Quebec’s language authority is urging Habs fans to cheer in French during the playoffs

The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) is back at it with another campaign, and this time it involves hockey.

With the Montreal Canadiens kicking off their Eastern Conference Final series against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, the province’s language authority took to social media to encourage fans to root for the team “in the language of Maurice Richard.” The post pointed to a glossary of more than 75 French hockey terms the OQLF wants fans to put to use.

Not everyone is in the mood to celebrate in French, though, including francophones, who voiced their distaste for the common over on X.

Stéphane Prud’homme, a verified user on X, pushed back with a bilingual declaration of his own: “Go Habs Go! CH you’re the best! We live in a country with 2 official languages, we have the right to choose.”

Another user was considerably less measured: “We’ll do what we want. The OQLF can go to hell. The language gestapo doesn’t come into my home.”

Perhaps the sharpest critique came from Jean Chouinard, who pointed out what he saw as an obvious inconsistency in the campaign: “So chanting Olé Olé Olé… that’s OK, it’s not in English, it’s fine? The great geniuses of the OQLF.”

The backlash feels familiar to Canadiens fans.

Last year, the OQLF pressured the STM to replace “Go Habs Go!” on city buses with “Allez Canadiens Allez!” The move sparked immediate public outrage, and the province’s French-language minister ultimately declared that “Go Habs Go” is part of Quebec culture. The buses switched the slogan back this past winter.

The new glossary covers everything from lancer frappé (slap shot) and échappée (breakaway) to tour du chapeau (hat trick). It also flags a few English borrowings the OQLF would prefer fans drop: puck is discouraged in favour of rondelle, and jeu de puissance is listed as an imprecise calque of “power play,” with avantage numérique as the preferred alternative.

Whether any of it sticks with fans riding the high of a Game 1 win is another question entirely.

The full vocabulary guide is available on the OQLF’s website.