Les Canadiens begins on the Plains of Abraham in 1759 when a French-Canadian soldier throws his rifle to his son and it becomes a hockey stick. It ends in the Montreal Forum on the night of November 15, 1976, when Montreal Canadien fans turn a hockey game into an election victory rally for the ind pendantiste Parti Qu b cois. In between, it is a play about Quebec and Canada using hockey as a metaphor--and a play about hockey using Quebec and Canada as its setting. Les Canadiens was commissioned by and first performed at Centaur Theatre in Montreal in February, 1977. The book contains a preface by Ken Dryden, former goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, and an introduction on hockey, politics and theatre by Rick Salutin.
An examination of the Canadiens has never been mastered so welleven in a town that searches every pore of its sports heroes.”
Montreal Gazette