Les Canadiens de Montréal
I was not going to post anything about hockey, having lost much interest in it during the 21st century.
It is just that trends with the NHL have been, in my estimation, negative, in recent decades. Dating back to the nineties, it seems to me that cold weather regions and teams have been sacrificed for what feels like some half-baked ideas to try and sell ice hockey to warmer weather regions, seemingly at the expense of more traditional, cold weather markets. In the nineties, the Minnesota North Stars skipped town and became the Dallas Stars. Then the Québec Nordiques left town, just as they were getting really good. They became the Colorado Avalanche, and won a Stanley Cup championship in their first season of existence, even though fans in Québec City had patiently waited through many losing seasons, only to see their team leave just before they reached the pinnacle. That left a bad taste in the mouths of many, including me. Yet, it did not end there. The Winnipeg Jets left Canada for that hotbed of ice hockey, Phoenix, Arizona. The Hartford Whalers left for Carolina. Meanwhile, new franchises were popping up regularly in southern markets. There were the San Jose Sharks, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks (who have sine become known simply as the Ducks), the Florida Panthers, the Nashville Predators, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Atlanta Thrashers, and now, the Vegas Golden Knights.
Let it be noted that the Golden Knights somehow got far more breaks than any other expansion team in North American history, obtaining a tremendous amount of talent and contending for the Cup. In fact, they knocked out all three of their opponents in the Western Conference and almost became the first expansion team to lift the Stanley Cup. Imagine how much that would have delegitimized the NHL, if a team that had not even existed just one season prior suddenly was lifting the famed Stanley Cup in it’s very first year in existence.
Meanwhile, no Canadian team has lifted the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadians did it last in 1993. Some teams have come close. The Calgary Flames should have won it in 2004, but a controversial decision to take away what appeared to be a series and championship clinching goal took the air out of the sales of the Flames, and they not only lost that key Game 6 at home in Calgary, but then lost Game 7 in Tampa Bay, another city well noted for it’s rich ice hockey traditions. The Edmonton Oilers suffered a similar fate in losing a tough Game 7 the next season (which was actually in 2006, because of the strike that eliminated an entire NHL season) to the Carolina Hurricanes. The Ottawa Senators reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007, but got beat quickly by Anaheim. And then, the Vancouver Canucks seemed to have the inside track to finally hoisting the Cup, holding a 3 games to 2 lead, but then completely fell apart. There were riots in Vancouver after that loss, and the franchise has never recovered, even though that happened ten years ago now.
So, not only did northern cities outright lose their teams to southern cities, but there were plenty of other northern teams that threatened to relocate farther south. Sometimes, it was because the teams were not doing particularly well financially. Of course, certain newly established markets in southern cities struggled to fill seats and make profits as well, but somehow, these teams almost never seemed to be serious candidates for another relocation. But teams in northern markets were. Not surprisingly, these were especially true of Canadian teams, such as in Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa. But it was not only Canada, as the franchises in Buffalo and New Jersey at some points also were threatening to relocate.
Yet, it was particularly egregious to see the Canadian teams seemingly intent on moving, since hockey is, after all, Canada’s national sport and pastime. This happened to coincide with the longest drought ever for any Canadian teams not winning the Stanley Cup. Where they once used to dominate, even in modern eras (the Canadiens and Oilers in particular still enjoyed dynasties in the last decades of the 20th century), now it seems that no single Canadian team can manage to win one, no matter what they do. That is why that crucial, seemingly Cup-clinching goal by the Calgary Flames in Game 6 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals seems particularly outrageous. It appeared that they had scored the winning goal in the final minutes of Game 6, and since they were on the verge of eliminating Tampa Bay, that would have meant the championship. But it was not ruled a goal, even though it clearly crossed the red line. With time running out in the game, it seems likely that the Flames win the Cup.
Instead, Tampa Bay managed to force overtime, and to their credit, scored the game-winning goal to win Game 6. Then, they won Game 7 as well, and the NHL trumpeted the success story of this new southern team hoisting the Stanley Cup, and we were graced with images of hockey madness in the hot expanses of southern Florida. We saw many images of other fans of new southern teams going wild during incredible playoff runs, including some Stanley Cup championships. What a triumph, eh?
Of course, the league is a lot less upfront about empty seats being dominant in many of those same suddenly hot hockey markets during less dramatic times, like the middle of a regular season when they team is not quite as hot. In some cases, like in Phoenix, it sure seemed like hockey never really caught on at all. But again, with one notable exception – the Atlanta Thrashers, who actually relocated to give Winnipeg their Jets back – the only times we heard about struggling markets and low attendance just happened to be in northern, cold weather cities, and especially those north of the border.
