Habs’ torch has been totally doused
Canadiens fans cheer after team loses in the hope they tank and score the No. 1 draft pick
The Canadiens should have brought out their torch for the home opener last Oct. 10 at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens lost 3-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks that night following the most boring home-opening ceremonies since the arena opened in 1996. The flaming torch — taken from John McCrae’s iconic poem In Flanders Fields, which includes the words “To you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high” — was not part of the ceremonies as it had been in previous years, and maybe it would have lit a spark under the Canadiens.
Or maybe not.
The loss to the Blackhawks and the boring ceremonies were a sign of things to come for the Canadiens, who will miss the playoffs for the second time in three years. The Canadiens have scored one goal in 14 games this season and been shut out 12 times while playing a boring — and losing — brand of hockey.
The Canadiens weren’t boring Tuesday night, but still lost 5-4 in overtime to the Winnipeg Jets in their final home game of the season.
The flame on the Canadiens’ torch has been totally doused and June 9 will mark the 25th anniversary of the team’s last Stanley Cup victory. Montreal fans have reached the point where they’re cheering after the Canadiens lose in the hope they can tank and get the No. 1 pick at this year’s NHL Draft — something that would have been unthinkable to the four legends who have statues outside the Bell Centre: Jean Beliveau, Maurice Richard, Guy Lafleur and Howie Morenz.
It also seemed unthinkable not so long ago that there would be empty seats at the Bell Centre, which was the case again Tuesday night during a season that started with the team charging season-ticket holders an extra $150, plus taxes, for each seat if they wanted printed tickets.
When asked after Tuesday’s morning skate in Brossard what he would say to Canadiens fans about this season, coach Claude Julien responded: “First of all, I say thank you.”
He added: “There’s no doubt we
got booed a couple of times because we weren’t a good hockey club. But I think they’ve actually been pretty patient to come to the games and cheer us on. I think they’ve recognized a solid effort as far as guys working hard and competing hard and realizing that right now we’re not good enough and that’s why we’re not in the playoffs. I think they recognize that. They seem to understand that we need to get better and we’re working on that part of it. So if anything, I’m going to say thank you. I know they’re frustrated, but thank you for your support because they’ve been supporting us all year. This is a city that loves their hockey team and they get emotional just like anybody else. We have to understand that, too, that they get
emotional and they get frustrated because I can’t stand here and say I was never frustrated this year. So was I. If I’m frustrated at times with different things, I think they have the right to be frustrated, too.”
The bigger danger for the Canadiens is that fans stop caring. This is a team in need of a major rebuild, heading into Tuesday’s game in 28th place in the overall NHL standings while ranking 30th in offence, 25th in defence, 30th in penalty-killing and 29th in faceoffs.
Things aren’t any better on the farm with the Laval Rocket sitting in 29th place out of 30 teams in the overall AHL standings with a 24-389 record. In The Hockey News Top 100 Prospects list there are only three Canadiens: Ryan Poehling (No. 37),
Nikita Scherbak (No. 63) and Noah Juulsen (No. 71). Scherbak and Juulsen are already with the team.
Owner Geoff Molson has made it clear GM Marc Bergevin will keep his job and the Canadiens have 10 picks at this year’s draft, including five in the first two rounds. But drafting and player development haven’t been strong points for this team.
Injuries to key players Carey Price, Shea Weber and Max Pacioretty will surely be used as excuses when Bergevin meets with the media for his post-mortem news conference next week, but this was a bad team even when everybody was in the lineup, starting the season with a 1-6-1 record from which they never recovered.
“This was a frustrating year, obviously,
for the fans and for us as well,” Brendan Gallagher said. “For fans, they’re allowed to be frustrated. For us, we can’t allow that to kind of seep into our mindset. For us it’s about finding solutions.”
That’s going to be easier said than done.
One of the things the Canadiens have been criticized for in recent years is celebrating their past too much — which includes the torch — instead of focusing on the present and future. But the way things are looking now, the Canadiens should bring the torch back for next season’s home opener.
Montreal hockey fans need something to celebrate.