French-Canadian Golden Knights happy to be back in Montreal for playoff series

By Justin Emerson

Friday, June 18, 2021 | 2 a.m.

The Golden Knights landed in Montreal on Thursday to become the first U.S.-based team to arrive in Canada since the postseason bubble last year. 

Arriving to face the Canadiens in Game 3 at 5 p.m. tonight of the Stanley Cup semifinals is of particular interest to a few of the visitors.

Four Golden Knights hail from Quebec, the provincial home of the Canadiens, and grew up cheering for the hometown team. They won’t be able to leave the NHL’s bubble of hotel and rink to even see family, but it’s a special time for a few players who are home for the first time since the pandemic began.

“It’s going to be tough on the family, it’s going to be kind of divided,” forward William Carrier said. “We were talking about it right before I came here with (Jonathan Marchessault) and (Marc-Andre Fleury). It’s going to be special. Obviously every time we play there in the season it’s special; now we’re playing them in the playoffs.”

Returning to Quebec isn’t like returning to other hometowns scattered throughout the league. Montreal is one of the largest French-speaking cities in the world, including even those in France, so going to Montreal feels more like going to a different country than even Ottawa, Canada’s capital a two-hour drive away.

The Francophones on the Golden Knights are pleased to be back. 

They’re locked up pretty tight in the NHL’s bubble — they required an exemption from the Canadian government to avoid a quarantine for crossing the border — but even seeing the signs in French or hearing the bilingual announcements at the Bell Centre will feel like home.

“French is my first language, so that’s what it’s going to be like being over there,” forward Nicolas Roy said. “It’s exciting to go back to Montreal and it’s going to be fun for sure.”

They were all once Canadiens fans, whether they are from the Montreal area like Carrier or few hours away like Marchessault or Fleury, or even on the other side of the province like Roy.

Montreal does have 23 Stanley Cup victories, most in NHL history, so it’s easy to pass fandom on from one generation to the next, even if it’s been awhile since the last title. The Canadiens last won the Cup in 1993, before Roy or Carrier were born, and when Marchessault was 2. Fleury, the oldest Golden Knight, was around for two of them, but was still a toddler for the 1986 win.

“It will be good to go there, but a little bit of enemy territory I think,” Fleury said. “Obviously we won’t be able to see family or friends or anything like that, but I’m still looking forward to it.”

All these players, while former fans, have been on other teams for years now. None of them has ever played for Montreal, and Fleury even took them on in a postseason series in 2010.  Yes it’s fun to face the Canadiens and yes they all get texts from friends and family, but their boyhood team is the last obstacle between the Golden Knights and the Stanley Cup Final.

There’s no room for old fandom when those are the stakes.

“For me, I’m just trying to come here and do business as usual and just focus,” Marchessault said. “I think right now our team is pretty focused on Game 3, and everything else doesn’t bother us.”