Day 16: We Are Hockey Addicts Anonymous

Finally, we've got some hockey on tonight! It's been all of.... one day since there was a game on! Even if all I've got is Canada vs the Czech Republic and the Canucks vs the 'Hawks, I'm pleased! Here's hoping Turtle-Pleky can pick up his game today.

When you're used to seeing hockey on every day and suddenly the only thing on TV is Lost and Criminal Minds, you kind of freak out. Not that's there's anything wrong with Lost... I like Lost, but it makes my brain work too hard at a time of the day when my brain just wants to see a bunch of guys skating around with the puck.

C'mon, I know I'm not the only one out there who missed hockey last night or who will be missing it in the up coming weeks when there won't be hockey on. I know I'm not alone here. Who else missed/will miss hockey in the off season?

Hey Montreal Morons!

In you case you missed it - because he deleted it already - Scott Morganroth of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association wrote a rant about the "Montreal Morons". I actually found it amusing. I shall repost it here complete with Snarky EP Interjections in between because I'm feeling snarky (I actually wrote this up last night when I was suffering from hockey withdrawal).

When I heard that the Montreal Canadiens fans booed “The Star Spangled Banner” before Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals against the Boston Bruins at the Bell Centre on April 20, I was sick to my stomach. It made me want to edit the Canadian National Anthem from “Oh Canada” to “No Canada” because they disrespected a neighbor, who would protect them during an international conflict.

When I read an article by someone who wrote the "fans" in Montreal who booed the "Star Spangled Banner" before Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins at the Bell Center (located on 1260 Rue La Gauchetiere, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, North American, Planet Earth) on April 20, I nearly fell asleep after the first sentence. I was so ashamed that I would be so disrespectful to a neighbor by falling asleep, that I was quite sick to my stomach....

Montreal was a city that had another franchise back in the 1930’s named the Maroons. On April 20, the fans in the Bell Centre were named the Montreal Morons.

Someone remembers that we had a team called the Maroons? Isn't that awesome? I thought everyone had forgotten about them. I'm so proud that someone actually remembered them.

After the incident, Canadiens Coach & General Manager Bob Gainey showed class by telling his fans their behavior was uncalled for. For years, I’ve always had a ton of respect for the Canadiens and their fans as being an excellent hockey town. This original six city has the same passion as Green Bay Packers fans do where everything revolves around the team on and off the field of play. Being the only game in town with a large city is what these towns live for.

Green Bay Packers.......? Please tell me I wasn't the only one who had to go and Google that. And yeah, Bob is teh awesome.

But I lost all of my respect for Montreal due to this classless incident due to the lack of common sense. I’m not buying the Us Vs Them excuse with the USA facing Canada because there are many match-ups in North America which feature these two countries. The Boston Bruins and Canadiens have indeed had many contested battles since they’re both original six teams however, to boo the other countries national anthem is crossing the line between politics and sports.

I think I lost all respect for the city of Detroit too. I mean, how can I respect a city that has someone writing up a diatribe like this? All those wonderful people that I know from Detroit have to be morons too because as Morganroth implies, if a city has a few idiots, everyone from that city has to be an idiot too.

And I wonder what he thought about the Blues fans booing the Canadian national anthem?

There is no question that the Canadiens success in their 100 year tradition is unmatched. They’ve won 24 Stanley Cups more than any other team and as a franchise this amounts to 26 percent.
On Dec 29, 2008, Montreal defeated the Florida Panthers 5-2 to become the first team in NHL history to reach 3,000 victories.

Thanks for acknowledging that. Maybe you do know a thing or two about this team....

But in recent years, the Canadiens have fallen onto hard times. Montreal’s last Stanley Cup occurred in 1992-93 when former Detroit Red Wings Coach Jacques Demers guided them to a title led by Hall of Fame Goaltender Patrick Roy.
Don’t expect anymore championships in the immediate future as a modern day player would rather play for a USA based team where the dollar has a much higher value.

Someone should tell the dingbats at my bank that the American dollar is "much higher" than the Canadian one because I was paid in American dollars a few weeks ago and when I had it converted, it wasn't much higher. Now I'm mad!

Does anybody in the USA care or know anything about Hockey Night In Canada?

Apparently not. Because if they did, then they'd know that in Quebec we don't watch Hockey Night in Toronto....

With the exception of the NHL Finals and a marquee match-up in the playoffs, you won’t see a Canadian based team on NBC. The Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils, Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche have been the primary teams featured on the game of the week.

And we all know how great it is to watch the Devils and the Avalanche! I wonder why NBC never puts on the Panthers? Or the Lightning? Or the Coyotes? Or the Predators? They're American teams too, right? Why don't they get any airtime on NBC? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU NBC?!

As a sidenote... I remember a specific "game of the week" where NBC had a Flyers/Rangers game on in which the Flyers lost in the most ubelieveably lame fashion. And while the poor people had to suffer through that, there was a really great Bruins/Penguins game on... Wonderful work NBC!

While Canada’s hockey tradition speaks for itself, the Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques moved south of the border to Phoenix, AZ and Denver because they couldn’t survive north of the border. Over the years, the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers have struggled financially. There are only six Canadian based teams with the Senators, Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference while the Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks compete in the Western Conference.

And we all know how well the Jets are doing in Phoenix, eh? Funny how he doesn't mention that Phoenix was just loaned a pile of money from the NHL to stay in operation. Or that Nashville had a little crisis earlier this year? Or that the Thrashers and the Lightning can't fill their buildings even half way on most nights.....

When sports fans around the continent look at Montreal, they view this market as a third world country because of the many failures of its teams. Major League Baseball’s Expos are now the Washington Nationals while Montreal has struggled to support two Canadian Football League teams. The Montreal Alouettes and Concordes have folded and revived over the years.

I always thought that Phoenix and Nashville as third world countries too because of their problems maintaining a hockey team without borrowing a pile of money.....

My advice to Canadiens fans is don’t embarrass yourself anymore because North American fans don’t view your city as a legitimate sports town.

I'm sure everyone here wakes up every morning with the idea that they want their city to be viewed as the most amazing and legitimate sports town in the world.

To the people of the town of Montreal: You're greatest ambitions have now been squashed.

Very few people in Dallas, Phoenix, Denver, Tampa Bay, Southern Florida, North Carolina, Columbus, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, and Atlanta know anything about Guy LaFleur, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Maurice Richard, Larry Robinson, Yvan Cournoyer, Steve Shutt, Bernie Geoffrion, Ken Dryden and Jacques Plante.

Notice how he leaves out New York, Boston, Detroit and Chicago....

But they do know that you booed “The Star Spangled Banner.” It’s hard to believe that your championship drought has now reached 16 years.

Yeah, I can't believe we haven't won in over 16 years either...It tears me up every night when I go to sleep....

I predict that the Detroit Lions will reach the Super Bowl before your team will hoist another Stanley Cup Trophy because teams in the NFL have been know to change their fortunes quickly if they make the right moves in the drafts, via trades and on the waiver market. The Miami Dolphins went from 1-15 to 11-5 in one calendar year.

Someone should inform the Islanders about that. They could really use some help in changing their team around.

The perception of Montreal by todays players is that your area is viewed as Hockey’s version of Siberia and they know the national television exposure and mega endorsement deals in Montreal are lacking.

If we're Siberia than what is Nashville? The moon? I don't think they have a brutal media in Siberia either...

To the people of Siberia: We greatly apologize if your feelings have been hurt. We're sure that Siberia is a great place to live despite the perception that you all live in the middle of nowhere.

Today’s players will take the same approach as the Montreal Expos did by using your organizations as stepping stones toward free agency and seeking greener pastures. Your 100 year tradition will carry less weight in contract negations.
Then again, USA fans won’t care about you and they’ll continue to say “No Canada.

USA fans don't care about us? Oh! I AM SO SHOCKED! You have just like, burst my bubble. I thought everyone cared about us? Oh wow... whatever am I going to do now?

Welcome to the Club of Epic Failures!

You read it right. No hockey games on today is really killing me so I figured I'd start this club. This is a club for everyone in the NHL or other hockey leagues that has failed in some epic way. Today we're inducting some of our members. More will be added in the near future.

Brilliant Mastermind Behind the Club - EP

President: Martin Biron for failing epically in general. If we ever made a Club For Goalies That Like To Be Sieves, he'd be the president of that too.

Vice-President: The person in charge of the NHL schedule. Who puts the Habs and the Caps playing on the same days?

The guy below the Vice-President (is that the vice-vice-President? *g*) - The Leafs. Do I need to explain this one further? They'll have to figure out a way to share the position.

Senior Secretary to the President - Martin Brodeur. While I believe he's completely cursed right now, he's not getting off the hook for that epic loss in game 7 against the Whalercanes. So instead of making him the actual Vice-President, he gets to be the Senior Secretary to the President.

