At McGill, From Abroad

Hockey is a Canadian institution, in case you haven’t already noticed. Montreal, in particular, fawns over its professional hockey team, The Canadiens de Montréal.

There’s a few things that you’ll learn rather quickly during hockey season in la metropole. The first is that Montrealers take their hockey team way too seriously. We have a hard time understanding why the fate of a hockey team would motivate people to riot on St. Catherine’s street, or even worse don a tattoo depicting the team’s emblem, mais bon. The other thing you’ll quickly become aware of is that joining the frenzy is a whole lot of fun.

The National Hockey League (NHL)’s playoffs have a funny habit of starting in the middle of finals period and just as the city starts to really thaw out from a long winter. Most students are desperate to get outside after being library-bound for weeks on end, rather than perched on a bar stool watching a team of men skate around on ice (as if we haven’t seen enough ice for one year). Nontheless, there is nothing like the ambiance of watching a Habs (the Canadiens’ nickname) playoff game in a Montreal bar or restaurant.

This was the scene from inside the Bell Centre during last year’s playoff run:

And these are the type of reactions you can expect:

If you haven’t seen a game yet, make sure you catch one before the season ends and you head home for the summer. Montreal’s first two playoff games are this Thursday and Saturday at 7pm against the Bruins of Boston.

Go Habs Go.