Peter Zezel, who had a fine 15 year NHL career with Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington, Toronto, Dallas, New Jersey, and Vancouver, has passed away after losing his battle with a rare blood disorder called hemolytic anemia. He was only 44. This blog would like to convey to Peter’s family our sincere condolences. Peter Zezel was a great and [...]

I bought this nice cup display in a second-hand store in Las Vegas for twenty-two bucks. It’s all the Stanley Cup winners from 1963 to 2002, and the breakdown, (if you don’t have a stats book handy, and you don’t want to be bothered typing “Stanley Cup winners” on your keyboard), is this; 40 years of winners - Montreal [...]

The Hockey Barn asked me to write down my predictions for the opening round of the playoffs, and although predictions are for gypsies, as Toe Blake used to say, I’m giving it a shot.
Anything can happen come playoff time. Every team is just one small injury or one bouncing puck away from sinking like the Titanic. [...]

 
The Canadiens simply can’t afford to lose this game against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight. Not just because Montreal’s in a battle to move up the standings, but because it’s well, the Leaf’s. Let’s call it “Payback Night”.
On November 8th, the Habs lost 6-3 to Toronto. Then they lost 5-2 on Feb. 7th to [...]

Hmm. A 5-1 loss to the Sabres. What does that mean?
It means the Sabres move within four points of Montreal. So it means losing, and losing big, to a team trying to catch you is unacceptable.
It means the Flyers are three big points up on the Habs, Florida is only one point down from the Habs, and [...]

I’m not going into great detail about numbers. I’m too tired for that. It’s better to leave that to the beat writers at the Gazette and La Presse and the Philadelphia Inquirer who get paid to go into great detail. And really, the only numbers worth mentioning is the score, a Canadiens 4-3 overtime win over [...]

Montreal claimed Glen Metropolit off waivers today from the Philadelphia Flyers. Not only is Metropolit a good, honest, hard-working forward, but he’s also a kind of human interest story as well. Metropolit grew up in Toronto’s harsh inner-city in a crime-ridden neighbourhood, where welfare was the bread and butter and gangs ran rampant. Metropolit fought his way through [...]

A 3-0 shutout by Jaroslav Halak. A big, round, chocolate-covered doughnut with a bunch of coloured sprinkles on it and maybe some of that creamy goo that falls down the front of your shirt. A big 3-0 win over the Canucks, who had been rolling through eastern Canada like nobody’s business. But not tonight. The Habs [...]

Just a little re-examining of the standings.
Boston lost 4-3 to Tampa Bay today. This doesn’t mean anything as far as the Habs and the standings go. It just feels good to say that Boston lost. Hah! Boston lost. LOSERS!
But back to business. Carolina beat Colorado today 5-2. Colorado, you pathetic bunch of mountain dwellers. Can’t [...]

It wasn’t exactly a barnburner, this 3-2 win by the Canadiens over the visitng Nashville Predators. It was a tight, mostly non-eventful mid-week game in the middle of winter in a time that is often referred to as the dog days. 
 
In fact, the most excitement came in the last minute when the Habs tried a dozen different ways [...]