habsbloggergirl

WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?

2010-03-09T07:28:00.001-08:00

Carey and Jaro can clearly get along, so why can't we?! (photo taken from sportsnet.ca)

posted by habsbloggergirl

Goaltending has been a major issue this year, not so much for the team, but for the fans. Never have I seen such a divide between a group of people supposedly wanting the exact same thing. At first, I didn't understand why this was such a major issue. To me, it seems logical to play the goalie who gives us the best chance of winning, and though the identity of that goaltender may change weekly, we are lucky enough to have two able goaltenders, so I never saw a problem with that. Clearly, the majority of fans disagree.

I can't go a day without seeing or hearing something negative about one goaltender or the other, or something that pits them against each other, and to be honest, I am sick of it. Most fans seem to think its okay to badmouth a player, and although they do have the right to their own opinion, I have no clue what it accomplishes. I honestly don't know how Carey and Jaro do this. Or why. And I think that if it continues, one or both will be run out of town (or rather will themselves run as fast as they can to get out of town) and who would blame them?

Imagine being in their position. Would you stay if you had the option of leaving?

I don't want to dredge up the old arguments. We have heard them all so many times before and they are useless. People don't easily change their minds, so no matter how valid an argument is, if they believe something, they'll find a way to counter it. It's not their fault, it's just human nature. I just think that we aren't being fair to Jaro, Carey and the rest of the team. They may have been having a tough time, but at least they were trying. How can we not credit Jaro for being a momentum changer in the last win or for bringing the Slovakian team further than they have ever been in the Olympics? How can we not credit Carey for playing well right after the Olympic break ended or for his great play at the beginning of the season? To me these things are so clear, but I'm 100% sure that as people are reading this, the so-called Halak-haters will disagree with my first question, and the so-called Price-haters will disagree with my second. The worst part is most of the time people don't even realize that they are being prejudiced towards one goaltender or the other. I'm sure I'm guilty of this sometimes too; we all are. But it's important to become conscious of these prejudices, since only than can change occur.

The Halak-haters see Price through rose-coloured glasses, just as the Price-haters see Halak in that way. The truth is, neither are perfect. They both have their flaws. This year, both have been both good and bad at times. It is however not fair to slam them for every miniscule mistake they have made. They are only human after all. I doubt any one of us could have done any better, and although it may be easy to criticize them, who are we to say that the other goalie would have done a better job? There is absolutely no way of knowing that. Stats can only predict things to a certain extent.

People have criticized Jacques Martin for his “win-and-stay-in” policy, and although I think it may put a bit too much pressure on the goaltenders some of the time and sometimes may be unfair if goaltender has a great game, yet loses, I hope he sticks with it for the rest of the season, since I don't think we can make the playoffs any other way. At this point, we need points, so it doesn't really matter who is in nets when we get them. It isn't fair to sacrifice the team's chance at the playoffs to meet the expectations of the goaltenders, the administration or the fans, and by putting one goaltender in for the remainder of the season (unless they win every game), it would be doing just that.

Both goalies are talented and both deserve success. When one (or both) leaves, we'll be wishing we were back in this situation. So why don't we all take a deep breath, relax, try to get along and enjoy what we have while we still can?

BOIVIN LE BAVARD

2010-02-09T07:29:00.001-08:00

Gainey, Boivin and Gauthier at yesterday's press conference (Photo from newsobserver.com).

posted by: habsbloggergirl

I've been reading a lot about Gainey's stepping-down lately, and it seems that a lot of people are concerned about the language debate that seems to be so intricately connected to the hiring of a new GM, just as it has been with hiring a coach, and even naming a captain.

A lot of people, especially in the anglophone and international communities, are really against the Canadiens' (well Boivin's) policy of hiring people only if they speak French, so I thought I would try to give a bit of a different perspective, although I too am anglophone and living in Quebec.

I don't completely support this policy... I don't think it's fair that otherwise qualified people are being denied positions based on their language skills. But, just because I don't think it's fair doesn't mean I don't think it's right. Although I feel this way, I can't deny the fact that we are living in Quebec where the majority of the population is francophone. It is often hard for anglophones to get jobs when they don't speak both languages, but then again, the opposite it often true as well.

The thing is, I don't see the problem with hiring a GM based partially on the fact that he is French-speaking, I see a problem with hiring one solely on that fact (which I don't think was the case for Gauthier, since he is experienced and is already a part of the organization).

Think about it, there is a large amount of both English and French media, and it's a huge bonus for the GM to be able to speak both languages. Most fans who watch these press conferences probably also want to or don't mind seeing it in both languages. Personally, I watch both, and would even say I watch more in French than in English in terms of media coverage and the like. To me the language isn't a big deal because I understand both, but for those who don't it proves to be more of a problem.

As long as the person is qualified (and Gauthier gives us no reason to think he is not), I honestly don't care whether the GM speaks English, French, Chinese or Russian. As long as he does a good job, it doesn't matter, right? Maybe. But all things considered, it would simplify the lives of many people if he spoke both languages; the media especially, but a lot of fans as well.

I think that ultimately if it came down to it, they would be able to work out a way for the GM not to be French-speaking, but this would require more work on the part of others in the organization, and I understand them wanting everything to be as simplified at each level as possible.

We may be seeing this as unjust and unfair bias, but imagine if you were French-speaking only. It would be equally unfair to that person if the guy giving the press conferences does not speak a word of French. We are a bilingual city, so although I think Boivin dealt with this in entirely the wrong manner, I understand where he is coming from in wanting to hire someone bilingual.

Personally, I think he just talks too much. I don't think he should have even mentioned the language issue at all, since there was really no need to. He could have just said Pierre Gauthier was the assistant GM and it just made sense to keep him since he had previous GM experience. But no, Boivin had to go on and on... I think a team president should know when to say things and know when to remain tight lipped. By his behaviour in the past few weeks (saying that Laraque was leaving, that Halak would be gone, and now this), I think that he doesn't know when to keep quiet. He needs to stop talking, because if he doesn't, I think the Canadiens will be in big trouble. Maybe he should take a page from Bob Gainey's book... I think he could really learn something.

GOALTENDING AGAIN

2010-01-07T21:41:00.001-08:00

The game's number one star.

posted by habsbloggergirl

So I just got back from my first (and most probably last) game sitting in the Molson Ex Zone at the Bell Centre.

When my friend got these tickets, I was excited! We had actually seen Florida a couple of times in past years, but still, they always tended to be somewhat interesting games.

Tonight was an experience to say the least, but I’d hardly call what happened on the ice tonight interesting. To be honest, it was actually a pretty boring game.... Or rather it would have been, had we not been sitting where we were.

We were actually in the 300-level seats so it was equivalent to grey, which was great, or so we thought. I was at the end of the row, which I liked, although sometimes it’s annoying since you have to get up so many times to let people through and miss parts of the game.

Anyway, the game starts and this girl comes and sits on the steps right next to my seat, and unpacks a bag of signs and Habs memorabilia. Of course, she was one of the Molson Ex people... and had the goal of getting everyone up and screaming. Before she got there, our area was relatively quiet. I mean there were a few loud people and everyone was cheering, but nothing too intense. However, that soon changed. First, the two guys behind me would not stop screaming, booing... you name it, they did it. Second, Molson Ex lady was giving away things to people who were loud, so of course these two guys got even louder. And to top it off throughout the entire game she was smashing around a tambourine (part of the job description unfortunately). I can’t tell you how many times I looked over, wanting so badly to take that tambourine and throw it at the two guys behind me.... and I seriously don’t think I was alone in that line of thinking.

You’d think during the breaks in game, we’d get a break too... but in fact, just the opposite occurred. Every single break was filled with that damn tambourine, followed by more screaming.

It wasn’t all bad... We actually saw Bob Gainey right above us walking (I got a blurry picture!), the goaltending was fabulous on both ends of the ice, and I’m happy my section was a little bit enthusiastic at least (though it went way overboard at times).

Back to the goaltending, it pretty much led to all the highlights of the game. Jaro was amazing, and definitely earned his shutout, and Vokoun did a stand-up job as well, so much so that it could have gone either way. Luckily Pouliot got a goal, because honestly had it been 0-0 until the end I’m not quite sure we would have won in OT.

The rest of the team was abysmal. Markov really did not have a good night (though he did made some a few nice defensive moves (I mean, he’s Markov!) but there were some defensive errors), and Plekanec and Cammalleri looked completely out of sync. Speaking of line #1, during the game, I turned to my friend and said something I thought I’d never say: “I miss Kostitsyn”. Not that I’m not a fan, I actually really like Andrei, and he’s been doing great this year, it’s just that he seems a little space-y on the ice, and I know that he can do even better. However, perhaps I was wrong... maybe this space-iness allows for Plekanec and Cammalleri to have more time (I’m just grasping at straws here), but without him they were the ones who looked “dans la lune”, so I’ll be glad to have him back ASAP.

Laraque was really bad tonight too... It made me miss Kostitsyn (Sergei this time) because honestly, anyone could have done a better job than he did. I still rue the day that Gainey gave him a no trade clause (or a 3 year, 4.5 million dollar contract for that matter). When he came he told us he was a good fighter who would help protect our team and that he also was skilled hockey-wise. I’ve yet to see him perform in either of those categories and the three years are almost up...

The three stars were predictably Halak, Vokoun and Pouliot. Why? Because there was actually no one else. Every other player was either invisible, or doing something wrong. I just hope that we can get our acts together, and quickly. We are very fortunate because Halak and Price have been playing well of late, but that doesn’t give the rest of the team the right to put in absolutely no effort.

On that note, I think I’m going to get to bed since I’m still hearing tambourine sounds in my ringing ears. Hopefully sleeping it off will do the trick, though I doubt it will be erased from my memory anytime soon.

So we’d better hope for some stellar goaltending Saturday night against Jersey... and someone’s gonna have to get a puck past Marty B., and to be honest I have no idea who that will be. We seem to be lacking in scorers lately. Either way, it should be an interesting one.

HERO'S RETURN

2009-12-19T05:44:00.001-08:00

Markov, ready as ever. (photo taken from rds.ca)

posted by habsbloggergirl

To be honest, I’m a little scared for this game. Terrified actually.

This is the day that our defensive star returns after missing 35 games. It’s the game that can become the 6th in a series of losses, or the 1st in (hopefully) a streak of wins. It’s against the Islanders, who have somehow caught up to us in the standings, but are ahead due to their game in hand. We sit in 12th, only ahead of Philadelphia, Toronto and Carolina.

The past few games have been grim at best. With little secondary scoring, Plekanec, Cammalleri and Kostitsyn are dragging this club along, and Plekanec is particular (due to his heroics on the PK) is showing signs of exhaustion. Our defence as a whole is mediocre (if that), and with the loss of the Hamrlik, we’re pretty subpar. We have taken an enormous amount of penalties. To win our goalies have had to have been incredible, but lately they have only been good. Not their fault, it’s hard to be perfect, and with scores like 3-1 and 2-1 in the past two games, perfection would have been the only way for us to win. We know this, and have been going over and over it for a few weeks. It has been extremely frustrating, and the only possible solution is that someone, or rather some people, need to step up.

On L’antichambre the other day, they said that someone needs to get mad in the locker room. Although that may be one solution, most of our team doesn’t fit that role. Perhaps a better one would be for someone to step up and play their heart out on the ice. Now I’m not talking about those mentioned so far. Plekanec et al. do it every night. I’m talking about Maxim Lapierre, Matt D’agostini, Max Pacioretty... The young guys really haven’t been bringing much to the table lately. I’m also talking about Scott Gomez and Marc-Andre Bergeron. Honestly, most of the team has been a bit off lately.

Markov leads on the ice, no question. But we can’t expect miracles from him. He’s just one player (albeit one player who can affect the course of a game). I’ve always been a bit jealous of Pittsburgh, Washington, LA... with guys like Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kopitar... it’s a little frustrating that they were rewarded for playing badly, but that’s beside the point. They have these “franchise players”... amazing talents. In Montreal, it seemed like we never had one of those uber-talented stars. But I realize that Markov IS in their league, and am quite thankful that we still have him. When Bob Gainey blew up the team this summer, this is one piece I’m thrilled he kept intact. He may not have been 1st overall in the draft (actually it’s a bit unbelievable that he was still around in the 6th round!), but his play in the past 8 years has shown otherwise.

Whether he has a great game or doesn’t, I’m thrilled to finally have him back, because honestly the Habs haven’t felt like the Habs without him. I’m still member of the Markov for captain fan club, and I think no one would do a better job. I also think we need a captain ASAP. At the beginning of the season, when Jacques Martin said not having a captain would work, I knew it was a bad idea. There are a lot of leaders in the room, yes, but without one clear leader, it’s hard for the others to organize themselves. If everyone stepped up in the room it would be too chaotic, and so, though many may want to, no one does, and nothing gets done. Captains exist for a reason, and with our lacklustre performance this season, you’d think Martin would realise that. It won’t solve all our problems, but at least we’d be going in one direction instead ten different ones.

I think we can pull it off tonight. Ending the losing streak now would keep our confidence levels from hitting rock bottom. Markov’s return should give them some form of fuel, and hopefully he can make a difference in the game.

On that note, I’d like to wish him a very happy (early) 31st birthday, and good luck tonight! We’re probably going to need it.

UNSUNG HEROES

2009-12-12T01:37:00.001-08:00

Hamrlik doing what he does best: Keeping talented players from scoring goals. (Photo taken from habsinsideout.com)

posted by habsbloggergirl

Every year we think we have it bad injury-wise. Players drop like flies on a daily basis. Last year was out of the ordinary in that department for the Habs, but it almost seems like this year is going to top it.

We have not been having an easy time, starting from day one when Markov went down. We lost (in my opinion) the most important player on the team, and although we did have other capable defenseman, losing Markov was heartbreaking. We not only lost a great player, but a leader, and someone who is greatly respected among his teammates and the fans.

However, our remaining defensemen have played incredibly hard to make up for Markov’s absence. In fact, I doubt anyone would disagree with me when I say that Roman Hamrlik is the Canadiens’ unsung hero thus far. He logs an unbelievable amount of minutes for a 35-year-old, and he plays as though he’s 10 years younger than he is, but with the added bonus of wisdom and the fact that he makes very few mistakes, if any. He almost seems to know what’s going to happen before it does, and he’s arguably the best 1-on-1 defenseman we have. He has a calm demeanour on the ice that most others do not, and you can tell he thinks things through very carefully before he does them, but never hesitates either. Without him, I honestly believe we would be lost; another season down the drain.

It’s strange to me that when Jacques Martin initially picked his alternate captains, he didn’t include Hamrlik among them. But I suppose there are a lot of leaders on the team, and it was a tough decision. It’s strange to think that of the three he chose (Markov, Gionta and Gill), all three are, or were in the case of Gill, injured. Now that Cammalleri wears an “A”, I often worry that he may eventually suffer the same fate (though obviously I seriously hope nothing will ever happen!!). If Hamrlik is the defensive hero, then Cammalleri and Plekanec are the offensive ones, having really dragged this team to their current position in the standings. In fact, it irks me that Gomez’ lack of production is being rewarded by an inexplicably high salary, when Plekanec, who is making about 1/3 of what Gomez is, has more than double the amount of points. And I doubt we’d be able to get rid of Gomez at this point, because honestly what team in their right mind (other than us apparently) would take on a 70-point-per-year player for $8 million a season?

Anyway, another positive this season is goaltending. Now I know that there are A LOT of Halak haters and Price haters out there, and this bothers me to no end. They are BOTH good goaltenders. They BOTH have the confidence of their coaches and teammates. They clearly get along and work well together, motivating each other along the way. So we need to deal with the fact that they BOTH play for Montreal. I don’t understand why everyone seems to think it needs to be one or the other and that there are no other options. People keep talking about what’s best for Carey or what’s best for Jaro... Personally I think what’s best for them is that everybody stop fighting over which one is better than the other... AND I don’t understand why everyone thinks that we SHOULD be thinking about what’s best for either of them in the first place! Instead we should be thinking about what’s best for the TEAM (which they are currently BOTH a part of). They have each done a lot for the team this season, and without them we would not be where we are.

