The Ugly Side of Winning

MONTREAL--If it was a riot, it was a strange one.

Yes, police cars were burned in downtown Montreal last night in the hours after the Canadiens disposed of the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of their opening round Stanley Cup playoffs.

On Ste. Catharine St., there was glass everywhere, some of it from police cars, some from storefront windows, some from civilian cars.

Yet a large city block away, on Boulevard Rene Levesque, there was no such damage. An hour after the game was over, about two blocks were clogged with cars and celebrating fans high-fiving each other and waving flags, but the celebration was, essentially, fun.

On Ste. Catharine, it was very different. Just after 1 a.m., after all the damage had been done and miles of video had been shot by police of various perpetrators, about 50 riot police emerged to march down the major street, but by then, the trouble had mostly dissipated, replaced by young people taking pictures of damaged police vehicles.

It was more a spasm of opportunistic vandalism than a hockey-related riot, yet it will leave an ugly mark on the city today.

From a sports point of view, no longer will Montrealers be able to mock Torontonians for the way in which they take to the streets with honking car horns after the Maple Leafs win a playoff round, if anyone in the GTA can actually remember back that far.

The Habs-Bruins series was a first rounder, yet the honking was there in the streets of Montreal, evidence, some would say, of the very different demographic that makes up the Montreal fan base these days.

When I started covering games in Montreal in the late 1980s and early 1990s, fans were largely like those at the ACC, mostly sitting on their hands and applauding only the style of hockey they felt was appropriate to Montreal's tradition. As well, they booed the English words to O Canada, leaving everyone feeling a little uncomfortable.

These days, the fans are loud and passionate, as loud and passionate as any hockey fans in the world. They sing every word of O Canada, English or French, and they have created a fabulous hockey atmosphere at the Bell Centre.

But they honk horns after winning a playoff round, perhaps because this team hasn't done a ton of winning since capturing the Stanley Cup back in 1993.

This is a fan base separated by 15 years from its last championship in a city that has changed very much over that time. They're now excited just to eliminate the eighth-place Bruins, with a possible Stanley Cup still three rounds away.

No doubt today in the Montreal media there will be intense debate over all of this, and over the nature of the damage done last night to police vehicles and private property which was, really, more ugly and unfortunate than scary or dangerous.

Punks and vandals did the damage, not hockey fans. Some would say the same was the case with the Richard Riots in 1955.

But while the Habs are still alive in these Stanley Cup playoffs, the fact remains that Montreal cannot be proud of the face it will show the rest of the country today.

Comments

[Matthew]

DAMN HOMELESS PUNKS TAKE ADVANTAGE AND TARNISH THE WHOLE CITY, EVEN THE POLICE SAID IT WAS ONLY A FEW HUNDRED FANS (93 RIOT ESTIMATED 100,000 FANS) I'M NOT BLAMING THIS ON THE POLICE, BUT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN EXPECTED. THIS IS MONTREAL IN THE PLAYOFFS NOT COLUMBUS, IN BASEBALL BOSTON FANS DID THE SAME THING, BASKETBALL: LAKERS FANS, FOOTBALL: GIANTS FANS, AFTER A PASSIONATE CITY WINS ANYTHING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A WHILE THE EMOTION IS HARD TO CONTROL......UNLESS THE POLICE ARE PREPARED

[alex vega]

What a joke! Win one round against the 8th place team. A team that has been playin' crappy for months. I wonder what the riot will be like when they lose the next round.

[robcap]

Matthew, Yes this is Montreal and that is the point. I doubt the riot was expected after a first round victory. Celebrate when the cup is won (part of the tradition of being a Hab fan) and never prematurely lest you look like Leaf Nation. Conversely, I cannot recall any riots after any Toronto championship including the World Series victories in the early 90s. THe 'new' Hab fans should try and learn something. Very unfortunate a few have to react this way.

