I haven’t experienced anything like this past playoff run in my life. And I know that in the grand scheme of things I have not been around for very long, and missed the Montreal Canadiens’ last Stanley Cup by a year or two, but this was special.
2010 was the Cinderella run where Jaroslav Halak carried the team all the way to the Eastern Conference Final to run out of steam against the Philadelphia Flyers. In 2014, Montreal swept the Tampa Bay Lightning and barely beat the Boston Bruins in one of the most thrilling series in recent years only to fall to the New York Rangers due to a Carey Price injury.
This year was different. First of all, the Montreal Canadiens made the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1993, in which they won, of course. So for anyone younger than 28, this was a brand new experience to see the most storied franchise in all of hockey at the apex. The Canadiens, unfortunately, lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the experience is something that many will never forget.
But, there are many layers to this run. No one wanted Montreal to make the Final. Toronto was the chosen one to make it out of the North, but choked in the first round. And then the third round happened. Gary Bettman has a history of, let’s say, a dislike of the Canadian markets. Yes, let’s keep putting teams in the desert and not up in, maybe, Quebec City. Just spitballing.
But that came to a head in the third round, the first time a Canadian team faced an American team all year. Now, I am not insinuating that this was a big conspiracy from Bettman down, but there was something fishy going on in Vegas. The officiating always changes come the postseason. Physical stuff is encouraged and most fans would not have it any other way. The problem is when the refs start calling the game differently for each team, and there was definitely preferential treatment given to the Golden Knights.
There was just no question. You can not call crosschecks and roughings, but it has to stay the same for both teams. Jesperi Kotkaniemi was called for a weak hooking call on Max Pacioretty in the same game that Corey Perry got his nose hacked off. In the next game, Nick Suzuki was punched in the face while play was live. And those incidents against Perry and Suzuki were not called at all. But Montreal persevered and that goal Josh Anderson scored in Game 3 was one of the most cathartic sports experiences I have ever witnessed. It gave Montreal an ‘us against the league’ narrative that made the train impossible to stop going into the Final.
And stepping outside of hockey, this was one of the most tumultuous times that most people alive now have lived through. Especially in Canada, where today we are still working through a lot of lockdowns and restrictions. It was very exciting to see many people turn towards Montreal and hockey in general as a way to bring people together. There has never been a time in my life when people have been so far apart, and this playoff run really brought what seemed like the whole country together.
The CN Tower, Toronto’s landmark, was light up Bleu, Blanc et Rouge for the Canadiens, which would’ve been unheard of a mere month before. Niagara Falls, a mere hour or two from Toronto was lit up in the Tricolore. A country that was divided by the coronavirus was brought together by the nation’s game and the Montreal Canadiens. It was inspiring to see and feel the whole country come together, and many others in the United States being behind the Canadiens, and it felt like a fairy tale ending waiting to happen.
Of course, it didn’t work out that way. But for the country of Canada and the fans of hockey, this will happen again. The coronavirus is being beaten back, slowly but surely, in Ontario and Quebec, and there will come a day that a Canadian team will lift Lord Stanley’s Mug after such a long, long time.
There might not be another shot for Shea Weber.
The great captain, the Man Mountain, a quiet, stoic leader on and off the ice, the man with the hardest shot possibly in the entire history of the NHL. One thing that is not on his NHL resume is Stanley Cup Winner, and it may never be there, which is a shame.
He was drafted in 2003 by the Nashville Predators in the second round, and became their captain in 2010. He led a very good Nashville team that could just never get over the hump and win the championship. It was looking like Weber would be a Predator for life after signing a $110 million, 14-year offer sheet from Philadelphia that was matched by Nashville. But the 2016 offseason saw Weber traded to Montreal for P.K. Subban.
Only two years later, Weber was named the captain of the Montreal Canadiens after the previous captain Max Pacioretty was traded to Vegas and he became a stalwart on the Canadiens’ back end. He missed a lot of games in 2018 due to a torn tendon in his foot, and he missed almost an entire season’s worth of games in two years. The injury problems were definitely an issue, but when he was with the team, he was the leader, as advertised.
This year was different. He didn’t have as many injury problems as he played 48 games in the regular season, and played in all of Montreal’s playoff games. Of course, it only came out recently that that was only the case due to Weber playing through some horrific injuries to his thumb, foot, and knee. If Weber did not push through those injuries and sat out most of the playoffs, we probably wouldn’t be talking about a career-threatening injury. But then again, we wouldn’t be talking about the Stanley Cup Finalists Montreal Canadiens.
Because while it was sad for a multitude of reasons that the Montreal Canadiens did not win the Cup, there will always be a tomorrow. A Canadian team will win the Stanley Cup again, the Montreal Canadiens will win the Stanley Cup again. Even Carey Price, who has not won a Stanley Cup and this was as close as he has ever come to it, will play next year and have another chance at winning it all.
Shea Weber may never get that chance again. We are looking at the career of Shea Weber that might not have another tomorrow.
Weber risked his health and career and put everything he had on the line during this playoff run, and it puts his performance and the entire postseason into perspective. He gave it his all and still played at an elite level during the playoffs, being a big reason why players like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Kyle Connor, Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, and Steven Stamkos were largely left off of the scoresheet in their respective series against Montreal. These are some of the biggest names in the NHL today, and all younger than Weber, but he was still able to play with them through terrible pain.
Whether these were the last games of Weber’s career or not, it leaves a bittersweet memory behind. It is hard to not look back at the games now and know what Weber went through, and all the heart and soul he put into these games and not feel awful that he did not win the Cup.
I hope and dream that Weber can come back and that he gets another chance at winning it all. But if he doesn’t, well he left on one hell of a high note.