My favourite thing about the 2009-2010 Canadiens is that they rarely go down without a fight. Yes, there has been the occasional blow out game, but most of the time each player plays their little heart out every night or at least gives some effort – something we haven’t always seen in the past. I miss a lot of the 2008-2009 Habs: Koivu, Kovalev, Higgins, Lang, TK. They were good guys, and I especially missed Saku at the centennial celebrations the other night. But, I think we have finally started to move on, and that this group of mismatched misfits is finally starting to forge an identity, something they may have been missing for most of this season. Good things happen in cohesive groups, and hopefully when Markov returns (which I’ve recently heard may be sooner than we thought) we’ll be fighting for our playoff spot (or division title, who knows! Buffalo is only 6 points ahead of us), and showing the rest of the NHL that Gainey’s so-called “chemistry experiment” worked.

ODE TO LATENDRESSE

2009-11-23T14:56:00.000-08:00

Latendresse looking happy at practice last year. (Photo taken from habsinsideout.)

Note: I apologize in advance. Enough said.

In the wondrous city we call Montreal,
Stood a guy named Guillaume at 6’2 feet tall.
Hockey was the sport he called his own,
The Habs were the team that he called home.

The media loved him, the fans did too,
So much so, that he skipped some steps, just a few.
Coming straight from the Q to the NHL,
The media pressure put him through hell.

His name was heard often while watching a game,
Even more often when he wasn’t in the frame.
The media praised him, and he became cocky,
This was a distraction from playing his best hockey.

A point per game, they thought he’d get,
Compared him to Crosby, which made some upset.
They may not take the blame, but I think they should,
They drove him out of town, like we all knew they would.

Minnesota is now his new destination,
From what I hear their winters are no vacation.
We wish you bonne chance, avec politesse,
We’ll miss you notre ami, Guillaume Latendresse.

REGULATION ZEROS / OVERTIME HEROES

2009-11-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Mike Cammalleri on his way to score his shootout goal versus the Bruins Thursday night.(Photo taken from habsinsideout.com).

posted by habsbloggergirl

Price’s expression at the end of the shootout Thursday night said it all. The game’s first star was a mixed bag of emotions; confident, tough, determined and even a little frustrated. And, he had every right to be.

For what seems like the millionth time, the Habs played one of their signature wishy-washy games: good enough, but not wonderful, for most of 3 periods, only to have it crumble in the last few minutes.

Another night, another trip to overtime. It’s so common this year that it’s not even that much of a novelty anymore. We have only had 1 win in regulation. ONE. It reminds me of those Leafs jokes that have been going around the past few weeks, you know the... “What does a triangle have that the Leafs don’t?” ones (the answer being 3 points)? Kinda sad that it can easily be applied to us (3 points in regulation anyway).

But then again, is it? Sad, I mean. We may not be able to finish during the game but we sure as hell finish during the extra five and the shootout. Our goalies seem to handle the extra pressure extremely well (in fact in most cases Carey and Jaro were the real heroes), and our forwards and D-men step it up. And we win. Every single time.

I don’t know about you, but lately I have almost felt relief when we went into OT. Sudden death OT should not = relief.... but for some reason, this year it does. We know how to finish and we want to, but can’t seem to do it in regulation... but in OT something changes.

Maybe we are just generous. Here Toronto... 2 games, 2 points on us, free of charge! Atlanta? Here’s one for you too, no need to even ask! And the Islanders... since we beat you by so much the first time, one for you too, no big deal!

Maybe we thrive in pressure situations.

Maybe we are only willing to take a risk when it matters most.

Who knows?

But more importantly, who cares? Its working right... why question it?

The thing is, there may come a day (cross your fingers that it’s not in the foreseeable future) where we won’t be able to finish. What then?

What then indeed.

Instead of waiting for that day to come, let’s hope the Canadiens can go on a scoring spree the next few games and rack up a few regulation wins. They have been working overtime this season (no pun intended), and with all the injuries on defence, they deserve a little bit of a break.

Though it’s a little too early to think about playoffs (though come to think of it, it’s never too early), today we sit in 8th, just one point ahead of Tampa.
Coincidentally, we are playing them tomorrow night. We need to win, and although the Habs love to give, it’d be nice to be on the receiving end of two points tomorrow night, within the 60 minutes.

Though if we do go to overtime, I wouldn’t be too worried.

ONE DOWN, 81 TO GO

2009-10-02T11:13:00.001-07:00

Markov before his injury, along with Price and Spacek. (Photo from habsinsideout.com)

posted by habsbloggergirl

What did I think last night in the first 3 periods of the Montreal-Toronto game? There may have been a lot of change, but these are still the same Montreal Canadiens as they were last year: slow to react, a little spaced out (I’m talking to you Andrei Kostitsyn), needing their 4th line players to get them the big goals, seemingly unconfident and unable to finish. Then of course Markov has to get injured, by his own teammate no less. It was a game that you just wanted to be over... or at least I did.

Price was good but I still don’t think his confidence was 100% back, though as the game went on, it seemed to slowly return to him.

O’Byrne was also great. I noticed him, as usual, but this time it was for doing good things, really good things. He really worked hard the entire game, and with Markov’s injury it looks like he’ll be a top 6 D for a while and he deserves it.

Last season when we lost Markov, we lost our chance. We stopped winning entirely, squeezed into the playoffs and played a gruesome 4 games against Boston, only to embarrass ourselves in our centennial season.

But we won this game (although he was only gone for about 15 minutes). It was a bit of a shock... When we got to overtime, I was just hoping it would go to a shootout because Price is pretty good in them and we have Gionta et al. to possibly give us a boost in that area. But Cammalleri pulled a Kovalev, and Gorges pulled a Markov and we got ourselves a goal.

Gorges seems to thrive in situations where he is needed. Last season with Komisarek injured, he stepped up big time and played wonderfully with Markov. Here again, a important guy goes down, and looks who steps up. He’s a great guy who really leads by example, and I’m happy Martin chose him to be in his “Committee”... though I think in a couple of years (or even sooner) he’d make a wonderful captain.

One of the things that looked great last night was the team cohesion. Everybody looked happy to be around each other and at points looked like they were actually having fun. Let’s just hope it continues that way.

With Markov gone we have a troublesome road ahead, but they showed last night that they aren’t willing to give up that easily... Even if it took Metropolit, Moen and Gorges to score some important goals.

The one thing that bothered me was that on RDS they were REALLY tough on Gill... I didn’t think he was that bad, but for example, on one of the goals against us, he was covering two guys and there were three other Habs in front of the net, and when he couldn’t clear the puck entirely (because he had the two Leafs right near him) and it ended up on the stick of another Leaf (who no one was covering), they blamed it on him. Personally, I think blame is overrated... but if you really need to blame someone, it’s probably one of the 3 guys in front of the net who weren’t covering anyone, not the guy who was covering 2 Leafs. He’s already the scapegoat after only playing one game... not quite fair.

Plekanec was also unfairly judged on RDS. I thought he played really well. But every time he did something they had to comment that maybe it wasn’t the right move. Or they would make comments like “Plekanec is not playing THAT badly tonight”... That’s a backhanded compliment if I ever did see one. He had 2 assists, 5 shots on net and was a +1.... I definitely wouldn’t call that a bad night.

The one guy I didn’t hear much about was their favourite player Latendresse (well they mentioned him a few times but not throughout the entire broadcast as usual). He was invisible last night. I didn’t really notice that third line at all... I thought the fourth line was much better (as did RDS... they also credited Laraque for setting up the Moen goal when I thought Metropolit was the one who did a good job behind the net... but that’s another story).

Saturday against Buffalo should be interesting. How will the team fare in 60 Markov-less minutes? Will RDS stop hounding Gill? Will Gionta and Cammalleri play as impressively as they did last night? Will Price keep his head in the game? All we can do is wait. Go Habs Go!

And by the way, I was wrong. These aren’t the same Montreal Canadiens as last year. These guys can finish.

A FIRST GLIMPSE

2009-09-16T22:31:00.000-07:00

Carey's new mask (paying tribute to Gorges - note the #26)! What do you think? (Photo taken from habsinsideout.com)

It’s been freezing here in Montreal the past couple of days, and you know what, I don’t care! HOCKEY IS BACK BABYYYY...... With the first (of MANY) pre-season games starting tomorrow, I can’t help but get excited for what’s to come. There are a couple of things on my mind of course; the captaincy, rumours involving another Russian player, whether or not Gainey’s explosion of the team during the offseason will pan out, whether a certain goalie will step it up this year and how he’ll deal with the pressure... well you know what I mean. But most of these things have been on my mind all summer (other than the Markov incident of course) and for some reason they just don’t seem to want to get out of it.

Tomorrow. It’s that close... though unfortunately the game won’t be broadcasted on tv... but hey, 5 games in 5 nights, we’re bound to catch one of them.

So far there have been quite a few pleasant surprises at camp, and I’m hoping they’ll continue. Personally I think it’ll end up like this (though not necessarily these lines):

Price – Halak

Markov – Mara

Hamrlik – Spacek

Gorges – Gill

(O’Byrne)

Cammalleri – Gomez – A. Kostitsyn

Gionta – Pleks – Pacioretty

Latendresse – Lapierre –Moen

Laraque- Metropolit –Stewart

(D’Agostini, S. Kostitsyn)

Unfortunately for the others, currently there is just no room... and unless Gainey pulls one of his signature moves there will still be no room by the end of camp (though you never know with him these days).

As for the captaincy... I still think Markov is our guy, though I’m not quite sure he feels the same way. He seemed a little hesitant when he was asked about it the other day. Hamrlik may be a good option though. I read Francois Gagnon’s blog this morning about Hammer and he made some good points, and to be honest, he swayed me a little. I still would rather it not be one of the new guys... I just think that it’s too much pressure, and personally I feel like I’d rather our captain knew the city well, as well as the fans and the media. It’s one thing being told how things are. Living it is another thing entirely.

Now when it comes to Price, I think he’s got the talent, the skill etc... I’m just waiting to see how his confidence is this year. He has the (almost magical) power to exude a confidence over everyone watching the game when he’s feeling secure, but when he’s not, it’s nerves city for everyone, not only him.

I have higher hopes for this team than I did when Gainey signed all the new guys, but yet I’m still not 100% convinced. I just hope that come October we’ll be a tight knit group, ready to take on anyone! Guess we have to wait and see! Until then, Go Habs Go!

THE DIRT ON: BRIAN GIONTA

2009-09-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

I guess he can do the splits! (photo taken from slam.canoe.ca)

Yes, the Habs signed a bunch of new players this year, and yes, most are talented, but how much do we really know about them? With that question in mind, I decided to write a series of blogs profiling each of the new players. With some of the players, I’ll have tons of information, others very little, but my goal is to shine some light onto who these guys are, on and off the ice.

Name: Brian Gionta
Position: Right-winger / top six forward
Age: 30
Hometown: Rochester, NY, US

So who is Brian Gionta really? We all know he was one of the Devils’ big stars. We know he’s a small but lightning fast player. That’s about as far it goes. But we all know a person has more layers than that. Let’s try to dig a little deeper.
Gio, as he was nicknamed by his teammates, was Captain of his Boston College team, the Eagles, and led them to a National Championship in 2001.

He has won a plethora of awards in his junior days; from Rookie of the year, to being named a member of an All-Star team, to Player of the year, and perhaps his most prestigious, the Walker Brown Award for New England’s outstanding American-born college player, which he shared with Ty Conklin. He also won two awards while with the Devils: Rookie of the year (2001-2002) and Fan Club Player of the year (2005-2006).

Gionta was drafted 82nd overall in 1998 by the Devils (in the 3rd round). His scouting report at the time was as follows:

“Assets: Has excellent speed and acceleration. Plays with loads of feistiness and energy. Shows excellent offensive upside and two-way ability. Possesses nifty skills and instincts around an opposing net.

Flaws: Needs to continue staying in tip-top physical shape in order to withstand the rigors of the pro game because of his smallish stature. Needs to avoid big hits at center ice. Does battle inconsistency in terms of production at times.

Career Potential: top 6 winger”

It seems to be bang on. He is a top six winger, he’s feisty, can skate fast, and is a really skilled guy. Though he may be only 5’7 (second to Nathan Gerbe (who played 10 games for the Sabres) for smallest in the NHL... Although we all know Marty St. Louis is overestimating his own “official” height of apparently 5’9), he doesn’t play small.

When he started in the NHL, he was mentored by Marty Reasoner, and in his first full year with the Devils (he had spent half his time in the AHL with the Albany River Rate the year before), he won the Stanley Cup.

His best season came when he was on a line with Patrick Elias and Scott Gomez, which eventually became known as the EGG line. I think the entire city is banking on the chemistry between him and Gomez this year, and I can just imagine what will happen if this “experiment” doesn’t pan out... city-wide pandemonium!

He has a respectable 0.66 points per game efficiency rate, with 473 games played, 152 goals, 160 assists for a total of 312 points. He has played in 67 playoff games and had 19 goals, 21 assists, totalling 40 points, for a 0.60 efficiency rate, meaning that he’s pretty much able to seamlessly move from the regular season to the playoffs. Another positive is that he shoots right, and we seem to have an abundance of left wingers.

He has had 8 injuries in his career (keep in mind he has only been playing 7 years!): ankle, broken right leg, ankle, facial, groin, groin, leg and head.
He has only ever played for the Devils organization, that is, until he signed a 5-year, 25-million dollar contract with the Habs.

Well, now that you know all the details about his game, let’s lighten things up a bit with some fun and interesting facts. His nickname given to him by the media is the Rochester Rocket. His childhood idol was Pat Lafontaine. He’s close to his family, and has a brother Stephen, who plays with the Devils’ farm team. His wife’s name is Harvest and they have two kids, a son Adam and a daughter Leah. He spends his summers working at the family hardware store. His typical game day meal is chicken, pasta and vanilla ice cream.

He wore #14 in New Jersey, but since Tomas Plekanec currently owns that jersey number, he went with #21, (which funnily enough belonged to his fellow New Yorker Chris Higgins (who is still missed!) last year).

Gionta will be a big asset to the team this year. His speed and excellent +/- ratings (he’s had only 1 year in the minuses, and is +62 over his career) will really help the team defensively and he definitely has the skill to get us some points when we need them. The only question mark for me is whether he and Gomez will still play well together, something we’ll find out very shortly (Training camp starts Saturday!). We can only hope for the best.

Stay tuned for the next installment coming soon!

THE DIRT ON: CURTIS SANFORD

2009-08-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

Curtis Sanford (photo taken from canucks.nhl.com).

Yes, the Habs signed a bunch of new players this year, and yes, most are talented, but how much do we really know about them? With that question in mind, I decided to write a series of blogs profiling each of the new players. With some of the players, I’ll have tons of information, others very little, but my goal is to shine some light onto who these guys are, on and off the ice.

Name: Curtis Sanford

Position: Back-up goalie / AHL goalie

Age: 29

Hometown: Owen Sound, ON, CAN

What did I know about Curtis Sanford before researching for this blog? Well I knew he played in Vancouver and was Luongo’s back-up, but that’s pretty much it. Back-ups aren’t interviewed as much as the starting goalie, and the team doesn’t focus on them for their website info as much either, so it was extremely difficult to find new and interesting things about him, but I managed.

Let’s start with his on-ice performance. What I came across over and over again was that he had an excellent work ethic and personality and that his coaches and teammates really liked him. He was signed in 2000 by the St. Louis Blues, having been passed over in the 1998 and 1999 drafts. His first NHL game was October 17th 2002. Although the Blues won that night, he was not credited with the win. What had happened was that the starting goalie was injured in the first period when the Blues were up 3-0. Sanford replaced him, and the team won 7-1. So since the winning goal was scored before Sanford was in nets, the starting goalie got the win. He didn’t have to wait long for his first official win though, because 2 days later, he was in nets, beating the Stars 5-3.

