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!
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