So, St. Patrick's Day Is Celebrated in Montreal
My bad! Here I was thinking I would be safe and secure from the drunken rabble and the puking of the green on St. Patty's Day with my Montreal sojourn.Wrong O'Reilly!
Fact is, St. Patrick's Day was in full bloom last Saturday evening at the Centre Bell (let me translate that for you: that's Bell Center in English). Yes, the consumption of alcohol was at elevated levels, adding a palpable intrigue to the proceedings at hand.
Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs: Two desperate teams with mere points separating them from the final playoff berth.
Roughly half the crowd in the Canadiens' building appeared to be Toronto fans, and they were loud and stoked.
Canadiens fans held their own, with several wearing adulterated Maple Leafs jerseys, featuring mean-spirited inscriptions such as "Can't Buy a Cup Since '67" on the back.
The joint was ROCKING for what more than one news publication referred to as the Canadiens' most important game of the season. The air was thick with - in the words of Captain Lou Albano - "psychedelic pandemonium."
This was the most exciting game I've ever been to, needing a shootout to decide the outcome. It was rough, it was violent - a terrific, bloody fight in the opening minutes of play! - it was hockey.
posted by Steve Caratzas at 10:41 PM
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2 Comments:
I watched that game on TV and you're right - some really good hockey now that the guys are jostling for the last playoff positions. Up until now, I was watching Junior A Int'l tournaments on satellite to feed my need, because the NHL was seriously lacking oomph.
But you can always count on Leafs vs Habs (Mtl), and Leaf vs. Sens (Ottawa) games to be particularly hard-fought and über-passionate. These teams have some of the most vocal fans and have been known to split up families like a civil war.
So what team(s) do you follow?
I scurry between the Oil (ah, the former Edmontonian in me!) and the Leafs (my home team), though my interest in hockey really hasn't been all there since the strike.
For some reason I have long been concerned with the fortunes of the St. Louis Blues (I think it's the logo).
I've followed hockey since roughly 1974. In that time I've seen the Blues go through many changes and many great players, but they've never really come within sniffing distance of the Cup.
I've never set foot in St. Louis; I don't know anyone from St. Louis.
I do appreciate Picasso's blue period, however, and am a fan of Lou Reed.
Go figure.
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