I've been a hockey fan pretty much all my life. I was born in 1980 and I was my parents' second daughter. My dad had decided way before I was born that I would love running and playing pretty much any sport, the toys he had bought in advance had made that very clear. In February 1986, at the ripe old age of 6, he decided that it was time for me to start watching hockey with him. So after dinner, we headed downstairs and played the usual table hockey game before turning on the TV to watch the game. We lived on the south shore of Québec City and for my dad, THE game meant the Nordiques' game. So he'd put on TQS (V now I believe) and we'd watch the broadcast, he'd tell me all about the Stastny brothers, how they defected from Czechoslovakia, about Michel Goulet, le bleuet de Péribonka and about le Tigre, Michel Bergeron. He was rather pleased that I not only took an interest but cheered for the goals and asked question about the game.
That season, the Nordiques finished first in the now defunct Adams division with 92 points, ahead of the Canadiens (87 points), the Bruins (86 points) and the Whalers ( 84 points) and so the division semifinals were set:Québec vs. Hartford and Montréal vs. Boston. During that best of 5 round, we watched the Nordiques vs Whalers since my dad wouldn't miss a second of Nordiques action. Unfortunately for him, Québec was sent packing in 3 short games and the Whalers moved on. In the other Adams semifinal, Montréal had beaten Boston in 3 as well and even though my dad (much like a lot of people from Québec City's suburbs) called the Canadiens "Les Canachiens" he decided we'd follow them the rest of the way. That's how I became addicted to the Montréal Canadiens and their 20 year old goaltender: Patrick Roy. From the first game against Hartford, I was mesmerized by the young goaltender. The way he moved, how he flashed the leather, the way he made the Forum explode with joy with big saves....Remember, I was 5...I had not seen the glorious years and this was as good as it was going to get for me back then. I had no idea that there were 2 more rounds after this one and that the cheers would get louder and louder and the games would get even more exciting. The Whalers fought to the end and Montreal moved on winning 4 games against 3. The Canadiens then took on the Rangers and we watched all those games as well, yeah they were finishing late but I've never been a big fan of sleeping even then, so on hockey nights, I was allowed to stay up much to my mom's despair. That round was over in 5 games as the Habs won 4-1 and the next round was against the Flames who had home-ice advantage. That meant that the games would start late, very late... That's when my dad had to explain to me what time zones were and also when I started napping after dinner and getting back up for the game at 9:00. My mother was not best please with the arrangement and told my dad that I had to have my pillows and blanket on the couch in case I fell asleep...Little did she know I'd end up wearing the pillows as pads and emulating Roy's each and every move. When the Canadiens lifted the Stanley Cup at the Calgary Saddledome on May 24, 1986, I was anything but asleep...
That's how I became a fan of the Montreal Canadiens, one of the teams my dad hated the most but hey, he only had himself to blame. From then on, the Canadiens vs Nordiques game became a little bit more intense in our household. Thankfully, the Good Friday Massacre was already in the books by then...things might have gotten pretty heated! What was not in the books by then though was the 1993 cup run. If you remember correctly, the first round was a Canadiens vs Nordiques series and the Québec outfit had taken a 2-0 lead on the Habs. Both my dad and my sister (who had no interest in hockey whatsoever but loved picking on me) were giving me a hard time about it. But when Ron Hextall came out in the papers saying that "they (the Nordiques) had solved Roy" I knew that he had made a huge mistake. Roy has always been a proud athlete and taunting him has never been a good idea. The Nordiques would lose the next 4 games and start playing golf while the Canadiens would go all the way to the Cup final to face Wayne Gretzky. I'll never forget that play when Tomas Sandstrom took his best shot and Roy not only stopped him but winked at him...In fact, that moment is immortalized in my living room by a piece of art made by Tim Carroll (an American artist who creates art with various mediums - in this case cut-up hockey cards):
Through the years, my passion for the Habs never went away. I spent most of my childhood collecting hockey cards, back when it was a big deal to pull a Patrick Roy base card. That's another hobby that my dad fuelled and he kind of used it as a party trick as well...I always liked reading and writing so when I got a pack of cards, I'd look at the front but I'd also read everything that was on the back and memorize it. At one point, I had over 10 000 cards in my collection and my dad used to show me a card while hiding the player's name and number and I'd tell him who it was (and yes that also included the referees and the coaches in the Pro Set series). The Christmas after the 1993 cup, I caught the whooping cough and we couldn't go to my grandma's for the Christmas party as I was contagious. So on the morning of Christmas eve, dad went shopping and he came back with a huge box wrapped in Canadiens wrapping paper. Come midnight when I opened it, I screamed in delight at the Great One was starring at me from the box of the Wayne Gretzky table hockey game. That was 25 years ago and the game is still at my folks' and fully functional. My 8 and 6 year old nephews now enjoy trying to accomplish the impossible, beating aunty Karine at that game. My oldest nephew is becoming quite the fan, when he comes over he looks at the new pieces on my Habs shrine and makes subtle hints that he'd like having this card or this puck...
No matter how much he loves my collection though, I think he loved even more attending his first game at the Bell Centre last April. You see it was fan appreciation night and I had entered a contest to win 4 tickets to see the game in a box with all drinks and food included. Didn't think I'd win, but I did! So on that day, my nephew didn't go to school, he came to Montreal with my parents and I...That's how the passion gets passed on from one generation to the next:
So, to all you guys who spend your days on here chatting Habs, how did you become fans of the Montreal Canadiens? I'm curious...
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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