His scouting report put him as a #2 goaltender, stating that he had a tremendous attitude and perfect demeanour for the position, and that he had the ability to make big saves at key moments. It also stated that he wasn’t durable enough to be a starting goaltender. Looking at his injuries over the last few seasons, this has proven to be true. He had a sprained ankle in 2002, hip flexor injury in 2005, knee injury in 2006, groin injury in 2006, another groin injury in 2007, back injury in 2008 and another groin injury in 2008. But he works extremely hard at getting back into game shape each time, so hopefully it won’t be too much of an issue.

Now for his stats. He’s played for 4 AHL teams and 2 NHL teams before joining the Habs. In his NHL career his Goals Against Average has been about 2.70 and his Save Percentage hovers around 0.900. Nothing too impressive, but not too bad for a back-up. He’s had 5 shutouts, has won 37 games and lost 37 games, and has had 16 ties. He has never played in an NHL playoff game.

He likes very intense practices that make him feel as though he’s in a game situation. Because he was with Luongo he didn’t have too many opportunities to play, so he wanted to make sure he was ready when the time came.

His Vancouver mask was actually designed by a fan who was chosen through a contest. It featured an orca with its teeth open surrounding the cage part of his mask.

Off the ice he seems to be a nice guy. He’s married (his wife’s name is Malinda) and they have 2 sons, Landon and Kendrik. He loves cycling, and is a fan of Lance Armstrong. His hockey idol is Wayne Gretzky. He goes to Blue Jays games, has been to Scotland a few times and loved it, and likes playing golf.

Whether or not he actually plays in NHL games for Habs this year (most likely he’ll be in Hamilton most of the time) I think he’s a good veteran presence that will be nice to have if needed. Personally, I think Halak does a stand-up job as a back-up, and I don’t think Sanford will be used that much, but I think that he might be a good person for Price and Halak to talk to if problems arise, because he’s been in the league for a while, but is still young enough to relate to them. Overall I think that Gainey improved by getting him instead of resigning Marc Denis.

Stay tuned for the next profile in the series, coming in a couple of days!

IN SEARCH OF THE RIGHT "C"

2009-08-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Two longstanding C's. (Photo taken from habsinsideout.com)

It’s summer, the weather is finally starting to get warmer, and here I am thinking about hockey. The loss of all of our unrestricted free agents, as well as Chris Higgins, was a bit of a shocker, at least to me, and I had resorted to ignoring hockey for a little while. I needed to sort out how I felt about the team, and to be honest, I’m still not so sure. They sure aren’t the Montreal Canadiens we knew and loved anymore, not without Saku or Kovalev, even Komisarek and Higgins. But for the first time in a long time, we actually got some players when the free agent market opened, but what that means is still unclear to me. Right now our team seems like a bunch of randomly chosen players that don’t seem to fit together in any plausible way. We are all hoping that chemistry forms between some of the newcomers, and that Mike Cammalleri finds a way to repeat his great season, but I’m trying to keep my expectations low, because on the off chance they do have chemistry, I wouldn’t mind being surprised by it. It’s sure better than being disappointed if things don’t go our way.

There is something worrying me though, and that is the fact that Jacques Martin is at least entertaining the possibility of not having a captain. I think this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. He claims that it worked in Florida and on some other teams, and so it may be an option for Montreal. Did it really work though? Florida didn’t win a cup... so not really. They didn’t even make the playoffs. In my opinion, there needs to be a set leader. Without one, there will be no one who sets an example, no one to talk to players who are having difficulty, no one to step up in the room after a bad period, and no one to make everyone feel like part of the team. Even with co-captains, I think that it wouldn’t work as well. It would cause decision-making to take longer, and I feel as though it would be more of a hindrance to have two opinions in that type of situation than a help. So a little obsessively, I decided to see how right he was right by compiling some data. In NHL history (but only including the current NHL teams), there have been 101 occasions where there was no captain or more than one captain. On only 3 of those occasions have teams ever won a Stanley Cup. Twice it was the Bruins, in 69-70 and 71-72 who had no captain, and once was the Flames in 88-89 who had Co-Captains. For both the Bruins’ cups they had Bobby Orr... No offense to Gomez or Gionta, or any of the rest of the newcomers, but none of them even come near to the point totals or plus/minus he had, and he was a defenceman! We can’t compare exactly, because clearly the league was different 40 years ago, but still, no one compares to him. So if that is the case, how can we even think that we can get far without a captain!

The question is... who? Personally, I think that it should be Markov. Despite the language barrier, he is clearly a player that all the others look up to. His English is not bad at all, and if they make Lapierre and Gorges alternate captains, the entire city would be happy and Markov wouldn’t have to do as many interviews, since they could take care of a lot of them for him. There is no one else left. Some are suggesting Gomez, but I really don’t think that would be good. He’s new in town and doesn’t yet know the pressure that the Montreal fans and more importantly the media provide. Markov is our best player. He loves Montreal. He’s not a fan of change so would want to stay here for a while. He’s a good person. Whoever has to fill Saku’s shoes is in for a challenge. I think Markov is the man for the job.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS ... SIDNEY CROSBY?

2009-06-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Jean Beliveau won the lifetime achievement award at last night's NHL awards. (Photo taken from Yahoo! News / REUTERS / Mike Blake)

Does anyone else find it weird that when watching the NHL awards last night, Sidney Crosby was nowhere to be seen?

So much has been made of the handshake snub involving Sid and Detroit captain Nick Lidstrom, and many hockey columnists were suggesting they would meet at the awards and Sid would have a chance to apologize. Yet, seemingly he wasn’t even present. There is a chance that he was there and that I just missed him, but generally when Sidney Crosby is at an NHL event, the focus is on him. Malkin and Talbot were the ones to bring in the cup, an honour which is usually bestowed upon the captain of the Stanley Cup winning team, and Malkin didn’t even have a chance to bring in his Conne Smythe! Sid's absence left a big hole...

Other than that, I think the awards were a lot better than previous years, although I could have probably done without the Chaka Khan numbers... The players seemed to really enjoy themselves and laughed quite a bit. My favourite line of the evening came from none other than Alexander the Great, something to the effect of “Don’t worry Geno, at least your English is better than Pavel’s”. Datsyuk’s half-glare half-smile was priceless.

Chara came in a close second for the funniest remark, when he thanked his wife for listening to him complain all the time after games. I saw a softer side of him I hadn’t seen before, and I really think he is one of those players whose personality is completely different on and off the ice. On the ice: huge hard-checking defenseman. Off the ice: the BFG.

As for fellow Bruin Tim Thomas, his Vezina speech was quite moving and he got the crowd laughing when he said he was more worried about getting his name on a roster than on the nominee list for the Vezina. He really has come a long way and I think that no matter which team you’re a fan of, his win brought tears to your eyes.

As much as I liked having the awards in Canada in previous years, I think that Vegas had a certain appeal and that Michael Bublé trumped Ron McLean in terms of hosting ability (at least his jokes weren’t cringe-worthy), and that they should ask him back next year. I’d love for them to come to Montréal but I doubt that’ll happen for a while.

Speaking of a while, it’s hard to believe that another hockey season has come and gone. They seem to go faster with each passing year, and as much as I love the summer, I don’t mind when it ends because I know I have something to look forward to come September. Let’s hope this offseason brings lots of rest for the players and that they come back refreshed for training camp to start this emotional rollercoaster once again. By this time next year a new team will be raising the cup over their heads, feeling joy unlike anything felt before. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait!

Have a great summer everyone!

ALL THESE THINGS THAT I'VE DONE

2009-04-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Koivu's reaction to Kostitsyn's goal: Another thing that should be on my list! (Photo credit to habsinsideout.com)

O’Byrne, coming down along the boards makes a blind pass in front of the net. But Price is on the bench for the delayed penalty! It’s in! #!$%##!… I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life!

That, my friends, was my favourite moment of this unlucky, albeit unusual, centennial season.

After the loss Wednesday night, I’ll admit I was quite sad. I didn’t want the season to end on a seemingly endless losing streak, but let’s face it, the minute Grabovski laid that hit on Markov a couple weeks back, it was over. Actually when you think about it, it has pretty much been over since the All-Star Break, other than a couple of heroic performances by a certain Mr. Jaroslav Halak, and a few games where we learned what it would be like to have a first line that could really do some damage out there. Instead of dissecting the inexplicable hell that was February, the wishy-washy unsteadiness that was March, and the dreadfully disappointing month of April, I think it would be fitting to list my 10 favourite moments of the 2008-2009 season (in no particular order). Feel free to sound off on yours in the comment section below!

1) Well I think I made it clear above, but when I think of my favourite things, the O’Byrne “goal” tops the list. It provided some much needed comic relief, and although it would have probably been funnier had we won the game, it still tops my list!

2) 2 was more difficult to decide, but I think I’m going to have to go with Carey Price and Tom Kostopoulos sacrificing Josh Gorges’ stick, to try to bring him some goal-scoring luck! Funny thing was, it actually worked (though it took a couple of games to sink in)!

3) I’d have to go with my favourite unlucky jerseys… Montreal tends to be known for its nice classic jerseys. I think that this year after the barber pole striped ones, our reputation has changed!

4) Getting Mathieu Schneider. What a difference a player makes… to the power-play that is. We went from being at the bottom of the barrel to coming up somewhere in the middle. He really helped us out there.

5) Grabovski also getting linked to gang members. Not sure how many of you heard about this… but about 2 weeks or so ago, I saw a news piece linking him to the same gang member as the Kostitsyn brothers and Roman Hamrlik. Looks like they did hang out together when he was still in Montreal…

6) Speaking of Grabovski, (and I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner) these comments about Sergei Kostitsyn were probably some of the funniest I’ve ever heard: “I think he is not Belarussian now, he is French because I never fight with Belarussian guys. I don’t know why he wants to fight with me. If he wants to fight, we’ll go in the street and every minute of every day I’ll wait for him and we’ll fight.” Oh Grabovski…

7) Chris Higgins’ hat trick versus the Sens early in the season. What can I say, he’s my favourite player and the rest of the team gave a great showing that night as well.

8) Kovalev returning after his “vacation”. I was really scared that Kovalev would be gone, after watching L’Antichambre, where Michel Bergeron said he could never come back after that embarrassment. I was angry at the Habs. I was angry at the media. I was just angry in general. But thankfully he came back, and it made me really happy, and I think it made most of Montreal happy too. Kovalev may have off days, but he is the talent and one of the prominent leaders of our team. Without him, we’d be lost.

9) I know this has little to do with the Habs, but it has to do with Montreal, and I was there, so I thought I’d include it anyway: The Skills Competition. Ovechkin’s skills competition get-up was really funny, and was made funnier by the fact that it was Malkin, his alleged enemy, who dressed him up. But the real hilarity came from Mark Streit, who when skating, tripped over a wooden triangular blocker, smashing into a million wood chips and falling to the floor himself. He was okay after thankfully but it was just really funny, especially watching it again afterwards, since they were filming his face, and all of the sudden he was gone!

10) Last but not least, I think I need to include Marty Brodeur’s win a couple of weeks ago. Again, it wasn’t a great achievement for us, but seeing Brodeur tie Roy’s record with Roy in the crowd was really an emotional experience. It was also special since Brisebois played his 1000th game that night. Speaking of Roy, his jersey retirement should probably have a place on this list too.

So there you have it: my ten favourite moments of the season. This season has been full of ups and downs, and next year I fear we’ll be seeing a very different team… I really hope not, but re-signing that many free agents will be difficult.

I’m not bitter about this season or angry… It’s tough to win when most of your team is in the infirmary instead of on the ice. It’s also tough when rumours are spread, when players get suspended and when they are linked to gang members. This centennial season may not have lived up to everyone’s expectations. But hey, at least we can say it was interesting.

FEELS A LITTLE LIKE '93?

2009-04-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

They won't be smiling for long. (Photo credit Yahoo! Sports)

posted by habsbloggergirl
allhabs.blogspot.com

“Come playoff time, I guess you don’t have too many friends.”

That sentence was a little gem provided by Michael Ryder, who I’ll admit I miss quite a bit, if not just for his smile and generally positive disposition (though his 30 goal seasons were nice too).

Less than an hour ‘till puck drop, and seeing our good friend Rydes, and all I can say is that the term ‘underdog’ barely even begins to describe the situation the Habs are in. But then again maybe not.

I’ve only been hockey-obsessed since after the lockout, so have only 4 seasons of experience (so to speak) and only 2 of playoff experience (well of the Habs’ playoff experience anyhow), with the third starting very shortly. In those two years we’ve played Carolina, Boston and Philly. 3 teams, 3 completely different stories.

In Carolina, we chased Marty Gerber from the net and led Carolina to discover the invaluable asset that is Cam Ward, who led them to a cup that very year. In Boston, we learned that history means nothing (regular season), but yet it means everything (rivalry). In Philly, we made stars out of Marty Biron and R.J. Umberger.

I think we have to face the fact that the Canadiens are in the business of making stars. And unfortunately not out of our own players. How many francophone players play well against us? How many Eric Coles and Rich Peverlys are there, who aren’t too bad but look like Ovechkins and Crosbys when they’re in town? How many players profess their love of the Bell Centre, while in the visitors’ dressing room?

This needs to end. Right now. BEFORE anyone steps onto the ice tonight. We don’t need Shawn Thornton scoring on us again, or anyone else on the fourth line for that matter. Other teams tend to step up to face us, not necessarily because of who we are today, but because of who we’ve been. I think it’s time we push them back down a step.

The thing is, with Boston it’s different, just like with Toronto it’s different. No matter how bad these teams are (or how bad we are) when we play them, they play like they are number one in the league. And, usually we rise to the occasion as well. No boring games in the cards there…

I’ve read countless articles saying that the rivalry is what will give us a chance. But as Kovalev so eloquently explained yesterday, it’s the media who builds up this rivalry. Not that it doesn’t exist, but it’s possible that it doesn’t hold the value the media believes it does. Anything is possible (come playoff time anyway).

So what does this mean? Will tonight be an evenly weighted game, or will Boston pummel us? Will we play the underdog card, and somehow pull off a couple of wins? As I have mentioned countless times, Kovalev is the key. If he plays to win, we will, as long as Price doesn’t give up too many softies.

One thing’s for sure. Boston’s not gonna give up easily. But let’s just hope the Habs don’t either. All I can say is that they’d better be ready for anything and everything.

Feels like ‘93? We’ll see soon enough.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE CINDERELLA STORY

2009-04-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Tanguay and Latendresse were two of the main injuries the Canadiens had to deal with this season (photo credit to habsinsideout)

****

Why is it that the Canadiens always seem to have to do things the hard way?

This season has been nothing but a series of tests and trials. Injuries, illness, an incessant rumour mill, gang connections, firings, signings, suspensions (for the least likely of candidates I may add), players coming and going, bad stretches, good stretches, bad goaltending, good goaltending, players being “asked” to take vacations…we’ve seen it all. This was supposed to be OUR centennial season. A year to celebrate all the Habs teams of the past, and look towards all the teams of the future. A year to win cup #25 (while improving our Stanley cup winning rate to 25%) – an insanely high number for an insanely storied franchise.

While, at first, we did celebrate and express our joy, so many other distractions got in the way, and somehow we have still not clinched a playoff spot, and there are 2 games left in the season. While fans and players alike are going back and forth in their heads trying to make sense of all this, I prefer to look at it from a “let’s see how far we’ve come” perspective.

First of all, read this list of players: Koivu, Tanguay, Higgins, Lang, Latendresse, Komisarek, Markov, Schneider, Bouillon, Price, Sergei Kostitsyn, Andrei Kostitsyn, Dandenault, Laraque, Gorges, Hamrlik, Brisebois.

And add these names: Kovalev, Halak, Higgins again, Price again, Koivu again, Begin (when he was still here).

These are players who were either injured (first list) or ill (second) at some point during the season. Not one player on the Habs roster has played in all 80 games. Hamrlik and Gorges are the closest, having played 79 each (they each missed only 1 game when they were injured).

Who does that leave? 3 players: Kostopoulos and Plekanec, who both had suspensions this season so missed some games and Maxim Lapierre, who was a healthy scratch for 3 games after saying on TV that Georges Laraque told him that now that he’s with the team Lapierre doesn’t have to try as hard… I’m sure Carbo loved that one (I’m omitting Metropolit, and most of the young guys who haven’t played for more than a few games). Only 3 players out of 20-something guys were not injured or sick at sometime during the season. That is honestly unreal.

