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.