Ooh, aah, au revior les Glorieux!

This year, I’ve really started to get into the Boston Bruins.  I’ve always liked them in past years, but never this much.  It isn’t because they were the best team in the Eastern Conference this year; it’s because of the playoff game I saw them play against the Canadiens last year.  That game really got me engulfed in Bruins fever and you no what?  After they beat the Montreal Canadiens last night, it felt like the Sox had just won a World Series game.

What makes the Bruins sweep of the Canadiens even sweeter isn’t that it is their first series win since 1999 and it came against their arch nemesis; it’s because of the enjoyment of watching the classless Canadiens fans be disappointed.

This isn’t the first time the booing happened at the Bell Centre in Montreal, but when the “Star Spangled Banner” was played before game three this year, Canadiens fans actually had the audacity to boo.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was asked about the booing and here’s what he had to say:

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“The same thing happened last year and it happened just about every time I’ve played here,” he said. “I was prepared for it. I knew what was going to happen and I just ignored it.”

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Look, I understand Canadiens fans hate us Bruins fans, but the feeling is mutual.  There may be one or two jerks who boo the Canadian National Anthem at the TD Banknorth Garden, but not thousands of people.

There is a limit on how far one should go to heckle the other team, but disrespecting a country’s National Anthem is crossing the line.  I understand Canadian hatred is deep towards the Bruins, but the National Anthem has nothing to do with them!  If Canadiens fans hatred towards the Bruins makes them hate American as well, that is childish and booing the Anthem is blatant disrespect.

I’m not sure if William McCarthy is a writer for The Gazette in Montreal or just a fan, but he makes a a really, really good point.

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“I’ve said it 100 times to my kids: As a Bostonian I hate the Yankees, I hate the Dolphins, I hate the Jets, and, I hate the &^8#*^ Canadiens. But I never would loudly cheer and boo during their national anthem.

“Regardless of politics, regardless of faith, regardless of team colours, you should always respect your opponent.”

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Montreal coach and GM Bob Gainey acknowledged the booing before game four and asked Canadiens fans to stop the booing.

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“I feel like there’s confusion there with our fans,” Gainey said Tuesday. “They feel like booing the anthem is supporting our team, in that the anthem represents the Boston team.

“And I think if they could separate those two things, then we could respect the anthem of the United States of America and they could still participate loudly in whatever way they want to disrupt the Bruins.”

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I respect Gainey for what he did and even Thomas said it was a “classy thing to do”, but when did a hockey game become like grammar school?  Remember back in sixth or seventh grade when you did something “deviant”, but kept doing it until the teacher caught you?  Well it’s the same way with Canadiens fans who need the coach of their beloved franchise to tell them it’s wrong before they stop.  Give me a break.

As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t the first year booing has happened.  In order to counter act that booing, the Canadiens had a taped message of former Montreal great center Jean Beliveau asking fans not to boo.

When news like this comes out about what the Montreal franchise is trying to do to get Canadiens fans to stop booing, it makes Montreal fans seem so immature.  I picture them as a bunch of little kids who feed off each other and the fact that there is no supervision.  That’s fine for little kids, but not people in their twenties, thirties, and forties.  It isn’t until the principle, or in this case, Montreal the coach, tells the kids to quiet down that they do.

I’ll tell you one thing, you’ll never hear Will Ferrell tell Montreal to stay classy.  It’s kind of hard for me to look at Montreal with any type of class after the booing incidents.  I feel bad for all the fans who didn’t boo either, but the jerks that did it make you look bad too.

Till next time, you stay classy world,

-Matt-