Author: Gregory Caltabanis

With the Canadiens’ abysmal season, Montrealers are shifting to soccer

The sports landscape in Montreal is changing as fans are now opting to make the trip to Saputo Stadium instead of the Bell Centre.

While Montreal sports fans can be unreasonable at times, they are consistent in the fact that they support winning teams. Right now, the Habs aren’t exactly what you would call a winning team and are spiralling downwards with Michel Therrien at the helm. The Impact, on the other hand, are giving the Montreal faithful something to cheer about and appear to be on the upswing under Mauro Biello.

After an opening day win away at home against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Biello’s men took on last year’s Supporters Shield winners, the New York Red Bulls at the Olympic Stadium and defeated them rather easily. Despite their most recent defeat against FC Dallas, the Impact have emerged as one of Major League Soccer’s dark horses.

As a result of the differing fortunes of both of Montreal’s sports teams, the fans are starting to act accordingly. With the hockey season drawing to a close, less and less fans are going to watch games while the opposite is true at Impact games. Considering the difference in ticket prices, this trend should come as no surprise.

At the moment, the average ticket price at the Bell Centre is valued at $257.06 which makes it the seventh highest in the league, according to Forbes. What’s worse is that this is a 10 per cent increase from the year before. In which market can putting out a losing product result in an increase in price? In addition, it’s important to consider that concession and parking prices at the Bell Centre are much higher than they are at the Saputo Stadium.

If you opt to go see a Montreal Impact game, by contrast, it’ll cost you anywhere between $15 to $85. In fact, two single game tickets in the reds at the Bell Centre is equivalent to season tickets in a modest section at Saputo Stadium.

Recently, the francophone radio station, 91.9FM asked their listeners if they would choose Montreal Impact tickets or Montreal Canadiens tickets if given the option between the two. Much to their surprise, the response was overwhelmingly in favour of the Impact. If this same question was asked just two years ago or even last year, the answers would be much different. But let’s face it; would you rather put your hard-earned money towards watching Mike Condon, Alexei Emelin and Mike Brown put in an uninspiring performance or go watch Ignacio Piatti, Laurent Ciman and Didier Drogba (soon!) work towards something exciting at a fair price? I think the answer is simple.

At the end of the day, this trend will evolve into a regular occurrence should the Impact continue their ascent to the top of MLS while the Habs ownership show indifference to their loyal supporters and keeps increasing ticket prices despite poor on-ice displays. So, don’t be surprised if suddenly you see the Impact’s black and blue strip in the streets of Montreal instead of the Canadiens historic bleu, blanc et rouge.

A look at Royal Vale’s unique hockey program for younger athletes

When walking into Royal Vale School in NDG, you would think it is similar to the other elementary schools in the area. The staff is helpful, the teachers are conducting their lessons and the students are going about their business. But after taking a deeper look into the school, it becomes apparent that their hockey program sets them apart from the rest.

Over a decade ago, Royal Vale physical education teacher Norman Katz created a hockey program with the goal to promote health and activity.

“These programs are typically found in high schools, therefore it was a unique initiative [for an elementary school],” said Katz.

According to Katz, it all started when his colleagues at Lower Canada College, a school renowned for its impressive athletics programs, asked him if he’d like to put a team together from Royal Vale to compete in a league. Katz would accept the proposition and made elementary school history in the 2011-2012 season when Royal Vale finished in third place and qualified for the playoffs for the first time.

Katz admitted that starting the program from scratch was a bit overwhelming at first. “I told them I didn’t know if I can do this,” he said. “I needed an arena. We simply didn’t have the infrastructure.”

Determined to see this idea out, Katz eventually succeeded in creating the program, despite the fact no public elementary school had anything similar. “Being a public school kid all my life I’ve always believed that kids should have the same opportunities,” he said. “The fact that they can do things that anyone can is important to me.”

The training done within the program does not conflict with the students’ classes and the school uses the nearby Doug Harvey Arena for practices.

The philosophy of the program is a simple one. Whether you are a male or a female, you can play on the team if you are good enough. “Our captain of the team is a female. The first two goals of the program were scored by a girl, Danielle Shemie,” said Katz.

While he acknowledges it’s not easy for girls to play with their male counterparts for a number of reasons, he’s happy the school welcomes them to play. “It takes a strong character because you have to be okay with being around the guys. You want to be a part of the team,” he said. “I’m proud of every girl who has come through our program.”

Katz recalled some of his fondest moments since the inception of the program. “We participate in a tournament at Lower Canada College every year with teams from all across Canada,” he said. “When they [came] here, they [asked] themselves who we are but now they know who Royal Vale is because of our program.”

