Lapierre Anxious To Team Up With Laraque

Here is a translation of article from today's Journal.

With the Olympics finally over, and the summer months drawing to a close, NHL players can be found hitting the ice in preparation for the upcoming season.

As is usually the case at this time of summer, a good number of NHL'ers were going through their regimen on the two surfaces of the Rosemere Arena.

Goalies Roberto Luongo, Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Martin Biron, Mathieu Garon and others were plying their trade under the watchful eyes of François Allaire on one rink while on the other, Canadiens Maxim Lapierre was soaking up a sweat, accompanied by several other NHL players.

Sundin: Hopes Diminish

Not unlike most Canadiens fans, Lapierre has waited all summer for Mats Sundin's decision.

"Two months ago I was quite confident that he'd sign a contract with the Canadiens, but I am much less so now", Lapierre said after practice.

"I'm still holding out hope that he comes to play in Montreal", he added, "It wouldn't bother me at all to share some of that center ice time with him".

"We are already a strong club, but we'd be even stronger with him if he came aboard."
At last word, the big Swedish center was still mulling over whether he still wanted to play or not."

The Laraque Effect

Lapierre is thrilled with the arrival of Georges Laraque on the Canadiens scene.

"He's an excellent acquisition for us, just as Alex Tanguay's is", he said "Georges command a lot of respect, and in my opinion he is the best fighter in the league."
"I've never had the opportunity to play with someone like him in my career.

Laraque's presence will make every player two inches taller. No one will want to mess with us."




















Max's Mouth!

Lapierre would surely love Laraque as a linemate, if there is a possibility.

"I don't know what the coach's plans are, by I believe I could play the pest's role to an even greater extend with a guy like Laraque on my line."

"As you all know, I like to yap it up on the ice, and with Georges nearby, I'd likely never shut up", he laughed.

Added Muscle

With a new two year deal signed last spring in hand, Lapierre is eyeing a greater contribution to the Canadiens scheme this season.

"I want to contribute in more areas than before, especially offensively", he noted. "I want to start by having a much better training camp, because I don't want to relive last season's experience of being sent to the minors."

Lapierre revealed that by strictly following the training program set up for him by the team, that he has added some muscle over the summer months.

"My weight has gone from 196 to 212", he said, pumping his chest, "It will help, going into the corners."

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1919-20 Newsy And Joe Malone Battle It Out

Canadiens fans were excited and relieved to hear the announcement that a new hockey arena was being built at the corners of Mount Royal and Saint Urbain, and would be ready in the coming season. With the fire that destroyed the Jubilee occuring in April, a month after the previous season had ended, meant that the Canadiens would begin their 1919-20 season on the road until the new Mount Royal Arena was completed.

Montreal's first home games of the season were played in Ottawa and twice the scheduled home opener against the Quebec Bulldogs had to be postponed due to having no water to form the artificial ice surface.

The Canadiens finally made their home debut on January 10 in the brand new Mount Royal. The team, as popular as ever, turned away a thousand spectators due to lack of seating. Newsy Lalonde celebrated the occasion with a six goal game in a 14-7 drubbing of the Toronto St. Patricks.



















Very few changes were made to the Canadiens lineup in 1919-20. Lalonde was back for a tenth campaign in a Canadiens sweater, and Georges Vezina and Didier Pitre were returning for their ninth seasons. Also returning were Bert Corbeau, Louis Berlinguette, Odie Cleghorn, Amos Arbour and Billy Coutu.

Missing from the season prior were spare Fred Doherty, sniper Joe Malone, forwards Jack McDonald and Billy Bell, and defenseman Joe Hall, who passed away following a short battle with infuenza from the Seattle final six months back.

Malone and McDonald were transferred back to Quebec by Montreal when Bulldogs franchise returned to NHL on November 25, 1919. Bell remained property of the Canadiens but saw no game action in this season. He would return in 1920-21.

The Canadiens new faces for the season included two older familiar ones - Donald Smith and Howard McNamara.

