WED IN HOLY MATCHRIMONY
Habs fans tie the knot at old Forum
The bride wore a gown of white trimmed with red, the groom a suit of deep blue, and Tate the ring bearer bore a cup instead of a ring down the steps of the aisle. The Stanley Cup, to be precise, or, at least, a reasonable replica. And the crowd did the wave. For the first time in the history of the Montreal Forum, original home to the Montreal Canadiens, a wedding was held there on Saturday afternoon. Attendees sat in the original wood-backed red chairs fans once used to watch Jean Béliveau and Guy Lafleur, as Cindy Bailey and Lee Major tied the knot a few metres from centre ice. Bridesmaids in blue dresses and groomsmen in red shirts stood before hockey nets. O Canada was sung.
“This arena has been the home of much history,” said life-cycle celebrant Lorraine Cowan, dressed in the black-and-white striped shirt of a National Hockey League referee. The most Stanley Cups have been awarded in this building, she noted. The longest game in NHL history was played here. The first perfect 10 score in gymnastics was granted here to Nadia Comaneci during the 1976 Olympics.
“And now we are about to, once again, make history,” Cowan said. “For the first time ever, a wedding is taking place in this historic building.”
The Canadiens moved out in 1996 and the hockey shrine was gutted and converted into an entertainment complex hosting stores and restaurants and a megaplex cinema chain. The new owners honoured the building’s history by recreating centre ice near the centre of the complex, complete with blue dot and Habs logos, and a statue of The Rocket, Maurice Richard, standing near a grandstand of original seats. The site is regularly rented out for corporate events and fashion shows, parties and bar mitzvahs. But never a wedding, till now.
For Cindy it made perfect sense. Two kids from Pointe-St-Charles, she and Lee had known each other since kindergarten. As of Saturday, they had officially been going out for exactly 20 years, going back to the day — Oct. 7, 1997 — when Lee challenged her to thumb-wrestle, and said she had to go out on a date if she lost.
“I lost on purpose,” she said. And a team was born. Since then, they’ve had four kids — Brooke, Tate, Deecon and Oceana — a few high sticks and timeouts, and a lot of hockey.
She helped Lee build a Habs shrine in their basement, decked out in the team’s red, white and blue, with players benches, a scoreboard and other signs of devotion.
“All the banners at the Bell Centre — the retired names, the Stanley Cup wins, she painted all of those and hung them from the ceiling of our basement,” Lee said. “It was insane.”
So when Lee finally popped the question last year, Cindy, an event planner, knew exactly what she wanted. Marriage, after all, is much like hockey.
“If you stick it out long enough, your team is going to win,” she said.
Sometimes, in some lives, just sticking it out can be hard. Only 37 years old, Cindy and Lee’s wedding program lists the names of 25 people “no longer around for us to share in the joyful events, but (still) in our hearts … to share our special day with you.” The photos of the deceased adorned a table near centre ice, candles burning alongside.
So with family and fans, and the spirits of family and friends, and the ghosts of the Old Forum and the Rocket all in attendance, and the groom bopping and fidgeting like former Hab P.K. Subban does during the playing of the national anthem, wedding officiant Cowan blew her whistle to signify the start of the first period, and the end, as she put it, of the longestever contract negotiation.
“Cindy and Lee, you have been together through many games, some won, some lost, some with laughter, some with tears, but all the more sweet because you played them together,” she said.
Lee, who moonlights as a menacing semi-pro wrestler by the name of Gordy O’Toole when he’s not working as a contractor, bore the A denoting assistant captain on his chest, and choked up during his vows. Cindy bore a discreet captain’s C on the train of her dress.
“I love the way we connect as a team, and you are ...” he said, then took a few seconds to find composure. “You are the glue that holds us all together, and that is why you will always be our captain.”
After the periods were done, and the wedding register signed during overtime, fake pucks proclaiming The Puck Dropped Oct. 7, 2017. We Played. We Scored. Always and Forever. Mr. and Mrs. Cindy Bailey and Lee Major were tossed into the grandstands. Then bridesmaids and groomsmen created a sabre arch of hockey sticks for the newlyweds to pass under.
Lee and Cindy walked through, and kissed.
And then they stopped to give the triple low-five hand slap Habs goalie Carey Price and P.K. used to do after winning a game, as the horn signifying a goal scored rang through the air.
And the crowd went wild.
Cindy and Lee, you have been together through many games, some won, some lost, some with laughter, some with tears, but all the more sweet because you played them together.