Dennis Kane’s Excellent Montreal Canadiens Blog

I feel just a small break from the stress of the Boston-Montreal series is needed right now.  Montreal fans were so optimistic going into round one, but the team hasn’t played well, and going into game seven Monday night, Boston carries all the momentum and good feelings.

So I feel we need a change of pace, go back to our roots, and check in with the maestro,  the hero of so many, the man who wore the CH not just on his sweater, but also on his heart, the great Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard.

On March 11, 1996, following a game between Dallas and Montreal, the Canadiens and fans said goodbye to the Montreal Forum. The lights were dimmed, and Montreal Canadien captains from over the years walked onto the Forum ice. Emile Bouchard, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Yvon Cournoyer, Serge Savard, Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau, Pierre Turgeon, and of course, number nine, Maurice Richard.

A torch was lit and was passed to Butch Bouchard. Bouchard then passed it to the Rocket, and the emotional fans in the beautiful old building, the wondrous Forum, erupted in an explosion of cheers, tears, memories, and thank you’s to the greatest Hab ever. Fans weren’t only saying goodbye to the old building, but were also saying thank you to the Rocket, who had done so much to create the mystique that is the Montreal Canadiens, a man whose deeds, fire, passion, success, and humility continues to make all Montreal fans, young and old, proud of the team, and a man the emotional Quebec Habs fans embraced and clung to through rocky political and cultural times in the province. 

The Rocket was my boyhood hero, stayed that way long after he retired, and remains my hero even today. I met him once, but that’s a story for another day.

Here’s a small clip of that night in 1996, when Montreal Canadiens fans, in a 16 minute standing ovation that left most in tears, said thank you to The Rocket. And he wasn’t even sure why. Because he would always say, “I’m just a hockey player.”

Enjoy. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1FvJzhg2nE

  GAME 6

The picture is now crystal clear. Boston has figured Montreal out, and Montreal doesn’t know how to figure Boston out. Claude Julien understands how playoff hockey works, adjusted nicely, and his team has delivered.

Tonight, it became a 5-4 Bruins win, and it was a game that surely has left all Habs fans grumbling and more than slightly pissed off.

Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau has not been able to light a fire under his boys, and so again, in this game six, it meant four Boston goals in the third period, the same as in game five. It meant five goals scored again by Boston, the same as in game five. It meant that again, Montreal was flat, their power play was flat, and although Chris Higgins and Tomas Plekanec finally broke out of their scoreless draught, it was a non-effort by almost everyone on the Montreal team.

Or maybe it wasn’t so much a non-effort by Montreal, but a better effort by Boston.

So I don’t want to but I have to ask this one question, a question which makes me uneasy, but I feel must be addressed. Are there too many Europeans on the Montreal Canadiens to understand what it takes to win in playoff hockey?

The playoffs aren’t the regular season. And for a couple of decades now, we’ve seen many examples of players from across the pond not understanding the importance of the Stanley Cup, unlike North Americans, especially Canadians, who have this emotion implanted in their hearts and souls.

I hear from Canucks fans all the time how the Sedin twins, from Sweden, are the furthest things from playoff performers. 

If you say this is bullshit and I’m out of line, then where have the European Habs gone?

Russian-born Alex Kovalev, mentioned as a possible league MVP, has brought his game down a couple of serious notches and is no more the straw that stirs the drink during Montreal’s once daunting power play. The Kostitsyn’s, from Belarus, can’t crack Boston’s playoff checking. Tomas Plekanec, from the Czech Republic, was an offensive marvel during the regular season, and now is playing like he’d rather be some place else. Switzerland’s Mark Streit is playing like he belongs in the American Hockey League.

Even Russian Andrei Markov, frequently called one of the top defensemen in the entire league, has posed no threat whatsoever.

This is a very disappointing turn of events. It was such a short time ago that talk of a Stanley Cup was rampant throughout Hab universe, but now this is a team hanging by a thread, playing scared, playing tight and nervous, while Boston is a team of happy campers, feeling good about themselves, and can’t wait for game seven Monday night.

