I had originally tried to write something somewhat poetic about the differences between my experiences in Quebec and Ottawa.  Something about Parliament overlooking the town of Gatineau, about leaving the shiny polish of the country’s capital to the more working-class feel of the city in Quebec.  I even tried to quote the movie Goon.

None of it fit.  Crossing the bridge into Quebec, we were leaving a city and entering a town.  The main road was lined with houses and smaller businesses, not condos and department stores.  Gatineau was grey and piled with snow along the streets.  We finally got to our destination, and it didn’t look like much.

 

When we told people we were coming to a game in Gatineau, everyone said the same thing: the fans are passionate about their hockey.  We didn’t know what to expect.  Was it going to be rough?  Were we going to be in the middle of another Danbury, home of the roughest fans I’ve ever seen?

Stepping through those red doors, we knew we were in for something different.  When we showed up to the Ottawa 67s game, we were at the wrong end of the building.  They escorted us through the building to will call to pick up our tickets.  Here, I decided to buy them at the box office.  So, apparently, did everyone else.

When I go to new arenas, I have to rely on the people there to fill me in on what is normal for the place and what is not.  According to those I talked to, this was normal.  We only had half an hour before game time to get to our seats, and I didn’t know if we were going to make it.

This is not a big space.  The lines are ten deep and you could hardly squish any more people into the area.  As we waited, the team mascot Hully worked the crowd a little.

Yes, those are bulging googly eyes. They make for an interesting effect when you see it live.  The kids loved Hully.  You could buy a mascot doll and take him home with you.

We got out ticket, and headed in to the arena.

At the Robert Guertin Centre, the walkway around the arena is behind the seats at the top.  There is some room to move around next to the rink, but everything you want is above and behind.  The place reminded me of Germain Arena, home of the Florida Everblades.  There is a dark and well-worn feel to the place.

A few things to note.  The benches and the penalty boxes are on opposite sides of the ice from each other.

The seating is steep, so sitting a few rows back still provides a good view.  But it’s the back row that’s really unusual.  I like to sit around 10-15 rows back.  This put us in the last row.  Not a big deal, but our center ice seats were between some of the structure of the building.  To get to them, we had to walk through the row in front of ours.  Here is what it looks like after the game.

The ceiling over that back row is low.  How low?

Is that duck face? I think it is. I’m not sure.

Yes, that’s a plywood ceiling.  And the lighting is pretty basic.

This is an old barn.  There’s nothing wrong with that. Talking with a few of the fans, there is an expectation that a new arena will be built soon.  But there are, as with anything involving arenas, plenty of hold ups.  I didn’t do a lot of research, but it seems that the local government may have something to do with it.

But barns like this have character.  I have yet to see a modern arena that has constructed character.  That takes history, inconvenience, and no small amount of discomfort.

But man, what a view.

This is Quebec, so all the announcements are in French first, and occasionally English.  The penalties and game-related info is in both languages, everything else is only in French.  What I found out was that it didn’t matter.  Most hockey games follow the same structure.  They all follow the same basic script.  Besides, most of what happens off the ice for a game can be ignored.  If there was something really important, like an evacuation, panic is the same in any language.

Hully get’s the pregame ceremonies out of the way…

Man, those eyes.

Let’s get to some action.

Rimouski was the best team in the league (they finished the regular season as the top team and just won their first playoff series).  The Olympiques are not doing so hot in the standings.  This game was on Sunday, February 22nd.  They had beaten Chicoutimi on Friday, but there may have been some shenanigans going on after that game.  From Buzzing the Net from Yahoo! Sports:

The issue of young athletes and sexual entitlement has come to the fore once again following disturbing allegations against several members of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Gatineau Olympiques.

On Monday, Le Droit’s Louis-Denis Ebacher reported that Gatineau police have received a formal complaint about indecent acts involving “at least six” players and an intoxicated woman at a Boston Pizza restaurant last Friday, following the Olympiques’ win over the Chicoutimi Saguenéens.

There was more allegations to come, from things that may have happened a month before.  You can read about that here.

We knew none of this.  The article above posted the day after this game.  I don’t know if the fans knew anything.  We were there for a hockey game.  I have no idea if any of that carried into this game, but it was one of the most physical games I’ve ever seen.

Rimouski got 22 minutes in penalties, Gatineau had 20.  Somehow, Gatineau only registered seven hits and Rimouski seventeen.  That feels a bit low.

(some of these photos look a little pixelated small.  I don’t know why.  They look better bigger.  Click them if you want better versions).

The fans absolutely loved it.  While Ottawa was a social gathering, this was a party.  The fans knew their hockey and they let the players and the refs know it.  They booed, they cheered, they were into the game in a way that Ottawa wasn’t.

Glove save and a beauty.

That’s a goal.

With the first period done, let’s head to the concourse.

If everything seems a little drab and grey, that’s how the place is.  The lighting is all fluorescent tubes, the walls are grey and blue, and the ceilings are low.  There isn’t a lot of room to move around.

Box seats over the crowd.

There is some history here.  Check out the photos from the 1997 Memorial Cup championship.

A few of the banners flying over the ice.

The flags.

The thing that stood out to me about how different hockey was here than anywhere else I’d been was one of the smallest things.  It wasn’t the French PA announcer.  It wasn’t the fans.  It wasn’t the arena.  It was the kids skating between periods.

You know how it goes.  The kids come out, the Charlie Brown music plays, and everyone gets a good laugh as they run around the ice, chasing the puck, clumps of kids crashing into each other.  It’s cute.

Not here.  These kids could skate.  I don’t mean they could stay on their feet.  I don’t mean they could run on their skates.  No, they could SKATE.  They didn’t all chase after the puck, they played positions.  These were hockey players.  This is not what we see in the states.  All I could do was stare.

Back to the game.

If there is an obvious fan favorite for the Olympiques, it is number 71, Tommy Veilleux.  He was a first round draft pick of Victoriaville and a sixth round pick of the Nashville Predators.  The crowd loved him.  They chanted his name.  They wanted him to take care of the rough stuff.  In this game, he would take three penalties, two for roughing and one for checking from behind.  He was scrappy. Here he is, ready to go.

This led to a roughing penalty and roughing and checking from behind penalties for Dunn of Rumouski.  Veilleux did not appreciate any of it, and let Dunn know.

Back to the action.

That’s a goal!

Good to see some hockey being played and… Oh come on!

This was how the night went.  Hockey, roughing, hockey, scrum, hockey, roughing, repeat.  Meg said to me, “Can you imagine if this was your first hockey experience?”  If this were someone’s first game, I don’t know what they would think of if.

This was not a goal.

Second intermission.  At least this one didn’t feature eight year old kids who put my skating to shame.  It did have the popular shaved ice stand.

Some good deals at the concession stand.

Back to the third period.

That’s a broken stick.

GOOOAAALLLL!!!!!!

This put Gatineau up 2-1 with about 7:30 left to play in the game.  Rimouski brought everything they had.

It was not enough.  Gatineau wins the game, 2-1.  You would have thought they won the championship, they way they acted after the game.

The photos don’t do it justice.  It was a huge celebration for a regular season win.  I asked the people sitting next to me why, and all they said was that it was a big game for them.

What would come next for Gatineau?  The next day, there would be controversy.  Soon after, major problems.  For this night, an intense game of hockey.