“The parade will follow the usual route.” Words made famous during the 1970s by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, announcing the path of the Montreal Canadiens’ seemingly annual Stanley Cup victory parades. For many, those were epic years, filled with moments that every Habs fan of that era has etched in their memory.

“It was an incredible time here, and that’s partly what the book’s about. It was like the whole city seemed to revolve around the Canadiens, and in some ways that hasn’t changed,” said Brendan Kelly, author, arts and culture columnist on both sides of our linguistic divide, and like many Montrealers, a rabid hockey fan. Kelly calls his latest book, Habs Nation: A People’s History of the Montreal Canadiens (published by Baraka Books) a translation / adaptation of Le CH et son peuple: Une province, une équipe, une histoire commune, his French-language volume published in October 2024 by Les Éditions de l’Homme.

Kelly talks with former Canadiens greats Bob Gainey, Serge Savard and Chris Nilan, as well as journalists, politicians, filmmakers and loyal Habs fans, like actor Viggo Mortensen. While both releases focus on the relationship between the team’s French identity, and French Quebec, Kelly thought the English version should have a chapter that deals with the relationship between the team and English Montreal. “I talked to PJ Stock, a former player who’s very present on RDS; to Sergio Momesso, a very famous player from the ‘80s; and Dick Irvin, the legendary broadcaster.”

Born in Scotland, Kelly and his family moved to Montreal in 1967 when he was five — the last year the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup. During the next 11 years, Kelly, now 63, would see the home team win the cup eight times. “My first memory of the Canadiens was that team in the 1970s, who were pretty well considered one of the greatest teams in the history of hockey.”

While Kelly never played organized hockey, like many young kids at that time, he took up the street game, playing goal and emulating his then idol, Chicago Blackhawks great, Tony Esposito. “I was watching the Canadiens, but I was cheering for another team,” Kelly remembered, adding, “Montreal won six cups in the 1970s and twice played against Chicago in the finals, in ‘71 and ’73, beating them with Esposito in the nets.”

While volumes have been written about “Nos Glorieux” over the years — from grizzled sports journalists and broadcasters, former players and coaches, to armchair general managers — Kelly, the arts and culture guy, says his book focuses on just that — culture. “I look at the Canadiens as a cultural entity. Because sports is entertainment. It’s also business. There’s so much more to the Canadiens,” he said. “My story is not about hockey. Hockey plays a role in it, but I talk about the relationship between the team and society.”

Case in point, Kelly reminds us that the Canadiens were formed in 1909 by a businessman from Ontario, J. Ambrose O’Brien, specifically to cater to the French-Canadian community. “It was a cultural thing to start with. It wasn’t about hockey. Montreal had the Wanderers for the English and the Shamrocks for the Irish. They needed a French team. So it was that question of identity.”

And that identity was at the heart of the Richard Riot, which occurred on March 17, 1955, in response to the suspension by NHL President Clarence Campbell of the Canadiens’ star player, Maurice Richard, for the remainder of the 1954-55 season and playoffs. “It’s considered like the starting point or a catalyst for the Quiet Revolution. French people rising up and saying, ‘You know what? We’re tired of being trod upon and we need to have our rights.’ So that’s what I bring as a cultural reporter. It’s a cultural story. It’s about society.” n