Smith was signed as a free agent by Montreal on December 11 after having served three years Smith in the military. He was no longer the high scoring forward he had been in his early days in Montreal, and suited up mainly as a spare, netting one lone goal in 10 games. The Canadiens had sold his rights to the cross town rival Wanderers during the 1914-15 season.

Montreal also recouped McNamara after war service, signing the 240 lb defenceman on December 7. He had played the the 1916-17 season as a member of the high scoring 228th Battalion team, counting for 11 goals in 12 games. This season would be McNamara's last, as he appeared in 10 contests, scoring one goal.

The Canadiens attempted to return another former player in Goldie Prodgers, who had scored the Stanley Cup winning goal for the team in 1916. Unfortunately, Prodgers wanted no part of Montreal at this time and after aquiring his rights from the Bulldogs, where he had also refused to report, he was sent to the St. Patricks for Harry Cameron on January 14, 1920.

Cameron, a man credited with perfecting the game's first curved shot with a straight blade, gave the Canadiens 12 goals in his 16 games with the team. He was later dealt back to Toronto on November 27 in return of Prodgers and Joe Matte in what was at the time a large three team, 10 player shuffle.

Montreal's one new face in this season was a spare named Jack Coughlin, who appeared in three games before being part of the aforementioned package deal with Toronto.

The Canadiens as a team, once again fared better in the first half of the split schedule before tailing off in the final twelve games of the expanded 24 game season. Unfortunately, Montreal won neither half as the Ottawa Senators took both, losing only five games all season.

The underlying story of the 1919-20 campaign was a heated scoring race battle between Lalonde and the Bulldogs Malone, who fought for the lead until the final game of the season. Newsy, who was in his fifth running year as the Canadiens coach, was in fact called out more than once by manager Kennedy for playing too individualistic a style for the betterment of the team.

Lalonde ended the schedule with 37 goals and 9 assists in 23 games - far and away his best season in professional hockey. Still, despite the career year, Lalonde missed one game and fell behind Malone in the final count by two goals and an assist.

Both players were at their performing peak, with Malone at 29 years of age, and Lalonde two years his senior.

If NHA statistics are taken into consideration, the two had split scoring titles for four seasons running. Lalonde had won in 1915-16 and 1918-19 while Malone took honours in 1916-17 and the following season with a record setting mark of 44 goals while a member of the Canadiens.


By many accounts, Lalonde was a man often motivated by monetary principles that were often tied to his on ice performance. As competitive as they came in the day, Lalonde was always ready for a challenge. With Malone on the sidelines due to job committments in 1918-19, Lalonde was all too ready to best him once more in 1919-20. Although he fell slightly short, Newsy would again gain the upper hand one season later.

In early NHL history, no two players battled it out as hard as Lalonde and Malone for who was better.

They are the game's two best goals per game scorers to this day, considering, or not counting their NHA years. Malone scored 143 goals in 126 NHL contests. Lalonde scored 124 goals in 99 NHL games. Malone averaged 1.14 goals per game in the NHL while Lalonde averaged 1.25 goals per games. In total, Lalonde played 15 years of professional hockey through various leagues, and averaged 1.36 goals per game, while Malone racked up 16 pro seasons where he averaged 1.35 goals per game.

Each player finished with 3 NHA/NHL titles to their resume. A debate over who was better would be eternal.

In the 1919-20 season, both Lalonde and Malone seemed primed to outdo each other. After Lalonde scored 6 to astablish a personal mark in the Canadiens home opener, Malone outdid him with a 7 goal effort three weeks later against the same St. Pats. Malone also netted 6 against Ottawa later in the season.

There may be a very early hockey lesson in all this goal scoring, who was the better individual, debate.





The Canadiens were the NHL's highest scoring team in this season, with 129 goals scored to their credit. Ottawa, who were the winners of both 12 game halves scored 121, but allowed only 64 against, including a mere 23 in the first half. Montreal allowed 113.

Other than Lalonde's 37 markers, several Montreal shooters had good years, as Arbour scored 21 goals, Odie Cleghorn netted 20, and Didier Pitre, still solid in his older years, accounted for 14.