They keep saying they shouldn’t make excuses, but honestly losing that much of a team IS a big deal. Just as losing your coach is a big deal, losing a teammate (Begin), having horrible rumours spread about you (to refresh your memories, Jean Perron accused Higgins, Price and Sergei K of partying too much, and went as far as calling Higgins an alcoholic (according to a source quoted on a Puck Daddy blog on Yahoo! Sports)), being linked to gang members (Hamrlik and the Kostitsyn brothers)… These are all important facts to consider… most of which most likely did influence their play. Not to mention the centennial craziness: the all-star game, the almost nightly pre-game presentations, the even more intense media coverage than usual (if that is even possible).

The thing is though, after all of this, they are still here, in the playoff hunt, with two games to go. Even when February hit, the month that could be compared to the Titanic (i.e. colossal disaster) didn’t sink the organization (sorry couldn’t resist haha). Halak won games for us, seemingly playing 60 minutes of 6 on 1 hockey, with a few sporadic goals from the least likely candidates and we got points, enough to get us this far. Without him, all would have been lost, and unfortunately this brings back memories of the 2006-2007 season when Huet got injured and Aebischer got bad… and Halak nearly saved the day. In the second to last game of the season, when Huet was finally back (as Jaro’s backup to give him one more night off), Jaro was pulled in favour of Huet after letting in 3 goals, which eventually resulted in a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers. Carbonneau was the coach at the time, and faced the decision of putting Huet or Halak in the net in the last game of the season versus Toronto. Need I mention that it was a must-win if we wanted to make the playoffs? Carbo went with Huet, instead of Jaro (who had carried the floundering team during his absence). He was wrong. Michael Ryder scored a hat trick that night. Chris Higgins scored 2 goals. But it wasn’t enough. The Leafs won by a score of 6-5 and Huet was never pulled despite letting in 6 goals. I still maintain that he made a mistake putting Huet in that night. Jaro deserved it, and Huet had just come back from injury so wasn’t 100%. He made another mistake when he didn’t pull him. And these mistakes were costly.

All I hope is that Gainey doesn’t make the same mistakes. Price wasn’t the main reason we lost yesterday, but he did not look well. He was shaky, nervous, and fought the puck all night. If he doesn’t feel ready or still feels sick in any way, Jaro should play. He may not have won the last game, but it wasn’t completely his fault either, and it seems that he has consistently been the more confident of the two for the past 3 months. I’m not saying he should play both games, but all I’m saying is that if there’s any doubt on Price’s behalf, he should voice it and Jaro should play. The team at least deserves that.

The biggest problem facing us now is the loss of Markov. With Komisarek still having a tough time, he and Gorges did not make a good defensive pairing. I think that Hamrlik and O’Byrne should be placed back together, as well as Gorges and Brisebois or Dandenault and then Komisarek and Janik. That way it will be a bit more balanced. The way it is now, all 3 pairings made me nervous.

Markov is not just some other defenseman. He is the most valuable asset to our team. I don’t even want to think of where we would be without him… but even more so, I don’t want to think about where we WILL be without him. Even if we make the playoffs, what are our chances, especially since Schneider’s gone too?

The one thing the team has going for them is at least it’s clear that they are able to overcome adversity. All these tests and trials I’ve talking about?… they’ve gotten by them all so far.

All that remains of this centennial season are 4 days, 2 games, 120 minutes, and 4 possible points… There’s nothing more anyone can do at this point but wait. Maybe, just maybe, this statistical impossibility of a gut-wrenching / heart-warming season will be extended.

Hollywood couldn’t have written it any better.

RETURN OF THE WHERE'S WALDO JERSEYS? NOT QUITE.

2009-03-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

photo taken from AP photo / The Canadian Press

Bob Gainey woke up this morning and made the odd but albeit sound decision not to let the Habs players play in the vintage barber pole jerseys… You know, the ones when last worn, resulted in a bad loss to Boston and two injuries all in the same night? Don’t remember? Then try this. The last jersey Robert Lang wore before his season-ending injury? Still no? Then how ‘bout this. The really ugly ones? Ya those.

Well obviously we can count on the players being happy he made this change… anyone who is the slightest bit superstitious (and a lot of people think hockey players are) wouldn’t want one of those on their backs. First of all, how do we know Latendresse and Lang’s injuries weren’t caused by Boston players who were so nauseous from the spinning multicoloured stripes that they just banged into them, without intending to, and that those almost hallucinatory episodes were the actual causes their injuries? We’ll never know but why risk it a second time ‘round.

Plus, who could stomach wearing one of those awful striped pajama-looking sweaters in general (though I believe Kovalev admitted he liked it when he modelled it a couple of months back)? On him, if I remember correctly, it actually wasn’t bad… but on the ice it looked like there were 5 red, blue and white bees swarming around the puck. Enough to give you a bad headache. Or worse.

So they are instead wearing the ones they wore against the Leafs Saturday night. Not much better luck-wise, but at least they’re a bit more visually pleasing (though my one complaint is that the numbers on their backs don’t stand out enough). Let’s hope the second time’s a charm and that we can somehow come alive against Chicago. Worse comes to worse, if things aren’t going well after the second, we can pull our favourite eye-sores out of the closet and take ‘em for a spin around the rink, until some Chicago player yells “my eyes, my eyes!!”, while we all nod in agreement at home.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

2009-03-22T13:41:00.001-07:00

It tends to be hard to be inspired enough to write about a hockey club that is doing so poorly. When a team who had been steadily working from October to December, dives into a tailspin, one which spans almost 3 months, it’s a little bit hard to digest. I keep thinking, maybe a bit naively, that one day they will just come out of it, and resume their hardworking philosophy that seems to have been long forgotten. We all thought this would happen at the beginning of March, when Carey Price finally seemed to have found his game again, and Jaroslav Halak was winning games despite facing inflated amounts of shots every night. The team was starting to follow. But then came that game in Dallas, and shortly after Carbo was gone. And the truth is, it was a mistake to fire Guy Carbonneau.

Last night after our horrendous showing against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who usually bring out all of our emotion, even in the worst of times, Bob Gainey said that the team does have momentum, but it’s in the wrong direction. So what does this have to do with Carbonneau, you are probably wondering? When Carbonneau left, the team was finally winning. The goalies were great, and slowly the team was starting to follow. But as we all know, the firing of a coach usually results in a momentum swing, this time in the wrong direction. What message does it send to the players if a coach is fired when the team is finally starting to find its feet again? We know that not all of the players agreed with Carbonneau’s style of coaching, and I could get into the whole communication debate, but I’d rather not. Was Carbonneau the right coach to bring this team back around? We’ll never know, but my point is not that he shouldn’t have been fired, it’s that he shouldn’t have been fired when he was. We had been in a slump for weeks before he was fired. Why did Gainey wait until the team was turning around to fire his friend? He should have done it earlier, or not at all.

It’s too late to do anything about that now, but something has to be done to jumpstart this team. We’re running out of time. There are 10 games left, 3 weeks, and if Florida didn’t lose last night, we’d be sitting in 9th, 1 point out of the playoffs. Some players care. You can tell by the way they speak about hockey in general, by their body language on the ice, and by the way they analyze their teammates. Case in point: Guillaume Latendresse. After the game last night, he was on the post-game show on RDS. Although the media obsession with him has always driven me crazy, I never realized how smart and perceptive he was. Yes, he talked about a lack of confidence, and that when the other team scores, the whole team deflates. He spoke about his good friend Max Lapierre, who is playing his heart out. He talked about many things we already knew, but he was so insightful (although he really seemed at a loss when trying to explain why some players are playing like they care, and others aren’t). The point is: we can’t say they don’t care.

We have been talking about the horrible defence for months on end it seems, but it’s not getting better. Markov is definitely the team MVP. Without him, we would probably be at the bottom of the standings by now. Hamrlik is great one-on-one, but isn’t as good as he was last year. Gorges plays his heart out, but makes a few mistakes here and there. All Komisarek does is make mistakes. Schneider was great the first couple of games when he got here, but something happened and now he really isn’t playing to his potential. O’Byrne has been alright, but was pretty awful last night. Breezer has his moments, but they are usually followed by defensive errors. This brings up the question: Why isn’t Dandenault out there? We can only hope that Gainey at least gives him a chance, because honestly, what can it hurt?

Our offense is lacking just as much, as it seems that only Plekanec, Lapierre and Latendresse are capable of scoring. A lot of goals are determined by timing, but it seems that as a team, we are just off lately. We can’t complete passes, we don’t know where the other players are on the ice, we are moving too slowly at times and too fast at others. All this adds up to a team who just isn’t a contender.

It is something that at this point is no longer about technique, it’s all mental. We have all the skills, (just watch Kovy’s DVD). We have the talent. We know we are able to have the drive… but where is it? It’s in players like Kostopoulos, Lapierre, Latendresse, Higgins, Markov, Plekanec (excluding last night’s game) and Pacioretty. They want to win, and are working for it. I don’t think that the rest of the team doesn’t care. I think it’s just that they are discouraged. Gainey told the media he wanted 3 points this past week. The team got 1. When you don’t achieve goals, it discourages you even more. He needs to tell them to forget about the rest of the season; that they need to imagine that they are starting fresh and have a new 10-game season starting now. 6 games at home, 4 away. Only 4 of those teams are in the playoffs as of now. For most teams, that would be a good thing. For the Canadiens, it’s hard to say. When you beat teams like Detroit and San Jose, and then lose to the Islanders and Atlanta, can you really say it will be beneficial to play the latter teams?

Only time will tell. But if the Canadiens don’t stop coasting, they can forget about the playoffs. In their centennial season. What a nightmare.

That’s not to say they can’t do it. For all we know they could win the next 10 games and be primed for playoff hockey. But a change needs to happen, and since Sergei Kostitsyn was just called up from the AHL, we can only hope he brings along with him the same hope and drive he did last year at this time. Because without a little hope, there’s not much anyone can do to help.

Poker Face

2009-03-13T15:52:00.001-07:00

I was thinking today about how many questions I had and have heard about the Habs and what their future holds, so I figured I’d take note of a couple and leave them all open for speculation and discussion. We may be an inconsistent team, one that doesn’t always work to its potential, but we really have wonderful players, most, if not all, of whom are really happy to be in Montreal, and who really have a lot of heart. So keeping that in mind, keep it positive!

Why was Jaro Halak not smiling when he was awarded the Molson Cup this month? And will he ever get a chance to prove himself, or is he destined to become another Scott Clemmensen, playing a couple of games a year while another star goalie gets all the ice time and credit?

Where did Carey Price’s mind go for the past 6 weeks and whose was playing in his absence?

What happened to Maxim Lapierre when Guillaume Latendresse left?

Did Bob Gainey make the right decision to fire Guy Carbonneau?

Will Gainey borrow one of Carbo’s many lucky ties for the playoffs?

Will Don Lever ever spend an entire game behind the bench?

Is Kirk Muller really feeling like Carbo’s spy as certain media members have been suggesting?

Will the next coach be bilingual? Does anyone but the media care?

When will the fact that Saku Koivu won’t speak French in interviews finally be let go?

What happened to Mr. #2 in the league in hits and blocked shots, All-Star defenseman Mike Komisarek?

When are the media going to realise that when they make fun of other teams (like the Islanders last night) for having a defenseman as their lead point-getter, that they are just making themselves look like idiots, since Andrei Markov, DEFENSEMAN, is in fact the Canadiens’ lead point-getter?

When will Andrei Kostitsyn come out of the clouds long enough to stay focused for an entire game?

What was it about a suspension and a forced break that made Tomas Plekanec and Alex Kovalev turn back into their 2007-2008 selves and where can everyone else get some?

Will Brisebois ever play his 1000th game, or is he doomed to stay at 999?

How do some members of the French media believe that they are credible when suggesting that Guillaume Latendresse will be able to amass a point per game, after getting less than 30 points in each of his previous seasons?

Was it the right decision to take Chris Higgins’ “A” and give it to Mike Komisarek?

Did Dandenault ever really want to leave Montreal? (He seems to be all smiles now!)

How odd is it that the first two players RDS interviewed after Carbo was fired were Maxim Lapierre and Steve Begin? Am I missing something or do they not realise Steve now plays for the Stars?

How wonderful is it that Gregory Stewart actually stands up for his teammates?

That being the case, has Georges Laraque been replaced? And why why why did Gainey give him a no-trade clause?

Does Tom Kostopoulos ever stop working?

Are Max Pacioretty and Matt D’Agostini here to stay?

Why does Glen Metropolit remind me of Michael Ryder? (Had to throw a personal one in there!)

How did Mathieu Schneider’s presence ignite our powerplay, even without his being on the ice?

How did Sergei Kostitsyn single-handedly force his own return to Hamilton?

How did Ryan O’Byrne feel playing the Islanders last night, after tying up the game for them at our last meeting (scoring now-Penguin Bill Guerin’s easiest goal of his career)?

How is Hamrlik so good one-on-one yet having such a tough time with everything else?

Will there ever be anything negative to say about Josh Gorges?

How has Alex Tanguay, a French-Canadian from Quebec, been able to fly under the media radar so far?

Will Bouillon return this season?

Will Lang return the next?

Will any of the UFA 10 be back? What about the RFAs?

Or will we be stuck making a line with the only forwards we have signed now: Laraque-Lapierre-A. Kostitsyn (with Pacioretty and Sergei Kostitsyn looking on from the press box)?

Will Kovalev lead us into the playoffs?

Will we even make the playoffs?

Will this year be known as the overrated centennial season or the season the Habs stepped it up at the end to prove they deserve to be a contender even after a hundred years?

Will Montreal ever see another Stanley Cup? Will Captain K?

There’s no use making this longer than it already is, but I think there is one more question valid enough to ask, one that tops all the others:

Will the Canadiens be able to come together as a team and prove themselves, like so many Canadiens’ teams have for the past 100 years, or will they settle for something less?

Only time will tell.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE COWBOYS GONE?

2009-03-04T18:57:00.001-08:00

So we’re playing Buffalo, the Jaroslav on the other team scores, making it 3-0, and all of the sudden everyone’s really missing our Jaro, who is out with the flu.

The burning question in everyone’s mind is what happened to Carey Price? How did he go from being the most loved 21-year-old in Montreal (though Guillaume Latendresse was giving him a run for his money, at least in the French media) to playing the worst hockey probably of his career?

Being a psych major, I have been thinking about this a lot. Is it his age? Is it a motivation problem? Confidence? Lack of practice (or the right kind of practice)? Not knowing how to deal in stressful situations?

I think it’s actually all of the above, though some points stick out more than others. Here’s my breakdown of the situation:

1) Carey is one of the youngest goalies we’ve had in a while. Huet and Theodore (in the last few years anyway) were older and had more experience. Don’t get me wrong, age isn’t everything. Price is pretty mature and has always showed how calm and collected he is, but right now something isn’t clicking in that department. When I would watch a game that he was playing in at the beginning of this year, it seemed as though he exuded a sort of “calmness” over the entire team as well as myself. How many goalies can do that? Not many. But now, that’s gone… and with it the team’s confidence in their goalie.

2) He doesn’t seem motivated. I think he really cares about what happens, and that he wants to play, but his lack of confidence is affecting this. Jaro is playing well, and seemingly taking his job out from under him, and normally this should cause him to elevate his game, but that’s just not happening. Something is missing there.

3) His confidence is just completely gone. He seems shaky and nervous about a lot, which he never did before. They showed him before the game, in the dressing room, and normally the guys are smiling or just sitting calmly, but he looked so nervous and stressed that it made you wonder if Halak was the only sick one on the team.

4) His practicing techniques have been an issue of late, because it seems when he gets nervous, which has been a lot lately, he goes down onto his knees too early, and people have been saying he should work on this more. He needs to somehow find a way to realize that he shouldn’t go down too early without making him think about it too much. Maybe some mental image or focusing on someone… But I don’t think he has a problem with technique or skill. He works hard, and that’s the most important part. He also needs to realise he had skill and technique before he started playing like this and that obviously didn’t just disappear overnight.

