February 13, 2008

So Close And Yet So Far

Hello all, I know it has been awhile and all I can hope for is that you don’t use a Darth Vader Force grip on me to choke out an apology or try to zap me with some of my homey Darth Sidious’ Force lightning.  I am sorry for not writing for the last couple of months.  There is no excuse. 

Anyway, to paraphrase Jimmy Johnson former Cowboys head coach, all I have to say is,  “HOW BOUT DEM HABS?”  Despite a plethora of pundits who had use in the bottom third of the East, here we are on February 13 with the third most points in the East and the second fewest real losses in the entire NHL.  All this with Saku Koivu playing about as well as a 34 year old cancer survivor can and Michael Ryder’s whopping eight goals.

For anyone who cares, I prefer my crow cooked medium please.  As you all know, I did not have much use for Andrei Kostitsyn from day one.  I hated the fact we drafted an epileptic with a bad back.  Until December 2007, he had shown nothing since June 2003 to justify being taken tenth overall.   He was well on the road to bust status and a rightful spot alongside Brent Bilodeau, Lindsay Vallis, Jose Charbonneau, Matt Higgins, Jason Ward and Eric Chouinard as famous first round busts.  However, something happened on the way to the St. Leonard Hall of Busts, we called Kostitsyn the younger up from Hamilton (Frere Sergei) and older brother Andrei immediately started playing like Andre the Giant instead of Brother Andre from St. Joseph’s Oratory (apologies for the wrestling and Montreal Catholic Church references).  Ever since being put on a line with Tomas Plekanec and Alex Kovalev, Kostitsyn the Elder has been nothing short of spectacular.  He has seventeen goals and is finally ensuring Bob Gainey doesn’t write that pink slip for head scout Trevor Timmins.

Our KKP line has carried the team.  Kovalev is simply put dominating.  I guess he really was playing last season on one leg because this year he is twice the player he was.  Plekanec has been awesome.  Without those three guys, our team would be fighting it out with the Leafs and Lightning for last in the East.

Our defence has been better than expected.  Our top three are as good as almost any top three in the NHL.  Our bottom three has not hurt us that often.  Streit who has alternated between forward and defence will be looking at a huge raise come next season (either with or without us).  Hamrlik has been as good a UFA signing as we have had in years.  Markov is playing at a Norris Trophy pace and Komisarek is hitting everything the moves and blocking every shot within 10 feet of him.

We got very close to first this past weekend but a couple of bad games against the Leafs and Senators have us back to five behind the Senators.  Still, the rest of the league has felt a tremor this year.  The Canadiens are back and as any real fan knows, when we are back, we tend to stay on top for a long period of time.

Les Canadiens sont la.  HOW BOUT DEM HABS.

Until next time

November 18, 2007

A SPECIAL NIGHT ON NOVEMBER 19

As the days get shorter, the winds stronger and the nights colder, the Canadiens are off to a great start at 10-5-3 even after their worst game of the season last night in Buffalo where they lost 4-1 in a game that was basically over after the first period.  However, that one game does not detract from the great start from a team most pundits figured would be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.  We are now in fifth, far better than we expected.

However, leaving the team’s performance aside for a second, Monday night will be a very special night for yours truly and Canadiens Nation in general.  On Monday Larry Robinson, nicknamed Big Bird, will have his number 19 retired too long after it should have been.  For those of you of my generation, born in the 1960s, Larry was one of our heroes growing up.  He was arguably the best defenceman of his generation with only Denis Potvin having a claim to being his equal from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s. 

A first round draft choice in 1971 along with Guy Lafleur, Larry controlled our defence for the better part of the next fifteen years, joining the team in 1973 and never looking back.  He won the Norris Trophy twice, was tremendous on the power play, controlled the game even strength and was a killer on the penalty kill.  He was the anchor on the greatest club team of all time, the 76-77 Canadiens which went (including playoffs, 72-10-12) and which over three seasons only lost 29 regular season games.  He won six Stanley Cups with us and was in the final a seventh time.

He played for Canada in a three Canada Cups and in at least one World Championship.  One cannot also forget he was named to the Canadiens all time team on defence along with Doug Harvey. 

With his 70s afro and porn stache, he was always visible on the ice.  After Guy, he was my favourite player.  His combination of size, strength, speed and ability, both defensive and offensive, made him the epitome of the 1970s team.