[John]

The game, Cox, the game! Where's a story on the game? You know - the one Montreal won, 5-0? Oh, well. Why pass up a chance to slight the Habs, right Cox?

[Mike from Montreal]

Damien -- I'm a big fan and a regular reader of your columns but I grimaced when I saw that you were joining the pile-on of negative editorial responses to last night's events on Ste-Catherine.

There's another layer to this story that you touch on at the end of your entry but it is not being properly addressed by you and other non-local media: there has been a series of attacks against the Montreal police, specifically their cruisers, dating back to the fall and peaking in March with the destruction of 6 cars much in the same manner as last night's fire bombs. Local police officials are targeting so-called 'anarchist' groups as the likely culprits.

Going back to the World Cup in 2002, the horn honking has become the de rigeur mode of celebration in Montreal for everything ranging from a round robin win for Portugal over Belgium to a Montreal Impact trouncing of Carolina. Yes, Habs fans took to the streets last night to celebrate a first round series victory, and it got seriously out of hand, but it's highly unlikely those same fans were responsible for escalating the violence to the unacceptable point it reached after midnight -- long after most of the 21,273 faithful poured out of the Bell Centre and made their way home.

[Geoff]

Funny, I just saw some pictures. Barely any of the rioters were wearing Habs jerseys or chanting Go Habs Go. It's too bad when a few idiots ruin it for the rest of us.
Montreal is still a great city, and the Habs are captivating this great nation!
Throw the idiots in jail for 3-6 months. then subject them to 82 games of the Leafs. That way, they'd be sure never to riot again.

[Rick T]

People have to be held accountable for their own actions. Maybe the police should have been better prepared, but you can't blame them for the behaviour of others.

[Rick L, Kingston, ON]

Much thanks for your opinion, Damien. I've been a Habs fan ever since I can remember, but over the last year, or so, I've enjoyed reading your candid opinions. I found them direct and pretty much on the mark.

That said, I was happy to see you distinguish the difference between Canadien's fans and the hooligans who were responsible for the problems in downtown Montreal last night. I suspect these losers could care less about hockey. Their main motivation is to inflict as much damage as they can, if only to bring attention to their actions.

And, as you so accurately point out, their efforts have been noticed. The whole country saw what these losers did last night and, as a result, many viewers/readers have made their judgment on Canadien's fans and the city of Montreal itself. Indeed, the first thing out of peoples' mouths this morning at work, usually centred around the "riots" in Montreal last night.

From what I've read you're the only Toronto-based journalist to have acknowledged the difference between these hooligans and the Canadien's fan base, the majority of which had already retired for the night before these attention-crazed nincompoops took over.

The city of Montreal should be proud of their team's accomplishments this year. Heck, the Habs weren't even tagged to make the post season let alone win the conference. However, there's a stygma that hovers over the team's playoff successes now and it continues to feed and substantiate the beliefs of others. Alas, you're right on the mark about that too.

Thanks again Damien.

[Al]

"the fact remains that Montreal cannot be proud of the face it will show the rest of the country today"

Certainly not, but, when it is not even .01% of the fans that were celebrating downtown, well it could have happened everywhere... even in Toronto! ;) We are not suddenly a bunch of uncivilizied people because of .01% retarded opportunistic vandals, who had this planned way in advance, did what they did last night. There is stupid people everywhere in the world. So please don't make something too big out of it, it could have happened anywhere. It was unfortunate and hopefully those vandals will pay dearly for what they did last night.

[Jerry]

Proof that even Hockey isn't immune to hooliganism.

[Geoff]

By the way, my mom lives in mid-town Montreal, and as of noon today, had no idea about the "riots". Seems to me it's getting more play out of the city then in it.

[jacinthe]

It is a shame when what is making the news is the result of punks looking for attention...rather than the Habs win. The average fan was back home soon after the game as they have to get up to go to work in the AM...
Who would ever think this would happen over a first round win...this was not a Stanley Cup win !
Demographics have indeed changed...at the neighbourhood sports bar, people are rallying together, cheering, celebrating, even though some communicate in English with obvious difficulty.

