Chat with Brendan Kelly | In search of the CH of yesteryear

This week, journalist Brendan Kelly, from the Gazettelaunched The CH and its people, a book which is, in a way, a love letter to this club that he loved so much… and which he continues to love despite everything. For the occasion, he and our journalist went to discuss the meaning of life and the Canadian. In the old Forum, as it should be.

Richard Labbé: I wanted to meet you here because the club has never won anything since leaving this place. Are you superstitious? Do you think the ghosts of the Forum didn’t follow?

Brendan Kelly: I somewhat believe in that. It’s not the same anymore. Remember, when they opened the Molson/Bell Center, the reactions were very negative. There is something that has been lost. But I understand that hockey is a “big business” and that it takes more seats, more boxes…

RL: In the foreword, you mention Mayor Drapeau, who used to say that the parade was going to take the same route as usual… Are you nostalgic for the 1970s of the Canadian?

BK: Well yes. All people like us, of a certain age, have experienced something else. Why should we be happy when the club has been mediocre, or often mediocre, for more than 30 years? We don’t win anymore, and there are a lot fewer French speakers, fewer Quebecers, with the team.

RL: You spoke with Bob Gainey, a guy from Peterborough who was able to speak French. I never heard Carey Price or Saku Koivu say a sentence in French… Why were English-speaking players, in the 1970s, so much closer to us?

BK: Gainey told me that when he arrived here, he became friends with Réjean Houle, with Mario Tremblay. It was natural to speak French. Also, there was a connection with the community; he lived in Westmount, and he took the 24 bus to come to the Forum. You won’t see Cole Caufield on a bus, that’s for sure! After training, Gainey and the guys went to the Les Carabiniers pub on Place Alexis-Nihon to have a couple of beers… But you were talking about Carey, and he’s the perfect example. He was here for a little over 15 years, and he was never able to develop a connection with Montreal. He had complained that he was not able to do his grocery shopping in peace…

RL: At the same time, it is another reality, and perhaps even another world.

BK: I understand that we will no longer win like in the 1970s. But you know what? Every year there is someone who will win. Why not us? The champions win because they are well managed, and at one point, there were more Quebec players in Tampa than with the Canadian. Why are they able to find good Quebec players and not us? We missed Patrice Bergeron. By adding Brad Marchand, we missed two guys from the QMJHL who allowed the Bruins to win the Cup. You know, in the draft, once the first round is over, it’s a crapshoot. Why not choose Quebecers? Serge Savard said it to Marc Bergevin: you can win in English, but you cannot lose in English…

RL: Do you think people will eventually get bored?

BK: It’s incredible how much CH sells hope. They tell us that the club is going in the right direction, that they are going to be in the mix… what does that mean? Before, it was the Stanley Cup or nothing. Afterwards, we just wanted to aim for the series, and there, we want to be in the mix. Serge Savard told me that he attended a game against Boston two years ago, and the people around him started to rejoice when the Bruins scored, because the Canadian was going to have a better draft pick… I remember a press conference from Martin St-Louis last season, after a fifth defeat in a row. You asked him what he thought, and he said, “I liked what I saw.” » Criss, why did you like it?

RL: But it doesn’t seem to bother too much because the Bell Center is full every evening…

BK: In the book, Denys Arcand says he grew up with the Canadian, and now he doesn’t care about the team at all. But he pointed out to me, precisely, that there are 21,000 people at the matches every evening, there is the income from the big TV contract. So, there is no urgency!

RL: Reading your book, I got the impression that you would like things to go back to the way they were…

BK: I understand that we can’t do that, but I’m an optimist in life. If Colorado can win, if Vegas can win, the rest of us can win too. There are steps in the right direction. The arrival of Chantal Machabée is a big plus. You know, it’s an organization that has always been very closed, but Chantal, we see that she tries to highlight the players. They have to understand that they are playing in Montreal. PK Subban said that wearing this sweater is something else. I wish the players on the current team understood that.

RL: I’m not sure Carey Price understood that.

BK: This is the best example. He’s a guy from the West who never understood Quebec, that’s clear. His famous photo with the rifle and the dead coyote… That’s him: a guy from the West who likes to be all alone in the woods. But he could have made an effort. I learned French by listening to TV, reading newspapers, listening to the radio. Carey couldn’t take 30 minutes a day to do that?

RL: In the 1970s, the boss was Scotty Bowman, a guy from Verdun who played his junior hockey here. Do you think Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes can understand what Scotty understood?

BK: Gorton, Hughes and Martin St-Louis are all guys who live or have lived in the New England area. Their culture is there, and they have an eye on the players who come out of there, because that’s what they know.

RL: Do you still have hope of finding, one day, the Canadian we find in your book?

BK: I said, I’m an optimist. It’s possible, just as it’s possible to rediscover this link with the community. But it takes a will on the part of the team, and I have not yet seen any proof on this subject…

The CH and its people

Brendan Kelly

Les Éditions de l’Homme

224 pages