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The Montreal Canadiens say they are considering their options for a Game 6 outdoor watch party after barricades fencing off an earlier event were removed for safety reasons.
Guillaume Ouimet, Canadiens communications co-ordinator, confirmed that a fence was removed after Friday’s Game 3 event to “optimize security during the watch parties.”
“The plans for Game 6 are not confirmed yet but many options are currently being considered,” he wrote Tuesday afternoon in an email.
The team, which is playing the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the NHL playoffs, had announced that it would host watch parties on the street outside the Bell Centre during home games for a limited number of ticket holders.
The owner and founder of fan-focused sports platform HFTV says the fences surrounding the first outdoor playoff party were tall but flimsy, and that police on site had vocally expressed concern about them.
“After the game … because it was an OT [Habs] win, people were shaking those barriers,” said Alexander Rougas, who added that he felt safe at the site because of the police presence.
Rougas said the fences for Game 4 were much shorter and tickets were no longer being checked.
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The series is tied 2-2 heading into Wednesday’s game in Tampa Bay, guaranteeing Canadiens fans at least one more home game.
While the Canadiens had offered the watch party tickets for free through Ticketmaster, Rougas said many people, including himself, paid to buy them on the resale market after they were quickly snapped up.
He said some fans had also traded points they had accumulated in a Canadiens fan app for watch party tickets, which led some to express disappointment that others got in for free. Rougas believes the team has since refunded those points.
Despite the hiccups, Rougas says the overall situation outside the Bell Centre has been safer than in previous years, because closing off the street means there’s a bigger space for fans to gather. He says there’s a heavy security presence, and the fans have been respectful of the space.
“I feel like everyone that’s showed up there, they’re really die-hard fans and they also appreciate that they don’t want anything to go wrong,” he said.
The playoffs between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning are now a best-of-three series after the Habs lost 2-3 to their opponents on Sunday.
Rougas, who watches the games outside with the fans to capture their reactions, described the atmosphere outside the Bell Centre as “absolutely electric,” and the second-best way to watch the game, after being inside the arena.
“Chants are going on the middle of the game, there’s a lot of ‘Go Habs Go!’ going on, and I feel like everyone’s pretty respectful of everyone’s space,” he said.
His only real complaint about the watch parties is that there isn’t enough of them, and hopes the team will consider adding events for away games as well.