Of course Montreal can redeem themselves in one game and make everyone forget they haven’t deserved this series. They can win still, make no mistake about that. They’ve been a team of surprises all year, and now it’s time to pull one last trick out of their bag.

But so far, and it pains me to say this, I haven’t seen a Stanley Cup contender from my Montreal Canadiens.

I think it’s important that you should know that:

The Middle-East newspaper Al Jazeera prints the NHL standings.

This is the paper that Bin Laden and his band of bearded brutes use when they want to send a message to the wicked west.

Is it possible that Bin Laden reads the NHL standings?

Could Bin Laden be a Habs fan?

This is my own opinion, but I would have to guess that Bin Laden grew up cheering for the Broad Street Bullies, is now rooting for the Bruins, and also likes Sean Avery.

I wonder if Bin Laden and his greasy pranksters clip the standings out of the Al Jazeera sports section and have a hockey pool every year.

There’s a rink in a mall in Dubai where locals skate and play hockey. Maybe Bin Laden and pals get together at 11:30 Wednesday nights for their beer league game.

IN OTHER NEWS:

In a shocking display of poor sportmanship, the Boston Bruins have refused to let the Montreal Canadiens win easily, which explains why several Montreal Canadiens still haven’t arrived for the series. “I haven’t tried because I thought Boston was supposed to not try,” explained Montreal forward Christopher Higgins. “Somebody should have told me.”

 ”It’s not right,” added Michel Ryder. “They’re skating fast and checking us and everything. Boston’s not playing fair. They’re cheating.”

“Nobody told me it was going to be hard,” complained Tomas Plekanec. “And anyway, I was really good in the regular season, and now you want me to be good in the playoffs too?”

IN EXTRA OTHER NEWS:

A Montreal fan got beat up in Boston the other night. It’s impossible that he may have deserved it. Okay, so maybe he was wearing his Habs jersey, and maybe he was yelling “Go Habs Go” at the top of his lungs, and maybe he told these Bruins fans that their team sucked, and maybe he was drunk and got right in their faces, and maybe he drooled all over them, and of course he wasn’t loud and obnoxious on someone else’s turf.

  GAME 5

Montreal has given us a lot of great and exciting moments this year. Tonight wasn’t one of them.

In a game where the Canadiens could have eliminated Boston and had a nice rest in preparation for the next series, they came out and smelled up the joint. Now they’d better look themselves in the mirror, and take a good, long, hard look.

If they can’t adjust in a close checking series, how do they expect to be successful if they can actually get by Boston and meet other close checking teams?

However, will they actually get by Boston?

Is their game only one-dimensional, a game that is free-wheeling and one which allows Kovalev, the Kostitsyns, Higgins etc. to play only pond hockey and nothing else?

Did they make the mistake of believing their own press clippings that said how great they are?

Will Tomas Plekanec, Chris Higgins, Michael Ryder, the Kostitsyns, Latendresse, and most of the team decide to actually play some playoff hockey before it’s too late? Especially Higgins. Hello 911. I’d like to report a missing person.

Although Carey Price has been so good in this series, it was his gift of dropping the puck in front of his goal, right on the stick of a Bruin, who then scored, which began, and probably caused, the complete collapse.

This team can seriously infuriate me.

I also see that Saku Koivu is the true leader of this team, and if he can skate, which he can, he needs to be in the lineup two days from now.

And now that the Bruins know they can win this series, what’s going to happen Saturday in Boston? Which Montreal team will show up, the great regular season one, or the lousy playoff one? 

Game note:

Montreal stunk 

Sorry about the small print. I don’t have a clue why this happened. Please read anyway, because Rick the Trucker is back. Just get closer to the screen, that’s all.

