1924-25 The Forum And Two New Rivalries

When the defending Stanley Cup champion Canadiens took to the ice for the 1924-25 season, both the NHL and the Montreal hockey landscape had a very different look.

To suggest the business of hockey was booming would be an understatement, and the changes in the NHL perfectly reflected the growth of the game.

Since the NHL began eight seasons earlier in 1917-18, it had existed as a four team league that had struggled financially to get through the first World War unscathed. With strong teams in four cities now existing on financially solid ground, the NHL decided it was time to spread itself out.












There would be two new NHL franchises added this season, including a renewed Montreal rivalry, a new building, a longer schedule, and a long standing league doormat - the Hamilton Tigers - rejuvenated into a first place team.

THE FORUM OPENS

A new arena was contructed in Montreal, the Forum, and it was built to house the new Montreal team, and instant Canadiens rivals, the Maroons. In an odd and foreshadowing twist of fate, it would the Canadiens who played first in the Forum.

Sir Edward Beattie, president of the Canadian Pacific railway is cited as first having the idea to build the Forum in 1923, long before the Maroons were envisioned as possible tenants. A need for a new arena in the city of Montreal was created in the absence of the Jubilee and Westmount Arena fires in recent years.

William Northy, owner of the 4,300 seat Westmount that burned to the ground in 1918, and a builder with the Canadian Arena Company, was himself looking to build a new arena in the city. After the CAC successfully built the Arena Gardens in Toronto, Northey and Liberal Senator Donat Raymond began to develop plans for 12,500 seat capacity rink for the city of Montreal.
















Plans were scaled back due to financing questions during the Depression and a 9,300 seater was designed. After more money trouble, a backer by the name of H.L. Timmins financed the final project.

The historically significant site at the northeast corner of Atwater and St. Catherine St. West was chosen as the location as it had been home to an outdoor rink earlier in the 1900's, where future hockey legends Frank and Lester Patrick, and Art Ross learned their craft.

















At the time contruction began, the building on site was a roller skating rink named the Forum. Northey decided to keep the name.

At a cost of $1.5 million, contruction of the Forum began in the summer of 1924, and was finished in an incredible 159 days. The building would see two major upgrades in it's lifetime, one in the early 1950's and a second in 1968.

The Forum hosted it's first hockey game on November 29, 1924, and surprisingly, the Maroons were not the home team. Against the wails of both Forum and Maroons management, the Canadiens season opening contest against the Toronto St. Patricks was moved to the new building by the NHL - once again because the Mount Royal Arena couldn't produce ice on a natural surface so early in the season.

The Canadiens went on to beat the St. Patricks 7–1 in the opener, with Billy Boucher scoring a hat trick.

BRUINS BECOME FIRST U.S. BASED NHL TEAM

The NHL's other new franchise, the Boston Bruins, was the first granted outside of Canada.

In 1923, First National Stores grocery tycoon Charles Adams fell in love with the game of hockey, after wirnessing the Stanley Cup playoffs. He persisted in convincing NHL governors to grant him the first U.S. based franchise and the league decided it was time to explore American hockey markets.














Adams sought out the Ottawa Senators Art Ross as his manager, and Ross proceded to put his imprint on the club. Ross, on Adams advice, was directed to choose a nickname that portrayed an untamed animal displaying speed, agility, and cunning. The Bruins moniker he choose fit perfectly in line with colours of Adams chain of stores. Ross would remain on the Bruins front near 30 years, in every capacity from player to manager to four separate coaching stints.

More American franchises would in the Bruins wake, but few would have the rivalry with the Canadiens that the Bruins would enjoy, or regret, in years to come.

In this eighth season of NHL hockey, the league decided it would begin it's schedule earlier and expand it from 24 to 30 games. The additional games were gravy for the owners, but not all the players were as enthused.

TIGERS FINALLY SPROUT CLAWS

The improvement of the Hamilton Tigers can be traced to the previous season when owner Percy Thompson signed the Green brothers, Red and Shorty, from the Sudbury Wolves of the NOHA in November 1923. The brothers were placed on a line with emerging star Billy Burch.

Two other Wolves players, Alex McKinnon and Charlie Langlois were also added, and the players acquired from the Canadiens in the Joe Malone trade, Bert Corbeau and Edmond Bouchard, helped sturdy the team considerably. The final piece was the hiring of former Montreal Wanderers guru Jimmy Gardner as coach. The former NHA and NHL star transformed the once hapless Tigers into winners almost immediately.

CANADIENS SET TO DEFEND THEIR TITLE

Still recognizable within all this, were a very strong Canadiens squad that would have it's best regular season ever.

While the Canadiens altered the look of their red, white, and blue sweaters with a globe logo befitting their World Champion status, the men who wore them were for the most part an unchanged core group.

Back were Georges Vezina, the Cleghorn brothers, Sprague and Odie, their three young offensive stars - Morenz, Joliat, and Boucher, solid defenseman Sylvio Mantha and Billy Coutu, as well as coach Leo Dandurand. Not returning this season were Bill Cameron, who would be back in the NHL in two seasons time, and Bobby Boucher, who went on toplay with the Vancouver Maroons. Billy Bell and Joe Malone both retired from hockey.





















Despite having shared in the success in Montreal, only 61 days after his arrival, Boucher was traded to the WCHL Maroons on the very day the Habs were celebrating their Stanley Cup win. Team owner Leo Dandurand felt Bobby was too small a player, and traded him for prospect Charlie Cotch, who never appeared with the team.

The new faces on the Canadiens were mainly spares, part timers, and late season aquisitions and they included John Matz, a 33 year old center who had last played with the Saskatoon Crescents, and Fern Headley, a 23 year old defenseman who was on loan from the Bruins 13 games into the season. Dave Ritchie, who was previously acquired from Hamilton during the 1920-21 season, appeared in five games with the Canadiens after being signed as a free agent on January 28.

THE OTTAWA THREE COME AND GO

On November 17, three Ottawa area players from the OCHL were signed as free agents to brief tryout contracts, and they were Roland Lafleur and goaltender Eugene Decosse of the Ottawa Royal Canadians, and René Joliat, Aurel's brother, from the Ottawa New Edinburghs.

It is unclear exactly why Decosse and the relatively average fellow Ottawa players René Joliat and Roland Lafleur all got a chance with the Habs at the same time. The "Ottawa Three", as they were known at the time, all dressed for the team to open the season against the St. Patricks on November 29. Only Decosse did not play, as Vezina was in fine form, and backstopped the Habs to an easy 7-1 victory.

The very next day, the french language Ottawa newspaper Le Droit painted Decosse's return to Ottawa as a good thing, claiming the conditions offered by the Canadiens contract were not worth throwing ones future away. The paper did not elaborate on what those expectations were, but they were presumably equally unacceptable to René Joliat and René Lafleur, who also returned to the Ottawa area following their lone games in the NHL.

DANDURAND SEES DOLLAR SIGNS

Canadiens owner and manager Leo Dandurand, knew a thing or ten about how to make a cash register ring. As a horse racing afficianado and promoter extraorinaire, Dandurand had firm ideas upon his purchase of the Canadiens hockey club three seasons prior, on what endeavors could maximize his investment.

