It’s Hookey Night in Canada.
Your faithful live blogger will not be in his suburban basement offering breathless commentary on the opening game of what should be a dandy Eastern Conference final.
Instead, I’ll be at Montreal’s Maison symphonique listening to a chamber music recital.
Maxim Vengerov, da.
Ilya Kovalchuk, nyet.
I bought the tickets months ago, figuring there was no way the Montreal Canadiens would be playing hockey on May 14.
So I’m playing hookey, listening to Brahms while I should be watching Brodeur.
I’ll pick up the series later in the week.
Puck drops 8:10ish.
Feel free to Comment during Game 1.
• This HNIC Torts mash-up was great:
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Wise choice, Mike. Listening to Brahms is more rewarding than listening to the CBC apologists a) justify the horrid officiating; b) redefine interference as “great defensive work”; and c) generally suck up to the NHL
Couple of blown calls by the refs tonight.
Rangers don’t really deserve to win this one. Didn’t think it was really boarding on Girardi. Oh well, Rangers seem to get handed momentum on a platter pretty often.
Nice feed from Girardi
Ouch!Girardi havin a rough night
Is it just me or is a dud of a playoff mainlly because ny plays way to boring.Just my opinion
SIR PLEKERS
No. It’s just you.
it’s you.
hmMMm Theres no goals :,(
SIR PLEKERS
i still disagree. defensive games can be exciting. the nashville-detroit series was the best one i’ve seen so far and it wasn’t exactly an offensive explosion for either team
I think this is the most entertaining game I’ve seen in quite a few days, but that’s just me.
Scoreless games have their merit. They produce on the edge of your seat intensity. First goal will be huge and the game could very well end 1-0.
Devils are forechecking furiously and the Rags are hanging on. Goaltending has been the story of these play-offs.
I think back to the Devils team that sucked for the early part of last season but had an amazing latter part. They still missed the play-offs but they went on an incredible hot streak. This season they look like they have hit that same gear and are peaking when it matters most, in the play-offs. The Rangers will need to take it to the next level if they are to stand a chance in this series.
soccer on ice.
Except that in soccer (the English Premiership, anyway), the number of “goal-mouth incidents” is often fewer than the number of scores in a hockey game!
True, in reality I’m enjoying the game. Both teams are excellent especially the goalies. At this rate this game is going into OT for the full 7 games, unless something breaks down.
And in truth, I guessed that! Also agree with your forecast. Some goalie duel, especially for OT games…
Cheers
CHeers!
So is someone going to score a goal, or what?
Looks like Cherry has raided Beetlejuice’s summer wardrobe.
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“Bring it on home, Bring it on home to you…” – Plant/Page
Bring it on Home
Heals and Friedman rubbing salt in wounds AGAIN,with Gomez and McDonagh!!I can’t stand it! Oh Woe Is Me!
Man Crush…over the top…it’s like they can’t help themselves from saying his name…lol
Interesting comment on the progression of Schultz. I was wondering how he was making out with the Dogs.How is his speed? I realize Staubitz is no offensive threat but he fills a roll and he does have Wheels.I would imagine he could be signed at a very reasonable price.
Henrik Lunqvist – wow. Every hockey fan in Sweden must have been praying for the Caps to win Game 7.
That said, I can’t help but root for Martin F. Brodeur.
Just as the Flyers can no longer genuinely be described as the Broad Street Bullies, the Devils are not really the boring trap team of recent times. They play strong and balanced hockey and I’d love to see Brodeur and the team from Jersey defeat the (apparently unstoppable) glamour side from LA (especially their Philly off-loads).
Go Devils.
Pffffffffffft… Vengerov.. Lazy Russian who plays with no heart.
Not a team player, either. Always off on solo runs…
Un Canadien errant, couldn’t agree more! As an Anglo growing up in totally French town south of Mtl.,It was never an issue with us.We all spoke each others language with many errors.We were all buddies that played hockey,hung out and partied together.Our friendships were strong because of mutual respect. I feel blessed to be fluent in both languages,but for players or coaches coming to Montreal,I feel it is important to make an effort to try to speak french.You don’t have to be perfect,just try.It is a sign of respect that the people will take to heart.it really is that simple.
I agree that making an effort to speak french is a nice gesture and a sign of respect to the fans however I still don’t think it should be mandatory for a coach/Gm to have to be fluent in french.
