Montreal Canadiens: Keeping your Enemies Closer
The Montreal Canadiens have one more team to worry about this year. After decades of promises the Leafs may finally prove to be a genuine rival to the Habs.
Take a moment to imagine yourself as a child playing in a school yard. Standing there in your Montreal Canadiens sweater, you look around for friends and see a few. But more importantly you’re looking out for the bullies. The kids you dislike above all others.
One of the ruffians has kind of an identity crisis. His family moved to the neighbourhood over twenty years ago, yet every time you go to his house you see pictures of your family all over the walls. He had exceeded expectations this previous season, but his birthday party had an incredibly unusual amount of empty seats.
Another kid is one you didn’t pay too much attention to until recently, when a few years ago he recklessly ran into your best friend. The injury kept your friend from playing for weeks and you couldn’t win a game without him. Ever since then, you’ve hated this bully despite only having to play with him a few times a year. Last spring he made you look like a fool by standing on his head for 6 days straight.
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The final bully to worry about is an old rival. There have been hundreds of competitions between you two through the years. You have the better overall record, but they won the big school award a few years ago. There’s hope you’ll turn the tides though as you’ve taken his tutor and are hoping to win with this teacher soon.
And then, there’s that kid. The one who thinks he’s tough but always seems to trip over his own shoes. The one you don’t hate, but rather you feel sad for them. You know his grandfather and your grandfather used to despise each other back in the 60’s. Now this kid spends his recess sitting in the sand eating ants. That’s kind of how Habs fans feel about the Toronto Maple Leafs.
If you’re a Leafs fan this may come as a shock to you. Before writing this article, I polled 10 Leafs fans and they all said the Habs were their biggest rival. But from the Habs point of view there’s no rivalry there.
Montreal has defeated Toronto in their last 14 contests. When Toronto last won the Stanley Cup there were only two rounds in the post-season. That means that despite being 100 years old, the Toronto Maple Leafs have not once made the fourth round of the playoffs.
Speaking of playoffs. the last time Toronto played against Montreal in the post season was 1979. The Habs swept the series. The Habs also have a league record 10 Stanley Cups in the years since Toronto last won it.
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Turning a few new Leafs
However despite all of this Leafs fans finally have hope. After a successful 2016-2017 campaign that saw them take the President’s Trophy winning Capitals to Game 7, the Leafs are actually good again. And I’m not saying that to be facetious. The Leafs have high expectations this year and they should actually reach some of them.
From signing head coach Mike Babcock, to drafting wisely in both Mitch Marner and William Nylander, to letting Auston Matthews play his type of game. The Leafs have seemingly done everything right these past few years. It’s a bizarre feeling as a Habs fan because for once it seems like there might actually be a possibility for a genuine rivalry here.
Not just a rivalry because Don Cherry tells us it is. But an actual “I hate you because you’re good” kind of rivalry. This has been a long time coming and I giddily look forward to it. It’s exciting to know that finally we may feel about Toronto fans the way they feel about us.
I should point out that I’m not alone in feeling this way. In Ken Dryden’s book The Game, the legendary goaltender says after a win against the Leafs:
"“I’m angry – at the last two goals, at the game, at the Leafs, at the Gardens, at me; at people who all day have promised me a Leafs-Canadiens rivalry. There is no Leafs-Canadiens rivalry. Its dead: the Leafs killed it. I feel duped.”"
Dryden wrote that in 1979. Hopefully this season he’ll finally get to witness the rivalry he was promised.
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Do you think the Leafs are good enough to be a rival for the Canadiens? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.