Posted by: Kyle and Rocket
AllHabs.blogspot.com

We had such a good time, we are doing it again!

What you ask? Perhaps you recall that All Habs hosted a NHL Tweetup during the first game of the Montreal – Boston series. It’s time for a second NHL Tweetup in Montreal. More about that later.

What’s a Tweetup? Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. A tweetup is a real world social gathering for people who know each other through the online Twitter service. This was an opportunity for Twitter users to meet in person, network, and have fun.

An NHL Tweetup is a gathering of hockey twitterers in cities all over the US and Canada. It was initiated by hockey fans in conjunction with the NHL to watch the first game of the 2009 playoffs. Additional hockey tweetups have continued through subsequent series of the playoffs.

All Habs scheduled the Montreal NHL Tweetup during game 1 of the Habs/Bruins series on April 16th. It was a good turnout for a first time; a dozen passionate Habs fans descended on Les 3 Brasseurs at Ste Catherine and Crescent. (Thank you to @pluc for choosing the location!)

One by one, our little community of Habs Twitterati filed in to the bar. The catch is that nobody had really met before, so there was no way to really know who you were meeting up with. We can assume that nobody was left in the bar alone, so everyone eventually found the right table! Even though the Canadiens lost, a great time was had by all. We didn’t get a lot to cheer about, but the spirits remained high just the same. It was not your typical bunch of cranky, demanding Habs fans!

Some highlights of the night:

• @twtfelipe won the NHL Gamecenter Subscription.
• @EP31’s AWESOME Lucic voodoo doll (Read: Bruins Voodoo Magic )
• @pluc’s domination of not one, but two “flamms” (they’re not quite a pizza, but you get the idea)

We certainly learned some lessons from our first get together. We hope that the NHL will be more forthcoming with their game schedule in future which will really assist in planning. And the NHL committed to be more equitable in their prize distribution. All Habs is also pursuing inclusion of the Canadiens organization in future events. While the Canadiens have been slow to embrace social media, we expect some progress.

The best thing that came out of the first Montreal tweetup is a continued camaraderie between a loyal group of Habs fans. It’s safe to say that there’s enough love of hockey in this group for a tweetup to be held for just about any reason.

We do have an excellent reason for the next NHL tweetup in Montreal: the NHL draft!

This time All Habs will be joining forces with the NHL. That’s right! Montreal will host NHL twitter fans from all over the U.S. and Canada on June 27th just in time for the NHL draft. The location and further details will be announced soon.

Your Montreal organizing group for the NHL draft tweetup:

@amandafortier
@metricjulie
@kyleroussel
@all_habs