The Canadiens and Montreal fans are getting some very positive attention and acclaim in the United States from a highly unlikely source.
Pat McAfee is a former NFL punter and WWE wrestler who now hosts The Pat McAfee Show, which is very popular on ESPN/YouTube. The show averages more than 500,000 viewers Monday through Friday from noon to 3 p.m.
McAfee made headlines for his negative comments about Canada last year when he was a commentator during the WWE’s Elimination Chamber event at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
“This is the most stacked Elimination Chamber that the WWE has ever had,” McAfee said on the pay-per-view broadcast. “Kinda sucks that it’s in the terrible country of Canada that booed our national anthem to start this entire thing.”
Fans outside the Bell Centre cheer a second-period goal by the Canadiens against the Sabres during Game 3 Sunday night. John Kenney / Montreal Gazette
The booing at the wrestling event was related to U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments about wanting to make Canada the 51st state, along with his trade tariffs on Canada.
Not surprisingly, McAfee received a ton of backlash from Canadians and a couple of days later explained his comments on his show.
“I understand, now, from the Canadians that they have a lot more passion for their country than I could have imagined,” McAfee said. “A lot of terrible things have been said about me, and I understand it.
“I didn’t say Canadians were terrible,” McAfee added. “I said your country was. You booed us. I said you were terrible. Let’s shake hands and move along. I still love Canadians … I hope it gets settled.”
Now McAfee is falling in love with Montreal and the electric atmosphere surrounding the Canadiens, who were leading the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in a best-of-seven, second-round playoff series heading into Game 4 Tuesday at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).
On his show Monday, McAfee did a segment titled “I Wish I Was There” and it was about the Bell Centre.
“I would never say I wanted to go to Canada — ever,” McAfee said.
He then added about the Canadiens’ 6-2 win in Game 2 Sunday: “Did you see the Canadiens this weekend!? This is what sports can create that nobody else on Earth can create.
“Now, I’ve read some things about me from a lot of Canadians, so I just think to myself maybe not where I want to head to at this exact time in my life. Then I saw this with my daughter. Mackenzie and I were watching this. She was glued to the screen. And I’m like: ‘Yes, girl. Yeah, this is what sports is all about.’ What a magical moment of city, obviously, community coming around and saying: ‘Lads, we’re going to help you today.’ Get a huge win — absolutely huge win at home against this Buffalo Sabres team who has the exact same thing happening in their barn back in Buffalo. The NHL playoffs are creating magical environments and I think that’s a part of it. Just like college football. College football, the pageantry and the environment is what separates it from the NFL.”
The college football comparison is a really good one for what’s happening now in Montreal with the passion of Canadiens fans. It seems like the entire city is focused on the team, living and dying with every goal for or against. We have never, ever seen so many Canadiens sweaters around town or at the Bell Centre.
Former Gazette and Sports Illustrated columnist Michael Farber did a wonderful essay for TSN before the playoffs started titled: Ça sent la coupe.
“Whether it’s the whiff of lilacs or thoughts of a 35-pound trophy, there is something in the air in Montreal,” the wordsmith Farber said in his video essay. “The feeling is commonly expressed in French, occasionally in English, but in the third period when a lead is safe and the team is wheeling it pours out in Montreal’s third language — Spanish.”
Olé! Olé! Olé!
Farber correctly noted that there is no team-town connection in Canada quite like Montreal — expecially in the playoffs — adding that when Cole Caufield scored his 50th goal this season “it felt like a million Montrealers had just scored their 50th.”
Indeed.
As Farber put it: “A sometimes fractious place is on the same page, even if the book is written in different languages.”
The passion from Canadiens fans has never been higher — not even in the glory days when the Stanley Cup parade would take “the usual route.”
Ça sent la coupe again and it’s a wonderful thing for the city.
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Phillip Danault can smell it in his second stint with the Canadiens, after being traded back here in December following four-and-a-half seasons with the Los Angeles Kings.
“L.A.’s got a great crowd, too,” Danault said after Tuesday’s morning skate. “But there’s like 13 other sports down there, or maybe 18. So you lose a game and you switch jerseys and put the Lakers on. It’s a little different here. Here it’s a religion and the passion. The whole city is in it and on game days it’s like everyone’s just dialled in mentally for the game. If you’re a fan or a player it’s the same routine, I feel like.
“It’s amazing,” Danault added. “This city’s electric and this crowd … it’s home. The home crowd is unbelievable. It has always been, but it just feels like another level and the support is amazing.”
Pat McAfee agrees.