Welcome back, Bruins fans!
Today, we will be talking about the Montreal Canadiens — unfortunately — and their rivalry with the Boston Bruins, as well as, of course, the infamous television show Heated Rivalry and the impact of “locker room culture” on the NHL.
I want to start this off by saying that I have not seen Heated Rivalry in its entirety, but I know a lot about the series. It also felt impossible to talk about the Montreal/Boston rivalry without mentioning the show at this point, so I figured I would combine them into one post.
To start, we’ll talk about the rivalry itself.
Boston and Montreal have hated each other since, I believe, the dawn of time. The two teams are both a part of the Original Six — the other four being the New York Rangers, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Detroit Red Wings — which has brewed pretty intense rivalries between all six teams in the last century. Boston and Montreal have faced off more than any other teams in the league, clocking in over 940 total games and 34 postseason matchups since their first matchup on Dec. 8, 1924, which the Bruins, unfortunately, lost 3-4.
There have been many instances over the 102 years that these two teams have played each other that continue to create resentment between them. It’s not just the number of times they’ve played each other, either; both of these teams are pretty dirty, and they most certainly don’t take it easy on each other. The video below, while being 14 years old now, showcases some of those instances. My personal favorite of those instances is, without a doubt, the Carey Price vs. Tim Thomas fight. It was the only official NHL fight for either goalie, and if you ask me, I think goalie fights are the best part of the NHL. I absolutely love watching goalies throw hands at center ice; I watched the Nedeljkovic/Bobrovsky fight on Jan. 19 last season, followed by the Swayman/Vasilevsky fight on Feb. 1, and I truly think they might be in my top ten favorite hockey moments I have ever experienced.
Bob Sweeney, beloved retired forward who had two stints with the Bruins, once called it “one of the greatest rivalries in sports,” comparing it to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox rivalry. These teams hate each other.
Montreal, as it stands, holds the most wins in the series, with a 473-357-103-12 W-L-OTL-Tie ratio. (Note that the NHL stopped tie games in 2004, when shootouts were introduced after an overtime period.)
Ugh.
The rivalry between the two teams was put into a far more public, far more sensationalized spotlight from November of last year to earlier this year as a result of the TV show Heated Rivalry. Heated Rivalry is based on the Game Changers book series by Rachel Reid and follows the story of fictional hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. The two compete on fictional versions of the Canadiens and Bruins, with Hollander playing on the Montreal Metros and Rozanov playing on the Boston Raiders, and have a highly public, intense rivalry with each other. Behind the scenes, however, the two begin to fall in love, something that ends up being highly controversial, as homophobia runs rampant in hockey spaces.
The fans of Heated Rivalry ended up being mostly women, and on top of that, they ended up being mostly queer women. As a queer woman, I was quite happy to see that others like myself were getting into my favorite sport; hockey has never really been the place to be a woman, and it most certainly has never been the place to be queer. Unfortunately, this excitement did not last long, as, of course, misogyny and homophobia play a huge role in hockey culture.
The NHL, for the most part, did not interact with Heated Rivalry. Arenas played songs from the show on occasion, but other than that, the league never really mentioned the show that was bringing them thousands upon thousands of new viewers, and it certainly did not do much to help those in these communities when pre-existing fans started to attack them.
Hockey is, and always has been, the perfect straight guy’s sport. Female fans are often criticized for watching the sport, with male fans saying they could only watch because they find the players attractive. Queer fans, too, have always been a target of discrimination; gay men will surely only watch because they find players attractive and gay women will only watch because they secretly find them attractive.
See what I mean?
The NHL is also the only major league that has never had an openly gay player. Luke Prokop became the first openly gay player to sign an NHL contract in 2021, and he has yet to play an NHL game, instead playing in the AHL and ECHL. Prokop is also the only openly gay player to play for the AHL.
The NHL also does not have an official abuse policy, unlike every other major league. Calls for the league to implement a policy have fallen mainly on deaf ears, and so far, it seems like we’re still a long way away.
I could talk for hours about the “locker room culture” of the NHL. I could point you to an article I wrote for my school’s female-ran journalism group about the NHL’s track record on inclusion. I could talk for days about how, every time I go to a game, there will always be a part of me that feels like I don’t belong. Unfortunately, I’m getting close to the maximum word count for this assignment, so instead, I’ll leave you to think on your own.
Until next time, Bruins fans, when we talk about the young core Boston has.
Weekly Recap
Predators @ Bruins – 10/22
> Final score: 6-0 W
Sharks @ Bruins – 10/24
> Final score: 6-4 W
Bruins @ Hurricanes – 10/27
> Final score: 2-1 L
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