Arena: Centre Bell

Location: Downtown Montreal, Quebec

Game Attended: March 30, 2023 vs Florida Panthers

Game Result: Panthers 5, Canadiens 2, and the Habs Really Stunk it Up

Seat Location: Upstairs, Shoot 1x Corner

Overall Impression: French, With a Touch of History and “Go Habs Go”

Salutations, tout le monde! Eh bien, après cinq ans et plus de quarante mille miles, la fin de la route approche. Quand j’ai commencé ce voyage, j’avais de grands espoirs et de grandes attentes. Et je peux dire en toute sécurité que mon expérience a largement dépassé ces attentes.

Le hockey est un jeu merveilleux qui unit des personnes de cultures et d’horizons divers. C’est rapide, physique, ancré dans l’histoire et la tradition. Et je ne vois pas de plus grande cathédrale de l’histoire du hockey que la ville de Montréal, Québec.

J’avais entendu de merveilleuses réflexions sur Montréal en tant que ville. Son charme européen. C’est une histoire et une culture riches. Et bien sûr, les fans passionnés des Canadiens de Montréal. Il était donc normal que j’ai décidé de…

….de…….

…wait a minute. What in the “parlez-vous Francais” just happened??

Fear not, dear friend and reader! Let’s try that again!

Greetings, everyone! Well after five years and over forty thousand miles, the end of the road is approaching. When I started this journey, I had high hopes and great expectations. And I can safely say that my experience greatly exceeded those expectations. 

Hockey is a wonderful game that unites people of many cultures and backgrounds. It’s fast, physical, steeped in history and tradition. And I can think of no greater cathedral of hockey history than the city of Montreal, Quebec. 

I’d heard wonderful things about Montreal as a city. Its European charm. It’s rich history and culture. And of course, the passionate fans of the Montreal Canadiens. So it was only fitting that I wanted this amazing five-plus year journey to end on a high note. A high note of culture. A high note of exploring new, wonderful cities. A high note of the most passionate hockey fans and storied clubs in the game!

And I recruited two special friends to join me on this last extravaganza to the Great White North. New York Drew, my best friend from my Elon University days, and Mike, a fellow (albeit younger) Elon grad, Charlotte golf buddy, and certified half-Canadian. Both gentlemen were so enthusiastic to join me, so how could I refuse?

And so, armed with a winter jacket and having practiced up to Unit 4 of Duolingo’s “Intro to French” course, we set off to Montreal. In search of culture and great hockey history. In search of more great memories with friends!

I’d heard Montreal was a wonderfully cultural and diverse city, with many claiming a trip to Montreal gives you a real taste of Europe. And I can see what they meant. European architecture. European influence in language; French, naturally. In fact, an August 2022 study by CBC News in Canada determined that 58% of Montreal residents speak French as their primary language. Based on our experience, it might as well have been 85%; we encountered much more French speakers than English. For the first time on Tour, we were in the minority as English speakers, which was an equally enchanting and perplexing experience.

And it really was a charming French city. Our AirBNB in the Le Plateau-Mont Royal neighborhood of the city wasn’t right downtown, but it was in a culturally diverse and gentrifying neighborhood adjoining McGill University and Mont Royal, a large mountain park overlooking the city. The views atop Mont Royal were wonderful to see!

We were just a short (but albeit frigid) walk away from the Bell Center downtown, and we explored the regal campus of McGill University on our way to the game. But not before a stop at Schwartz’s Deli, a Montreal staple for their famous “Montreal smoked meats”. A true Canadian homage to the Jewish deli, and a remarkable homage at that. It’s no Katz’s Deli in New York, but it was damn good!

Now then, back to hockey. The Montreal Canadiens, or le Club de hockey Canadien, are the NHL’s oldest and most successful club, with twenty-four Stanley Cup championships, the most in league history. Only New York Drew’s beloved New York Yankees top that championship in North American sports (and you’re welcome, Drew). Founded in 1909, they are one of the NHL’s “Original Six” clubs, and, to date, Canada’s last Stanley Cup champion and Cup finalist from that really weird 2021 season.

The club was established for the benefit of the French Canadian community in Quebec, and indeed, many of Montreal’s legends are native French Canadians from Quebec. 13 of the Canadiens’ 18 players honored with retired jerseys are Quebecois, including Montreal legends and Hall of Famers Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Guy LaFleur, and Jean Beliveau. Those three legends, along with Ontario’s Howie Morenz, are honored with statues in the courtyard of Centre Bell.

The arena is a rather unassuming office-looking building in the heart of Downtown Montreal. Not the most architecturally-pleasing building, but not exactly an eyesore either. That courtyard I mentioned was actually pretty cool to visit before the game. In addition to the statues of the team’s greats, there’s plenty to see in terms of team history. All of Montreal’s Hockey Hall of Famers are honored with plaques there, as are the twenty-four Stanley Cup championship teams.

There were even some cool wall murals on the outside of the building depicting famous players and in-game scenes. Montreal, in fact, was ton of street art, though these hockey murals piqued my interest the most.

