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Essay | essai

The Forum The Hockey Arena at the Nexus of Sport, Religion, and Cultural Politics1

Howard Shubert is curator of prints and > Howard Shubert drawings at the Canadian for Architecture in Montreal. He holds degrees in economics, art history, and architectural history from McGill University and the University of . He has published essays and exhibition catalogues n March 15, 1996, a parade made its on such topics as ice skating rinks and hockey Oway down Ste. Catherine Street in arenas, bank architecture in , and the . Originating at the Forum, home to the works of Richard Henriquez, Greg Lynn, Cedric hockey team since 1926 (and since 1924 to Price, and James Stirling. the , for whom it had been built), the parade’s destination was the Canadiens’ new home, the Molson (now Bell) Centre three kilometres away. Riding in open-topped cars of the 1950s to 1990s were Montreal hockey legends, also of that vintage (fig. 1). A four-storey tall inflated hockey player added a festive air to the procession, which nevertheless was tinged with a funereal sadness— something gained and something lost. The ostensible purpose of the parade was to mark the opening of the Molson Centre, but its raison d’être was the transference of the Forum’s ghosts, its karma, its winning spirit. In light of this underlying , even more important than those vintage hockey players decked out in the bleu, blanc et rouge, was the presence of a simple torch.

In 1940, then head coach of the Canadiens , Sr. conceived a brilliant tactic to motivate his players. Inspired by John McCrae’s famous World War I poem, “In Flanders Fields,” Irvin had painted high on the dressing room wall the following lines:

To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.2

The words remained in place for fifty-six years, during which time the team won a record twenty Stanley Cups, becom- ing the most successful franchise in team sport history. Guy , one of ill. 1. , Réjean Houle, and Mario Tremblay Parading from the to the Molson Centre, The Gazette, March 16, 1996.

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fig. 2. Montreal Canadiens Salutes Fans fig. 3. The Montreal Forum under construction, 1924. | © McCord Museum, MP-1977.140.18.2. with the Torch at the Final Game Played at the Montreal Forum, The Gazette, March 12, 1996.

the greats through the 1970s and early glorious history, until it reached those Centre ice, in a ceremony of baptism and 1980s, recalled that, “the first words that of then current captain Pierre Turgeon, rebirth. The overtly religious dimension we learned when we first stepped into who thereupon dipped the torch to touch of these ceremonies echoed the medieval the room were about the torch. The first the heart of the Canadiens’ logo, the tradition of “translation,” according to thing they show you is what’s written on CH inscribed at centre ice (fig. 2). In this which a saint’s body, remains, or some the wall.”3 action a chapter was ended; witnessed by other holy relic, was transferred from one some eighteen thousand in attendance church or holy resting place to another. Four nights before the parade this torch and by many thousands more via tele- The sacred aspect of the parade would had been the central actor in a public rela- vision, the Forum was desanctified.4 not have been lost on French Quebeckers, tions extravaganza; a staged melodrama especially those old enough to remember that was moving in spite of its calculated And now this torch was threading its way the common occurrence of local and prov- kitschiness. Prior to the start of the final through Montreal streets, along with ice ince-wide religious processions, such as hockey game at the Forum, on March 11, scraped from the surface of the old Forum. the parades organized for Corpus Christi, twenty-three former Canadiens greats The twenty-four banners Sacred Heart, and Saint-Jean-Baptiste.6 trooped onto the ice to be cheered by that had hung from the Forum’s rafters, While the hold of the Catholic church an adoring crowd. Maurice “The Rocket” inspiring local players and fans and strik- within the Québécois culture is not so Richard elicited the greatest applause ing fear among visiting teams, had been strong today as it was fifty years ago, its from the crowd, nearly ten-minutes’ judged too small to be adequately visible impact is still in evidence, in the language worth, including shouts of “Richard, within the more capacious confines of the of profanity (callise, tabarnak), in the Richard,” and “Campbell, Campbell” Molson Centre. They had been sold off at popularity of communion wafers sold as (a reference that will be clarified fur- a charity auction two nights earlier.5 New, snack food in grocery stores, and even in ther along). Then, the oldest surviving larger replicas rode with the players in the the nicknames for the Canadiens hockey team captain, Émile “Butch” Bouchard, open cars, towering above them. These team (les Glorieux, la Sainte-Flanelle).7 skated to centre ice carrying aloft a flam- precious artefacts were on their way to ing torch. This incarnation of Montreal consecrate their new home. The torch Over the course of its seventy-two-year hockey tradition was passed from hand to would be lit anew, the banners hoisted, history, the Forum witnessed many extra- successive hand of Canadiens captains in and the Forum ice, now melted, would ordinary events that contributed to its an allegorical reenactment of the team’s be sprinkled over a fresh sheet of Molson status as a revered shrine. Yet little of

