MONTREAL – Unofficial mascot of the Montreal Canadiens, METAL!, broke his silence via his roadie on Monday on the heels of last week’s posting on social media that purportedly had him announcing his second retirement in as many years to the despair of Canadiens fans everywhere. Online sleuths had expressed doubt about the veracity of the video that circulated online showing him levitating out of a meeting with Alex Newhook and Juraj Slafkovsky, speaking for the first time to say that he needed to go and return to the Montreal Forum.

“METAL! has no recollection of filming this video and formally announcing his retirement,” said METAL!’s roadie, Roadie. “However, this is not the first time METAL! has woken up with no memory of what happened the night or week before, so he is leaving the door open to any possibility. Regardless, METAL! has decided to formally embrace retirement and this newfound leisure time by pursuing his many diverse interests and passions: rocking out, watching wrestling, and of course, entertaining Habs fans like no other mascot can.”

On the heels of this declaration, METAL! revealed that he would in fact be back at Canadiens games as an alumnus in a matter of hours for the return of the wildly popular Mercredis METAL! Mondays series for the balance of the season. Fans can expect the atmosphere cranked up to 11 when METAL! returns to rock the Bell Centre with his trademark energy and special performances that are appreciated by 100% of those in attendance every Monday and Wednesday game; also returning are the free (permanent) in-game METAL!-themed tattoos that will be inked on a first-come, first-served basis by DFA Tattoos.

Fans can party with METAL! in his retirement at the following games:

• Monday, October 14 vs. Pittsburgh
• Monday, November 18 vs. Edmonton
• Monday, December 9 vs. Anaheim
• Monday, January 6 vs. Vancouver
• Monday, March 3 vs. Buffalo
• Monday, April 14 vs. Chicago
• Wednesday, April 16 vs. Carolina

Last seen at the Bell Centre getting slammed through a table by TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace after losing an arm-wrestling match to her last July, METAL! keeps fans abreast of his doings through the best Canadiens mascot Web platforms around, canadiensmetal.com and @CanadiensMeTaL on Instagram, Threads and X (formerly Twitter).