The Board of Directors for the "Special Failures Section" of the Club- The dudes in charge of the San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises (they are the owners of the team)

Special Secretary to the Senior Board of Directors for the "Special Failures" Section of the Club - Doug Wilson (the GM of the Sharks)

Almost-Cool Janitor for the Special Secretary to the Senior Board of Directors - Jumbo Joe (Thornton)

Head of Entertainment at the Club - John Tortorella. Every Club needs a head of entertainment. Torts is our guy because of his epic hissy fit which turned into his team getting an epic fail in the series.

Caps win and guess who fails me this time?

First off.... CAPS WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN! It was a sloppy, messy, icky game but they pulled out a win. Semin pinballed the puck into the back of the net after Antropov had already put the puck past Simeon. A pile of icky and virtually penalty free minutes came and then finally... with 5 something, Fedorov puts one past Lundqvist. Best part of the night! For an old guy (sorry) it was great to see him get a goal when it mattered the most.

Of course Simeon was awesome and Lundqvist was awesome for most of the night too. Ovie was not so good. I dunno why the heck he was being double shifted because he looked really dead until Fedorov scored and then he practically killed the guy by jumping on him. I swear the guy is going to kill one of his teammates by squashing them...

The best part though, was seeing the Caps fans and the signs they brought with them. One had Avery as Bart and Tortorella as Homer saying "I'm going to waterbottle you". The Caps fans right behind Torts also had rain ponchos on. Needless to say, I died laughing and now I really want to find that poster....

Now unfortunately, the Caps will be facing the Puffles next because Brodeur and Co failed utterly in the last 1:30 and lost 4-3. Roy's curse lives on (stupid Roy....Stop cursing people!). Way to lose a game that looked for sure like you were going to win. Thanks for nothing. Brodeur now gets added to the Club of Epic Failures. Congrats. Don't worry though. Biron is still president of the club. I can't say how mad I am at the Devils for losing. I don't want to see a Puffles/Washington series. I really wanted the see the Bruins and the Pens knock each other out or something. I can just picture Mr. Puffle's perky face as he scores.... UGH. UGH. UGH. UGH.

And in World Championsip new...

And poor Jaro.... His team failed so epically... I wanted to go and hug the poor guy. He just can't play for a half decent team. He deserves a lot better. I really hate Spezza now. I kinda wanted to see both the Staal bros in Switzerland but Broduer messed up that plan.... If Canada loses (and I don't really care if they win or not), I'm blaming Brodeur for no reason. Whoo!

Day 15: Do or die

Despite some stats saying that 63% of all home teams win game 7, I won't be convinced that the Caps have won until that stupid clock runs out in the third period. I honestly didn't have my hopes up too too much when they Caps went down 3-1 but I knew that if anyone was going to stage a comeback, it'd be this team. They did it last year and who was to say that they couldn't do it again (albeit with a slightly different ending in game 7)? So here we are again. Game 7 . If the Rangers continue to play like a bunch of deflated and disorganized players that they've been in the last two games, then everything is set. If they actually show up... well, let's not talk about that, okay? The Caps need to be ready for a team that will show up. And they need to push and play hard until the last seconds run out on the clock. Let's go Caps! You're my only true hope at playoff happiness. Don't blow it.

And.... Brodeur, as much as I dislike you, I need you to win. Why? Because if you win and the Caps win, those Penguins take on Boston. I want that. I don't want a Washington/Pittsburgh matchup right now... or ever... So smarten up Devils and get back to that boring trap system!

Oh yeah and........

Goodbye Sharks. Goodbye Flames.

I thought I'd be a lot more ecstatic to see these two teams go out, but alas, no such luck. I don't like the Ducks and I don't appreciate them kicking Nabby around (why I'm sticking up for Nabby when he pretty much single-handedly ruined my enjoyment of the World Championship along with Kovalchuk last year, I have no idea). I hope the Ducks go down to the Wings now. Should be interesting to see how the Ducks do if the Wings won't drop the gloves with them...=p

The one thing that I do take slight pleasure in however, is the fact that the Habs are definitely not the only team to crash out of the playoffs. Look:

• Three teams - including the Canadiens - were swept in the first round.
  
• The two other teams that were swept were highly touted before the playoffs. Everyone is screaming that the Blues and the Jackets weren't experienced enough to win their series and yet before the playoffs began, people were saying both Masons were good enough to help their teams to a possible win in their series. C'mon, we all saw the predictions. "Blah, blah, blah, Steve Mason is great, he could backstop the Jackets to a win over the Wings", "blah, blah, blah the Blues are looking really good, they could take out the Canucks". I'm not knocking the Blues or the Jackets, but that really was some of the things said before the playoffs.
  
• The Flames were supposedly a very strong team going into the playoffs. They supposedly were the "winners" of the trade deadline with Leopold and Jokinen added to their lineup. Last night, I saw a team that had given up pretty early on in the game.
  
• The Sharks had one of the best starts ever and they finished top of the league. They were supposedly set to be Cup contenders for real this time with some veteran help. Adding Todd McLellen was supposed to just be the finishing touches to serious Stanley Cup contender. Instead they get taken out by a team that spent most of the last bit of their season fighting for a playoff spot.

World Championship news....

GO HAAAALAAAAAAK! Hell with Heatley and Spezza and the rest of the Sens/Leafs filled Team Canada. GO LITTLE SLOVAK GOALIE GO!

The Wonderful World of Colin Campbell

It was late at night. The hockey games had all finished by this time. The people had all gone home and were now asleep or passed out somewhere. Even the fans had gone back home.

But not everyone was asleep. No, in the uppermost turret of Special Executive Suite No. 340 someone was still awake. Colin Campbell was hard at work. While the rest of the world got to sleep, the Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations was still awake. He had a tough decision to make. For you see, a few minor incidents had happened in the Stanley Cup playoff game between Washington and New York. He had received notice that Donald Brashear had taken out Blair Betts.

After looking at the video, Colin paced around for a few minutes before sitting down at a chair. He took out two omnious boxes and placed them on the table. Opening the first box carefully, he reached in and drew out a small slip of paper. As he unfolded it, the words "Pre-game incident" could be seen scrawled on it. Nodding slowly, Colin then reached into the second box and drew out another slip of paper. Upon unfolding it, the words "Automatic 10 game suspension" could be seen.

Colin frowned slightly. That was a little much... He reached back into the second box and pulled out another slip of paper. This time the words "1 game suspension" were scrawled on it. Ah much better.

Now. There was a little matter of the actual incident though....

The Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations reached into the first box and drew out a slip of paper. He sighed as he saw the words "tripping" on the paper. He had had a similar major issue not that long ago. When perpetual pest Sean Avery had gone spewing stuff about his ex-girlfriend, Colin had been left with quite the problem. You see, being a stupid idiot wasn't really a suspendable offense. But King Gary had insisted so much that he do something, that Colin had been forced to get a new piece of paper and write the words "dissing ex" and put the paper in the first box.

But back to the task at hand. What was he going to suspend this guy for? It clearly wasn't tripping. Colin reached back into the box. There had to be something that'd at least make some sense to someone.....

"Being Donald Brashear". Ah! That one made sense! Colin smiled and sighed with relief. Some days he job was so tough....

Now he just needed a decent amount of games to suspend the guy for and he was finished. Reaching into the second box, Colin pulled out a piece of paper that read "5 games for pretty much no reason". That made sense to him. So it must be right.

The Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations smiled and leaned back in his chair. Another night's tough work was done. Now it was time for nap....

Day 13: When feeling like crap: watch some crazy Russians scoring

Works every time.... Although, Malkin goals don't make me happy anymore so no Malkin....Sorry Malkin... I tried to keep liking you when I ditched the Pens... I tried... but alas, no such luck....

Kovalev goals never ever get old. Ever. Even if he's a Penguin or a Ranger in a couple of these goals.. I still go "Oy... he shouldn't be allowed to do that. It's unfair."



I've decided that I like Kovalchuk too. I feel bad that he doesn't get any recognition because he plays on a team that is perpetually ranked last....Anyway, he's still crazy talented.



Some awesome Semin goals.



They don't have my favorite Semin goal though...which is here (who said you needed legs to score a goal? Pfft...legs are so overrated)



A Filatov hattrick!!!! I'm thinking we'll be seeing plenty more goals from him in the future =)



And what would a list of some of my favorite Russian's scoring be without some Ovie goals, eh? I still think that his goal against the Rags the other day should be ranked second *nods*

"Yay!", "NOOOO!" and "Erm?"

HELL YA! With a little help from the Rags, the Caps have now evened up the series! WHOOO!

