Battle of Quebec (ice hockey) facts for kids

The Battle of Quebec (French: Bataille du Québec) was a big rivalry in the National Hockey League (NHL). It was between two hockey teams from Quebec, the Montreal Canadiens and the Quebec Nordiques. This exciting rivalry lasted from the 1979–80 season until the 1994–95 season.

The two teams faced each other five times in the NHL playoffs. The Canadiens won three of these playoff series. One famous game in 1984 was called the Good Friday Massacre. Many fights broke out during that game. The Battle of Quebec was more than just hockey. It even became a symbol in politics and a competition between beer companies that owned the teams.

How the Rivalry Started

The Nordiques hockey team began playing in 1972. They were part of a different league called the World Hockey Association (WHA). The WHA tried to get good players from the NHL. The Nordiques signed J. C. Tremblay, a player from the Canadiens. They also hired former Montreal players Maurice Richard and Jacques Plante as coaches.

The Canadiens and Nordiques rivalry truly began in the 1979–80 season. This was when the Nordiques and three other WHA teams joined the NHL. At first, the Canadiens did not want the WHA teams to join. But the Canadiens' owner, Molson Brewery, worried that people in Canadian cities with WHA teams would stop buying their beer. So, the Canadiens changed their vote and supported the merger. The teams were put in different divisions at first. Montreal was in the Norris Division, and Quebec was in the Adams Division.

Early Games and First Playoff Meeting (1979–1982)

The Canadiens and Nordiques played their first game on October 13, 1979, in Montreal. The Canadiens won that game 3–1. The Nordiques hosted the rivalry for the first time on October 29. They surprised everyone by beating the Canadiens 5–4. A newspaper called the Ottawa Citizen wrote that this win showed Quebec could beat Montreal.

The rivalry was quite close in its first few years. From 1979–80 to 1981–82, the Canadiens had 6 wins, 5 losses, and 5 ties against the Nordiques. They only won one game away from their home arena, the Montreal Forum.

Before the 1981–82 season, the NHL changed its divisions. The Canadiens were then placed in the same division as the Nordiques. In the 1982 playoffs, the teams met for their first ever playoff series. The Nordiques won Game 2 and Game 3 after losing Game 1. This put them in a good spot to win the best-of-five series. Montreal won the fourth game 6–2. That game had a lot of penalty minutes, which are given for rule violations. There were 251 penalty minutes in total, with 159 from one fight in the first period.

Game 5 was played in Montreal. The Canadiens scored two goals in the third period to tie the game 2–2. This forced the game into overtime to decide the series winner. The game and series ended quickly, just 22 seconds into overtime. Quebec's Dale Hunter scored a goal, giving the Nordiques the victory.

The Good Friday Massacre (1984 Playoffs)

Two years later, the teams met again in the playoffs. By this time, their rivalry was known as the Battle of Quebec. The teams each won two of the first four games in the best-of-seven series. Montreal then won Game 5 in Quebec City with a score of 4–0.

Game 6, which became famous as the Good Friday Massacre, happened in Montreal on April 20, 1984. The Canadiens came back from being down by two goals in the third period to win 5–3. This win clinched the series for them. However, the game is most remembered for the many fights that broke out in the last two periods.

The fighting started at the end of the second period. It began after an incident between the Nordiques' Hunter and the Canadiens' Guy Carbonneau. More than 10 minutes of fighting followed. The teams received 222 penalty minutes in the second period alone. Ten players were kicked out of the game after both brawls. But some players were not told right away after the first brawl. This was because the officials were still writing down all the penalties. Another 10-minute-long fight involving players from both benches happened after the ejections were announced. The total penalty minutes in the game went over 250.

More Playoff Battles (1984–1987)

Peter Stastny scored in overtime of Game 7 of the 1985 Canadiens–Nordiques playoff series for Quebec.

During the 1984–85 season, the Canadiens played the Nordiques eight times. Montreal only lost once, winning six games. The 1985 playoffs saw the Canadiens and Nordiques meet for the third time in four years. The Nordiques won the first and third games in overtime. They took a 3–2 lead in the series after winning Game 5 in Montreal 5–1. The Canadiens fought back with a 5–2 win in Quebec City in Game 6. This sent the series to a deciding Game 7 back in Montreal.