Let us concentrate on the positive....

[Adam in Montreal & A Former Torontonian]

It's unfair to define the entire Habs fan base or citizens of Montreal by the actions of less than 50 people who chose this occasion to take advantage of the crowd coverage provided by happy fans. While I find it kind of silly to see crowds out honking and celebrating a first-round playoff win, I have to say that out in my neighbour in Montreal's "West Island", about 35 km from downtown, we too witnessed a crowd of 75-100 young guys crowding a corner, honking horns and high-fiving people in their cars as they passed. It was all quite fun, and they went home quietly after an hour. This was more indicative of how the majority of those who took to the streets celebrated. Silly, but harmless.

[pt]

This violence has nothing to do with hockey.

In our society, there are people, because of mental health issues or drug/alcohol abuse, are prone to this type of behaviour.

They take advantage of any circumstance where police can not entirely control a situation because of crowd size, natural disaster, etc and commit such acts.

I was at a Junior game and dozens of teenagers where cheering loudly for a player from their High School. Police and security let it go because they were peaceful enough. After a few moments, a few hooligans joined that crowd and started damaging the rink. Pathetic.

The police have a tough job but I know we all support them.

[Dave]

Wait a minute: I remember driving down Yonge St. after a Leafs-Sens 7th game and seeing Leafs' fans rocking cars, etc.

[Big Bear]

Ummm...well, I hate to say it, guys, but there is an ugly culture of social and political violence in Montreal. The riot last night didn't come out of nowhere.

As "Mike from Montreal" himself pointed out, local yahoos have been torching police cars there for months. Is that happening here in Toronto? Ummm, no. (A lot of other ugly stuff happens here, to be sure, but thank God that Black Bloc neo-anarchist crap doesn't happen here.)

Montreal also has a biker-gang scene with a long tradition of brutal violence. Bikers are not unknown in other parts of the country, but that struggle between the Hells Angels and Rock Machine a few years back was insane. Have we had biker gangs literally blowing each other up in the streets anywhere else in Canada? Not that I can remember!

Montreal has also spawned the only home-grown Canadian terrorist movement that I can think of. True, that was nearly 40 years ago, and true the FLQ never really had mass support, but did you ever see that kind of politicized violence anywhere else in Canada? Don't think so!

And then, of course, there's the Richard riots way back in 1955, followed by some nationalist demonstrations in the 60s that got pretty ugly. More recently--anyone remember how Olympic Stadium was torn apart after the Metallica/Guns n' Roses show there was cancelled in 1992?

So why are people acting as though this is the first riot that has ever, ever happened in Montreal? You folks from Montreal may not want to admit it, but we've been here before.

I know that you can find violent episodes in any city's history, but it seems like a much bigger part of Montreal's scene than it does in other Canadian cities. So while, as Damien points out, Montreal may not be proud of the face it is showing today, it has shown that face before. Last night's silliness was really nothing new.

[Pb]

Cox has been writing off the Habs since last Thursday. He even questioned the talents of Carey Price.

[zeke123]

No, it was a hockey riot. Dont try to defend it.
Hockey fans are A-holes too. More than the average probably even.
Vandals like hockey too.
Claiming otherwise is idiotic.

Rene Levesque and DeMaisonneuve are not commercial streets, mostly skyscrappers. SteCatherine has all the bars, restaurants, stores.
Do you rampage on Bay St or on Yonge?

But you are 100% right, NO ONE from Montreal shall ever make fun of Leaves first round celebrations. That was such a Toronto bush league embarassment. When you win 24 Cups, you rampage ONLY when you win the Cup.
Or at worst, you get robbed with a toe in the crease call maybe you can justify a riot.
But for a first round win?

Embarassing.
Champions act like they've 'been there, done that'.