With Montreal being a hotbed of hockey madness, and recalling the interest and dollar generating fury of the Canadiens - Wanderers rivalry of years gone by, Dandurand put up no qualms when it came to sharing the city's territorial rights with a second NHL franchise. In fact, his asking price was so low, the demand almost seemed foolish.

Dandurand charged a mere $15,000 to allow a rival team to set up shop within the city limits, knowing full well that his bank account would benefit. He would later claim that it was no generous offer on his part to allow a second city team into the picture.

Once assured by the NHL governors that a second Montreal club would only be allowed to dress english speaking players, the offer took on the form as an investment into what would become a bitterly fought cash generating rivalry.

At the time, many followers of the game where surprised when Dandurand stepped forth to second the motion by Ottawa manager T.P. Gorman that a second NHL franchise be admitted for the city of Montreal.
















The Maroons $15,000 fee later became the source of controversy when several NHL factions claimed that the money was destined for league pockets, as was the Bruins fee. Dandurand sternly disagreed, claiming successfully that it had previously been agreed to that the fee was payment for allowing the Maroons onto the Canadiens turf. From this point on, Dandurand made certain the minutes of NHL meetings were written down and signed by all parties.

CECIL HART GETS MAROONED

The Canadiens man for all purposes, Cecil Hart, who had made the winning bid for Dandurand, Cattarinich and Letourneau when they purchased the team from the Kennedy family, and who had signed Howie Morenz one season prior, was tabbed as the man to be in charge of the Maroons. Hart's loyalties are divided when it comes to parting ways with the Canadiens, but he remains on good terms with the Canadiens team.

The Maroons owners however, fail to relinquish the desired complete control of the team's players to Hart, and disagreements ensue to the point where he is let go by the organization on February 9. Not long after, he is rehired by the Canadiens as a scout once more, and along with Morenz, he would scour the Ontario side of the border for hockey talent.

The new Forum was also of a concern to the Canadiens, as the home of the Maroons held close to 10,000 seats. The building had owners of the Mount Royal Arena worried about losing the Canadiens as tenants, and they offered Dandurand and company $50,000 to purchase the club. The offer was refused.

The first Canadiens and Maroons contest took place at the Mount Royal on Wednesday, December 10, and was won 5-0 by the Canadiens in front of 5,000 fans. The teams met again 17 days later and played to a 1-1 draw at the Forum before 11,000 spectators. The tie ended a Canadiens six games winning streak and left them with a 7-1-1 record to start the season.

SPRAGUE BEING SPRAGUE

Sprague Cleghorn continued to be a sideshow, much to the detriment of Dandurand. On January 24, Cleghorn kept up his one man war against the Ottawa Senators by getting involved in a fiery battle with the George Boucher. After the Ottawa player levelled a Montreal player into the boards, Cleghorn was helping him up when he was clocked by a Boucher roundhouse. Cleghorn retaliated and pled innocent, but was still suspended along with Boucher for the incidents that followed.

Late in the season, on February 28, the Canadiens were in Ottawa for a game against the Senators, when both players and fans felt what was explained away as an explosion at the time. In Montreal, as the Maroons hosted Hamilton, a similar sensation was felt. What occured, was an earthquake centered in Charlevoix, Quebec near the Saguenay River. It shook all the way to Ottawa, scattering fans temporarily in both buildings. While Billy Boucher and the Senators Ed Gorman were exchanging fists in the penalty box area, scribes in the press box above were gripping their typewriters so that they would not drop onto spectator's heads down below. The quake did not shake the Canadiens, who lost the game 1-0.

BRUTE CLEGHORN INSPIRES THE LADY BYNG

The NHL introduced another new award in 1924-25, the Lady Byng trophy, named in honour of Marie Evelyn Moreton, the wife of the Viscount Byng of Vimy, a Vimy Ridge war hero who was the Governor General of Canada from 1921 to 1926. Lady Byng, who was an avid hockey fan, decided to donate the trophy to the NHL in 1925.

The Governor General's wife was said to quite appauled by players the likes of Sprague Cleghorn and sought to reward cleaner play with her donation to the game.

Lady Byng decided the trophy's first winner would be the Ottawa Senator's Frank Nighbor. Late in the season she invited Nighbor to Rideau Hall, showed him the trophy, and asked him if the NHL would accept it as an award for its most gentlemanly player. When Nighbor said he thought it would, Lady Byng, much to Nighbor's surprise, awarded him the trophy.

CANADIENS SET TEAM RECORDS

The Canadiens finished the season with a record of 17-11-2 and their 36 points placed them third in the NHL. Hamilton led with 39, followed closely by Toronto with 38.



























Joliat, Morenz, and Boucher finished third, fourth, and seventh, respectively in the scoring race. Morenz's 30 goals were bested only by Toronto's Babe Dye with 38.

The Canadiens as a team scored 93 goals, the most in this season, while also allowing the least, with 56 in 30 games. The 38 year old Georges Vezina was again the best goaltender in the league, with a miniscule 1.81 goals against average and 5 shutouts.
























In the six contests with the cross town rival Maroons, the Canadiens held a 4-0-2 edge. The NHL's two newest teams, the Maroons and Bruins, finished fifth and sixth in their initial NHL campaings.

With a 3-2-1 record against the Toronto, the Canadiens were all set for the two game total goals series against the St. Patricks. Implemented under the NHL's new playoff format, the second and third place teams would battle for the right to take on the first place squad for the O'Brien Cup. The winner of that series would then move on to challenge the WCHL champions for the Stanley Cup.

TIGERS PLAYERS REVOLT

The Canadiens were about to begin the series when it was learned that the first place Tigers players were revolting against the terms of their contracts. The players demanded to their owner, Percy Thompson, that they would not participate in the NHL finals unless they received an additional $200 each for the extra six games played that year. Under their contracts the Tigers players were to receive the same amount of money no matter how many games they played from December 1, 1924 to March 31, 1925.

Upset at having to play an additional 6 games in the schedule for no extra pay, the Hamilton players went on strike figuring they had NHL President Frank Calder over a barrel.

Calder was furious, stating that the Tigers players would be fined or suspended if they did not play in the final series, but the players stated that they would rather retire than be taken advantage of.

The Canadiens meanwhile, had won the first playoff game on March 11 in Montreal by a score of 3-2. They travelled to Toronto for the second game and learned that a tie game would be all that was needed to achieve the Stanley Cup finals.

On March 13, the day of the final game of the semi final between Toronto and the Canadiens, the Tigers Red Green met with president Calder and attempted to iron out an agreement to no avail. There was little negotiating, as Green told that the players stood firm.

All Tigers players were then suspended by the NHL and fined $200 each, and their season and playoffs cancelled. Calder declared that the winner of the Canadiens / St. Patricks series would then advance to the Stanley Cup challenge.

That evening the Canadiens shut out the St. Patricks 2-0, and they were off to the Stanley Cup finals for a second season running.

WESTERN HOCKEY MERGED INTO ONE LEAGUE

Western league hockey had undergone its share of changes as well in 1924. Prior to the start of the season, the PCHA folded and two of its best teams, the Vancouver Maroons and the Victoria Cougars, joined the WCHL. This meant that after three seasons of having three leagues compete for the Stanley Cup, the final would once again have only two competing teams.
















The Cougars followed much the same path to the final as did Montreal. They were also a third place finisher, and they topled the Calgary Tigers and Newsy Lalonde's Saskatoon Crescents to earn their way into the final.