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this veneration redounded from the quality of the Forum’s architecture, which has remained never more than ordinary through a series of additions and transformations. Completed in 1924 to a design by John S. Archibald, its three-storey -Renaissance exterior, composed of red brick with sandstone trim, repeated the rhythms, punctuating corner pavilions, and central arched main entrance on Ste. Catherine Street of the 1909 roller rink it replaced (fig. 3). The encompassing girdle of small shops at street level, marked by signs and mar- quees, endowed the Forum with a com- mercial aspect intended to harmonize its great bulk within its downtown loca- fig. 4. The Montreal Forum, 1968, Ken Sedleigh, architect. | Lowell Kotko. tion. Only the Forum’s massive footprint, occupying the entire block bounded by de Maisonneuve Blvd., Atwater, Ste. Catherine, and Closse Streets, and Perhaps it is the banality of its architec- accoutrements or functionality but about its huge, simple shed roof, visible from tural design that has led the Forum, and mystique, nostalgia, and heroics—about above or at a distance of several blocks, professional sports architecture in gen- the transporting quality of what went betrayed the scale of the building’s eral, to be overlooked by architectural on there.”12 The iconic status of Golden interior volume, its reason for being. historians. Discussing ’s Oakland Era arenas owes much less to form and Subsequent renovations, in 1948 and a Coliseum, Los Angeles Times architecture structure than it does to myth, memory, decade later, added a floor and more critic John Pastier remarked upon the pro- and a culture born of shared experience. seating but left the exterior unchanged. fessional vacuum concerning criticism of sports architecture. He bemoaned the A brief overview of the origins and The more substantial renovation of 1968, fact that, “Theoreticians and scholars development of the places in which by architect Ken Sedleigh, increased seat- have given this characteristically American hockey has been played in Canada ing to about eighteen thousand and building form roughly 1% of the atten- will help illuminate the nature of this removed the interior columns that had tion that they have lavished upon a hand- shared experience as well as the extent supported the roof but had obstructed ful of secluded neo-Corbusian private to which the hockey arena has become views. This makeover completely trans- residences.”9 The same may be stated for embedded within the fabric of Canadian formed the exterior, unifying and accen- the characteristically Canadian building culture. From its beginnings hockey has tuating its mass by sheathing it in a type—the hockey arena.10 been played in buildings constructed composition of concrete panels and glass. along utilitarian lines. In the late nine- Though otherwise undistinguished, this A possible reason for this discrepancy teenth century, the first indoor games final renovation did succeed in branding was suggested by the author of a New took place in buildings originally con- the building with the iconic and tele- York City guidebook discussing Madison structed for other purposes—either visually punchy image of crossed hockey Square Garden: “Sports arenas […] are pleasure skating or .13 The build- sticks, actually side-illuminated escalators, defined less by their architecture than by ers of those early wood structures visible through the glazed façade along the collective memories they contain.”11 spanned the ice surface in post and Ste. Catherine Street. This repeatedly tele- And this view was echoed in a com- lintel fashion or with elegantly curving vised image of the building has been seen memorative ’s arches springing from floor level, as at by far more people than actually entered Leaf Gardens, which was described as Montreal’s Victoria Ice Rink of 1862, the Forum (fig. 4).8 being “never primarily about bricks or one of the very few such structures

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fig. 5. Interior view of the Victoria Ice Rink, Montreal, 1862, Lawford fig. 6. Fire at the Sherman Rink, , 1915. | Glenbow archives, NB-16-446. and Nelson, architects. | Charles P. De Volpi, Montréal, recueil iconographique : gravures historiques et illustrations relatives à la ville de Montréal (1963).

to have been designed by architects In spite of these inconveniences, hockey early arenas were built of wood, fire was (Lawford and Nelson) (fig. 5). All such continued to grow in popularity and that a real and constant threat. They burned rinks relied on natural ice surfaces, and created the economic condition leading easily and often. Calgary’s Sherman Rink while some assisted nature, through the to the construction of the first purpose- burned down in 1915, and during 1918 inclusion of louvered openings at the built hockey arena in 1898—Montreal’s and 1919 fire destroyed the Jubilee Rink, base of the wall in a bid to draw colder Westmount Arena. The Arena’s now Rink, and the Westmount Arena, air onto freshly watered ice surfaces, ubiquitous continuous tiers of graded all in Montreal (fig. 6). all functioned, and changed function, stands surrounding an ice surface cre- in concert with the seasons. Regardless ated “a box to contain a drama,” to Many of these drawbacks were addressed of design, all of these drafty barns had borrow a phrase used to describe early in the next generation of hockey arenas been constructed for active participants enclosed baseball parks.15 Yet these constructed between 1920 and 1931.18 rather than spectators, so that watch- primitive arenas offered little to devoted Built of steel and concrete, often remark- ing a hockey match within them would fans in the way of spectator comfort; ably quickly during the off-, these have approximated the experience of buildings were unheated and it could arenas (not rinks) were named Forum, spectating out-of-doors, with the audi- be horribly cold inside. (At Westmount Gardens, and Olympia in recognition ence huddled around the perimeter of Arena blankets were rented to specta- of the new-found confidence of their a cleared patch of frozen pond. What tors at ten cents apiece.) Seats were owners. These buildings also distin- engraved views of these buildings do narrow and hard, but still preferable to guished themselves from their predeces- not reveal, is the dense smoky atmos- standing, as at ’s Laurier Arena sors in being conceived exclusively by phere, the poor lighting conditions, (1907) where two thousand five hundred architects, mostly competent practition- and the inevitable soft, snow-covered of the seven thousand available “places” ers of local or regional repute, including ice surfaces that typically prevailed by for spectators were for “standees.”16 two theatre architects: Thomas Lamb in game’s end, to say nothing of the lim- Poor ventilation meant that steam and New York and Charles Howard Crane ited views and lack of protection from tobacco smoke combined to make visibil- in . The improved solidity and flying pucks and bodies. One small ity increasingly difficult as games pro- stability of these arenas were essential technological advance, the shift from gressed. Fog-covered ice surfaces were components to the financial success of gas to electric lighting at the end of the not uncommon, and since electric lights the fledgling nineteenth century, lowered the aver- originally lacked reflectors, much of their (NHL). While fan comfort was equally age interior temperature of these rinks illumination was lost to the ceiling, fur- upgraded, hockey spectating still left by about eight Celsius degrees.14 ther impairing visibility.17 Because most much to be desired.19

