The Canadian | It’s time to call Celine Dion to the rescue

For our section Misconductthis week, my colleagues and I have to suggest a new entrance song for the Canadiens players.

I would like to point out that I appreciate the current ballad, Fix Youby Coldplay. First, his words fit well with the theme of reconstruction. Also, players love it. So much so that after six weeks of Bulls on Parade of Rage Against The Machine, in the fall of 2021, Joel Edmundson asked the club’s management to return to Fix Youwho played in previous seasons.

However, three years later, does the magic still work? Does the success of Coldplay motivate the Habs players enough for them to be pumped up in the first minutes of a match?

If I ask the question, it is because since the return of Fix Youon November 20, 2021, the Canadian laboriously begins his home games. He scored the first goal only 47 times in 121 games at the Bell Center. This is the worst ratio in the NHL. You will point out to me that the CH also has one of the worst attacks in the NHL, period. It’s true. Except that when the club plays abroad, it finds itself in the middle of the pack, having scored the first goal in almost half of the games (57 out of 120).

Same observation for the goals in the first period. The Canadian achieves fewer at home (88) than abroad (99) or in the following periods.

Basically, for the past three years, the Canadian has started his home matches more often as a kitty than as a lion. Hence our humble suggestion, completely gratuitous, unscientific and unsolicited, to revise the players’ introduction.

My favorite entrance songs share two characteristics: they build in intensity, and fans can easily sing along to the lyrics. I had the privilege of attending a soccer match at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, where 60,000 people greeted the players by singing a hit from the 1940s, You’ll Never Walk Alone. You will never walk alone. A strong message, which unites fans and players. My arm hairs stood up like the posts of a new fence.

I felt the same emotion when, in the stands at Selkhurst Park, in London, I heard the Crystal Palace fans singing Glad All Over. Same thing when I watch the spectators at the San Siro stadium chant Maybe it’s because I love you before AC Milan matches.

Canadian fans are among the most passionate in the world. Why not give them a bigger role in player presentation? Ask them to welcome the players by singing? While we’re at it, in French, the most distinctive feature between Montreal and the other cities of the National League?

What if the CH called on… Celine Dion?

Full transparency: I’m not his biggest fan. I prefer the world of Leloup, the rhythms of Jain, the melodies of Bélanger and the poetry of Souchon. Afterwards, I totally recognize his unique talent, his charisma and his presence. His presence brightens the scenes. Remember her appearance at the last draft session, in Las Vegas, when she announced the first selection of the Canadian, Ivan Demidov. The next day, we talked more about her than about Russian hope!

Does she have a song that would make a good intro for the Canadiens players?

The last will be first ?

OK, OK, she was easy. My apologies to sensitive supporters. On the other hand, his interpretation ofHymn to love by Edith Piaf, during the opening ceremonies of the Paris Games, would tick all the boxes.

Do you find it too slow? I invite you to listen again Fix You. It’s not exactly a joke. You’ll Never Walk Alone no more, just like Sweet Caroline, Take Me Home, Country Roads or Your love changed my life, that DJs are already playing in our stadiums to excite the public.

Hymn to love is a unifying song. I was at the Trocadéro stadium, 500 meters from the Eiffel Tower, when Céline Dion performed it at the Paris Games. All around, my colleagues from Australia, Chile, Japan, Poland and Azerbaijan, who surely understood nothing of the text, were wiping their eyes – and it wasn’t just because of the the downpour that fell on us.

It is also a song full of affection and hope, two important subjects for a team and its supporters. This is also why artistic director Thomas Jolly chose it for the opening ceremony, based on the theme “Together, it will be okay”.

Now imagine the scene. The lights at the Bell Center go out. Projection, on the ice, of great moments in the history of the CH. Richard, Béliveau, Lafleur. The anthem begins with the last verse. The spectators, contemplative, leave the first two sentences to Céline Dion.

We will have eternity for us
In the blue of all immensity.

Then they sing the next two in chorus.

In the sky, no more problems
My love, do you think we love each other?

Dramatic rise. Violins, trombones, piano. A wink from Patrick Roy. Saku Koivu’s ovation. Artturi Lehkonen’s Midsummer goal. People are humming “la-la-la”. Then at the exact moment when Céline pushes a cappella the final (God brings together those who love each other), the Canadiens players enter to the cries of a wild crowd.

Opening the lights. Change of pace. Quick segue into a more dynamic song, like Grand championof the Three Agreements. Or Montréal -40from Malajube. Or The goalby Loco Locass. Or People by Robert Robert. Or Les Boys. Our repertoire is rich. Options abound, as you will see with my colleagues’ proposals.

Read the section Misconduct