CANADIENS LEAVE STANLEY BEHIND

The Canadiens were perhaps a little overconfident as the left for Victoria, and purposely did not bring the Stanley Cup with them, assured it would still be theirs upon their return.

The games were played at the Victoria Arena in this best of five series were the first broadcast on radio, and it was Dr. Clem Davies who called the play by play.
The series began on March 21, and the Canadiens dropped game one by a 5-2 score. In a supersticious move prior to the start of the game, the Cougars players hurried to leave the pre-game warmup first for good luck. The trick worked well for them again in game two, as they put the Canadiens in a hole with a 3-1 win.

INNOVATIVE PATRICK DUPES CANADIENS

Montreal, as did most of the NHL teams, still used its six best players for the majority of the game, substituting them as they each tired. Cougars manager Lester Patrick, perhaps hockey's greatest visionary, employed two lines in constant rotation during games. His reasoning was that even fresh second tier players had more to give energy wise over the course of a game that the tired players the opposition would counter with.

For game three, the Canadiens thought they would pull the Cougars trick of leaving the warmup first. It likely had no bearing on the final score, but the stunt seemed to work, as they Canadiens went on to win 4-2.

The Canadiens backs were again against the wall on March 30, and Victoria handed them a firm 6-1 routing. There would be no Stanley Cup in Montreal this season.

Montreal scored eight goals in the series, with all of them coming from their top line of Morenz, Boucher and Joliat. Victoria countered with a more balanced attack with eight different skaters combining for 16 goals. There was something to be learned from Lester Patrick's method.




















The next day, on April 1, the mayor of Victoria hosted a banquet for the team without the Stanley Cup being present. It would be mailed by the Canadiens organization to the Cougars upon their return to Montreal.

With a host of changes still to come on the hockey horizon, this series would mark the closing of an era and the dawning of a new one. The Victoria Cougars would become the last non NHL team to win the Stanley Cup.

Something Was.....Almost Bruin!

Robert L Note: Bill Simmons writes for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine as "The Sports Guy" and writes several columns each week for ESPN.com and ESPN Magazine. Rarely does Simmons venture into hockey - it's torture for him, as you'll see. He 's a divorced Bruins fan. He's also probably the funniest sports writer out there....and he's out there.

After Game 6 of the Bruins / Habs series, hockey lit a fire in Simmons again, albeit briefly I imagine. I was anxiously awaiting a followup piece on this one - doubt we'll get it now. This piece was entitled "Something's Bruin!", and unfortunately for Simmons, it was the same old brew. Enjoy this and have a few laughs on him!

I am an NHL widower. I have made that clear many times. I cared about the Bruins for years and years, and up until last week, I had stopped caring about them completely.

Still, it's hard to shake your past. On YouTube right now, you can find a handful of tributes to Bobby Orr and Cam Neely, as well as every memorable Bruins brawl from the 1970s and '80s. You can find John Wensink challenging Minnesota's bench. You can find Stan Jonathan beating the holy hell out of Pierre Bouchard. You can find Terry O'Reilly's unforgettable playoff battle with Clark Gilles, that 1980 series when it seemed like they threw down twice a game, then shook hands and hugged when it was over. Even with the Bruins gone from my life, that didn't stop me from digging these clips up and enjoying them all.

In all the time spent perusing Bruins clips over the past two years, I only avoided plugging two words into YouTube's search engine: "BRUINS CANADIENS."

That would be like searching for "80 PERCENT OF THE BAD MEMORIES FROM MY CHILDHOOD." When I was growing up in Massachusetts, every spring the Canadiens would shatter the Bruins in the most agonizing way possible. Sometimes the Canadiens would sweep us and leave us for dead; sometimes they would carry us for seven games, make us think we had a chance, then rip our hearts out right at the end. The toughest defeat happened in 1979, when I was 9 years old and still recovering from the Bucky Dent Game a few months earlier. The Bruins took the semifinals to a seventh game in Montreal, then grabbed the lead in the final few minutes. This was back when the three-time champs were trotting out an All-Star team -- Larry Robinson, Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Jacques Lemaire, Bob Gainey, Kenny Dryden, etc. -- and just when you thought some of their guys might be getting old, suddenly they had another potential star like Rod Langway or Mark Napier. They were the juggernaut of juggernauts. You could have been leading these guys by three goals with 30 seconds to play and not have felt safe.

Naturally, the B's got whistled for a "too many men on the ice" penalty in the final three minutes, which I remember thinking was a complete crock at the time; only when they re-aired the game on ESPN Classic years later did I realize the Bruins screwed up. Every other memory I had lived up to that Classic replay -- Don Cherry screaming like a lunatic on the bench, the Montreal crowd roaring and smelling the kill, the Bruins grimly skating around and waiting for the next faceoff, doom hovering over the ice like a black cloud. The tying goal came about so quickly, it felt like getting sucker-punched at a bar or something. What just happened? Of course, I can still see everything. Lafleur gathered the puck behind his net and took off like he had rocket-propelled skates. There might have been greater players, but no Bruins opponent was scarier than Lafleur with a head of steam and his foofy French hair flying behind him. For Bruins fans, Lafleur was the Grim Reaper.

There are so many things that separate hockey from other sports -- good and bad -- but no other sport makes you constantly think, "Uh-oh, this is good" or "Uh-oh, this is bad." Every minute of playoff hockey brings another potential scoring chance, another potential screw-up or tipped shot, another shot off the goal post, another three-on-two rush. For the fans, it's an exhausting experience, a constant battle between "Uh-oh, this is good" and "Uh-oh, this is bad" and by the end of the games, you're just a puddle. But when Lafleur had that head of steam, it went beyond "This is bad." Every Bruins fan knew what was going to happen. I say that without a hint of exaggeration. He was going to score, we were headed to overtime, and we were going to lose.

And we did.

Every time they beat us, the Montreal fans would chant "Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nahhhhhh, HEY HEY HEY, gooooodbye" after the game. It never ceased to be infuriating. After this particular game, I remember being so downtrodden and frustrated that the chant made me start crying, and not just that, but I kept crying and couldn't stop. My face was buried into our living room sofa, so only when I came up for air did we realize my nose had been bleeding the entire time. The entire cushion was covered in blood. Since my dad was going through a divorce and didn't have much money at the time, we turned the cushion over and he kept that sofa for another few years. Every once in a while, we'd turn the cushion over, look at the bloody stain and make jokes about it. It was almost like Guy Lafleur came into the living room and punched me in the face.

So that's what I grew up with: The Canadiens beating the Bruins. We were the nail and they were the hammer. Nothing ever changed. When I graduated college and realized I had spent two solid decades of my life rooting for a franchise that cared about making a profit more than winning a Stanley Cup, that's the only way I was able to dump the Canadiens from my life -- by not following the sport as diligently. Once the Devils unveiled their hideous zone trap and Gary Bettman tried to turn a blue-collar sport into "NBA 2.0," it was an easy decision to cut the cord entirely. The Bruins would always be like family to me, but I wasn't interested in following them again until the team was sold. Honestly, I didn't feel like I was missing much.