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Until the NHL expanded in 1967, hockey on skates and to amuse themselves.”21 audiences comprised a core of trad- One hundred years later nothing had itional fans located in Canada and in changed. In their 1989 book, Home the north-east and north-central United Game, and Roy MacGregor States. For these enthusiasts, hockey was showed how the humble, ubiquitous a unique form of entertainment, often Quonset-hut type arenas that dot the bordering on religious fervour. This Canadian landscape serve as de facto devout audience willingly accepted a cultural centres, the glue that binds spectatorship experience that included many small communities together. obstructed sightlines, steeply graded They recounted the compelling story of stands that could induce vertigo, bad Radisson, Saskatchewan, a prairie town food, smoky corridors, and cold. (I well of four hundred and thirty-four people remember the galoshes, overcoat, and faced with the daunting challenge of mittens I wore to watch the Canadiens replacing their structurally unsound play at the Forum in the mid-1960s.) For rink. The authors interviewed locals these spectators the game on the ice who referred to their rink as “the grand was the main attraction and they craved central gathering place for the young little more. It could even be argued and old […] the backbone of the com- that the shared experience of these munity […] the gathering place for the hardships further united hockey fans, winter months.” And they speculated fig. 7. , Toronto, 1931, Ross and confirming their membership in a com- on the impact of its loss: “We know of MacDonald, architects. | Maple Leaf Gardens archives. munity of true believers. Such loyalty other towns that have lost their rinks. and evident contentment were repaid The towns die overnight.”22 “Hockey is an allegory of our life […] by team owners who were only too the real national anthem of Canada.”24 happy to maintain the status quo. Maple If the hockey arena’s cultural significance But it is not necessary to mythologize or Leaf Gardens, the Montreal Forum, and and “mystique” have been overlooked universalize the significance of hockey indeed the remaining hockey arenas of by architectural historians, some sports in order to appreciate the primacy of what are referred to as the “Original historians and sociologists have argued the hockey arena as a major site of cul- Six” teams, served their cities with only that the game of hockey needs to be tural activity in Canada. modest alterations for longer than sixty demythologized in order to be properly years, on average. This fact alone con- understood. Richard Gruneau and David For example, even after one brushes tributed to the reverence with which Whitson in : aside the Runyonesque saga of Maple these buildings were regarded by their Sport, Identities and Cultural Politics ask Leaf Gardens’ construction from out of respective fans.20 whether hockey still commands a cen- the depths of the Depression (a story tral place within the collective psyche that features owner , the While hockey players in Canada have (if such a thing can be said to exist) of hockey-mad war hero and gambler who been reckoned as heroes and the NHL an increasingly multicultural and multi- raises the money to purchase a stake arenas in which they battle regarded ethnic Canada. And they argue that our in the team with a successful outing with awe, the fundamental importance view of the game has been coloured by at the race track and who bends cor- of even ordinary winter sports facilities romantic, essentialist notions, according porate financiers and union workers to life in Canada is no less relevant for to which hockey, the Canadian psyche, to the “higher” purpose of realising lacking a mythological dimension and and the Canadian landscape have been a sports temple), and one overlooks for being equally overlooked. In 1878, seen as organically interconnected, as the nicknames it inspired—“The Taj a British settler described how essen- evidenced by references to hockey as Ma-Hockey,” “Make-Believe Gardens,” tial the skating rink was to winter life “the Canadian specific” (Al Purdy), “the “Puckingham Palace,” “The Carleton in Canada: “The rink is the great winter language that pervades Canada” (Scott Street Cash Box”—one is still left with amusement [where] the bands play and Young), and “the game of our lives” a building known to and revered by mil- young people meet to skate, to dance (Peter Gzowski).23 For , lions of (fig. 7).25

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By the end of the 1930s, each game was Twelve loudspeakers were suspended reaching nearly two million people. Foster over centre ice from the same frame Hewitt’s voice and, beginning in 1939, the used to support the boxing ring lights popular intermission discussions featuring and from the centre of which hung the hockey experts on what was called the “Hot time clock. Together with ’s Stove League” became part of Canada’s gondola, these features served as focal social history. Millions in all provinces came points of advanced technology within to treat Saturday night as Hockey Night, Maple Leaf Gardens, lending a progres- one of the few bright spots in a country sive dynamism to sport spectating that facing war while still suffering the Great was entirely new. Not only did this sound Depression. Fans coming to Toronto for the system amplify and broadcast music first time trooped like pilgrims to Maple Leaf and announcements to fans within the Gardens, the only Toronto institution known building, but it could receive program- across Canada with unquestioning respect. ming feeds from outside and transmit The same situation prevailed in Montreal, everything to external radio stations where fans flocked to see the Forum.26 for broadcast to remote listeners. Maple Leaf Gardens was “plugged in.”28 It was Conn Smythe who recognized early on the power of radio to inspire fan inter- Like Maple Leaf Gardens, the Montreal est and fuel attendance. And when Foster Forum was one of the hockey fig. 8. The SporTimer clock at Maple Leaf Gardens, Hewitt discovered that the best location Toronto. | Maple Leaf Gardens archives. arenas that achieved iconic status over from which to observe the game and the course of its seventy-two years of con- report the action was high above the ice tinuous operation. But due to ’s surface, a special broadcast booth was unique history and distinct culture within Designed in 1931 by leading corporate constructed for this purpose at Maple Canada, the Forum came to symbolize architectural firm Ross and MacDonald, Leaf Gardens, a pavilion, suspended more than just athletic struggle and tri- Maple Leaf Gardens fully succeeds as fifty-six feet over centre ice. This “gon- umph. Since the beginning of organized a work of architecture; its streamlined dola,” the term still used to describe these hockey in Montreal in the 1870s, teams eleven-storey form, Deco ornament, booths and derived from the cabins car- had often been established along eth- and massive dome alluding to its great ried beneath dirigibles (the appearance of nic lines. The Shamrock and Wanderer column-free interior volume, estab- which were still cause for great wonder teams were Irish, the Montagnard and lish a grand street presence in its pre- at this date), was originally accessed by National were French, and the Victorias dominantly low-rise neighbourhood and a catwalk without safety railing. More were Scots. With the advent of open against a city skyline still dominated by than the styling of its exterior, professionalism in the early twentieth church spires. it was this element of Maple Leaf Gardens century and the rise of civic-based teams that suggested the modernity and giddy competing in inter-city leagues, such In addition to the legendary tales of excitement of the late 1920s.27 early vestiges of the game largely were its creation, the renown of Maple Leaf left behind, although promoters might Gardens was fostered via another cele- Other technological marvels contrib- still try to use the ethnicity of players, brated medium, the voice of Foster uted to the experience of modernity sometimes manufactured, to drum up Hewitt. Throughout the 1930s and at Maple Leaf Gardens. The four-sided fan support from specific communities.29 1940s, Hewitt’s weekly radio broadcasts SporTimer time clock, installed in 1932, But in Montreal, the rivalry between of Maple Leaf games created a virtual intensified the drama of game play French and English hockey clubs, which community of faithful listeners across through the urgent presence of its tick- continued at the NHL level through to Canada, people who felt an intimate ing seconds (fig. 8). Maple Leaf Gardens 1938, was always perceived as more than connection to Maple Leaf Gardens with- also included what then was believed to a struggle to establish ethnic bragging out ever having set foot inside the place. be the largest permanent indoor sound rights. It carried on its back long-sim- According to , system in the Dominion of Canada. mering, irreconcilable differences over

