It\u2019s now up to the Montreal Canadiens as Canada\u2019s only hope to break the Stanley Cup drought this season.<\/p>\n
It would be fitting if the Habs found a way to win the 2026 NHL title since the last time a Canadian team raised the Cup in 1993 it was Les Canadiens.<\/p>\n
Canada is due \u2013 33 years is a long time.<\/p>\n
Of course, next season it will be 60 years since the Maple Leafs won the Cup \u2013 ironically against those dreaded Canadiens in 1967.<\/p>\n
For now, most Canadians \u2013 even here in Toronto \u2013 are rooting for Montreal as the last Canadian team standing in this years playoffs. Some fans are even heading to Montreal on the train or highways to be there for this big game.<\/p>\n
The Habs have a chance to break the jinx and bring that hardware to Quebec again \u2013 for the 25th time. But they have a big test in Game 6 on Friday night at the Bell Centre against the pesky and experienced Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bell Centre is going to be rocking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s playoff hockey, and then there\u2019s playoff hockey in Montreal,\u201d Habs forward Cole Caufield said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s right \u2013 and these fans have set such an amazing standard of how much fun a live game can be, as well as the impact the home crowd can have on the players on the ice, the officials and the game itself.<\/p>\n
No better fans than at the Bell Centre<\/p>\n
When they sing Ole, ole, ole, ole, or Sweet Caroline and Country Roads, you get a sense it\u2019s more than just a sporting event \u2013 it\u2019s a special life moment.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nowhere else like it in North American sports that I have seen.<\/p>\n
Sometimes Toronto crowds at Leafs games \u2013 or TFC or Raptors or Blue Jays games \u2013 can be pretty raucous, but Montreal takes it to a whole other level because they don\u2019t just react to something good happening in the game or the anticipation of it starting. They have their own songs and chants and moves, and they do it as a collective.<\/p>\n
Habs fans are the seventh player.<\/p>\n
A lot of us would love to see that fandemonium in Toronto but that ferocity can\u2019t be recreated easily since a lot of happens organically. And Toronto fans can be fickle.<\/p>\n
Just look at how they didn\u2019t really support Captain Auston Matthews<\/a> when he came back with his gold medal for winning with the United States at the Olympics after visiting the Trump White House.<\/p>\n That said, it sure was loud in those years Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark were lighting it up in the playoffs.<\/p>\n Only so much game staff can do to create atmosphere<\/p>\n Montreal has lots to cheer about this year. What happens there can\u2019t be easily replicated since it\u2019s not easy to organize fans \u2013 especially when the people in there have all paid handsomely to be attending or are using corporate seats.<\/p>\n There is only so much the game staff can do to create an atmosphere and they certainly do a good job of game presentation for all of the Toronto teams and venues.<\/p>\n One cool thing Montreal does is not over blast the music \u2013 they let the fans take centre stage if they are game to do so.<\/p>\n Ultimately, it\u2019s fans who decide the spirit and temperature. And good fans don\u2019t just cheer when things are going well for their team \u2013 they also use their big numbers to ignite the home side when things are not going well.<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing a visiting team loves more than to hear the silence of a crowd that was originally super loud. It\u2019s like pulling the plug and letting all the water drain out.<\/p>\n One place that has shown itself to be an off-the-charts playoff inferno is down at the KeyBank Centre in Buffalo, which has literally been on fire during these playoffs \u2013 the Sabres first appearance in the post season in 14 years. The fans were starved and it shows.<\/p>\n And not just inside the arena but outside too. Amazing spirit there \u2013 much like what I witnesses during those years the NFL Buffalo Bills went to four straight Super Bowls.<\/p>\n Cami Clune a new star<\/p>\n In many ways, the Sabres and the Detroit Red Wings are unofficial Canadian teams because their arenas are just over a river and across the border. There\u2019s debate on how many Canadians go to the games, but it\u2019s a significant amount.<\/p>\n But fans this week showed incredible passion by helping out amazing Sabres anthem singer Cami Clune when her microphone stopped working in the middle of O Canada. They just starting singing loud in unison and created a magical, memorable moment.<\/p>\n