Look, sometimes a sport can just evolve in the wrong direction. It happened to tennis, it happened to pro wrestling and it definitely happened to hockey. This was a sport that thrived on rivalries and feuds -- Montreal and Boston, the Rangers and Islanders, Philly and Washington, Montreal and Toronto, Montreal and Quebec, Montreal and everybody -- so by moving key franchises and adding too many other ones, fundamentally, they were killing the one thing that made the sport so great. As a Boston fan, how am I supposed to get fired up during the regular season for a steady stream of Nashville, Columbus, Carolina and Anaheim? It's insane. It's illogical. Hockey should never have more than 22 teams, and half those teams should be playing in Canada, where it's the national sport and the citizens truly care about the game. It's the only way to bring the sport back -- rivalries, bad blood, back-to-back games and everything else -- and as soon as they jettison a few franchises and move a few others back to Canada, I could see caring about the league again. You know, as long as the Bruins are sold.

You can't say the damage from the Bettman era was incalculable, because you can calculate it -- hockey barely has an American TV contract right now, and it drifted into the second tier of professional sports for good after the devastating lockout. I write about sports for a living and couldn't tell you who won every Stanley Cup this decade. Even worse, if I quizzed my friends -- all of whom care about sports except for one -- I don't have a single friend who could rattle off those Cup winners except for my buddy Dave Dameshek, a Penguins fan who didn't get pushed away because of "Sixty-six" (his nickname for Mario Lemeiux) and then Sid the Kid and "Geno" Malkin. So that's not good. The NHL has evolved into a sport with all die-hard fans and no casual ones. They need to get the casual ones back. They need to bring back people like me.






















I mention this only because, for the past two weeks, I have been watching hockey. It started innocently enough -- the Bruins were pitted against the Canadiens in Round 1 of the playoffs, and even though I couldn't have named five Bruins, I found myself flicking over to Versus for Game 1 just because I enjoyed seeing the uniforms so much. The Bruins were wearing their white, black and gold, the Habs were wearing their red and blue, and they were playing in Whatever-The-Hell-The-Forum-Is-Called-Now. Just like old times ... right down to the part when the Bruins lost. Game 2 happened on a Saturday and I caught the third period and overtime; we blew that one, too. But it wasn't until Game 3 that I found myself getting hooked -- not for the excitement of the games as much as the ignominy of Montreal fans infiltrating Whatever-The-Hell-The-Garden-Is-Called-Now and cheering on the visiting Habs. Even worse, they had no problem throwing down with Boston fans in the stands. I mean, this was like something that would happen to the Atlanta Hawks or the Tampa Bay Rays.

No matter what has happened to hockey in Boston over the years, this was an unforgivable turn of events -- nearly as violating as hundreds of British people randomly showing up in Charlestown dressed in 1770s garb, heading over to the Warren Tavern and starting to push locals around. I don't care what's happened to me and the Bruins over the years; the fact that (A) Montreal fans felt safe enough to come to a playoff game in Boston and (B) they could get THAT many tickets to a playoff game had to rank among the saddest moments in recent Boston sports history. It's one thing to see the dead body of someone you used to love; it's another thing to watch vultures picking away at it. Like everyone else who cares about Boston as a sports city, I was completely horrified.

And that's when I got sucked back in. We won an emotional Game 3 in overtime, followed by a number of postgame brawls on and around Causeway Street between Boston and Montreal fans, at least 50 of them involving guys named Sully and Murph teaming up to beat the hell out of someone named Pierre. In classic Bruins-Habs fashion, just as everyone was starting to take notice of the B's, they blew a 1-0 heartbreaker in Game 4. The good news? It was an exceptionally well-played game, and when you remember that five of the best Bruins are 22 or younger, it seemed like the team was coming together. At some point during all of this, I found myself getting attached to one of the young Bruins -- Milan Lucic, a 19-year-old winger out of the Cam Neely mold who skates around with one of those threatening, wild-eyed "You looking at me? Did you just look at me? DON'T F------ LOOK AT ME!" glares. Here comes a dated movie reference, but so be it ... he's like Francis in "Stripes." Within three games, I had a man-crush on him. So does everybody.

















Now here's where things got really interesting. Between Game 4 and Game 5, longtime Boston GM Harry Sinden -- a notorious skinflint and B.S. artist who helped drive me and so many others away from the Bruins -- complained about the direction of the series in a Boston Globe interview and took shots at a couple of the Bruins, including Marc Savard, Lucic and coach Claude Julien. Two strange things here: First, Sinden was still working for the team as a consultant. (Although not for much longer after that grouchy interview.) And second, again, this was the guy who helped ruin hockey in Boston! Hearing Sinden complain about the B's would be like listening to Dubya complain about our foreign policy in 2011. Really? You're saying something? So the fans were furious, and so were the players -- they came out on the road and kicked Montreal's butts around in Game 5. We were headed back home.

That brings us to Game 6. Everyone made a big deal about the Spurs-Suns game Saturday, and rightfully so: It was the greatest Round 1 game ever played in the NBA playoffs, as well as one of the best Game 1s of any series, and if you ever doubted the credentials of Duncan, Nash or Ginobili, or the unique ceiling for that matchup, then you had no doubts after the second overtime ended. But the Bruins-Habs game was just as entertaining: Furious action for three periods; a deafening, ear-splitting crowd; tons of history; and then, an explosion of goals (six in all!) in the third period, capped off by a breathtaking flurry in which the B's took the lead, lost it and regained it in the span of about 2.3 seconds. The kids played a big part (Lucic scored a game-tying goal and potential franchise center Phil Kessel scored two beauties), but I was more delighted Marco Sturm took over the game in the third period and scored the winning goal. Two years ago, Boston gave away Joe Thornton in one of those textbook "three dimes for a quarter" deals, your classic crummy, soulless Bruins trade that worked out even worse because Thornton rejuvenated his career that same season and won the MVP. I remember hearing about the trade and thinking, "Man, I'm so glad I got out in time," almost like hearing about some ex-girlfriend who just got arrested for prostitution or something.


















Well, Sturm was one of the "dimes" in the Thornton trade. Funny how life works sometimes. But by the time Game 6 ended and the Bruins had held off the Habs and their brazen fans, you got the feeling something substantial had happened -- not just a pivotal turning point for a young franchise, but maybe the Bruins even working their way back into the local conscience. Maybe it took the arrogance of a few thousand traveling Montreal fans and a washed-up, cranky general manager, but however it happened, the Bruins mattered again. Even if it's only for a week, it's better than nothing.

Quick story: Only a few months ago, an L.A. friend e-mailed a couple of us asking if we wanted to hit the Bruins-Kings game with him that night. Apparently, he had fantastic seats right on the boards. I remember e-mailing him back and joking that the seats could have been on the Bruins' bench and I wouldn't have gone. They were dead to me. They were. Flash-forward to the moment right after Game 6 ended -- I called my father and he answered the phone, "I knew it, you're back on the bandwagon!" Needless to say, he's one of the few who never really left. We babbled excitedly about the game for a few minutes, talked some hockey and hung up, just like old times.

Now we're headed back to the House of Horrors for another Game 7. The demons from my childhood await. Will I care beyond this series? Yeah, maybe. I like this particular Bruins team and would consider buying a Lucic jersey if the money wasn't going right to the Jacobs family. Screw them. I guess it's more about the Canadiens and Lafleur and that bloody sofa and every other awful memory from my childhood. The Bruins are playing the Canadiens in Montreal, one game, winner take all, and even Gary Bettman can't screw that one up.

