Bell Centre - Montreal Canadiens

Trip Notes: T, Cyn, and I headed on another adventure to Canada. This time to Quebec City and Montreal. I headed onto Ottawa by myself after I dropped them off at the Montreal airport. After flying into Montreal, we rented our car and tried to find our way to Quebec City. Man, was that tough….trying to find our way with everything in French. The directions we got off of Mapquest sucked which made it worse. After turning around a couple times, we found the highway that took us to Quebec City. After about a 3 hr drive, we made it to our destination the Hilton Quebec Hotel. We took a walk around town before finding a cozy little restaurant. Our waiter was very nice. He gave us pointers for where the night hot spots were at. We ended up at some club a couple blocks from our hotel. What a great time. There was a live band and lots of people. Great music! Spent the next day walking a lot. We walked through the Parliament hill area, past the Chateau Fronenac, and through the old city. Went ice skating on the outdoor rink at Place d'Youville. Went to the Pepsi Colisee to see the Quebec Remparts play Drakkar. Took us awhile to find the rink. We first mistook the convention center for the rink. We eventually found it after following all the people. Interesting watching a game when everything was in French. Left the next morning (it started snowing during the night…but real light) for a 3 hr drive back to Montreal where we stayed at the Le Centre Sheridan. Took a quick walk around the city. It wasn’t snowing but very cold with the wind chill. Later that evening we went to one of the famous downtown Montreal strip clubs. We had heard they were one of the best in the world so we had to check it out. We didn’t see what all the fuss was about…but then again, what do we know…we’re chics. ;) After that, we went to a few other bars. Had a great time that night. The next after noon, we took a tour of the Bell Centre. That was a great tour…got to see all behind the scenes rooms. Took a lot of pictures. Later that evening we went to the game. Took the girls to the airport the next morning then started my drive towards Ottawa….about a two hour drive. Checked into my hotel the Chateau Laurier. It was like staying in a castle…absolutely amazing. Walked around the Parliament area. Was hoping to skate down the Rideau canal but it had been too warm so it was no longer frozen over. Very disappointing! Went the game later that night. It was a bit outside of Ottawa in Kanata. Drove back to the Montreal airport the following day to head back home.

Arena Notes: The only seats available for this game were on the club level so we went with it. It turns out that club level seats get all the free food/drinks that they want. They have many concession stands set up and you just walk up to any of them and get your free food. It was pretty sweet. Cyn and T had seats together, but then we had one individual ticket that I took. My seat was near center ice. Great seat! Everything over the intercom was first in French then in English. Arena was very nice...also in a good area. It was only a couple blocks from our hotel near lots of restaurants and bars. The Bell Centre opened it's doors in 1996 and seats 21,273 hockey fans. I don't believe they have a mascot. They currently have 9 retired numbers: 1 - Jacques Plante, 2 - Doug Harvey, 4 - Jean Beliveau, 7 - Howie Morenz, 9 - Maurice Richard, 10 - Guy Lafleur, 12 Dickie Moore & Yvan Cournoyer, and 16 - Henri Richard.

Game Notes: The Montreal Canadiens are beating some tough competition as they move closer to returning to the playoffs.
Saku Koivu scored a power-play goal 4:18 into the third period, and Jose Theodore made 29 saves to lead Montreal to a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.
The Canadiens, who missed the playoffs last season for the fourth time in five years, tied New Jersey for sixth overall in the Eastern Conference with 87 points. They have a 15-point lead over ninth-place Buffalo, which has 10 games left.
"It was another big test for our team," Koivu said. "We've gained some confidence by playing teams that are above us and we've been successful. We're taking small steps but we're gaining some ground and some confidence."
Koivu, who assisted on Yanic Perreault's first-period goal to extend his point streak to six games, broke a 2-2 tie with a backhander past goalie David Aebischer. Koivu's 14th goal helped the Canadiens pull out a win after they squandered an early two-goal lead.
Mike Ribeiro scored into an empty net with 49 seconds remaining.
"They came back to make it 2-2 and we're finding the way to win some games now," Ribeiro said. "We played a good game."
Rookie forward Michael Ryder also scored for the Canadiens, who won their second straight. Montreal, which beat Toronto 4-3 on Saturday, has lost just once in regulation in 12 games (10-1-0-1).
"The last 10 days or two weeks we haven't played our best, but every game the goalie's done their job and then we've found a way to win some games," Koivu said.
Colorado had a season-high, four-game winning streak snapped, losing for the first time since a 7-1 defeat to Calgary on March 7.
"(Theodore) was really good," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "He made some huge saves for them at the end. We had our chances. Everybody worked pretty hard on both sides and unfortunately they won the game."
Rob Blake and Chris Gratton scored for the Avalanche on assists from Steve Konowalchuk.
Theodore drew a huge cheer when he stopped Colorado's John-Michael Liles following Koivu's goal to protect the lead.
"I felt pretty good tonight and I was just trying to make as many saves as I can," Theodore said. "When I saw that the score was 3-2 for us I knew that we were in a good situation so I just tried to keep it that way."
It was Montreal's first win over the Avalanche since Dec. 8, 1997, ending an eight-game winless streak (0-6-2) against Colorado.
"They're a good transition team and they wait for you to make mistakes in the neutral zone, and they're quick," Konowalchuk said. "I thought it was a pretty good game but the difference was they scored a couple of power-play goals."
Ryder scored his 22nd goal on a power play 12:25 in when he took a pass from Ribeiro and beat Aebischer from the left edge of the slot.
Perreault, who also assisted on Koivu's goal, made it a two-goal lead 1:42 later, scoring for the third straight game at 14:07.
Blake drew Colorado within 2-1 at 16:54 with a slap shot from the point for his 13th goal.
Gratton combined with linemates Konowalchuk and Matthew Barnaby to finish off a pretty three-way passing play to tie it midway through the second period.
Barnaby set up the play with a pass from the right side to Konowalchuk in front of the net. Konowalchuk quickly fed the puck to Gratton, who scored his 12th of the season -- his first in four games with the Avalanche since he was acquired from Phoenix just before last week's trade deadline.
More Game notes: Colorado's streak was its longest since a six-game run from Jan. 30-Feb. 11, 2003. ... Koivu has three goals and six assists over the course of his streak. ... Canadiens RW Richard Zednik had a seven-game point streak broken. Zednik had six goals and six assists in that span. ... Montreal RW Pierre Dagenais was benched for a third straight game. C Joe Juneau and RW Jason Ward also didn't play for the Canadiens.
(*Game Notes taken from espn.com*)