Rick the Trucker, who spends are a large portion of his life truckin Highway 417 between Ottawa and Montreal, is back with more on the what’s happening on the front. Rick’s been on these pages before, he’s like my roving reporter, and he’s always got this great perpective because while he’s truckin, he’s got the late night sports talk radio blasting in his 18 wheeler.

Rick’s a Senators fan, but he’s still a great guy anyway.

Here’s more from life on Highway 417:

“So I’m driving back from Montreal tonite and get into Ottawa radio range just at the end of the second,,tie game, announcer says Ottawa held their own, killed off some penalties blah blah blah,,so I got the hammer down to try and get home and maybe catch some OT on the tube or something and then BAM, game over in the first 90 seconds of the third, back off the pedal, cruise home while listening to the remainder and dream about watching cricket with my Habs friends by the end of the week,,JUST KIDDING bout the habs fans.I,unlike some other people,do not pick on people for the teams they cheer for,unless it’s the blue team of course,,jab jab!!!

Anyways,heard some good stuff on Montreal radio 2day,,,Lot’s of calls from people who made the trek to Boston for game 3,,some rough stuff in the stands but sad to say,tickets were very easy to obtain, it wasn’t a sellout. It’s sad to see the glorious Bruins tradition slowly sliding down, it wasn’t a sellout and a good percentage were Habs fans. Funny thing,when the Habs fans sang oley oley, Bruins fans sang back “your gay, your gay.”

Chris ‘knuckles’ Nilan has been on the radio everynite in Montreal during this series,always a good chat,was real happy to see fans from his old team showing a presence in his home town,,,forgot to tell you,,that ignorant prick on that 110% show who made that Kostfuckupolis comment was fired after that comment last month.

Don’t know if you get Vancouver radio where you are or even if you do, are the Van.fans as commited to hockey as much as Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal fans?  I’ll tell you, spending all my time between here and Montreal is hockey overload. Same stories,same predictions,same excuses, just different cities but it’s still a blast,,,,,,I’m ordering tickets for cricket matches,,when are you available??????

ENJOY the ride!!!”

 GAME 4

Whew. That was as blue collar, lunchpail as you’re ever going to see. It was playoff hockey, tough, close, hard- working, well-earned chances at either end. And Montreal won the big one, a 1-0 shutout, and it doesn’t get any better, or any more beautiful than this. Up three games to one and going back to Montreal.

It’s amazing how stressful hockey can be. And how satisfying when the right team wins.

Today I was talking to the local newspaper publisher, a woman who’s always been a tom boy and a hockey fan. She’s a big fan of the local senior team, but she said she didn’t like NHL hockey much anymore. “Too many low scoring games,” she said. “Too boring.”

I wonder if she watched tonight. This low scoring, 1-0 game was anything but boring. It was back and forth, tremendously intense, with non-stop hitting, and with a main sub plot starring Mike Komisarek and Milan Lucic having their private parties.

Montreal made adjustments tonight. But they need more. They stopped Boston’s offence, but their own offence is still a concern. Higgins and Plekanec in particular still haven’t gotten it together, and although I keep mentioning it, they’re obviously not listening to me. What, they don’t read the blog?

And the Kostitsyn’s aren’t playing with the swagger they showed during the regular season.

The good news is that the lone goal scored, by Patrice Brisebois, was a power play goal. Like I said yesterday, the power play’s been their bread and butter.

Three down, thirteen to go.

Game note:

As much as the Boston Bruins give me heartburn,  the Rangers’ Sean Avery gives me slow burn.

Right now it matters little that Pittsburgh is poised to sweep the Ottawa Senators, or that Calgary has a shot at doing away with the favoured San Jose Sharks. Or that Dallas is surprising last year’s Stanley Cup champs, the Anaheim Ducks.

All that matters is game four in Boston. Montreal can ill-afford a loss to the newly-renewed Boston Bruins. Because it would be a loss that not only ties the series, but also creates even more momentum for the Bruins.

