Habs fans give Carey Price a hero’s welcome at Bell Centre

The Montreal Canadiens welcomed goaltender Carey Price back to the Bell Centre on Tuesday night with a near four-minute ovation as the team added him to its ring of honour.

Fans serenaded Price with chants of “Ca-rey! Ca-rey!” and “Olé, Olé” during an on-ice ceremony before the puck dropped against the Minnesota Wild. Price stood beside the team benches next to the five individual trophies he won in his career.

“From the bottom of my heart, the most sincere ‘Merci beaucoup,'” Price told the crowd, his voice trembling.

The Canadiens followed team tradition in adding Price to the ring of honour after his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday in Toronto, which we reported. Price, 39, is the 62nd member of the Canadiens organization to enter the Hall.

“It’s special,” said Price, a member of the Ulkatcho First Nation in British Columbia. “I was able to be a part of many ceremonies here, and obviously the rich culture of this franchise speaks for itself. I’m just honoured to add another chapter to it.”

Price grew up in the remote community of Anahim Lake, B.C. His father, Jerry, flew him 320 kilometres in a four-seat plane to Williams Lake three times a week so he could play minor hockey. The Canadiens picked him fifth overall in the 2005 draft, and he played his entire 15-year NHL career in Montreal.

He is the franchise’s all-time leader with 361 wins and finished with a .917 save percentage, a 2.51 goals-against average and 49 shutouts in 712 regular-season games.

Price backstopped Canada to Olympic gold in 2014. A year later he won the Hart Trophy as league MVP and the Vezina Trophy as top goaltender, posting a .933 save percentage and 1.96 goals-against average in 66 games.

He never won a Stanley Cup but came closest in 2021, when he led an underdog Canadiens team to the final against the Tampa Bay Lightning. A degenerative right knee injury then limited him to five more games. His last appearance was a 10-2 win over Florida at the Bell Centre on April 29, 2022.

Fans did not know at the time that it would be his final game. “When you end your career, there’s a picture of riding off into the sunset, and I didn’t feel like it happened, but I felt the love regardless,” Price said. “I had time to reflect on everything a little bit over this time, and it made me even more thankful for everything.”

Reporting by The Canadian Press, with additional context from Canada News Media.

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