Canadiens Testing Gainey's Patience

The Canadiens 2-1 loss to the Flyers on Saturday had some small silver linings, but a loss is still a loss. The good news, if there is anything possitive to take from this game, was that the Canadiens were not blown out of the water like they had been against the Bruins and Maple Leafs this past week.

Still the Canadiens are slumping, having lost four of five, and calls are beginning for something to be done about it.

For General Manager Bob Gainey, the Habs play of late must surely disappointing. Trust that he won't be calling a press conference to discuss it. Gainey, who has an almost legendary patience, won't make a rash move in assessing this team's chances.

The Canadiens have four games in seven nights this coming week, after which they will be one game shy of the 20 game mark. How they perform during that stretch could be crucial. If Gainey were to make any kind of impact move, it will be here that he begins to seriously ponder such a thing if the team has not shaken it's doldrums and found some level of consistency.

There seems to be a rising number of issues with this season's team. It's character is often questionable. Discipline haunts them at the worst possible moments. Identity might also be an issue. This team wants to be a slick offensive machine, but grinding gears are needed to motor the wheels.

It could also be that the rest of the league has caught up with them in some regards. The club is still a young group, and opponants adjust to them after a certain time, and learn how to play them with familiarity.

These are the assessments that Gainey and his coaches will have to make after the next stretch of games. Time is of the essence in bringing about these decisions, for if Gainey is going to make a statement move, the value of the moved assets will need to be assured. On the flip side of the coin, the assets might also be declining in worth. Tough calls could be made.






















Watching the Flyers game on RDS, on more than one occasion commentator Benoit Brunet alluded to the notion that the Canadiens were in fact working hard on the ice, but it was in fact the mechanisms of their work which were causing their problems. Such is typival of a team in search of itself.

The trouble with an extended slump such as this, is that fingers start being pointed amongst team mates, and names start being dropped in order to assess blame. Nothing good ever arises from such behavior. Add that to Gainey's plate!

The coming week will be an interesting one for patient Bob!























A little tie - in side track here, that only has to do with the Canadiens in a peripheral sense.

This is all about expectation, dedication, vision, worry, and foundation. As a Habs fan, you can take it as a call for patience and / or perspective, when wishing on dreams. When something is being built, it takes time to see it through.

The video clip below is from my favorite Jersey devil, and I found that it made for one inspiring song, in light of a whole bunch of things, the Habs included.

The song is called "Workin' On A Dream", and this You Tube clip became glued to my cranium after just two listens. In this video from two weeks ago, a dedication went out to Senator Barrack Obama. I want to send it out to Anna Gainey and T.C. Denault. They both know why. The lyrics to the song are below the clip.



Workin' On A Dream

Out here the nights are long and the days are lonely,
I think of you and,
I'm workin' on a dream,
I'm workin' on a dream.

Now the cards I've drawn is a rough hand darling,
I straighten my back and,
I'm workin' on a dream,
I'm workin' on a dream.

I'm workin' on a dream,
Though sometimes it feels so far away,
I'm workin' on a dream,
And I know it will be mine some day

Rain pourring down I swing my hammer,
My hands are rough from,
I'm workin' on a dream,
I'm workin' on a dream

I'm workin' on a dream,
This struggle can feel like it's here to stay,
I'm workin' on a dream,
But our love will chase the trouble away

I'm workin' on a dream,
The weekend feels so far away,
I'm workin' on a dream,
Our love will make it real someday

Sun rise up, I climb the ladder,
A new day breaks and,
I'm workin' on a dream,
I'm workin' on a dream,
I'm workin' on a dream,
I'm workin' on a dream,

I'm workin' on a dream,
The weekend feels so far away,
I'm workin' on a dream,
Our love will make it real someday

Not everyone is a fan of Bruce Springtseen and the method he uses to attach politics to daily life. I for one, find him to be one of the few songwriters in the rock and roll sphere with enough popularity and balls, daring enough to make that connection. Neil Young is another brave soul, who cares more about society than dollar signs to speak his mind.

