Fans of the Montreal Canadiens were left without any surprise when Nick Suzuki was named the team player of the year for this past season.
Nick Suzuki is the Molson Cup Player of the Year for the 2021-22 season.#GoHabsGohttps://t.co/jkK0Ms5Pxy
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 30, 2022
Suzuki is the only player on the Canadiens squad to play all 82 games. He scored 21 goals and 40 assists totalling 61 points, all career highs. While Cole Caufield is the only player with more goals (23), Suzuki leads the team in nearly every offensive category. The 22 year old just completed his third NHL season and only seems to be getting better. A truly deserved MVP nod.
However, one aspect of the Canadiens’ season that has often been ignored is that the fans kept showing up. Even after Dominique Ducharme got the axe after an 8-30-7 start, the Bell Center was still packed.
Charles-Alexis Brisebois from the french website danslescoulisses.com, wrote a piece analyzing the attendance number from last season. According to Hockey Reference, the Canadiens’ attendance totalled 635,297. Divide this number by 41 home games played, and this gives the Habs an average of 15,495 fans per game with a 21 273 capacity. This puts the Canadiens at a 72.8 % capacity, ranking them 27th in the league.
We all know, these numbers are erroneous.
Brisebois was quick to point out that the Canadiens didn’t play 41 games in front of fans. The first 15 home games were played in front of a crowd, followed by nine games without fans, then two games at 50% capacity, then the final 15 games in front of a crowd.
So in reality, if we consider the 30 games played without crowd restrictions, the Canadiens actually totalled an average of 21,176 per game. That actually adds up to a 99.5% capacity on the season. The two games played at 50% crowd capacity were sold out, so even with all of that taken into consideration, this would rank the Canadiens 7th in the league in attendance, rather than 27th.
Jeff Gorton gave an interview to 91.9 Sports FM and said he was shocked at the amount of people that showed up for the final game of the season. “It didn’t look like we were a team that was ranked 32nd in the standings.”
Only Vegas, Boston, Nashville, Washington, Minnesota and Seattle have played in front of a 100% capacity all season with now Montreal, Tampa Bay and the Islanders topping at 99%.
Last season’s playoff heroics surely played a role into selling tickets early, but regardless, the Bell Center was packed nearly every night even when the Canadiens were losing 10 games in a row and half the roster was injured.
In a province that held the strictest regulations during the pandemic, and not to mention the nightmare of a season the Canadiens had, this is nothing short of incredible and yet another example of the passion the fans have for this franchise.
Our friend Joshua Rosa briefly wrote about his first experience at the Bell Center, and he witnessed how even at the last game of the season where the team wasn’t making the playoffs, the arena was sold out, bars were packed and people tuned in on TV.
Win or lose, as long as you don’t take the fans for granted, they will show up.
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