Habs Tweetup in Montreal: Hockey Season Has Arrived!

by Amy, Habs Tweetup (AllHabs.net)

MONTREAL, QC -- It's Saturday night, around 6:00 PM, and already Ye Olde Orchard is filling up with plenty of patrons adorned in bleu, blanc et rouge. The countdown to puck drop for the second Habs game of the season is underway and a sense of anticipation hangs in the air. On one side of the room, a group of fans begin to gather - warmly greeting old friends, shaking hands and meeting new, smiling faces and affixing "Hi, my name is..." stickers to their Canadiens shirts and jerseys. Ahhh yes, another Habs Tweetup is underway!

About thirty tried and true Habs fans gathered together in front of Ye Olde's large projection television screen to eat, drink, laugh and cheer on their favourite team - and did so loudly enough to help the Habs land their first win of the season. (And yes, it was TOTALLY our cheering that helped them win. Totally.) Many thanks go out to Joe, Ye Olde Orchard's Manager of Operations and bartender extraordinaire, for accomodating our group and reserving such prime seats for our event!!

Many familiar faces were in the crowd - but I was also thrilled to see many new faces in attendance too! It's sometimes intimidating to "take the plunge" and head out to meet up with a slew of people you've only ever talked to online, but after you do it once - you simply can't wait for the next event! I was glad to see all of the newcomers enjoying themselves and everyone spending lots of time chatting and getting to know one another.

The trivia challenge during the first intermission, an activity which is quickly growing into a Habs Tweetup tradition, quizzed everyone about the Habs and Penguins and the newly built Consol Energy Center. As usual, trivia guru Rick (aka @All_Habs) came up with some very interesting (and hard to guess!) questions which had many people stumped. (Thankfully points are also awarded for creativity!) Lots of people went home with some fantastic prizes donated by Rick, @HabItHerWay and @Celia83 - many thanks to all who participated in the challenge and who donated prizes!!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention our honorary guest from Vancouver - during the second intermission I logged onto Skype to video chat with @chile_pepper (which is also becoming a bit of a tradition when I come to town!) and passed my laptop around to everyone there to say hi to our friend from the west. Well, we said hi to HER but she had to resort to sign language to communicate back with us - my poor little laptop speakers were no match for the sound system in YOO!

There was a lot of really fun energy in the crowd at Ye Olde Orchard that night - many of us stayed well after the game was over to keep the party going and to talk about what happened in the game, possibilities of future Habs Tweetups (like I said, one is never enough!) and to simply hang out together OFFLINE. Even though we were still tweeting like crazy (old habits die hard, y'know).

Thank you to Rick for organizing another memorable Montreal Habs Tweetup - and thank you to everyone who came out that night. I, for one, had a fantastic time - always feel so welcomed when I travel to Montreal - and I can't wait to go back :)

Now what are you waiting for? Go click on the RSVP For a Habstweetup tab at the top of the page and get yourself signed up for another one! See you there!

Habs Tweetup in Montreal Quiz

Prize Winners:

Pablo (@pablojinko) -- Jewelry
Erin (@E_84) -- Jewelry
Kyle (@kyleroussel) -- All Habs t-shirt
Erica (@Habitherway) -- Carey Price autograph
Korina (@kptome) -- Montreal Canadiens poster
Gary (@thefranchiseca) -- Canadiens travel mug
Joanna (@flirtyjo) -- Canadiens tote bag
Mike (@habslaughs) -- Mini jersey