A Winning Habit
Fansided

Habs vs Nordiques: Passion and Rivalry Reloaded

By Mat Germain

facebooktwitterreddit

Nov 10, 2013; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; San Jose Sharks assistant coach

Larry Robinson

prior to the game versus the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

When Gary Bettman calls out the opening of the 2016 NHL draft, he may very well have two new teams to announce as participants. The Las Vegas whoevers, and the polarizing Quebec Nordiques. One will be a franchise riddled with gambling related issues, the other will likely rekindle a rivalry that has been hibernating and waiting to show the NHL what a true rivalry should look like.

Growing up as a devoted Habs fan in Notre-Dame de Grace (NDG), I couldn’t have cared less about the Hartford Whalers, I despised the Boston Bruins, but of all of the teams in the NHL, I only truly hated one: the Quebec Nordiques.

Don’t ask me why this was the case. It was about as passionate a rivalry as you could imagine. At a tender 7 years old, if I had run into Dale Hunter or Peter Stastny on the streets of Montreal I know for a fact I would have kicked them in the shins. I loved watching Larry Robinson crush them into the boards as they tried to fore-check, and would have done so myself if I wasn’t below 4′ tall and well below 100 lbs at the time.

To this day, I can’t understand why I hated the Nordiques more than the Bruins. Both teams gave the Habs fits at one time or another. Both had plenty of players fans loved to hate. The Bruins had guys like Ken Linseman, Jay Miller, and Lyndon Byers. They played like thugs and loved to get under the skin of both players and fans. Meanwhile, you didn’t have to go any further than Dale Hunter to see why Habs fans could get irritated by the Quebec Nordiques. I guess that the biggest difference I can now put my finger on is the fact that while I respected the best players on the Bruins, such as Raymond Bourques and Cam Neely, I hated Paul Stasny, Michel Goulet, and Anton Stasny. I couldn’t tell you why. None of them ever did anything to me, except of course drive my Montreal Canadiens nuts which seemed to be enough for me to hate them at the time. I wasn’t alone:

Despite the mayhem and passion shown in that game, my favourite year to recall when it comes to both rivalries – Habs vs Bruins and Habs vs Nordiques – is 1987, simply because the Habs passed through both of them on their way to a loss vs Philadelphia. One can understand why the Habs ran out of gas after they had what may have been the toughest 7 game series they ever went through in the 1980s vs the Nordiques. Even though the Habs didn’t get by Philadelphia, and even if a Stanley Cup repeat wasn’t in the cards, I was still one satisfied Habs fan because they had beaten the two teams I disliked most – the Bruins and Nordiques. That’s how powerful rivalries can be. I was only 11 years old at the time, but I still had enough angst towards both of those teams to actually be statisfied despite missing out on a Stanley Cup. I enjoyed it because I was disturbed whenever I was forced to watch things like this (from 1985 playoffs, Game 7):

There are a few points to make when examining the Nordiques – Habs rivalry further. First, there’s no way I was missing the games they played. That’s what a rivalry does to fans on both sides. They look to the calendar, circle those dates, and they plan around the games to make sure they can devote all of their attention to those games. Second, there’s more passion for the sport overall. There’s something to be said about how passion is created and how it impacts sports fans. Do I feel passionate about a Habs vs Ducks game? Not in the least. But, if I just watched my Habs annihilate the Nordiques, I may be amped up and looking to build on it, giving me the will to stay up and watch those late night West coast games. And third, the playoffs will never be the same as they will be when the Habs and Nordiques meet. Say all you want about the Habs meeting the Bruins or Leafs in the playoffs, but a Habs vs Nordiques series amps up the intensity to a new level.

More from Habs News

It may be a provincial thing, a proximity thing, or a “we’re not cheering for anything Montreal” thing, but I know for a fact that Quebec Nordiques fans feel exactly the same way. They hated Robinson, Guy Carbonneau, Patrick Roy, and Claude Lemieux just as much as Habs fans hated some of their players. After all, it wouldn’t be a rivalry if it was all one-sided.

The big question now is this: will new generations of Habs and Nordiques fans embrace the rivalry in a similar fashion, or will the reloaded version be more politically correct and less vile? Will there be players each side can hate enough to rekindle the rivalry in full, or will Carey Price be too likeable to allow for Nordiques fans to have pure hatred of the Habs? And will Nordiques fans, most of which likely sided for the Habs while the hiatus was on, be quick to have pure hatred for the Habs?

We won’t know the answers to those questions until 2016-17 at a minimum, but as a fan of the game and one who remembers the rivalry and its impact on my passion for hockey overall, I can’t do anything but hope that the rivalry is as potent as it was in the past. The thought of stressing out through another tight playoff series between the two teams gives me goose bumps. Reload the rivalry as it was, and you won’t be sorry. The ratings will be higher, as will the passion shown by fans and players alike. In short, both cities, the NHL, and the fans will all benefit tremendously from this inexplicably intense rivalry. There is nothing but upside. Therefore, I hope all fans rejoice when Gary Bettman calls out their management team to make their first selection in 2016.

I know nothing is official yet, but it’s going to be a great day when it happens. After all, their first selection will be the first player I get to cheer against more than any other player in the league while he plays for the Nordiques. And I know that there’s no way I’ll miss any rivalry game if I can help it. The passion will come out once the puck drops, because as you look around all of the NHL networks and fan posts when the mention of expansion comes out, you hear very little about the impact of Las Vegas, and a lot more about the impact that the Nordiques will have on the Canadiens.

I can’t wait to watch their first meeting in 2016-17. If I were making up the schedule, it would be the league opening game, setting the tone for the entire season.

More from A Winning Habit

Home/Habs News