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.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
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.
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.
Monday, February 2, 2009
LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE... GOLF COURSE?
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.
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.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
OVIE'S GOT SKILLZ
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!
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!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
THE CRAZINESS THAT IS GUILLAUME LATENDRESSE
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!
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!
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