Carey Price Canadiens ovation at Bell Centre, Digi Mart USA News (Montreal): For three long minutes, Montreal Canadiens fans loudly relived a highlight reel of the many great moments goaltender Carey Price experienced during the fifteen seasons he played with the organization. Officially inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, Price returned to the Bell Centre on Tuesday evening for the first time since hanging up his pads after the 2020-21 season, when he had been limited to five games.
As the crowd chanted “Olé, olé, olé,” Price’s eyes immediately welled up. He took time to fully savor the moment, standing alone near the center of the ice, flanked by the five individual trophies he won during his career in the National Hockey League: the Hart, Vézina, Ted Lindsay, William M.
Jennings and Bill Masterton. “Thank you very much!” Price repeated several times before fans quieted down to let him speak.
“It’s a special feeling. I would definitely feel better right now if I were out there with them,” he said, referring to the current Canadiens players, which drew laughter from the audience.
Looking toward the 22 players wearing the Canadiens’ colors, some of whom were once his teammates, he added sincerely, “It’s your time, enjoy it!”
In-house announcer Michel Lacroix then invited the crowd to look up at the Canadiens’ Ring of Honour, where former teammate and longtime friend Shea Weber would officially add Price’s name and number 31 to the 61 already displayed.
“I almost had tears in my eyes; it got to me. I was glad to see that ‘Carrie’ (Alexandre Carrier) was also moved,” said Philip Danault, who played with Price from 2016 to 2021.
“He was such a great leader for that team and for the community. It was really nice to see the crowd give him that love.”
“It was touching. I grew up watching the Canadiens, and the star player was Carey Price.
I think he deserves all that love,” Carrier said. “He’s a legend here.
But I certainly would have liked us to get a win for him.”
Earlier, before an impressive gathering of journalists in the small press room at the Bell Centre, Price made a memorable entrance by leaping forward to make his way through the television cameras. He then drew general laughter by saying he had landed “on the good knee,” a reference to the fact that he had been forced to end his career because of chronic problems with his right knee.
Just as during his playing career, Price answered each of the many questions put to him briefly and calmly. “Speeches have never been my strong suit.
I’m simply happy to be here and share this moment with the people who supported me all these years,” Price said of the ceremony awaiting him. “I’m not ready to be the center of attention!”
Price, who played 712 games with the Canadiens and ranks first in franchise history with 361 wins, says he enjoys retirement but admits he misses the atmosphere in the dressing room before certain games in which he took part. “I sometimes think back to the tension there was at that time,” he said.
“But I always said I was going to be able to accomplish something very good on the ice.”
That said, it is not so much the achievements that marked his career that he remembers, but the people he met over the years. He immediately thinks of the day the Canadiens retired the number 33 of another great goaltender, Patrick Roy.
“It was really a special moment,” Price recalled. “I have a photo I took with him that I keep carefully in a room dedicated to my memories.
It’s really special to have been able to live moments like those during my career.”
Asked whether he thinks his number 31 will join number 33 and the other retired numbers hanging high in the Bell Centre, Price said that whatever the organization decides, he will continue to follow the team closely, particularly his former teammates Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, among others. “I’m really excited every time I see them play,” he concluded.
“I remember how I felt when I was a young player. You can see how enthusiastic they are just by watching how they behave on the ice.
Sometimes I’m even a little too emotionally invested when I watch them play! I’m trying to gradually detach myself.
That said, I’m really excited when I see them all go!”
