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.

Apparently, it could have been worse

One Habs fan comments on his day:

'I totally blame my sons mother today. I was all set to enjoy the game, gave her plenty of notice, then at 3:10 she comes up to me and says "We need potatoes" Really? Really? we need potatoes? the damn game is starting and you want me to goto the store and get potatoes? WTF!!! can't make rice? it has to be potatoes? I have had a headache ever since.'

In other news, Dice-K allowed one hit in 8 innings today. That's right. Dice-K. One hit. Eight innings. Or was that actually Dice-K? It's worth noting that V-Tek caught instead of V-Mart, whom Dice-K had thrown somewhat under the bus after his last (bad) start. Also, JD Drew got an RBI with no batteries thrown at him whatsoever (at least, none that I heard about). Heh, I say. Stick it to those Phillies fans.

More from Wes

After today's disheartening loss against the Flyers (Montreal is now down 3-1 and I don't know if we are coming back this time) and no recovery in sight for the Red Sox (even though at least Ellsbury is back...here's hoping...but Dice-K is pitching tonight.............................), let's switch the focus to football, where everything and anything seems possible, even if some people are choosing to write off the Patriots already, more than three months before the season actually starts.* Wes Welker gave an interview in which he reiterated that his knee feels peachy keen and offered up the following description of Tom Brady:

“He looks really good. He’s working hard, he’s getting after it. It’s always ‘one more’ with him. If it’s not perfect, it’s ‘another one, another one.’ He’s like ‘two more to this side’ and I’m like ‘So that’s about 10.’ You love to see it, but at the same time, you’re looking at your watch and like ‘My parking sticker is about to run out of time here. Let’s go.’ It’s good to see.”

I like that we have the kind of players that worry about expired parking.

*Yeah, I'm irked by all of these developments. What gave it away?

Habs win! On to Round 3!

We have only 8 more games to go before we win the Stanley Cup! If only it were that easy.

Anyway, idiots decided to riot in Montreal last night even though: a) we still haven't won the Cup and b) rioting is stupid. However, the story brought some fun quotes, including my favorite:

' [McGill] Classmate Evan Martow, a Torontonian who was born in Montreal, said he’s never seen the kind of team spirit in Hogtown. “People here support the team regardless of how they’re doing.”'

Ha! Yeah, that's called 'being a fan.' This is exactly why, as a small child, I chose to cheer for Montreal over Toronto.

Next game is Sunday night, the opponent is still undetermined. It's either Philadelphia or Boston, which is fine by me because I dislike both of these franchises.

Habs even series at 1 apiece

The Canadiens came back yesterday with a 3-1 win over the Penguins. Halak was more Halakish, which is a promising sign. I didn't actually get to see the game, but was provided with ample and detailed updates from a friend. Yay technology!

One obvious Penguins fan on the Yahoo message boards asked what a 'Hab' was as disrespectful gesture. He was provided with the following response:

'What is a Hab ????

A Hab is a player who plays for a team that has won the most Stanley Cups ever and may just shock everyone this year !!

That is what a Hab is !!'

Used to be the most championships of any league, but those damned Yankees took us over.

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 win Round 1. Rating: Guarded Optimism

Now, I know that I am the eternal pessimist fan and that I had little/no faith in this year's Habs. But then I saw them in Round 1 and they played well, well enough that I thought, 'Maybe there is a chance.'

Well, there is more of a chance because they won a nailbiter on Wednesday, 2-1, to go on to Round 2. I almost got a bit teary-eyed, I am the first to admit. Coming back from a 3-1 deficit against the #1 ranked team was, for me, almost impossible, but somehow they did it.

It started with Halak's incredible amazingness in net. And we just went from there. Who knows if we can repeat this round (we haven't made it past round 2 in 17 years, after all). But wow, I am actually turning into almost an optimist.

Almost.

I still think we lose in Round 2, though.

Dare I dream?

I should really know better by now than to dream about the Habs and playoff success, but they played very well tonight. It was Game 1 of Series 1, which means that there is a whole lot of hockey left to go before the Stanley Cup -- they should be wrapping up by June-ish, just in time for World Cup.

(Hockey season is far too long).

