Hockey night not in Canada any more

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The Stanley Cup drive for the Montreal Canadiens is over, marking an exit of all Canadian NHL teams from the playoffs.

It’s a hard morning in Quebec and across Canada as the Habs fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4 to 1 last night. The Canadiens appeared physically and emotionally spent trying to come back from a three game deficit, and looked to have nothing left in the tank for game 6.

The last time a Canadian team won the cup was 21 years ago and that was the Habs in 1993. They now join the eliminated Flames, Senators, Jets and Canucks, leaving no Canadian teams advancing to hoist Lord Stanley’s cup this June.

CHCH News spoke to commuters this morning at the Burlington GO station.

“It is luck mostly, but what can you do? The Habs didn’t play very well so they deserve to be out. But it’s unfortunate all Canadian teams are out.”

“It’s sad that we have no Canadian teams for hockey considering we do live in canada. It is supposed to be a national sport. You know, hope maybe we can do better next year.”

Another thing to look at is the expansion picture: there are groups trying to bring teams to Las Vegas and Seattle; in Quebec they have a NHL-size arena ready to go but there is no word when the team might come to town.

For Habs fans you might have to go for the ones with the maple leafs on their passports, and not on the jerseys.