On March 3, the Canadiens humiliated the Bulldogs by a 16-3 score, setting an all time record for goals by one team in one game. Four Montreal players had hat tricks - another NHL record. Lalonde, Pitre and Cleghorn, all forwards, had three goal games, while defenseman Cameron hit the mesh with four, thus becoming the only rearguard in NHL history to do so twice in a career.

All the offensive prowess for the Canadiens would prove for nough, since the Ottawa Senators won both halves of the split regular season. There would be no need for an NHL playoff, and the Senators were given the O' Brien Trophy, assured a spot in the Stanley Cup Championship series.

Representing the PCHA again this year were the Seattle Metropolitans, who battled in a very tight league where two wins separated its three teams.

A problem arose as Seattle's green, red, and white uniforms looked almost alike to Ottawa's striped white uniforms. Ottawa agreed to play the series in white sweaters. As the previous year saw the championship played out west, it moved to Ottawa this season, but with unseasonably warm weather, the final two games were played in Toronto's Arena Gardens.

The NHL story in it's third season was a tale of growth versus setback. In Ottawa, as with Montreal the year before were crowned Stanley Cup champions, both cities were consumed with hockey interest.

The League seemed to have solved its issues revolving Toronto team ownership when a group was found to buy the dormant Toronto franchise one day before the regular season was slated to begin. The Toronto Arenas were dead, and the new team was nicknamed the St. Patricks. The group paid $5,000 to the NHL for what was essentially an expansion franchise.

Quebec, on the other hand, did not enjoy as glorious a return to the NHL. With a dismal record of 2-10 in both halves of the season, the Bulldogs fan support waned despite Joe Malone scoring exploits. With the Bulldogs surrendering an average of 7.18 goals against per game, a record that still stands today, Quebec finished dead last. Despite a pair of Stanley Cups to their credit, NHL hockey in Quebec was on its final crutches.

The best news for the NHL was that World War I was finally over. Players came home and fans were now coming in larger numbers to see games. On February 21,1920, a record crowd of 8,500 fans came to see Ottawa play Toronto at the Mutual Street Arena.

Hockey fans were now freed from the constraints of wartime rationing to indulge in loves and leisures again. Hockey and the NHL would now solidify and grow accordingly.





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1918-19 The Cup That Almost Was

The NHL began its second season with the three franchises who survived the hard times of the 1917-18 campaign: The Montreal Canadiens, the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Arenas.

The new season would become another turbulent trial for the Canadiens and the NHL, and this one would end like quite no other. Three separate tragedies would befall the Canadiens in this season, and the first bad omen came just a month after the end of 1918 playoffs.













Defenseman Jack Laviolette, an automobile racer in the offseason, lost his right foot in a car accident on May 1. Though he was not racing at the time, Laviolette lost control of the vehicle he was driving and hit a steel post, jamming his foot between the brake pedal and a section of steel frame. Several times during the season the Canadiens held fundraisers for their former star, and they kept him in their employ for a short time thereafter.



















Montreal returned a large core of its team from the previous year as only Evariste Payer did not make it back. The new additions were Odie Cleghorn and Fred Doherty. Amos Arbour returned after a brief time in the service during which he suited up with the 228th Battalion. Arbour had played a key role in the Canadiens 1916 Stanley Cup. Doherty had been a part time player with the Wanderers and Bulldogs and returned from the war to play but a single game in this season with Montreal.


























Cleghorn, a former goal per game forward with the Wanderers for six seasons, was the big addition to the Canadiens. The younger brother of the Senators Sprague Cleghorn, Odie would spent seven seasons in a Canadiens uniform and was joined in Montreal by his sibling in 1921. He would match Newsy Lalonde goal for goal in this campaign and finish second behind him in points.

