that night at the Forum...

t should be apparent that the recent riot in the streets of Montreal ( April 2008 ) is a symptom of a much larger problem than the Habs fan base. Social behavioral conditions often manifest themselves as trivial but like the tip of an ice burgh there is always a much larger story. In this case perceived unrest between police forces and cultural groups is more likely the reason for the cruisers burning than the game.

That being said one must understand that hockey here in Canada is as defining to who we are as political persuasions are to our American friends. The rivalry between the Habs and the Bruins is as old as the game and can be traced back to battles on and off the playing surface, it was after all a Bruins player who clubbed Maurice Richard, of iconic status even then,causing a chain of events that led to rioting in the streets and the ingraining of hockey to our history books. So this was more than a first round series or even more than a loss or win, it was a trigger for the smoking gun which is social unrest and cultural identity.

In keeping with my belief that life is a circle of learning and that the world doesn't change it just re manifests itself, allow me this bit of Canadian history.




The image most people have of him is how he looked after scoring, circling under the clock, steam rising from his collar and some thought his nostrils. He would glance upward from time to time and even the least expensive seat in the house could see the fire blazing from his eyes, his most distinguishable feature. Glen Hall, one of many master tenders that Richard made look silly, said as he broke in on him those eyes flashed like a 'pin ball machine'.

As a boy he would listen to the Canadians play on the French radio broadcasts and dream of playing for the team, idolizing Howie Morenz who unfortunately died when he was sixteen. Thought too fragile to play pro hockey Maurice broke bones the last two seasons he played amateur and the first year he dressed for Les Canadian. In his second term playing on a line with Elmer Lach and Toe Blake he scored thirty two goals. Then the next, 1944-45 fifty in fifty, an accomplishment as meaningful to hockey as the Babes sixty homers in 1927 was to baseball.

Richard had a nose for the net, from the blue line in he was possessed. Seven times he scored three goals in a Stanley Cup Game. Eighteen times in the playoffs he scored the winner helping or as some suggest the reason why the Habs win the cup seven times during his tenure. There was an intensity to his game that transcended his play, every thing he did with incomparable flare. When the Leafs installed 'impenetrable' glass to protect the upper class well tailored customers in the front row Maurice, or the 'Rocket' as he was known in the streets of Montreal where he was from, brought it down. Cartwheeling up into the barricade shattering the barrier onto the ice in a shower of slivers. This visual alone to me capsulizes the socio-economic state of the time when there was a more distinct line between the classes. Richard was a hero in Quebec. Bigger than his team, bigger than the game.

There is one event that illustrates more than any how deeply of Quebec felt for him. Boston Gardens March 13 1955 ; fourth to last game of the season. Late in the third Richard was hit across the forehead by the stick of Hal Laycoe a Bruin defenceman, drawing blood. Maurice went berserk. Taking dead aim he came back at Laycoe and gave him a two hander over the head. The linesman got the stick away from Richard only to watch him pick up another and than break that one over Laycoe's back. In the scrum he also struck the linesman. Well, earlier in the season during another altercation with another English linesman Richard had slapped him across the face with his glove. Clarence Campbell, then President of the league, ruled decisively.

Richard who had been leading the league in scoring before the Laycoe incident would be suspended the rest of the season and the playoffs as well.

On St. Patrick's day at the Forum the Rocket-less Habs lined up against Detroit whom they were tied for first. The crowd was on a slow burn. With Richard sitting by the bench the always upwardly mobile Campbell actually arrived to take a seat with his secretary who all knew to be his mistress. They later married. French Canadians are for the most part staunch Roman Catholics. Someone threw a stink bomb and the game was delayed. Than raw eggs on the ice, somehow they made it through the first period but when it ended someone got past the police and hit Campbell in the face. Pushing and shoving broke out everywhere and the game was called.

Through much of the night people went on a rampage in downtown Montreal throwing bricks through windows, overturning streetcars, looting and setting bonfires. The city boiled with anger until Richard himself went on the air to ask people to calm down and get behind the team. He would accept his punishment. The Richard Riot, as it is known today, may not have been the event that set Quebec societies 'Quiet Revolution' of the sixty's and seventies in motion but I think it was at the very least an important development. As the 'Parti Quebecois' moved toward independence there have been more than one reference to the bitterness of that St. Patrick's night at the Forum.




Please understand that I am not defending this recent incident. No reasonable sports fan would. Somehow passion got off the chain and a minority promoting or reacting to their own agenda have cast a shadow on what should have been a glorious celebration in the pursuit of Hockey's Holy Grail.



A topical repost first entered April 2008.