The Montreal Forum hosted more historic moments than any other venue in NHL history. It was the home for the Montreal Canadiens and their multiple Stanley Cup-winning teams. This is a place filled with history, mystique, and legend.
That’s not what is felt when entering the venue these days. The Forum still stands, unlike other famous venues that were torn down to make space for other buildings. That said, most people passing by would have no idea that a black square building was home to many of hockey’s most historic moments.
The black square is a good place to start. Most hockey fans are well aware of the famous photo of the Montreal Forum, a picture of an old square building made initially with brick and renovated with cement, a bright exterior for an old place to play and watch hockey. It’s now dark on the outside with no team colors on the inside, which is filled instead with a movie theatre, shops, and a few other local establishments (the first thing I saw walking down St. Catherine Street was a Dollarama store attached to the building, which is a bit ironic considering that’s probably what tickets cost back in 1924 when the place opened).
To be fair, there are some remnants of its past in what is now a mall. There are seats from the old arena that are often used as benches for people to sit on. There are also photos of the Canadiens and Cup-winning teams from the past. Yet, how did such a famous place feel so invisible, and should something be done to change that?
How The Forum Became What It Is
Walking around the Forum and talking to some of the people, from locals to security, there’s one thing that stands out. The people who run the place aren’t hockey people or even Canadian. They are business people and have been since the Canadiens played their final game there in 1996.
The Forum is owned by Cineplex Entertainment, which uses roughly a third of the space for movie theatres while the rest is rented out. It’s a popular site, but not for its hockey history. There’s a Habs logo in the middle of the first floor where the faceoff circle used to be, and it wasn’t long ago that the floor looked like the center ice. Otherwise, hockey fans who enter the Forum must only imagine what the place looked like 40 or 50 years ago.
When the Canadiens moved to the Bell Centre, the Forum couldn’t be used for professional hockey. It was an old and outdated place. When it was purchased, moving away from hockey became a necessary decision, and to prevent the Forum from being torn down, they needed to get the most out of it.
Can Hockey Return to the Historic Site?
The American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, has an ice skating rink. So does the West Edmonton Mall. The ice is used for open skates but also for youth competitions, from figure skating to hockey games.
Why can’t the same happen with the Forum, which has also become a shopping mall for all intents and purposes? The simple answer is space. The American Dream and West Edmonton Mall are millions of square feet and have multiple venues, along with the rink. The Forum is a few Montreal city blocks, and a rink in the middle wouldn’t fit with everything in the area already.
The other question is what would the rink be used for? The Canadiens play in the Bell Centre, and the Laval Rocket, their American Hockey League (AHL) team, play in the neighboring town of Laval (which some locals would insist is still a part of Montreal, or at least the greater area). Youth hockey wouldn’t be a bad alternative, especially since it can revive hockey in the inner city, something Montreal and the province of Quebec would probably want.
The problem is that they tried youth hockey in the area, with the Montreal Juniors being a part of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The idea is good in theory, as development is in the heart of the city but in practice, the interest isn’t there. Local won’t attend or follow youth hockey in one part of Montreal when the NHL team is a few blocks away.
It’s why hockey in the Forum, as cool as it sounds, is a non-starter. Instead, the Forum must remain as is, with plenty of entertainment but not hockey-related, at least playing the game that is.
How To Restore The Montreal Forum
One of the security workers, who was born and raised a Canadiens fan, had the same realization I did. We looked down at the floor from the second level, where there is a small display of the famous events that took place in the Forum, and acknowledged that more can and should be done to display the Forum’s history and the Canadiens’ success that went with it.
The building itself should be the team’s colors, the famous bleu, blanc, and rouge that make the Habs stand out even among the historic sports teams. The statue of Henri Richard sitting on a bench was removed but it should be a part of the Forum, along with a mannequin of a cheering fan (which is on the second level, sitting in one of the old seats).
But these are just basic ideas. Montreal and the Canadiens go hand in hand, and the city lives with this team. The Forum needs more to reflect that. One possibility is for the theatre, which shows movies by the hour, showing Canadiens games or iconic moments.
It sounds crazy considering fans can watch just about anything on a laptop or phone these days. However, the Forum can be a place where exclusive footage of the Canadiens is seen. At the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, there is a mini-movie made by NFL Films that fans can only see there. The Canadiens can show the Cup runs of the 1970s or even the 1993 run and have it produced solely for the Forum, and there will be enough people in Montreal to fill the place, especially in the summer when everyone is eager for hockey to return.
Do you think they are all the same Mitchell Horwoods?