Lalonde regained his status as the team's top player when leading goal scorer Joe Malone announced to the Canadiens organization that he'd found employment in Quebec City and would become available only on weekend home dates for the team. Lalonde liked to have the onus placed upon him, as well as the icetime that came with it, and Malone's decision opened room for him to reassume his status while continuing on as the team's coach as well. A happy Newsy usually meant a more productive player for the Canadiens. Malone informed Montreal that he would suit up for all playoff games, but was later unable to fullfill that committment. He would be missed when he would have been counted on most come that time.


























The season was again split into two ten games halves and the all too familiar scenario played out once more for the Canadiens. They would post a 7-3 record, assuring them of a playoff round against the second half's winner should they not take that title as well. The Ottawa Senators, as per their norm, came on strong at season's end and clinched the second half early as the Canadiens ended with a 3-5 record.

The final two games of the season were trimmed from the schedule when the Toronto franchise faltered. The Arenas, who had won the Stanley Cup the previous season, were in dire straights on many fronts. With the team playing badly, attendance sagging, and players breaking training, team owner Hubert Vearncombe alerted the league that he was ceasing activities for the time being. The NHL president Frank Calder asked the team to play its eighteenth game to even the schedule out.

With the NHL down to two teams - not coincidently its two halves winners - a best of seven series was set to decide the league champion for 1919. The Canadiens, without Malone, would defeat the Senators four games to one. Ottawa, deprived of leading scorer Frank Nighbor for a family bereavement, were no match for Montreal.



























Newsy Lalonde was a one man wrecking crew on a mission. He tallied 11 times in the five games against Ottawa, and the Canadiens confidently headed west to face the Seattle Metropolitans in a rematch from two seasons prior.




















A long trip and a stayover in Victoria would prove to have disastrous consequences for the Canadiens Stanley Cup hopes.

The Canadiens got off on the wrong foot in game one, suffering a humiliating 7-0 defeat to the PCHA champions. Three days later, on March 22, Lalonde took care of things in a record setting way by scoring all four of his teams goals in a 4-2 win that knotted the series.


























The Metropolitans bounced back on the 24th, pounding Montreal again by a 7-2 score. The contest of March 26 was a hard fought battle that produced no winner. A scoreless tie, undecided after a full additional period of overtime, was a showcase for goaltenders Harry Holmes and Georges Vezina - perhaps the two best goalies of this era.

Game 5 also produced overtime on March 30, with Jack McDonald of the Canadiens notching the winner at 15:57 of the extra period. The series stood deadlocked at 2-2-1, and it would remain that way.

The Spanish influenza virus that was ravaging the world tragically had hit the west coast. Several of the Victoria Cougars players had fallen seriously ill when the Canadiens had stopped over in that city prior to moving on to Seattle, and it has long been assumed that that is where the Montreal players came in contact with the deadly virus.


























Canadiens manager George Kendall Kennedy was aware of the virus, and had taken out insurance on his players before setting off for the west. When many of the team's elements fell ill, the series was cancelled.


























On April 1, the scheduled date of the sixth game, a definite and final announcement as to the fate of the series was made by the Seattle arena management at 2:30 p.m. that there will be no more games played. At noon that day, workmen started tearing up the arena ice floor, preparatory to converting the building into a roller skating rink.



























The fact that the ice was being taken up settled all arguments as to whether or not the series would be continued if the visitors were able later to put enough men on the ice.

A newspaper writeup at the time had this to say:










Lalonde, Berlinguette, Couture and Kennedy are reported only slightly ill. Last night the remaining four men came down, leaving only Pitre, Cleghorn and Vezina, who are not afflicted. It is believed here the Canadiens contracted the disease in Victoria, where the players of that team are just recovering from influenza, seven of them having been in bed at one time.

Not in the history of the Stanley Cup series has the worlds hockey championship been so beset with hard luck as has this one. Of the 19 players engaged in it, hardly one of them has gone through without some bad luck. The Seattle team has been badly battered, Rowe, Foyston, Wilson, Murray and Walker all having had injuries. Corbeau, the great Canadien defenseman, was hurt in the very first game and has not been able to do more than substitute since.