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language, religion, economics, politics, and cultural values.

After fire destroyed the Westmount Arena in 1918, the ceased operations, leaving the Montreal Canadiens as the sole club representing Montreal in the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club had been formed in 1909 “to add a French face to hockey in Montreal,” which fig. 9. The funeral service for at the Montreal Forum, March 11, 1937. | , Toronto. then included English teams such as the Shamrocks, Wanderers, and Victorias.30 The name “Canadiens,” as well as the French-English relations in Quebec ever two players of French-Canadian heritage nickname “Les Habitants” or Habs, made have been subject to often inexplicable before any other team could exercise its reference to specifically French-Canadian and ironic anomalies and hockey is no first selections in the Amateur Draft.”36 traditions.31 stranger to these. The fact that it was the Canadiens who played the first game in Between 1924 and 1938, Montreal’s two When the National Hockey League the new Forum, rather than the Maroons, hockey teams combined for five Stanley expanded from three to ten teams, is merely one of these incongruities.34 Cups, four of them won at the Forum.37 between 1924 and 1926, Montreal That the Forum would soon become the The two teams produced a succession of gained a second franchise. From the sole home of the Canadiens, emerging stars, from the goaltending heroics of very start the Maroons were intended as a symbol of French-Canadian pride in three-time Vezina winner George to draw support from Montreal’s English the excellence of their hockey team, and Hainsworth to the scoring prowess of Nels community and to restore a rivalry with a rallying site for a rising wave of French- Stewart, Herb Gardiner, Aurel Joliat, and the Canadiens that had lapsed after Quebec nationalism, is merely a further the “Stratford Streak,” Howie Morenz. the Montreal Wanderers folded.32 The instance of this irony.35 It was the tragic events surrounding the Maroon’s new building, the Montreal death of Morenz, named Canada Press Forum, was located on the border of Prior to 1963, every NHL franchise spon- “hockey player of the first half-century,” Westmount, bastion of English Montreal sored amateur teams as a means of that first, and forever, marked the Forum society, and a stone’s throw from the grooming junior-aged players who might as more than a simple sports auditor- site of the now-destroyed Westmount eventually play for the parent club. The ium. Rushing toward the net during a Arena, former home to the now-defunct rights of these young players were match against on the evening Wanderers.33 The site was already asso- owned by the franchise. Consequently, of January 28, 1937, Morenz was checked ciated with popular entertainment, Canadiens teams were guaranteed a and fell awkwardly into the boards with having served since 1908 as home to steady stream of local, French-Canadian a Chicago defenseman on top of him, a roller rink that enclosed an open- talent for fans to identify with and rally breaking his leg. Still in the hospital two air skating rink, also called the Forum. behind. Even when this system was dis- months later, he suffered a heart attack The new arena’s investors and board mantled in 1963 with the introduction and died. His funeral service, held at the of directors represented a Who’s Who of the NHL Amateur Draft, a system that Forum, was the largest ever arranged for of Montreal’s English corporate elite, guaranteed each NHL club equal oppor- an athlete in Canada. After thousands including: Edward Beatty, president tunities to acquire amateur players, the had paid their respects at the funeral of the ; Sir Canadiens were allowed a special dispen- chapel, Morenz’s casket was brought to Charles Gordon, president of the Bank sation. “Due to the unique situation of the Forum on the morning of March 11 of Montreal; Sir Herbert Holt, president the Montreal Canadiens, it was agreed (fig. 9). Laid at centre ice, surrounded by of the Royal Bank; J.W. McConnell of to protect the French-Canadian flavour four truckloads of flowers and an honour St. Lawrence Sugar; and several Molsons, of the team. Therefore, the Canadiens guard of team-mates, some fifty thou- of brewery and bank fame. were granted the option to select up to sand mourners filed past to bid farewell

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fig. 10. “Suspension de Richard : Campbell est menacé fig. 11. “Arrest 41 after Forum Hockey Riot,” The Montreal Star, March 18, 1955. de mort,” La Patrie, 17 mars 1955.

