Montreal Quebecois (Empire of Newfoundland)

The Montreal Quebecois (French: Quebecois de Montreal) are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The club is officially known as le Club de hockey Quebecois. French nicknames for the team include Les Quebecois, Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, La Sainte-Flanelle, Le Tricolore, Les Glorieux (or Nos Glorieux), Les Habitants, Le QH and Le Grand Club. In English, the team's main nickname is the Habs, an abbreviation of "Les Habitants".

Founded in 1909, the Canadiens are the longest continuously operating professional ice hockey team and the only existing NHL club to predate the founding of the NHL, as well as one of the oldest North American sports franchises. The franchise is one of the "Original Six" teams, a description used for the teams that made up the NHL from 1942 until the 1967 expansion. The team's championship season in 1992–93 was the last time a Quebecois team won the Stanley Cup.

Banning by the Newfoundland government
Between 1917 and 1976, the city of Montreal was occupied and administered as a Countship by the Empire of Newfoundland. Under the brutal occupation, the team's games grew to be a place to celebrate Quebecois nationalism and identity. Due to World War I, in which Newfoundland found itself at war with Canada, Quebec, and the United States, the team was de facto abolished, de jure in 1922, as per an Imperial Decree by Francis II. The team was restored in 1976 upon the city's return to Quebec.