Fans return to the stands, as hockey night features heaps of hypocrisy

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For hockey fans in Quebec and Ontario, it doesn’t get any better than Leafs vs. Canadiens on a Saturday night — in a playoff game, no less! And last Saturday, for the first time in more than a year, Montreal’s Bell Centre didn’t resemble a haunted house: some 2,500 fans were allowed in to watch Game 6.

But it came at a price: at game time, tickets for this matchup started at $1,500 per seat. The top ticket was going for $12,000. Oh, and you have to buy at least a pair of tickets. Imagine that: $24,000 for a pair of seats. That’s like the price of a brand new Honda Civic, right?

As well, what unfolded at Bell Centre was not just a display of hockey but surely hypocrisy as well.

Sure, it’s OK for millionaire NHL players to play hockey and be observed live by those with deep pockets in the stands. But why is it that the kids of all the great hockey moms and hockey dads remain shut-out of their community rinks across our great Dominion? Why is it okay for superstars like Carey Price and Auston Matthews to play shinny, but doing so is offside for the great unwashed masses?

And say, whatever happened to all those COVID-19 protocols that have made life so miserable for all of us? After all, many of the politicians and bureaucrats that were pulling the strings to get fans in the stands are the same elitists that have preached to us for well over a year to stay at home and stay online.

But those mandates don’t seem to apply to the upper crust. Look at the owners of these teams — the Molson family and Larry Tanenbaum and the pooh-bahs running Rogers and Bell. Do you think this sort plays by the same rules as the rest of us?

But then again, if you can’t afford to buy a ticket, no problem. Stay home and watch it on TV. The owners of the Leafs, Bell and Rogers, will provide that service to you — for a price, of course. Indeed, like so many other elements inherent to this pandemic, it’s one rule for thee, and one rule for me.

And sure, uber-woke corporations like Bell and Rogers are down for the revolution, man. But when it comes to THEIR play time for a big game, a selective type of capitalism carries the day for these shameless suits.

And talk about a man's advantage! Quebec Premier Francois Legault was so kind as to cancel the curfew prior to game time. Obviously Legault didn’t want any of his friends getting hassled by the Montreal Police Service for having the temerity to walk the streets of Montreal past 9:30 p.m. What a save!

But never forget that 14-month old mantra, folks: “We’re all in this together.”

Yeah, right. Because when it comes to the hottest hockey tickets in town, there are always a few Habs… and millions of Hab-nots.

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