I’m not sure if you follow the impact but the coach Jesse Marsch is an american and he is currently being tutored to learn french. He opens every press conference with a statement in french which is quite impressive considering he hasn’t been here very long. He isn’t fluent and can’t yet answer questions in french but the effort is very honorable and he has shown great respect for the fans in doing so. I don’t see why that can’t be done by a head coach of the Canadiens. Look at Gainey and Robinson they learned french in their time here. Taking this approach would open our options.
Good for you Boone! Classical music is cool! So is German Techno and Acid Jazz. Enjoy!!
So Boone finds culture and deserts us Plebes.
I feel so common… as speechless as Tort!
Trini! Don’t think of it as culture! (Goering is supposed to have said, Whenever I hear the word ‘culture’, I release the safety on my Browning).
Instead, think of it as beauty that goes into your head through your ears! There’s time to find and listen to one of the Brahms Violin Sonatas before the opening face-off…
Thanks! You have awakened the aristocrat in me! Actually I find classical/symphony music very inspirational.
So since tonight may be the night of Ilya Kovalchuk (I am fast becoming a huge fan of this man who seems very humble) I give you the following performance of one of my favourite piece of Russian classical….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhXiPdJ6Z-8
I attended a concert conducted by Sir Adrian Boult in London, 1976, with my English girlfriend. Our seats were on the stage, to the left of the orchestra, with a full view of the grand old man. He was in his 80s.
Richard R
Price is an oyster. Unfortunately not all oysters produce pearls.
Brilliant. Do you know the original Disney “Fantasia”? It includes an imaginative animation to accompany “Night on a Bare Mountain”.
Does your taste in Russian classical extend to Stravinsky’s “Firebird”?
Agree about Kovalchuk. Last summer’s blockbuster trades worked out better for the Devils than for the Flyers, eh?
Are you replying to me or Habstrinifan? If it’s to me then yes, I like the Firebird Suite. If you are not familiar with Stravinsky’s Petrouchka, give it a try. I like it even more. There’s an orchestral version and a piano solo version.
Richard R
Price is an oyster. Unfortunately not all oysters produce pearls.
How about DD, Eller and a second round pick to Pit for Staal?
starting lineup
Cole Staal Paciorety
Gio Plek Moen
Bourque Leblanc Goefrion
Stubitz White Blunden
Markov Subban
Gorges Tinordi
Kaberle Emelin
Price
Budaj
Moen is not a 2nd line player and Tinordi will need time in the AHL to develop his game.
Habs have time. Let the kids play. In fact I’d like to see the other kid from St John play too instead of Kaberle.
Who else would you put on the second line? Bourque?
Rushing them to the NHL hurts the player, not just the Habs as a team, but could also lead to set backs in development.
Go Habs Go!
Visit Your NHL Draft Headquarters
http://lastwordonsports.com/category/lastwordblog/nhldraft/
Rushing guys is a waste of time. Let them excel at every level. These young guys need to stay positive.
And how many games will that give us while trading our prospects.
What a talent and asset bloodletting for a non-elite soon-to-be UFA.
He’s better than anything the Habs have right now or in the pipe line. I like Eller but you need to give up something of value or no deal. Thats how it works. Sure we could draft a first line centre this year for say 2016 but he could be a bust too.
Cole, Staal and Pac would be the first real top line we’ve had in years.
Still won’t win anything with 1 yr. left on his contract and you’re giving away your future. You are the kind of GM who I want to trade Pleks to.Give me 3 prospects.Two centres in the NHL aready and a draft pick.
Since you like dealing with unlikely worst-case scenarios, what happens if Staal leaves after next year?
DD is going nowhere – he is cheap and has improved each year in pro hockey. There is sufficient size on either wing to insulate him.
Eller will continue to improve as a two way player and could soon be a larger version with similar skills to our current 2nd line centre (Pleks).
Staal is terrific but may never be more than Pleks – they rate similar in most stats and Pleks is cheaper than the next Staal contract.
Habs will likely sign one UFA LW to play with Pleks and one 2nd pair Dman.
Moen is UFA. Habs Mgmt wanted to move him at the deadline but unfortunately was hurt. His first two years were brutul in a Habs uni, and only in his contract year did he significantly pick up his game. He has the goods when motivated, but no way he is signed on a less than one year effort.
Bourque will start on the 3rd line and need to earn his way back to top six minutes. It is possible the back-to-back suspensions took the wind out of his sails last season. He could still be a winning chip on the Cammi deal if he returns to prior power forward style.