to Morenz in the four hours preceding the of athletic brilliance and entertainment, The riot was more than an outburst ceremony. Ten thousand fans remained became a national stage for the unfold- of hooliganism, as it was described behind for the funeral service itself, which ing of a cultural and political drama.39 by Montreal’s English-language news- was broadcast to a still larger audience papers (fig. 11). 40 In ’s on radio.38 On March 16, the greatest of the Forum’s poetic retelling of the story, Richard’s heroes, fiery-eyed champion Maurice suspension was both unfair and a Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, a per- (the Rocket) Richard, was suspended by direct cause of the riot: “Clarence iod during which French Quebeckers NHL President for the Campbell is trying to crush a little were subjugated by both church and remainder of the hockey season and all of French Canadian who has wings. That’s state and economically subservient the for having attacked an offi- what people are saying. Anger is rum- to English bosses, the success of their cial. When Campbell attended a hockey bling in the province of Quebec like hockey team provided an important game at the Forum the following night, the water held captive in the rivers by and visible source of pride and positive he was pelted with debris and physically the winter ice.”41 Clarence Campbell self-identification. And it was during assaulted by indignant fans. A tear gas was regarded by many as an agent of these two decades that the Canadiens canister erupted within the arena and James Norris, head of the powerful began their ascendancy as the most as the angry crowd left the building, family that effectively controlled the successful franchise in team sport his- the game now forfeit, they were joined NHL and whose team, the Detroit Red tory by winning eight Stanley Cups. by placard-carrying protesters who had Wings, was then in a struggle with The Forum began to be recognized as a gathered outside, and together they the Canadiens for first place.42 But for shrine where home-grown heroes could rioted and looted through the night Quebec’s Francophones, Campbell also be worshipped with raucous abandon. (fig. 10). The next evening, a shaken represented the Anglo establishment But the events of March 17, 1955, proved spoke to Montreal fans that for too long had dominated the that hockey sometimes could be more over the airwaves in French and in English little guy, for whom Richard was their than a sport, and that a hockey arena from the Forum dressing room. Asking for symbolic champion. One year earlier sometimes could be more than bricks calm, he said: “I’ll take my punishment Richard had accused Campbell of being and mortar. The Forum, formerly a site and come back next year.” anti-French in his ghost-written sports

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fig. 12. Exterior view of the Molson (now Bell) Centre, fig. 13. Exterior view of the Pepsi Forum, Montreal, 2005. | Howard Shubert. Montreal, 1999. | Howard Shubert.

column, “Le Tour du Chapeau,” in the Maisonneuve. Drapeau had also spoken The closing of the Forum and the move French-language Montreal newspaper out against Clarence Campbell, con- to the Molson Centre in 1996 were there- Samedi-Dimanche.43 And even twenty demning him for his harsh suspension of fore events requiring careful handling years later, in a biography of Richard, Richard. After the riot, Drapeau blamed for both economic and political reasons bitterness over Campbell’s handling of Campbell for having incited the crowd (fig. 12). Those fans greeting Maurice the affair and his identification with through his presence at the game and Richard with shouts of “Richard, Richard” Anglo authority remained absolute: advised him to stay away in the future.45 and “Campbell, Campbell” indicate the “Monsieur Campbell, du haut de sa long memories of Quebeckers, but also grandeur, écrasait de sa botte anglaise Newspapers called the rioting the worst the political and cultural resonance Maurice Richard, et, en celui-ci chaque the city had seen since the anti-conscrip- of the . (Many of those in Canadien français se sentait écrasé.”44 tion battles during World War II, an attendance at the Forum’s final game earlier flash that had highlighted probably had not even been born when As if Richard’s suspension was not the distance separating Canada’s two the riot occurred.) Quebec society had enough to draw attention to the griev- solitudes. 46 There is divided opinion undergone massive changes in the inter- ances of French-speaking Quebecker’s on when to date the start of Quebec’s vening years, striking evidence of which against their English masters, an . Did it begin as early could be found in Montreal’s remaining ongoing controversy over the naming as 1949 with the Asbestos Strike, when English-language newspaper. Montreal of the new Canadian National Railway the Church gave its support to workers Gazette’s front page on March 12, 1996, (CNR) hotel then nearing completion and union rather than to the corpora- featured a headline and photograph on downtown Dorchester (now René- tion and the government of Maurice describing the closing of the Forum Lévesque) Boulevard exploded onto the Duplessis? Or, as many commentators along with an article titled, “We are front pages of Montreal newspapers. believe, did it begin with the election all Quebeckers—Bouchard,” reporting Sharing the front page of Le Devoir of Jean Lesage’s Liberal party in 1960? on a speech in which Quebec Premier with the news of Richard’s suspension Some have even suggested that the Lucien Bouchard sought to reassure on March 17 was an article subtitled Richard Riot, five years earlier, deserves Anglophones that they “belong in “Le royalisme et Donald Gordon.” credit.47 Whatever one believes, there Quebec because it’s their home, too.” Francophones, championed by then can be no argument that the Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau, were offended Forum played a pivotal role at the pol- The game of hockey and the economic by CNR President Donald Gordon’s plan itically charged centre of a people’s and social environment encompassing it to name the hotel the Queen Elizabeth. movement from oppression toward had also undergone substantial changes They preferred the name Château self-definition. in the intervening years since the Richard

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fig. 14. Interior view of the Pepsi Forum, Montreal, 2005. | Howard Shubert.

Riot. Players were now less loyal to teams, according to a plan that would preserve in the face of million-dollar salaries, and its exterior along with glimpses of the fig. 15. “While bidding the Forum farewell might fans were less loyal to hockey, in the face original interior.48 induce feelings of trauma or great loss…” of an expanding universe of competing | Newspaper advertisement for Decarie Motors, March 1996. entertainment possibilities. In spite of Although of no consolation to those those fans with long memories, capable devoted fans mourning the loss of such of connecting the dots between Maurice cherished shrines and of the memories Presbyterian Church, could be rechris- Richard, the Forum, and a struggle over they embodied, it is nonetheless useful tened the Centre d’Escalade Vertige, politics and language, the Forum suc- to recall that Canadian society gener- an indoor rock-climbing centre, as it cumbed to economic realities. Though ally has become less observant of reli- was in November 2005, we can hardly not demolished—the fate of Golden era gion through the twentieth century, be surprised by the fate of the Forum.50 arenas in , Chicago, Detroit, and even as it has placed greater emphasis The deconsecration and destruction of New York—it has been gutted and other- on wealth and consumption. According so many religious buildings, over such a wise disfigured on the way to its reincar- to statistics gathered by the Fondation long period, has elicited very little pub- nation as the Pepsi Forum, a multiplex du patrimoine religieux du Québec, some lic response, individually or collectively. cinema with shops and restaurants two hundred and fifty religious buildings Conversely, the overwhelming outpour- (fig. 13). An ersatz re-creation of the in the province have closed their doors ing of sadness and regret surrounding Forum’s former interior, located within since 1976.49 Nearly half of these gained the Forum’s closing and subsequent the new atrium, complete with tiers of new life in the service of different reli- transformation potently illustrates that rescued seats, provides a sanitized and gious faiths, but the remainder either building’s deep hold on the popular Disneyfied experience for visiting tour- have been demolished or transformed to imagination and serves as stirring evi- ists (fig. 14). In Toronto, a proposal was new functions, often quite remote from dence for its claim to apotheosis within put forward in 2004 to transform Maple the spiritual roles they once played. If some future pantheon devoted to build- Leaf Gardens into a Loblaw’s superstore, one such example, the 1893 Valleyfield ings of Canadian culture (fig. 15).

