Dennis Kane’s Excellent Montreal Canadiens Blog

One thing’s for sure. Being a third-period hockey team is better than being a first or second-period hockey team.

The Montreal Canadiens are a classic third period team, which is good and bad. Sometimes, an exciting late comeback can be too little, too late. But other times, they pull it out in magnificent fashion. 

Like tonight.

It’s a beautiful thing. Waltz into Philadelphia to meet the enemy for the first time since getting bounced by this team last spring, and skate away with a tidy 5-3 win. A nice two points.

But it was hit and miss for awhile.

Too many penalties by Montreal in the first two periods disrupted any flow they might have had. A couple of goalposts were hit by Alex Kovalev. They killed a big two-man short penalty late in the first. Carey Price was solid on way too many Flyers chances. Mike Komisarek threw his weight around. Maxim Lapierre got into it with the obnoxious Steve Downey. And scuffles occurred periodically throughout the entire game.

A typical Montreal-Philadelphia game.

But they got it together in the third. It makes me proud.

The Canadiens went into the third period losing 2-1, but Roman Hamrlik, on a beauty of a play by Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Kovalev, tied it up.

Then Mike Komisarek and Robert Lang scored to make it 4-2. The third-period team had come alive. Philadelphia got close again, but Steve Begin iced it into the empty net for the fifth goal.

Such a nice win. Every Habs fan should be in a great frame of mind right now.

I’ve just one little concern. Why is Saku Koivu so quiet? Is his foot still sore?

Next Up!

The Canadiens home opener on Wednesday at the Bell Centre against the Boston Bruins. This will be exciting. The atmosphere will be amazing. And when you see those rotten kids in Habs uniforms on the ice with the flags, remember, that could’ve been me.

It just doesn’t seem right.

Game Note:

The Kostitsyn boys were impressive once again. Both these guys are all-stars.

With the Canadiens in Philadelphia Monday night, the memories come swirling back to last spring.

Montreal had taken out Boston in the opening round in a hard-fought series, then met the Flyers in round two, and it didn’t go the way it was supposed to.

Alex Kovalev, Tom Plekanec, Chris Higgins, and many other Habs somehow lost their edge, while RJ Umberger for the Flyers played like Mario Lemieux, and goalie Daniel Biron and his goalposts got the job done for the bad guys.

And Flyers defenceman Kimmo Timonen laughed in Tom Kostopoulos’ face. Remember that?

Most unsettling for Montreal and their fans was that Carey Price, who had been so terrific as a rookie goalie all through the year, seemed tired and let in goals he wouldn’t have let in a month prior.  The Flyers had everything going for them, and Montreal had hit a wall and were on the golf course sooner than hoped.

Flyers fans took it upon themselves to comment in droves on this site, berating me, berating the Canadiens, laughing at Price, making jokes about Canadian women, the flag, our weather, and in general, really taking it to me. When the series finished, I’m sure they carried on with their creativity in Penguins’ blogs.

The bottom line, though, behind all the fun and games, was that Montreal didn’t get the job done and the Flyers did. 

Now they meet again Monday night. The Flyers still have a good team like last year. Just ask Pierre McGuire. He says it’ll be the Flyers in the Stanley Cup final, not Montreal. Umberger’s gone, but it’s a team built around big guns Simon Gagne, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Biron.

It won’t like playing the Leafs Monday night. It’s going to be tough.

Time for a little payback, boys. I know you haven’t forgotten. 

The Oshawa Generals have finally decided to retire Bobby Orr’s sweater in a ceremony to be held on November 27.

That makes the Oshawa Generals only about 40 years too late.

When none-Oshawa residents around the world think of Oshawa, they think of maybe two things -General Motors and Bobby Orr. (I don’t know what else they would think of). He WAS Oshawa, even though he was a skinny little kid from Parry Sound living away from home.

When he was 16 years old, everyone in hockey knew he was going to be the best. And he was.

But only now, 40 years later, will his sweater be retired.

