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A group based in Gatineau, Que., has launched a petition that has drawn thousands of signatures in less than 24 hours, after the National Hockey League barred organizers from hosting watch parties for Montreal Canadiens’ playoff games in a local arena.
Efforts to broadcast Saturday’s game for up to 4,000 Gatineau Habs fans at the Slush Puppie Centre were thwarted earlier this week by the NHL, according to Wassim Aboutanos.
He was one of the event organizers and is the president of Impératif français, a group dedicated to the promotion of the French language and culture, which launched the petition.
Despite having obtained broadcast rights from TVA Sports, the exclusive French-speaking broadcaster of the NHL in the playoffs, and starting to sell hundreds of tickets — the proceeds of which were to be donated to a local cause related to mental health — the league pulled the plug on the event.
Aboutanos said it comes down to teams’ territorial rights.
“The Ottawa Senators [have] an 80 kilometre territory, where you can’t promote other teams other than the Senators,” Aboutanos said he was told by the NHL. “They’re seeing the watch party as a marketing activity.”
The citizen’s petition is asking the league to reconsider its decision, and let Gatineau’s Habs fans experience the playoff fever that has overtaken Montreal.
More than 4,000 people have since signed the petition, many of whom expressed their disappointment at not being able to show support for their team in the way they’d hoped.
Aboutanos is asking Canadians across the country to also join the petition, and support the Gatineau people in their right to gather in their arena to cheer for the last Canadian team still in the playoffs.
“We are really asking the Ottawa Senators … just [to] make an exception,” said Aboutanos. “All the franchise[s] should be behind the love of Canadian hockey.”
As the Habs push forward through the NHL playoff series, Montrealers are proving they can cheer on their favourite team from anywhere.
Sylvain St-Laurent, a spokesperson for the Ottawa Senators, told CBC in an email Sunday that the “Senators organization will not comment as this is a National Hockey League matter.”
An NHL spokesperson later re-iterated the league’s previous statement on the matter:
“We appreciate the passion and excitement surrounding the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, this planned event, organized by an independent promoter, never received the necessary authorization required by the NHL for large showings of our games.”
Even though organizers say they have since sought the necessary authorization from the NHL, it appears the authorization will not be given for subsequent games of the series.
“The fact that we’re not able to get together and cheer for a team of our choice,” Aboutanos said, “that is unacceptable for us.”
