta, Berube is no stranger to harsh winter conditions. When the windchill in Toronto dipped to a chilling minus-18 degrees on Thursday morning, Berube barely batted an eye – and even took the opportunity to give the media a hard time about the conditions – hinting that everybody else would have been bundled up.

“Were you guys okay out there today? A little windy and cold for you, or are you all right? I had a t-shirt on when I got out of my truck this morning,” Berube said, drawing laughs from reporters at the morning skate at Scotiabank Arena.

It’s become evident that he’s built for Canadian hockey and its weather.

This season marks Berube’s first as a head coach of a Canadian NHL team, but his Alberta roots and experience enduring extremely cold winters have clearly kept him unfazed for a more mild atmosphere in Toronto.

His comfort in the cold weather can even be extended to his experience coaching in a record-breaking coldest moment at the 2022 Winter Classic. As head coach of the St. Louis Blues at the time, his team earned a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Wild at Target Field in Minneapolis, where the temperature plunged to minus-10 Fahrenheit (minus-23 Celsius). Standing behind the bench in such conditions was business as usual.

Berube has continued to coach the Maple Leafs with a no-nonsense approach and he’s so far proven he’s built to endure any challenge – add braving the soon-to-be Toronto winter to the list.