Montreal Canadiens fans across Ottawa and Gatineau are absolutely pumped that their team has advanced to the NHL Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes this week. So much so that a group in Gatineau was hoping to gather for a Game 2 watch party on Saturday with 4,000 of their closest friends in the city’s biggest rink.
However, the scheduled gathering at Centre Slush Puppie has been put on ice.
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According to an article by Thomas Gerbet and Martin Comtois at Radio-Canada, the groups organizing the event got the required permission from TVA Sports, the French-language TV rights holder, whose live game feed would be shown in the arena.
The organizers reportedly believed they were good to go after that, but when you broadcast a team’s NHL game to that many people in a rival team’s market, and charge a fee to boot, it becomes a territorial rights issue.
The rule is that NHL teams control territorial rights within their city and roughly an 80-kilometre radius surrounding it, and the organizers didn’t get proper authorization.
It’s something you can usually get around by seeking timely permission and, most importantly, cutting the aggrieved team and the league in on some of the action. But with these teams, maybe not. There would naturally be some sensitivity about local events that help the Habs further build their fan base here.
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The event was organized by Les Grand Feux du Casino Lac-Leamy, along with Outaouais en Fête and Vision Multisports Outaouais. The plan was to sell $13 tickets, with proceeds going to charity.
Senators director of communications Sylvain St. Laurent told Radio Canada that the Sens had very little to do with the decision.
While it appears it ultimately came down from the NHL, Gatineau does remain something of a hot-button issue for the Senators. The organization has spent the past few years trying to make inroads in the market. Because the fans there felt largely ignored by previous Sens ownership groups, it’s been (and continues to be) a stronghold for Canadiens fans.
Senators owner Michael Andlauer, who’s bilingual and grew up in Montreal, would clearly like to change that. One of the organization’s hopes is that a new downtown arena might help win over young fans in Gatineau, considering a two-minute drive to see NHL hockey in person is a lot more enticing than a two-hour one.
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So Canadiens fans in the Ottawa-Gatineau area will not get the chance to gather this weekend to take over a local arena and watch their team play. For that, they will have to wait until the fall and pay the usual premium prices (Habs fan tax) when the Montreal plays at Canadian Tire Centre.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
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