[Steve]

Riots after a 1st round series? So, does this mean that ALL of Woodbridge was in Montreal last night? Or did some of the mothers let their sons go away by themselves?

[Adam in Montreal & A Former Torontonian]

To Big Bear's comments: Give me a break re Montreal and violence. WE in Montreal have seen the violence that takes place many weekends in your night-club/entertainment section downtown, as 50,000 people cram the area to party. We have seen the stories of random shootings in plain daylight on Yonge St. And we read the statistics about shootings in Toronto. As for your comment about Montreal being a terrorist hot-spot due to the FLQ, am I dreaming, or wasn't there a large scale arrest of home-grown suspect terrorists in Toronto who were apparently plotting to blow up major landmarks, such as the CN Tower and the CBC headquarters. To suggest that Montreal is the axis of evil in Canada, while pretty, sleepy, quiet Toronto is like Disney World where life is sunny is plain crap.

[Big Bear]

Hey Adam,

Helps if you read my comments before resonding to them, but I'll save you the trouble:

I said "a lot of other ugly stuff happens in Toronto, to be sure". The only person suggesting that Toronto is "pretty, sleepy, quiet, and like Disney World" is you, my friend.

I said "home grown terrorist movement". Yes, I'm aware that there are elements in Toronto who are connected to networks of terrorist nut-jobs. However, unless there's a North York Liberation Army that I'm unaware of, you guys are the only ones in Canada who have bred terrorist nutjobs of your very own.

I argued that there is a culture of social and political violence that seems more or less unique to Montreal, and you've done nothing to rebut that argument. You ignored the Rocket Richard riot, you ignored the 92 Guns N' Roses riot, and you ignored the biker violence.

I don't know if you were here in 92 and 93 when the Jays won the World Series. I was--both times. Nothing that happened was even remotely comparable to what happened in Montreal on Monday night.

What I said was: "we've been here before". If you're going to make an argument to refute some of this history, you've yet to make it.

[Pete Nardi]

Hey Geoff,

Why is it that Habs fans need to make jokes about the Leafs to have fun? Man, it's so easy for you to be saying that crap when you're team is winning. But we all know that if it Montreal vs Toronto at the ACC, and the Leafs won, and this stupid stuff happened in downtown Toronto, then you would be knocking our fans as well. I know that you would because of the dumb joke you made. Everyone needs to understand that what happened on Monday night, regardless of the reason, was wrong. Innocent people suffered, as well as the group that is supposed to protect those innocent people. And none of us knows for sure if there were no Habs fans doing it. We'll never know. Just because they weren't wearing Habs jerseys doesn't mean that they were not fans. And that's not even the point. People who live in Montreal should be ashamed that they live in a place where the cops couldn't contain this, and where idiots take advantage of the innocent. And yes, that happens in Toronto all the time, and I'm sick of it. I'm ashamed too.

One more thing Geoff. Just because your mom didn't know about the events that happened on Monday night does not mean that people are blowing it out of proportion. Maybe ignorance runs in the family.

[kenny d]

The shananagans in Montreal the other night were unfortunate and embarrassing. The cause? Let's go back yes way back to that 'love in' called Woodstock. A whole bunch of kids all in one place partying smoking dope and not a LCB store anywhere. The chief of police is interviewed on camera being asked, what about all these kids smoking pot? The chief answers,' The kids are great and having a good time. I would hate to see them all here drinking instead of smoking pot then we'd really have problems." I rest my case.
Question. When was the last time you saw a penalty in overtime of a game seven that was called on a borderline dive in the neutral zone no less? Can you imagine? A penalty called in the neutral zone and on the offensive side of the neutral zone to boot no where near a scoring opportunity. Bettman and his gang of officials must be very proud deciding the outcome of a playoff series. Too bad. The game in regulation was ref'd very well. Check Bettman's playoff pool picks. Then off to Vegas we go.