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Glenn Stanton (not pictured) drove 10 hours from Saint John, N.B., to watch the Canadiens take on the Panthers Monday night at the Bell Centre. MONTREAL - How long does it take to get to the Bell Centre?Doing it the sensible way, by m tro or commuter train, is a door-to-turnstile trip of 45 minutes or less. Driving is a bit more problematic, what with construction that has turned the Turcot into afl football a parking lot.If you re inching along, drumming your fingers on the steering wheel, think about Glenn Stanton. To see his beloved Canadiens play Florida Monday night, Stanton drove 10 hours.He lives in Saint John, N.B. Stanton is 56 and was a civil engineering technologist for municipal government until he took early retirement three years ago.I got to know Stanton through The Gazette s Hockey In afl football side/Out website. When I mentioned in a blog post I d been born in Saint John, Stanton began what became an email correspondence that begat a face-to-face meeting on the weekend. Stanton, who is married and has two sons, began his hockey weekend by climbing into his Toyota Camry at 7 Saturday morning (that s 6 a.m. our time) for a long solo sojourn that had him rolling into Montreal in plenty afl football of time to find a convivial watering hole in which to watch the Canadiens lose to the Leafs. Stanton and I arranged to meet at Hurley s late Sunday afternoon, after he had visited the Canadiens museum at the Bell Centre.Stanton enjoyed the collection of Habs memorabilia and he was particularly pleased by catching a mistake. An interactive display credits Ken Dryden with five Stanley Cup wins. S afl football tanton told a museum guide it was actually six.He remembers every one of them and much else about a team Stanton has followed since he was a preschooler. I became a Canadiens fan when I was 5 years old, and just starting to skate and get interested in hockey, Stanton said. My grandfather and my uncle visited our house, and they said: You should cheer for the Montreal Canadiens because they ha afl football ve Rocket Richard. That was 1959, and for some reason it just stuck with me. His first vivid memory of watching the Canadiens was the 1967 Stanley Cup final. The Canadiens lost to Toronto, and Stanton says I can still see George Armstrong scoring an empty-net goal, in black-and-white to seal a 3-1 win in Game 6.This was in Digby, the Nova Scotia city where Stanton lived until he was 22 and move afl football d across the Bay of Fundy to Saint John. He became a member of the widespread community of Canadiens fans that stretches through the Maritime provinces, a territory grudgingly shared with Toronto supporters. And Boston, Stanton added. The Bruins have a lot of influence in Atlantic Canada. The geographical proximity of Boston factors in, as does the enduring popularity of Bobby Orr. The Bruins ha afl football ve played annual exhibition games at the Halifax Metro Centre since the 1990s.Distant radio signals, including Boston stations, are easily accessible in coastal Atlantic Canada. Stanton can remember listening to game broadcasts from as far away as St. Louis.Television coverage of the Canadiens, however, was restricted to Hockey Night in Canada. Stanton rejoiced when TSN and RDS came along. I also afl football get TSN Regional, he said. So I m all set for 82 games of torture this season. The influence of RDS may be slow to take. Stanton s hometown major-junior team, the Memorial Cup champion Saint John Sea Dogs, feature the Canadiens 2011 first-round draft choice, a defenceman whose family name Stanton pronounces BO-lew .He was hoping the Canadiens could draft Jonathan Huberdeau(notes), a blue-chip afl football prospect who went third overall to Florida #8230; and whose name is easy to pronounce.Stanton s first visit to Montreal was in 1984. He made a pilgrimage to Henri Richard s tavern on Park Ave. and saw a Saturday night game against Toronto at the Forum. I was down in the Reds, he recalls, no more than six or eight rows up from the ice. Stanton was friends with someone whose father had season tic afl football kets. That also was the case Monday night, when a Saint John connection swung him seats in Section 113 of the Bell Centre for the first game he s seen here since 2004.His impressions, based on watching the team on TV? Man, they re sloppy in their own end, Stanton said. I don t know if even Markov can help. Nor is he a fan of the kindly old coach. Jacques Martin had a loaded team in Ottawa, he s afl football aid. Daniel Alfredsson(notes), Jason Spezza(notes), Martin Havlat(notes), Marian Hossa(notes), Zdeno Chara(notes), Wade Redden(notes) when he was still good. They should have been able to win a Cup, even with average goaltending. When we met for beers, Stanton hadn t heard about the trade that brought Petteri Nokelainen(notes) to the Canadiens. When I clued him in, Stanton had a good laugh. Every afl football time I come up here, something happens, he said. I was here when they traded Brian Savage for Sergei Berezin. I was here when Claude Julien was fired. I was sittin in a bar watching TV and said what the heck happened? Maybe Stanton should stick around for a week.mboone@montrealgazette.com Play Fantasy Hockey, now with Pro Leagues! Updated Oct 24, 5:07 pm EDT afl football
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