Why I love the Habs..
Besides the tradition, history, culture... they're pure class.
Tonight for Game#7, the Bell Centre is sold out (each seat is 10$). All proceeds go to chairty. With profits off concessions and what not, they'll easilly raise
500k tonight.
What alot of fans appreciate, is before the team hits the ice, 2 local kids skate around the rink waving Habs flags to rev up the crowd.
Then they stop at each end of the door as the Habs get on the ice. Whats cool is each player will fist pump both kids as they pass by.
Sure its a small insignificant gesture for them.. but those two will remember it for the rest of their lives.
For any celebration, the Canadiens orginazation does it first class.
The 100 anniversary year, the Habs retired a few numbers. During Larry Robinson's jersey retirement (#19), was the first time my GF saw a tear in my eye.
From the ice, the camera travelled right to the lockey room where Larry was showing his grandson the pictures of all the Habs greats on the wall....
But the best was Patrick Roy's number retirement (#33). Maybe 20 minutes for the ceremony. there were still thousands of people outside. The camera zooms into an approaching taxi and out comes Saint-Patrick. The crowd was stunned. He made his way though the fans, shaking hands...then scanned his ticket. travelled through the halls of the Bell Centre, shaking hands (expression of peoples' faces were priceless)..then down the stands right into the ice.
Sadest though happen when Bernard "Boom boom" Geofrion passed the morning of his jersey retirement. Fans paid their respect with a long ovation. "Geoffrion's son Bob recounted how his parents had once gone to a
boxing match at the
Montreal Forum and that Geoffrion had told his wife Marlene that his own number would someday hang from the rafters beside that of her father's, Howie Morenz."