Looking at One of Hockey’s Greatest Rivalries
The rivalry between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens is the oldest and most bitter rivalry in the history of the National Hockey League, which has led to these teams being each other’s arch-rivals. From 1944 to 1978, the two teams met each other in the playoffs 12 times, and faced off in five Stanley Cup Finals. While the on-ice competition is fierce, the Leafs-Habs rivalry is actually symbolic of a much deeper cleavage in Canadian history and society ” that between English and French-Canadians. It’s the rivalry between Canada’s largest cities: Toronto, the largest and the heart of Anglo-Canada and Montreal, the second-largest and the heart of Franco-Canada.
As early back as 92 years ago, this rivalry was laying out the groundwork for a bigger one to come. All of Toronto’s fans were generally English speakers, as the fans in Montreal were of French origins. The Maple Leafs logo resembled the Canadian army logo.
In Montreal, the Canadiens were built around a French fan base, as the province of Quebec had its origins with the French republic. In fact, the Canadiens chose to sing “O Canada” before each game, and most of the song was recited in French over English.
While certainly heated during the 1940s and 1950s, the Leafs-Habs rivalry was particularly acute during the 1960s; one of the two teams would capture the Stanley Cup each year in the decade, with the exceptions of 1961 and 1970. The rivalry perhaps reached its zenith in the 1967 season, when both teams met in the Stanley Cup Finals during the centennial year of Canadian Confederation. The city of Montreal was hosting Expo 67 that year, and the Canadiens were expected to beat the Leafs quite handily. Still, underdog Toronto upset the Habs to capture the Cup. Toronto captured their last cup to date in a 4-2 series win over the Canadiens.
Toronto’s luck has since changed. Since 1967, the team hasn’t even made a finals. Montreal, on the other hand, has seen great success as a franchise, with ten more cups won since. Toronto once made the conference finals in 1993 and nearly faced off against the Habs for the Cup, but the Leafs were stopped short in their tracks by the LA Kings.
Before the 1998 season began, the league opted to move Toronto into the same division as Montreal. The rivalry was back alive in the minds of many, and games between the two teams are always interesting. However, they haven’t once seen each other in the playoffs since this happened.
In 2007, right before the start of the playoffs, the Leafs and Canadiens had a game that would decide which team would proceed to the playoffs. The Leafs won, but ultimately did not proceed to playoffs when the New York Islanders stole their spot. The 2009/10 season is coming, and the rivalry continues with Toronto and Montreal facing each other in the opening game of the season. As well as the last game of the season they face off again.
Interestingly enough, my family is all split between which team their loyalty goes to. While my in-laws go with Toronto, I happen to like Montreal. The family has been fighting for the loyalty of my four year old daughter, but being the great father that I am, it looks like she’s going with the Habs!
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