Stomach, prepare to get punched.
.

Habs Lured Into Playing The Bruins Game

This wasn't in the script!

The Canadiens and Bruins series is turning into the nailbitter no one expected - not in wildest dreams.

There are many colliding viewpoints on how this series has gone so far, and some of them aren't kind to the Canadiens. It has been stated that it has been the Bruins who have dictated the style of play since game 2, and that analysis isn't far off from the truth.



It's no cliché that the playoffs are a different season, it is a fact.

"Nothing is ever won in advance", is a second cliché that gets worn out but has been proven correct of late.

The playoffs are an emotionally packed pressure cooker, filled with expectations and frustrations where each action is magnified, exaggerated, and overplayed. There is intensity in every individual moment. The momentum of a game can change dramatically with one error.

Despite leading 3-1 going into last night's game, the Canadiens play has resembled the Bruins game more than their own since game 1. The Habs have maintained a slight edge so far, in beating the Bruins at their own game.























The Bruins method, that has been working for them in keeping games close, is that when all else fails, deploy the trap.

After losing 13 consecutive times to the Canadiens, Boston has nothing to lose by following this recourse. The Habs game is one of speed, and clogging the neutral zone has thrown a wedge into the Canadiens gears.

At the onset of the series, the Bruins virtually announced that their plan was to hit the Canadiens at every turn.

Somewhere along the way, the Canadiens decided that they would impose their physicality upon the Bruins instead. It might have been a mistake to throw the emphasis on countering Boston's game, especially since it is the Canadiens who successfully swept the season series 8-0.

Here is what the shots on goal and hits per game totals look like after 5 games.

Game 1: 4-1 Montreal/SOG 32-24 M/ Hits 37-25 M
Game 2: 3-2 Montreal/SOG 28-27 B/ Hits 39-21 B
Game 3: 2-1 Boston/SOG 31-28 M/ Hits 37-34 B
Game 4: 1-0 Montreal/SOG 28-27 B/ Hits 33-31 M
Game 5: 5-1 Boston/SOG 32-24 M/ Hits 36-21 M

After 5 games, Montreal has outshot Boston 160-129 and outhit them 168 to 153.























Now here are 2 interesting questions to be drawn from these stats:

If Boston, who planned to outhit Montreal, are not doing so, could it be that the Bruins have had more puck possesion time than the Canadiens?

If Montreal are outshooting Boston, with an average of over 30 shots a game, why aren't they converting at a better rate than only two goals per game?

Simply put, the Bruins have managed to get Montreal off their game.

The Habs have been lured into hitting everything in sight, when they should be being more selective.

It has been noted that Steve Begin and Mike Komisarek are throwing their weight around, and should be, but the entire team has gotten involved and that isn't always the best manner to proceed.

If the Bruins are throwing less hits, it is because they are being more selective.

There is no stat to count 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 scoring chances, but the Bruins seem to have had the greater share.

Why?

Because likely some overzealous Habs hitter has taken himself out of the play at an ill advised moment. They are caught up ice. They are out of the play.






















That the Canadiens are outshooting the Bruins should be of no surprise, but the Habs are unavailable to convert rebounds as the player who ought to be crowding the crease is just leaving the corner boards when shots are fired.

As much as the Canadiens have proven that they are able to play a physical game, the long and short of it is that they are not playing THEIR game against the Bruins.

As pedestrian as it sounds, speed and dump ins, beating the Bruins to the puck, are still the best method of breaking the trap. The Bruins will allow the Canadiens to hit them all they can as long as it continues to take them out of the play. With dump ins, that is the play, and the Habs willcease to get nipped at the blueline or swarmed in the neutral zone. Right now, they are trying to get too creative at the wrong places on the ice.

The theory is that hitting wears an opponent down, but it actually takes more effort and energy to throw a hit that it does to receive one willingly. Considering that it takes little effort or stride to absorb a hit, if player concentration is there, the puck will still pursue an opposite path.

It all boils down to being selective rather than random.

Reckless abandon has no place in a game of chess.
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Habs For Breakfast - April 8, 2008

How's your hockey pools coming?

I joined one last night with 6 people including a girl who chose 6 Ottawa Senators!

Pretty simply rules in this pool: One point for a goal and assist, one point for a shutout, 12 players plus 2 goalies chosen randomly in the draft.

I didn't get too adventurous, except for grabbing my 2 goalies with my first 2 picks!

Here's my guys in order chosen:

Nabokov, Price, Plekanec, Holmstrom, Sykora, A. Kostitsyn, Whitney, Rafalski, Michalek, Malone, Cheechoo, Cleary, Koivu, S. Kostitsyn.

In all 5 Habs, 3 Red Wings, 3 Sharks, and 3 Penguins. You could say I stuck with the favorites!
The Canadiens had by far the most players chosen of the 84 selected - 11, all the way to surprise picks a la Hamrlik and Latendresse. I grabbed captain K with my 13th pick!

If you are into joining a hockey pool, the Habs Inside Out site has one set up - no cost, no prize other than honour, and it is fairly straightforward as far as rules go. Check it out here.

Should be fun stuff!























"Now that we're in the playoffs, our goal is to win the Stanley Cup." - Gazette

"We began in October with 15 Eastern Conference teams and our objective was to make the playoffs, in the best position possible," Gainey said. "Now that we're in the playoffs, our goal is to win the Stanley Cup." And just like that, the genius behind this remarkable Canadiens team turned playoff fever up another few degrees in a civic cauldron that's been on a rolling boil for weeks." - Dave Stubbs

One Step At A Time - Montreal Canadiens.com

"The first half of the season was a matter of preparing our team after having made room for our young players," explained Gainey. "Over the second half of the season, we began to see the results of our efforts and an improvement in our overall play."

Stretch Run Shows Price Is Ready - Gazette

"Price has no playoff experience in the NHL, but Gainey said he sees comparisons between the Price who has posted a 12-3 record down the stretch and the 19-year-old who led Hamilton to the Calder Cup a year ago." - Pat Hickey

Walking Wounded Making Progress - Gazette

"The Canadiens are still hoping to have defenceman Mike Komisarek in the lineup for Game 1 Thursday. He did a lot of hemming and hawing Monday, but his injured hip is on the mend. He still needs clearance from the team doctors, but he appeared to be handling the contact in practice Monday." - Pat Hickey

Gainey revels in young talent, but says veterans will lead Habs in playoffs - CP

Sharks to top Habs in Stanley Cup final, according to EA Sports simulation - NHL.com

Price, Jagr, and Huet named week's 'Three Stars' - NHL.com

Habs Lessons: 2002, 2004, and 2008 - Lions In Winter

"I have nothing against the 2008 Bruins themselves, nor the 2002 Canadiens for that matter. Half the league or more fits into this category. Most Habs teams for the past decade, too. But know this, Bob Gainey has been diligently working and building for 5 seasons since then to make sure we can ice better teams on a consistent basis than the 2002 Canadiens." - Topham

Who Should Win And The Best Things Boston Has Going For Them - Dennis Kane's Excellent Montreal Canadiens Blog

"Although Toe Blake said predictions are for gypsies, I’m going to have my say about who I think will win each series. And this isn’t rocket science." - Dennis Kane

