How 24 Stanley Cups turned the Montreal Canadiens into a religion

The final game at the Montreal Forum happened on March 11, 1996, and it ended the way these things should: with a win, 4-1 over Dallas, and then something closer to a séance than a ceremony.

The oldest living former captain, Emile Bouchard, came onto the ice carrying a lit torch. He passed it to Maurice Richard, who got a ten-minute standing ovation that stopped everything. Richard passed it to Jean Béliveau, who passed it forward through the decades—each captain handing the flame to the next in chronological order, a direct line of succession ending with Pierre Turgeon. 72 years in that building. 22 Stanley Cups. The crowd was saying goodbye to a rink, yes, but they were watching the physical embodiment of a religion pack up and move to another church.