Either way, and irregardless of what was mentioned above, if you are a Boss fan, tonight on NFL halftime, a clip of the E Street Band performance of this tune set to football highlights is set to air. The song will be included on the next Bruce Springsteen disc coming in January.

Can Canadiens Win One For Habs Fan Summit?

It's great to finally be back home after a week in the Himalaya's studying with Mensa's.

Unfortunately, there was no internet to keep me in touch with this site.

Fortunately, there was satellite however, and I was able to catch all three Habs games last week.

Unfortunately, they lost 'em all.

Fortunately, for me, not a single one of them smartasses over there understood crap about hockey!

And they call themselves geniuses!

I did get a 48 reprieve, jetted back home in time to catch the Boss jamming with Arcade Fire in Ottawa, before burning back to the books once more.

Never again. It's a long story.





I shouldn't be in such good humour, but Saturday is the Habs Fan Summit, a long awaited evening of revelry, friendship and a game of hockey. Fourty - eight Habs fanatics from around North America gathered in one section of the Bell centre should add up to quite a treat.

Not that I thought the Habs would be 6-0 at this point, something slightly better than 2-2-2 was expected at this point. Put it down to bad luck, bad choices, and bad calls, but I think the Canadiens are playing better than the record shows. My head is swollen when it comes to deep analysis, so let's just suggest that the team did not get out what it put in to the last three efforts in total.

Either that or karma is a bitch!



I've decided that I would do my part to bring old ghosts from the Forum for a seance at the Bell Centre. I encourage everyone to bring along items from the glory years of the past in an attempt to summon up good spirits and gain a win for all the good folk who have put in the effort in to create the Habs Fan Summit.

A pinch of luck can't hurt.

Along with my recreation of the famous Rocket Richard Record 500 poster seen here, I am bringing along tickets stubs (In honour of Dave Stubbs!) from the first two games of the 1986 playoffs, some books for friends, and a copy of "Hockey, Heroes, And Me" - Red Fisher's book hoping I can get him to scribble his John Henry on.



Of course, avid Habs fans will know that it was 50 years ago today (Friday) that the Rocket scored his 500th goal and I will be bringing my hand made recreation around the good city of Montreal as a good luck charm and conversation piece. Should you see me lugging the cardboard around the Bell give me a yell and say hi.

I read or heard somewhere that the Canadiens are planning a scoreboard or ice tribute to the Rocket's milestone, so maybe, just maybe the RDS camera's will scan up to section 311 and catch a glimpse of the poster and get all us Habs Summit Fans a little primetime airtime.

That would be something to add to my ever growing to-do list of dubious achievements, none of which are worth bragging about necessarily as any type of accomplishment.

(Robert L Note: I get a kick out of stuff such as this, and my kids get an even bigger laugh from it. I'll do just about anything to prove to my kids that anything is in fact possible. While I have never gone so far as to streak at a leadership debate, I have gone short lengths towards doing getting myself seen or heard in places that are strikingly funny and odd. A short list includes a role in an episode of "Creepy Canada", a brief appearance in a KISS video, being interviewed on the CBC following a Springsteen concert, getting the biggest head shot in a Rolling Stones tourbook, and being heard screaming cheers on a Blue Rodeo live disc. I've yet to cut my own record, but it's coming. Getting on RDS just fits neatly in there somewhere. In the end it's all about stories to tell!)

See you at the game and GO HABS GO!

Getting Killed For Living In Your American Skin

A little sidetrack here from the daily hockey goings on that do little to affect the course of our lives.

I recently read about this shooting in New York City and it got me upset big time.This is not, as you will read, a rare occurence. It has happened more than once. Why it is allowed to go on is nuts. The police are supposed to protect and serve. How they can unload their weapons without shots fired at them is unfathomable. How they are allowed to get away with it is ridiculous. This is murder in my eyes. Just because an officer wears a badge, it should give no justification for events like these, it's beyond simply fucking up!

