The Last Thing We Needed

[Capt.Crunch]

I already posted about this in the lounge but I think the same answer applies here.

Yes, its copy/paste, but its the best and most complete answer I have about the subject...

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I'll take the other side of the argument.

But, first and foremost, we can all agree that it was not the time, not the place and certainly not the right way to approach the subject.

To add insult to injury, the question was asked by a complete outsider who wanted to create an interesting story.

There. That's what I think about Friday's story.

However, since this occasion is used by most to rehash old arguments, I'll use this opportunity to present another opinion.

Most people you will meet in Montreal will know about the Montreal Canadiens. You should not be surprised to hear your 40 year old waitress start a conversation and have an opinion on whether Souray should be traded or not during the playoffs.

Hockey in Montreal is much more than a madonna concert, a baseball game or F1.

Les Canadiens de Montréal are MY team. Just as they were my father's team and my grandfather's team.

Les Canadiens de Montréal used to be a tradition, a Saturday night event. You used to look at the games on tv with your father, hear about it in family reunions.

I used to wonder, as a little boy, at that no 10 that was streaking without helmet in the offensive zone.

I remember the stories told to me by my father, who doesn't watch hockey anymore BTW. Stories about my grandmother wanting to do something about Richard's suspension in 55. The only way she found of protesting is to stop buying Campbell soup for a few years.

You see, they are MY team. They are not a generic concession who is looking at a big left handed center. They are part of my past. As a French Canadian. As a Quebecker.

To my knowledge, the Habs had a lot of things going for them before 1969. They had the C formula, the famous "Formule C", used to acquire players at an incredibly young age in a quasi-permanent fashion.

They had a series of farm clubs, in which they could stack boatloads of talent who were only waiting for a chance to play in the big leagues.

They also had a tremendous network of French Canadien volunteers working for them throughout the province of Quebec. At a time when information was at a premium, they had a whole province ready to talk to them about promising young guys.

I think Ken Dryden, in his book "The Game" describe the fall of the habs last Dynaty best:

"Most of what has happened these past twenty-five seasons I couldn't have guessed. I knew that the dominance of the Canadiens would diminish. Nobody could sustain the pace of fifteen Stanley Cups in twenty-four years. Pollock and Bowman were gone. The farm system had been built during a sponsorship time when teams could sign up kids almost at birth, and when every Canadian kid wanted to play for the Canadiens or Leafs, and when every non-Canadian kid, every American or European, didn't matter. When sponsorship ended in 1969 and a universal draft of players forced kids to play with whichever team chose them, the Canadiens had enough players already in their system to trade their surplus for future draft picks to teams desperate to compete and survive. But by 1979 all that was coming to an end. The next generation of great players was getting spread around. Denis Potvin, Brian Trottier and Mike Bossy had all gone to the Islanders. Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier were in the WHA. The Canadiens had been reduced finally to equal ground, and while equal ground, with proper care, might produce good teams, it won't generate domination"

So? Where are we now?

A standard team in a standard league? A product like Coke or McDonald's? A brand name with its history resumed to a nice, shiny selling point?

You think Montreal is that crazy about hockey because its simply "cultural"? Is it only a phenomenon? Like poutine?

You guys really think it's to be taken for granted? That its not going to die off if properly cultivated?

While I have a particular interest in hockey, in young up-and-coming players, in systems, in the strength of particular teams, I can assure you that my family, my friends, my boss, citizens not immersed in hockey like I am become hockey fans again in spring because of "Les Canadiens", and Lafleur, and Carbonneau, and Roy, and Richard, and Béliveau.

Its one of the few times in the year when you can yell on a bus between 7 and 10 on a Saturday night with a walkman on and, instead of receiving glares, you will only get a single, repetitive question:

"So? What's the score?"

But what can we do about it?

The entry draft, free agency seem to condemn us to uniformity, doesn't it?

Well, you could start by having scouts who cover the province of Quebec like the times of old. You could start by knowing about every single goddamned player in your own backyard.

You could start by listening to home grown free agents, guys like Ian Lapperière, who would have killed to have a shot to play for the "Bleu, blanc, rouge".

You could, at least, make an effort to go and get a few guys who grew here. Who get it. Who remember what a spring in Montreal means when the habs are in the playoff.

It has been reported that Dandenault, Bégin and Bouillon were close to tears after game 7 against the Hurricane.

Did it matter as much to Kovalev, Zednik and Bulis?

I am not saying that you cannot care about your team is you are a European. You can learn to care. Just as Mario Lemieux did with the Penguins, just as Denis Savard did with the Blackhawks and Luc Robitaille with the Kings.

But if you want to really rise above the lot, to anchor yourself in the tradition and history, it is my belief that you must take Gainey's route: you must learn a bit of french.

Is Koivu a leader on the ice? You bet. Do people respect him? Immensely. Is he the best center in the Canadien's lineup? Yes.

But to go beyond that, to be part of the legend, to be as big a star in Montreal than in Finland, as the captain of "Les Canadiens", he must at least learn to say "Bonjour" and "Bonsoir".

We don't ask for much. Most of us are perfectly proficient in the english language. We switch more often than not in english if we see that you have trouble speaking french.

However, as garbled your french sentenced came to be, you will have our profound admiration because, at least, you tried.

Is the Canadiens a simple logo owned by the Gillett group and the NHL?

Maybe.

But we have to be careful. The end of the Dynasty was less than 30 odd years ago. Evacuate the french content of "Les Canadiens de montreal" at your own risk.

The danger is not that I stop going to games. The danger is that I might stop going to games with my son and that I forget to tell him the story of his great-grandmother who wanted to punish Clarence Campbell by refusing to buy Cambell soup. That I forget to tell the story of little people who cared so very much but could do so little.

The danger is that I stop complaining about the french representation in the habs lineup and that I listen to hockey like I listen to other sports. As a product to be bought, consummed and thrown away.

We b!tch and moan about this situation because we still care.

Trust me, the worst thing that can happen to a franchise is indifference.

Ask the Expos...