The Impact of the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club on the City of Montreal

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The Impact of the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club on the City of Montreal

A sports team is vital to a large city such as Montreal. A sports team may have

positive or negative impacts on a city. The team that will be focused on is the Montreal

Canadiens. Despite the poor seasons that the team has recently endured, the Montreal

Canadiens are still one of the most winningest franchises in all of sports. The team’s long

history as a winning organization has made the city of Montreal reputable. For my

research, the three disciplines that will be focused on are sociology, geography, and

economics. These disciplines are very much evident and important to my research topic,

that being, the importance the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club for the City of Montreal.

With the use of sources related to my topic, one will be able to grasp the overall context

of my research. The direct question that my research intends to answer is; how has the

Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club impacted the City of Montreal as a whole?

Literature Review

The discipline of sociology studies groups of people in a specific area. In this

case, the people we will focus on are the players playing for the Montreal Canadiens

hockey team and the fans that support the team. After viewing a video on the Montreal

Canadiens during the 1988-1989 season (Fisher 1989), the discipline of sociology is very

much evident in this video. The video takes an in depth viewing of the team during the

1988-1989 season. It looks at the ups and downs the team faced during this particular

season and how the Montreal Canadiens have over come obstacles.

During the 1988-1989 season, the Canadiens advanced to the Stanley Cup final

where they lost to the Calgary Flames in six games. A few years earlier, in 1986, the

Canadiens beat those same Calgary Flames to win their twenty-third Stanley Cup. The

player that led the Canadiens during the 1988-1989 season was none other than

goaltender Patrick Roy. The pressures that were placed on the shoulders’ of Roy were

unbelievable. This pressure came from fans and media alike. The fact he was a French-

Canadian that grew up cheering for the Canadiens, did not help either. As Patrick said in

the video, “Hockey in Montreal is not a sport, it’s a religion.” Also interviewed was

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... I composed my questionnaire around my research question. The

results of my fieldwork take into account the three disciplines that my literature review is

based on, that being, sociology, geography, and economics. From the answer(s) that was

derived from my fieldwork, the impact the Montreal Canadiens has on the city of

Montreal as a whole is positive.

Conclusion

To explain the importance a sports team has on a city, a new avenue for future

research would be the traveling to a city that lost a professional sports team and research

the impact it had on places such as Winnipeg and Quebec, where the Winnipeg Jets and

the Quebec Nordiques used to play respectfully. Economically, jobs are created within

and around the team and city, which geographically is the reason why businesses are set

up where they are, and sociologically, people come together in the supporting of their

team. These three disciplines are lost with losing of a professional sports team. A sports

team is vital to a large city such as Montreal. To conclude this report, the Montreal

Canadiens Hockey Club has a positive impact on the city of Montreal as a whole.

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