Last night Cesar and I took in the Montreal Canadiens hockey game at the Bell Centre when they hosted the Carolina Hurricanes. It was also my first time at the Bell Centre to attend a game, although a few years ago Marie and I and the kids took in a Michael Bublé concert there.
At that time we were in the nose bleed section and Bublé was only a small dot on the distant stage! Great show though. Since moving to Montreal a few years ago I have faithfully cheered on the Habs, much to the disgust of my brother Richard who lives near Toronto and must put up with rabid Leaf fans who think they might finally have a shot to win the cup this year. Hmmm, maybe they do...
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| our tickets |
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| Cesar and Gary outside the Bell Centre, Montreal |
But fans in
this hockey crazy city have had very little to cheer about this season and their beloved Habs are currently mired in 10th place - out of a playoff spot with about 25 games to go. They entered this game on a 4 game winning streak, 7 points behind Toronto who they embarrassed 5-0 Saturday night! But they still have to leapfrog over the Maplelumps to get in! I even used to cheer for
them when no other Canadian teams made the post season but my team was the Vancouver Canucks who I followed faithfully for years, having seen their first game when they joined the NHL in 1970, then lived and died with their few precious runs to the finals in the 80's and 90's. It could be also that as I get older I find any attachment to the west coast pretty well non existant and, except for wonderful memories of 5 years on the Queen Charlotte Islands, home is now here...But last nights game was fun and Cesar had his first taste of what Canada is really about! Besides bacon, maple syrup, Mounties and snow. But these are myths we keep perpetuating so no wonder the rest of the world thinks we wear toques and say 'eh' at the end of every sentence... We took the bus and Metro to the rink and arrived early enough to eat, visit the hall of fame outside and wander about the concourses to get a feel of the pre-game excitement that happens when 21,273 (announced attendance) people arrive all at once, milling about buying game programs, beer, nachos and hotdogs, and Timmys coffee before settling into their seats. We were in the 300 section, high up but we had a good view of the whole ice surface, though at that level you are a bit detached from the game on the ice and without the aid of the huge jumbo-tron overhead we would have been hard pressed to identify the players!
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| Cesar & Guy Lafleur, outside Bell Centre |
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| Cesar & teams warming up |
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| 2nd intermission, Habs 3, Canes 2 |
All in all the evening was pretty exciting and except for the 3rd period collapse which cost Montreal the game, and maybe a last chance to advance to the next round. But I was glad to be able to take Cesar to his first NHL hockey game! The pre-game ceremonies, the player introductions and rock music, and the entertainment between periods - Cesar especially got a kick out of the cannons shooting hotdogs into the crowd - all added up to a pretty awesome night for him, Montreal style. It would be great to do it again one day. But alas, the game ended with Carolina winning 5-3 and the mornings paper tells it all:
gws
