The Montreal Canadiens will once again play in an empty arena, first totally, then partially.
As part of the major tightening of health measures planned by the Quebec government to control the explosion of COVID-19 cases in the province, the capacity of the province’s amphitheatres will be reduced by 50% as of Monday. Prime Minister François Legault confirmed this during a press briefing.
Thursday night’s game at the Bell Center will however be played behind closed doors. Season ticket holders received an email shortly before 5 p.m. advising them that Thursday night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers would be played without spectators. The letter however indicated that this measure concerns only this game.
The team then confirmed the news in a statement, specifying that the fate of the last game of 2021, scheduled for this Saturday against the Boston Bruins, remains to be determined. The Canadian, who will play the next six road games, will not return home until January 4 and will then play in front of a “partial capacity” enclosure.
A boxing gala must also take place this Friday at the Bell Center. It is not yet known whether spectators will be able to attend, and if so, how many.
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 repertoire of everything that will happen,” he said during the 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”.
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 conference 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 plea during a media release. However, Public Health refused this request.
On the other hand, this season has so far been played at full capacity – well almost, because if of the 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.
Several teams on the circuit are currently dealing with small to large outbreaks – the Calgary Flames have so far listed 17 people on the COVID-19 protocol. No CH player is currently affected by the coronavirus. However, the team is the first to play a match without a spectator, and the third to reduce its capacity. Due to rules imposed by the Ontario government earlier this week, the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs have already announced they will halve the capacity of their respective arenas.