I thought the Rags would at least show a little effort here but no such thing. They were so relaxed without Torts that they fell asleep and even Avery couldn't get anything going. The Rags rolled over after initially tying up the game 1-1 and it was all Caps. Jurcina got the first goal which I missed because I was watching Hellboy for a second, Green got a sweet goal which I saw, Poti got a goal on a 3 on 1 chance which I was screaming at him to put away and Kozlov made up for a sloppy error that almost cost the Caps and scored before flying into the net. I wanted an Ovie goal and I got one even if it was just a deflection (it's still an Ovie goal!). The best the Rags could come up with was attempts to run over Ovie. Okay fine. They got one goal on a 5 on 3 and another one on a... either a 5 on 3 or a just finished 5 on 3 which turned into a 5 on 4. I dunno. Doesn't matter. Staal Bro. 3 got a goal with 5 seconds left but it was all pretty moot anyway.

Reason number 46789065 that it sucks to have your team go out....

You have to suffer through a Whalercane/Devils game. Enough said.

I think my shirts are cursed...

...because whenever I wear a Habs shirt, the Habs lose (oddly enough, when I wear a Habs shirt, the Caps win). Apparently it also cuses the Baby Habs as well because tonight the Hammies were eliminated by the referees who were beyond awful. Thanks refs. You officially suck. You're lucky that this aint' Slovakia or else one of you might get whacked....

I feel for the Hammies. They went out like the Habs did. Got an early goal. Looked good. Refs sucked. The other team scored and it was all over. At least they didn't boo them in Hamilton *coughs*

It's okay Hammies. We love you!

In World Championship news.....

In their first appareance in I don't know how many years, Hungary got insanely unlucky to be in the same group at Canada. Now it wasn't as bad as the time that the Slovak women's team won a game 82 -0... but... it wasn't too pretty either. How about 9-0...? With a Shorty Marty hatrick a 56 to 16 shots on goal in favor of Canada (maybe Jaro should have changed his nationality to Hungarian).

In the words of the PA guy in Boston: WhooooOOOOOOOOOooooooooo! Poor Hungary though. If they can't beat Grabs and Co then they're back to being relagated. Poor guys.

Day 11 and 12: Yes, I'm still watching the playoffs

.....Although I have no idea why I'm watching them at this point. If the Caps go out today or in game 7, I will have no team in the East to cheer for. Technically I don't really have a team in the West either.

Fun.

For the records, it wasn't like I was cheering for the Flyers necessarily. It was more like I was cheering against the Penguins. Minor difference. Although as I watched the series, I could almost see how people could like the Flyers (liking Biron and Briere on the other hand....that's beyond me). All of that is quite moot though, because said Penguins won. Thanks Biron. Way to lose after going up 3-0. At least your fans didn't boo you. We're hoping that the Caps and Devils will win so the Pens will play the Bruins. C'mon, wouldn't that be great?

It was a scoring fest for the Hawks. I think I understand why people boo the national anthems though. They're not booing the anthem itself but the way it's being sung *g* After a performance like the one I was subjected to in Chicago, I'd totally boo the performance. Anyway, the insane singing of the anthems seemed to help the Hawks and totally disorient the Flames as the Hawks took 3 goals in about a minute. A goal for the Flames did nada as the Hawks got another one and sent Kipper to the bench. The Hawks would eventually add one more.

AND THE DUCKS...... lost in OT.... I was asleep. Not pleased. C'mooooooon Ducks. You need to win Game 6! And not in triple OT like the Stars had to do last year...

So today we cheer for....

The Caps. Torts will be out as coach tonight because he tossed a water bottle over the glass at a Caps fan the other night. Uhuh... So that whole "our players need to be more disciplined" thing not only failed (let's see, 6 players on the ice for over 10 seconds and I dunno how many stupid penalties) but umm, the coach gets suspended for blowing up at the fans. Am I the only one who sees the irony in this? Didn't think so....

Questions to ponder: Will Avery be in the lineup? Will Bruce Broudreau be the victim of "revenge" beer tossing by the crowd at MSG? Will the Rags play better or worse without Torts? Maybe not having a nutjob screaming at them will help them out? Or maybe they'll be completely lost without having him tell them what to do?

Devils. A Caps victory and a Devils victory gets us closer to a Pens vs Bruins series. We want that.

The Hammies. It's win or go home tonight. Obviously we want a win =p

Things I'll miss about the 08-09 Habs

Despite all the "well, there wasn't a lot to miss about this year" crap, I for one will be missing a lot about my Habs. Yeah, the fact that I'm already pining to see les boys on the ice and the fact that I'm writing yet another thing about the season means we're in for a very long off-season... Anyway... Things I'm going to miss about this year's Habs:

The Wickedly Awesome Forwards

• Kovalev goals. Ovie may score flashy and exciting goals but Kovy's goals that go right through the goalie are insane.
• Koivu's enthusiasm when he scores. He gives Ovie a run for his money.
• Turtle-Pleky's turtleneck shirts. I dunno. I find them kinda funny.
• Mr. Perky (Lang) and his perky interviews (even though it took me about a week to understand what the heck he was saying).
  
• Lapierre's shootout winner against the Sens. Hey, I was there for my first ever live hockey game. While I didn't actually see the goal because I was at the wrong end of the ice, it still meant that the good team won in Ottawa that night.
• Gui's wraparound goal against Huet =)
  
• Kostopoulos' effort. The guy can't hit the puck at the net to save his life but he works really hard
• Tanguay's little feud with Mike Keenan. I found it amusing.
• Higgy's hatrick versus the Sens. Not only was the hatrick nice but the Sens got blanked =)
• Laraque and the never-ending melodramatics that followed him...
  
• Metro and his first game with the Habs. The poor guy was a Flyer one hour and a Hab the next. He did well after his first shift though.
  

The "can't really play D on most nights but are still cool" D-men

• Schneider plays
• MARKOV. Nothing needs to be added to this. Markov is amazing. I want a billion of him.
• Gorges scoring and the team not losing when he scored
• Dandeneault (err we're pretending that he's supposed to be D) when he stayed on the ice until the end of his shift despite breaking his arm
• Komisarek as "assistant coach" while he was injured. His record is better than Gainey's =p
• O'Byrne... well... You did have a couple of good games =)
  
• Breezer... oh man... Breezer.... I liked it when you sat up in the press box. I'm sorry. I'm sure you're not a bad human being, but it's time to call it a day as a hockey player. Although, actually, you did have one spectacular save in the game against... I think it was Chicago. So kudos.
• Hammer and Boullion... I'm sure you've both done something that was really neat. I know Boullion had a goal against the Panthers when they came at the beginning of the season and nobody thought that we'd win.... and I know Hammer has blasted some pucks past goalies...
  

The Totally Wonderful Goalies

• The Priceberg when he's on top of it
• Halak-attacks
• Jaro in his ugly backup-goalie hats. Actually, Price looks just as bad in those hats when he's on the bench... But Jaro looks the worst. Poor Jaro!
• Jaro beating the Sharks (because it started my hate-affair with the Joe Thornton)
  
• Pricey shutting out the Sens and his fantastic win against the Hawks and even more fantastic effort against the Sabres in their last meetup.
  
• Jaro looking dazed but happy as he stops 40+ shots to win a game
  
• Pricey and Gorges with their funny victory celebrations
• Price's victory pose after the Habs beat Tampa Bay in shootouts

The Hammies (because it's nice to know that we could have a good future with these guys)

• Weber plays - which happened once but the guy hardly got to play this year - were awesome too. Oh I think I just found a new Swiss-dude to like a lot (sorry Roger!)
• D'Agostini with his pile of goals when he fist got called up
• Patches and his first NHL goal against the Devils
• Stewie and his baby-face-harder-than-rock-head. My favorite Stewie moment was when he tried to fight Steve Ott and Ott waved his injured hand in his face. Ott was feeling well enough to bash around the rest of the Habs...
• Denis sitting in as Jaro's backup. Wasn't too pleased about him playing against the Devils but he looked good as Jaro's backup.
  
• Maxwell, Henry Janik and Chipper - well, so you didn't have too much of an impact while you were here. But I love what you're doing in Hamilton. So keep that up!

The Belarussians (because they need their own section)

• AK46 with his wicked shots that go through a goalie. There weren't enough of those but when they happened they were great
• Kostitsyn bros plays. Again, there weren't enough of those either but I loved those when they happened =)
• AK46 standing up for his little brother. Although really.. you need to learn how to fight...
  
• Sergei yapping at Grabs
• Grabs with his whole "I don't think Sergei's Belarussian. He's French." spiel. Either something got seriously lost in translation or else Grabs is really weird. It was hilarious either way though.

And Begin

• I'm just happy that you got to go play for a team where you could actually play more =)
  

Alexander the Great strikes again

Ahem... video of Ovie's goal against the Rags. I know people want to kick him, but I personally could watch this one all day (for the records, I have watched some of his goals all day *g*). Maybe now people will stop pointing out that goal Ovie got against Pricey...? Maybe not... Whatever. This is the goal that matters right now.

Day 10: It can't be Friday... It has to be Monday....

It has to be Monday because today is random info day. I think I do this every Friday though... Maybe I should move random info day from Monday to Friday?

Last night went....GOOD!

