The Montreal Canadiens players are not the only ones gearing up for the playoffs; the rest of the organization and the fans are too. The atmosphere in the city is already electric, but if you need help getting into the spirit, read on and above all, watch and listen to the following videos.
While the Montreal Canadiens had a day off on Wednesday, their marketing and social media teams certainly weren’t off. The playoffs in Montreal are about so much more than what happens on the ice. In a town where hockey is king and generates most of the water cooler discussions, when the Habs make the spring dance, there’s a particular feeling in the air, an effervescence which normally starts from the moment they qualify to the end of the playoff run. In 2021, that meant all the way to July 7, when the Sainte-Flanelle was beaten in the Final by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Last year, it was short and sweet, as the Habs were defeated in five games by the Washington Capitals.
This year? It seems like the spark happened much earlier. With Cole Caufield scoring 50 goals, Nick Suzuki getting to 100 points, Juraj Slafkovsky having his big awakening and Lane Hutson tying a Larry Robinson record, the city has been pumped for some time. That doesn’t mean the Canadiens didn’t think it was necessary to pump it up even more. On Wednesday, the social media team released a pump-up song for the playoffs, an opus featuring Mascouche-born country recording artist Rick Duff, the Road Dogs and Bell Centre organist Diane Bibaud.
The song, titled Killer Instinct marks an interesting departure from the rock songs we normally hear in those circumstances. However, given how many Canadiens players always attend the Lasso Festival in the Summer, it’s not a shocking turn of events. Whatever the style, a song set to a video of the Canadiens’ highlights will always be well-received in town.
Furthermore, local singer Jerome Charlebois also released a new version of his father Robert Charlebois’ iconic song Je reviendrai à Montreal (I will come back to Montreal) on the 50th anniversary of the hit. This time around, though, it’s centered on the Canadiens. While this one is not a pump-up song by any means but rather a ballad, it’s sure to bring back some nice memories for Montreal fans, and what better time for that than just before the start of the playoffs?
Of course, in this day and age, many fans are also taking to social media to share their own video montage of the season. But I came across one that’s particularly well done by Danielle Lapierre and goes through the last five years in Habsland, set to the amazing Coldplay song Fix You, which has become an anthem for the Canadiens. From the 2021 Stanley Cup defeat and those who have left the game since, the arrival of Kent Hughes and Martin St-Louis, the drafting of Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, and Ivan Demidov, to this year’s highlights, this one is sure to hit Canadiens fans right in the feels. Are you ready for puck drop, Montreal?
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