Exciting Event For Montreal Canadiens' Fans

It all started with a simple message board linked to The Gazette, a newspaper in the province of Quebec. Fans could talk about hockey and their beloved Montreal Canadiens on there. Over the years, friendships grew, and eventually, Ian Cobb, one of the fans, decided to organize an event for the group in Montreal over a weekend.

Seventeen years later, the Habs Summit is still going. Every year, they buy tickets to a Saturday night game, but they all descend on the town on Friday in time for a meet-and-greet at Hurley's Irish Pub on Crescent Street.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, it's back to Hurley's for a pre-game meal and the traditional charity raffle. Everyone who attends brings a Canadiens-themed prize, and the group sells tickets for the prize draw. The funds raised every year go to the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation, and everyone goes home happy with a nice prize.

This year, The Gazette's journalist Stu Cowan was the master of ceremonies and entertained the fans with a Q&A session in which he covered various subjects, talking about Guy Lafleur, Chris Nilan, Andrei Markov, and Tomas Plekanec, to name a few. Once again, he was joined by Habs alumni Rejean Houle, who brought a team-signed stick for the charity raffle, as he does every year.

The raffle table included much more than just the team signed stick, as it always does. Francis Benoit and Julie Potvin from Memorable Authentic donated a Kirby Dach autographed 8x10 framed picture. Author Mike Commito donated a copy of his yet-to-be-released book Habs 365 (it will be on sale October 15; you do not want to miss it), and everyone attending also brought items. There were Carey Price and Nick Suzuki jerseys, numerous player T-shirts, including a small Arber Xhekaj one (there's a contradiction in there somewhere), signed Larry Robinson pictures, an autographed hat, and the list just went on and on.

When all was said and done, over $6,000 was raised for the Foundation, including a sizeable donation by founding father Cobb and 20 Euros from a customer at the pub who decided to join in. Paul from Saudi Arabia went home with a brand new Habs zip-up sweater and, no doubt, with a big smile on his face.

Nobody was happier than Mike Ryan from Newfoundland, though. He was celebrating his birthday at the Summit and left with the team-signed stick. His ticket wasn't drawn first, but organizer Rob Hing's was, and he refused to grab the top prize for himself, preferring to offer it to the birthday boy.

While the group's core members have known each other for quite some time and are a tight-knit bunch, they are very welcoming to anyone who wants to join the event. I first attended after reading about the Habs Summit in the book 100 Things Habs Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die by Pat Hickey. You read tons of horror stories about people you meet online, but this is a wonderful group that makes you feel like part of the family; they even made an in-memoriam collage about former members who have passed over the years (RIP Ron Frick from Winnipeg, Dave Finn for Montreal and Fred Sherrington Sr from Gatineau), they may be gone, but they aren't forgotten.

If the article has peaked your curiosity and you want to know more about the Habs Summit and perhaps take part next year, head over to their Facebook page. That's where the yearly plan comes together, and you can make yourself known to organizers Mary McGill, Rob and Alayne Hing, Paul Kinimmonth, Chuck Lewis, Louise, and Scott McEwen.

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