Various Amazing Montreal Canadiens snap shots
Montréal – Downtown Montréal: Bell Centre – Place du Centenaire – 100 Milleurs Moments – Un club est né
Image by wallyg
On December 4, 1909, two days after the founding of the National Hockey Association, the hockey world sees the birth of the Montreal Canadiens at Montreal’s Windsor Hotel thanks to businessman J. Ambrose O’Brien. In addition to the Canadiens, the new league also includes the Montreal Wanderers as well as teams n Renfrew, Haileybury and Cobalt.
La Place du Centenaire (Centennial Plaza), located on De La La Gauchetière and corner of De La Montagne outside La Centre Bell, was inaugurated on December 4, 2008, one year to the day of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Montreal Canadiens. The Plaza features three other bronze monuments, all by Fortier, honoring the Canadiens greatest legends, Howie Morenz, Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Jean Béliveau, and Guy LaFleur. The Royal Canadian Mint created special dollar coins, which are embedded in a commemorative plaque at the foot of each monument along with original five cent circulation coins marking the career of each player.
The Centennial Plaza also includes over 20,000 personalized bricks by Canadiens fans, a plaque describing each of the 24 Stanley Cup Championships, a small monument for each of the 15 Canadiens players who had their jersey retired by the Club, and bricks commemorating the 100 most memorable moments in franchise history.
Montréal – Downtown Montréal: Centre Bell
Image by wallyg
Le Centre Bell (Bell Centre), formerly known as the Molson Centre, has been the home of the Montréal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL) since March 16, 1996, when the team departed from the historic Montréal Forum after their last game on March 11 of the same year. The name of the arena initially reflected Molson, Inc., the brewing company which owned a large share of the Canadiens at the time. Molson elected not to keep the naming rights when they sold the team, and the name officially changed on September 1, 2002 after Bell Canada acquired the naming rights.
The building covers an area of 15,680 square metres (168,778 sq. ft) in downtown Montréal on the corner of de la Gauchetière and de la Montagne streets and is Lucien-L’Allier metro stations and to the underground city. It has a seating capacity 21,273 making it the largest of any NHL arena. A new Daktronics scoreboard–the biggest in the NHL–was installed prior of the 2008-2009 season.
The arena also served as home to the Montreal Impact of the NPSEL from 1997-2000, the Montreal Rocket of the QMJHL from 2001-2003, and the Montreal Express of the NLL in 2002.