A Habs And Leafs Saturday Night Hockey Primer

Need any additional buildup to Saturday's winner takes all battle in Toronto?

Didn't think so!

The sports media and hockey fans across Canada are all over this like Hugh Hefner with a fistful of Viagra on Scarlett Johansson.

The coverage will likely intensify as game time approaches and I'll be expecting the CBC to announce sometime shortly after that new viewer ratings highs were achieved during the telecast.















At least until half of Leafs Nation shut off their sets midway through the second period once Raycroft gets the hook!

















I'm not terribly worried about this game - I think the Habs have been good enough lately to feel confident about taking this one. If there was any team the Habs could face for an all the marbles wins game right now, I'd choose the Leafs.

Toronto has caught Montreal off guard a couple of times this season, when little was on the line, but that won't happen tonight.














In any case, I'll have some valium and a straightjacket on standby should some fluke of hockey nature occur the likes of 1967 or a Barilko-ish Hal Gill moment.

















I go way, way back with the Habs-Leafs rivalry. Call it family tradition. There was always a dislike of Toronto ever since they robbed the Canadiens of their original discarded logo, so says a family elder.
























Leafs have always schemed to turn something the Habs found useless into their own prosperous gold. It's never worked. The names Ken Dryden, Pat Burns, John Ferguson, Cliff Fletcher, Doug Gilmour, John Kordic, and Yannick Perreault come to mind, along with that dated logo and semi-copycat mispelled name.

Anyways, here's how that logo will look after Saturday's game.



















I dug out an old picture of mine, seated with an entire classroom of friends who cheered for the Leafs. It didn't bother me that they weren't Habs fans, only that none of them ever washed or wore deodorant.

Looks like they are all sitting away from me. Think again!



















They vowed to never shower until the Leafs won the Cup. They figured they were in for a 6 week wait. That was in 1972!

Tim Horton's has added a twist to their RRRoll Up The Rim To Win! contest. It features the six Canadian teams logo's on the coffee cups at random. For each team, there is one cup that says "Canadiens Win", "Maple Leafs Win", or "Flames Win". If a team from Canada does win the Stanley Cup, Tim Horton's will shell out one million dollars to the holder of the winning coffee cup. Don't throw them in the garbage yet unless you get the Leafs or Oilers versions.
























As a warmup to Saturday's Leafs undoing, I perused the net and my own archives for all the latest informative content regarding Saturday's game, as well as some older humourous content to unwind with.

There's something to amuse fans of the Habs and Leafs alike in here.

I'll surely catch hell from fans of the Blue and White should the Canadiens slip up.

Somewhere along the way, I knew I'd have to take back the words I've said about the Leafs not developing their prospects very well. I never dreamed they would become this thorough.

















Hope the little Leafetus doesn't turn into this guy!






















They say hockey is a religion in Canada. In Toronto, they won't admit to knowing God is a Habs fan.



















Some people never heard of the superstition of not touching the Cup until winning it.

















Then again, this guy's Dad had it over at the house lots of times while he was growing up. He probably jinxed himself for life back then.

























Happy reading folks, enjoy the links.

Tickets To Leafs 2007 Stanley Cup Final Just A Rumour

Habs Season On The Line In Toronto - Matt Macaskill

Toronto Game Will Decide Season - Pat Hickey

Burns Like Habs Odds In Showdown - Gazette

Old Hockey Rivalries Do Fade Away - Gazette

For Habs It's Simple: Just Beat Leafs - Toronro Star

Leafs Know What They Have To Do

Maurice Says Leafs Lack Killer Instinct

Habs Vs Leafs More Than A Numbers Game

Maple Leafs Declare Themselves 2005 Cup Champs

New Toronto Hockey Camp For Fetuses Attracts Hundreds Of Expectant Mothers

Antropov Devastated He Wasn't Selected In Sudbury Hockey Pool

Pickles Before Bedtime Great For Inducing Hockey Nightmares

Raking Leaves

Divine Intervention Fails For Leafs

Leaf Fan R.I.P.

Golfbags From Hell - Swinging With Leafs

Brokeback Maple Leafs Mountain Dew

Prime Minister Harper Visits Typhoons

I'm not a big fan of any politicians, as a matter of principle, and have little concerns of afiliation with any political party, as they all seem pretty much interchangable in the grand scheme of things.

Now that I've gotten that disclaimer out of the way, let me say that I think it's kind of cool that our current PM Stephen Harper is a hockey fan.

Harper is actually an involved hockey dad often taking his son Ben off to games and practices whenever he gets the chance.









I missed out witnessing this scene this past Sunday, while my daughter's team was playing it's final playoff game in Ottawa at the Kennedy Arena. Ben's team, the Sandy Hill Chargers, were playing right after Poke Check's team.

The Harper's, arriving at the arena early, were surrounded by a virtual motorcade of secret service types, all in dark shades, and surrounded Harper like five Semenko's around Gretzky, as he entered the arena. My daughter said Harper exited his black 4X4 and was immediatly enveloped by the men who circled him as he entered the arena.

Once inside, our hockey fan Prime Minister proceeded to mingle with the players and parents from both teams and was even game for a few quick photo ops.

Of all the games I could pick not to go to, it had to be this one!

I would have enjoyed chatting up the PM, as it is told he is an enthusiastic hockey historian as well.

The kids themselves, who are on average 12 years old, got quite a kick out of the whole deal. My girl said that Harper asked them all about how their team was doing, what position they played, and how much fun it was to play hockey.

When asked if he would stick around for some pictures, he was happy to oblige, even waiting around while a parent ran to their vehicle to fetch a camera.

















Harper doesn't own up to it publicly, for votes sake I gather, but he is an ardent Maple Leafs fan. I coulda had some fun with that.

After her game ended, my girl and some teammates went across to the rink where Harper's son was playing, to watch the end of that game. As it started only minutes later than theirs, the Chargers game had gone into a shootout. Curiously, Ben took one of the breakaways, and missed!

From my daughters standpoint, the funniest part of meeting Harper was when the girls were placing themselves around him in the dressing room for the pictures. As they shuffled to get into position, one girl went to step around the PM and stepped right on his shoe, scuffing it up some, accidently. Poke Check said the girl received a bit of an odd glance from the PM on that one. It seems some of the girls were giggling under their breath as the culprit got what appeared to be a dirty look from our country's boss. ( In the second photo, you can even see one girl holding her hand to her mouth as she tries not to laugh! - she didn't do it!)

Hey, it beats a pie to face!

For more on Harper's hockey excursion to the arena with Ben, check this out.