Montreal Canadiens: How the 2020-21 Season Helped me Get Through the Pandemic

The offseason has only officially started a few days ago, but with no hockey to watch, it makes me reflect on this past season and realize how special it truly was, and I’m sure many Montreal Canadiens fans, or just hockey and sports fans in general, feel that way too.

Just a quick warning that this is an opinions piece based on my personal experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how watching hockey helped me get through it.

For many, the pandemic is not the worst event they’ve had to go through, many have had to live and fight through wars, or have just had worse events to go through in their lives.

However, as someone who has been in this world for a short 22 years, this past year and a half have definitely been the most difficult period of my life.

Having to stay home almost all the time, not being able to see family and friends, having to study and work from home, not being able to simply interact with others, all of it was just horrible. To me, personally, that was the closest I’ve ever been to experiencing hell – at least for now.

But when the NHL announced the 2019-20 season would resume in a bubbles system, and when this season later started in January, it was like a sense of normalcy came rushing back to me and the people around me.

There was suddenly something to do and to keep track of that was external to me, though I could argue that hockey is now a part of me.

I can confidently say that I have never watched as much hockey as I did this season in my entire life. For three to six hours a day, I would forget that there’s a pandemic and that I’m stuck home. For these hours, I would be focused on the games, the teams playing, and I would always end up rooting for one of them. That’s how much I watched hockey, to a point where even if they were teams I would normally not pay attention to, I would now have a reason to either like or dislike them.

I realize a lot of people have been that way for as long as they can remember, and I’m sure, one day, I’ll look back and think “when did I even start watching this much hockey?”

I learned so much about hockey over the past seven months, and I will cherish and keep that knowledge forever.

Don’t even get me started about the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Not only is this the Canadiens’ best run that I’ve witnessed in my life, but it came at the best time: when the city of Montreal was deconfining.

Restaurants, bars, and gyms were reopening, indoor gatherings were starting to be allowed, so not only could I see my friends, but we could watch hockey together.

I introduced three of my friend to hockey during these cold winter months (cold in all sense of the word). We would call each other during games and watch together, then when the city reopened, we started going out to watch games, or watch them at home together.

Not only did the Canadiens play incredibly well and make it to the Final for the first time in 28 years, and the first time in my lifetime, but they allowed every Montrealer and hockey fan to truly enjoy and make the most of this run.

Montreal was practically dead, and the Canadiens brought it back to life. It’s really as simple as that.

People gathered outside the Bell Centre to cheer on their team, they filled up bars and restaurants and watched the games together, they met up at their friends’ places… This playoff run brought so many people together, and that’s what makes this season that much more important.

Now all the fans are hoping for is to be able to fill up the Bell Centre come September, and cheer for their team like they have never done before.