Centre Bell is the world’s largest hockey-specific arena, with seating capacity for over 21,000 fans. It replaced the Montreal Forum, the legendary home of the Canadiens for 70 years from their debut season in the NHL through 1996. Curiously, construction began on the arena two weeks after the club won their last Stanley Cup in 1993. Since then, the Canadiens have made the Finals just once and haven’t come close winning the Eastern Conference since. In fact, no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since groundbreaking for the arena. Perhaps there’s a curse surrounding the arena’s construction? Very superstitious! (Writings on the wall…)

The interior of the building actually feels quite small, and with the sold-out crowd, it was actually rather tough to get around. When we arrived at our seats in the arena’s 300 level (second highest out of four levels), we felt very high up from the ice. Both Mike and Drew remarked that we felt “on top” of the action, that the rows were very steep and close together. Indeed, there were railings separating every row to prevent fans in the upper deck from falling into the row in front of them. And the seats felt very crammed together. Not exactly the best viewing atmosphere for three 6-foot plus American gentlemen at a hockey game…

Owing to their French Canadian heritage and the grander culture of Quebec, all public address announcements at the game were in both French and English. It gave me a chance to practice my Duolingo, although I’m not sure I picked up much more than “Madames et Messieurs” and “Bienvenue a Montreal”. But the singing of O Canada was special, as the anthem singer and most of the 21,000 in attendance sang in both French and English. A truly unique experience I won’t soon forget!

Despite their semi-miraculous run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals, the Canadiens have been one of the worst teams in the NHL since. The club finished the 2021-22 season with the NHL’s worst record for the first time since 1940, and earned the #1 pick in the 2022 draft. The 2022-23 season has been slightly better for the Habs (they are the NHL’s 5th worst team at the time of writing), but it’s clear that the club is in rebuild mode. Only six players from the 2021 Cup Finals team played for the 2022-23 Canadiens, and only four players were healthy and playing this night (new captain Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher, Joel Edmundson, and goaltender Jake Allen). The Canadiens were bereft of top-end talent on this night and it showed. Facing a desperate Florida Panthers team vying for a playoff berth, they were largely outmatched all night. Although they did strike early with a 1-0 lead on Sean Farrell’s first career NHL goal.

The story of the night on the ice was Matthew Tkachuk. He dominated the game with a hat trick and an additional assist in an “All-Tour” caliber performance, and the Panthers dominated the Canadiens in a 5-2 victory. That sent my record on Tour tumbling to 14 wins and 16 losses for the home team. I’d need a pair of victories in Ontario over the weekend to break-even.

Despite its cramped quarters and seeming lack of renovations, there were a few cool features present in Centre Bell. The first was a special wall graphic displaying pictures and facts of all captains in team history. The majority of the captains from the team’s past were Quebecois: Jean Beliveau, Maurice & Henri Richard, Yvan Cournier, Guy Carbonneau. But in more recent years, the team has embraced more diverse captains. Saku Koivu from Finland captained the Habs for ten years in the early 2000’s. Two Americans, Brian Gionta & Max Pacioretty, led the team for the next nine years. And current captain Nick Suzuki is Canadian, but has both Scottish and Japanese heritage.

The Canadiens also pay tribute to their former neighbors at Olympic Stadium, the Montreal Expos. The Expos played in Major League Baseball for 35 years in Montreal, but never sustained the success that the Canadiens have before they left in 2004. Nonetheless, the Canadiens hung a powder-blue banner in the rafters to honor the history and retired numbers of the Expos. They also adopted their mascot, Youppi, a large fuzzy orange creature. A nice tribute by the team!

And in the “unique to this arena” category, the Canadiens have banners on the upper level concourse for “temple de la renommée des partisans”. The Fan Hall of Fame. In 2022, Molson (the brewing company that owns the majority of the team) established the Molson Fan Hall of Fame to honor diehard Canadiens fans. Three fans who bleed “bleu-blanc-rouge” were honored with small banners in the arena, and I wish more teams embraced this idea. The fans are the lifeblood of teams; without fans, there is no team (see: Expos, Montreal). Canadiens fans are loud and passionate, and I love this idea to honor them in the home of their beloved Habs!

Yes the team isn’t very good. Yes, they played worse than “not very good” when we visited. But you can still witness and sense the passion and dedication of the Montreal fans. Few arenas would be 21,000 people full on a Thursday night in March when their team has no chance of making the playoffs. But Centre Bell was full and pretty loud for most of the game. The fans still cared. They still showed up. That says a lot to me. That’s what I wish I’d seen from every city on Tour.

And yeah, the hockey game was actually rather boring. But it didn’t matter. The hockey rarely matters that much; it’s not the point. It’s about the adventure. About getting out of your comfort zone and exploring. About embracing new cultures, new foods, new sights, and meeting new people. About introducing two fellow Elon graduates who never met to each other and allowing them to bond over hockey and baseball and cribbage and Caddyshack and smoked meats. And about celebrating and embracing this sport and this game that I love so dearly.

Montréal m’a donné tout ce qui précède. Montreal gave me all of the above.

Arena: 3.5 / 5

Atmosphere: 4 / 5

Neighborhood: 4 / 5

Overall: 4 / 5