Wings finally squashed the Jackets (sorry Jackets) and I was NOT pleased with how Osgood and Co did. You don't take two-goal leads (how many times? Twice?!) and then BLOW it in two seconds.... BAH BAH BAH BAH! But ya'll won eventually so I'm pleased with that. Now get your act together and be better in the next round please!

DUCKS WON. In spectacular fashion too. 4-0! I shouldn't laugh butbutbutbutbutbut.....

BIRON actually go a shutout. Oh my god.... I was dying... in a semi-good/semi-bad sort of way...BIRON YOU DIDN'T FAIL ME?! What's going on here?! Yeah, you got insanely lucky. But you didn't fail me. I can't believe it. it's truly the end of the world....

Devils/Whalercanes were boring. I died of boredom.

TODAY WENT....

uh well, it went... and I missed what happened. I missed Team Canada smouldering Team Balrus 6-1 in Switzerland today. I wasn't too annoyed because there's nobody I really like playing for Team Canada and it's still early on in the tournament anwyay. But guess who got the lone Belarus goal? Oh yeah. I saw the score and I was like "Oh c'mon... lemme guess.... Grabs got the lone goal?" and then I checked and yup. The twerp got the goal. BAH. Apparently I didn't know that Salei was from Belarus too. I thought there was only Grabs and the Kostitsyn brothers. Apparently there is also Salei. Huh....

I'm rocking the red in my red Habs shirt (according to Leonsis, it counts so nyah). Hoping the Caps can beat those Rags.

Edit: HELLO GAME 6!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh why oh why couldn't more of this series be like this game? It had everything. It had grumpy Rags, a beautiful shorty goal by a guy who I hardly ever hear of, one ugly Caps goal by the same guy who I hardly ever hear of, one sick-in-the-good-way Semin goal, one amazing Ovie goal, one angry coach in Torts, drunk fans, dozens of Rags penalties despite no Avery in the lineup... Oh and it had a shutout by Simeon (there is no way in hell I'm calling the guy "Varly". Ick). WHOOOOOOOOOO! Caps are still in it baby! Oh and... as I mentioned on Twitter... Hockey on TV isn't TV. It's hockey. Non-hockey on TV is TV.

THANK YOU HABS!

("borrowed" from Habs Inside/out)

Just wanted to say a big "thank you" to the guys who made up the 2008-2009 Montreal Canadiens. I know it's been a rough year and things haven't gone the way that we had hoped it would. But thank you anyway. Minus one brief spell in February, I honestly enjoyed watching you guys. This was the first season that I've ever sat through and it's been so great in so many ways. I hope you all come back for next season - I'm pretty attached to all of you right now and it would kill me to see you play for another team. Contrary to popular belief, this isn't the end of the world. There will be other games,other seasons. I wish you guys luck with whichever team you go to play with. In the mean time, forget the people who only whine and complain about you. There's so many people who love to watch you play and love to support you. So yeah, thanks and...

GO HABS GO!

Day 9: oh right the playoffs are still happening...

Tonight may just see two more teams eliminated. Actually, if the Wings sweep the Jackets, I will be semi-happy, if only because I don't want to be the only team along with the Blues that got swept. The more teams that get swept the better. We'll all commiserate together!

• If the refs would get their act together, maybe the Flyers can win a game tonight? No more crap calls like that Mr. Puffy goal, please......
• If the Red Wings leave Datsyuk, Hossa, Zetterberg and Lidstrom at home, maybe the Jackets will have a chance at scoring a goal (sorry Jackets.....)
• If TSN wasn't so stupid then I wouldn't be suffering through another Devils/Whalercanes game. Ugh. Maybe Brodeur will have another fit just to amuse me? C'mon Marty...!
  
• If the Ducks blow this game tonight, I will be very, very, very, very mad.
  

Welcome to playoff life without the Habs! Not appealing in the least....

So...now what?

I have no idea what to say here....I think I stupidly thought that I'd take a loss easier this year than I had last year for some reason.... Yeah right.... Last year I only sat through 12 games in the post-season. This year? 82 games + 4 in the postseason. Yeah... like I was really going to care less....

I guess I gotta say something then, right?

First off... I think I spent more time being angry with the fans at the Bell Center than I did at the Bruins, the refs and the Habs. Booing your own team at a time when your team needs your support is not cool. It's classless and just plain mean. Just because you forked over a small fortune doesn't mean that you have the "right" to go and be rude to your own team. You wonder why we can't land a big impact player? You have your reason right there tonight. I fully understand why nobody wants to play here when things like that happen.

I don't have much to say about the game itself. It was sad and I don't necessarily blame the guys for wanting to get off of the ice as soon as possible. I'm sorry to that this game had to be the last time I'll probably see a lot of them as Habs. It's been a great year in so many ways for me so I'm a bit sad that it had to end like this.

I want Gainey to stay. And I want someone to get Price a really good shrink. When I saw Price get upset with the crowd tonight, I saw shades of Roy (yes, yes, before they started running the footage of Roy getting upset). Now imagine if Gainey was Houle (because people apparently want to see another GM right now). Imagine that for a second. If he was, then he'd ship off Price in a really bad deal. I don't want that. Price can be great. I want him to stay here and be that great goalie that he can be. But he needs help. I'm not talking shrink help right now. I'm talking D help. The D is in shreds right now and it needs to be fixed somehow. The D is probably the biggest issue for the Habs right now. More so than that big impact forward named Vinny.We need to clone Markov and barring that, we need to steal Lidstrom (or we'll take Datsyuk. His offensive and denfensive plays are amazing =p).

This off season is going to be long and painful, isn't it....? I'm hoping Nadal and Federer can pull through for me in the tennis season. We've got Roland Garros and Wimbledon coming up so let's see what these guys can do.

Oh and if the Pens play Boston (because the Caps will be amazing and win the next three games) then I think I will have no choice but to cheer for the Pens. Damn. I don't want to cheer for the Pens again because they're playing the team that knocked out my team.....but I don't have a choice.

To anyone who hasn't thrown their team under the bus (and I guess that's all of three of you who read this blog *g*): can I suggest you wear your Habs shirt tomorrow in support of the guys? I actually completely stole that idea from Number31 in case you're wondering. It's a great idea.

Musings on Habs bashing...

When I got into hockey, I got into it because it looked cool. Seeing a bunch of guys skating around while trying to put a little black thing into the back of the net looked like fun to watch. And I expected it to stay fun. I didn't expect to witness huge amounts of bashing of the team. I was surprised - perhaps I shouldn't have been in hindsight - at the sheer amount of bashing that has come from all sides. It's come from the media and the fans outside of the province and it's come from the media and fans inside the province. I have to say I'm still a little baffled and angered by all of the bashing. Call me completely naive, but I don't get it. I thought only the Leafs were hated this much. Man, was I ever wrong...

The media outside of the province interests and confuses me quite a bit. In a perfect world, the media shouldn't be subtly biased against one particular team. Obviously this isn't a perfect world. I always thought it was just my imagination that all the highlights on TSN showed people scoring on the Habs, or that TSN's commercials for the playoffs would invariably have the Habs losing or some PA shouting "AND DOWN GOES MONTREAL" while other teams got footage of their guys scoring and winning. But then I asked other people about it - yes, other Habs fans. No they don't all live in Quebec- and they say they noticed it too. Are we just that insecure that we think that everyone is against us? or is there actually something to be said for it? I honestly don't know.

As a Habs fan, I can be a quite defensive of my team so maybe I'm just being overly defensive. I don't know. But I can tell you that the first thing the people on TSN said after the Habs game was "fans booed the American national anthem". Look, I don't endorse that type of behavior at all, but I don't remember TSN saying anything about the Bruins or Blues fans booing the Canadian national anthem while the Habs and Canucks were playing in Boston and St. Louis. Why is it a big production when it's done in Montreal and never a big deal when it's done somewhere else? If you think that it's wrong - and it is wrong - then say it every time fans do it. Don't just pick out Montreal, please.

There was a lot of outrage when Kostopoulos injured Mike Van Ryn. There was a whole spiel about how dirty the hit was and how he wasn't suspended long enough. But when every Habs' least favorite Leaf injures Markov - and doesn't even take a penalty for it - there isn't any noise from the media. Nada. Matt Hunwick get his eye injured in a scrum and all of a sudden Komisarek has to be suspended for "eye gouging" him. Hunwick then comes down with a spleen injury and all of a sudden it was because was injured while playing those nasty dirty Habs. But when Lang got injured with what could be a career ending injury and Latendresse also went out on a pretty nasty hit against the Bruins earlier in the year, it's just "part of the game". Like I've said, I don't want any player to be seriously injured. As much as I hate most of the Bruins as players or Grabovski, I don't want to see them get a serious injury. But I don't like the media playing up every injury that happens to players when they play against Montreal and the hear nothing when the Habs players are injured.

