Why Montreal's playoff energy is like no other

Almost everyone appears to agree that the Montreal Canadiens fans are the loudest and rowdiest of any team in the National Hockey League. And the "Habs fever" is only intensifying as the team pursues a second round battle in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Canadiens players are feeling the love. Defenceman Noah Dobson, who was injured to start the playoffs, said on Monday he was "itching to get back to the Bell Centre."

"It's the best atmosphere in the league. This time of year, there's no place like it," said Dobson, who is from Summerside, P.E.I.

Players from opposing teams, including the Sabres' Tage Thompson, who won a gold medal with the U.S. hockey team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, have said it can be tough to keep their emotions in check while playing before screaming and singing Montreal fans.

"It's a challenge, for sure. The place was loud tonight. You feel the energy and you'd feel that they had momentum off of it," Thompson told journalists after the Canadiens won the third game of the series last Sunday night.

Experts attribute that enthusiasm to the team's 117-year history — it is the oldest team in the National Hockey League — and how it has intertwined with Quebec history.

"Montreal is a hockey city," says Nicolas Moreau, a social sciences professor at the University of Ottawa and author of the book "Le Canadien de Montréal: une légende repensée."

Moreau says fans historically rallied around the team in the 20th century to celebrate seeing local heroes who were the best in the world. It was during an era when tensions ran high between anglophones and francophones, and some felt English-speaking Canadians and Americans were always coming out on top.

"French Canadians in general weren't experiencing such obvious