Dennis Kane’s Excellent Montreal Canadiens Blog

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. 

It was one of those long nights Toronto Maple Leaf coach Ron Wilson and GM Cliff Fletcher predicted would happen this year as the Leafs are in the early stages of struggling and rebuilding. Not to mention they’re a team made up of unknowns.

And the best thing is, this long night was against the Montreal Canadiens, who rolled over the hapless Leafs 6-1 in front of a less-than- happy Leaf crowd. (with dozens of Habs jerseys sprinkled about).

Montreal dominated in every aspect, from Jaroslav Halak playing solid in goal, to a deadly power play (3 for 8), to Alex Tanguay having a goal and three assist night, to Sergei Kostitsyn chipping in with two goals and an assist, and Guillaume Latendresse helping out with a goal and two assists. 

What a far cry from Fridays spotty effort in Buffalo when the Habs dropped a 2-1 shootout loss. And the big question is - how did the Detroit Red Wings lose to the Leafs a couple of nights ago?

Montreal showed all the signs Habs fans have been looking for, especially the potent power play, firewagon hockey, a cavalcade of chances, and the way newcomers Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang have come through so far.

The Leafs, to their credit, hit three or four goalposts, but Montreal also hit a few, and they had enough chances to make this a 10-1 game, which wouldn’t have sit well with Don Cherry.

Don didn’t like the idea that the Canadiens kept pouring it on late in the game with the score 6-1. I say pour it on. Help Kostitsyn get his hattrick. Pad the stats of the power play with a couple more. Let Kovalev pop another because for the Habs to be successful Kovalev has to be as good or better than last year, and that’s a big order.

Hell, let everyone pad their stats. It’s a long year, with dry spells along the way. Get em while the gettins good. The hell with the Leafs and Don Cherry. This is a business, not a San Francisco love-in.

Cherry had another rant on Coach’s Corner when he went on with another classic but somewhat tired bit about European kids taking Canadian kids’ jobs. Basically, I agree with a lot of what Don says. Not all, but a lot. But I think it’s all starting to get a bit old now. Maybe him and Bob Cole should join a lawn bowling league.

On Monday the Canadiens are in Philadelphia, and this will be a huge test. For those with short memories, it was the Flyers who knocked Montreal out of the playoffs last year. And TSN hippie Pierre McGuire predicts Philadelphia, not Montreal, to win the Eastern Conference and challenge Detroit for the Stanley Cup.

So there’s big motivation for the Canadiens to win on Monday. And it’s always good when McGuire is proved wrong.

GAME NOTE: Montreal starts the season off with three points out of four.

SURPRISING TEAM OUT OF THE GATE:  Vancouver Canucks

Through the din in the bar in downtown Courtenay, I saw the game. The sound was turned off, AC DC and Carrie Underwood warbled in the background, the guy beside me and his girlfriend talked for almost two hours on their cellphone to someone about good deals on cars, then I heard him say goodbye mom, and a guy playing pool almost broke his back falling over when he won 25 bucks on pull tabs.

But I saw the game and I take back everything nice I said about Buffalo and the Buffalo Sabres. From here on in, it’s war with the Buffalo Sabres. 

Montreal played sloppy. They took stupid penalties (hello Steve Begin), couldn’t finish quality scoring plays, and the Sabres bumped them around more than the Canadiens bumped the Sabres around.

And they may as well not even shown up for the shootout.

So now it’s up the road to Toronto to play the team that just beat the Detroit Red Wings.

It’s gonna be no problem. As long as there’s no stupid penalties, better passing, more quality scoring chances, and more toughness from big guys like Ryan O’Byrne. And as long as Toronto stinks like they’re supposed to stink.

And I know Saku Koivu played because I saw him. I’m pretty sure it was him, at least someone wearing number 11. Whoever it was, he looked like me when I played after dropping some purple microdot acid. 

