Chapter 5: Sanctum Sanctorum

"The Forum is hockey's shrine, a glorious melting pot of team, city and sporting tradition not elegant, not dramatic, not exciting or controversial. It is expansive, yet intimate, exuberant yet un-selfconscious. It supports and complements a game, never competing for your attention.
And when a game ends, fading away, it gives you nothing to detail the impression it leaves - just a memory of the game and the unshakeable feeling that you've watched it in its proper place."
Those were the words Ken Dryden wrote of the hallowed Montreal Forum in his marvelous book, "The Game". Intelligent and observant as ever, Dryden was able to put in words the intangibles, the instincts, and the flavor of what it was to be a member of the Forum. Even this bookish college kid, was in awe of the place.

The Forum in her existence, cradling the Montreal Canadiens practically from their beginning, had developed many a legend throughout the decades. How could she not? So many intriguing and dramatic stories had played out within her walls, and so many fascinating characters. She had known a fiery, sometimes cruel pair of sniping superstar brothers called "Rocket" and the deadly riots named for Maurice Richard began on her ice. She had known an eccentric, brilliant; asthmatic goalie that passed his nerves knitting stocking caps and who defied the crowds by wearing a mask. She had known goalies that wore the Captain’s C on their jerseys and crowds that threw everything from their own tobacco spit to dead rabbits upon the heads of the players that displeased them.

She had known Lord Stanley’s Cup in every single decade of her existence and she had known the man who created the slap shot.

All of their faces were enshrined in black and white in the locker room of the Forum to look down upon the new players. It must have been awe inspiring and unnerving for any young player to dress in that locker room with the face of Maurice Richard staring continuously, judging and accusing.

There were ghosties in the Forum. It was common knowledge that the spirits of all the great players passed on were living there. Some even said that the souls of old fans and popcorn vendors were still walking the hallways and watching the games. It was obvious, people said that the ghosts fluttered the banners on the wall when there wasn’t a breeze and sometimes sat within the goalposts to deflect an errant shot. And one couldn’t miss the random fan that would come to a game dressed head to toe in a bed sheet peeking out through eyeholes cut into it. In the ghosties they put their faith.

It was said that the ghosts would not allow the Stanley Cup to be lost on home ice. The Forum was too fabled, too precious, and too special for that. Seven times before in The Forum’s history had the cup been in jeopardy on home ice and the Habs were 7-0 in that span. There was magic here that couldn’t be denied and now she had her St. Patrick, it seemed too wonderful a pairing.

Sensing the fans’ hunger for a cup and wanting to make their point, Montreal management fired Coach Jean Perron at the start of the 88-89 season and replaced him with hard-headed, gritty coach Pat Burns. Burns did bring a grating, firm hand to the team. He also remembered Patrick from the junior leagues and he was aware of what a stubborn ill-tempered boy he had been. Burns certainly had his work cut out for him.

He brought discipline and accountability to the Habs whether they liked it or not and he began in a most interesting way.

"I told them, don’t blow them up and put water in them, they aren’t toys," Pat Burns says of his providing condoms in the locker room. That was one aspect of a hockey team’s road life that he was going to clean up and get out of the way.

As for Roy and Burns, after an initial argument in a parking lot where they pretty much yelled, "F--- you!" "No F--- you!" at each other for twenty minutes they got along quite fine. Burns brought a take no crap style to the table and Patrick respected that.

Also, Patrick was a bit distracted by his home life to care too much about whether or not Burns was a good or harsh coach. His girlfriend, Michele Piuze was newly pregnant with their first child and he was excited about that. He brought himself to the locker room excited and impatient and his energy showed on the ice.

The entire season at the Forum was brilliant and the fans were breathtaken by Patrick’s seeming inability to lose on home ice. As week passed into week into months, Patrick remained unbeaten at home. In January of 1989 Patrick started a 17 game unbeaten streak that still stands as his longest. Within that time, March 15, 1989, his son Jonathan was born. Present for the birth and then rushing to his game, Patrick celebrated with a win against the Los Angeles Kings on home ice.

The regular season finished with Patrick having a 23-0-2 record at home and only 5 total losses on the year. The fans had every confidence that the playoffs would be solid and that this year, of all years was an obvious one to claim the Stanley Cup.

That season the modest Calgary Flames were the recipients of the President’s Trophy for most regular season wins. Oddly enough, they were not the favorite for the Cup and when it was clear that the Cup Finals would be a matching of the Montreal Canadiens and Flames, most experts predicted that the Forum, St. Patrick, and the ghosts would prevail.

"...the perception was, leave 'em alone and they'll find some way to screw it up," said Calgary assistant general manager Al MacNeil of the doubts held against his team. It certainly seemed that way in Game 3 with 41 seconds to play the Flames blew a 3-2 lead, then lost in double overtime. Montreal was up two games to one.

What the Forum, the ghosts, St. Patrick, the players, the crowds, the goalposts hadn’t put into their equation was a young Calgary defenseman nicknamed "Chopper" because the sound of his booming slapshot in practice resembled a man chopping wood. Al MacInnis led the Calgary charge in the next three games, cracking his 100+ mph slapshot past Patrick Roy on an almost regular basis.

Roy, who had never seen the likes of MacInnis’ slapshot before seemed ineffectual, often remaining in the same position as the shot whizzed by him into the net and then reacting after the fact. "I did not react," Patrick finally said of that slapshot, "because I could not react." It was as simple as that.

Game 6 was held in the Forum, the Stanley Cup was on the line, and this was where the Habs’ were unbeatable. Calgary found the way however, and stunned the Montreal audience by winning the Stanley Cup on Forum ice. The Conn Smythe trophy went to a more than deserving Al MacInnis.

As for the Habs’, the Stanley Cup Finals was not a good enough finish for their fans. This was a tragedy. This was impossible. That it should happen in The Forum, their Sanctum Sanctorum, was next to unforgivable.

As for Roy there were accolades to be reaped for his wonderful regular season. He received his first Vezina Trophy and shared his third straight Jennings Trophy with Brian Hayward. He was named 1^st team All Star and also received the Trico Goaltending Award. Also he had the distinction of being the only goalie to play a full regular season and have only five losses. A record that may never be broken.

Still, as far as Patrick was concerned, it was the Stanley Cup he desired and played for. He had been in the finals and lost, and there was a frustration in that. The regular season awards he had to his name, seemed like powder in his mouth when his main goal had been denied him.

There was the baby at home, Jonathan, and Patrick delighted in him over the summer. And wanting to seal his relationship with the woman he loved, Patrick proposed marriage to Michele. There were things to look forward to now, and not all of them had to be about hockey.

TBC