The post-mortem

Literally. One of the fans has written an obituary for our former, beloved Hab.

The only possible bright spot right now is the fact that while we may have lost our 'Habs Romance,' you can fit 'Carey Price' right into 'Poker Face' with zero difficulty:

Ca-ca-ca-ca-rey Price
Ca-ca-ca-rey Price.

Halak traded! HUH?

Where were you December 2, 1995?

Don't remember?

I remember it well. I was at Peel Pub, in downtown Montreal, watching mes Canadiens get shellacked by the Detroit Red Wings. The final score was 11-2. Newly appointed Mario 'Bluet bionique' Tremblay was behind the bench. Patrick Roy allowed nine goals and was finally pulled. When he came back to the bench, words were exchanged. It was clear that he was angry. The next day, what I feared most happened: my hero, my favorite hockey player since a young age, the guy who occupied an entire portion of my bedroom wall, was traded.

To the Colorado Avalanche.

Which used to be the Canadiens' arch-rival and nemesis, the Quebec Nordique.*

(It could have been worse. If they had traded him to Toronto, I probably would have cried for a decade).

Now, I don't want to pretend like June 17, 2010 will be seared into my memory in quite the same way, but I cannot believe that mes Canadiens just traded yet another goalie: Jaroslav Halak.

What? <-- you may be asking yourself. 'But he had such a great theme song.' But we're losing more than just an amusing Lady Gaga cover in this trade.

Commentary believes that perhaps he priced himself (ha!) out of the Canadiens' range, that we acquired potentially good players, and other speculation. I think that all of it is hooey. This guy just got the team through two very difficult rounds of the playoffs. You keep that guy. Carey Price on the other hand, has done basically bupkis apart from not living up to his potential. I didn't see much emergent potential last season from him. One theory is that Price gets traded too. Great. So then we have an unknown in net.

Has hockey really reached a point where you trade one of the most valuable players from your recent playoff run for two potentials? That's awful. Bad locker room karma. Mind you, I shouldn't be surprised seeing as how this franchise could also not keep one of its most dedicated and valuable players, Saku Koivu, in what may have been the last year of his career.

Oh, and in case you want to make some comparison with the Patriots cleaning house last year: I don't see these situations as parallel. The Pats had issues, primarily on the D, and they attempted to solve them. Halak, on the other hand, is likely at the top of his game -- or at least he was in that playoff run. You've just traded away a real asset on your team.

Current mood: severely unhappy.

*In a kind of James Bond, the villain always loses way, because they pretty much sucked and Montreal was pretty much awesome.

I like our chances

Okay, I know that you never hear anything like that from me, the mega-pessimist fan. But after tonight's Game 1 of Montreal and Pittsburgh, I actually almost like our chances:

1. Tonight's team was tired. Very tired. Not sure if they will be awake by Sunday. But bearing that in mind, the game wasn't so bad.
2. Halak was definitely tired. Maybe you start Price next time. Maybe just some rest will help. Either way, get him more on his game, and maybe things will be okay.
3. The injury to Markov: if they can get a player up from the AHL, they can replace the missing defenseman. Again, they were already playing tried, then missing a player would have made them even more tired. That's fixable.
4. There is time to study some tape. The Penguins did some good things in this game, especially on the powerplay and defending against the powerplay. But I was seeing adjustments in the third period. You make some more, you look over what happened in this game, and voila, that's a formula for winning future games.

I have to say that for the first time in years, I really feel invested with this team. I like them. They can skate. They can pass. They have that certain je ne sais quoi associated with the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge (I believe the actual term for it is 'finesse'). Most of all, they had the grit and determination to come back from a 3-1 deficit and win Round 1. Go Habs go!

(Seriously, I don't remember the last time I felt this optimistic about a team, except maybe right after the Patriots signed Joey Galloway. Hm. I see. Optimism ends in ouch).

Habs end win streak

Carey Price was in net last night. The final score was 5-1 against Buffalo and that 1 was very last minute. Argh!

The CJAD sportscasters noted that while the first goal was probably not his fault, the remaining four were. There was even talk (by them) in the third of pulling him for the back-up you've never heard of (they needed a last minute guy because Halak has the flu).

I sure hope Halak is better for Friday!

We're not still pretending he's the back-up, right?

Montreal won! Again! Yes! Two in a row! Amazing, I know.

Jaroslav Halak got his first shut-out of the year in the 3-0 win against the Canucks (take THAT!). I would say that he has now earned his starter title, almost like he replaced the quarterback. I mean, he's clearly on the game, Carey Price is not.

Apparently Montreal players should be associated with purported organized criminals more often? I don't know. But keep up the turn-around!

The announcers noted that there was a key play by Patrice Brisebois to keep the shut-out intact near the end of the third. Also, does anyone else find it sad that the announcer at the Bell Centre says 'third' in a normal, English way now? It just destroys the whole fun of it really. Au moins on a toujours les Thrashers.

Guy Carbonneau unhappy with Carey Price

(I know, Superbowl was a week ago. Later today. It's been a hectic week, what with Bad Mormons in my crib and all).

The Canadiens are on the verge of a complete collapse, having lost 7 of their last 9 games. Not to mention that last night's loss was to the Leafs, which is clearly not okay. Guy Carbonneau seems to have one person in mind to blame from his quotes yesterday:

First, “we need everyone to play, and that includes our goaltenders,” said Carbonneau.

Then later, “Where do you want me to start? He gave up five goals.” (in response to a question about what he didn’t like about goaltender Carey Price’s performance against Toronto.).

Please tell me that we can get a 'playoffs?' rant soon with a Québeçois accent, because that would be awesome. (If you're curious, Jim Mora, coach of the Indianapolis Colts, was bitching about Peyton. Yes. Really.)

Incidentally, 'backup' goaltender Jaroslav Halak was supposed to start, but was sick.

Carey Price almost ready to start again

I was wondering what happened to Carey Price, particularly when they started Halak against the Bruins. Now since I did not acknowledge hockey season until early January, I missed the fact that Price has been out with an ankle injury. Apparently, though, he is almost ready to go, which is great news, everyone!

Also, I have discovered that yes, you can hear the radio broadcasts on Macs now. Which is great news, everyone!

My acknowledgement of hockey season comes early this year

I am fully aware that hockey season has already been going on for a while, but I refuse to acknowledge it until around January/February...basically until when the Patriots stop playing, although surely that is a co-incidence. Anyway, here's what's been happening with the Habs:

-they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the team

-they are currently 4th overall in the conference and second in the division. The Bruins, who in recent seasons sucked, have been on fire. Montreal currently has the same number of points (50) as Philadelphia overall, but the Habs have a game in hand. The Bruins have 62 points. Crazy.

-Carey Price has been the regular goalie with a GAA of 2.30 and a .921 save percentage, although Halak has seen some ice time as well (about 2/3 Carey, 1/3 Halak).

-Patrice Brisebois is still playing. I hereby dub him 'Rusty Old Man' seeing as I can remember when he was in Junior.