Is This It?

Is this finally the year?

I am starting this on the Friday after Cole Caulfield of the Montreal Canadians scored his fiftieth goal. This might not matter to those of you who have no interest in ice hockey or NHL history, but for fans of the game this is important. No one on the team had reached fifty goals in one season since the great Stephane Richer played for them and reached that record in the 1998-99 season. And for a team with such a distinguished history – 24 Stanley Cups, more than any other team in the league; the oldest professional hockey team, in place since 1909 – this does matter. Their own Richard “Rocket” Richard was the first player in the entire league to score fifty goals in fifty games back in the…forties (a nice touch). He was followed by Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur (other legends to reach that number). And they were supported by Serge Savard, Ken Dryden, Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, and…

Sorry, I am going back in time with this piece, and I want to encourage you to keep reading. I am Canadian, and I make certain assumptions about sports and the number of people out there who actually care. Our season is almost over, and I live in a city that is absolutely obsessed with this team’s chances of going all the way this year.

And I am still a fan.

People in Canada know that we have not lifted Lord Stanley’s finest silverware since 1993, when that trophy was won by…the Montreal Canadians. I was nineteen and was willing to believe that there would other championships heading north of the border (the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames were both still strong; the Vancouver Canucks were always a team with potential; the Winnipeg Jets were beloved also-rans; the Ottawa Senators did not exist; and the Toronto Maple Leafs were…the Toronto Maple Leafs). But no, there was no win to be had. The above teams represent the full contingent of Canadian representation in the league; the United States made up more than just the difference. They now have twenty-five teams to our seven.

They have taken over the game…with many of our own players.

But is it our time to take it back?

I have seen Montreal make it to the finals in the last few years (2021 was a very pleasant memory, even if I knew that they would not take it all). And I am old enough to remember not just 1993, but also 1986. In that particular season, no one expected the Canadians to make it to the finals, let alone win the whole enchilada. But I did, whole Mexican meal and all. I’m not sure why I did this, but I kept a little piece of paper taped to the wall just above my bed where I recorded the scores of the games in the semi-finals and finals as the team began to perform a small miracle. This was all due to the performance of the whole team, then made up of young and experienced talent. But it was especially due to the energy and drive of skinny teenager in between the pipes named Patrick Roy.

He had been brought in to support their regular goalkeeper, Steve Penney, and he quickly became a fan favourite who pioneered the “butterfly play”. Penney would eventually end his career that year with an injury, but the nineteen-year-old Roy was the one the press noted and adored. And he was worth the praise.

That was the reason why I decided to stick it out with this team.

There are young talents – Suzuki, Caulfield, Hutson – who have all the potential to be a future threat; there is a front office that actually works; there is a coach who does not embarrass himself at every press conference; and a city that is watching and waiting…

And as I finish this after the weekend – forgive me, there was much to see and do on the ice – I see that in their last game, they scored three goals in 55 seconds, made history – again – by having a hundred-point goal scorer in Nick Suzuki (so nice that he is also the captain), and that they have now moved into second place behind the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference.

So, is this it?

Is this Montreal’s year?

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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