Eyes On The Prize: 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.