I saw flashes of nice play from the Canadiens, a touch of firewagon hockey here and there, but the Habs just looked out of sorts. Buts it’s only game one. Although, how come the Sabres didn’t look as out of sorts as they did? Must have been the home crowd.

The team seemed physically outmatched. Looks to me like we need Dangerous Goods Laraque to get back as soon as possible.

I’ll be back in my living room tomorrow night for the Leafs game. It’s only the beginning of the season and  I’m already running out of patience.

At least they got a point out it.

There’s a brand new and highly-anticipated book about Patrick Roy, written by his father Michel, on the market now, with all the details at Joe Pelletier’s site, but I know one person who probably doesn’t feel like reading it right now.

And when Patrick Roy has his sweater raised to the rafters at the Bell Centre on November 22nd, this person’s television in Pickering, Ontario won’t be tuned in either.

Mike, who has bled Canadiens colours for five decades, says he won’t watch the game that night. He doesn’t agree with what will happen, and he’s angry. Because for him, wearing the Montreal Canadiens sweater comes with a clause. A clause that says it’s an honour to wear it.

For Mike, it’s all about that infamous night on Dec. 2, 1995 when Roy allowed nine goals against Detroit, and when he wasn’t yanked by coach Mario Tremblay, skated to the Montreal bench, walked over to president Ronald Corey, and declared that he’d never play another game with the Habs.

This didn’t sit well with Mike. He’s a fan who believes wearing the sweater is so much more than about bad games, or embarrassment, or even big personal numbers. It’s about wearing the sweater, and that’s it.

And so he said recently on this site that he won’t be watching that night when Roy has the sweater go up, and I asked him why, exactly.

All he said was just go back to recent comments from him, and so I did.

“To walk out on a team as he did precludes him from any honours,” he explained. “Roy thought he was bigger than the team, even dictating when he would practice or not. Mario Tremblay had the CH tattooed on his behind, and came from an era that cherished the right and honour to be a Canadien.

“The previous players who’ve been honoured were true Montreal Canadiens, not this self-serving ego tripper.”

For me personally, it’s also hard to understand how a player can simply quit like Roy did. And maybe Mario Tremblay was completely wrong to leave him in that night like he did. But I believe Roy should’ve just sucked it up, played harder in future games, and taught Tremblay through his actions on the ice that you don’t embarrass the star goalie like that.

Roy shouldn’t have quit on his teammates and Tremblay shouldn’t have done what he did. He and Tremblay had had a volatile relationship from the beginning, with both making jokes about the other’s ability to speak English, and Roy disagreeing often on how Tremblay handled other players.

So there was a personality conflict, and I suppose fireworks were bound to happen.

The younger generation supports Roy completely through all of this. I’ve seen this by comments on this site in previous Roy stories. They believe Roy almost single handedly won both Stanley Cups for the team in 1986 and 1993. They believe his numbers outweigh everything else. They get very upset and angry. And that’s good.

They’ll be watching, and they’ll be buying the book.

But every side has their story, and Mike’s stance is clear and has its own validity.

This is a guy who watches his Habs faithfully and loyally, in every game throughout the season, and has for years. He wears his Montreal sweater, cheers loudly, drinks his beer from his Canadiens beer mug, still worships Jean Beliveau, and lives and dies with each win and loss.

But that night he won’t be watching. Or reading the book either.

Good 2-1 shootout win tonight (Tuesday) against the Detroit Red Wings. However, pre-season is pre-season so I’m not going to go into great detail.

Highlights included Carey Price swatting the puck behind him to save a goal, and 19 year old Max Pacioretty notching the lone Habs goal, plus another in the shootout. He played really well and if this continues, he’ll be tough to send down.

TSN announcers Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire were hard to understand at times because they mumbled as they told their little ditties. They almost make me miss Bob Cole.

Sergei Kostitsyn played, but older brother Andrei didn’t.

Robert Lang didn’t look overly impressive, but I’m a patient man.

I wonder if the hot dogs are as good at the Bell Centre as they were at the Forum.