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Notes Canada, Journal of the Society for the received 1% of architectural criticism, Study of Architecture in Canada, vol. 23, it is fair to assume that hockey arenas, no. 2. p. 49-54. by extension, have been virtually unno- 1. This paper is part of a larger study on the ticed. Pastier himself only discusses the history of skating rinks and hockey are- 5. The banners and other Forum memorabi- , ignoring the pendant arena. nas in North America from about 1860 lia were sold at an auction on March 12, (1974) was designed until 2000. Research for this project was 1996, that raised over $700,000 for charity. by Myron Goldsmith and Chuck Bassett supported by the Institut de recherche A hot dog grill sold for $900, a turnstile for Skidmore, Owings, Merrill. (Adams, en histoire de l’architecture, the Social for $1,800, while former NHL President Nicholas, 2006. Skidmore, Owings, Merrill Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Clarence Campbell’s seat went for $12,000. 1936-2006, Milan, Electa.) and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. (Curran, Peggy, 1996, “Fans Bid for Forum I would like to thank Nicholas Adams, Treasures,” , March 13, 10. Sports facilities, including arenas for ska- Réjean Legault, and Irwin Shubert who p. A1.) ting and hockey, have received virtually no kindly read earlier versions of this paper attention by architectural historians, even 6. Religious processions date back to the and offered important suggestions for while closely related building types such as seventeenth century in Quebec and conti- corrections and improvements. movie theatres, circus buildings, and shop- nued into the 1930s, only disappearing ping malls have been studied regularly. 2. John McCrae, 1919, In Flanders Fields and completely with the Quiet Revolution of Other Poems, Toronto, Briggs. the 1960s. All such processions in Quebec 11. Morrone, Francis, c1994, The Architectural followed a similar pattern: meeting at Guidebook to , Salt Lake In Flanders Field the poppies blow the church, the faithful would take mass, City, Gibbs Smith, p. 138. Between the crosses row on row, assemble behind the banner for their That mark our place; and in the sky 12. Wilkins, Charles, 1999, “Maple Leaf group, and then parade through the The larks, still bravely singing, fly Gardens (and how it got that way),” In streets while reciting prayers and singing Scarce heard amid the guns below. Maple Leaf Gardens Memories & Dreams hymns. The ritualistic patterns of religion 1931 – 1999, Toronto, Maple Leaf Sports We are the Dead. Short days ago also find a parallel in the deep strain of and Entertainment Ltd., p. 53-54. We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, superstition that runs through professio- Loved and were loved, and now we lie nal sport. Lucky socks, specific bus sea- 13. For a more detailed consideration of the In Flanders fields. ting plans, playoff beards, and game-day changes in hockey spectatorship since the nineteenth century, see Shubert, Take up our quarrel with the foe: rituals are legion. Famously, Howard, 2002, “The Changing Experience To you from failing hands we throw used to step, rather than skate, of Hockey Spectatorship: Architecture, The torch; be yours to hold it high. over the centre-ice line when entering or Design, Technology, and Economics,” If ye break faith with us who die leaving the ice surface. Putting it on Ice, Halifax, Gorsebrook We shall not sleep, though poppies grow 7. Peretz, Ingrid, 2005, “Wafers Sold as Research Institute, St. Mary’s University. In Flanders fields. Snacks Showing Mass Appeal,” Globe and 14. By 1887 most important American and Some 600,000 Canadian soldiers saw Mail, December 27, p. A1. continental theatres were lit by elec- action in World War I, out of a population 8. The televisual qualities of sports tricity. (Penzel, Frederik, 1978, Theatre of 6 million. Nearly 60,000 lost their lives, and their potential as marketing tools is Lighting Before Electricity, Middletown 87% as a result of enemy action in France now an accepted fact amongst designers of (CT), Weslayan University Press, p. 74.) and Flanders, and more than 150,000 were sports facilities. Brian Trubey, architect of wounded. Dick Irvin, Sr. served in the Fort the new Baltimore Colts football stadium, 15. Nelson, Brian, 1995, “Baseball,” In Karl B. Gary Horse Regiment as a motorcycle dis- noted that, “NFL venues are the most-seen Raitz (ed.), The Theater of Sport, Baltimore patcher from late-1917 until war’s end. type of architecture on television. As much and London, The Johns Hopkins Press, He saw action in France, Belgium, and time as we spend making [the stadium] p. 34. Holland. (I am grateful to Dick Irvin for incredible for the people actually physi- 16. Kidd, Bruce, 1996, The Struggle for generously sharing details of his father’s cally there, we believe the balance of the Canadian Sport, Toronto, University of service in World War I; telephone conver- audience—which is probably 99 percent Toronto Press, p. 197. sation with the author, December 13, of it—hadn’t been leveraged as a partici- 2005.) pant in terms of enhancing brand through 17. Kitchen, Paul, 1993, “Dey Brothers’ Rinks Were Home to the Senators,” unpublished 3. “Au revoir Forum, bienvenue Molson the stadium.” (Frangos, Alex, 2005, “New paper, Ottawa City archives, p. 3. Centre,” , March 12, 1996 Football Arenas Push Bounds of Stadium – 21:58 EST, [http://hockey.ballparks.com/ Engineering,” Wall Street Journal, 18. For a chronological listing of skating rinks NHL/MontrealCanadiens/articles.htm], August 29, as published in Pittsburgh and hockey arenas in North America, see accessed September 15, 2006. Post-Gazette, [http://www.post-gazette. Shubert, Howard, 2000, “The Evolution com/pg/pp/05241/561996.stm], accessed of the Hockey Arena 1860 – 2000,” Total 4. For a stimulating and insightful look at September 15, 2006.) Hockey II, New York, Total Sports. the closing of the Forum and the cultural significance of hockey arenas in Canada, 9. Pastier, John, 1974, “The Laurel That 19. On the origins of professional hockey see Shubert, Irwin, 1998, “Hockey Arenas: Oakland Lost,” Los Angeles Times, in Canada, particularly its economic Canada’s Secular Shrines,” Architecture October 21, p. 1. If baseball stadiums and administrative history, see: Chi-Kit