I’m sure Guy Carbonneau and his coaches are working hard to overcome Boston’s recent adjustments, which have seen the Bruins bottle up Montreal’s attack, and Alex Kovalev especially. For me, it all boils down to the power play. Get that back on track and the series will end quickly. 

One Montreal writer said recently that he doesn’t know why, but the number five is a big number this year. For instance, Montreal won game two, 3-2, which totalled five.

So keeping with that, our Habs can win Tuesday night, and then game five (there’s that five) back in Montreal.

And any long series is never good in the scheme of things, as the road to the Stanley Cup is a long- distance marathon, and Montreal needs to end it as soon as possible to be fresh and healthy for the second round. But I’m not getting ahead of myself. That would be bad luck. And smug.

The Canadiens absolutely need their power play to return. It’s been their bread and butter all year. They need to unravel the ropes the Bruins have tied around them. And in general, they need a big night from everyone, especially the first line.

Every game for the last month has been a huge game for Montreal. But none are bigger than this upcoming game four. 

Am I nervous? Of course I’m nervous. I’d be nervous if the Habs were up three games to nothing. But I also believe in my team.

Go Habs! You’re gonna do it.

 GAME 3

During the regular season, Montreal’s power play looked like Sophia Loren - beautiful, lovely, graceful, nice to watch. But in this playoff round against the Bruins, Montreal’s power play resembles a drunken Britney Spears. Kovalev’s overtime goal in game two was a power play goal, but that’s it. The only one in three games.

And that’s the main reason why tonight, Boston skated away with a 2-1 overtime win in game three, and now it’s going to take five games instead of four for Montreal to win the series.

Another reason is the ineffective play in the series so far of Tomas Plekanec, Christopher Higgins, Michael Ryder (who can’t hit the net), and pretty well everyone except Carey Price, Alex Kovalev, and the Begin, Kostopoulos, Smolinski line, who have shown up every game. It’s not good when the grinder line is the best line. The Kostitsyn boys, huge in game one, are a non-entity right now. And it’s obvious now that Saku Koivu is greatly missed.

Montreal showed all year that they are a superior team to Boston. But they need to adjust to the adjustments the Bruins have made. There was no fire wagon hockey tonight, only chances that arose from hard work. They need to overcome the tight checking the Bruins have instilled.

Show us your Sophia Loren moves again, boys. Show that you can score often, just as Sophia probably could.

Fourteen wins to go, on hold for the moment. Enjoy the moment, Bruins fans. Soon enough, you’ll be hating the moment.

Game note:

Milan Lucic, Boston’s young power forward, looks a little like a young Phil Esposito. Except Lucic’s nose is quite a bit bigger.

Bonus game note:

Ron McLean called Brad Richards “his boyfriend.”

  GAME 2

Regular reader and commentor-extrordinaire, Der Habinator, checked in today before the big game got underway, and what he said was dead-on. Knute Rockne or Dick Irvin Sr. couldn’t have said it any better. And although der Habinator may have done just a little too much acid when he was younger, he’s a good, solid Habs fan.

So today, we’re starting off with der Habinator’s words. This is what all Habs fans should want for today’s game. Take it away, der Habinator.

“Big game tonight.  Why?  Because the intensity level must not only be raised it must also crucially be maintained. We absolutely must come out and play the entire game with unrelenting intensity.  No physical let-up. No mental let-down.  No Mr. Nice Guy.  Now is the time when we must become more, not less, critical of our performance.  The momentum is ours, keeping it means working harder, playing smarter, refining refining refining. Away les gars! Foncez!!”

Montreal didn’t come storming out like der Habinator and myself and the rest of Habs universe would’ve liked. Boston had a brand new, and more effective game plan which involved more physical play and close checking, but Roman Hamrlik scored late in the first to make it 1-0 for Montreal. 

Did this deflate the Bruins?

Not really. Montreal’s power play, with no goals in the two games, is stuck in neutral. Plekanec and Higgins’s names are rarely mentioned by Father Time, Bob Cole. So all the stars aren’t quite aligned right now.

