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Crowds and atmosphere: Vegas is no match for Montreal (according to Luc Gélinas)

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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Crowds and atmosphere: Vegas is no match for Montreal (according to Luc Gélinas)
Last night was the first game of the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers were in Vegas to take on the Golden Knights.

And as expected, it was quite a field hockey game.

Indeed, field hockey fans were clearly not disappointed last night as they watched the first game of the series.

It was quite a spectacle, finally won by the Golden Knights 5-2.

Zach Whitecloud broke a 2-2 tie midway through the third period with his first career playoff goal.

Let’s just say he really picked the right moment to score that goal.

The Golden Knights didn’t look back after that, adding two more goals, including one in an empty net.

Vegas can also say a huge thank you to their goalie, Adin Hill, who made a miraculous save that deserves to be seen over and over again.

A save very similar to Braden Holtby’s in the Cup Final against Vegas in 2018.

In short, it was a fiercely contested first match that brought the T-Mobile Arena crowd to its feet at several points.

Speaking of the Vegas crowd, we could really see last night that the atmosphere in the stands was very good.

It was nice to see for the crowd of a team that is still quite new.

The Vegas crowd clearly outshines many of the other NHL teams in terms of atmosphere.

But does it surpass that of Montreal and the Bell Centre?

Well, according to Luc Gélinas, the Vegas crowd has absolutely nothing to envy that of Montreal.

During last night’s game, a fan commented that the Vegas atmosphere was a far cry from the Bell Centre in terms of decibels (on TV).

To which Luc Gélinas replied that the Centre Bell crowd was no better than the T-Mobile Arena crowd, and that at best, the Montreal crowd equals the Vegas crowd.

That’s a big statement, especially coming from a member of the Montreal media.

Sure, there’s a great atmosphere around field hockey in Vegas, and it’s great to see, but better than in Montreal?

I find that hard to believe.

The Bell Centre exploded this season when Cole Caufield scored a goal in a losing cause, and it was a losing season to boot.

Imagine what the atmosphere would be like if the CH found itself in the Golden Knights’ current position, i.e. in the Stanley Cup Final.

We had a good idea of the Montreal craze in 2021 when the team made it to the finals, beating the Golden Knights in the process.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the Bell Centre from being filled to capacity.

However, the atmosphere was still very good, with 7,500 fans, not to mention the hundreds of people outside the Bell Centre.

Even if the Bell Centre had been filled to capacity at the time, there would still have been this huge gathering of people in the streets, even if there had been more people without the pandemic.

So, yes, I think the crowd atmosphere in Vegas is very good (better than many NHL teams already), but I don’t think it’s on the same level as in Montreal.

Still, it’s pretty close.

But I can’t wait to see if there’ll be such a field hockey atmosphere in Vegas when the team is less successful and potentially rebuilding.

I don’t think there’ll be as good a crowd, and certainly not comparable to the one in Montreal this rebuilding season.


In Burst

– CH’s week in review.

– Dmitry Orlov should test the autonomous player market.

– Gary Bettman is indeed… tenacious.

– Amazing what money can do. He will normally play in the Saudi Arabian Professional League next season.

– What do you think?

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