The great overtime games of the series have taxed the vitality of the players to such an extent that they are in poor shape indeed to fight off such a disease as influenza. However, the Canadiens are being given the very best of care, nurses and physicians being in attendance at all times on them and every other attention is being shown the stricken players.

The Canadiens Odie Cleghorn was the only player who was not afflicted. Joe Hall, known as the baddest and oldest player of the time died in Seattle's Columbus sanatorium on April 5, four days after authorities had called off the series.






















The Montreal players headed home after the sixth game was cancelled with the exception of Couture, Berlinguette and longtime Hall rival Lalonde, who travelled to Brandon, Manitoba to act as pallbearers for their fallen comrade.

Some might find it odd that Lalonde would be along for his hated rival's last moments, but the two had long settled their differences, had become good friends, and were even roomates during road games.

Manager Kennedy also fell gravely ill, and passed away two years later from the effects of the virus.























Once back in Montreal, the Canadiens players were just regaining their health when the Jubilee Arena burned to the ground.

It would be a difficult season to forget.



























The tragedies suffered were only part of the tale. The Canadiens had been build into a solid squad and had appeared in three of the last four Stanley Cup finals. With some better fortune, they may have won a second Cup. The Canadiens were by far the most popular hockey team in Montreal, and things could only get better.

On the league front, several changes brought in at the start of the season had enhanced the quality of the spectacle. Two blue lines were added to the ice, painted twenty feet each from center, creating three playing zones. Forward passing and kicking the puck were permitted in the middle neutral zone. Penalties now had to be served in full. For minor fouls, substitutes were not allowed until the penalized player had served three minutes. For major fouls, no substitutes were allowed for five minutes. For match fouls, no substitutes were allowed for the remainder of the game. Both new wrinkles added up to a very freewheeling game.

With the war reaching an end and the Quebec Bulldogs ready to make a return, things were looking up for the NHL. The issue of a solid Toronto franchise would soon be settled as well.















Some notes on the photos in this post: You will have noticed that several of the shots of Canadiens players feature the same background. There has long been confusion over which year the pictures were taken - 1917 or 1919? The source of the confusion lies in that these pictures were taken in Seattle, where the Canadiens competed for the Stanley in both those seasons. There are also photos of the Seattle Metropolitans players taken in this same area, which leads one to believe they may have been taken outside an arena door prior to a match. The photos are most definitely from 1919, as Canadiens Joe Hall, Odie Cleghorn, and Jack McDonald were not with the club in 1917. Oddly, a long circulated poster of the 1917 Metropolitans Stanley Cup team features the shots taken in 1919.

Several of the 1919 photos are incorrectly attributed as being the wrong player. The photo of Billy Coutu is often erroneously listed as Louis Berlinguette. They can be told apart by Coutu's thinner hair, and Berliguette's particular from, when compared to other photos. In these pictures, Berlinguette is leaning on his stick. Photos of Joe Hall and Newsy Lalonde are often mixed up as well - likely because their hair is parted in the same manner. Hall is the player with the outstretched stick.

In all these photos, it is not hard to tell that the Canadiens were wearing white hockey pants!

The photo of Billy Bell may have been taken anytime between 1919 and 1923, when the Canadiens ceased wearing the white pants.

The photos of the children in Canadiens sweaters was taken about this time - somewhere between 1918 and 1922. It is featured in this post primarily because it is from the era, but there is also an additional reason for its inclusion. According to the book "Kings Of The Ice" from which the photo was taken, the short player posing directly to the right of the kid holding the "Joliette" sign is Jack Adams. "Jolly" Jack, a man who would later develope an unbridled hatred of the Canadiens while running the Detroit Red Wings, is the only man to have his name on the Stanley Cup as player, general manager, and coach. It is highly doubtful that the photo is actually Adams, as he was a member of the 1918 Toronto Arena Cup champions.

There is no featured photo of Joe Malone, as he did not accompany the Canadiens out west this season. Most known photos of Malone in a Canadiens sweater are from the early 1920's, when his start had greatly faded.

The cartoon of the man behind the wheel of an automobile from the time is actually Jack Laviolette.