That's the feeling that I get from the media. I'll be fully honest and say maybe part of it is in my head, but I find it hard to believe that it's all in my head. I don't believe that my judgment is that clouded by my love for the Habs.

The fans outside of the province are a little easier to deal with. Fans of different teams are allowed to bash each other's teams. Within reason of course. The amount of hate and just plain rudeness that I've seen come from other fans this year however, is amazing (in a bad way). Look, Habs fans are not perfect. We can be mean and rude too and I'm not saying that all fans of other teams are like this, but there just seems to be so much hate from other fans towards the Habs in general. I don't know if it's resentment of the team in general, resentment of the policies and politics in Quebec or if it's done because it seems to be the "in" thing to do. Or all of the above. The baffling part for me is the amount of people who just seem to be taking so much delight in the Habs doing poorly. Do they really dislike the Habs that much that they'd spend most of their time dissing them? I find it kind of bizarre.

As for the media and fans here in Quebec.....You'd think that a little Habs fan could find some solace in her own media and her own fanbase at least supporting her team, right? Dead wrong. Some of the biggest crap I've seen and heard has come from the media in Montreal and from supposed "Habs fans". I have no idea why anyone would call themselves a fan and then proceed to do nothing but whine, complain and boo the team. I will whine about the team sometimes, yes, but boo them at a game? No. If all I wanted to do was whine about the guys then I'd wouldn't be following hockey. It's a game and it's supposed to be fun. Sure losing sucks, but it happens. It's part of it. Sometimes a team has a really good year. Sometimes they have a really bad year. It's part of it. Things aren't so enjoyable when people keep jumping on and off the bandwagon. It's not enjoyable when people keep throwing the team under the bus. I know there's a mentality that "well, it's my team so I can say what I want about them" but it's really not all that fun when I hear dozens of people bashing Price after the team loses. It's not fun when I have to hear people screaming for Carbonneau (and now Gainey's) head. If I find it sad and depressing, I can only wonder what the team thinks?

And it's certainly not enjoyable when the media gets on their own obsessive bandwagons. I had some respect for the media at the beginning of this year. I think most of that respect went out the door when all these so called "scandals" broke out. Kovalev stays home? "Oh my god, he's leaving the team! END OF THE WORLD! Kovalev sucks! We're screwed!". Those photos of some of the guys in Mexico (which were taken at least sixth months ago)? "See? They partying too much. They don't focus enough on hockey... blah, blah, blah..."

And then they wonder why nobody wants to play here? Well, let's see... would you want to play in a city who's media goes way over the top at the littlest things, goes ballistic if you don't speak French, does nothing but whine and complain if you don't win 80 of 82 games in the regular season and then throws you under the bus when you're about to be eliminated from the playoffs? Didn't think so. I know the media's job is to sell a story. But when those stories features nothing but bashing of the team, it makes me mad. Do they really want to sell a story that badly that they'll spew the first thing that comes their way and put a spin on it so it'll sound bad?

With 6 hours to go before the puck drops for what could be the last time this year, I'm bracing myself for a new wave of Habs bashing. It's sad to think that on a night when the Habs could really use our support, they're probably going to get the loudest chorus of booing by their own fans. We can't control the media, and if the other fans want to hate us, then fine, but people who profess to be Habs fans shouldn't be bashing or booing their own team. As tough as it can be to love a team that loses, they're still our team. And we should be supporting them.

Day 8: Oy vey....

A picture of most of my Habs stuff. I have accumulated more stuff since I took that picture, but yeah, figured I'd show off some of some of it to support the guys =)

1. I find it sad, maddening and pathetic that I can't go downtown because I'm afraid that if les boys lose tonight, there will be a riot. I got mad yesterday when someone said that they dont' want the team to win (or I guess lose either?) because they didn't want to see riots. I was mad not at the people for saying that, but at the morons who go around rioting because they don't represent most fans and they don't represent the team. I don't appreciate being thrown in the same boat as these people who think it's okay to go destroying things and just plain causing chaos.
   
2. I find it sad, maddening and pathetic that there will be people booing the team. How is booing them going to help anything? If it's so damn easy to beat the Bruins maybe they should go out on the ice and give it a try. Yeah... that'd go over really well....
   
3. I find it sad, maddening and semi-pathetic that the media will go moaning and moaning after this loss. Stuff it. Again, if it's so damn easy to win all the time, then you guys try it. Whining isn't going to change what happens.
   
4. Oh and I have proof that it ain't over until it's over: After blowing a 3-0 lead, the Whalercanes won 4-3 with .02 seconds left on the clock in regulation time. Brodeur had a fit and I laughed for about fifteen minutes. What? I was tired.
   
5. Is it just or is this first round progressing rather quickly? The poor Blues were swept last night and the Habs could be swept tonight. The Jackets and the Flyers could also face elimination tomorrow as well.
   
6. Tonight we cheer for the Habs and the Caps!

Win or lose, I still love my Habs. And you should love them too *nods*

GO HABS GO!

Day 7? : TSN got something right

Amazingly the TSN schedule people got something right and put the Devils/Whalercanes game on TSN2. Why is this good? It's good because I only get the main TSN station and as such, it means that I won't have to suffer through a Devils/Whalercanes game tonight. Huzzaaaaaaaah....!

Anyway, tonight we cheer for the Flyers, the Wings, the Devils or the Whalercanes depending on your mood, the Canucks and the Ducks. Hmm, Canucks and Ducks rhyme. I didn't notice that before.... Haha...

Interesting, usless and things we hope for tonight:

• We hope that Biron doesn't be a sieve
• We hope that Michel Therrien will get off our screen
• Why don't they offer a trophy for the fanbase that boos Crosby the most?
• The Canucks could be the first team to get into the next round tonight if they win....
• I still find it odd that the city of Columbus will be seeing its first ever NHL playoff game tonight....
• How come we're still surprised when the Sharks don't play well in the playoffs? Every year it seems to be a great big shocker when the Sharks forget how to play....
• And is it just me or does Todd McLellan look like he's aged about twenty years since he became headcoach of the Sharks?
• Yeah, I'm doing this useless writeups because I want to see if I can write something on every day of the playoffs.... =p

I will not be depressed!

You know what? I can't be depressed about the game tonight. The Habs did what I asked them to for most of tonight and I can't be mad at them. While the rest of the city and all those "fans" go off ranting and raving, I will continue to sit here and support my guys. They tried tonight. They gave it everything they had. It wasn't enough no, but this was a hell of a lot better than that no-show effort the other night. I can accept this loss.

I can also accept Weber's performance tonight. Man, he's showing everyone why I love him =)

That being said, I have a list of grievances to make.

1. "Fans". Stop crabbing about the team. The same people who are moaning about the team now are the same people who will be cheering them on when they win. Just stuff it.
   
2. Price bashing. Leave the guy alone. I'm not saying that because I honestly like the guy as a player. I'm saying because it's too easy to give the goalie all the credit and all the blame for the outcome of a game.
   
3. The media. Really. Tomorrow I'm coming up with a huge rant on this if I have time.
   
4. The Bruins fans who take so much delight in bashing us. It's ridiculous already. Man, you know, there are no words to describe how much I hate the fans of this team right now. I could forgive Boston as a team but not their fans. Ooh, I have a new idea for my rant tomorrow....Stay tuned....
   
5. Someone tell me why I keep paying too much money for food at 3 Brasseurs? Maybe I'm just that fussy about my food but sheesh....... (yeah, I forced some tweeps to come with me to watch the game again *g*)

Oh and the Rags got a taste of the real Washington Capitals. I love the little Russian brigade they've got in Washington. Semin just exploded tonight. I mean TWO GOALS and an assist tonight? Where have you been all this time, dude?! Ovie got an assist as did Fedorov. Nicklas also had a billion assists but he's not Russian (but he is awesome)....Laich and Poti got the two other goals. Very pleased with the Caps tonight. And yay for Simeon (Varlamov) on his shutout.

Right now I'm more ticked off with the fans and the media but I'll get to that another time.

Edit: OH AND HAMMIES WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON! WHOO!

I need a new hobby

Or maybe I just need a life? It's 3 hours until the puck drops at the Bell Center but in the mean time... I just finished Sean Avery the voodoo doll.



Yeah, I know I can't write "Rangers".... the material was evil and the little bottle thingy was evil and my hands were tired....And I know I did it in the wrong colour too... Didn't have any red.... Minor details.... Point is, Avery has a voodoo doll. Bwahahahahahaha..............

DAY SIX: *takes a deep breath*

Yesterday by the way, went very nicely.

1. Fleury was a sieve and Biron was a semi-sieve. The Flyers learned that when the anointed one is on the ice, you don't touch any Penguin. You touch one and you'll get thrown in the overly small penalty boxes (seriously, I don't get why they're so small in Philly). That's how it works these days when the anointed run is running around. Suck it up Flyers and come up with a way to put something in his water. Oh and... Flyers fans win the prize for the best and most consistent booing of the anointed one himself. How could I ever have hated the Flyers fans...? Man... that was so nice.....
   
