canadianbeerandpostmodernism
In addition to celebrating the removal of snakes and/or pagans from Ireland, March 17 is also the anniversary of the Richard Riot in 1955. Quebec icon and Montreal Canadiens’ hockey star Maurice “The Rocket” Richard was suspended for the remainder of the regular hockey season and playoffs after a violent altercation with another player that left both men bloodied and a linesman unconscious ( a bleeding Richard had punched him out after he refused to punish another player for striking him with a stick). The suspension was delivered by Clarence Campbell, the National Hockey League President and a symbol of the English domination over the French minority in Canada. After the suspension, Campbell boldly attended the next Canadiens’ game where he was pelted with eggs. A riot ensued that caused extensive damage to buildings around the Montreal Forum and Richard took to the airwaves to calm the fans down. Many saw this as one of the first examples of French Canadians resisting their English bosses so to speak, and it has frequently been cited as a motivation for the Quebec independence movement of the 1960′s.