Leblanc is not likely to start with the big boys – only got ice time due to all the injuries last year. MB will not make the same mistakes as prior mgmt on player dev. Leblanc has 3rd line talent to stick at some point. Interesting that Chris Kreider was taken by the Rags right after Leblanc.
Geoffrion is 4th line at this point. Could turn out to be a fan fav on limited minutes.
Nothing saying this mgmt team will sign Blunden. Yes, 4th line energy minutes, but not tough or talented enough. Zero offense.
I am hopeful also that a 4th line center that can win more than 50% of draws will be signed well before the season begins. White is better suited as 4th line RW that can backup on faceoff’s.
Cripes, you list Staubitz as well. Yes, he can drop them, but he is no Shawn Thornton or Chris Neil and one goal per season will not cut it in the NHL. Habs can do better. I am hoping that White’s WHL running mate (Ian Schultz – Halak trade) gets a longer look. He was the Dogs most improved player last season and is tough as nails.
Tinordi will likely take longer than Beaulieu or Ellis to make the Habs D – reference his first year in the OHL as example. Heck, even Greg Pateryn (Grabs trade) may be up sooner. No doubt that Tinordi will eventually become a 3rd pair crease clearing Dman and enjoy a long NHL career.
Completelly agree with you^
SIR PLEKERS
How about Big Bird and Muller coaching the Habs along with RC not a bad Three-some.
Who speaks French?
Larry, to his everlasting credit, picked up enough French to struggle through an interview on La Soirée du Hockey, along with Steve Shutt, Ken Dryden and Bob Gainey, among others. I think maybe Murray Wilson could struggle through one as well?
I know a lot of Anglo fans dismiss the importance of this, but at the time it meant a hell of a lot to me, a unilingual Franco kid. To hear one of these guys talking about how they would beat the Bruins and the Flyers was huge. Those guys were ours, they were my heroes, same as the Alouettes who tried their best, and Gary Carter.
When we talk about player development and supporting our prospects, we should encourage them to get to a conversational level in French. A guy like Nathan Beaulieu would have a key to the city if he could meet and greet with kids at a hockey tournament in Pointe-aux-Trembles.
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/
The way you write in English, I find it hard to imagine you ever being unilingual.
Further to your comments about anglo players speaking French: for anglo school-kids like me, hearing Robinson or Dryden do a French interview had an important inspirational element.
Nice. So many of my friends tell me nowadays how they wish they’d paid attention in French class. Whatever works to learn the kids some French.
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/
Ah mais ouis.. la mouche dans la soupe!
Chut! Sinon, tout le monde en voudront une!
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/
“Nice” — not irony, I hope! I’ve long admired your writing.
I think Randy Cunneyworth is a nice guy, a true gentleman who did the best he could, but his results speak for themselves. He didn’t earn another kick at the can. Also, I was never enamored with our ex-Senators management team, we need to clean house and start fresh.
Former Habs greats are always welcome, I’ve been beating the Larry Robinson drum since last summer. I didn’t like that we had Perry Pearn as our defencemen coach when guys like Larry and Guy Lapointe are out there working with other teams.
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/
UCE, always enjoy your posts and agree with banging the drum for Larry Robinson.
However, I’d be very slow to rate RC at all on his results. The situation he inherited was all but hopeless given such a wide range of issues from injuries, to management (including the gauche mishandling of the language issue by his employer), to extraordinary levels of under-performance (above all by Gomez, obviously), etc etc etc. I think it would be more appropriate to consider him more in the role of care-taker and then measure his success accordingly. GIVEN the circumstances, he did well to hold the room, there appear to have been no ugly divisions within the team, and morale and optimism remained reasonably good for a great franchise finishing last. RC had no chance whatsoever of effecting a spectacular turnaround and leading Montreal into the playoffs. He was only ever going to hold the fort until next season and a new coach.
In short, his playing field was utterly un-level — I don’t think even Scotty in his prime could have coped with all the hurdles facing this particular edition of the Canadiens. I would therefore argue that when RC reappears in a new head-coach situation, on a level playing field, only then will his results speak for themselves.
I trust that he will have another shot with another team. In our case though, he underwhelmed, made some decisions that were headscratchers, seemed to have trouble maintaining discipline with some players, even considering his lame duck status. Not enough positives to give him a mulligan in my opinion.
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/
All true, but would you really reckon that the elimination of any of his shortcomings that you mention would have made a significant difference to our points total and final place in the standings? I don’t believe so. I believe his results speak not for themselves but for a huge number of other factors beyond his control.
