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| Source:The NHL History- presents the Montreal Canadians. |
"The Montreal Canadiens (French: Les Canadiens de Montréal) are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The club is officially known as le Club de hockey Canadien. French nicknames for the team include Les Canadiens (or Le Canadien), Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, La Sainte-Flanelle, Le Tricolore, Les Glorieux (or Nos Glorieux), Les Habitants, Le CH and Le Grand Club. In English, the team's main nickname is the Habs, an abbreviation of "Les Habitants".
From The NHL History
To say the Montreal Canadians are the New York Yankees or Boston Celtics or Green Bay Packers of the National Hockey League or even Canada, is to a certain extent true, but doesn't go nearly far enough because hockey to Canada is probably more important then baseball or basketball or football to America. Not that those sports aren't critical to America, but America is surrounded by distractions, not just sports, but across the board and America also has nine times as many people as Canada, so one great franchise is a lot more important to them then one franchise in America.
But the level of success that the Canadians have had compared with the Yankees or Celtics as well as Packers is very similar. The Canadians have won twenty four Stanley Cups and a lot of conference championships as well. Plus a lot of divisional championships, but those twenty four Stanley Cups were accomplished by 1993.
To say the Montreal Canadians are the New York Yankees or Boston Celtics or Green Bay Packers of the National Hockey League or even Canada, is to a certain extent true, but doesn't go nearly far enough because hockey to Canada is probably more important then baseball or basketball or football to America. Not that those sports aren't critical to America, but America is surrounded by distractions, not just sports, but across the board and America also has nine times as many people as Canada, so one great franchise is a lot more important to them then one franchise in America.
But the level of success that the Canadians have had compared with the Yankees or Celtics as well as Packers is very similar. The Canadians have won twenty four Stanley Cups and a lot of conference championships as well. Plus a lot of divisional championships, but those twenty four Stanley Cups were accomplished by 1993.
The Yankees have won thirty I believe World Series but they won one in 1996 and two more in the late 1990s. The Celtics have won seventeen NBA Finals, but their last won was in 2008. The Packers have won 11-12 Super Bowls (if you combine what use to be called the NFL Championship with the Super Bowl) and the Packers won their last Super Bowl in 2010.
The Canadians won what twenty four Stanley Cups in their first eighty years. No other franchise has matched that type of championship success in any North American pro sports league, which is how they standout from every other pro sports franchise in North America.
The Canadians obviously have not been as dominant as they were in the 1980s or seventies. Haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1993, not sure why considering the market they play in with the fan base and arena and so-forth. They haven't even been back to the Stanley Cup since 1993, I don't believe they've even been to the conference finals since. They haven't been a championship contender since, but none of this take away from what they've accomplished and what they mean to Canada.
The Canadians obviously have not been as dominant as they were in the 1980s or seventies. Haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1993, not sure why considering the market they play in with the fan base and arena and so-forth. They haven't even been back to the Stanley Cup since 1993, I don't believe they've even been to the conference finals since. They haven't been a championship contender since, but none of this take away from what they've accomplished and what they mean to Canada.