Years after his retirement from hockey, Odie Cleghorn would be found dead in his bed just hours before his brother Sprague's funeral on July 13, 1956. Odie and Sprague were very close, "like twins" according to Canadiens coach Leo Dandurand. It's often been said that the stress of the loss of Sprague may have been the main factor contributing to his heart failure.

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Sergei K Says "No Way" to the KHL

Robert L Note: Here a very interesting interview with Habs forward Sergie Kostitsyn from Russian Prospects. He touches on quite a lot of subjects, including Alexander Radulov's signing to the KHL, his own brother's non-offer, the stealing of Michael Ryder's job, and the importance of not putting his sights on a big contract ahead of his progression as a player.

Do you miss hockey that much to attend that game?

My friends were playing, so I decided to go. It was fun.

Fun, especially when being a "specially invited star".

Stop joking. Yes I was giving out autographs, but attention to my person is not as it is in Montreal.

You've spent your vacation in Turkey as usual. Do you have some favorite place over there?

No, my friends go there so it's more fun to have their company. No special place, just disco clubs. I was having really good time. Met some people I know. For example, Radulov was in the hotel next to mine.

Didn't he tell you details of his escape from Nashville?

No, it was before the scandal. But even then Radulov were telling he wanted to go to Russia and mentioned an offer from "Salavat Yulaev".

Why did he have the intention to leave NHL?

I think it's obvious. "Salavat" has offered him several times more than he could have made in Nashville.

What would be your choice in this situation?

Right the opposite. To leave the best league in the World?.. No, thank you.





















That means you're skeptical about the potential of KHL?

I disagree with the statement that KHL can catch up and take the lead against the NHL in the nearest future. If it ever happens it is a matter of not few years. Also, it's too early for me to talk about "zeroes" in the contract. I'm still young, will get mine when it's due. By the way, rumor that Ak Bars wanted to sign Andrei was not true. The rumor circulated all over the internet, but not a single phone call was made to my brother. Again, I don't know my brother's intentions, but as for me, I do not even plan on returning to Europe in the foreseeable future.

Don't you feel regret that even after successful debut in the NHL you'll have to play for Montreal on the rookie contract without the right to re-negotiate it? And we're talking about Russia, where you'd been offered double of "untaxed" at least.

I'll get over. There is time for everything.

You earned the spot in the lineups in part because of your gritty stile of play. We never knew you like that before.

I'm not trying to be a tough guy, but when I'm being challenged I'm not gonna shy away.





















Any other memorable episodes?

Well, only if the time when we clinched the first place in the Eastern conference.

Why do you have a special knack against Washington, scoring every third of your goals in the regular season?

I don't know, it just happens. Although it's a pity that Henlon left Washington. I would have scored not three but six against them. Let him see who is "too young for the national team".

Are you frustrated with the results of the World Championship?

Maybe, but I can't say I was a bust there. It was very hard after a difficult season in the NHL and being injured to switch to play for National Team without the loss in your game. We didn't become one of the 8th, but spilled some blood of many favorites on the tournament.

You jumped from AHL to the next level very fast. Can Stefanovich follow your lead?

Why not? But it'll be extremely difficult for him to make regular team right after the draft. Most likely he'll get back to juniors.

What played the most important role in your transition to the next level - plain luck or your hard work?

Everything, but the second one is definitely took bigger part. Coaches were looking to replace Ryder and could have chosen anyone. But picked me and assigned to the Koivu line. To secure the spot on his line you have to work very hard.

Do you remember the most original question American journalists have asked you?

You should not expect originality from them. Every other time they ask the same: "How do you like to play with your brother?"

How do you get ready for the net season?

I skate and go to gym on my own.

What do you think about the situation when "Gomel" and "Khimik" debate over $200,000 that Canadiens transferred for raising you?

I can't understand why they fight over it. If it was for me, I'd split half to my first coach, other half to "Gomel"

What's your opinion on being the third best Belarussian hockey player after last season?

(Calmly) I had a good season and it was a pleasure to be among firsts in the company of my brother and Salei.

