This Leafs-Habs Montage Will Almost Make You Care About Hockey

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens have played one another 790 times since 1917, the oldest rivalry in the NHL and one of the most prolific. Between them they've won 37 Stanley Cups (including six against one another) and represent the largest fan bases of Anglophone and Francophone Canada. That's a lot of grist for this Hockey Night in Canada montage set to an aria from Puccini's Turandot. Bro. Epic.

Hockey is such a national good in Canada that much of the country stood stunned last week when Rogers Media consummated a $5.2 billion deal for the rights to air the NHL across every platform known to Canucks for 12 years. In so doing, Rogers cut the national game out of the heart of the national broadcaster. The CBC (for which I occasionally work) counted on Hockey Night in Canada for, reports have said, nearly half its ad revenue. You can read a smart take in the Globe and Mail that says Canada and the CBC will be the better off for this in four years when Hockey Night in Canada leaves the CBC's air. Or you can just watch this ancient broadcast and appreciate why Canadian fans never lose the puck on TV: They were raised watching decidedly lo-fi broadcasts.

[ Globe and Mail]

h/t @souvenircity