I should start off talking of the Flyers here first, but....
As a Canadiens fan who does not live in the city of Montreal, I was quite shaken and embarrassed by the events that followed Monday's game. Even living in Ontario and wearing a crested CH pullover does not escape one from snide comments from hockey followers who vehemently disagree with what went down two days ago. I agree myself, the sights were disgusting. It doesn't always help when putting the events in the perspective that they were caused by a small minority of outcast idiots.
A stain is still a stain.
Recently Montreal hockey fans were voted as the best NHL hockey fans by a poll of players. That would reflect the riot that goes on inside the Bell Centre, and not the foolishness that erupts outside it.
With the Rocket Richard riot in 1955, the Stanley Cup celebration gone afoul in 1993, and now this, Montreal is now know as the city that riots over hockey. Not the right image.
The best thing that can happen for the city now is for the Canadiens to go on winning this spring and for the violence and stupidity to cease. Seeing as the idiots that comprised the minority were practically turned in by the majority of onlookers carrying cellphones might be part of the detriment.
I feel two other things need to happen. I believe that if the Canadiens organization and their players spoke out loudly and became involved in a type of "Cool It" campaign it cannot hurt. The other thing that needs to happen is for the local police to take a good hard look at their prevention methods and tactics for calming down the enlivened spirits after games. Sometimes a simple police presence can fuel the behavior, and I don't buy for a second that the gathered forces have nothing to do with it.
The problem will not fade away without the involvement of some cool heads taking a deep look into why and how this repeatedly happens.
That's all I will say further on the subject. I've said enough....
Now for some hockey!
Captain Comeback Regains Stride, Confidence - Gazette
"The curtain had fallen an hour earlier on Act I of this playoff drama and even now, one of the lead actors was greeting visitors in his hardly private dressing room. You had to look closely to see the small bandage across his left arch. "Just a Band-Aid," Canadiens captain Saku Koivu joked late Monday night of the boo-boo, in fact a broken bone in his foot suffered 24 days earlier." - Dave Stubbs
Next Foe: Philly - Gazette
"Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau was being diplomatic when he said he didn't have any preference for his team's opponent in the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But you would have to think that if Carbonneau and friends had their choice, they would have opted for the Philadelphia Flyers." - Pat Hickey
Carbonneau Gets Credit For Habs Success - Gazette"The Carbonneau-Julien matchup was intriguing because it was Julien whom Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey fired on Jan. 14, 2005. Gainey took over the bench, with Carbonneau by his side, the plan being for Carbonneau to become the head coach for the 2005-06 season." - Tim Wharnsby
Carbonneau: "Lessons Were Learned From First Round" - TSN
"That this is the playoffs and you can't take games off and think that it will be easy and that you just have to show up," he said. "That's a process you go through to become a better team."
Order Has Been Restored, Habs Shut Bruins To End The Misery - Four Habs Fans
"If Montreal had lost this, it would have meant weeks of "what went wrong" articles, calls for Carbo's head, second-guessing of Gainey's deadline moves and non-moves, and taunts from opposing fans. Now we shake our heads, curse under our breath, and sweep the glass and debris off Ste. Catherine as we look forward to a hammering from the Rangers or a borderline assault from the goons in Philly. - Habsfan10
Please Don't Paint Us All With The Same Brush, These Hooligans Aren't Habs Fans - Dennis Kane's Excellent Montreal Canadiens Blog
"These fools, who wouldn’t know Jean Beliveau if he personally delivered their welfare cheques, saw an opportunity to show off their talent for lighting matches and breaking windows. They are, for lack of a better phrase, quite stupid. The only hooking and holding they know is when they spend twenty bucks to buy the girl of their dreams for half an hour." - Dennis Kane
Robert L Note: On a similar notion, one of our favorite Habs bloggers is having some concerns about how the embarrasing scenes in the city on Monday has made her feels as a Montrealer and as a hockey fan. I wasn't happy to see her post this yesterday. I'd like to encourage those of you who read the Theory Of Ice blog and disagree with this post to offer your voice to the comments section and give E some big time support, encouragement, and love. Thanks!