Are you ready to conquer the top in the upcoming season?

Yes, I am. But many have warned me, Radulov for example, that no matter how good was your first season in the NHL, second one will be much harder.

Price Prepares For 2008-2009 Season

Robert L Note: Here is a interesting piece from the BCLocalNews.com site on Carey Price's offseason so far.

Price Prepares For 2008-2009 Season

By Sage Birchwater - Williams Lake Tribune, August 21, 2008

It’s a long ways from Anahim Lake and the Cariboo Chilcotin to Montreal and the great ice hockey palaces around North America.

“There’s more people at a Montreal Canadiens home game than there is in the whole of Williams Lake,” says Carey Price, who recalls how he looked up in awe at the stands in places like Madison Square Gardens, the Bell Centre and Air Canada Centre when he first broke into the NHL last year. After completing his first season in the NHL as the Montreal Canadiens’ number 1 goaltender, Carey, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Aug. 16, is back to work getting ready for the 2008-09 season.

He took two well-deserved months off after the Habs were eliminated from Stanley Cup contention by the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round of the playoffs last May. He says taking a break and having some time off from hockey is as important as training. He went to Mexico for a week, and out to Anahim Lake for a little bit and did a little fishing and rodeo.

“I took a few trips down to Vernon. I’ve been team roping with Bobby Lewis. It’s fun.”

Carey did some exhibition team roping at the Williams Lake Stampede and the Anahim Lake Stampede, but now he’s bearing down to get back in shape for hockey. In mid July, he headed off to Calgary to work with his personal trainer with National Sports Development.

“I go in there every morning and work out. My goalie coach is there too. Eli Wilson. He’s the Ottawa goalie coach. After the workout we go and skate with him for two hours.”



















In Calgary, Carey has family and a home away from home, because his cousin Keaton Ellerby, the 10th overall draft pick of the Florida Panthers in 2007, lives there.

“I skate with a whole bunch of other pros. Jason LaBarbera, he’s from Prince George and plays for the Kings. Chris Mason was there. He plays with Nashville. Kevin Nastiuk, he’s in the Carolina system. Jeff Glass, he was the world junior goalie before me. He’s in the Ottawa system. Linden Rowat, who plays for Regina, was out there too.”

Carey didn’t start skating until near the end of July.

“You have to shake off the rust a little bit. The first three ice times I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing out there. You give it a week or two and you start to feel normal again.”

Besides a personal trainer, Carey has a nutritionist telling him what kind of stuff he should and should not be eating.

“During the summer I stay away from carbohydrates, and try to stay away from pastas and bread, especially white bread. I have a whole wheat bagel in the mornings before my workout.”

Carey says he heard that U.S. gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps consumes 12,000 calories a day during the Olympics. He says his nutritionist tells him to eat a lot of protein.

“That’s what I like about Anahim Lake, you can go fishing right in our back yard in Corkscrew Creek. Pull out a couple of trout and fry those up for dinner.”

















Carey says after a year in Montreal his French is getting better, but he’s got a ways to go yet.

“I picked up quite a bit but I’m not fluent in it yet.”

He says he found a program on the computer that promises to make you fluent in six months.

“I hang around with the younger French guys like Lapierre and Latendresse. Just being around them I just have to ask them questions like why do you say this as opposed to that. “

Carey doesn’t hesitate when asked how he likes Montreal.

“It’s a lot of fun. It’s definitely the best place to play when you’re playing hockey. The Montreal fans really get into it. As soon as we get to camp there’s a buzz around the city. Especially this year being the centennial year, it should be a lot of fun.”

He says no matter where they play, it seems like half the crowd is cheering for Montreal.


























Reflecting on his season last year, Carey gives a bit of a summary.

“I didn’t know if I was going to make the team at the start of camp. I had a good year the year before. I just came to camp hoping I’d make the team. Then Bob (Gainey) decided to keep me there. Then I went through a slump right around Christmas. Things weren’t going too well so I went down to Hamilton. I was still struggling a little bit for two weeks. Then during the second half of my month-long stint in Hamilton it started to pick up again. They brought me back to Montreal and everything started to roll from there and things started going really well. Then they traded Chris (Huet) to Washington, and it was like getting tossed into the fire.”

