ODE TO LATENDRESSE

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

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

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

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

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!