First Article Double Payout


Born and raised in east end of Montreal, enjoyed a few sports as a child but as young as 6 years of age, hockey had made its mark on me and my life as I new it.  I cannot say that I witnessed the greats of the Montreal Canadiens, but I did  get to watch players such as:

Guy Lafleur who was in his 10th season as a Hab and just came off his sixth straight fifty goal season while posting over 120 points in each of those, one of which where he scored sixty.  The next four seasons were not as productive goal wise or point wise but still managed to produce very respectable seventy point seasons none the less. 

Steve Shutt (my favorite) going on his 4th forty goal campaign scoring 47 times that season and also registered a 60 goal season among that. 

Gainey, Carbo and Nilan, one of, if not the best shut down lines I have ever witnessed in my 39 years of watching hockey are just a handful of forwards among a couple more who inspired me to become the fan and hockey player i would become.

Larry Robinson chipping in with 75 points and a +38 earning him a second Norris trophy in his eight year with the Habs.  Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe and Rod Langway formed a reputable line of defense able to chip in offensively as well. 

This team when I started watching, instilled a winning culture by finishing in third place overall and first in the Eastern Conference which was then called the Prince of Whales Conference.  A Conference that was dominated by the canadiens based on defensive play and relying on good to great goal tending for the most part of that decade.

I also had the privilege of celebrating two Stanley Cups in my lifetime, one in '86 where I saw the Canadiens defeat the Calgary Flames on their home ice in game five where the GWG was scored by Bobby Smith who was a big skilled centerman and was acquired in a trade involving Mark Napier and Keith Acton, two players who had already hit their peak and were trending down in their respectful careers while Bobby was just peaking his.

The second Stanley Cup was won in '93 their 24th in franchise history, this one felt a lot different than the first one as I was now according to the law, an adult!  Video 8 min  Watched every single game that season and playoffs among close friends.  What a ride it was, especially the playoff run which featured and set an NHL record of ten straight over time wins in sudden death overtime.  Patrck Roy in the back end who was lights out fantastic, Vincent Damphousse, Kirk Muller, Brian Bellows leading the charge offensively with timely contributions from Mike Keane and John Leclair and a young and up in coming two very talented defenseman in Mathieu Schneider and Eric Desjardins who scored a hat trick 3rd goal

These moments my friends, are the ones we will cherish and remember forever.  The four of us alternating nights hosting a playoff game among people we love and enjoy being with.  Having a beer and laugh together watching exciting meaningful playoff hockey.  One game where the Habs were on the road in Los Angeles, I think it was game 1, we bought tickets called the "sixth player" or something like that, and this gave us access to watch game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals in the Montreal Forum.  We thought that this was the biggest, amazing tailgate/game party I ever seen!  Twenty-five thousand fans gathered and rallied for their team into an empty facility to watch a game one final where the home team or rather any team was not present and we all watched on giant screens walking and parading around the Montreal Forum ice surface!  I was speechless!

The last game which was game five of the series, we decided to go out into the downtown core of Montreal and pick up the game in a resto-bar.  What we thought was the biggest tailgate/game party ever, quickly took second place to that notion.  When the game came to an end and the Montreal Canadiens were crowned the NHL Champions, nothing would prepare us for what came next!  We exited the establishment along with thousands of others rushing the streets in joy and tears to meet up with thousands more from other establishments who merged together and marched from the corner of Crescent street and St.Catherine street towards the Forum.  I cannot remember how long it took, but we marched about eight or nine blocks chanting and cheering in celebration.  By the time we made our way to the Forum, it itself was bleeding out the 19 thousand plus fans partying and celebrating the victory, at this point, it seemed to me we were by the hundreds of thousands bunched up together in the streets with police cars, riot squads, naked women everywhere, store alarms, cars alarms blaring, total mayhem! Sorry In French

Now it has been 25 plus years and really considering changing my name handle to @disgruntledhabsfanforlife.  What I've watched in my forty years of Montreal Canadiens hockey is not even close to what our ancestors witnessed during the 50's 60's and 70's  when the Canadiens totally dominated the hockey world and were no match for any other organization. Now we are pretty much the bottom of the barrel and I personally do not see the light of day.

Shout out
Nick Vig
Carlo Vig
Claudio Lalitto (RIP) peace bro


NaNaNa Hey Hey Goodbye  spent a majority of the games I watched to the tune of this song from sometimes the half way mark of the 3rd period till it was over!  MISS IT so much!

Thank you for reading/listening  (word count 1084)