In going through some papers last night in the basement, I found something I’d written in 1992. I’m not sure why I’d written it, but anyway… The first page talks about how I grew up to be a Montreal Canadiens fan living in Orillia, a city thick with Leafs fans, but I won’t bother with [...]

At one point in the latter part of the 1970s, my first wife and I, with our friends Mike and Diana Williamson, drove to Montreal from Ottawa and took in a game at the Forum. Maybe if I had a few more memory cells I could remember the year and the team the Habs played. [...]

It’s the magical combination of Danny Gallivan and Dick Irvin as the Habs and Flyers battle on May 16, 1976. Montreal would win 5-3 on this night, sweeping the Flyers to win their 19th Stanley Cup. Period one (30 min.) and period three (42 min) are included here, and we see the Cup awarded. Just [...]

It was going so well too. The crowd was pumped and happy. There was a friendly, robust cheer for new coach Michel Therrien. The torch was passed from past captains, from Yvan Cournoyer to the Pocket, from Vincent Damphousse to Serge Savard, and then Jean Beliveau handed it to present-day captain Brian Gionta. The torch [...]

There was a strong contingent of Montreal Canadiens on Team Canada ’72 - Ken Dryden, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Frank and Pete Mahovlich, and Yvan Cournoyer, and all, in their own way, contributed mightily to the cause, including Dryden who struggled at times but showed enough to coaches Harry Sinden and John Ferguson to be called [...]

Immediately following their stunning game-eight victory, Team Canada had to hit the road to Prague to play the Czechoslovakian national team the next night. This should have been better thought out by Hockey Canada, with an escape clause written into the contract. The team was both emotionally and physically spent, and it was unfair to [...]

Forty years ago, on this day, August 13, 1972, they strolled into their first day of training camp in Toronto confident and somewhat annoyed that their summer had been cut short. They had been summoned from their cottages and golf courses and barbeques to prepare for a series of four games in Canada and four games in [...]

Look how dapper Jean Beliveau is in this cover photo (below) of Vista from March 1989. Inside is a nice feature, (if you’re a Habs fan) titled “The Way They Win,” about how the Canadiens up to that point had remained faithful to tradition and won often over the years, whereas the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to sink in quicksand. [...]

Bob Gainey has been canned, and Serge Savard is in as an adviser in the search for a new GM. Serge, my number is 604-555-4587. We couldn’t have Bob anymore. Not with the lingering stench of the Scott Gomez deal continuing to assault our nostrils and destroy our brain cells. What was he thinking when he [...]

You’d have to think it’s quite odd for a GM to answer some punk’s question about getting tickets. Somehow I can’t see Pierre Gauthier or Brian Burke doing this, or any GM for that matter. It’s one last letter from the bunch I’d lost years ago and then found recently, and surprisingly, it came from Irving Grundman, who [...]