So there you have it, the Boone Reverse Jinx had us doomed “months ago”, as he puts it. For shame!
I’m not superstitious or anything, but when my eyes stray from the screen during games to a book or newspaper and we get scored on, I blame myself. I let my guard down. I lacked focus. I wasn’t prepared to pay the price. I guess Mr. Boone is above all this nonsense, he doesn’t put much stock in causality evidently.
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/
I was messing around on the interwebs and discovered a small community of Habs fans, then I came across an ex-HIOer – he was posting his in depth analytical articles on the site and getting into arguments with some other posters. It was very nostalgic and comical.
So what is new over at EOTP?
Boston College Hockey Lands Commitment From Defenseman Colin Sullivan
York and the Eagles hockey program received a commitment from defenseman Colin Sullivan. Sullivan, a former Yale commit, is a 6-foot-2, 180-pounder from Avon Old Farms. He was a 7th round, 198th overall draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
Prior to attending Avon Old Farms, Sullivan spent two years at Fairfield Prep.
http://bruins2011draftwatch.blogspot.ca/2011/01/colin-sullivan-guy-you-should-know.html
We’re seeing various sizes bandied about, 6′ 190, 6′ 200, I hope your figures are more current and are correct. He’s got time to pack some pounds on that frame.
EDIT: from http://bruins2011draftwatch.blogspot.ca/search/label/Colin%20Sullivan (March 27 2011)
“He’s a solid 6-2, 205 right now and will still add some more mass to his frame. The big question Sullivan will have to answer is where he will play next season. He won’t report to Yale until 2012, and can go back to AOF for a third season or may go out to the USHL- he’s reportedly drawn a lot of interest from teams in that league.”
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/
Link below to video of Colin Sullivan at the draft in 2011.
Also, as a final word, his listed height and weight at the NHL draft combine was 6’0.5″, 197 lbs.
http://video.canadiens.nhl.com/video…d=66&id=119714
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/
Assuming he receives enough playing time, this is a real good move for Sullivan career wise.
If the Big Bird becomes the Habs new coach as rumoured missing the playoffs was absolutely worth it. Any news on this? Here is a guy that believes in positive reinforcement wrt players. He would be fantastic for the team especially for PK. PK would give instant respect to this guy as he has done it all and he had a similar intensity to PK’s in terms of the game.
LOL it is kinda synonymous…
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Mike, great choice. It’s only Game 1, the beloveds aren’t playing, and if it’s the Brahms sonatas (perhaps all 3? He sometimes does that) then it will be a beautiful respite for you from the Habs-less playoffs. If you do indeed love Brahms, and we both love the Habs and are called Mike, then The Twilight Zone music is now sounding and it’s all gone a bit weird. I interviewed Vengerov in 2000 — no airs and graces, great guy, unbelievable talent. Are you allowed mention here how the evening goes? Have a good night.
Dunboyne Mike,
Do you work for La Scena Musicale?
Richard R
Price is an oyster. Unfortunately not all oysters produce pearls.
Hey Boeing. I’ve since reverted to school teacher. But for about 10 years from 1994 I was in music journalism (classical). All that’s left now is reviews for The Irish Times and occasional small pieces for The Sunday Times (Culture section, Irish version). How about you?
I agree that Coors ice tea is awful…I took one small sip and it tastes like feet ….lol
Like Rachel’s trifle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v_BE6lFE0o
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/
Absorbine Jr.?
Richard R
Price is an oyster. Unfortunately not all oysters produce pearls.
Maxim Vengerov plays a mean fiddle. Jack Benny would definitely be jealous.
Is that Jack Benny the famous violinist?!
And once the tomfoolery is done, not a bad one;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EofKXc-EOo&feature=related
Henny Youngman ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKHQ36NOxzk&feature=related
Whoa-oh Jack Benny,
Bam-ba lam…
whoever created coors ICE-T/Beer should be beaten and flogged
“Like Canadian Hip hop..check us out http://www.groovecontrolmusic.com“
Agreed, but try Mill St. Lemon Tea beer, that’s a good one – Coors probably ripped that off to create their nestea beer water.
I’m aghast that such a thing even exists. I really need to spend more time in bars, I’ve lost touch.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203458604577265981381936526.html
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1142074–coors-light-iced-tea-beer-to-launch-in-canada
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In the very long view, it is important that kids growing up in Québec love the Canadiens and recognize themselves in the team, and a bit of the team in themselves. There must be a strong, visceral, emotional connection between the fans and leurs Glorieux.
http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/