Heck, three long-time Powell River Regals, the local senior team, have their sweaters hanging from the Powell River Rec Centre. They were good, but they weren’t Bobby Orr. It only took Powell River a few years to get these done.

(Come to think of it, after those fine years as a smallish yet shifty right winger for Byers Bulldozers bantam and midget teams in Orillia, maybe my sweater…..?)

The Generals raised Eric Lindros’  last March. Mr. Lindros, although a forward, was no Bobby Orr. Although his mother and father may have thought so. And maybe him. 

I noticed on CBC online sports news, a long-time Generals fan told people to quit critizing the Generals for only doing this now because they’ve been trying for ten years, but Orr was never available.

But lady, what about the other 30 years?

And I’m repeating what I’ve said many times before. Bobby Orr would’ve looked great in a Montreal Canadiens sweater.

But I guess Sam Pollock was too busy telling me I couldn’t be a stickboy to get around to getting in a car and driving to Gananoque to scout young Orr before Boston got to him.

Pittsburgh doesn’t worry me. Either does Boston, or Buffalo, or Tampa Bay, or the Rangers. Calgary doesn’t worry me, or Dallas, Anaheim, Vancouver, and Colorado.

In fact, no team worries me about getting in the way of Montreal’s big season. Except Detroit. They worry me. Not a lot, mind you. Montreal will take out any team. This is the year.

But Detroit is a concern.

It isn’t even so much that the Wings landed Marion Hossa. And I’m not at all concerned about Kris Draper and Tomas Holmstrom or most of this team for that matter, including Johan Franzen, who is probably just a one-hit wonder like Iron Butterfly was with In-A-Gadda-Da-Vita.

 It’s three other guys in the Motor City I’m not crazy about.

I’m hoping Nick Lidstrom pulls a hamstring. Maybe a couple of times. And maybe Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg could break a finger or two. Nothing serious, just a finger. Even a pinky finger. They can still make whoopee with their wives. They just can’t shoot the puck.

But regardless.

This is the Year of the Habs. And all that needs to happen is this:

Carey Price, with a year under his belt, can’t be tired at the end of the regular season, and his confidence can’t take a nap at any stage in the year.

The defence, led by Mike Komisarek and Andrei Markov, has to play mean and ugly and dangerous. And this also means Ryan O’Byrne. He in particular has to play with an edge that scares the bejeesus out of opposing players. 

Up front, Saku Koivu needs to have one of his best years ever. Alex Kovalev has to take his magic into the playoffs. And Tomas Plekanec needs to become a household name throughout the league.

Alex Tanguay has to play like he’s been a Hab for years.

It’s time for Chris Higgins to become a real star this year. A big star. A huge star.

The Kostitsyn boys have to continue to blossom, as they’re expected to do.

Robert Lang has to make us all forget what Mats Sundin might have done in Montreal and be the final piece of the puzzle that’s been missing.

Guillaume Latendresse has to finally become a player. It’s time. We’ve been waiting patiently. 

Tom Kostopoulos, Steve Begin, Josh Gorges, Francis Bouillon and the rest just need to keep doing what they did last year because they were great.

Georges Laraque has to become the new John Ferguson.

The team needs to have a very fine power play again, like last year. And they have to score a lot of goals, like last year.

And they have to be stingy with goals against.

Youppi has to relive past glory and become the mascot he was with the Expos.

The Ole song must only be sung when the team’s about to win, not when it’s close.

And everyone, please stay healthy. (I’ve noticed that Koivu and Laraque are already nursing minor injuries.)

And that’s it. It’s simple!

Pre-season update:

The boys lose big to Boston 8-3, but take out Buffalo in Roberval, 3-2.

And with those cameras so low at the Roberval arena, it felt like we were there, in about the fourth row. It reminded me of the outdoor game in Edmonton a few years back

(more…)

Right now, 36 years ago in 1972, Team Canada was not having a nice time with the Russian National Team. They were clobbered in Montreal and booed in Vancouver. They were tired and frustrated, and things looked bad. But in they end, as we all know, they pulled it out.