2. Canucks won. Again. I think I'm happy. Even if those creepy twins are well, creepy. Actually, the Blues fans drove me up the wall so I figured I'd pick the team who's fans are the least annoying
3. Whalercanes lost in OT...... I think..... I wasn't paying attention....
   
4. DUCKS WON AGAIN! YEEEEEEEEES! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA....... Sorry.....
   

Now for TODAY.....

HABS ARE AT HOME and I'm very jealous of Number31 who got tickets!

• No Lucic tonight as he got suspended for a game for bashing Lapierre upside the face. Lapierre's face is still messed up *sticks Lucic back in the toaster* I think all players who are suspended should be forced to make a voodoo doll......
  
• Dunno who's in nets
  
• All I ask from the Habs tonight is for them to show up tonight.
  
• And I want the crowd to boo the heck out of the Bruins. BOO THEM! Take out your anger at the Bruins!
  

Caps meanwhile.... somehow ended up playing at the same time as the Habs. We are NOT amused by this.

• The Caps need to find a way to beat Lundqvist in his overly sized goalie pads....
• Showing up to the game could help a lot
  
• And no stupid rushes against whoever is in nets
• And no stupid penalties
  
• With any luck I"ll have an Avery voodoo doll ready in time for the game (and I'm still running around in my Ovie shirt...)

Everyone else....

• If I could remember who was playing tonight, I'd cheer for someone... But I can't remember so nyah... yeah, it's pre-caffeine hour right now....
  

Day 5: do we really care if Biron is a sieve or not?

Well, actually, I do, because I predicted that the Flyers would lose in 6 and to lose in 6 they have to win twice. So damnit, Biron, you better stop letting in weak goals today.... But anyway.... The reason why I'm bringing you this useless post is because I've got pictures of Thomas the voodoo doll and more Lucic abuse =)

I found Lucic in the toaster this morning. Apparently my family hates his guts too. I love my family sometimes =)

It`s getting really crowded in that tissue box of doom.... Yes, that`s Thomas with WAY too much hair on (I can't seem to make my voodoo dolls baldish. It just doens't work). You can`t see how fat he is from this picture, but I did my best to make him as realistically chubby as possible. Am I the only one who thinks Crosby looks ticked off that Thomas has his hands in his face? *g*

Oh and yeah... that's me in my new Ovie shirt in front of my Ovie poster... Two things you should know: 1) I'm not as wide as the shirt makes me look. I swear I'm skinnier than Thomas....! and 2) My Price poster is up on my wall too. So I'm not abandoning Pricey for Ovie...*g*

I've come to a very sad decision....

If Team Canada picks Brodeur, Crosby and Lucic to be on their team for the Olympics, I'm cheering for Russia. Sorry Canada, but there is no way in hell I'm going to cheer for a team that has Lucic on it. No bleeping way. The guy is a moron. And that's putting it nicely.

But aside from the morons on the ice, the morons in the stands and the morons in black and white, the Caps, Bulldogs, and Habs didn't help themselves one bit today. They simply did not put up enough effort, enough emotion, and in the case of the Habs, they were too undisciplined tonight to win. Fine, fine, so some of those calls weren't real and there was no way in hell that the Bruins only went to the PK ONCE at the end of the period but still... the Habs were not playing like a team. Price and Kovy showed up and we saw glimpses of other people but on a whole...the team didn't show up.

Which baffles me completely. It's a playoff game, people. I know you're tired and demoralized but just flopping over and quitting isn't really a great option. I said this before but I'll say it again: I don't give a damn if the Habs are swept in four games PROVIDED that they go down fighting. If they lose the next two games playing like they did tonight, I will not be a very happy person. This team is very much capable of at least making Boston's lives miserable. They can do it. I realize that this isn't the ideal matchup and we didn't get the ideal seed going into the playoffs. But honestly.... suck it up, guys. Moping ain't going to change who you're playing. Essentially we're seeing the same two teams from last year. There isn't that much of a difference. The difference appears to be in their heads right now.

Right now the Bruins are playing like a team while the Habs... aren't. And damnit, the Habs better snap out of this depressed "woe is me, can we just finish this already so I can go crawl into a whole and die" attitude or else I'm watching the Wings full time. Crazily enough, I still believe in these guys. I still believe that they can get it together and actually win a game or at least give Boston everything that they've got.

So there we have it. I'm still trying to figure out why 1) the networks and media all seem to be against the Habs and 2) why the hell my teams didnt' show up to play. They treated it like it was a game in the middle of February and 3) why it feels like the refs were completely biased against the Hammies and the Habs tonight....

Oh and..whoever thought the Habs game was bad.... I assure you Troy the movie was a lot worse.... Watching Brad Pitt pretending to be a Greek is like watching Milan Lucic trying to give an interview.

Day 4: A very late pre-game rant

First off... My Caps suck. They didn't bring any of the intensity and emotion that I saw in the first game. I was NOT pleased. King Henrik is starting to remind me of Biron the Sieve from last year versus the Habs...Lundqvist has already gotten into the Caps heads, I think, and it's frustrating them. Especially Ovie. He was not pleased at all. Not at all. Poor Ovie...

Second....Tim the Marshmallow now has a voodoo doll. Pictures will be up later when I find my camera. While you're awaiting Tiny Tim's appearance, take a look at Amanda's wonderfully ugly Chara voodoo doll. Isn't he great? Tiny Tim wished he could compete with that uglyness but he just can't.... I did however accidently rip his arm off at one point.... And I accidently eye-gouged him too.... Maybe his spleen will rupture now (more on that in a sec).

Third..... I'm waiting for the Wings to score another goal while listening to the Hammies.

Fourth.... HABS VERSUS BRUINS BABY! A few things...

1. I'm afraid for Komisarek
2. I realize that Hunwick's injury could be serious and I'm not making light of it - because I don't want to see anybody get seriously injured - but.... the way TSN was talking about it, you'd think that you could get a ruptured spleen by getting your eye poked by a Habs player....Unless Hunwick's spleen is in his eye then there is no way that he got that injury by Komisaurus whacking him in the eye.
3. Boullion could be in.
4. Turtle-Pleky and Dagger are out. Weber and Sergei are in (maybe now Andrei can do something good?)
5. I hope nobody dies tonight

Playoffs Day 3: in which I'll miss everything....

Off to Sensland to do something unhockey related. I need an iPhone *sniffles* (curse you tweeps who had such pretty iPhones! Now I want one.....) Oh well... What I'll be missing...:

Caps vs Rags

• Don't turn Lundqvist into last year's version of Biron vs the Habs....Henrik is SO beatable....
  
• Keep Green away from Avery. Avery has picked his guy to go after and it's Green. Keep Green away from Avery!
• That being said... Let Ovie smash that little twerp to his heart's content
• And Jose... If you won't step up - and everyone's saying that you won't - then I hope to the hockey gods that the guys up front do better....
  

Smevils vs Whalercanes

Hope the people brought their pillows....

The team with the most hated player on the planet after Mikhael Grabovski vs the most hated team on the planet after Toronto

• C'mon Flyers........?
  
• Dare I even say.... "C'mon Biron"? I bet you know that I want to you not be a bloody sieve and that's why you're doing this. You hate me. I hate you. You go and do exactly the opposit of what I want you to do. Peh. You want me to turn YOU into a voodoo doll too?! Damn you Biron...

HAMMIES vs grand rapids somethings (forgot their name again...)

• GO HAAAAMIIIIIIIIIES!
  
• And please, please, please, please let the announcers be good tonight (I'm looking at you colour commentator Craig guy or whatever your name was)

And to cap off this totally useless post I bring you some Sharks bashing. Because in the absence of the Leafs and Bruins I need someone to bash.....

So let me get this straight.... the Big Strong Sharks - the guys who finished on top of their conference AND on top of the ENTIRE league. The guys who would be playing the measly eighth place deadish DUCKS. The guys who despite looking like crap in teal, have been Stanley Cup favorites since DAY ONE practically. The guys who apparently other teams just couldn't handle - got blanked 2-0 at home last night in their opener.

Now I know it's just one game but I have only one thing to say...

HAHA JOE THORNTON! YOUR TEAM SUCKED LAST NIGHT! HAH.

Olééééééééééééééééééé!

So the Habs didn't win tonight but............

The good news is....

1. Milan Lucic the voodoo was abused to no end tonight. He was the main attraction actually so that's nice *g* I should have brought Grabovski.... then again... I had a hard time trying to keep Lucic from being completely shredded (hey, look, I spent three hours of my life working on that guy. The only one who gets to seriously abuse him is ME) so maybe bringing Grabs wouldn't be a good idea...=p
   
2. I liked most of the guys effort tonight. It was a lot better than I thought it would be (pessimist bit, yes?)
3. The Tweeps at the tweetup are great =) (and much to my surprise I wasn't the only person there who made St. Louis look like a giant *G*). So thank you to Kyle, Amanda, Number31, pluc and the everyone else at the other table (sorry I couldn't talk to you. I could barely hear the guys beside me...) for making the night enjoyable.
   

