Certain religious behaviours, like praying, surround the Canadiens,

He knows the class will attract students who are unfamiliar with religious studies and says that's okay.

Two years ago, shortly after the minister moved to Montreal, he and one of his students decided the university should offer the opportunity to study whether the Canadiens are, in fact, a faith.

The arena is their temple, the players are their saviours, and those who worship them pray that the sacrifices made on the ice — of blood, sweat and tears — will lead them to glory.

Mayor Jean Drapeau telephoned Campbell at the NHL officein town and begged him not to attend the game that night.

No athlete has embodied the soul of a city and the spirit of itspeople as Richard did in the 1940s and '50s in Montreal, my homefor the past 21 years.

Smoke from a tear-gas canister haddriven thousands of hockey fans into the streets, sparking afour-hour rampage that yielded the requisite fires, shatteredwindows, looted stores, overturned cars and 137 arrests. Sportsriots have become commonplace, but the one in '55 was like noother because one of its central figures, Maurice Richard, waslike no other hockey player.

happened to be the corner of Atwater and Ste. Catherinestreets in Montreal. This was the site of the Forum, hockey'stemple,

There are moments when life gets in the way, when sports and thereal world collide at some intersection

hey want to arrest Richard for assault, to throw him in jail for the night.

Then Richard snatches a stick from the ice and swings it wildly at Laycoe. He cuts him below the eye.

Incensed, Richard swings his stick with two-fisted fury at Laycoe. He hits him with such force across the shoulders that his stick splinters. Laycoe sheds his gloves and rushes at Richard, who drops his gloves. The two thrash at one another with their fists.

In the second period, the Canadiens’ star tripped Laycoe and sent him spinning across the ice but escaped a penalty. Richard was further aggravated by the fact his team was losing 4-1.

It’s March 13, 1955. The tension between the two rivals in the six-team NHL has been building inside the Boston Garden all night.

Richard's story had linesman Cliff Thompson holding him back, arms pinned, while Laycoe was allowed to smack away. Rocket said he warned the linesman three times to let him go before he finally clocked the official. 

How Richard himself, the Rocket, was so much a part of Quebec society that he transcended even organized religion.

It's also crucial to accept that you cannot really comprehend the Richard Riot unless you lived through and knew:

Editor's note: This is part of a series of stories remembering some of Canada's top sports heroes and moments as the country marks its 150th birthday in 2017. We've also revisited the lives of baseball hall of famer Ferguson Jenkins, speed skater Gaetan Boucher, skier Nancy Greene, figure skater Barbara Ann Scott, distance runner Tom Longboat, Kentucky Derby winner Northern Dancer, sprinter Harry Jerome and auto racing's Villeneuve family. We've also explored Babe Ruth's Canadian origins.

"There is a little water on the ice," said he, "and the snow has melted; but we ought to be able to cross all the same.

"Nor have you, Mr. Chapdelaine. But your daughter, that is a different story; she is not the same, yet I should have known her at once."

The smiles were bold enough as they spoke of her, this inaccessible beauty;

They have plenty of money and will pay cash for first-class pelts."

but the rivers are no longer safe. The ice went this week beside the sand-bank opposite the island, where there have been warm spring-holes all winter."

American coat with broad padded shoulders; though on this cold Sunday he had not ventured to discard his winter cap of black cloth with harelined ear-laps for the hard felt hat he would have preferred to wear.

A chapter is devoted to " the blessed deaths " of Fathers Brebeuf and Lalemant;

Early in September, a reinforcement arrives, consisting of four additional missionaries, and a score of Frenchmen besides.

In July, thirty Abenaki Indians come to Quebec; but they are forbidden to come hither again.

The bones of these victims are carried to Quebec, "

This is a letter by Buteux to the father general, dated at Three Rivers, September 21, 1649.

The evil is, they are so attached to their old customs that, knowing the beauty of truth, they are content to approve it without embracing it. Their usual reply is, oniondechouten, "Such is the custom of our country." We have fought this excuse and have taken it from their mouths, but not yet from their hearts; our Lord will do that when it shall please him.

And, if parents give the soul to their children, why do they not impart to all of them great minds, a retentive memory, and all sorts of noble and praiseworthy qualities, seeing that there is no one who would not desire to have such children if this were in his power?"

There is in our village a little Christian girl named Louyse, who at six months began to walk alone; the [page 13] parents declare they have seen nothing like it, and ,attribute it to the efficacy of Holy Baptism

Moreover, the divine Goodness which acts in us according to the measure of our Faith, has thus far preserved these little ones in good health; so that the death of those who have passed away has been attributed to incurable and hopeless maladies contracted beforehand; and, if another has occasionally suffered from some trifling ailment, the parents, although still unbelieving, have attributed it to the neglect and irreverence they have shown toward the service of God.

It is said that this woman, who was named Marie, in the midst of her greatest weakness foretold that she would not die for eight days; and so it happened.