The last game at the Montreal Forum 30 years later | City News
Die-hard Habs fans know the history of the team, and they know that this season Les Glorieux are fighting for The Cup 30 years after they played their last game at the Montreal Forum. Ezra Soiferman, the well-known Montreal filmmaker and photographer, knew then that the moment that would come to hold such an important place in this city’s history would need to be documented. Not the game itself, or the closing ceremony, but the place.
A chance encounter would afford him that opportunity.
Soiferman was at the third-to-last game at the then-71-year-old shrine to the national game. He had been wandering around snapping pictures of the building’s architecture.
“Someone tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘Qu’est-ce que tu fais là?’ It was André Ouellet, one of the succession of anthem singers who followed in the footsteps of the legendary Roger Doucet. Soiferman explained that he was a photographer just taking a few shots. Ouellet asked him to come to the closing game to photograph him singing the national anthem, promising to leave a ticket for Soiferman at the box office.
On March 11, 1996, the Habs faced the Dallas Stars, beating them 4-1. The game is also remembered for the closing ceremony, which featured the passing of the torch between former team captains, and a near-10-minute standing ovation for Maurice “Rocket” Richard.
In the end, Ouellet did sing the American national anthem. But for O Canada, as befitting the gravitas of the occasion, the Canadiens opted for a video of Doucet.
Soiferman knew that there would be enough media interest in the game, the players, and the pomp. He wanted to photograph what is ingrained in the memory of every Montreal hockey fan of a bygone era, a time he remembers going to games with his dad, walking through the portals into the arena. “I wanted to document the structure of the building, the hot dog machines, the staff who worked in the building, the soul and the spirit of the building itself.
“The game, I knew, would be photographed and reported on by everybody else,” Soiferman tells The Suburban. “But I figured that nobody is going to be walking around shooting all these details in the building.”
The result was a limited-edition book called Last Game at the Forum, published in 2016 to mark the 20th anniversary of that game. The cover is a shot of the ice, a game in progress, taken from a portal, a shot that might take a hockey fan’s breath away.
Now, just past 30 years since that momentous event, Soiferman dusted off more treasures: ticket stubs from concerts, games, and other events held at the Forum — concerts by Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Billy Joel, Dire Straits, and more; the Ice Follies from 1952; the Forum Fun Parade of 1950; and, of course, his ticket stub from the last game.
Thirty years go by in a flash, Soiferman says. He is still “a fan of the Canadiens, a lover of Montreal, and someone who wants to share all these treasures.”
He arranged the ticket stubs on a black background and photographed them, creating a limited-edition poster that is available either on his website, ezrasoiferman.com, or on his socials, as is the book. There is also a short film that he produced, posted on his website, featuring some of the photos in the book.