Proof that Lucic the voodoo was abused:

I'm not sure who's idea it was to stick Lucic on top of MY glass but someone did so I figured what the heck...might as well stick him.
This certainly was NOT my idea but made for some great pictures. I think he ended up in someones' beer at one point though, so whoever got that beer will have a taste of Lucic....Oops...


See? More abuse.Yes, I dunked him in a glass of water when the idiot got the assist on an empty net. #$%^ you Lucic... I got the entire table wet. Hehe. And now I'm debating the best way to dry him...

A stick figure drawing of us abusing Lucic... lol =p

The bad news is.....

• Bruins won
• Lucic is still alive (the real guy)
• I don't have an Iphone or a Blackberry which makes me slightly sad because I can't tweet easily when away
• Breezer and Andrei annoy me right now...
• Turtle-Pleky is not alive right now....
• The French fries were NOT worth the $ 6.21. I pretended that they were Lucic and ate most of them though. So it was all good.
  

Who's getting a voodoo doll now:

• Tim "the Marshmellow" Thomas (he was the flailing goalie but now he's a marshmellow. I mean, how the hell are the Habs supposed to score when the goalie is the exact same dimensions as the net? Seriously...That's not fair when you think about it...) I don't care if I spelled "marshmellow" wrong. I butcher the language on a daily basis anyway. "Marshmellow" sounds better.
  
• Chara because... because
• Kessel. Because.
  
• Joe Thornton (yeah, I know, he doesn't play for the Bruins but he's on the stupid TV right now and he's annoying me by the mere fact that he's on the TV)
• PA guy in Boston *g* "Whooo!".....? Who says "Whooo" when their team scores? That's just stupid...

Enemy watch:

• Wings reminded everyone just who the defending champs were tonight. And no, it wasn't Columbus, thank you!
• Chicago and Calgary are going to OT.. oh wait... make that a Hawks win about two seconds into OT
  
• And Ducks and Sharks have done zippo....
  

What the Habs need is......

...someone who has.....:

• The Good Kovy's scoring abilities
  
• Koivu's perkyness when he scores
• Turtle-Pleky's work ethic
• Stewie's hitting abilities

We'd have the perfect guy... Too bad we can't find someone like that....Wait.... whaddya mean the league already has a guy like that? Where? Oh... *gets out email*

Dear George McPhee,

Hi. I was wondering if you could possibly lend us Alexander Ovechkin for a game or too? It's not like you need him tonight or anything and we could really benefit from having him... What do you say? We can give you.... Brisebois.... and you can have Tampa Bay's mascot. How about it?

Thanks in advance,

EP

Yeah, I realize we'd be better off with Nicklas Lidstrom but whatever.... I'm trying to kill time here... =p

Playoffs Day 2: here we go!

Now that I'm slightly more awake and slightly more hyped up on caffeine, I can say that I'm more excited for this game than I was last night. Yup! GO HABS GO!

Things we expect to happen tonight

• EP will not be drunk....EP doesn't really drink....
• Then again... if it's 5-0 Bruins after the first period, EP may go and drink herself into oblivion (err maybe not... EP does have to work tomorrow)
  
• EP's Bruins Hate Meter will go up and possibly break by the end of Game 1
• EP will abuse her Lucic voodoo doll
  
• EP will want to make voodoo dolls for every Bruin
• EP will be sleep deprived beyond belief
• EP will her curse her phone because she actually can't work it very well
• EP will want to go and hug her Habbies
• EP will make an idiot of herself at the tweetup
• EP will be cursing the playoffs by the end of the night

EDIT: Oh you wanted something semi-serious? Okay then.... Here, random thoughts about the game....

• Will Lucic murder my Habbies?
• Will I murder Lucic? (the voodoo doll)
  
• Can Price play like the Priceberg that we all know he's capable of being?
• Can Thomas actually produce a good game tonight now that he's the one under a huge amount of pressure.
  
• Can Turtle-Pleky PLEASE score a goal? I know he works but we need to see some of that work translate into goals!
• Speaking of goals... Can Andrei Kostitsyn please freaking score a goal? He still owes me big time for that no-show-crap-effort he put up when I was at the Bell Center. SHOW UP!
• Will the Habs be subjected to "Breezer Plays"? I hate those......
• Can Laraque shut up and just hit any and all Bruins that come his way?
• Can the Habs actually start thinking that Laraque isn't going to save them at all.....?
  
• Can the Habs bounce back from a 1 or 2 or even 3 goal deficit? I mean mentally here. Will we see them go down two goals and quit like they've done against so many teams this year or will they actually try?
• Can they play 60 minutes of good hockey?
• Can this game actually be finished before 12 in the morning or will each period be an hour long?

And finally:

• Will EP be able to talk to the Bruins fans she knows? or is she going to have to wait until they crash out of the playoffs before she can talk to them?
  

Some other random info that has zippo to do with the playoffs.....

First off..... Roger Federer's kid will be a boy. Apparently they haven't decided on a name (which I dont' necessarily believe but whatever) so I figured I'd help them out. Here are the top five names that I'd pick for Roger's kid. In order of preference

1. Rafael. I think it'd be so cute if he named his kid after Nadal... =p
2. Novak. I know Roger doesn't like Nole at all but Novak is such a nice name
3. Stan. Because I said so.
   
4. David. Because you can't go too wrong with the name David....
   
5. Habs Rock. Okay so Roger has no clue that the Habs even exist.... but still... Habs Rock is so cool. I named a squirrel Habs once so I think Roger could name his kid that too *g*
   

Second.... The Habbies will be in Quebec City for one of their exhibition games (which will be against those dratted Bruins). Tickets are apparently going on sale this Saturday and I'm weighing whether it's worth it to go.... I mean.... in the event that the Bell Center decides to be evil and not sell me any tickets I'm stuck going to Sensland... and if Heatley and Spezzatwerp are still on the team by then I won't be a happy camper....

Third....I seem to be the last person to know that AK Bars won the cup thinger in the KHL...Oops...

Oh and... I'm ready for tomorrow's tweetup!

Or rather... Milan Lucic the voodoo doll is ready to make his first public appearance. Sid says he wants to come but I think he'd be better off at home with Grabs and Gary.


Man, he looks really ugly in this photo. He's kinda better looking in person... the voodoo doll, I mean...Eh, I'm not complaining though!

2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Day 1: NOT COOL PEOPLE!

Caps vs Rags

Never tell me that Jaro looks shakey. Jose tonight was the definition of shakey. Yeah, yeah, it's the playoffs, yeah, yeah.... but really. Theodore was terrible tonight. TERRIBLE.....Not saying it was all his fault but really....UGH!!

The bad

• Caps inability to keep up their really strong offense (SIXTY MINUTES, YES?)
• Caps inability to get the puck past Lundqvist more times than the Rags scored on Theodore (the Caps has their chances, they outworked the Rags for most of the game too)

The really bad

• Theodore looking about a third of his size in the net and just looking like a lost five year old in the net....
• The refs who were unbelievebly blind when it was important...

The ugly

• Sean freaking Avery. Obviously.

Pens vs Failures

The good

• Uh.... someone hit Crosby?

The bad

• The Flyers
• The Flyers
• The Flyers
• Glasses (my new name for John Stevens and he always goes in the bad books by default because there is no way in hell I'm going to like him. Sorry dude!)

I didn't see anything but the highlights and they were UGLY. Stupid Flyers....(and yes, the playoffs are here so I can start verbally abusing those Flyers again. Sorry....!)

Devils/Whalercanes

You mean they were playing? I was snoozing.... Smevils won and I'm sure they're ready to annoint Brodeur as a Saint in Devilsville.

BAH! And now some guy that looks like a penguin is singing the national anthem in Vancouver. I hate the playoffs *g*

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade but...

...am I the only person out there who feels completely underwhelmed by the playoffs? I'm sitting here waiting for the puck to drop at the Caps/Rags game and I'm ready to fall asleep. I mean, we're not talking Devils/Whalercanes here. We're talking Caps and Rags. We're talking Ovie and Avery here. I shouldn't be bored out of my mind. But I'm really not any more or any less excited by this game than I would be about a regular season game. I can't honestly say that the prospect of the Habs/Bruins bloodbath has me anymore interested (for the records, my idea of being interested is thinking about it nonstop for at least 24 hours prior to the event).

Is there something wrong with me? Am I way more tired than I thought I was or am I just plain hockeyed out at this point? I feel guilty for not being more interested. I feel like I should be interested even if my team's chances look about as good as me landing a Blackberry in the next week.

I dunno. I'm not going all doomsday or anything but I'm jutst not very interested right now....