But it wasn’t just on-ice things going on. Here’s a few rare little tidbits:

Team Canada had a six hour stopover in Paris on the way to Stockholm. Goalie Ed Johnston said this about Paris: “What’s wrong is the same thing you find with all these European cities. Too many old buildings.”

While in Stockholm, a Swedish fellow at the press conference mentioned that maybe Bobby Orr, who was injured and didn’t play in the series, wasn’t as good as Russian Valeri Kharlamov. “He’s good in the NHL,” said the guy, “but in Europe he’d be only average.” A Canadian who overheard this said, “Put this down. Bobby Orr-healthy-would eat any Czech or Russian alive. And he’d spit out any Swede.”

In Moscow, the Canadians were seen coming back to their hotel at all hours of the night. While some of the boys were sitting around the lobby of the Grand Hotel, someone mentioned hearing that the Russians had put street crews with jackhammers outside the Canadian team’s windows in the early morning. “No problem,” said one player. “We won’t be in anyway.”

Coach Harry Sinden celebrated his 40th birthday while overseas. “Ten days ago I was 29,” he said.

Some Canadian fans who arrived in Moscow found out there were no tickets available for them. These included Maurice Richard, Punch Imlach, former referee-in-chief Carl Voss, and legendary wrestler Whipper Billy Watson. Those left out were given three options: they could take an all-expenses paid 10-day tour of Copenhagen; they could fly home and be refunded; or they could stay and take their chances on finding tickets. Most chose the third option.

Dennis Hull, after a tour of Moscow, gushed, “I really like the place. It reminds me of Buffalo.”

Waiting for Mats Sundin to figure out what he wanted to do turned sour after about the first month. And finally, in the middle of September, with training camp close to happening, Bob Gainey made his move.

Because I’m sure Gainey was even more sick of the Sundin thing than we were.

So he went out yesterday and landed centre Robert Lang from Chicago, and now the team is set for training camp with all the pieces in place, and scoring Lang instead of Sundin isn’t that bad a thing at all.

It’s all strength down the middle now, with Lang, Saku Koivu, Tomas Plekanec, Maxim Lapierre, and Kyle Chipchura.

Robert Lang’s been around. He’s 37 now, and has played with six previous teams, LA, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, Detroit, and Chicago, and was even Alex Kovalev’s centreman in Pittsburgh. He’s a playmaker who averages 50 points a year, and is going to be, in my estimation, a key player with the Habs.

This means the Canadiens are now a mix of older and young, of experience throughout, with Carey Price beginning his second full season.

The Canadiens gave up a second-round draft pick in 2010, which is fine. Because this is a team gunning for all the marbles this year, their 100th season, and the time is ripe.

This Lang thing puts me in a good mood. I’ve got big expectations for him. They say he might he play alongside Kovalev, just like in the old days. And he seems really happy to come to Montreal, which is of the utmost importance. “You never want to get traded or have to move your family,” he said, “but I think it’s going to be a great situation. It’s a great hockey town.”

Of course it is, Robert. It’s the greatest hockey town on the planet. You’re walking into a great thing, and I know you’re 37 years old, but you now belong to a historic and legendary team and you’re going to do great.

Welcome aboard, Robert. Wear the CH with pride.

ALSO:

Patrice Brisbois has resigned with the Habs and this is good too. Brisebois, mistakes or not, is a classy guy with something to offer, but unless there’s an injury from another blueliner, he won’t see tons of ice time. 

And this is another guy who wants to play in Montreal and had hoped that Gainey would resign him so he could stay. And he may even pop the odd power play goal.

      The silliest thing came to my attention the other day. A nice Habs’ fan commented on this site that she’d been reading “Islanders Beat” and some Islanders’ fan was saying that the big reasons Islanders’ fans don’t like the Montreal Canadiens is because Habs’ fans think Bobby Orr was a better defenceman than Denis Potvin, and that we also hold a grudge because the Islanders won four straight Stanley Cups in the early 1980’s.

