by Caitlyn Golem, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

MONTREAL, QC. — I have been a Montreal Canadiens fan for ten years. It all started because my family liked the Toronto Maple Leafs and I wanted to be different. The decision sparked a lifelong devotion, which I can say with absolute certainty because in 2017, I got the Montreal Canadiens logo tattooed on my chest in the shape of a heart. Almost everything I own has the Canadiens logo on it and anyone who knows me knows how much I love the Habs.

I watched the Habs take on the Leafs at the Scotiabank Centre in Toronto in September. It was my first live NHL game.

This year for Christmas, Nathan, my boyfriend, surprised me with tickets to watch the Habs play against the Nashville Predators at the Bell Centre.

P.K. Subban is my favourite player and the Canadiens are my favourite team, so the chance to see them play against each other made this the best possible gift. I have never been to Montreal before, but the gift included a three night stay in the city. I was so excited to finally visit the city whose hockey team I had fallen in love with so many years prior.

When I first saw the Bell Centre from our hotel room window, I was ecstatic. I could not believe that I was so close to a building I had only ever seen on T.V.

Nathan had booked us a Friday afternoon tour of the Bell Centre, which has been home to the Habs since 1996. The Bell Centre offers a daily tour that takes visitors on a behind-the-scenes tour of the building.

We got the chance to sit in the press conference room and even got to stand at the podium where Claude Julien does post-game interviews. We ventured up high into the press gallery and observe the ice from a journalist’s point of view.

The Bell Centre also has an alumni lounge that is lined with photos of significant moments in the history of the Canadiens, as well as pictures of past captains. The iconic Canadiens torch is also on display.  On game days, this room is filled with Habs legends, so having the chance to sit down in it was pretty surreal.

We checked out Builders Row as well as a luxury suite. The highlight of the tour, however, was getting to visit the Canadiens dressing room and see all of their equipment hanging there. Getting close enough to smell the faint aroma of hockey equipment, although usually a negative experience, is a really cool one when it is that of your favourite players.

Friday after the tour, Nathan and I headed to McLean’s Pub for some dinner. My Twitter followers had recommended that I check it out and the pub’s Twitter account had even  reached out to me. Upon arrival at McLean’s, we were greeted by friendly staff and T.V’s featuring multiple different hockey games. Those factors alone had me sold on the place. I had invited my Twitter followers to join Nathan and I, as I was eager at the chance to finally meet some of them.

Two different gentlemen showed up which made for great company and passionate discussions about hockey. Nathan and I had made reservations for six o’clock, but did not leave until around nine. The atmosphere was incredible. In all honesty, Nathan and I likely would have stayed at the pub longer, but we had another destination on our itinerary for that night. It wasn’t one that I wanted to miss.

Our next stop was one of the most iconic buildings in all of hockey history, and perhaps of all sports: the Montreal Forum. As I walked through the building, I could feel the ghosts of the Forum roaming the halls alongside me.

A head tilt towards the rafters and I was able to revel at the 24 Stanley Cup banners, 22 of which were won in that very building. Our visit gave me the opportunity to stand at center ice as well as sit in the old Forum seats. It may now be an arcade and movie theater, but knowing the stories that those walls could tell made me giddy and gave me goosebumps. 

It hit me the second I woke up on Saturday morning that it was finally game day. We had a busy day planned.

First, we bought two dozen bagels at St. Viateur Bagel because we had enjoyed them so much the day before. Next, we explored Old Montreal, including the Montreal Science Centre, which was a blast. The exhibits were all for children and Nathan and I were the only adults there without children, but we definitely enjoyed our time there. Montreal has gorgeous architecture, so seeing the beautiful old buildings was quite an experience.

Fast forwarding, and Nathan and I were in our hotel room. He was taking a quick nap before the game, but I was far too excited to relax. I was sitting there thinking about the fact that I was about to finally see the Canadiens live at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

I was going to see P.K. Subban in person. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I started crying and every time I thought I finally had pulled myself together, I would think about the game and the happy tears would start flowing again. I was smiling so wide that my cheeks were hurting. I could not believe that I was going to experience something I had dreamed of for the past ten years.

Once I put on the jersey, it all became real and I was about to walk out of the hotel and head down the street to the Bell Centre. I could not stop smiling.

We left a couple of hours before the game because I really wanted a Tomas Plekanec bobble head and they were only going to be handed out to the first 5000 fans. Nathan could not believe the number of people already lined up two hours before the game. I chuckled, knowing full well that hockey is a sort of religion to many in Montreal.

I could not believe the number of Habs fans around me. I live just outside of Owen Sound, Ontario and go to school in Hamilton. I live in Leafs territory, so I am used to being surrounded by Toronto Maple Leafs apparel, but at the Bell Centre, it was a sea of red, white, and blue. I was over 700 km. from my house, yet I had never felt more at home.

After waiting in line and going through security, we received our Plekanec bobble heads. I was struggling to hold myself together, feeling like I was on cloud nine. I could not stop smiling, but I did manage to hold back happy tears until the pregame ceremony started.

The lights were dimmed and photos and videos of Habs legends were projected onto the ice. I had seen Montreal’s pregame ceremonies on the television thousands of times and they had always given me chills but being there was indescribable. I cried all the way through the pregame ceremony – including the French rendition of O Canada. It felt surreal.

Canadiens fans could be seen in every direction. Regardless of the emotions the fans were feeling, they felt them with raw intensity and expressed them accordingly.

The first goal of the game was scored by Nashville, but the love the city of Montreal still has for P.K. Subban could be heard with the roaring cheers expressed when he was credited with an assist. When the Canadiens finally got on the board, I joined more than 20,000 others in celebrating a goal and I could have sworn the building shook.

Being in that building, it feels like you are a part of something so much bigger than yourself. It is a feeling that is hard to convey to someone who has never experienced it. To me, this wasn’t just a hockey game; it was a memory that I knew I was going to treasure forever.

It was an incredible story that I was adding to my memory and a day that I would always remember. 

The Canadiens did not come away with the win, but I still went to bed that night smiling from ear-to-ear and knowing that I had, without a doubt, just experienced the best day ever. Years ago a little girl had fallen in love with the team, the players, and the history – and ten years later – the city itself. I can say with absolute certainty that I will be back in Montreal someday.

Edited by Cate Racher, All Habs Hockey Magazine