Revival In Montreal - Bleacher Report

Bruins' Bergeron cleared for post-season play - CBC Sports























L'objectif de Bob Gainey : gagner la coupe Stanley, rien de moins - CKAC Sports

"Gagner la coupe Stanley, rien de moins. C'est l'objectif de Bob Gainey. Pour y arriver, le Canadien devra miser sur l'expertise de vieux routiers comme Alex Kovalev, Bryan Smolinski, Roman Hamrlik Mathieu Dandeneault et Patrice Brisebois." - Robert Laflamme

Komisarek, Bouillon et Ryder devraient jouer jeudi - La Presse

"Mike Komisarek n'est pas un très bon menteur. Le défenseur du Canadien s'est efforcé d'en dire le moins possible quant à son état de santé, lundi, mais on a pu lire entre les lignes qu'il sera à son poste pour le premier match de la série contre les Bruins de Boston, jeudi." - Robert Laflamme

Gainey vise la Coupe Stanley - La Presse

"Vous (les journalistes) et nos partisans n’aviez pas vu jouer Carey Price l’an dernier dans les séries de la Coupe Calder. Ce n’est pas juste le fait qu’il ait gagné le trophée, mais son attitude qui m’avait convaincu que nous avions sous la main un grand gardien. Le moment était venu de lui donner la place." - Bob Gainey

Carbo croit que les Bruins auront la rage au coeur - La Presse

"C'est le principal aspect (la discipline) sur lequel ils vont mettre l'accent, a-t-il opiné. Historiquement en séries, il y a moins de pénalités parce que les joueurs sont plus soucieux et concentrés. Peu importe le total de jeux de puissance qu'on se verra accorder, ce sera à nous d'imposer notre style et d'exploiter notre vitesse." - Guy Carbonneau

Barbes bleues, blanches et rouge - La Presse

"Même si le port de la barbe et celui d’un masque ne font pas bon ménage, Carey Price suivra la mode. « C’est dur sur le menton et c’est inconfortable à cause des frottements avec l’intérieur du masque. Ça frise la torture par moment, mais je vais suivre la parade." - François Gagnon

More links at La Presse











Le Canadien en six - RDS

"Les séries représentent une saison complètement différente et c’est pourquoi je concède deux parties aux Bruins lors de la première ronde, mais je prédis que le Canadien l’emportera en six parties." - Jacques Demers

Conférence de presse de Bob Gainey - RDS

Point de presse de Guy Carbonneau - RDS

L' éffet Kovalev - Le Journal

"Phil Goyette, lui, a surtout insisté sur l'effet Kovalev, qui s'est investi du rôle de leader dès les premiers jours de la saison. "En attaque, il essaie de créer des choses. Il est patient avec la rondelle, il ne s'en débarrasse pas. Kovalev, à cet égard, a donné le ton et les jeunes cherchent à faire comme lui. Au hockey, tu ne donnes pas la rondelle. Et quand tu ne donnes pas la rondelle, tu contrôles le jeu."

Josh Gorges: La plus belle surprise - Le Journal

"Plusieurs jeunes ont su saisir la chance qui leur a été offerte cette saison de jouer régulièrement dans la LNH et Gorges en constitue un bel exemple", a raconté Gainey. "Il voulait obtenir une place dans notre excellent groupe de défenseurs et il a su la mériter en jouant très bien".

Est-ce encore essentiel ? - Le Journal

"Il y a actuellement huit nationalités au sein du Canadien. Cinq de ses sept premiers marqueurs proviennent de pays différents, mais aucun du Canada. La présente situation a incité le quotidien national à poser une question quand même pas banale : est-ce toujours aussi essentiel aux yeux des Québécois qu'il y ait des vedettes locales au sein de l'équipe ? La réponse est facile. Bien sûr que c'est essentiel. Primordial même. Toutefois, si on en juge par le vent de folie qui souffle sur la ville, tant que l'équipe connaîtra du succès, on ressentira moins le besoin de crier à l'injustice." - Bertrand Raymond

More links at Le Journal
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Habs For Breakfast - Eastern Champions!

You have to wonder if the Penguins decision to sit Sidney Crosby yesterday could come back to haunt them.

It may or may not have mattered in the games end result, but those could be two precious points lost should the Canadiens and Penguins meet three rounds from now.

But that is getting way ahead of things!

First, there are Bruins on the menu, and before you start thinking "sweep", it might be smart to never underestimate a wily underdog, a description which fits Boston perfectly.

The 10 point separation between the Canadiens and Bruins in the standings has everything do with the Habs sweeping the season series. Beyond the difficulties Boston had with Montreal, the Bruins handled the rest of the competition better than the Canadiens.

The Bruins record against teams other than Montreal is 41-22-11 for 93 points. The Canadiens record against those same teams is 39-25-10, good for 88 points.

Obviously the Bruins are doing many things right, just not enough of them against the Canadiens.

Teams learn to win by studying how they lose. The Bruins have a textbook on what they've done wrong against Montreal, and they will be studying it cover to cover. They are bound to find something that makes this series last longer than many believe it will.

Still, I would be surprised if the Habs didn't come out victorious, but I would be equally surprised if the series lasted less than 6 games.

I'd like to point out 3 links from today's group as "must reads", in my opinion.

The first one is the Globe Sports almost admission that the Habs are Canada's team heading into the playoffs.

This from a Toronto based media outlet - it has to be a first!

Theory Of Ice has a great piece that translates what the Habs have accomplished this season, putting it all in a "Life Lessons" perspective. Intellectual stuff from my friend E!

J.T. at The H Does Not Stand For Habs looks at 10 pivotal points in the Habs season and how the team grew with each one.

The NHL awards will not be handed out until June, but these 2 TSN clips have three Habs in the running.

Habs Represent Canada's Best Hope - Globe Sports

"The Montreal Canadiens not only claimed the NHL's Eastern Conference regular-season title, they carry the weight of Canada's best hope into the Stanley Cup playoffs." - Tim Wharnsby

Flower Hasn't Lost His Poise - Gazette

"In his 13 full seasons with the Canadiens, Guy Lafleur did not once walk through a Montreal summer and hear the question, "Why didn't you make the playoffs?" Because he made the playoffs 13 consecutive years. "No, I heard: 'Why didn't you win the Stanley Cup?' " the Flower said yesterday, laughing." - Dave Stubbs

Kovalev Is Prince Of The City - Gazette

"Right now, Kovalev is the Prince of the City, complete with the rugged good looks and the flowing blond locks. The Artist. The man who strapped this Canadiens team onto his muscular Russian back and carried it not simply into the playoffs but to the top of the Eastern Conference heap." - Jack Todd

Now The Fun Starts - Gazette

"We really haven't achieved anything yet," Price said after backstopping the Canadiens to a 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. "They don't hang conference titles in this building. Our goal is still to win the Stanley Cup." - Pat Hickey















A Love Affair We All Hope Lasts Until June - Gazette

"The noise started with 90 seconds remaining in this final game of the regular season. Everyone: men and women ... boys and girls ... all on their feet applauding this 104-point team. It grew louder and louder as the seconds of this remarkable season wound down, interrupted only by a silly fight that doesn't deserve a mention, with 1.9 seconds remaining. Then, there were the Canadiens players gathering at centre ice, sticks raised in a salute to the fans, the other side of this love affair both sides are hoping will last into June." - Red Fisher

Teams Set For Cup Run - TSN

"Over the years the two clubs have met in 30 post season series. Montreal holds clear historic advantage with a record of 23-7 in playoff series (a record of 95-57)."