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Wong, John, 2005, Lords of the Rinks: and White Book: From Mutual Street to ring specifically to the hard-working citi- The Emergence of the National Hockey Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ECW Press; zens of Montreal. (Goyens : 201.) League, 1875-1936, Toronto, University Young, Scott, 1990, The Boys of Saturday 32. On the Montreal Maroons, see Brown, of Toronto Press; Kidd Bruce, op. cit.; Night: Inside Hockey Night in Canada William, 1999, The Montreal Maroons: and Mills, David, 1991, “The Blue Line Toronto, McClelland and Stewart; Hewitt, The Forgotten Stanley Cup Champions, and the Bottom Line: Entrepreneurs and Foster, 1970, Hockey Night in Canada, Montreal, Véhicule Press. the Business of Hockey in Canada, 1927 Toronto, Ryerson Press [1953, revised – 1988, In James A. Mangan and Paul printing]. 33. On the Forum, see: “The Forum Building, Staudohar (eds.), American Professional Montreal,” Construction, March 1925, 26. Young : 61. Sports: Social, Historical, Economic and p. 81-86; Goyens, Chrystian, Allan Legal Perspectives, Urbana, University of 27. Another aspect of hockey’s modernity Turowitz, and Jean-Luc Duguay, 1996, Le Press. arose through the last half of the twen- livre officiel Le Forum de Montréal : La tieth century. As athletes and teams fierté pour toujours, Montreal, Éditions 20. Between 1942 and 1967, the National adapted to advances made throughout Effix; Johnson, Dana, 1997, “Montreal Hockey League consisted of only six teams, the world, sport become increasingly Forum / Le Forum de Montréal,” Ottawa: in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, international. (For hockey, the pivotal Historic Sites and Monuments Board of New York, and Toronto. The arenas in moment was the 1972 series between Canada Agenda Paper (1997-20). these cities (and their dates of operation) Canada and the USSR, which demons- are as follows: Montreal Forum (1924- 34. The Canadiens’ home ice was the Mount trated to Canada that it had much to 1996), , New York Royal Arena, which did not have artificial learn from other countries.) For sports (1925-1966), Olympia Stadium, Detroit ice. With the construction of the Forum, historians and sociologists, this quest for (1927-1979), (1928-1995), the owners of the Arena international excellence reflects sport’s (1929-1994), Maple Leaf feared, correctly, that they might lose participation in the culture of modernity, Gardens, Toronto (1931-1999). the Canadiens as tenants unless they also but a consequent side effect has been a installed an ice plant. It was problems with 21. Rowan, John J., 1876, The Emigrant and loss of national character. Allan Guttman the functioning of this ice plant that led Sportsman in Canada: Some Experiences contends that in watching international the Canadiens to play their home opening of an Old Country Settler: With sketches sporting events we are participating in game at the Forum on November 29, 1924. of Canadian Life, Sporting Adventures a thoroughly modern cultural form and and Observations on the Forests and thereby celebrating our modernity. Cities 35. “Ironically, the first owner [of the Fauna, London, E. Stanford, [republished that can boast a major league team are Canadiens], J. Ambrose O’Brien, was nei- Montreal, Dawson Bros., 1881]. therefore truly modern and world class. ther a Montrealer nor a French Canadian (See Guttman, Allen, 1978, From Ritual [but] the scion of a wealthy mine-owning 22. Dryden, Ken and Roy MacGregor, 1989, to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports, family […] [from] Renfrew, Ontario.” Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada, New York, Columbia University Press, as (Goyens : 201.) Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, p. 15. quoted in Hall, Ann, Trevor Slack, Garry The old rink was demolished in 1992 and 36. Tredree, Chris, 1998, “The NHL Entry Smith, and David Whitson, 1991, Sport In replaced by the Radisson Communiplex, a Draft,” In Dan Diamond (ed.) Total Hockey, Canadian Society, Toronto, McClelland and $1.9 million facility that hosts hockey and New York, Total Sports, p. 285. Stewart, p. 42.) figure skating. See “The Town of Radisson 37. The Canadiens began playing at the Saskatchewan,” [http://radisson.sasktel- 28. “An Outstanding Accomplishment – Forum in 1926 after breaking their lease hosting.net/], accessed September 15, Erection of Large Sports Arena in Five at the . Montrealers 2006. On the cultural significance of Months,” Contract Record and Engineering were already accustomed to viewing the Radisson’s arenas and of the fund-rai- Review, November 11, 1931, p. 1353. Stanley Cup as their property. The trophy sing campaign to support construction of 29. Johnny Bruno, the promoter for Madison had been won by Montreal teams 14 times the new facility, see Shubert, Irwin : 49. Square Garden, changed the names of in 25 years, from 1893, when the prize was According to , the 2001 to “Chabotsky” and Oliver first awarded, to 1917, the year the NHL population of Radisson was 401. Reinikka to “Ollie Rocco.” (Kreiser, John was formed. 23. Gruneau, Richard and David Whitson, and Lou Friedman, 1996, The New York 38. Robinson, Dean, 1982, Howie Morenz: 1993, Hockey Night in Canada: Sport, Rangers: Broadway’s Longest Running Hockey’s First Superstar, Erin (ON), Boston Identities and Cultural Politics, Toronto, Hit, Champaign (IL), Sagamore Publishing, Mills Press, chap. 9. Maurice Richard’s Garamond Press, p. 25. p. 1.) funeral in 2000 elicited a still larger public 24. Beardsley, Doug, 1987, Country on Ice, 30. Goyens, Chris, 1998, “Montreal response. His open casket at the Molson Toronto, PaperJacks, p. 36-37. Canadians,” In Dan Diamond (ed.), Total Centre was mourned by some 115,000 Hockey, New York, Total Sports, p. 201. persons. 25. Ross and MacDonald were the architects. On the and Maple 31. “Habitants” was a French term used to 39. Montrealers were already familiar with the Leaf Gardens, see: Maple Leaf Gardens describe the rugged farmer-settlers of idea that buildings could embody cultu- Memories & Dreams 1931 – 1999, Toronto, seventeenth-century , while ral, political, and religious values. Since Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, “Canadien” had a similar meaning, refer- the mid-nineteenth century they had 1999; Podnieks, Andrew, 1995, The Blue lived with a particularly apt opposition

