Unused Canadiens tickets unique keepsakes from 1974 St. Patrick's Day blizzard

MONTREAL -- The 50-year-old unused tickets are still in excellent shape, as remarkable for their condition as their face value.

Two Montreal Forum West Terrace seats for the game on March 17, 1974, between the Montreal Canadiens and the visiting New York Islanders -- Section 52, Row C, Seats 27 and 28 – cost $4.50 each, tax included.

Lorne Wolofsky was a 9-year-old Canadiens fan living about 5 miles from the Forum, like many a worshiper of future Hall of Famers Guy Lafleur; the “Big Three” defense of Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe; and others.

Wolofsky’s father, Gerry, had prime Canadiens season tickets through his office. But on St. Patrick’s Day a half-century ago, he moved up into the thin air of the building so that he and a friend could together bring their sons to the Sunday night game.

Front page of the Montreal Gazette, March 18, 1974. The city’s legendary St. Patrick’s Day parade went ahead as planned, even if the storm made for tricky conditions.

And then came the perfect, awful storm.

A furious 8-inch snowfall, whipped into drifts by 50 mph winds, lay untouched in the streets, Montreal blue-collar workers refusing to clear the choked roads as a pressure tactic in their wage dispute with the city.

Hundreds of cars were abandoned, public transit was in chaos and at least two major school boards canceled classes the following day.

History shows the Scotty Bowman-coached Canadiens, second in the East Division, handed the cellar-dwelling Islanders of Al Arbour, in their second NHL season, their 10th consecutive defeat. Robinson and captain Henri Richard each scored twice in a 4-2 Montreal win viewed by a crowd generously listed at 16,195.

Canadiens coach Scotty Bowman in 1974, and Lorne Wolofsky on March 16, 2024, with his 50-year-old tickets.

“The actual body count was probably 4,000 below that,” reporter George Hanson wrote in The Montreal Star the following day. “And in view of the night and the tempo of the game, the lesser number represented the wise ones -- no boredom and no risking of car fenders.”

There was considerably less drama in the building than there had been 19 years earlier to the night, the infamous “Richard Riot” on March 17, 1955, touched off by a controversial suspension of Canadiens superstar Maurice “Rocket” Richard; Montreal forfeited the game after the first period to the Detroit Red Wings, smoke from a tear-gas bomb filling the Forum as NHL President Clarence Campbell was assaulted by a spectator, with rampaging fans surging outside to break windows and trash downtown stores in a wild, historic event that would change the Quebec political landscape forever.

Two empty seats in the West Terrace 50 years ago were those of Wolofsky and his father, who never made it to the Forum through impassable streets. To this day, Wolofsky doesn’t know for certain whether their planned companions that night were in the building.

Damage to the Montreal Forum, including the repair of many broken windows, take place following the historic “Richard Riot” on March 17, 1955.

“By the time my Dad and I were ready to leave for the game late that afternoon, the blizzard was gathering strength,” he recalled. “It didn't bother me at all, as I assumed that school would be canceled the next day if the snow continued to fall.

“The fact that a storm could potentially cause an NHL game to be canceled, or the fact that we might not be able to get to the Forum at all, never entered my mind.”

That Montreal’s iconic St. Patrick’s Day parade had weathered the worsening storm that morning, albeit blown down Ste. Catherine Street, suggested all was not lost as father and son set off for the Forum. But they made the journey only partway when the family’s 1968 Plymouth Satellite slid off an icy road across a sidewalk.

With no traction after much effort, they resigned themselves to being stranded, hiking back home from the abandoned car.

Larry Robinson (left) and Henri Richard scored two goals each on March 17, 1974 in the Canadiens’ 4-2 win against the visiting New York Islanders.

“I do remember the look of shock and surprise on the face of my mom as her frozen husband and young son walked in,” Wolofsky said. “Whether or not my dad’s friend and his son made it to the game is anyone's guess.

“I'm not sure if it was ever discussed between my father and his friend, and if it was, I wasn’t made aware of the details.”

The Canadiens’ 3-1 Forum loss the night before to the Chicago Black Hawks had been televised, but the Sunday game against the Islanders would be broadcast only on radio.

“I seem to recall my dad going back to our abandoned Plymouth either later that night or early the next morning,” Wolofsky said. “He went with a friend to shovel out and get the car home.”

Thirty-five years ago, upon the passing of his father in 1989, Wolofsky went about cleaning his boyhood home and found the two unused 1974 Forum tickets in the back of a dresser drawer.

“I’m not sure what possessed me to keep them all these years, but I'm glad I did,” he said, today cherishing a 50-year-old souvenir of a game that’s more memorable for his not having seen it at all.

Top photo: Lorne Wolofsky’s two unused tickets for the March 17, 1974, game between the Montreal Canadiens and visiting New York Islanders.