Bruins Look To Slay The Dragon - Boston.com

"Chiarelli on first-year netminder Carey Price: "We have to get him moving and get the puck high. He's very big. He's a pads-down, blocker-down goalie. We have to get pucks high, get him moving, and keep pucks away from him on dump-ins and hard-arounds. He's going to have pressure. He's young and it's his first NHL playoff series. We have to get in his head in a variety of ways."

Life Lessons - Theory Of Ice

"That is the real beauty of the 2007-2008 Montreal Canadiens: they’re not just a very good hockey team, they’re an incredible confluence of metaphors. Most of the time, the last thing you’d ever want to suggest is that people emulate hockey behavior in everyday life- taken too literally, ‘punch people who disrespect you’ and ‘just ignore that shooting pain in your spine’ aren’t exactly principles to live by. But these Habs are the exception. A life lived the way they played this season- with tenacity, intensity, joy, and sustained good faith- would be an excellent life." - E

We're Number 1 - The H Does Not Stand For Habs

"The season's over and there are three excruciating days to wait before the playoffs open for the Habs. So, there's no better time to look back at the climb up the mountain and remember our favourite milestones. Here are my top ten games of significance...the games that have made the Habs the team they are today."

Dazed And Confused. And Another Classic Montreal - Boston Playoff Series - Dennis Kane's Excellent Montreal Canadiens Blog

"Thursday, the show begins. Boston’s packing their spare sticks and jockstraps right now, and probably aren’t feeling real good about the propects of taking on our Habs, considering that Montreal has beaten them eleven straight times dating back to last year." - Dennis Kane

Smolinski:"Je me fiche des statistics" - La Presse

"Si je croise un gars dans ce vestiaire qui mentionne que ce devrait être facile parce que nous avons eu leur numéro en saison régulière, je vais le rappeler à l'ordre. Nous avons toutes les raisons au monde d'être satisfaits de notre saison, de la façon dont nous jouons. Nous avons raison d'être confiants, mais nous n'avons pas le droit de penser que cette série est gagnée d'avance."

De Koivu à Kovalev - La Presse

"Même si on ne s'en est pas rendu compte à l'époque, le Canadien a pris son envol quand Carbo a forcé Bob Gainey à expédier Craig Rivet en Californie. Ce jour-là, le changement de la garde dans le vestiaire était entamé. Le pôle d'attraction est passé de Saku Koivu à Kovalev au cours des mois suivants. Le reste de l'équipe a suivi." - Réjean Tremblay

Muller:"La fièvre me paraît encore plus élevée qu'en 1993" - Le Journal

"Les spectateurs sont plus jeunes et plus bruyants", remarque Muller. Je n'ai jamais vu autant de gens venir aux matchs vêtus du chandail bleu-blancrouge. On peut voir aussi beaucoup de véhicules ornés du drapeau aux couleurs de l'équipe. C'est formidable !"

Caractère et attitude gagnante - Le Journal

"C'était une raison parmi tant d'autres qui faisait dire aux connaisseurs (!) et à la grande majorité des amateurs qu'une saison misérable attendait le Tricolore cet hiver. L'équipe avait beau nous montrer le contraire à mesure que la saison avançait, le doute revenait à chaque défaite." - Marc De Foy

L'enthousiasme des jeunes - La Presse

"Les joueurs du Canadien ont, dans l'ensemble, peu d'expérience des séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley. Neuf membres de la présente édition n'ont jamais participé à une rencontre de séries. Les gardiens Carey Price et Jaroslav Halak, le défenseur Ryan O'Byrne ainsi que les attaquants Andrei et Sergei Kostitsyn, Guillaume Latendresse, Tom Kostopoulos, Maxim Lapierre et Mikhail Grabovski en seront à leur première expérience." - François Lemenu

Carbo: "Ils ont compris le message" - La Presse

"Après le mauvais week-end à Buffalo et Toronto, les joueurs se sont regroupés et ils ont déterminé que cette première place était importante", a raconté Guy Carbonneau, bien assis sur son nuage après le match." - Marc Antoine Godin
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Habs Playoff Picture Getting Clearer

At the end of Friday night's games, with two days left in the regular season, here is what is known about the Eastern Conference playoff teams.

Philadelphia, who beat New Jersey 3-0, has clinched a playoff spot. They sit eighth and play Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Boston beat Ottawa 2-1, and clinched a spot. They currently sit sixth and have a date with Buffalo Saturday night.

The Senators gain entry into the playoffs back door style thanks to Carolina losing to Florida 4-3. Believe it or not, the Hurricanes had 9 powerplays while the Panthers had none. They outshot Florida 46-17, chased Tomas Vokoun and still couldn't win. Ottawa sits in seventh place and have no games remaining.

Now because both Washington and Carolina currently have 92 points it is not possible for both teams to make the post season. You'll notice that the Capitals currently hold the 3rd seed in the conference and that is due to their game in hand over Carolina, who are bumped down to ninth with the loss.

Washington needs one point against the Florida Panthers to make the playoffs and eliminate the Hurricanes.

New York gained one point for a 4-3 OT loss the Islanders, and New Jersey remain in fourth with 97 points, one up on the fifth place Rangers.

Now here is what can happen in regards to who the Canadiens can meet in the first round.

Montreal and Pittsburgh are currently tied with 102 points, and the Habs fate is tied to the Penguins / Flyers game on Sunday. With Philadelphia now guaranteed a spot, they will surely be less hungry than they would have otherwise.

Montreal, of course can make that game matter win a win over the Maple Leafs on Saturday. Should the Habs lose, they finish second, simple as that.

Either way, the Canadiens will be playing teams that finish seventh or eighth, and there are only three possibilities - Boston, Ottawa, or Philadelphia.

The way it works out is that the Rangers can fall no lower than sixth with a loss to New Jersey. With a win, the Rangers gain home ice in round one against the Devils. If the Rangers end up with a overtime point, they will open in New Jersey.

Boston can catch New York should they win and the Rangers lose. Both teams would have 96 points and 42 wins, but the Bruins have the season record tiebreaker.

The Flyers can change their fate with a win in Pittsburgh on Sunday. They would pass the Bruins in the standings, should Boston lose.

If that scenario plays out, Boston would then drop to eighth place and the Senators would remain seventh.

A Philadelphia tie does nothing for their standing. They cannot move ahead of Boston if tied with them, as the Bruins has the season series 3 games to 1.

In regards to Ottawa, they can only fall into eighth spot should both Boston and Philadelphia win. A Flyer win and a Bruins loss leaves Ottawa in seventh, and Boston and Philadelphia would flip flop positions.

Ottawa can in fact move up to sixth, but it would take a Bruins loss and nothing more than a Flyers single OT point combined.

The Bruins might be motivated to win, simply to avoid the Canadiens and instead play the Southeastern Division champions, be it Washington or Carolina.

So for the Canadiens, this is how it all shakes down.

First, their fate can only be determined on Saturday night with a loss to the Leafs. If the Habs win it is wait and see what the Penguins do on Sunday.
















Now here are the scenarios of who the Canadiens could meet should they lose to Toronto.

A Bruins win or tie, eliminates the possibility of a matchup against the Canadiens. A Bruins loss, if Montreal also losses, throws it into Philadelphia's hands on Sunday.

