When it comes to hockey stories, diehard fans pay attention to even the smallest and most speculative reports. Whether following their favorite player as the trade window opens or trying to learn more about their team’s history, there’s always a new story to follow.
Across the country, hockey sees plenty of coverage each day—and not just news-related. There are puck can coolers, fantasy sports leagues, and phrases immortalizing hockey as ‘the dance of life’.
Even some online casinos explore the sport through games like slots. Canadian site Wildz.com, for example, includes titles like Blazing Ice and All Sports, which draw on the sport’s natural excitement. But the Habs aren’t quite like the NHL’s other twenty-nine teams.
They’re the oldest team in the league, and one of the oldest active hockey clubs in the world. They’ve notched the most Stanley Cups despite a 28-year drought. Unsurprisingly, the team has seen more than a few controversies and upsets—as well as a few truly bizarre incidents.
Habs Ghosts Hijacked to Colorado
Patrick Roy is a legend. In addition to being named the NHL’s greatest goalie of all time and the only hockey player to nab three Conn Smythe awards in separate decades, he also brought home two Stanley Cups.
But there’s a legend which says that Roy took something from the arena when he left for the Avalanche in 1995 after an ‘infamous moment’ with Mario Tremblay: the friendly ghosts that haunted the stands. Apparently, the Montreal Forum was home to fanatical spirits that took to the rink to give the players extra luck and strength.
When Roy left, he packed the ghosts and took them to Colorado, where he went on to win two more Stanley Cups and put the Avalanche on the map—all while the Habs floundered. When Roy returned in 2021 to bury the hatchet with Tremblay, the Habs started winning—and went on to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Lightning.
Never Just a Jersey Number
The Habs seem to have finally found a replacement for Roy in Carey Price—and it all leads back to Price’s jersey number of 31. On May 31, 2021, the Habs were down 3-1 in a series against the Maple Leafs, who had taken 31 shots on goal. Then, three penalties were given and one power-play led to a goal. The team then won the game 3-1.
Price isn’t the first Hab to have a special relationship to his jersey number. Though Jesperi Kotkaniemi, number 15, had an up-and-down start to his career with the Habs before moving to the Hurricanes, he pulled out all the stops in a series against the Maple Leafs, during which the team were playing in front of fans for the first time in 15 months. At exactly 15:15 in overtime and taking the 15th shot of the period during his 15th minute of play, Kotkaniemi scored the game-winner.
What’s in a Name?
PK Subban was one of the Habs’ greatest assets—but there was an ongoing debate about the pronunciation of the Toronto-born star’s name. For English and French speakers, the abbreviation of PK is pronounced differently. Back in 2015, language groups advocated for a French pronunciation for broadcasters that were serving Francophone viewers.
After all, English broadcasters regularly mispronounced French names like Jean-Claude Tremblay (or just JC). Seven years later, it seems most broadcasting groups have stuck with a chosen pronunciation—not that Subban, currently on the New Jersey Devils, cared.
When asked by reporters from the Montreal Gazette how he felt about it in 2015, Subban said, “It sounds kind of sexy, actually. I like it.” He noted that he’d heard a French pronunciation used for his names on multiple occasions. Later on in the interview, he joked that if his name was going to be changed, “Just start calling me Denzel. Why not?”