The Montreal Canadiens once again played in an empty arena. He will find his supporters after the holidays, but he will not be able to welcome them all.
The capacity of the province’s amphitheatres will be reduced by 50% as of Monday, the Quebec government announced. This requirement is part of the major tightening of health measures aimed at controlling the explosion of COVID-19 cases. Thursday night’s game at the Bell Center, however, was presented behind closed doors.
A little before 5 p.m., season ticket holders received an email informing them that the game against the Philadelphia Flyers would be played without spectators. The missive indicated, however, that this measure only concerned this game. This minimum notice was inevitable: the organization claims to have had to react very quickly after receiving a request from the Public Health of Quebec at the end of the afternoon.
The fate of the last game of 2021, scheduled for Saturday against the Boston Bruins, remains to be determined. The Canadian is due to post an update on this on Saturday morning.
However, we can wonder if this duel will even take place: in the early evening, Thursday, the Bruins saw their number of players subject to the COVID-19 surveillance protocol planned by the NHL increase to seven, in addition to two members. of their staff. The team were playing against the Islanders on Long Island on Thursday night and have already warned that they will spend an additional night in New York to delay their entry into Canada. A positive case detected north of the border would in effect require the person concerned to observe a quarantine before returning to the United States.
Either way, the Canadian will play his next six road games and won’t be back home until January 4. He will then play in an enclosure that is presumed to be half full.
Several teams on the circuit are currently dealing with small to large outbreaks – the Calgary Flames have so far put 17 names on the COVID-19 protocol. No CH player is currently affected by the coronavirus. Brendan Gallagher and Sami Niku recently had to leave the team’s entourage after contracting him, but have since resumed training. They could play as of Monday.
Boxing
A boxing gala organized by the Yvon Michel Group (GYM) must also take place this Friday at the Bell Center. The pugilists Marie-Eve Dicaire and Artur Beterbiev are the headliners of this evening.
“For the moment the plans for the gala are not changed. Until proven otherwise, we are expecting you, ”the promoter Yvon Michel wrote on Twitter.
If the survival of the event does not seem, a priori, threatened, it is not clear whether spectators will attend. And, if so, how many will be admitted.
The gala is planned as a “theater” in front of a maximum of 5,000 people. Even if all tickets were sold, that number would be about a quarter of the capacity of the amphitheater.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, meanwhile, only has one day of activities on its schedule before a 10-day break. The five games played in the province on Saturday should be presented in front of usual crowds. The management of the circuit will meet the teams over the weekend to take stock of the situation and will remain in contact with Public Health, a spokesperson wrote to us.
Asked about the events planned in arenas or performance venues across the province over the weekend, Dr Horacio Arruda, national director of public health, said “discussions” were to take place.
“We did not make the directory of everything that will happen,” he said during the government press briefing. In the specific case of the Bell Center, “we acted quickly, in an exceptional way”. Regarding the other places, “we are going to do a risk assessment”.
At the end of the evening, the Laval Rocket, the Habs’ school club in the American League, let it be known that their Friday game, against the Providence Bruins, will also be played behind closed doors.
Evolution
After having played its entire 2020-2021 season behind closed doors, the CH had been able to reconnect with its supporters last May; 2,500 people had been admitted as of game number 6 in the series between the Montrealers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. A few weeks later, capacity had been increased to 3,500, as the association final against the Vegas Golden Knights began.
The organization then made representations to Quebec so that 10,500 spectators would be admitted to the Bell Center. A few days before the start of the Stanley Cup final, France-Margaret Bélanger, who is now President, Sports and Entertainment of Groupe CH, made a public plea during a media release. However, Public Health refused this request.
This season has so far been played in front of packed halls – well almost, because despite 21,302 seats available, an average of 19,891 people have passed through the turnstiles for the 15 local games of the club. It was, however, the highest total in the NHL.
In a written statement, Mr.me Bélanger recalled, Thursday evening, that no case of COVID-19 had been reported among spectators of the amphitheater since their return to the building last summer.
“We are proud of the work accomplished by our teams since the reopening of the Bell Center. We will maintain our standards of excellence, ”she concluded.