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of cultural symbols at Place d’Armes, in allaient y assister. J’avais raison d’avoir the heart of the old city, where the Gothic confiance que la population manifeste- Revival Notre-Dame Church, emblem of rait dans l’ordre, puisque ce n’est que sur French Catholic religion, stands across la provocation causée par la présence de from the neoclassical M. Campbell que les protestations ont headquarters, symbol of Anglo-Scottish pris une autre tournure. Il eût été sage commerce. de la part de M. Campbell de s’abstenir de se rendre au Forum, surtout d’annon- 40. The headline of the Montreal Star on cer publiquement à l’avance sa visite. Sa March 18, 1955, was: “Arrest 41 after présence en effet, pouvait être interprétée Forum Riot Crowd Loots or Damages comme un véritable défi.” (Drapeau, Jean, 50 Stores.” The La Presse lead was: “Défi 1955, “La venue de Campbell au Forum et Provocation de Campbell. ” constituait un véritable défi,” La Patrie, 41. Carrier, Roch, 2001, Our Life With the 19 mars, p. 1.) Rocket: The Maurice Richard Story, 46. The reference is to Hugh MacLennan (Two Toronto, Viking/Penguin, p. 222. Solitudes, Toronto, Collins, c1945), which 42. In spite of a stately and dignified manner treated the alienation and confronta- that personified wisdom and leadership, tion of Canada’s two European founding Clarence Campbell functioned as a servant nations/cultures (English – French) through to the owners, according to David Cruise an individual’s struggle for linguistic and and Alison Griffiths. Responding to the cultural identity in the inter-war years. suggestion that Campbell be replaced, 47. Goyens and Turowetz : 87-92; Ulmer, , son of Maple Leafs Michael, 1996, Canadiens Captains, owner Conn Smythe, reportedly replied, Toronto, Macmillan Canada, p. 65-72. “Where would we find another Rhodes scholar, graduate lawyer, decorated 48. On the proposed transformation of Maple war hero, and former prosecutor at the Leaf Gardens, see Richards, Larry, 2004, Nuremberg trials, who will do what he’s “The Puck Stopped Here,” Building, told?” (Cruise, David and Alison Griffiths, October/November. 1991, Net Worth: Exploding the Myths 49. The “Liste des lieux de culte fermés” docu- of Pro Hockey, Toronto, Penguin Books, ments more than 300 Quebec religious p. 41.) (See also Goyens, Chrystian and buildings that have closed since 1920, Allan Turowetz, 1981, Lions in Winter, according to records of the Fondation du Markham, Ontario, Penguin Books Canada patrimoine religieux du Québec. On this Ltd., p. 94.) organization, see [http://www.patrimoine- 43. O’Brien, Andy, 1967, Firewagon Hockey: religieux.qc.ca/], accessed September 15, The Story of the Montreal Canadiens, 2006. Toronto, Ryerson Press, p. 57-58; and 50. On the Valleyfield Presbyterian Church, Carrier : 210-212. see the “Inventaire des lieux de culte 44. Pellerin, Jean Marie, 1976, L’idole d’un du Québec,” [http://www.lieuxdeculte. peuple : Maurice Richard, Montreal, qc.ca/index.htm], accessed September 15, Éditions de l’homme, p. 92, as quoted 2006. On the Centre d’Escalade Vertige, in: Dupperault, Jean R., 1981, “L’Affaire see “Une église qu’il faudra escalader,” Le Richard: A Situational Analysis of the Soleil de Valleyfield, 20-21 mai 2005, p. 1, Montreal Hockey Riots of 1955,” Canadian 4; and the website [http://www.vertige- Journal of the History of Sport, vol. 12, escalade.com/], accessed September 15, May, p. 80. Maurice Richard and his riot 2006. continue to exert a hold on the popular imagination of Quebeckers, and others. The 2005 feature-length film, Maurice Richard, directed by Charles Binamé and starring as Maurice Richard, culminates with the Forum riot. 45. “Il était évident bien avant la partie de hockey de jeudi soir que la décision de M. Campbell était d’une extrême impo- pularité, et l’on pouvait facilement prévoir une démonstration de la part de ceux qui

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