5) He had a good way of dealing with stressful situations before… or rather it came naturally to him, since his personality allowed for it. But now that something has changed, he needs to find a way to adapt, and someone, either Rollie Melanson, one of the other coaches, or maybe a sport psychologist, should be helping him with this. Self-talk (what he should be thinking in these situations) is important, and if he doesn’t know how to do this properly, it can really affect his game in the long run.

So there you have it. Price has a lot to work on, and I think the Canadiens’ management knows this, and I think that they are responsible for some of it. They need to help him get out of this funk. I had said that he had to come back to a winning team, and now that he has and is still not playing his best, I think I need to rephrase what I had initially said: He needs to come back to a team who is winning because they are playing well.

In the past 4 games, Jaro stole the show. To be honest, I don’t even know how much better the team has been playing compared to when they were in their slump except for the fact that Plekanec and Kovalev woke up, our power play has started to click, and that we finally have solid goaltending. Our defence is still pretty shoddy, and though our forwards are working hard, they aren’t producing as much as they can. We can be a better team than the one that has been playing, but it’s so rare that everyone is “on” at the same time.

Carey needs to get back on the horse and realise that he’s got what it takes. People believe in him for a reason. He just has to learn not to give up on himself.

P.S. A little off topic but: Why Luc Gelinas, during the intermission, wished Derek Roy luck for a hat trick, is beyond me… That’s just asking for trouble!

BÉGIN: GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

2009-02-26T17:14:00.000-08:00

Also found on allhabs.blogspot.com ! Go check it out!

Just when we thought the month from hell was almost over, this final week of February (which will go down in the record-books as one of the worst months in recent Habs’ history) has brought even more upset.

First, Georges Laraque complained to the media that he hadn’t been used in enough games. Not only was this an inconsiderate thing to do in terms of being a team player, but way to get on Carbo’s bad side Georges! Someone needs to tell him the story of sorry Sergei Samsonov: the player who blabbed to the media and was never seen in a Canadiens’ uniform again. Not that I’d mind if Georges wasn’t playing in a Canadiens’ uniform. I have nothing against him personally, in fact, he usually seems like a nice guy, but I find that he doesn’t really have a role on the team. Gainey got him for toughness, but I can’t even recall one time when he stood up for a teammate (unless you include the voluntary hook he made on Bouillon’s behalf a couple of games back, you know, the one that led to the other team getting a powerplay goal? Well you get the picture…). He doesn’t fight unless someone from the other team willingly consents, and who in their right mind would agree to fight him? All this would be okay, if his salary were not more than, for example, Jaroslav Halak and Maxim Lapierre’s combined!!!!!! He wants to play more, but he is not useful hockey-wise, and doesn’t add much on the toughness side of things (especially considering that Greg Stewart is now playing and can definitely hold his own, as seen by the fight the other night with Shane O’Brien). But unfortunately, he will be in uniform Friday night, and he has disclosed to the media that he has a no-trade clause (what were you thinking Gainey?!), so I guess he’s safe. For now.

Next came the wonderful news, that in the wake of the Kostitsyns and Hamrlik’s link to a drug dealer that the whole team was tested Monday, and if anyone is found abusing any substance, they’d get a 20-game suspension. I’m not saying that this isn’t necessary (it definitely is in pro sports), in fact, I think that IF all the players are clean it will clear the air a little bit with the media, but this extra media attention, on something that probably would have gone unnoticed if it weren’t in this absolutely dreadful month, is a bit unnecessary.

Then came the announcement that Steve Bégin was traded. I feel quite bittersweet about this. I’m so sad to lose him. He is a member the Tom Kostopoulos school of work ethic, and I’d so much rather have him on the ice than Laraque, but seeing as we probably wouldn’t have been able to resign him at the end of the season, and that he wouldn’t be able to play many games because of all the young players coming up, like Stewart, I feel like he’ll have a much better opportunity in Dallas (I can just see the smiles when he and Ribeiro reunite!). He will definitely be missed… especially in the locker room. He was always one to give tons of his time to the media, and was always smiling, with that little twinkle in his eye.

Oh and then came this wonderful tidbit: Doug Janik (who we received in return for Stevey B.) had to be put on waivers to go down to Hamilton! So there is a chance that we will get NOTHING! And while this seems unlikely… it’s still February, which means that anything horrible that can happen to the Habs usually does! (On a side note, this actually did happen recently, when the Islanders asked Wade Dubielewicz to come back to the NHL from the KHL (since their number 1 and 2 goalies were injured) only to have him snatched up by the Blue Jackets since he had to be put on waivers… which is kind of sad, since not only did he come all the way from Russia to play with them, but they were also (standings-wise) the worst team in the league… so it was a little bit scheming on the part of the Blue Jackets, but enough said).

Then, TSN reported that Dandenault had “politely” asked for a trade. Is it just me, or did these past few weeks seem endless? It’s one scandal after another…

I’m not sure what tomorrow or Saturday will bring (though I’m at least hoping for 2 wins!), but all I can say is that come Sunday it will no longer be February, and hopefully the team and the fans can finally put this atrocious month behind them, where it belongs.

WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME...

2009-02-20T21:44:00.001-08:00

Also on All Habs! Check it out allhabs.blogspot.com

So I just finished watching Friday Night Lights (the movie) and apart from realising what an odd movie it was (basically when a movie’s message is that if you lose there’s a good chance you’ll go nowhere in life, you wonder how it was chosen to be made into a movie –but all things considered I actually liked it!!), I finally realised how the Habs must feel about the constant media rumours and why no one wants to come play here. Granted the guys were only 17 in the movie, but that’s not a far cry from 19-year old Max Pacioretty or 21-year-olds Carey Price, Sergei Kostitsyn and Gui Latendresse.

It’s not as though if they become media “hermits” and stop watching tv, reading newspapers and listening to the radio that they won’t hear about the next “scandal”. All they have to do is walk outside, go shopping, grab a coffee somewhere… if people don’t come up to them to talk about it, they’ll here pieces of conversations related to it as they walk, they’ll see covers of newspapers in store windows, people fighting over whether Gainey made the right move in sending Kovy home for a break, or whether the Kostitsyns and Hamrlik are actually involved in gang related activity. This does not make for a happy hockey player. Fans are great when they are with you, but when the whole city is out to get you, it drives people away. Roy, Carbonneau himself, and so many greats came to know and love Montreal, and were driven away, by the media, by the coaches, by the so-called “fans”.

When Kovalev made the statement that he didn’t actually go to the Russian media after the latest “affaire Kovalev”, I’ll admit I was more relieved than anyone. I had been so upset by Gainey’s decision that when watching the Capitals game, I’ll admit I was angry. So angry in fact, that for a few minutes I didn’t care about the Canadiens. When I saw Ovechkin’s goal, I smiled (well who wouldn’t… it was amazing)…but I was happy. Happy that the Canadiens were being scored on. Does this make me one of those fans, who drive the players away? Maybe so, though I’d like to think not. I wasn’t angry at the players per say. It wasn’t their fault (about Kovalev anyway, though I can’t say the same for their awful play during the past three weeks). It was Gainey who I was mad at.

So many people have been saying that Carbonneau would have and should have been fired, had his close friend not been the GM. And that was why I was mad. How could he make Kovalev look like the bad guy, and just pretend Carbo was in the right, with his funky line change-style coaching? It’s hard to criticize a friend, especially when it’s someone you have known for so long and have gone through so much with. But at the same time, you can’t treat someone differently, when it’s your job not to let that friendship get in the way. I was scared that Gainey was clearly picking Carbonneau over Kovalev, a choice that I thought wasn’t even necessary to make in the first place, but so far anyway, it seems that I was wrong. That it actually was just a chance for Kovalev to regroup. That it wasn’t an excuse to hang Kovalev out to dry the first chance he could.

Honestly if it had been that way, I doubt I’d be writing this, in fact, I doubt I’d be an avid Canadiens fan any longer. I never realised how important Kovalev was in my perspective of the Habs, and I think that without him we have absolutely no chance of going anywhere in the playoffs. It’s not for his skill, it’s not for his leadership, certainly not for his cross-ice passes that usually end up on the sticks of opponents. It’s for his presence. He doesn’t fit into the “norm” of the rest of the players. Most are hard-working grinder-type players who have an ability to score goals – pretty ugly ones – but hey, they get the job done. Kovalev personifies thinking outside the box. His creativity is what separates him from the rest… he thinks differently from them all, and is never afraid to say what’s on his mind. He doesn’t care what people think, and maybe it’s this quality that allow him and Koivu – in tandem – to be able to lead this team together. Koivu motivates, Kovalev calls people out.

The mistake that the French media is making in hoping for him to be traded is that we’d no longer have anyone like that in the dressing room. Everyone is pretty mellow, and some will get visibly frustrated when they lose, but Kovalev reacts differently. With all the things the media puts him through, he still wants to be here. And this is the most important thing of all. In the height of adversity, Kovalev stays. He could have easily packed up and been on the next flight out of Montreal. And this is not the first time he’s been picked on by the media (refer to l’affaire Kovalev #1 – the apparent blasting of Carbo to the Russian media). On L’antichambre the past few days, they have been saying non-stop that there is no way he will ever be able to play in the Canadiens uniform after this again. But they are wrong, and clearly don’t know Kovalev and what he is capable of.

Koivu may be the heart of the team… but Kovalev is the brain. One without the other is useless, but when both are working properly together, only then will things come to life. Kovalev is a necessary component to our team, and without him, we have little chance of getting anywhere in the playoffs. First though, the team has got to prove they can even make the playoffs. We can only hope the brain is a focused and ready come tomorrow afternoon.

HOW TO FIX THE CANADIENS' PROBLEMS (NO TRADES INVOLVED!!)

2009-02-16T12:27:00.001-08:00

Also on All Habs: allhabs.blogspot.com

I, like most Montrealers, have been sitting around lately thinking of what the Habs can do, or more importantly, what Carbonneau can do, to change their play around. So I came up with 10 steps that would greatly improve the team.

This one’s for you Carbo!

10-Step plan to fixing the Canadiens’ problems

Step 1 – Do something about the powerplay

-Start with Hamrlik and Bouillon who both have pretty good shots, and put them on the point. I’d suggest Markov-Bouillon and Hamrlik-Brisebois. This may seem like something small, but before saying we have no one who can play at the point, why not try everyone out?

-Put Markov and Kovalev on the same side (the right side) when they are on the PP. It worked for us last year… even more so than Streit on the point, but you insist upon not putting them together (see Step 2) and in doing so we’re missing a valuable key to our success. Markov and Kovalev have played together for a while and know where the other is going to be and what move the other will make next. Take advantage of that.

Step 2 – Stop with the incessant line changes

-5 minutes with someone isn’t enough to determine whether or not there will be chemistry… you need to spend a lot of time on the ice with them until you start being able to know in advance what their next move will be, but Carbo, you don’t seem to allow this. I think this is one of the most important points I’m trying to make… by giving them a few games to play together, they’ll learn to adapt to each other, and this is the ultimate goal.

Step 3 – Bring on the video replays

-Show them all the horrible things they have done in the past few weeks, followed by great things that they have done in the SAME types of situations in the past. This will help with their confidence, and show them that they actually do have the capacity to do this.

Step 4 – Hold a meeting with Kovalev, Koivu and Komisarek

-You need to ask them for their input about what they think will help motivate the team… Even if you don’t use it, it’ll make them feel like you have confidence in their ideas and make them feel more like the leaders they are.

Step 5 – Practice, Practice, Practice

-Practice all of situations that the team has been having trouble with… it will make them feel more at ease if they are prepared in advance. Faceoffs, the forecheck, clogging up the neutral zone… we all know this list goes on forever these days, but the only way to improve is to put in the hours of hard work and deliberate practice…

Step 6 – Make hockey fun again

-It’s a game remember… They need to think of it that way, and they haven’t since the all-star break. Stop talking about Centennial seasons, media pressure and anything of the sort, and just tell them that the next game, it doesn’t matter if they win or lose but that they’d better have fun. The players will be a little shocked by this but I feel that getting rid of the outside pressure will take a load off of their chests.

Step 7- Set up a motivation speaker

-In Montreal, we have plenty of them, so it shouldn’t be too hard: Henri Richard, Jean Beliveau- people who have won, and can tell them what it takes to win. They need to be told that they are a good team and that if they dig deep enough, they’ll realize they have what it takes.

Step 8 – Give them time off

-Yes, this seems like a complete contradiction to step 5, I’m aware, but all work and no rest will leave them tired come game time… a day off here and there will do them good. Plus it gives them time to spend with their family and friends, which can take their minds off of being afraid of losing.

Step 9 – Encourage group bonding activities

-Yes, everyone made fun of the bowling, but these type of activities let them release tension and allow them to have fun together in a neutral setting, something they aren’t getting out of hockey these days… So they need to keep at it, and just keep spending time together.

Step 10 – Don’t badmouth them to the media

-These are your players – treat them with the respect they give you. You don’t see any player calling you out as a bad coach, so you shouldn’t be calling them out. Give them the praise they deserve and when there is a problem, talk to them one on one. They will respect you more for it and the locker room will be a much more harmonious place to be.

So there you have it Carbo! By implementing these steps, the team will be much better off. For your sanity – and the sanity of many Montrealers, including myself – I hope that you do something soon. The team needs you. Be a coach.

HEROIC HALAK

2009-02-13T21:37:00.001-08:00

Can also be found on allhabs.blogspot.com . Go check it out!

Jaroslav Halak saved the day. Hell, he saved the season.

In a month where any excess confidence seemed to dissipate into thin air, Jaro (whose play in this game should knock down claims that he’d never be a number one goaltender) made 46 saves, mostly without the help of any of his teammates, to lead the Canadiens to a 4 – 2 win over the Av’s Friday night.

This game was important for three main reasons. First, because the Habs needed to realize that they were still able to win (and with that, gave them the ability to have confidence in their goalie). Second, it showed them that they are still able to steal games. And lastly it showed them that they still have much work to do.

Some of the positive points:

- Koivu, as always, is at the top of my list. He sacrifices the body, and makes every effort possible to succeed in his plays.
- Kovalev played a solid game, kept it simple (for once), and made a really nice pass on the Breezer goal.
- Tommy Kostopoulos looked great out there, and I think the line of Kovy-Koivu-Kostopoulos has its merits. And how can you not have been anything but thrilled when he scored his empty netter?! (P.S. I totally called it after he had that great scoring chance with Kovy… He played with fire, and I knew something was coming.)
- Higgins played hard and battled.
- Andrei Kostitsyn slept through most of it… but came up big when he needed to.
- Dandenault played really well, used his speed to create scoring chances, and picked up another assist (hey, it’s 3 points in 2 games… not too bad for a jack-of-all-trades like Dandy!).
- Laraque (yes, that’s not a typo) saved an icing… and I was as shell-shocked as I’m sure everyone else was, even though sadly it lead to a Colorado goal.
- Bouillon scored a beauty, and gave Tucker a wake-up call, so how could I not include him?
- And of course Breezer… well what can I say? Those who were iffy about O’Byrne being scratched (myself included) had a pleasant surprise in store. He had one of his best nights in a long time, and played with the energy of a guy half his age.

Some major problems:

- Markov, Komisarek and Gorges did not look good out there tonight. That’s 3 of our top 4 defenseman. Never a good sign.
- Sergei Kostitsyn was MIA along with his brother… but at least Andrei did something. (Sergei actually got the 1st star of the game – clearly a mix up between the 2 brothers by the Colorado press!)
- Max Lapierre took a really stupid penalty at a really inopportune time. I’m a big Lapierre fan, but that was just not a smart move.

One thing is for sure. The list of pros is way bigger than that of cons. The Habs had an amazing first period, and Jaro did the rest, along with some help from the older Kostitsyn and TK. But Jaro really deserves all the credit for this one. Hopefully the Habs can play off this momentum and take it with them to Vancouver and start building themselves up to where they once were. They still have it in them. It only took 2 awful periods and 46 saves by the young Slovak goaltender to realize it.

