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Sunday, March 12, 2000
Fire and Ice
It was a move that would cost Richard the scoring title and the Canadiens the Stanley Cup. To a frustrated French Canadian community it was a move that reeked of injustice and it would spark a furious seven hour riot that stretched for five kilometres along St-Catherine Street in Montreal.
It will forever be remembered as the Rocket Richard Riot.
On Wednesday March 17, 2000, "Fire & Ice: The Rocket Richard Riot" will premiere across Canada on Global television. Controversial writer/director Brian McKenna gives us an in-depth look at this historic incident through the eyes of those who were there on that tragic night when emotions ran wild and political passions turned violent, spilling out onto the streets. McKenna sets the stage with archival footage and dramatic re-enactments. Key hockey figures like Red Storey, Dick Irvin and Red Fisher give us a first hand account of the frightening action that night and of the overall political and social atmosphere of Montreal in the 50's.
In 1955 the face of Montreal was English. The wealthy anglo elite controlled. For French Canadians, Rocket Richard was a saviour, a symbol of rebellion who bowled his way over opponents and headed for the goal with eyes of fire. In "Fire & Ice: The Rocket Richard Riot", Richard is depicted not only as a hero to French Canadians, but as a resistance leader whose flag was the Montreal Canadiens jersey.
Clarence Campbell was on the other side.
To French Canadiens at the time, Campbell was seen as an arrogant man who looked down on his French speaking co-habitants. He was the boss who liberally made an example of his power.
Richard was outspoken and brash when it came to his opinions of Campbell, and in a newspaper column that Richard wrote, he accused Campbell of running a dictatorship.
A confrontation was brewing and when Richard was involved in a violent incident against the Boston Bruins, Campbell put the wheels in full motion, suspending Richard for the remainder of the season and the playoffs and cementing his reputation as public enemy number one in Montreal.
When the Canadiens hosted the Detroit Red Wings on March 17, 1955, a day after Campbell suspended Richard, the air was thick with tension. It got even thicker when Campbell showed up at the Forum 10 minutes into the game with three lady friends. He took his usual seat. Before long a young man approached Campbell and offered to shake his hand. Campbell instead got a slap in the face. Another man approached with a tomato that he rapidly hurled at Campbell, who remained calm and seated through most of the abuse. When a homemade tear gas bomb sent noxious fumes into the air, Campbell and his lady friends finally made their way to safety. The damage, however, was done. The game was cut short and angry mobs flooded into the streets to smash store windows, topple cars and vent their anger towards the percieved injustice and mistreatment of their hero.
The Rocket Richard Riot was underway. A riot that some claim was the symbolic beginning of Quebec's nationalist movement and most will remember as a defining moment in Canadian history.
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