They beat the Washington Capitals, who are ranked #1, by a score of 3-2. In overtime. In proper overtime, no less. None of this '4 skater' nonsense or shoot-outs like in the regular season. That is demeaning to hockey. I'll bet, somewhere, that old-time hockey heroes roll in their graves during shoot-outs. But now that we are back to the playoffs, we are back to sudden-death overtime, and that makes for some good hockey.

Plekanec scored a super nice goal to win the game. Halak was a monster in net, with 19 saves (!) in the first period alone. And Montreal actually was skating, passing...all the things that they have been attempting to do (and not quite doing) for years. I mean, this is not a revival of 70s Habs hockey or anything, but when they had it together, they looked pretty good. Line changes...not so much.

I love how since the Olympics, suddenly everyone pronounces Plekanec's name differently, although I still don't think that most of the announcers have it right.

Okay, dare I say it: Go Habs Go! Although if history is anything to go by, they will win Round 1, then keel over and die in Round 2 (see, most recently, 2007-08, but it's happened a whole lot of times over the past 17 years since they last won the Stanley Cup).

....now that is amazing, it has been 17 years since they last won the Cup. Yeesh.

Habs being Habs

I know, I don't usually acknowledge that hockey exists until post-NFL (by which I mean, when the Patriots are out). But I wanted to note that already the Habs are continuing in their tradition from last season of being streaky. Consider that the team had a 5-game losing skid, and have now won their past 3. Hopefully the season will be in reverse this year, though: we start streaky, then get good for the second half.

Rusty old man retires (no, not that one), plans to drive for NASCAR (no, not that one)

Patrice Brisebois, aka Rusty Old Man of the Canadiens' defense, has retired. He even thanked Jacques Demers (or something) for coaching him to his only Stanley Cup in 1993. Remember back then? That seems like so long ago when you write the numbers '1993' out. And I guess it was long ago (although clearly not as long as, say, to pick a year at random, 1967).

I remember in 1995 when Demers was fired. I was living in Montreal and every single newspaper had this as the front page story. Those were good days, we thought, because Les Canadiens were not playing very well. In came Mario Tremblay and Les Canadiens started well under him. Then Tremblay left Roy in for too long in a game and poof. He was off to Colorado the next day after vowing never to play for Les Canadiens again. Quel désastre! I remember it as if it were yesterday. Although the tragedy of that incident has since been supplanted by other moments in sports, such as the 2003 ACLS ending and leading the pack, Tom Brady on the ground, clutching his knee.

Random fact: Mario Tremblay's nickname during his hockey-playing career was 'le bleuet bionique,' which translates to 'the bionic blueberry.' Trust me, I'm trying to find the origin for that and so far turning up nil.

Back to Brisebois: he plans to drive for NASCAR Canada. I didn't even know that there was a NASCAR Canada. What's more, I think that we need to rethink classifying something as a 'sport' if you can retire as a rusty old man from one professional league, then go compete in another.

Montreal eliminated. Yay.

The agony has ended, Montreal went down in four straight.

Yeah, it happened days ago, but that's how much I cared in the end.

Next year. They have to win next year. But there's a lot of work to be done between that point and this.

Game 1 goes (not surprisingly) to the Bruins

Yep, Montreal lost 4-2 last night. They did put up a fight, even tying it at 2-2 for much of the game. But in the end they gave up a goal (shorthanded because of a penalty). The last was an empty netter.

Boo.

So to cheer you up, check this out.

Habs to play Bruins in round 1 of playoffs

(I know, I've been terrible at blogging, hopefully slightly more now that baseball has started).

Montreal barely squeaked into the playoffs by losing in OT to the Bruins last week. Now if that isn't a decisive qualification, I don't know what is. Honestly, I love them and all, but really? Do we really need to be humiliated in Round 1?

Astute fans will have noted that the situation is almost precisely reversed to a year ago: Montreal was top of the conference and played the #8 Bruins in Round 1. Also, we were almost eliminated by them and it went to 7 games. Sort of shameful, to be honest. Montreal, of course, was then knocked out completely in Round 2, showing that the whole 'We won the conference' thing must have been a fluke.

Historically, Montreal has done well against Boston in the playoffs. However, as I think most of us believe, this time around will probably give the Bruins a few games to balance off that statistic.