IT'S ALL ABOUT INSPIRATION

2009-02-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

This post is dedicated to R.P., someone who had amazing heart and lost her life way too early. My thoughts are with you.

This past week the Habs have been having a really tough time finding themselves… Their group identity is slowly disintegrating, and with it, the flow that they had throughout the first half of the season. Not much to be inspired by… but maybe that flow (or lack thereof) is what should be inspiring our boys in blue, white and red. Instead of endless practices, which won’t really help them be anything but exhausted… maybe a different approach should be taken.

At the beginning of the season, it was all smiles, fun and games. When was the last time you saw ANY of the players smile in post-game interviews, let alone crack jokes, throw towels on the Renaud Lavoie’s head, or even laugh? Yesterday, most of them seemed on the verge of tears… Hockey isn’t fun for them anymore, and I think that the route to fixing this starts in mending the bond that they share. They are a team, and need to start acting like one. Once they do that, the points will come, and I’m hoping this road trip will have that effect on them. They need to go to dinner, see movies, whatever… as long as they’re all together. Once they have confidence in each other again, it’ll translate onto the ice.

It’s all about inspiration. From what we think to how we feel, inspiration is an important aspect in everyone’s life. It comes in all shapes and sizes and affects what we do and say. For me, writing is an escape from the day-to-day responsibilities that life entails, and it’s this frustration that inspires me. It can also be a kind gesture that was witnessed; sometimes it can be a person or something as now seemingly trivial as a win or loss. The point is, it’s important to take hold of your opportunities and don’t let them go to waste. Yes, the centennial year comes around only once, but more importantly you often don’t have such a talented team of the perfect mix of young guys and veterans. Seize this amazing opportunity and run with it. Good ones like this only come around every so often.

I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?

2009-02-06T23:21:00.000-08:00

This is my guest article for All Habs allhabs.blogspot.com. You can go check it out on their site as well! My thanks to them for the opportunity!

Montreal has been a sea of rumors these days...
From Vincent Lecavalier, to Brad Richards & Matt Niskanen, from Olli Jokinen to Jay Bouwmeester, it seems the possibilities (or rather impossibilities), are endless.

I still maintain the fact that a trade is not the answer, that the key to our success lies within Kovalev and the fact that Carbonneau needs to be a coach and find some way to motivate him. When Kovalev excels, the rest of the team follows suit, and as seen by their poor performance in the last 30 minutes versus the Sabres Friday night, they are clearly in dire need of some jump to their game.

But what has been concerning me lately (and the rest of the Montrealers who have come to know and love the players on the Habs roster) is the fact that almost half of them will no longer be under contract next year. While Bob Gainey doesn't seem worried, I get the feeling that many of our beloved Habs won't be back in the 2009-2010 season unless the team somehow pulls a Stanley cup out of their sleeve... which is unlikely to happen if they continue playing keep-away with the puck, and skating as if they didn't want to get a ticket for speeding. Personally, I think they have what it takes, but with their overall confidence level slowly approaching zero, it's going to take a miracle (I'm suggesting the return of the 2007-2008 Kovalev or a dual-instantaneous healing of Robert Lang and Alex Tanguay).

That being said, some of the major problems we have are whether or not we have TIME to sign all 10 of our free agents before the deadline, if they'd actually be willing to stay, and how much money they'll be asking for. Case in point: Mike Komisarek.

Komisarek's play has not been great the past few games (the whole season actually, if you ask me). Last season, he was at the top of his game. He was very reliable, he blocked shots, gave out a huge amount of body checks, sacrificed himself... basically had all the workings of an excellent stay-at-home defenseman. The problem is that although he still does most of those things this year, his reliability is a little iffy. Whether you attribute this to his injury, to some innate reliance on Markov, or even find a way for Kovalev to be at fault (he seems to get the blame for everything around here), he isn't playing as well as he can.

The thing is... I love Komisarek. It would be a huge loss if he weren't re-signed at the end of the season. But when I hear numbers like 5 million and 6 million being thrown around... to be honest, it makes me feel a little queasy. Markov is making $5.75 million a season, and he is the best defenseman, if not the best player, on our team. BY FAR. Komisarek is not putting up his amount of points, and is also not as reliable (this year anyway). If he can be signed for 3 million... maybe even 3.5, I'd keep him... but above that, it would not only make no sense, but we also wouldn't be able to afford it, unless somehow miraculously Koivu, Higgins, Plekanec, Kovalev, Lang and the rest of the free agents are willing to agree to pay cuts. Out of all the potential free agents, Koivu is be the number one priority in my mind... but maybe Gainey sees things differently.

I just hope that come July 1st, we aren't a broken team, reduced to the "re-building" stage, which I finally thought we had escaped after so many years. We have all the needed young guns now, and it's the veterans that we'll need to fight to keep if we hope to have any chance of seeing Lord Stanley come home to Montreal in the near future.

Leafs tonight. We can only hope for a miracle. Preferably Sergei Kostitsyn–Mikhail Grabovski related.

LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE... GOLF COURSE?

2009-02-02T06:53:00.001-08:00

Before I start, let me just make one thing clear about yesterday’s game. We needed a confidence-booster to give us the momentum to make a good run to the playoffs and didn’t get it. That fact is scaring Montreal fans into thinking the worst: that our Montreal Canadiens may not even make the playoffs despite all indications at the beginning of the season pointing the other way.

Looking a little “Where’s Waldo”-like, in the 1912-1913 Canadiens’ uniforms, the Habs lost a big one yesterday afternoon against the big bad Bruins. One game doesn’t seem like that big of a loss… but a weekend culminating in the loss of Josh Gorges, a solid and mostly consistent defenseman, Guillaume Latendresse, who has been playing well of late, and Robert Lang, our number one scorer, does. The question is, what are we going to do now?

When about 20 games back we lost Koivu, Higgins and Tanguay among others we thought the worst. But guys like Pacioretty and D’agostini showed us that there wasn’t much to fear. The problem is that when the Canadiens called Hamilton for help, they answered, BIGTIME. But now, who is left down there in the reserves, able enough to give us a much needed scoring jolt?

We’ve called up Chipchura in the past, but his potential is a solid PK guy, maybe a 3rd or 4th line centre. Not the scoring touch we’re looking for. We’ll probably need to call up Weber, now that Gorges is injured, and Breezer is ailing. Maybe give Greg Stewart and Ben Maxwell another go… But these are clearly not the long-term answers.

I’m the last person who’d sanction a trade, but I’m thinking we may have no choice, and that depresses me beyond belief. I think our guys can do it themselves, but if they are all injured then I don’t know how that’ll be possible. It’s a little scary, how injury-ridden the team has been after a great start. Komisarek, Price, Laraque, Dandenault, Andrei Kostitsyn as well as all those mentioned above… it seems like there are more players who have been injured at sometime during the season than those who have been healthy straight through.

Thankfully Markov has been fine, because without him, we’d be lost. He has been the only consistent defenceman (and player in general) of late, and has remarkable offensive skill to boot.

I feel like a broken record, but Alex Kovalev needs to do something. Anything. It seems like the high from all-star weekend is wearing off, the “C” on his jersey has disappeared and with it his desire and the undeniable presence that usually transpires just from his being on the ice. I noticed him twice all weekend. Once because I couldn’t find him on the ice and spotted him on the bench shaking his head (Carbo was sitting him in the third as punishment for his play (or lack thereof)), and the second was for one of his trademark cross-ice passes, that ended up on the stick of a Bruin. He has the talent, he has the skill, he should have the desire… what’s missing? Is it possible it’s the energy? He looked tired both days… and it showed on the ice. His plays were sloppy, and his passes rarely reached their targets. He had 1 shot on goal through 2 games. He was a -2 on the weekend. He needs to find some motivation… a reason why he wants another Stanley Cup ring, and needs to rest up and recuperate from whatever is making him so tired, otherwise I’m not sure if I see him being re-signed for the next season. It’s sad because, if he does end up leaving, it will be a great loss for the city of Montreal. As one of his old colleagues said on CBC recently, every team that doesn’t have a Kovalev wants one, but those who have one don’t realize his worth until he’s gone.

Now all we can do is push that game into the back of our minds, and focus on Crosby and the Pens Tuesday night. We really need to step up and change our luck around. We need to stop relying on other teams’ mistakes, and make our own chances. Otherwise, teams like Toronto will be laughing all the way to the playoffs.

OVIE'S GOT SKILLZ

2009-01-25T15:32:00.000-08:00

I had been debating whether or not to go to the all-star game or skills competition for a while, and finally deciding that living in Montreal, I couldn't pass up the opportunity, and have to wait another 30 years.

I chose the skills competition, just because on TV, I tend to find it more compelling, since you get to see the players in a more laid-back environment.

So yesterday, I decided to go early to try and see some players beforehand on the red-carpet event... Of course, being January in Montreal, it was about -30 degrees Celsius, so it was an extremely short red-carpet (the outdoor part anyway), and it was pretty hard to see, since I'm about 5'6 and there were tons of really tall guys in front of me, but I was able to see some of the players and get a few, albeit bad, photos, of players like Crosby, Ovechkin, Souray, Chara and our hometown boys Price, Komisarek, Kovalev and Markov (well Markov I only saw the back of his head). But it was pretty cool... seeing them so close, though they must have been freezing since very few were wearing proper Montreal winter attire.

Anyway after getting squished and pushed by the crowd, fingers and toes frozen from being outside an hour, we decided to make our way to our seats; first row in white, which was nice since no one was in front on that level so we had a good view of the ice.

All of the sudden, a stage literally was being dropped from above and then the band got up and started playing and then another stage is dropped, this time with an organ and an organ player... Weird! But as mildly interesting as it was, everyone was waiting to be introduced to the all stars.

After what seemed like 20 minutes of non-hockey entertainment, our heroes were finally welcomed onto the ice (I say welcomed, though that wasn't quite the case for Kaberle, Savard, Chara and Thomas).

Of course the Habs players got huge ovations, as did Vinny Lecavalier, who in the minds of so many Habs fans is already a done deal... keep wishing guys!

So first up was the fastest skater... Cogliano was fast, and boy did he seem happy to grab that trophy from the little kid!

Then came the breakaway challenge... Though it could be argued that Stamkos and St. Louis, well even Getzlaf and Kovy made some extremely cool moves, it was Ovechkin who stole the show (is anyone even the least bit surprised?). He looked quite the Canadian fisherman with an Ovie twist, which help from his mortal enemy? Malkin. After the win, he was interviewed and said that he didn’t have that many skills, but just likes to shoot the puck, so he thought this would be more interesting... I’m starting to think that his biggest skill is being the entertainer. He is by far the most fun player to watch during games, and even during the event yesterday, I caught him lounging on his stomach on the ice, texting (I thought to vote for himself, but he later admitted it was for Stamkos), blowing bubbles with his gum and sitting in on the YoungStars game with Kovalchuk (though they didn’t stay the whole time... were they bored too?). He is such a pleasure to watch and listen to, and his skills definitely lie both on the ice and off.

Speaking of the YoungStars game... I think we should sign the junior B goalie who was playing... He was AMAZING! They didn’t even announce his name, which I thought should have been done.

The YoungStars game was after, but it was too long, and not much happened other than seeing Carey let in 9 goals, and realizing how good Pekka Rinne of the Preds really is! Oh and Blake Wheeler with the hat trick as well as Mark Staal REALLY celebrating his first goal... very cute!

Next came the hardest shot competition, where Chara broke a record, which was kind of cool, since the Bell Centre finally came alive for him. It was really great that he was donating the money from the pool he had started to charity! No one was that surprised that he won, though surprising for me was Shea Weber, who came so close!

Then we had the target practice... which by the way, Heatley should have won. Malkin shot 5 pucks on his first try... so theoretically it should have been 4/5 whereas Heatley was 4/4 ... though maybe Malkin hit a target and didn’t realise so hit it again... But even HE thought he had lost, because when Heatley came back to the “podium” (which was such a hazard... more details to come further down), he congratulated him and started to skate back to the bench... But he definitely beat him the second time ‘round. His interview with Joel Bouchard (the RDS reporter) was very sweet after, and I was happy for him.

Lastly was the shootout elimination which was quite funny actually. First of all, no one who you thought would get through did... so many of the great scorers weren’t able to score on their first try so were eliminated. A funny story actually, when poor Mark Streit, who was welcomed with open arms back to Montreal, took his shot, he missed, but as he was skating back to the bench, he took a huge fall and broke one of the wooden triangular blockers which were lining the sides of the ice... it looked like it hurt, but he was all smiles after. Shane Doan stumbled a bit too after skating into the “podium” not once but twice! So I definitely think these were hazardous!! Despite the falling, Doan took away the prize, though through 2 elimination rounds it seemed that he, Savard, and Milan Hedjuk all weren’t able to score! It was a really fun competition, to see both how good the goalies are (Tim Thomas wowed me on some of his saves, though he looked like he was letting Savard score on one of them!) and some really cool moves (Thomas Vanek doing an awesome circular movement with his stick).

All in all, I had a great time... I’m happy I chose the skills competition over the all-star game. It was a really fun event, though slightly longer than it should have been, but really worth my time and money. Hopefully tonight’s game will be fun, and that this break will give us a boost that will last long into the regular season! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! Go Habs Go!

THE CRAZINESS THAT IS GUILLAUME LATENDRESSE

2009-01-08T22:09:00.000-08:00

If you had told me a year ago, a month ago, or even a week ago, that I’d be writing a blog about Guillaume Latendresse, I would have replied that you were out of your mind.

Gui always seemed liked a nice enough guy to me, but the constant media frenzy that surrounds him in Montreal drives me insane. He’s treated like an Ovechkin or a Crosby by some journalists and I could never grasp as to why that is.

And with all this attention, he always seemed a little cocky to me… A comment that comes to mind is him saying he was a “veteran among young players” last year, in his SECOND NHL year. Not SO bad, but not the most selfless thing to say either.

Here are some recent comments about him that really stand out to me from the Montreal media:

-“Latendresse has the greatest scoring potential on the Habs roster”-Benoit Brunet (color commentator for Canadiens’ games on RDS)

- “I would have liked to hear this about Latendresse when he came up from the juniors, Carbonneau acknowledging that he jump-started our team and lead us to many victories”-Michel Bergeron (former Habs coach, L’antichambre on RDS), after Carbonneau praised Matt D’Agostini this year for jump-starting the team when they were having a few off games, just like Sergei Kostitsyn did the year before (I might add that Latendresse wasn’t even a part of the conversation before Bergeron brought him up).

- “He should be on the first line” – Bergeron et al.

- “Latendresse is like Beliveau” -Bergeron again

-“We need Latendresse for scoring” -Bergeron yet again

I’m going to stop there, but trust me this is only the tip of the iceberg. This is a guy who is in his 3rd year and has never reached 30 points. He has some talent, I’ll give them that, but best scoring potential??…. be reasonable!

Surprisingly enough, I’m actually here to praise him.

First, he acknowledged one of his greatest weaknesses, and took speed skating lessons over the summer. And though he is definitely not the fastest skater on the team, he isn’t the slowest anymore, and he should be proud of accomplishing that. I’ve even noticed him prevent a couple of icings this year… something that rarely happened before, if at all, in his NHL career.

Secondly, he became a father over the summer, and I think it softened him a bit… I don’t mean weakened or anything like that… it’s more that he became more compassionate, and less egotistical.

About a month ago or so, I noticed a player tapping the 2 kids who are flag-bearers, with his stick, while coming out onto the ice at the beginning of the game… I looked up to see who it was, and sure enough, I saw #84. This was something that I had only seen Saku Koivu do in the past (and Mike Komisarek has been doing it of late) but Gui took that on, and I thought it was a very nice thing for him to do for the kids.

Another kind gesture, and I’ve seen this one a few times in the last couple of weeks… Whenever Halak lets in a goal and then Gui comes on the ice, he goes out his way to go tap him and tell him not to worry, and then skates back to the center. I think it shows leadership and great maturity… and I do think this is partially because he became a dad.

