Since being introduced in 2015, the North Star Bell has become a Montreal tradition at Impact games, ringing out, often with the assistance of local notable figures, after every Impact goal.
As you might expect, rivals don't cherish the ringing of the bell quite as much. That includes Toronto FC head coach Greg Vanney.
“I hate the bell,” Vanney was quoted as saying in the Toronto Sun on Friday. “I hope I don’t ever hear the bell. Everybody has their thing in the stadium. Theirs is the bell.”
Of course, that's just the sort of response Impact supporters were looking for when they started ringing the bell. It's now a fixture at every Montreal home game, including Tuesday's opening leg of the Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Championship, where they will host TFC at Olympic Stadium (8 pm ET, ESPN | TSN1/3, RDS in Canada). The bell was moved this week from the Impact's other home, Stade Saputo, to Olympic Stadium.
And now, it's up to either the Impact to make sure the bell gets a ring or two (or more) on Tuesday, or Toronto to ensure there's no ringing in the Montreal night.