But the team got it done, in overtime, with their first powerplay goal of the series, scored by Alex Kovalev, who had several great chances throughout the game, and had taken a bad penalty to allow the Bruins to tie it up. However, the guy who sideswiped and lay on top of Kovalev prior to Kovy’s slash should have been called too.

So Boston can whine and complain and feel they got the shaft, but all things being equal, the good guys won, as they should have.

Best of all, aside from the fact that Montreal won the game, was that Don Cherry was proved wrong and full of shit by the instant replay. He went on and on about the high stick to the Bruin player’s face just before the guy took a penalty which led to the winning goal. But the camera showed that it was only a follow through from Markov’s shot, which Ron McLean, who is a referee, firmly stated SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A PENALTY. 

Montreal didn’t play as well as game one, and Boston played better than game one, but the only thing I see is a win that makes it two games up for the Habs.

It’s two down and fourteen to go.

Game Note:

Good camera shots at the Bell Centre as they scan the crowd. Quite a few lovely ladies wearing skin-tight Habs t-shirts.

It’s Friday, the day before the big game at the Bell Centre, and for now, all’s quiet on the eastern front. There’s nothing I can say about this series that hasn’t already been said.

But I have to keep things interesting, so I’ll talk about………

I live in an area jam-packed with Vancouver Canucks fans. But I’ve noticed lately that not person  brings up the subject. It’s like the Canucks don’t exist.

At this very moment, Ottawa is losing 2-0 to Pittsburgh in game 2. My only suggestion to Ottawa fans is that cricket might be a fun sport to switch to.

Pittsburgh is now leading 3-0. Ottawa fans might consider moving to Sri Lanka where the cricket is top notch.

The mayor of Montreal doesn’t want Montreal firefighters to display any kind of support for the Habs outside on the station walls. This mayor is either a commy bastard traitor, or a relative of Powell River’s mayor, who wants to sue three Powell River citizens, including one who’s 86 years old, because they criticized him in some letters to the editor.

It’s now 3-1 Pittsburgh. Ottawa fans are holding off packing for Sri Lanka in case a comeback is in the works.

I phoned in sick for today and tomorrow.

It’s 4-2 Philadelphia over Washington. Pretty well the entire hockey world is picking Washington because they can’t stop salivating over Alex Ovechkin. But one man does not make a team.

Can you imagine what Ovenchkin’s two-week paycheque would be? I’m no mathematician so I’m not even going to try, but he probably brings home a couple of hundred grand every two weeks. If anyone’s figured it out, please let me know.  Isn’t it something like 140 million over 13 years? 

Pittsburgh is now only winning 3-2 over Ottawa. Can Ottawa complete a comeback? Can they get their shit together, win this game, wake up the city, make it a series, and even win this series?

Let me think. Stranger things have happened. A 135 pound Japanese guy can eat about 50 hot dogs in an hour, for example.

We’ll know soon whether Pittsburgh made a big mistake by giving up on three good young players for notorious lousy playoff performer Marian Hossa.

Boston coach Claude Julien says that for some reason, Boston doesn’t play their best games against Montreal, and for some reason, Montreal plays their best games against Boston. Hey, whatever works.

It’s now Ottawa 3, Pittsburgh 3. Ottawa fans are scampering back in from outside and turning their TV’s back on.

Philly and Washington are tied 4-4, and the Rangers are beating the Devils again, 2-0.

Oh, the game’s over in Washington. Ovechkin scored with a little over four minutes left to win the game, 5-4. The guy’s got the world by the tail, that’s for sure. See what happens when you get a little nooky?

Pittsburgh just scored with a only a minute left, and with an empty netter, beat Ottawa 5-3. It’s karma, you know, for Senators fans, that they’re going through such misery. Many of these fans used to be good, faithful Habs fans. See what happens?

I barbequed some steaks and burned them because I was writing all this interesting information.