Me personally, I think: the Habs

Breakdancing on hallowed ground

Nothing is more imprinted in our city’s cultural fabric than the Montreal Canadiens — nos glorieux, if you wish — and their unifying power for all will never be toppled.

Much of our history can be traced at least in location to the Forum, before it was taken over by Nicolas Cage, crackheads, mediocre cafés and souvenir shops. I mean, Guido & Angelina, for fuck’s sake. The movie theatre in itself at least manages to hold the building afloat financially, but even that’s been a problem with the name change it encountered recently.

That being said, I was in the vicinity to watch a movie recently, and while I was admiring what’s left as an intended homage to our team’s storied past, I witnessed something that should be considered sacrilege to any diehard Habs fans. Essentially, bunch of kids were busy breakdancing or whatever you call what the kids do in You Got Served or Step Up on the Habs logo by the grandstand.

FYI, that specific location is meant to represent the centre ice portion of the old Forum, where legends like Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, Boom Boom Geoffrion etc. etched their way into this city’s folklore. But doesn’t seem to bother anyone but me, for some reason.

Current Rangers Coach John Tortorella, famous for his no-nonsense and authoritarian approach to coaching, is very strict about prohibiting everyone from stepping foot on the team’s logo emblazoned across their locker room floor. It may not sound like much, but the message is clear: respect the team’s tradition and foster a sense of belonging.

As such, with all the history the Forum possesses and the fact the building has been certified as a National Historic Site of Canada, a lesson can and should be learned from Torts. I mean, aren’t we supposed to be big on honouring the past with our endless (but merited) game-night ceremonies/torch relays?

Geoff, you can do better than that, bro.

Here’s what we did this week:

Saturday, April 6 — Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins
On Saturday, we squared off against of our arch rivals, the Boston Bruins, for first place in the Northeast Division, who leading up the tilt decided that it was somehow a great idea to approach this year’s trade deadline like it was 2001 by picking up players like 1999 Hart Trophy winner Jaromir Jagr and the recently emancipated Wade Redden for their playoff push. That’s weak, bro.

Anyways, the Habs played a solid game all-around aside from a shaky second period to take home the win 2-1 after the Bruins decided to play some hacky sack in the final two minutes with a six-on-four advantage when they should have been shooting the puck on net. As the Great One once said, “You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take.”

Most importantly, remember to never poke the bear!

Tuesday, April 9 — Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals
So Alexander Ovechkin recently decided that it’s in his best interest to stop hanging out with my Pauly D and focus on reclaiming his throne as the best hockey player in the world.  Seriously, though, the dude’s been on fire recently, with 17 goals in the last month, and he has been leading his Capitals to first place in the lowly Southeast division. I swerdagod!

The Habs game was not an exception on Tuesday night with OVY showing great form and producing a highlight-reel goal to lead the Caps for the win. Lars Eller replied with a late goal, but it was too little too late to stop the surging Caps.

Thursday, April 11 — Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres
Poor Sabres. Things just haven’t been going well for the team and their owner, Terry Pegula, who is a fan turned successful businessman and is an all-around great human being. His fortunes have been lackluster so far as an owner of the team, and a much-needed team rebuild for the future is already in order. The man clearly deserves better.

That being said, the product on the ice has clearly been in disarray for most of the season after firing their longtime coach Lindy Ruff and most recently trading Franco-American captain Jason Pominville. So Thursday came along and the Sabres just didn’t stand a chance against the Habs, who were facing the possibility of securing a berth in the NHL playoffs with a win. Which they did in a game where they dominated their morally deflated opponent from start to finish.

Thankfully, there was no rioting on the street to celebrate this accomplishment last night, and last I checked, the Quiznos on Ste-Catherine was still intact, which is a good sign, I guess. ■