New York Times reported on Sunday that 23 year old, Sean Bell, died under a hail of over 50 police bullets after leaving his bachelor party at a strip club in Queens. Apparently, a fender bender involving an undercover police vehicle precipitated the shooting.

Bell was supposed to be married the following day. His family had the sad news of informing the attendees that the wedding was off and a funeral was being arranged. Unthinkable!

An angry crowd later gather to demand why police officers killed an unarmed man on the day of his wedding, firing dozens of shots that also wounded two of the man's friends. Some called for the ouster of the city's police commissioner.

At a vigil and rally the day after 23-year-old Sean Bell was supposed to have married the mother of his two young children, a crowd led by the Rev. Al Sharpton shouted "No justice, no peace."

At one point, the crowd of a few hundred counted off to 50, the number of rounds fired.

"We cannot allow this to continue to happen," Sharpton said at the gathering outside Mary Immaculate Hospital, where one of the wounded men was in critical condition. "We've got to understand that all of us were in that car."

Some in the crowd called for the ouster of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, yelling "Kelly must go."

The story surely recalls events in February of 1999, when African immigrant Amadou Diallo was brutally killed in a hail of bullets on Wheeler Avenue in the Bronx-Soundview section of New York City. The 4 officers, members of the now-defunct Street Crimes Unit, fired 41 shots at the 23 yr old believing he was pulling a gun when Diallo was in fact reaching for his wallet. 41 shots! Think about it! Why 41 bullets were fired is a question with no good answer.

A national uproar ensued over what was obviouslya case of racial profiling and police brutaility.The four officers were eventually acquitted of any wrongdoing. A $61-million lawsuit filed by the yound man's parents was later settled for $3-million.

A number of artists wrote songs that decried the plight of this young man, one of the most memorable being "American Skin (41 Shots)" by Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen sang, outraging police organisations in New York, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and sections of the media.New York's State Fraternal Order of Police, Bob Lucente, promptly bestowed the 'floating fag' tag upon the singer when he debuted the song live in Atlanta, rhyming the lines "41 shots/Kill a fuckin' cop".

A week later, Springsteen appeared at Madison Square Garden for a sold out 10 date stand and the NYC police department refused to provide him any escort. As he played the song nightly, off duty police hired as garden security, gave Springsteen the finger from the edge of the stage during each performance. Springsteen never relented in performing the song on the remainder of the stand and the tour, going so far as to release it on CD and DVD versions of the "Live in NYC" concerts. For his part, Springsteen adressed the songs controversy by simply stating the track attempts to understand the human dilema involved in the shooting by retelling the events, then placing it's context in the eyes of a mother preparing her son for school, while providing him with a lesson on how to react when approached by police.

If all this leaves you untouched, check your pulse and heart.

41 shots....and we'll take that ride / 'cross this bloody river / to the other side / 41 shots.... cut through the night / you're kneeling over his body in the vestibule / praying for his life

Is it a gun? / Is it a knife? / Is it a wallet? / This is your life

It ain't no secret / No secret my friend

You can get killed just for living in your American skin

41 shots.... Lena gets her son ready for school / she says "on these streets, Charles / you've got to understand the rules / if an officer stops you / promise me, you'll always be polite / that you'll never ever run away / promise Mama you'll keep your hands in sight"

Is it a gun?.... You can get killed just for living in your American skin

Is it a gun? / is it a knife? / is it in your heart / is it in your eyes / It ain't no secret /41 shots... and we'll take that ride / 'cross this bloody river / to the other side / 41 shots... got my boots caked in this mud / we're baptized in these waters / and in each other's blood

Is it a gun? / is it a knife? / is it a wallet? / this is your life

It ain't no secret / no secret my friend

You can get killed just for living in your American skin