NEW YORK — The Carolina Hurricanes’ bus turned off 33rd Street and pulled into Madison Square Garden a little more than an hour before the club’s 11 a.m. morning skate on Nov. 4. Players in gray track suits filed out of the bus, one by one, and made their way through a metal detector.

To that point, it seemed like a standard entrance at an NHL arena. But unlike most buildings in the league, the Hurricanes weren’t a simple walk from their locker room. Instead, they found themselves at the base of a five-story concrete ramp that countless athletes, arena workers and even circus animals had climbed before them.

“Nobody really tells you about it,” veteran Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook said as he began walking, a morning cup of coffee in hand. “I don’t think we ever warn any of the young guys that come that they’re going to have to do it. It’s one of the cool things about this place.”

Madison Square Garden, the oldest active arena in the NHL and NBA, opened in 1968. Older buildings have quirks, but none has an entrance quite like the Garden’s. The ramp is part of the building’s lore: something players can both rue for its steepness and appreciate as distinct.

The arena’s playing surface — ice for hockey, hardwood for basketball — is on the fifth floor, above both Penn Station and an active theater used for shows and smaller concerts. Some vehicles, such as black cars that bring celebrities to games, can fit up the ramp, but it’s too narrow and winding for buses.

Rangers and Knicks players have the luxury of an elevator. Visitors? Get ready to hike. It’s about 150 steps, depending on stride length.

“It’s kind of what makes it special, though,” Martinook said. “You know you’re doing this walk, and you’re walking up to one of the most famous arenas in the world.”

Walking at a decent pace, it takes under two minutes to make the uphill trek, but don’t let the short amount of time mislead you. All-NBA wing Jalen Williams said his quads were burning as he made his way up, as captured in an NBA TikTok post, and Penguins’ forward Justin Brazeau said he’s out of breath by the top.

“You’re definitely working off the Italian food from last night,” said Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson.

“The first time, nobody warned me,” added veteran Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson, who played on the Lakers, Cavaliers and Jazz before coming to New York. “I remember I was just like, ‘What the hell is this?’”

Yellow bollards line one wall, and a yellow barrier guards the other. It opens up at the event level. The Zambonis are kept next to the ramp, and sometimes, after hockey games, leftover ice scrapings sit at the summit.

From Michael Jordan to Wayne Gretzky, all the greats who have visited Madison Square Garden have walked the same concrete path as athletes today. One tall tale says legendary defenseman Bobby Orr hurt his knee coming down the ramp after his final game as a Bruin, which took place in November 1975 at Madison Square Garden. Reached through an intermediary, Orr said the legend isn’t true but joked that it shouldn’t get in the way of a good story.

There are plenty of other good (and true) stories. Once, a man sued film producer Darryl F. Zanuck, who co-founded 20th Century Fox, because of the “overstrain” he said he suffered while pushing Zanuck — whose leg was in a cast — in a wheelchair up the ramp, according to multiple newspaper reports in 1970.

Then there are the elephants. Performing animals with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus also had to walk up the ramp to get to floor level. A 1971 Star-Ledger article documented 19 elephants’ stroll through Manhattan and up the ramp, and it mentioned that 29 horses, 11 ponies, two llamas, two camels and two jackasses were also in attendance. The circus left plenty of, well, souvenirs behind. In 1990, a syndicated Gannett newspaper article said the circus was holding an elephant dung giveaway at the base of the ramp.

“The mega manure is being offered as a biodegradable benefit to gardens in the New York metropolitan area,” the piece read.

The Ringling Bros. shows at the Garden stopped in 2009. Athletes these days are bigger attractions than animals, though the building still plays host to the rodeo, so horses and bulls still go up the ramp. For human first-timers, the entrance can come as a shock. Plenty of NHL and NBA rookies have experienced that this year.

“I was like, ‘When is this going to end?’” said first-year pro Ike Howard, who came to MSG with the Edmonton Oilers earlier this season.

“I wish our bus could’ve just driven up it!” added San Jose Sharks rookie Michael Misa, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft.

These are professional athletes, so the physical strain of walking up the ramp doesn’t have much impact on their play. “It’s just a funny hill,” Penguins forward Anthony Mantha said. It can, however, get into their heads. Ex-Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley posted a photo of the ramp on his Snapchat during the 2025 playoffs with the caption “This ramp sucks”. Martinook said he’ll sometimes notice if his legs feel heavy.

“Walking into the game, sometimes you can tell if you have the legs or not,” Stars forward Mikko Rantanen said. “If you get tired on that hill, you’re screwed.”

College basketball players from the University of Kentucky slog up the ramp at Madison Square Garden for a game in 2017. (Al Bello / Getty Images)

Rangers forward Sam Carrick, who previously played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Anaheim Ducks and Oilers, took a more positive approach. He said the ramp provided a nice opportunity to get his heart rate up and blood flowing before warmups.

Still, most Rangers and Knicks who had to make the walk with their former teams don’t miss it.

“It’s a kind of challenging two minutes,” said Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who came to New York from the Los Angeles Kings as a free agent over the summer. “Legs get burning. I needed to catch my breath after that.”

“It’s definitely a hike,” added Knicks wing Josh Hart, who went up the ramp while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers.

Veteran forward Taylor Raddysh, a newcomer with the Rangers this year, was so used to walking the ramp that he began climbing it ahead of his first preseason game. Around 15 steps in, a Rangers staffer called him back to the base and pointed out the elevator. It’s a little bit of a home-ice advantage.

“Make the road team walk a little bit,” New York defenseman Carson Soucy said with a smile.

Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger first walked up the ramp as a college player with Boston University, which had a game at the Garden against Cornell in 2017. That day, he wished the team bus could’ve taken him up, but now he has an appreciation for the ramp. He views it as a final test before games, one he and his teammates have to earn their way through.

“Once you get over that,” he said, “you’re in the best rink on the planet.”

— James L. Edwards III contributed to this story.