Other teams’ fans might come up with a lot of reasons to dislike the Habs, but these two reasons are just plain silly. Do you dislike the Islanders because they were great in the early ’80’s? Or did you even think about this?

And about Orr and Potvin. Orr is considered possibly the greatest player ever. Potvin was listed 19th out of 100th best in the Hockey News.

Orr dominated. Potvin didn’t nearly as much.

Orr was popular with his teammates. Potvin’s teammates thought he was arrogant and somewhat phony, which I admit is neither here nor there. I just thought I’d throw it in.

Potvin played 1060 games, racking up 310 goals and 742 assists for 1052 points. He won the Norris trophy for league’s best defenceman three times.

Orr won the Norris eight time and collected 270 goals and 645 assists for 915 points in 657 games. And half of these games he played with bad knees that ended his career prematurely.

What silliness from some Islanders’ fans.

Maybe they’re just mad because Montreal has a better team than them.

Even in 1934 the Boston Bruins were a dastardly bunch. Of course, that’s not anything new. Every year they’re a dastardly bunch.

Why is that? Does it have something to do with the Babe Ruth curse, or trading Bobby Orr to Chicago?  I think it’s something only schooled professionals might be able to figure out.

For example, in 1934, Bruins defenceman Eddie Shore clubbed Toronto’s Ace Bailey over the head. In fact, he clubbed him so hard, he ended Bailey’s career by fracturing his skull.  But worse than that, he almost ended the poor guy’s life.

It was such a terrible situation that later that same year, a charity game between the Leafs and the league’s best players was held in Toronto to help the Bailey family, and $23,000 was raised.

And this was the beginning of the annual NHL all-star game. 

When Shore did this to Bailey, my father was 14 years old, and he felt bad about what had happened. So he wrote a little get-well letter to Bailey while the player lay between life and death in a Toronto hospital.

A while later, a letter arrived for my dad, and it was from Bailey’s wife, thanking him for his kind thoughts.

And what happened to the letter?

It disappeared when he went into the army, never to be seen again, he explained. Must have got thrown out by his mother, he added.

Why do mothers throw out their kids’ good stuff, like hockey cards, baseball gloves, favourite t-shirts that might only have a few holes in it, and letters from Ace Bailey’s wife?

Mothers might not be as dastardly as the Bruin Bruins, but they throw out good stuff.

 This is a set of Sherriff/Salada hockey coins from 1961-62. I’ve had these since I was eleven years old. They came in Jello and potato chips, and I pressured my mom to buy handfuls of Jello instead of just one or two. So we had a kitchen cupboard with lots of open boxes of Jello in it. I also ate more potato chips than any one human should possibly eat.

At school we would play closest to the wall, just like hockey cards, and I was devastated if my hoard of coins had dwindled. But on the other hand, if I went back to class after recess with dozens more than I had started out with, then all was right with the world. I think it was kind of like having sex before I really knew what sex was.

You could send away to the company for the shields, which I did, but after putting them in their holes and trying to hang them on the wall, most would fall out because they didn’t fit well. So I added small amounts of glue to the backs. When you see these coins in their shields on ebay, which you don’t see very often, most have been glued like mine.

These plastic hockey coins began the year before, in 1960-61 and I had a bunch of them years ago, but not anymore. They also came out as metal coins in 1962-63, and I still have the full set of these.  And there were no shields available for these other years.

The coins made a comeback in 1967, but I don’t think they became all the rage like they were in the earlier years. These later coins have become quite rare and valuable because, I suppose, there just weren’t that many.

Baseball and football also had their own coins, as did old cars and airplanes. But it’s the hockey coins that I cherished the most. 

They should bring back hockey coins for the modern generation. Maybe they’d get kids away from computer games for awhile.