He says he was a little nervous at the start, being handed the number one goaltending duties for the NHL’s most storied team.

“When the trade deadline came and passed, everybody kind of relaxed a little bit. We all knew this was our team for the rest of the year. It took all the pressure off and we started to play really well. We went on a pretty good roll there from the trade deadline to the end of the year.”

He says they went into the playoffs feeling pretty good playing against Boston.
“We did well against them all year. We took it to them for the first couple of games and then they started playing well and it kind of seesawed back and forth and we won the seventh game.”

He says against Philadelphia they won the first game but after that things just didn’t go well for the Canadiens for the rest of the series.

“We just couldn’t get any breaks. We must have hit two posts a game. That’s just the way it went. It was fun though, especially in the playoffs.”

He says the playoffs is a whole new level of intensity.

“Everybody’s going that much harder. Eighty-two games is a long year, it’s a lot of games. When you hit about 72 games you just want to get the regular season over with. You want to get into a groove right before the playoffs and get it over with.”
Asked if he gets recognized by fans on the streets of Montreal, Carey says it’s not that bad.

“I have a helmet on when I’m playing, but every once in a while you have someone who recognizes you a bit, but other than that, not really.”

Asked how he handles fame and fortune, Carey downplays it.

“I don’t think much about it. I’m a guy who just runs with everything. Whatever happens, happens.”


















One of the highlights for him last season was playing in Phoenix against his cousin Shane Doan.

“He scored on me but I stopped him on a breakaway. We had a pretty good chuckle over that one.”

Carey’s looking forward to the coming season with one year of NHL experience under his belt. He’s glad the Canadiens signed 31-year-old goaltender Marc Denis in the off-season.

“I think we need a little veteran presence. There’s just me and Yaro, 21 and 23 years old, that was it. There was just us two young guys and I think Bob (Gainey) figured to bring in somebody a little bit older to have around the room.”

He says that was the best part about having Huet on the club.

‘He was an unbelievable guy. I don’t think I could have had the year I had without him there. I wish him the best in whatever he does. I couldn’t have had a better guy there in my first year.”

Carey says the immediate challenge right now is to work hard until camp.
“You’ve got to show up in camp in the best shape possible. I’m starting to feel pretty good now, but you’ve got to keep pushing yourself all the way to camp.”

He says he’s grateful he doesn’t have to go to rookie camp or Tri-Cities camp this year. Tri-Cities camp is starting right now, and he says he found it grueling to be in camp for two months before the season started. He says the Canadiens camp starts around the middle of September.

“Meanwhile my trainer sends me something to do every day. Usually it takes me two-and-a-half hours to get through a workout. Running, doing the elliptical, riding the bike, doing weights with your legs, upper body core. A whole bunch of core workouts to do.”

For hand-eye co-ordination he does some juggling.

“You don’t come to training camp to get into shape any more, you’ve got to come to training camp in shape. It’s a little different than it used to be.”

Though he’s turned pro, Carey says playing hockey is still fun.

“You miss it after a while during the off-season. You’re gone from the game for four or five months, and you start to miss it.”

Mostly he says you miss the camaraderie of the other players in the dressing room.
He says Montreal is a lot different than Anahim Lake.

“You go strolling with cowboy boots on and everybody looks at you funny.”





















When Carey got the images of George Strait and Garth Brooks painted on his goalie helmet, a lot of Montreal fans raised their eyebrows.

One day after he got home from Montreal he found a package in the mail from Tennessee.

“I was thinking to myself, did I order something from ebay off the internet. I didn’t recall ordering anything from Tennessee. I opened it up and it was a Stetson box. Inside was a signed Stetson from Garth Brooks, and a note saying: ‘Carey thanks for keeping the faith, pal. Garth Brooks.’ That was pretty cool.”