Une expérience inestimable - RDS
"Carey Price, Ryan O'Byrne, Tom Kostopoulos, Maxim Lapierre, Guillaume Latendresse et les frères Andrei et Sergei Kostitsyn sont désormais mieux aguerris pour entreprendre le deuxième tour contre les Rangers de New York ou les Flyers de Philadelphie, jeudi soir, au Centre Bell."
Price me fait penser à Joe Sakic - RDS
"Au cours de ma carrière au Colorado, j’ai vécu une situation identique à celle du Canadien à deux occasions et à chaque fois face aux Kings de Los Angeles. En 2001 et 2002, nous avions pris les devants 3 à 1 face aux Kings avant de les laisser forcer la présentation d’un septième match. Tout comme le Canadien, nous avons réussi à gagner ces deux matchs 7 de manière convaincante. En 2001, nous avons gagné 5 à 1 et en 2002 4 à 0." - Bob Hartley
Les Flyers élaborent leur plan anti-CH - La Presse
"Les Bruins ont fait du bon travail en contenant leur avantage numérique», explique Stevens au Philadelphia Inquirer. Il indique également que le CH peut compter sur «un très bon gardien, une défense solide et une attaque équilibrée."
Avec le recul, à quel rang serait choisi Price? - La Presse
"L'entraîneur Don Lever tentait de livrer le discours le plus émotif possible à ses joueurs dans le vestiaire. Et qui n'at-il pas vu bâiller dans un coin de la pièce? Carey Price, 19 ans, fraîchement rappelé des rangs juniors et qui avait seulement deux matchs d'expérience chez les pros! "Disons que ça m'a inquiété un peu sur le coup" a confié Lever, hier, au téléphone.
Premier trio un jour, mais pas toujours! - La Presse
"C'est quoi au juste un premier trio? C'est un titre qu'on colle à trois joueurs dominants. En principe, le trio de Tomas Plekanec, Alex Kovalev et Andrei Kostitsyn héritait de ce titre au terme de la saison régulière chez le Canadien."
De la graine de grand athlète - La Presse
"Carey Price n'a pas volé le statut de gardien numéro un qu'il a obtenu le jour où le Canadien a échangé Cristobal Huet aux Capitals de Washington. Sa performance contre les Bruins de Boston en première ronde des séries figure parmi les plus impressionnantes qu'il m'ait été données de voir chez un jeune gardien." - Jean - François Bégin
"La 1re série est souvant la plus difficile": Carbonneau - Le Journal
"Le Canadien a dominé dans plusieurs aspects du jeu. Il a effectué 35 tirs contre 25 pour les Bruins. Il a appliqué 38 mises en échec contre 24 pour ses rivaux. Il a bloqué 23 tirs contre 12. Enfin, il a remporté 30 des 54 mises en jeu." - Pierre Durocher
Déja dans une classe a part - Le Journal
"Au cours des sept derniers matchs, Millen n'a rien manqué de l'affrontement Boston-Montréal. Il n'aurait pu profiter d'un meilleur siège pour analyser et tenter de comprendre le comportement général d'une jeune merveille comme Carey Price. Aussi bien vous le dire, il a été impressionné par ce qu'il a vu." - Bertrand Raymond
La veille chemise fait encore l'affaire - Le Journal
"Damphousse s'est senti plus rassuré lorsque Koivu a repris son poste dans le sixième match après qu'une fracture au pied gauche l'eut tenu inactif durant trois semaines. D'accord, le Tricolore a échappé la victoire, mais Koivu a été le meilleur vétéran des siens dans ce match fertile en rebondissements. Après la rencontre, Koivu a mis la table pour le match ultime en prononçant un discours qui portait, au dire de Mike Komisarek." - Marc De Foy
More from RDS, La Presse, and Le Journal.
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