The score was tied 2–2 after the regular game time, so it went into overtime. Peter Stastny scored for the Nordiques just 2 minutes and 22 seconds into overtime. This goal gave the Nordiques the game and the series.

The teams did not play each other in the 1986 playoffs. The Nordiques lost early, while the Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup. But in 1987, Montreal and Quebec had their fourth playoff matchup. The Nordiques won the first two games in Montreal. The Canadiens then tied the series with two wins in Quebec City. Game 4 was decided in overtime and even had a fight before the game started.

Montreal won Game 5 at home, but it was not without a problem. The score was tied 2–2 late in the third period. Alain Cote scored what looked like the winning goal for the Nordiques. But the goal was disallowed because both teams had committed penalties at the same time. Ryan Walter then scored the winning goal for the Canadiens just 14 seconds later. Quebec coach Michel Bergeron called his team's loss "a crime." He said, "No one wants to let us win." A lawyer in Quebec City even offered to help the Nordiques challenge the game's result, but the team decided not to. The Nordiques won Game 6 at home. However, the Canadiens won the deciding Game 7 by a score of 5–3, scoring all their goals in the second period.

Final Playoff Meeting and the Nordiques Move (1993)

In the 1993 playoffs, the Canadiens and Nordiques met in the first round. The Nordiques took a 2–0 lead in the series. But Montreal then won four games in a row to win the series. Three of the six games went into overtime. The Canadiens won two of those overtime games, including Game 5 in Quebec City. This win gave them the lead in the series. A 6–2 victory in Game 6 clinched the series for the Canadiens. They later went on to win the Stanley Cup that year.

The Battle of Quebec rivalry ended after the 1994–95 season. This was because the Nordiques team moved to Denver, Colorado. They became a new team called the Colorado Avalanche.

However, the spirit of the rivalry never completely disappeared. In 2002, the Avalanche played an exhibition game against the Canadiens in Quebec City. When Joe Sakic, a former Nordique player, entered the arena wearing the Nordiques' blue colors, the fans cheered loudly for him. He said that Quebec City was an amazing hockey city. In 2010, a TV show called La série Montréal-Québec started. It featured games between amateur hockey teams from the two cities.

Why the Rivalry Was So Big

Both teams in the rivalry were from the province of Quebec. Montreal is the biggest city in the province, and Quebec City is its capital. One person who worked for the Nordiques said that Quebec City always felt a bit frustrated with Montreal. This hockey rivalry was the first time they could truly compete head-to-head. Michael Farber wrote that the dislike for the Canadiens in Quebec City went back a long time. It started when the Canadiens signed Jean Beliveau, who used to play for the Quebec Aces.

The Battle of Quebec also matched teams with different backgrounds. The Canadiens were a team with a long history of winning. The Nordiques were newer to the NHL when their playoff series happened in the mid-1980s. Stastny said that it was like two different groups, each representing something. He felt they were not just playing for their team, but for all their fans.

The teams also became symbols in politics. Some people saw the Canadiens as representing those who wanted Quebec to stay part of Canada. The Nordiques were seen as a symbol for those who wanted Quebec to become independent. The Nordiques gained many francophone (French-speaking) fans in Quebec. Their uniforms even had the colors and symbol from the province's flag. A newspaper survey in the early 1980s found that support for the Canadiens and Nordiques often matched support for different political parties in Quebec.

There was also a rivalry between the teams' owners, who were both big beer companies. Molson owned the Canadiens, and Carling O'Keefe owned the Nordiques. After the Canadiens lost to the Nordiques in the 1982 playoffs, beer sales in Quebec went down by 9.5 percent. A reporter named Red Fisher said that Molson and Carling O'Keefe helped make the rivalry even bigger.

The Canadiens and Nordiques also argued over who got the money from TV rights for games. When the Nordiques joined the NHL, they had to give up money from Hockey Night in Canada TV broadcasts for five years. Molson was a main sponsor of these broadcasts. The Nordiques' president, Marcel Aubut, said this was part of the Molson–Carling O'Keefe rivalry. The teams also disagreed about a deal that gave the Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs most of the money from Canadian TV rights. In 1984, the Nordiques joined U.S. teams in trying to get games played in the U.S. televised. This led to a big lawsuit, which was later settled out of court.

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