I am liking the Bruins and Sharks in the final. It pains me to say that, but it could be worse. The Leafs didn't even make the playoffs, so nyeah.

The Canadiens summarized in one word

So if I had to pick a word to describe les Habs this season, it would be 'streaky.' They win a lot, then they skid, then they win a lot again. Just look at how they have been doing in 2009 as proof: 6-2 in the first few weeks of January, then that dreadful 13-3 streak, and now 4 straight including games against teams who should have kicked our butts (last night, for instance, San Jose). I am not a big fan of 'streaky,' although it is naturally better than 'chokeur.' However, I just hope that we have not peaked too soon...there is still a lot of hockey to go.

Oh, and guess who was in net yesterday again? Halak.

A few hockey trades for good measure

The Habs also were busy:

1) They traded Bégin (forward) for Doug Janik (defense). Janik comes from the Dallas Stars and is going straight to the farm team in Hamilton. Which makes me ask, 'Huh' as well.

2) They picked up Glen Metropolit from the Flyers on waivers. He is a center and has 'lots of experience.' He's already been put on the fourth line.

According to Bob Gainey, the Habs really needed a center to bring everything together, hence the Metropolit acquisition. Also, if you read between the blog, it would seem that almost everyone is demanding to be traded...fabulous.

They won

Okay, hurray for a temporary stop to the implosion. Montreal beat Ottawa 5-3 today, despite all of the craziness that ensued over the past week. Kovalev, having returned from his Gainey-imposed time off, had a goal and two assists. All seems well -- for now -- with the Habs.

For now...

Kovalev scandal

Alex Kovalev, one of the key elements in last year's success, did not join the Habs on the road. GM Bob Gainey announced that it was due to his poor attitude as of late. He made this announcement in French, which seems odd seeing as there is a major complaint from xenophobic Montreal fans that not enough players are French.

Guy Lafleur -- swearing in true Montreal fashion -- put in his two cents.

The question is: will he be traded or not? Conflicting reports are currently emerging on the situation.

(How did I miss this? It scares me that I need to spend more time in front of the computer. Eek).

Also, not to keep you in suspense, the Habs lost last night to Washington but it was at least in a shoot-out, so they kept it close.

The Habs: what the hell?

Okay, this post is slightly late seeing as Montreal did actually win last night, but in general let's think this over. Since the All-Star Break, they are 3-9 although they do tend to be pretty streaky -- there was a good stretch in the start of January. There was a front-page story on the webpage for the Montreal Gazette the other day (bless sports towns) and now there are a slew of comments, most of which want to blame head coach Guy Carbonneau. But is that really the problem? I mean, he did take them to a conference championship last year (they then choked Manning-style in the playoffs), so it's hard to think that he is the sole problem. The article claims that Montreal is now 'playing scared' instead of just playing, which seems like a lousy answer. It's hard to know without being able to actually watch a game...I haven't been as good this year and feel a bit behind.

Whatever it is, get your collective acts together!

As a further 'What the hell' how is Montreal not playing on a Saturday night? Is there some national Canadian event I am unaware of?

What not to wear

The Montreal Canadiens donned some seriously ugly uniforms this weekend in honor of the 1912-1913 season. I don't think that this uniform really needed to be honored by any stretch of the imagination.

They also lost yesterday to the Bruins (there was hockey? Wasn't it Superbowl Sunday? Is there anything else that happens in the North American sporting world than Superbowl Sunday? If so, what is the point???). I'm kind of amazed that they did seeing as if I were the Bruins, I think that the striped pattern would have been horrifically distracting. Maybe the Habs were trying to hide in shame instead of concentrating on the game.

Tampa Bay 5, Montreal 3

Okay, I'm starting to think that I should stop paying attention to the NHL because my Habs are clearly suffering as a result. Both games I've watched this month were losses. I feel like all the games I've listened to (such as against les Trashers) have been losses. Not good! We are still competing with Boston and need to shape up!

One of the weirder moments of the game occurred when the organist broke out in the 'Beer Barrel Polka.' Not exactly what I think of when I think 'hockey music.' They made up for it by playing 'Get Ready 4 This' just moments later. Much better.

There is a whole discussion waiting to be had about why early 90s techno plays such a prominent role at hockey games. Now, though, is maybe not the time.