Detroit didn’t play Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. The Wings were probably concerned that I may have put the injury hex on them so they took no chances.

Maybe it’s nothing to worry about. Maybe it’s only just fluke. But I’m scaring myself and I feel I need to be careful.

It’s all about the laws of attraction, powerful magnetic forces, and controlling thoughts. That’s why I need to be careful. I don’t want to disrupt the perfect harmony which is, ahem, the NHL.

A few posts ago, I wrote, sort of tongue-in-cheek, that I hoped Nick Lidstrom of the Wings would substain injuries this year as he and a few others on that team make them a powerful problem in the Canadiens quest to win the big prize. I really didn’t mean a bad injury, maybe just a little muscle pull or broken finger. That’s not so bad, is it?

The very next day, Lidstrom took a puck in the face and is now out with a broken nose.

And then some kind of opposite magnetic force came into play when I mentioned in the same story that Montreal needs to stay healthy, and right away, Koivu, Lang, Tanguay, Latendresse, Higgins, Hamrlik, Laraque, Kovalev, and Brisebois all went down with various groin, foot, and hip problems.

And so far, only Kovalev has returned. These injuries are why I need to learn to control this.

So you see why I’m scaring myself and am wondering about powers of the mind that I may have somehow obtained recently. I’ve never had them before, so why now?

I’ve never felt ill-will to anyone. Maybe just to Sean Avery and Jarkko Ruutu, but that’s it. And all I ever said about them is that I wish someone would wipe those smiles off their faces permanently.

So if you see on the sports news that Sean Avery was run into the glass and had his face wiped off completely, or that Ruutu decides no one likes him, especially by his coach, so he has no reason to smile and actually doesn’t anymore, then you’ll know my powers are in effect.

And if I channel these powers properly, I just may be able to make Bob Cole get through a game without forgetting names, both of players and himself.

is it possible my powers could move a team from a lousy US market back to Canada?

And maybe, just maybe, I can somehow use these new-found powers to change the minds of the Montreal brass to re-think their decision and let me be a flag guy at a game.

Or even better, stickboy.

The Canadiens played the Ottawa Senators last night and will play them again tonight and I noticed that nowhere in the Ottawa lineup did I see Frank Mahovlich.

What’s that? Frank Mahovlich is a senator in Ottawa, not an Ottawa Senator?  Ohhhhhh.

Never mind.

But speaking of Frank Mahovlich…..

In the late 1990’s, I owned a sports bar in Powell River called Kane’s Sports Bistro. It was a good little place and I was able to have my stuff all over the walls. Too much work, though. Way too much work. We sold it and the new owners kept the name.

During this time, the NHL Oldtimers came to town to play one of their many charity games and dazzle us with their playmaking, the skill that never seems to leave retired players.

On the day of the game, in the early afternoon, my partner and I were the only ones in the place when Red Storey and Frank Mahovlich walked in. They strolled around, looked at all the stuff on the walls, and then sat down.

Naturally we were very polite, offered them a nice spaghetti dinner (on the house), and started asking questions about hockey which they both seemed more than happy to chat about. We talked about the 1972 Canada-Russia series, modern-day hockey, and Red told me how hard it was to handle the Rocket sometimes when he (Red) was refereeing.

And of course, we had a big talk about the Habs.

From that conversation, the thing that most stands out is how Mahovlich went on about what a class outfit the Canadiens are. He said it was by far the best team in the league to play for. He said he didn’t get along with Punch Imlach in Toronto and wasn’t happy there, and when he was playing in Detroit and heard the news that he was traded to Montreal, he knew it was perfect for him.

He said the Canadiens treated the players first-class, and he considered himself an ex-Hab, not a Leaf or Red Wing.

That night at the game, Red Storey carried a microphone with him as he refereed, and told the sold-out crowd of about 2000 that everyone should go to Kane’s because the spaghetti was so good.  

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

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.

 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.