CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

The Bronfmans have had hockey on their minds.

They are renewing their search for a pair of Canadiens Stanley Cup – 1973-74 and 1975-76 - rings and other valuables stolen from their Toronto mansion last November 8, 2008 (Peter and Edward Bronfman owned the Habs during the 1970s.).

The family has hired a private investigator to help track down the valuables, and have opened their own website.

Mark Mendelson says the Bronfmans are still offering a substantial reward for the items – or any information leading to their recovery. Other precious stones and metals – handed down through generations - include a flawless six-carat diamond.

The Bronftmans have said that they only really want the championship rings back, as they are the most important items that were stolen. Both of the rings bear the Bronfman name on the side.

When the Bronfmans sold the Habs to the Moson breweries on August 4, 1978, they said that they had done all that they could for the team.

After seven profitable years, they collected some $20 million for their franchise.

The deal came just two days after the public learned that the Canadiens had also been talking to a rival brewery, Labatt.

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Flash forward three decades and you have three of the same players – the Habs, the Bronfmans and the Molsons – in the mix.

Le Journal de Montréal reported that Stephen Bronfman and Joey Saputo, members of two of Montreal’s wealthiest families, together made a bid of $450 million to purchase the Canadiens and the Bell Centre, and a concert-production business.

But, they were done in once again.

Quebec’s Molson family and cable and television company Quebecor Media Inc. signed an agreement yesterday – in principle – for the purchase of the Gillett family’s interests in the Canadiens Hockey Club, the Bell Centre and Gillett Entertainment Group.

The Molson family has owned the Montreal Canadiens in different capacities four times since the 1950s.

The Molson’s Habs legacy has thus gone full circle, and the Bronfman’s hasn’t.

Which means that they really want those rings back.