Eh, maybe I'm just a lot more tired than I thought so I should just stuff it and go stick my Milan Lucic voodoo doll's hair on.... the guy is still bald for crying out loud....x_X

Monday came on Tuesday today

Meaning, instead of Mondays' random stuff, it's now Tuesday's random stuff..... Whatever, moving on.

FIRST OFF! - Roadtrips are interesting

Somehow I managed to be out of town twice this week, both not Habs playoff days, thank goodness. Today I came back from another trip to the land of the defunct Nordiques - which I wouldn't be mentioning if It wasn't for the fact that I figured you'd all not want to know that I bought Habs stuff there. Yes, they sell Habs stuff in abundance with all of their defunct Nordiques stuff in their gazillions of touristy shops that I went through (I didn't really feel like a tourist but I was alone and bored and in desperate need of something Habs). I feel bad for the poor people on Quebec City though. The poor people are obviously quite hockey deprived. Someone bring them back a hockey team darnit!!!!! They are very deprived there *nods* I can now say that about half my Habs stuff was in the two cities that probably hated us the most. Whoopie. Friday, I will be missing the Caps while I make a trip to Sensland. Maybe I should look for Caps stuff if I get the time? Not that I need more Caps stuff... I'm waiting for my Ovie shirt to come from North Carolina....

Adventures of a Habs fan in Nordiquesland: So an itty bitty Habs fan walks into a sports jersey store (that would be me). She looks longingly at the Habs stuff, gazed inquisitively at the Nordiques stuff, pukes at the Pens and Leafs items, before turning to some other jerseys. A guy comes up to her and after asking her what language she speaks, he proceeds to go on a spiel about the jerseys she was looking at. Apparently the ones that say "Russia" on them in Russian are the Russian's international jerseys (because like, the Swedish don't write in Cyrillic) which is part of the IIHF (which stands for International Ice Hockey Federation). "Well, thank you, mister," the itty bitty Habs fan thinks to herself. "But at what point did I say that I was from Australia?! I KNOW what those jerseys are! I am from Canada darnit! And I did cheer for Team Russia at various points during various international events (AFTER Canada of course)... sheeesh...." The itty bitty habsfan thanks Mr. Salesdude for his info - and we'll give him credit for being nice in the first place- before walking away to look at Liverpool stuff. Sometimes the itty bitty Habs fan really doesn't get why people think she's from another continent.... Is it the sunglasses? I swear just about every other person in Canada has a some that look the exact same....

SECOND! - TWEETUP?!

Tweetup. If you live in or near Montreal, you must come to our tweetup. What is that? See their lovely and coherent explanation on All Habs. I'm still trying to figure out whether it's a sane thing to go. I mean for the other people' sanity. Not mine =p Do you really want to meet an itty bitty little quiet Habs fan? Really. I'm quiet around new people. Really. I'm not lying! Really!!!!

THIRD OF ALL... this lottery draft thing is very underwhelming....

Congrats Isles. You landed the first pick overall. Have fun and don't squander it. And boo on you Tampa Bay for landing ANOTHER top first round pick. Pfft....

FIFTH- So Burke wants Tavares, eh?

Apparently everyone's favorite GM wants to trade up in the draft and hopefully land 1st or 2nd. Now, I suppose it's entirely possible that the Isles and the Bolts will be stupid and give up their picks but... I don't see the Isles doing that. Why? Because they've been wanting this since November and what exactly does Burke think he's going to trade the Isles for?



Really. I need to sleep now =p

Fourth.. There is a fourth... I'm thinking....Oh got it!

EP IS NOT A GUY! EP IS NOT A GUY! EP IS NOT A GUY! Just putting that out there for anyone who thought otherwise.....Don't want any misconceptions. Although if you read the profile you'd know that EP is a girl.... Anyway.... yeah.... there still seems to be a lot of people who think EP is a guy.... EP is an itty bitty insane Habsgirl! Thank you.

Totally random look at the 2008-2009 season

My brain is about to explode right now so I figured I'd go right ahead and explode it by talking about this season =)

The good

• Celebrating in a non-over-the-top manner being around for 100 years (what? some of us did manage to keep it low key)
  
• Making the playoffs in a year in which just about every player was either injured and/or sick at some point
• Knowing that the Habs have some great prospects in Hamilton

The bad

• losing just about every player at some point in the year to injury/illness. It seriously messed with the team's mojo which lead to...
• The up and down season (and yet we still made it to the playoffs?)
  

The ugly

• the media
• the media
• the media
• the media
• The pessimistic fans (before you rip ME, I'll say that despite the name, I've been way less pessimistic than a lot of people out there. Plus I stuck with this team despite some moaning in February)

Top 5 games I wish I could relive

1. The Habs 5-4 victory over the Caps. I loved that game. And while I felt almost bad for Johnston on that really weak goal by Sergei at the very end of the game, it was still awesome for the Habs.
   
2. Habs S/O win over Ottawa. Mainly because I was in the crowd at my first ever live game and I loved just about every minute of the game (minus stupid Heatley's goals).
3. Jaro shutting out the Canucks. Because I love Halak and he deserved every bit of cheering that he got in the Bell Center. Plus, beating those Canucks is nice.
4. Price shutting out the Sens. Because I love Price and I love beating those awful Senators =)
   
5. Habs 5-4 comeback win over the Isles after going down 4-0. So the first 50 minutes weren't good but the rest was amazing. I was just sitting there going "oh...my....god....?!" Very fun.

Top 5 things we wished hadn't happened this year

1. Carbonneau being fired - it may have been necessary at some point but we wish it hadn't happened anyway. I personally wanted Carbo do succeed with this team
2. The rash of injuries - do I need to elaborate?
   
3. The media being stupid - You'd think that they don't want to see this team do well...
   
4. This whole "centennial/money grabbing year" thing - because it went overboard and just looked dumb after a while
   
5. Boston being good

Top 5 things we learned

1. The Montreal media really sucks sometimes
2. Injuries are the suck
   
3. Everyone putting in a 60 minute effort usually gets you a win
4. The Habs need better defense
5. Buying Liverpool was a really bad idea

Top 5 goals we liked that we can name off the top of our heads (because EP is too lazy to go through all her posts to see which goals were amazing)

1. Gui's wraparound goal in the last game against Buffalo. I told him to shoot the damn thing and he goes around and gets a beautiful wraparound. Hah.
   
2. D'Agostini's semi-breakaway goal against Boston in their last meeting. That was teh awesome.
   
3. Kovy's goal against.... man, I can't remember WHO it was against, but he basically fell over while scoring which made it "Ovie Cool" in EP's book. You don't get better than Ovie Cool.
   
4. Kovy's "right through Gerber like he was made out of butter" goal in the last meetup between the Habs and the Leafs. We liked by default because it was against Gerber.
   
5. Kovy's "right through Thomas like he wasn't there" goal in that last Boston meetup because any goal scored by Kovy against Thomas is beautiful.
   

Favorite Hammie to get called up:

EP liked all the Hammies, but she decided that she liked Stewie being called up the best. Why? Because he's a cuter, tougher, and shorter version of the Laraque we didn't get.

Players the Habs can't live without

• MARKOV! It's really too bad he's so damn quiet because he deserves a lot more attention and credit for the work he's done here. Forget Green for the Norris (sorry Green).
• A hot Priceberg. Contrary to popular belief, they have had some stellar goaltending by the Priceberg but they didn't walk away from a win due mostly to everyone else falling asleep
• Jaro... oh wait... that's "player that EP wants the Habs no matter what"... Well... I'm sure the Habs realize that they need him too, right?
  

Song that sums up the Montreal media and its attitude towards the Habs:

For some reason "Hot'n'Cold" always comes to mind.... I dunno why....

Top 5 Russians that rocked my little world this season:

1. Kovalev rocks because he's Kovy even if he annoys me sometimes (or maybe I should be blaming the posts instead of Kovy? Yes.... I think I'll blame the posts)
   
2. Ovie rocks because he's Ovie and he's way more interesting than a certain Puffle named Sid
   
3. Markov rocks because I said so
4. Kovalchuk rocks because he beat all the icky teams that were coming close to my Habs
5. Semin rocks because.... I dunno.... Anyone know why Semin rocks? Well, he just does.
   

Malkin doesn't rock anymore... In fact, he's reached "Puffle" stage on the Hate Meter by default of him playing for the Puffles. Sorry Geno.

Top 5 technically-non-hockey-related things that EP did because of hockey

1. Started a blog. How can you ramble about hockey if you don't have a blog and everyone tells you to shut up all the time?
2. Rediscovered a love for photography. Can't capture being in the Bell Center without a good camera.
   
3. Started taking up Russian. Can't read the KHL website if you don't read Russian...I still can't read it *g*
   
4. Sew. Can't have a nice Habs pillow or an ugly voodoo doll if you can't sew
5. Knit. Can't come up with another stress reliever other than ripping out your own hair if you can't knit. Well, maybe you can.