It was a sad day when he left to play for the Kings in 1989 but as he stated, he wished he had never left us.  I wished that as well.

In my view, there was none better from 1975 to 1985 in terms of defencemen in the NHL. 

Why it has taken so long to retire his number is not something I can answer.  All I can say is that it is about time.  Big Bird, you were my hero when I was a child and in some ways, I will be a child again on Monday night as I watch your number raised to the rafters of the Bell Centre.  My memories of your back breaking goal against the Bruins in the 1978 Final where you went end to end to score, or the hit on Gary Dornhoeffer in the 1976 Final, a hit Gary is still feeling, will be shown for sure.  However, what will not be visible is the class you exemplified and how you wore the CH proudly and without controversy. 

Larry is still my hero.

HABS NOTES:

Carey Price is proving Bob knows more than the rest of us and was right to take him fifth overall in 2005.  He has been amazing so far.  Huet has also played well giving us our best goalie tandem since Roy-Hayward in the 1980s. 

Kovalev is proving he is still a world class player.

Bring on the Bruins.

October 3, 2007

A Brand New Season

By the time most of you have read this column, the boys will have opened the new season, hopefully with a win in Carolina on October 3.  It is amazing how quickly the summer flew by isn’t it.  It seems like just yesterday on the day before Easter, our dreams of playoff glory were destroyed in three minute stretch where the Leafs scored two power play goals to jump ahead 6-5 and hang on to end our season.

We have a number of new faces this season.  Gone are Mike Johnson, David Aebischer, Radek Bonk, Alexander Perezhogin, Aaron Downey, Sheldon Souray, Janne Ninniimaa, Sergei Samsonov and Craig Rivet.  In are Kyle Chipchura, Carey Price, Roman Hamrlik, Tom Kotsopolous, Mikhail Grabovski, Josh Gorges, Patrice Brisebois, Brian Smolinski and Andrei Kostitsyn who is expected to play a bigger role this year than last.

Most pundits have the team out of the playoffs and if lucky finishing in the top 10 in the Eastern Conference. As the old saying goes, that is why they play the game.

People ask me if we will make the playoffs.  I answer yes mostly because saying no at this time is the ultimate in defeatism.  If I think they have no chance, why bother watching the 82 games?  Sure many teams around the east improved but as usual, people only consider you improving if you add in a big name.  I guarantee no one would have us out of the playoffs if we had signed either Daniel Briere or Ryan Smyth, two players who came within an eyelash of joining us.  Pundits forget that our young players will most certainly be better.  Komisarek, Plekanec, Latendresse Markov (who is not that young anymore), Higgins, Ryder, and Kostitsyn are likely to be better this year than last.  Price will be a better backup than Aebischer.  Smolinski is an improvement over Bonk.  Kovalev cannot be worse than last year so I expect extra production from him.

On defence, Hamrlik will likely be better defensively than Souray although we will miss Sheldon’s power play shot big time.  Streit keeps getting better and better but he will be paired with Bouillon which will hurt Mark’s improvement as anyone paired with Bouillon suffers.  Our defence is small and not very tough which could hurt, but the top four all can skate and move the puck well.  Brisebois might add some offence but his defensive skills are offensive.  Our top four defencemen are more than adequate but after that, there is a big drop.

We likely will also not lose our leader in Gainey like we did last year after his daughter’s death.  In my view it is no mere coincidence that the team started to slide after Bob’s stern eye, cold stare and ability to scare the bejeezus out of his employees took a necessary leave of absence.  Guy will also likely be a better coach this year.

Only time will tell if the team plays well enough to get into the post season.  A lot will have to go right for us to get into the post season dance, but I say we will shock the world and do it.

LES CANADIENS, LES CANADIENS SONT LA.

Habs Notes:  Remember people that all of our games are on RDS again this year.  We also have about 17 on CBC, and 12 on TSN for those who do not have RDS.  All RDS games will also be in HD for those of you who have a cable or satellite provider that provides RDS HD.  To date, mine does not, but one can only hope.

For those troglodytes who either do not have tv, nor have cable/satellite get with the times.  If you refuse to get with the times, then all of our games will be on CJAD or cjad.com in English and CKAC/CKAC.com en Francais.

A la prochaine.