Why is it so Easy for Some Cleveland Ohio Hockey Fans to Dislike the Montreal Canadiens?
Not Having an NHL Team in Cleveland Since the Late Seventies is Tough on a Hockey Fan!
Cleveland Ohio is not really known for great hockey, but there once was a time my friends, yes there was a time.
To say that we have a long tradition of hockey here is one thing, but having a winning hockey team has truly proven to be quite elusive for us. We have only had one team in Cleveland that was an NHL franchise, and that team was the Cleveland Barons, but the NHL dream only lasted for two seasons in 1977 and 1978. The point is Cleveland still loves hockey, and many of us still follow it even though we are not currently worthy of having a professional NHL team like the Montreal Canadiens here in Cleveland. Quite a lot of northeastern areas do love their hockey, and even though we only have the one AHL team, which is the recently recycled "Cleveland Barons" we are still interested in following the NHL and watching the games. Having a feeder team to NHL which is training grounds for the NHL is better than having no team here at all.
When we did have an NHL team, we had a brief rivalry going with the Montreal Canadiens, and in fact we beat them on November 23 rd 1977 at the old coliseum down in Richfield Ohio. I know this because I was at that game! A guy I was working with at the city park and recreation department had free tickets, which were not hard to score back then. Not too surprising since they could never fill that eighteen thousand plus cavern they called an arena more than about two thirds on it's best day. Anyhow that day I learned the true meaning of having a rivalry with another team, as we seemed to with these Canadiens. To many Cleveland hockey fans they were the devil in protective gear and a lot of the more rabid fans agreed. What I witnessed and learned through this was the gut visceral feeling of anger towards the Canadiens during that game.
We ended up beating the defending Stanley Cup Championship team 2-1, which was quite an accomplishment for the little ice skating engine that could! It was apparently too little too late as we lost our NHL team in 1978 and we have not had an NHL team in Cleveland since. So once the Barons left town, I had to choose another team to follow, and the logical choice would have to be the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was an easy transition for me as I have family in the area and my lovely Aunt K. Barchetti could always get us tickets to the hockey games, that was if we wanted to run the 2.5 hours down to see the games.
Since the Penguins already had a rivalry with the beloved Montreal Canadiens, it was quite easy for me to fall right into the same feelings I had been harboring as a Cleveland Barons fan. It was during this time I became an enemy of the Montreal Canadiens. They have been feared and revered across many decades of hockey fans, and to this day they are still one of the most winning hockey teams ever. How do you not hate it when all we seem to know about here in Cleveland is professional disappointment.
The Canadiens are one of the rudest and most foul mouthed caricatures of hockey players that ever slipped and slid on that solid form of H2O. When I see the Canadiens and their Molson arena background I involuntarily grind my teeth. I believe that we could easily take over and beat them in the NHL with a really great team if we could just get the right group behind the program. Face it there are not a lot of teams out there that can say they were beaten by the 1977-78 Cleveland Barons, but the Canadiens are one of that very few.
To this day I remember the sound of that crowd as the Barons kicked some Canadiens in their butt. Maybe I dislike the the Canadiens because they have won 25% of the Stanley Cups since the inception of that trophy? Perhaps I hate them because their fans are such die hard nuts that they would never let their professional NHL team leave town or shut down. Perhaps it is because they are so cocky about winning over 3000 games?
It is just possible that I hate the Canadiens because they are the most winning franchise in the three quarter century history of the NHL? Or is it simply because I am extremely jealous that Cleveland does not have an NHL team, and that means we can never replay the Montreal Canadiens, and perhaps beat them just one more time!
Thank you for reading my articles here on Associated Content - Yahoo!
Sources:
Personal Experience at Cleveland Hockey Events.
To say that we have a long tradition of hockey here is one thing, but having a winning hockey team has truly proven to be quite elusive for us. We have only had one team in Cleveland that was an NHL franchise, and that team was the Cleveland Barons, but the NHL dream only lasted for two seasons in 1977 and 1978. The point is Cleveland still loves hockey, and many of us still follow it even though we are not currently worthy of having a professional NHL team like the Montreal Canadiens here in Cleveland. Quite a lot of northeastern areas do love their hockey, and even though we only have the one AHL team, which is the recently recycled "Cleveland Barons" we are still interested in following the NHL and watching the games. Having a feeder team to NHL which is training grounds for the NHL is better than having no team here at all.
When we did have an NHL team, we had a brief rivalry going with the Montreal Canadiens, and in fact we beat them on November 23 rd 1977 at the old coliseum down in Richfield Ohio. I know this because I was at that game! A guy I was working with at the city park and recreation department had free tickets, which were not hard to score back then. Not too surprising since they could never fill that eighteen thousand plus cavern they called an arena more than about two thirds on it's best day. Anyhow that day I learned the true meaning of having a rivalry with another team, as we seemed to with these Canadiens. To many Cleveland hockey fans they were the devil in protective gear and a lot of the more rabid fans agreed. What I witnessed and learned through this was the gut visceral feeling of anger towards the Canadiens during that game.
We ended up beating the defending Stanley Cup Championship team 2-1, which was quite an accomplishment for the little ice skating engine that could! It was apparently too little too late as we lost our NHL team in 1978 and we have not had an NHL team in Cleveland since. So once the Barons left town, I had to choose another team to follow, and the logical choice would have to be the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was an easy transition for me as I have family in the area and my lovely Aunt K. Barchetti could always get us tickets to the hockey games, that was if we wanted to run the 2.5 hours down to see the games.
Since the Penguins already had a rivalry with the beloved Montreal Canadiens, it was quite easy for me to fall right into the same feelings I had been harboring as a Cleveland Barons fan. It was during this time I became an enemy of the Montreal Canadiens. They have been feared and revered across many decades of hockey fans, and to this day they are still one of the most winning hockey teams ever. How do you not hate it when all we seem to know about here in Cleveland is professional disappointment.
The Canadiens are one of the rudest and most foul mouthed caricatures of hockey players that ever slipped and slid on that solid form of H2O. When I see the Canadiens and their Molson arena background I involuntarily grind my teeth. I believe that we could easily take over and beat them in the NHL with a really great team if we could just get the right group behind the program. Face it there are not a lot of teams out there that can say they were beaten by the 1977-78 Cleveland Barons, but the Canadiens are one of that very few.
To this day I remember the sound of that crowd as the Barons kicked some Canadiens in their butt. Maybe I dislike the the Canadiens because they have won 25% of the Stanley Cups since the inception of that trophy? Perhaps I hate them because their fans are such die hard nuts that they would never let their professional NHL team leave town or shut down. Perhaps it is because they are so cocky about winning over 3000 games?
It is just possible that I hate the Canadiens because they are the most winning franchise in the three quarter century history of the NHL? Or is it simply because I am extremely jealous that Cleveland does not have an NHL team, and that means we can never replay the Montreal Canadiens, and perhaps beat them just one more time!
Thank you for reading my articles here on Associated Content - Yahoo!
Sources:
Personal Experience at Cleveland Hockey Events.
Published by Michael MrTechnical Hewitt
Technical person with varied interests. Published numerous articles on DeWalt.com, syndicated articles to Scripps Networks, AT&T, Yahoo! News Written over a hundred operation and maintenance manuals, inclu... View profile
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