A Bruins win or tie, combined with a Sunday Flyers loss, irregardless of what Montreal does Saturday, means the Canadiens will play the Senators in the first round.

If both the Flyers and Bruins lose on the weekend, the Canadiens would meet Boston in the first round.

There is only one way that the Canadiens could possibly meet up with the Flyers in the first round round. It would involve Montreal losing to Toronto and both the Flyers and Bruins winning their last games, which would place Ottawa in eighth and Philly in seventh.

If both the Habs and Flyers win their games on the weekend, OT for Philly or not, then they cannot meet in the first round.

Wow, now my brain hurts.

Yes, it's all clear as mud in someways, but it is getting clearer.

Here's the standings for right now, before any games are played Saturday.
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Playoff Tuned Habs Ready To Roll Over Any First Round Opponant

If you were tuned into the RDS Sports 30 sports news after last night's game, you might have heard from commentator Reneaud Lavoie, that according to a well informed source within the Canadiens organization that all players currently on the sidelines nursing injuries will be ready to go come the first game of the playoffs.

Yes, including captain Koivu, broken foot bone and all.

That would mean that Koivu, Komisarek, Bouillon and Ryder are all ready to go by the middle of next week.

Now that's freaking awesome news.

I'm sure we will hear more about it in the coming days, but it seems that an assessment on the captain's foot has determined that Koivu can play on it.


















As a mentioned earlier this morning in the Breakfast post, the elements are in place for the Canadiens to go deep this season.

I listed goaltending, team harmony and faith, and lineup depth as the reasons why I believe the Canadiens can achieve the final four, the conference final to be precise.

I did fail to mention health. Perhaps because the Canadiens have played like such a focused group since Mike Komisarek has gone down, winning six of their last seven, I totally failed to worry about health as a concern.

When these players return, it will make the team all the more stronger.

I like what I see in this group of players. There is a self confidence about them that is reassuring.
Carey Price is making Bob Gainey look brilliant, this despite Cristobal Huet's heroic play with the Washington Capitals. Price is in a zone, playing the like focused goaltender that the reputation that preceeded him foretold.


















Watching him and the Habs go, I sense a familiar story rewritting itself. There are the omnipresent Dryden and Roy comparisons that proliferate any talk of Price. Some say it is getting ahead of ourselves when we indulge in that kind thinking, and those wise voices are correct, as nothing is ever won in advance.

Then again, Dryden and Roy were not on first place teams when they won Cups in their rookie seasons.

Price is the backstopper of a division winning team, one that could well be a regular season conference champion by the end of the weekend.

Maybe we as fans are finally coming to the realization that this group is alot sounder that we give them credit for at times.

It is an extremely well built and thought out team, run by a coach and GM who don't give away what is inside their minds.

This morning, when I was driving my kids off to school and my wife to work, I was listening to the call in show on radio CKAC. Today's question had to do with which opponant would listeners most like to see the Canadiens face off against in the first round.

I was tuned in for a good 30 minutes, and not once did I hear somone speak my opinion.

I don't care who they meet in the first round! Habs will take it, game over - next!

Callers were choosing between the Bruins, Flyers, Capitals and Senators and listing why they favored one or feared another.

Reasons for either were quite split up.

The Capitals would present an exciting opposition, one said, with the always explosive Ovechkin ( Oven Chicken in Russian ) and Cristobal Huet.

Yeah that would be fun! The Capitals are not that deep - Habs in five and fun while it lasted.















One caller said he feared the Bruins, and the next caller said bring 'em on.

The opinion was that Boston were bigger and more physical than the Habs, and that wasn't a good thing.

Okay, well when was the last time they beat the Canadiens?

The show's host thought the same, and the caller named Zdeno Chara as a player that could wreak havoc on the Habs.

Guess he missed a pair of highlight reel goals by Kovalev a few weeks back where Chara looked about as mobile as a fire hydrant on them.

The Habs have keyed their games against the Bruins by overworking Chara, whereas other teams avoid him. They keep him busy, know the flaws in his game and expose them. They did it with success when the big defenseman was in Ottawa, and learned something they have applied to him since he farted off the Beantown.

Gimme Chara and the Bruins. Bring out your brooms!















The Flyers and their neanderthal brand of hockey?

One caller wished for it, just for the sake of making Daniel Briere eat his words!

Briere, if you recall and I'm sure you do, said he chose the Flyers over the Habs when he signed as a free agent because he felt they were a better team.

The show's host was licking his lips at this possible confrontation, just because he'd want to question Briere on that quote after all was said and done.

And the Flyers against the Habs would be done in no more than 5 games.

Why? Simply because they play dumber than dumb. They have a thug coach and mentality that steers their game plan away from the skilled elements of their lineup. They have but one way to win, and it hasn't had any success against the Habs. Plus they have siv goaltending.




















Ottawa? Oh would I cherish that!

Now that the Canadiens have learned a poised method of handling them, I do not fear them like I once would have. Neither do the Canadiens either. This Senators team has become so dysfunctional, that it wouldn't surprise me to hear that they are about to hire Anthony Robbins to give their team psyche a boost.

Being that I live an hour away from both Montreal and Ottawa, this is the matchup I would prefer in order to win some bucks and settle scores. It would also provide the Canadiens with more confidence than a win over the others teams. It would give them an edge, mentaly, I think.

Bring it on!























One first round opponant that would have concerned me if the teams could have met, is the New York Rangers, who cannot finish lower than sixth.

The Blueshirts are extremely well coached, have many offensive weapons despite what seems to appears to be a shortcoming production wise, have one of the best, if not unheralded goalies in the league, and have been well versed in playing shutdown hockey for most of the season. They have playoff experience spread across the lineup. Plus they have the ultimate shitster in Sean Avery.

They are not unlike the New Jersey Devils, where a defensive mode of thinking reigns supreme.

I don't put a lot of stock in the fact that the Habs had their come from behind win of the century against the Rangers. That would be more ammo for the Rangers state of mind in a playoff meeting than it would be a confidence thing for Montreal.

I'd see that matchup going six or seven games, in the crystal ball for round two. They will beat whoever they face to start with, including the Devils.























Carolina facing the Canadiens is a complicated mathematical option. If they win their next game, they take the Southeast Conference. Barring that, they would still be tops if Washington fails to beat Tampa in their final game. If the Hurricanes lose to Florida in their final game and Washington wins theirs, they'd need both Philadelphia and Boston to go pointless in their last two respective games each to make the playoffs. The complications increase should Carolina only tie their last opponant. It is possible, thought unlikely they would lose to Florida and slip to seventh or eighth place.

I'd rather not think of the Hurricanes and Canadiens meeting for a third time. There's an odd voodoo kind of thing which makes turning points jump out of the blue when these teams have met. Things like bench minors from Kerry Fraser and unpenalized sticks to the captains eye.

Beyond those possible opponants first round matchups, I see the Canadiens stretching their post season all the way to a conference final battle with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and possibly more.

The Habs and Penguins match up well. Montreal has depth that Pittsburgh do not, and they have top line offense that the Canadiens can counter. It would be a long series.




For now, it's "come on Sunday night", when we'll know exactly where everybody sits.

As for who I hope they play, still, I don't care!

Happiness and fullfillment from a hockey team will do that for you!
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