Every sport has its holy ground. Hallowed ground. The Roman Colosseum saw the greatest athletes of the time and still stands today thousands of years after it was built. The Augusta Golf Course, Fenway Park, the Staples Centre. If the NHL has such a place, it would be Le Forum de Montréal.
The Forum was opened on Nov. 29, 1924, originally for the Montreal Maroons, but became the home of the Montreal Canadiens in 1926. In 70 years, the Stanley Cup was won in that building 15 times, and only twice to teams that were from outside of Montreal (the New York Rangers and the Calgary Flames).
Each original six franchise has its legendary stadium: Maple Leaf Gardens, Boston Garden, Olympia Stadium, Chicago Stadium, and Madison Square Garden. But the old Forum has something that those other stadiums don’t. It is haunted.
Its hallowed halls are walked by a demon with long blonde hair trailing behind him: the Flower, Guy Lafleur. There was the most electrifying hockey player on skates that transcended the game of hockey itself and became an icon to an entire people: the Rocket, Maurice Richard. His little brother, the Pocket Rocket, Henri Richard has his name etched on the Stanley Cup, the Holy Grail, more times than any other human being.
The list is nearly endless and utterly unmatched. Jean Béliveau, Yvon Cournoyer, Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden. And what’s special is that a part of them was imbued in the very building, and they would occasionally manifest themselves in the players on the ice.
That was what was unique, playing in the Forum. The opposing team wasn’t just playing against 20 some players and a couple of thousand fans. They were reckoning with 70 years of some of the greatest players to skate the ice, the best coaches to patrol the pine, and the best managers to occupy the press box.
Unfortunately, the Forum is no longer a hockey arena, instead, it is a cinema and Les Canadiens moved into the Bell Centre in 1996. And the magic dissipated somewhat. But would occasionally return in spectacular fashion.
The greatest example of this is the 2010 playoff run. Where Mike Cammalleri became the Rocket, scoring at will. Maxim LaPierre became some vision of Jean Béliveau as he danced through the Pittsburgh defence to score a goal for the ages. Jaroslav Halak became an amalgamation of Roy, Plante, and Dryden, and carried the team to the Eastern Conference Finals as the 8th seed.
But, as the Bell Centre moved onwards and forged its own legacy, that magic seemed to become more and more diluted.
This year was meant to be different. Dreams of playoffs and contention ran roughshod through the Canadiens franchise, and the start of the season promised greatness. Tyler Toffoli channelling The Rocket to 28 goals in the shortened season, Josh Anderson becoming the power forward with skill and grit that Montreal has searched for years.
Then, like some supernatural horror movie, the ghosts came to wreak havoc on the happy family of the Montreal Canadiens.
Those five-goal games that were the norm became nothing but memories. Fans were subjected to horrific one-and-done shots from outside the faceoff dots that goalies would easily stop. Terrifying dump and chase that would lead to other teams dumping Montreal and leading, and to Montreal chasing the game. Not to mention the bone-chilling powerplay that has reared its ugly head in the playoffs.
For what has been the Bell Centre’s legacy so far, in 25 years of Canadiens hockey, more often than not, the offence has been weak and the results have been disappointing. Not one Stanley Cup has been appointed there, not even for the wrong team.
Maybe in the coming years, we will talk about the legends of now young players Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Alexander Romanov, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but right now the magic of the Forum seems far and distant.
But, the Canadiens are not out of it yet. Maybe they can still squeeze a bit of magic out of those mystical jerseys and sticks.