Canadiens Close Bell Centre To Fans; Status For Upcoming Bruins Game Unclear

The Boston Bruins are scheduled to travel to Montreal this weekend, but they very well could be traveling back in time, as well.

The Canadiens on Thursday announced Bell Centre, their home arena, would be closed to fans as they hosted the Philadelphia Flyers that night. According to a statement from the team, Quebec public health officials requested Thursday’s game be played in an empty arena, amid “the spiraling rise of COVID-19 cases in the region.”

An announcement on their Saturday game against the Bruins will be made Friday. However, the second part of the statement didn’t make things sound promising:

“We have obtained assurances that beginning with our games in January, we will return to a partial capacity scenario and be able to host fans once more … We hope that with rigor and a collective effort from all of us, we will be able to come together in a near future in 2022.”

According to Sportsnet, the Ontario government recently announced a capacity limit for NHL and NBA arenas, allowing just 50% attendance.

The Bruins, who currently have a slew of players in COVID-19 protocol, will practice (and test for COVID-19) on Long Island before traveling to Canada on Friday.