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Fans of the Montreal Canadiens have made the Bell Centre incredibly loud during the team’s series with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canadiens have a chance to close the series out on Friday at home.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
It’s more than just the sheer noise that makes Montreal’s Bell Centre the best building in the NHL, although the cliff face of almost frightening volume is definitely a factor.
The jumbotron registered 108 decibels last Friday after the Canadiens’ thrilling overtime win in the Game 3 of the playoffs’ first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning – right around the average human pain threshold, and about as loud as a steel mill. (Again, this was after the game.)
It is also the quality of the noise that makes the Habs’ rink such a joyful place to watch a hockey game, and such a forbidding place for opponents to play – as the Lightning are about to be reminded in Game 6 on Friday, with Montreal looking to clinch.
Canadiens fans don’t just cheer goals, hits and saves; they are hockey connoisseurs who whistle their appreciation of timely poke checks and intelligent decisions to dump the puck in for a change.
That patina of civilization evaporates, of course, the second a referee calls a questionable penalty, or Nikita Kucherov deigns to step on the ice. Then, a tidal wave of venom descends from 21,000 red-sweatered hooligans, and a tent revival turns into a pitchfork-wielding mob.
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Lightning head coach Jon Cooper played it cool when he was asked about the atmosphere at the Bell Centre ahead of last Friday’s game. “We’re not playing against the fans, we’re playing against the Montreal Canadiens,” he said.
Sure, Jon. Tell that to Habs centre Kirby Dach. He was the goat in Game 2’s loss after a couple bad defensive plays led to the winning goal, but was met with reassuring chants of his name during warm-ups before Game 3 and promptly scored a goal to redeem himself.
“It definitely meant a lot,” said Dach after the game. “We pulled together and used the crowd to our advantage.”
Athletes always praise their public, but possibly only players for the Montreal Canadiens speak of their arena like an infectious disease that afflicts sufferers with synesthesia.
“It’s contagious,” said defenceman Jayden Struble last Friday night. “It’s the loudest building you’ve ever seen.”
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Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates his overtime goal with teammate Kaiden Guhle (21) against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of their playoff series, at the Bell Centre on April 24, in Montreal.Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
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Fans cheer Montreal Canadien Cole Caufield after he scored his 50th goal in a regular season game against the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this month.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
The sounds of a game die down once fans reach the commuter train platform, but Montreal hockey also has something nonfungible that makes its home permanently electric: history. Team organist and unofficial mascot Diane Bibeau has been piping in ambience since 1987. The building is plastered with team colours of unparalleled evocativeness, the blood red and royal blue and ice white of 24 Stanley Cups. The rafters look like the T-shirt rack at Winners, so crowded are they with championship banners and retired sweaters.
At the Bell Centre, there’s a chance you might actually bump into former player and 10-time Stanley Cup winner Yvan Cournoyer. He opened the game on Friday by walking out of the tunnel holding a torch aloft with the same puckish smile that helped make him a fan favourite in his playing days.
They can’t pull that kind of thing off in Tampa. (The most celebrated former player in Lightning history is probably Martin St. Louis, who is currently head coach of the Canadiens.)
“You look at all these great names, and you just want to be part of that,” said Struble.
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Former Montreal Canadien and 10-time Stanley Cup winner Yvan Cournoyer holds up a torch ahead of Game 3 of the team’s first round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Montreal.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
In some ways, being part of Habs history is something the Bell Centre is still trying to achieve. For all the arena’s atmosphere and cachet, no Canadiens team has raised a Cup in its confines. The fabled ghosts of the Forum didn’t migrate with the team when it moved east to its new home in 1996. Fans don’t yet talk of a Bell Centre curse, but they might start if something doesn’t give.
This building gives its skaters every chance to succeed. A recent NHL players poll overwhelmingly proclaimed Montreal to have the best ice quality in the league. Captain Nick Suzuki’s place in the locker room sits under a portrait of fellow short king – and, oh yeah, 11-time Stanley Cup winner – Henri Richard. In case he needed extra motivation.
The venue and its rabid inhabitants let the players know every home game what glories await them if they make it to the promised land.
“The city would just set on fire if we won the Cup,” said Struble, with a pyromaniac’s glint in his eye.
If any Habs team of the past 30 years can strike the match, it’s this one. No group has taken the Bell Centre’s immaculate ice with such promise: young stars like Suzuki, 50-goal scorer Cole Caufield, offensive phenom Ivan Demidov, and Game 3 hero Lane Hutson threaten to make their building painfully loud for many years to come.
Now, all they have to do is win. And give life to some new ghosts.