I gained a lot of respect for him in the past few months. That doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to sit through most of the media craziness, (though truthfully, it can sometimes be entertaining to see how low they’ll stoop (I mean Gui and Beliveau?!?!)) but that’s not his fault. At least I’ve finally been able to see his true colors. If he keeps up the good work with Lapierre and Kostopoulos, I think he can break his record of 29 points… maybe even get around 40. I honestly think the media pressure has suppressed him in a way, but this year, he seems to be dealing with it better, and is flourishing! Good job Gui, I’m proud to call myself a fan! Keep it up!

MMMMM THE HOLIDAYS...

2008-12-29T08:09:00.001-08:00

Is anyone else extremely excited for the winter classic this year? I really am, and honestly have no idea why… I guess it’s a mix of being on New year’s day, after all the festivities have ended, the fact that the game is outside (bonus for it being at Wrigley’s field), and maybe, just maybe, it’s just it’s timing.

I love this time of year hockey-wise. Everyone has some time off, so can actually take the time to watch full games here and there. The all-star game is just around the corner. The World Juniors is going on… in Canada no less! It’s a good time for hockey.

Yesterday, team Canada came up with a 15-0 win against Kazakhstan, and to be honest I felt incredibly bad for the Kazakh goalie, Andrey Yankov. This 19-year-old, only 5’8 and 128 pounds, was very good. I mean it’s definitely hard to judge a goalie when his team is doing nothing defensively or offensively, but there was some talent there… He kept it from being 20-0 or 30-0 … which with 69 shots from team Canada (including game high 9 shots each from John Tavares and D-man Ryan Ellis) that ending actually was plausible.

The Habs also played a great game Saturday night versus Pittsburg. While Pittsburg also played well, the difference it seemed was Andrei Kostitsyn, Tomas Plekanec, and Carey Price. I haven’t said that about the first two names many times this year, so it’s nice that they both finally brought their A-game.

Carey on the other hand, is just spectacular. Since a lot of Roy-comparisons have been brought up after that game, I thought I’d quickly address it. First of all, Roy made a comment in an interview after his jersey retirement that Carey was the most important player on the team… which I thought was a sweet and very out-of-character thing for him to say. Reporters have also asked him about the fact that Carey internalizes things and seems very calm all the time unlike Roy himself. Roy’s response was that to win Carey would need to stop being so nonchalant and really get frustrated and then he’d be able to win, and that until he did this, there would be little chance of a cup returning to Montreal.

This frustrates me because I think he’s wrong. I think that Carey gets mad when he loses. If you saw him after the game last week that he lost, it was very clear, not only in his body language, but in the way he was dealing with reporters. But I think that he deals with it differently than Roy, and honestly I think Carey does it right. He rarely lashes out at people, or blames others. He still has that burning desire to win, but he doesn’t always make his emotions visible to the outside world. While Roy thinks this is wrong, I think this is a talent, something useful, even on the ice. If he seems nonchalant when the other team scores, they won’t see how much it affected him. Every team just wants to get into the opposing goalie’s head (think Sean Avery and poor Marty Brodeur), but Price’s mind sometimes seems impenetrable. A good thing, no? You would think so…

To switch gears, and just because it’s that time of the year, here are some hockey-related holiday hopes:

* For the Canadiens to pile up a few wins before the all-star break…

* For some Habs to actually be at the all-star game…

* For team Canada to bring home the gold…

* For the winter classic to be a good hockey game…

* And of course for the Stanley Cup Winners this year to be the Montreal Canadiens.

Wishful thinking? We shall see…

Happy Holidays everyone!

OPEN LETTER TO THE HABS AND THEIR FANS

2008-12-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

To the greatest NHL team of all time,

As much as I love you all, there are some things I need to get off of my chest after your mediocre (that’s putting it nicely) showing versus the Caps tonight.

First of all, you are all better than you think, and although there are some of you (ahem… Kovalev, Tanguay, Plekanec, Kostitsyns S & A, etc…) who need to regain your scoring touch, I think that the rest of you are relying on these players and not stepping up enough yourselves. Kovy may have been your saviour last year, but I think it’s time to realize that you can’t win based on one person’s performance. Hockey is team sport, so play it like one.

Second, the powerplay. I don’t care if you skate on your heads, or have Jaro come up and shoot the puck himself, but someone…. STEP UP AND SCORE! You can do it 5 on 5 but yet, when you have the advantage, you’re at a disadvantage… does this make any sense at all??? Cuz I’m at loss.

Third, Ovechkin makes pretty plays. Yes, we all see them. But that doesn’t give you the excuse to just watch him, and his highly talented linemates come flying down the ice, leaving your goaltender stranded. So next time, try skating and a little physical play. A few hits go a long way.

Fourth, speaking of goalies… Jaro Halak deserves a good showing from the rest of you. This is the second time he played a great game against Washington, and the second time the rest of the team was less than stellar. Carey Price is sick and possibly injured… Jaro’s going to need your support.

Fifth, somehow it seems that half the team is nursing some type of injury. The rest of you need to make up for it! Kudos to Josh Gorges for more than making up for Mike Komisarek’s absence in the lineup… Now we need someone to fill in for Koivu, and honestly that means you Kovy. You wore the “C” on your jersey tonight, so should therefore accept the responsibility, and be a leader. No more stupid penalties. Though you are different types of leaders (Koivu is emotional and you are task oriented) the key to your success as a team is the tandem that exists between the two of you. The team needs Koivu because he inspires the rest to step up and leads by example by bringing it every shift of every game. Kovy calls people out when they aren’t playing well, and brings that much needed offensive boost. So Kovy, work on finding that while Saku’s out, and if you’ve found it once he’s back, the team will be very well rounded.

Sixth, and this is to the fans, I can’t take the fact that after 3 straight wins and then an overtime loss there is talk of the need for the whole team to be traded. Also don’t see how booing the home team supports them, and how it in any way helps them improve. They’ve got real potential here, so stop antagonizing them: it makes it worse, not better.

Lastly, you guys are a really talented group, and just need to find yourselves… stop thinking about how many missed opportunities you’ve had, and start thinking about how many you’ve taken adavntage of. Just get on the ice and put your hearts into the game and you’ll get results. Yes, you do need to play 60 minutes to win a hockey game. Stop saying it and go out and do it. I know you can win and go far. You have 2 talented goalies and an awesome defense, and you should at least take pride in that, even if your offense is lacking of late. You are the ones who have the ability to change things, so if you want a change to be made, as a team you need to do something about it. That’s the only way to be successful… TEAMWORK!

Anyway, keep at it, you guys can do it!

Yours truly,
habsbloggergirl

DROPPIN' WHILE THEY'RE HOT

2008-12-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or are the top NHL goalies dropping like flies this year?

First it was Marty Brodeur, Rick DiPietro, Pascale Leclaire, Marc-Andre-Fleury, Evgeni Nabokov, Roberto Luongo, and now it’s latest additions Cam Ward (groin), Marty Biron (shoulder, though he played through it), Kari Lehtonen (back), Nikolai Khabibulin (lower body) and Tim Thomas (illness). What is going on?

Thankfully Leclaire and Nabokov have since returned, but for the others, all staples of their respective organizations, the road to recovery may be a long one. Counting only those above (and excluding Biron), 10 out of the 30 teams have lost their starter goalie at some point during the season… One third. One third of teams’ MVPs have gotten hurt? … Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

Are they not getting enough protection? Are they not well conditioned enough?

Not enough conditioning is very unlikely… goalies like Cam Ward, Roberto Luongo and Marty Brodeur are considered highly athletic. Most of the rest on the injury list are as well. But with so many groin injuries of late, perhaps that area is not being well stretched enough.

Protection? Well it’s a possibility, especially since there are so many injuries specifically affecting goalies … Maybe the padding isn’t sturdy or thick enough, but more pressing is the fact that there has been a lot of crashing the crease lately, and in comparison few goaltender interference calls… Maybe the refs need to step in and protect our guys more often, because without incredibly talented goalies, hockey would become quite the boring sport… what would a goal be without the possibility of a spectacular save? Where would hockey be without the likes of Jacques Plante, Patrick Roy and soon to be record holder (well, once he’s recovered anyway) Marty Brodeur? Let’s just put it this way: I’d rather not find out, though the way things are going, we may find out sooner than we think.

THE HABS FINALLY WOKE UP

2008-11-30T11:57:00.001-08:00

And in saying “finally”, I’m really hoping it doesn’t mean “finally for today, but the next game we’ll lose 2-1 in overtime”… But I guess you never know, since that’s how the Habs have been playing of late.

But enough with the negative, because tonight was anything but. Everyone showed up tonight. Dandenault looked wonderful on defense with his old buddy Bouillon. The Kostitsyns played really well together (though Sergei got way too many penalties). Robert Lang and Kovy were solid. Max looked really good and made an awesome pass to Begin for the goal. The Captain as usual played his little heart out. It was an all around good team effort and win. Price was good when he needed to be, and defensively we were pretty sound.

I loved the fact Komisarek was “Assistant coach for the day”… he seemed really into it, behind the bench, and I’m sure he enjoyed being back near the ice. He was very excited about it after the game, when he was interviewed, and Mathieu Dandenault said he did a great job. I think this just gives the team a little boost to have him close again. Hopefully he’ll get better fast and be back on the ice ASAP!

After the horrible, headache-inducing game in Washington, the team responded really well and we can only hope they’ll keep at it from here… The biggest problem we have is consistency. Our defense and goalies always seem to give us the opportunity to win, but our forwards are nowhere to be seen, and really need to step up and score. We have the talent, but do we have the heart? I see it, but the players themselves don’t seem to.

Until Tuesday night when the Thrashers come a-thrashing in…

GLUE, REMINISCING AND THE OVECHKIN SHOW...

2008-11-27T01:21:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought the glue holding the Canadiens together was starting to disintegrate, Alex Kovalev showed tiny gleams of the player we all know he has the potential to be, Tomas Plekanec partied like it was 2007 and Chris Higgins finally hit the back of the net after missing so many golden opportunities: talk about killing 3 birds with one stone!

And to top it all off, it was against the “only-a-2-in-the-L-column” Detroit Red Wings, a team that we haven’t won against since… 1) Matheiu Garon was in nets 2) before the lockout 3) Nick Sundstrom (anyone remember him?) was still on the team 4) Mathieu Dandenault was on the other side of the ice and 5) The Bell Centre had empty seats.

All that goes to show is that 5 years is a really long time in the hockey world, but then again it’s pretty short… if I’d have you guess the only current-Hab on the score sheet I’d bet you’d most likely be wrong…. drumroll please…. Steve Begin, getting his first goal of the season that year.

From that, we can tell that this much hasn’t changed: our fourth line still does most of the dirty work and comes up big in wins, our power-play is about the same – awful (going 0-for-5 in that game in 2003) AND Chris Lee is still handing out penalties by the Zamboni-load.

Well we can be thankful he wasn’t reffing the game tonight… fewer penalties gave a wonderful flowy-ness to it, and the guys from both sides were able to display their talent and skill. But it was the Habs who brought it home. Dominant for the first two periods, and playing safe defensive hockey the third, they rightfully took the win from right under the Red Wings, coming back from a – let’s just call it unpleasant – shoot out loss Monday night against the Islanders.

When you get to thinking about it… if it weren’t for the unpleasantness, would we have responded with such a solid effort tonight? I’m not so sure. We needed a wake up call, and that we got… though we should have been answering for days now, but apparently we only got to picking up the phone tonight.

You’re only as good as your next game, and ours is against Hat-trick Ovechkin and his merry Capitals, who will try to rob us of our newly acquired confidence & momentum. The Ovechkin show is always a pleasure to watch (from a fan’s perspective anyhow), but let’s hope our boys don’t get too caught up in it on the ice; we all know how mesmerizing Alex can be. Another hard-earned win would do us wonders… Friday can’t come any quicker!

ALMOST AS GOOD AS A WIN... MAYBE EVEN BETTER

2008-11-22T20:01:00.001-08:00

The Habs played and played hard. So did the Bruins. It was honestly a toss-up as to who would win… would Carey or Tim Thomas make that extra save… it was Thomas, but Carey was phenomenal as well.

But it was the whole history and emotion that the game was played with which touched me, and I’m sure many other fans as well. You could tell the Habs wanted to win this for Patrick… and they almost did.
Kostpoulos (or rather Tommy Non-stopoulos – his nickname in junior) came up huge. What a game for him!

The pregame ceremony was moving… I’ll admit I was in tears… all the bad blood was finally washed away (well except maybe for the newer bad blood, after hearing the boos directed at Jonathan Roy, surely received for his attack on Bobby Nadeau last year) and Patrick Roy was finally welcomed home. For the first time, I saw him as a small man… normally his cocky personality makes him seem so big, but today he was small, and humble, and showed how much he truly wanted to be back, and I think he definitely deserved the seemingly endless standing ovation that he got.

As I’m writing this, I’m watching him in an interview on RDS, and he just picked Carey Price as who he thinks is the most important player in the league. To me this seemed very unlike Roy, so willing to dole out compliments, and I think that Carey will be very appreciative of his comment. It’ll be a big positive for Carey to know that one of the best goalies of all time has that much confidence in his abilities as a goalie. He is a true talent, and undoubtedly one day he’ll match, if not break many of Roy’s records. It was nice that Roy’s records stayed intact for his jersey retirement, but with Brodeur so close, and Price on the way, they probably won’t stay that way for long. But hey, records are meant to be broken right?

After a wonderful night like that, the Habs shouldn’t be too upset with their performance. Their defence has finally improved, and they are finally playing as a team.

A MOST SATIFYING WIN

2008-11-21T20:26:00.001-08:00

I’ll admit, thinking about winning against the Senators, who are currently the holders of last place in the East, I hoped for another shutout for Price, and awesome night for the rest of the guys. But honestly what we got was a million times better.

It was a win that we worked so incredibly hard for. Every second that they even thought about giving up in the end was followed by a burst of energy and scoring opportunity. Markov really saved us, with his rocket from the point (channeling a little Souray maybe?)… what a shot that was, and what a happy player. Usually he doesn’t seem to react as much when he scores, but today he pumped his fist like he had never pumped before.

Overtime was ridiculous… especially after the scary Latendresse high-sticking penalty at the end of the 3rd. The game kept going back and forth to a point where dizziness almost set in. It was a nail-biting addition to an already nerve-wracking game.

Then came the shootout… and just when you thought Price couldn’t be any better, he comes up with that jaw-dropping save on Ruutu. Then we all expected Saku to score for the fairytale ending… but we were being led on… it would end that way, fortunately, but only after another heart-pounding round of shootouts… then Tanguay (who I actually hoped Carbo would put on) came up with the weirdest but most incredible and timely shootout goal… he went the same way as Markov did but was so close to Auld, that the poor goalie could probably feel his breath down his neck.

I have never seen Carbonneau so ecstatic… his smile lasted all the way through his post-game conference, and I’m sure it’ll still be there in the morning. Even the players were smiling so much their faces almost looked distorted… It was truly a wonderful game, and hopefully the Habs can finally take this momentum and run with it, like we all know they’re capable of doing!

Next up: Patrick Roy night… we’d better bring it.

ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER LOSS

2008-11-21T20:24:00.000-08:00

(November 19th)

CONFIDENCE. It’s what’s missing from so many teams and players in the league lately. When you see the likes of Lecavalier and St. Louis who are extraordinary, playing the worst hockey of their careers, it raises questions. Who is at fault… is it the players, for not stepping up and working hard? Is it the coaches for not instilling enough respect and confidence in their players? Is it a mix of the two?

Alfreddson, Spezza, Heatley, Modano, Richards… I mean how often is it that you see Dallas and Ottawa in the bottom 5 teams in the league? It seems that organizations tend to have star players, and the problem with this is that when it doesn’t work for your stars the whole team seems to crumble, and it’s like this across the board.

Tonight Montreal, who usually has 3 scoring lines but whom last year heavily relied on Alex Kovalev, lost a game against the Hurricanes. Now I’m not knocking the ‘Canes. They has an okay game, as did the Habs but honestly something knocked the wind out of the Canadiens’ sails recently and they just can’t score… in the past 4 games we’ve scored an abysmal 6 goals… 6 GOALS! You can’t win when scoring less than 2 goals a game… especially when your goalies aren’t playing to their potential (granted Price was amazing tonight)!