All of that, combined with the general excesses of NHL hockey, such as the strikes that disrupted several NHL seasons since 1995, and outright eliminated the entirety of the 2004-2005 season, made me feel that it was difficult to get excited about the NHL.
So, I began to lose a lot of interest in the NHL. I mean, a lot of interest.
Last year, the run by the Tampa Bay Lightning so excited me that I did not bother writing a blog entry about the NHL playoffs at all. As for Canadian teams, there were still new lows. It was no longer just the Toronto Maple Leafs who had the Stanley Cup drought. Now, every single team did, somehow. Granted, they were spread out across the continent, and encompassing three of the four divisions in the league. Still, they were prevented from hoisting the Stanley Cup after the last Canadian team to do it, when the Montréal Canadians won it all in 1993.
Somehow, though, they seemed to collectively grow worse and worse. In the 2014 playoffs, only one team, the Canadiens, managed to qualify for the postseason. But two years later, it was even worse. In 2016, for the first time in 46 years, no single Canadian team even qualified for the playoffs. Yes, somehow, they were not only shut out from Stanley Cup wins, but now, they were shut out of the playoffs altogether.
Maybe this was just coincidence. But I’ll tell you, while I am not Canadian, I lost a lot of interest, and even more respect, for this “new” version of the NHL. It seemed to me a whole lot better when more traditional, cold market teams – yes, especially Canadian teams – actually are serious Cup contenders. When they are not, it feels like the league is diminished. And it feels like it has been a long, long time since a Canadian team was a serious force in the playoffs, enough to warrant serious thoughts that they might hoist the Cup. In fact, the last time that I personally felt that one might, it would have been the 2011 Vancouver Canucks. And we all remember how that team ended up, don’t we?
So I have become reluctant to even review the NHL. Frankly, I am not interested in seeing teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Carolina Hurricanes or the Vegas Golden Knights edging closer to the Cup, while literally every single Canadian team seems unable to get it together enough for even one of them to become a serious contender again.
This year, a Canadian team was assured of at least qualifying for the Conference Finals, because of the unusual divisional format created by the NHL, specifically for the Covid-19 crisis. Understandable, but I wanted to be cautiously optimistic.
Yet, against my better judgment, I decided to post a tribute to the accomplishments thus far this season - and particularly this postseason, of les Canadiens de Montréal. It has been an incredible run, although it was one that almost ended before it even really began.
Indeed, the Canadiens opened the first round looking completely outclassed against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They were trailing the series three games to one, desperately trying to stave off elimination. On the road in Toronto, the Maple Leafs appeared set to earn the victory that would send them to the second round, and a date with Winnipeg.
That was when the Canadiens suddenly got hot. They won Game 5, forcing a Game 6, and staying alive for at least one more game. They enjoyed home ice advantage for that one, and earned yet another solid win, this time forcing a decisive Game 7. And yes, they won that one as well.
Then, against Winnipeg, the Canadiens just stayed hot. They took the first two games on the road in Winnipeg, then crushed the Jets, 5-1, in Game 3 on their home ice. Les Habs looked very strong early in Game 4, and it looked like it might be another romp in favor of Montréal. However, Winnipeg fought, to their credit, and were able to tie the game up, 2-2. It stayed that way through regulation, as the Jets forced overtime. But the Canadiens finished it quickly in overtime to complete the sweep of the Winnipeg Jets in the second round, earning their ticket to the Conference Finals, where they will take on the winner of the Colorado Avalanche - Vegas Golden Knights series. As I write this, Vegas has a 3 games to 2 lead in the series, and have momentum. Whoever moves on to face the Canadiens, I really would hope that Montréal can pull off the win and reach the Stanley Cup Finals, and hopefully win that, too.
Meanwhile, another team that I find exciting right now are the New York Islanders. They won in the first round, and hosted the Boston Bruins up three games to two in the series, and with a chance to advance to the Conference Finals with a Game 6 win.
The Islanders could face the Tampa Bay Lightning, the defending Stanley Cup champions, in the Conference Finals. By now, it should be obvious that I would strongly be pulling for the Islanders to come out of that series. A Montréal Canadiens - New York Islanders Stanley Cup Finals series would be very exciting to me, for a change. It has been a while since I liked both teams in a Stanley Cup Finals. And it would eliminate the possibility of one of those southern expansion teams, Vegas or Tampa Bay, from hoisting the Cup. For the Lightning, it would be a third Cup win. I, for one, would find that incredibly boring, and yet one more sign that hockey is losing its base audience, as if it needed more of those signs.
So, let's hope that the two northern teams finally come around and earn glory. The Canadiens have not been in a Stanley Cup Finals since 1993, and the New York Islanders have not qualified for one since 1984. It's time.
Go, Habs, Go!
Les Canadiens de Montréal
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