According to the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) website, Minnesota Wild defenseman Marco Scandella is an ambassador for the Royal Vale Elite Hockey Program. Scandella used to be a student at West Mount High School and Willingdon Elementary School in NDG. According to the EMSB, Scandella was chosen as an ambassador “due to his lifelong perseverance and success in his athletic career.”

Recently Royal Vale and Rapid Hockey Development have decided to work in collaboration together to offer students the opportunity to hone their hockey skills in a unique concentration program. For Katz, the introduction of this program will only continue to promote a hockey spirit at the school but he did express one concern. “Fundamentally I didn’t want the kids to pay any additional money for this program,” he said. “There is a cost involved to participate but there are also positive spinoffs.”

At the moment, it costs $1,375 to sign up for Rapid Hockey Development which includes 72 hours of on-ice training. The price can be steep for some parents as it is more expensive than joining a youth team. “There are some kids in my program who are on it and are getting more training. Ideally, you think we can be a better team due to this program,” said Katz.

The relationship with Rapid Hockey Development has helped Royal Vale foster a similar bond with Concordia University.

“One of the coaches at Rapid Hockey Development knew Marc-André Element, the coach of the hockey team at Concordia and asked if some of our students could go see a game,” recalled Katz.

Plans call for Royal Vale students to attend a hockey game at Concordia University on Feb. 12. “I’m hoping about 100 students could make the game but it will depend on the parents,” said Katz.

Elaborating on Royal Vale’s growing relationship with Concordia, Katz went on to say that it’s something he welcomes.

“I think like in anything, it has potential to lead to other things,” he said. “The connection with an elementary school and a university is an interesting one. Many of these kids may even end up going to Concordia in the future.”

“Concordia has sent a number of athletes to their Jump Rope for Heart Day while a number of Royal Vale students attended a women’s hockey game last year,” said Katz.

Royal Vale currently plays in a league with schools such as Lower Canada College, Kuper Academy, Selwyn House and Solomon Schechter.

The Montreal media and their bias towards the Habs

On Nov. 8, the Montreal Impact were eliminated by the Columbus Crew in the Eastern Conference semi-finals of the MLS playoffs, making it the Impacts best-ever finish in its history. While their historic run did a lot to encourage further coverage of soccer in Montreal, major media outlets in the city still have a long way to go.

A few months ago, Alain Crête of RDS and CHMP-FM 98.5’s Arcadio Marcuzzi got into a dispute over the lack of coverage of the Montreal Impact and introduced some eye-opening points. At the moment, there is only one journalist in all of Quebec’s major media outlets whose beat is the Montreal Impact. This journalist is Dave Lévesque of the Journal de Montreal. Considering the rise to prominence of the MLS in the last two years, this number is far too low.

Crête argued that the Montreal Canadiens is the city’s main sports attraction and claimed that if there was ever a scheduling conflict between them and the Impact, they would get the edge. As you may remember, RDS decided to air the Habs first pre-season game against Toronto instead of a game that would likely decide the Impacts post-season fate. That pre-season game went on to garner 422,000 viewers, dwarfing any number of viewers the Impact were expected to register.

The danger with numbers, however, is that they can be dangerously misused to prove a point. To compare the Impact with the Montreal Canadiens is an exercise in futility. The Habs have been around for more than 100 years, while the Impact was founded only five years ago. In addition, the Canadiens have shows like Hockey 360 and 24CH to promote their popularity while the Impact have nothing similar. As a result, there will be a disparity in viewership when their respective games are aired. We also can’t forget that we live in one of the biggest hockey cultures in the world. Even if soccer is growing in Montreal, it will never reach the heights of the bleu-blanc-rouge.

This issue was further brought to light when I covered the first leg of the Impact’s tie against the Columbus Crew. In the press box, almost every journalist from Montreal’s major outlets was more concerned with the score of the Habs game against the Winnipeg Jets instead of the history that was unfolding before their very eyes. This was the Impact’s first-ever semi-final appearance and their eyes were glued to their computer for the hockey score. In fact, when the Canadiens were up by a score of five to one, it got more high-fives and smiles than when Johan Venegas scored the go-ahead goal.

Moreover, the coverage the Impact does get is often reduced to the ‘Didier Drogba’ effect. The Ivorian is clearly a world class player but his performances do not account for every Impact win, as it is lazily being made out to be. The work of Mauro Biello since his appointment as manager has been completely disregarded and the team’s success has largely been attributed to the exploits of the former Chelsea striker. Laurent Ciman’s performances are another aspect of the Montreal Impact that are barely getting the recognition they deserve by the mainstream media here.

While it would be rather foolish on my part to demand equal coverage between the Canadiens and the Impact, something needs to change, and it needs to change quickly.