Even Crosby and Ovechkin aren’t producing… at least in terms of goals… with 13 between them, it’s a bit ridiculous. Yes, they both are at more than a point per game, but with their talent, they could be scoring more. What happened to those competitive rookies who fought for the Calder to the bitter end? I haven’t seen either of those players this year.

But on the flip side, there are some tiny rays of hope that are poking through… Let’s take the Devils. Good team, known for their utterly boring style of play, but also known for their utterly amazing goaltender, who gives them the chance to be a contending team every year.

He goes down. → Everyone thought the team would too. → They did.

But they are slowly turning things around, trying to adjust to life without Marty and thankfully are still #8 in the East.

Another bright spot: Detroit. Either Mike Babcock is the greatest coach of all time, or his players just happen to be the greatest… he gets them to compete ever year bar none… they are talented yes, but they work hard and are a brick wall to opponents during the season.

Other teams need to take a page out of the Babcock / Brodeur book and get working. The talent needs to be there but if the workhorse personality is not than the talent is useless.

Kovalev stepped up last year, and we grew to rely on him. He either needs to step up again, just like the other “star” players around the league need to, or maybe instead, the rest of the league should finally to learn to rely on themselves – because no matter their talent level, if they put in enough work and give it their all effort-wise they’ll get the results.

A Big Effort but...

2008-11-21T20:05:00.000-08:00

Again a little old - (November 15th)

Tonight before the game, many of us were wondering which Canadiens team would show up… would it be the invincible, hard-workers we saw Tuesday night at the Bell Centre? Would it be the worst team in the league, who we saw last Saturday at the ACC and Thursday vs. the Bruins? Or would it be somewhere in between?

Fortunately it was the latter… there were no heroics unfortunately, except maybe from Jaroslav Halak, who kept them in the game, despite them playing, at best, in a very mediocre fashion, and Saku Koivu, who is the star forechecker and work horse of the team.

They weren’t bad tonight, but they definitely weren’t good. The effort they put in was at least visible tonight, unlike the past couple of games (excluding Tuesday night of course), but they weren’t able to finish. Anything. It was kind of sad actually.

I don’t think the Flyers were that much better… they were a bit better obviously, but we could have beaten them, had we tried a bit harder.

Also Marty Biron was pretty outstanding. It wasn’t really a battle of goaltenders, though both Biron and Jaro played extremely well… it was the teams in front of them that weren’t that great.

It was an average game, nothing too interesting or flashy, so we are going to have to do better tomorrow night.

Some notes on the players:

- Andrei Kostitsyn is missing in action… and his brother is pretty much hiding out with him, but at least Sergei comes up with a good play once in a while. Where are you Andrei?!

-Gorges has been amazing lately… he has developed so well, and is really an incredible asset to our team, as is Hamrlik… speaking of Hamrlik, he is our hidden gem… kind of like what Markov was a couple of years ago – a solid hard worker with a lot of talent, who tends to go unnoticed.

For those who are freaking out, thinking that 2 losses in a row, we are screwed for the season, you’re wrong. I don’t think there’s need to panic. We have a solid core, and all they’re lacking is a bit of confidence. I think things will be better tomorrow night, since Kostopoulos will be back. He may not be a big scorer, but at least he gives it his all every game, and plays with a lot of heart, and at this point, I think that’s what we need. All we’re missing is a little bit of trust. In ourselves. They need to come up with a big win tomorrow. Let’s hope they know they can do it, because I for one know that they can!

Oh and p.s. I loved the vintage jerseys, the habs were stylin’ tonight! lol

The Kostopoulos Hit...

2008-11-21T20:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is on the older side - (November 9th)

For those of you who saw the Toronto-Montreal game tonight, you must have seen the Kostopoulos hit on Van Ryn.

I’m all for stricter punishments on hits from behind, but I think his punishment was a little severe. Tom is not a player who does things like that on purpose. I think he’s one of the more respectable grinders in the game. I don’t think he should have gotten a game misconduct, but I guess since he took Van Ryn out of the game (poor guy, has a broken finger, nose and a concussion the last I heard…), it’s only fair that he was out as well… but I stick by my point that he did not intend to hurt Van Ryn.

He was actually interviewed after the game, and he looked visibly distraught over what had happened, almost in tears it seemed… he said he felt bad about it, and he wouldn’t have done it had he known this would be the result. He also said he was going to try and call Van Ryn to make sure he was okay.

I’d think that almost anyone in his position would say those things, but this isn’t the case… how many times have we seen dirty hits that are on purpose, and the hitter doesn’t seem to comprehend the gravity of the situation…
Kostopoulos at least understood this.

Hopefully Van Ryn will be okay, and heal quickly… and I really hope that Kostopoulos won’t get a suspension… he doesn’t deserve it, I’m hoping the league will see that.

Richards vs. Morrow

2008-11-06T08:28:00.001-08:00

I’ve actually been a fan of both Mike Richards and Brenden Morrow for a while. They are both gritty forwards who risk so much of themselves for the game. They’ve both got speed, skill and raw talent, making both assets of extreme importance to their respective teams. Most of all they share a true love and passion for the game, which they use as a starting point for how they lead.

Mike Richards is a talented young captain, who seems to lead by example. If he wants something done, he’ll do it himself and he’ll do it to the best of his ability. I actually picked him for one of my hockey pools this year, because he’s one of those players who you know will produce, no matter how bad the team is playing. I’m actually really not a fan of the flyers, mainly due to their style of play, but even though Richards plays with that grit, he’s got another side to him, and that is what makes him so likeable among teammates and fans.

Brenden Morrow, on the other hand, is a seasoned veteran who still has the energy of a young gun. He’s another great captain, who also leads by example. But it seems, in addition, that he has a core of leaders like Mike Modano on the Stars, which makes him lucky as well. I am a fan of the Stars (excluding the game that happened a few nights ago, which can only be described as Sean Avery / Steve Ott Cheap Shot Night), and Morrow, among others, is one of the reasons. He’s a workhorse, and never stops until the job is done. He’s truly respected around the league, and it’s obvious from the level of sportsmanship he displays, why that is.

I honestly can’t decide who is better, now that I think of it. Richards has the bonus of being young and having more years of hockey left in him, but Morrow has the bonus of being slightly older, and having that veteran experience. Both are great leaders, and seem to have similar styles of leading, and come to think of it, comparable styles of play. Both are the present and future of this league, and if we had more players like them and less of the Avery’s and Ott’s of the world, hockey would be a much better, more admirable place.

SPEECHLESS...

2008-11-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

I’ll be honest, after the second period, I came on here thinking I was going to blog about how absolutely awful the Habs were playing… but there was something in me that said no, we still have a chance.. albeit a slight one.

So luckily I waited. I sat and watched that third period with a feeling of hope. They could do it, I knew, but it would depend on how much they were willing to sacrifice of themselves.

The third period was the reason I watch and love hockey. It was the ultimate show of team strength, not physical but mental. I am still speechless on the amount character and unwillingness to give up that the Canadiens exhibited. Plekanec found his wings, as did Higgins. Kovalev was incredible. Saku was amazing. The list goes on and on… The Plekanec line FINALLY was able to produce. It was just incredible, wonderful and astonishing. You could almost feel the magic in the air.

Carbonneau should be proud of how remarkable that period was, especially after playing the worst hockey they’ve played all season in the first two.

The Canadiens were mind-blowingly amazing and this 3rd period was the first glimpse of a team that can (and hopefully will) win the Stanley cup this year.

Jaro

2008-10-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

Jaroslav Halak - the #1 star of Monday night's game (photo taken by me).

CBC

2008-10-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

You either love ‘em or you hate ’em, but the CBC network & those who make up the Hockey Night in Canada team are sometimes enough to get on the nerves of even the most patient of people.I’m a Habs fan, and as most of you may know, as a group we are generally not the biggest fans of CBC for the way they have treated the Canadiens in the past…

But I personally give them credit… the past 2 years or so, I have seen them put a huge effort into winning over some of the Habs fans by giving us a few more games and treated them a bit more fairly during their broadcasts. But I’ve been getting a little frustrated lately…

1) Have any of you noticed these cbcsports ads on nhl.com?

I saw one about a week before the season opener for Montreal, and it said something to the effect of – Montreal plays Toronto to kick off their Centennial Season… and this frustrated me to no end… How did they not notice our first game was against buffalo?!?!?! They sure missed that one!

Then today I see this new one “Spezza, Heatley in action versus Toskala and the resurging maple leafs”… and I burst out laughing… RESURGING???!?!? … then I thought maybe I’d been out of it lately so I went to Yahoo! Sports to check my facts… This is the record of the Leafs their past 5 games:

Anaheim – Overtime loss

Pittsburg – Loss

NY Rangers – Overtime loss

St. Louis – Overtime loss

Montreal – Loss

I have been trying to sympathize with the Leafs and their fans and I even see they have something going for them this year… but to say they are resurging is a bit ridiculous…

2) Don Cherry… Some days I like him, some days I can’t take him… but I always do enjoy watching him. First of all he’s really rude and overbearing with Ron, who just grins and bears it. I’d love to see the day that he’d stand up to him… Oh well, I’m not holding my breath. But people listen to him, and he too has been improving with his Habs related info… he went from bashing us, to completely ignoring us… but hey an improvement’s an improvement! Though he does have his once-in-a-while mentionning of his love for our captain “Kovo”, (yes, Kovo…) and how Price is one of his good old Canadian boys.

Despite my sarcastic angle here, he’s good at his job, and I do appreciate his work.

3) Yvon Pedneault… Yvon was a staple on RDS and now that he’s here at CBC, I can’t help but feel sorry for him… it seemed like the other commentators didn’t really appreciate his expertise, but considering the problem is due mainly to the language barrier, I understand where they are coming from. He seemed a bit shy and stand-offish, but trust me, it was just the fact that he was overthinking his words… I think his value to HNIC will grow with experience in English broadcasting.

Well that’s my rant for the day… I in no means meant to insult anyone or dissuade anyone from watching CBC… I really don’t mind them at all, I even like them… But as I mentionned before, sometimes things get on the nerves of even the most patient of people.

Alexei Cherepanov

2008-10-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

(October 13th, 2008)
When Luc Bourdon passed away last year, it really affected me. I couldn’t comprehend how someone so young and so talented, could just be gone so suddenly. He had just turned 21, and he died the day before my 20th birthday. It got me to thinking… this is someone who had theoretically acheived his major goal in life, playing for an NHL team as well as representing Team Canada and winning multiple gold medals. All I could think was what could I say for myself? What had I ever acheived in comparison? What was the point of it all? Luc’s death made me take a long hard look at myself, and made me realize the importance of going after your goals, and stopping at nothing to succeed. In that way he helped me find the courage to make some major changes in my life, and for that I will always be greatful.

Today, when I went onto habsinsideout.com (part of my usual routine) and saw the Alexei Cherepanov had passed away, I had a different reaction at first than the one I had had when I found out about Luc. It was one of complete and utter shock. When I found out about Luc, I couldn’t believe it, but I felt complete sadness right from the beginning. With Alexei, I have never felt such a horrible feeling of shock in my life. Another young, talented player. Another loss.

You’d think we would be used to loss by now. We see it daily, are even desensitized to it by the media and yet sometimes you just get this horrible slap in the face.

I am now feeling intense sadness… thinking about how much he accomplished, but of how much more he still could.

The one source of comfort for me is that he died playing the game that he loved, even scoring a goal that game. He was a fierce competitor, an undeniable success and an amazingly happy and gracious person. My thoughts go out to his family. Пока Алексей. Мы тебя любим.

An Undeniable Spark

2008-10-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

(Octtober 12th, 2008)
I must admit, the Leafs surprised me tonight… this coming from an avid Habs fan, who has felt nothing but disdain for them in the past.
In a 6-1 game, you may think that there probably wasn’t much that Toronto put on the table, but for the first time in a long time I saw potential.
I think that mainly came from Ron Wilson who seems to exude a confidence, not only in his players but in his own ability to make them believe that they can be great.
You can’t really talk about the team as a whole, because it’s piecey at best… but some of those pieces are developing or may someday develop into really talented, even coveted players: I’m talking about the Stajan’s, Steen’s and Schenn’s of the Leafs. The management finally seems to be taking a page from Gainey’s book and looking to get players through the system instead of making an impulse buy here and there.
I’m not saying that they are anywhere near becoming a contending team… they have a ways to go… but I saw a spark tonight… an undeniable spark.

What to do about Max Pacioretty...

2008-10-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

We think we’ll never see the day that we’ll have too many good players on the team…

I mean look at the Leafs… we trade them Grabovski and now he’s their number one center. It makes you wonder what is going on in that organization…

Regardless, I look at the Habs this year and they seem to have an excess of excellence! They still need to cut 4 players and it’s hard, when players who were thought of as locks to play in Hamilton turn up the heat and play their hearts out in the preseason.

A perfect example of this is Max Pacioretty. This guy is just incredible. He seems to have such skill & hockey sense at such a young age, and with his play should be a shoe-in for a spot on the Canadiens roster. But no matter his determination and work ethic… it seems there is little, if any space for him.

I mean as I see it, up front we have:

Higgins-Koivu-Tanguay

Kovy-Lang-Latendresse

A.Kost-Plek-S.Kost

Begin-Lapierre-Kostopoulos

On d:

Komi-Markov

Hamrlik-O’Byrne

Gorges-Bouillon

And Price & Halak in nets…

That leaves 3 spots on a 23-man roster, two of which will certainly go to Laraque and Brisebois. That leaves Chipchura, Max Pac, Dandenault & Weber (as well as Denis, but I’m thinking he’ll be in Hamilton quite soon).

Assuming Dandenault doesn’t get traded, he seems like the guy that they’ll keep for that 3rd spot because of his experience & leadership. He’s one of the fastest (if not the fastest) skaters on the team hands-down, and he doesn’t mind being shuffled from defense to forward and back again.

Chipchura has had a so-so training camp, but he’s a talented young player, who hopefully will get his chance eventually, but he didn’t shine enough this year to bump someone else out of the roster.

Pacioretty on the other hand did. He outplayed and outskated many of the players, and easily made the biggest impression of any rookie at camp (though Weber had a good camp as well). You can tell he wants it, and that he wants it bad, but is his best better than someone on our current roster? If not, or if Carbonneau and Gainey have any uncertainty at all, I think he’d be better off in the minors, to be able to play a lot and work on some aspects of his game. But if they are sure, then someone is going to be sent packing… With such a solid roster, I really wonder who that person could be…

Robert Lang acquisition and Brisebois signing

2008-09-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Finally!! We finally have gotten through the Sundin storm and have moved on to bigger and better things...
As much as I would have enjoyed having Sundin, I think that Lang is a perfect addition to the team at a little bit cheaper of a price (he makes about $4 million according to sportsnet.ca). He's got a big body, is the centerman we've been looking for, plus has that experience with Kovalev, and as we've seen in the past few years (though last year was an exception) it's sometimes tough to find players who have the talent to support Kovy. Plus he's played for a long time, so hopefully will have that veteran presence in the dressing room, among many of our young guys.

Second, Brisebois's back, which I'll admit, I'm really happy about. I remember last year attending the home opener and being terrified that he'd be booed, but we ended up giving him a standing ovation... he had a great season, and I think that all the players like him, and will happy to have him back. He really fought the controversy well, and deserves a spot on the team.

I think we have an awesome team this year, and that for the first time in a long time, we've filled all the gaps that we've had. We have a really solid offense, an equally solid defense, and 2 awesome young goalies who have unlimited potential. I think that they are the only question mark on the team... if Price & Halak play well, the team will go extremely far, but if for some reason they don't, then we'll have an uphill climb. But odds are, they'll push each other to do well, and our team will hopefully have a successful year!

Training camp in a week, and rookie camp in 2 days. This year is starting to look quite exciting!
Go Habs Go!

Welcome!

2008-09-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Welcome to my blog... I'll be talking mainly about the Habs, other hockey issues, life in general, and maybe even some politics will get in there. Enjoy and let me know what you think!
xoxo
bloggergirl