The Canadiens practice today and then travel to Philadelphia to face the dastardly – and, it must be said, very good – Flyers.
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Just a few words of French goes a long way in my experience. People who visit Quebec and come away with a bad experience are all too often the ones who go there and show a callous disregard for where they are. When the first words out of your mouth are in English that can raise the hackles of most. But even if you begin with an accented “bonjour” immediately you bring a smile, albeit often condescending. and a response in English The average guy on the street or behind a counter could care less about language issues. Most of that is media driven.
Add that JM is a non-participant with referees! He’s more or less a “voyeur”, “I like to watch and take notes”. Nearly every other NHL coach will voice his displeasure with officiating and lo and behold it does have effect. Think back to Bylsma and Lindy Ruff having heart to hearts with the referees between periods in games this month and the net effect on ice!
…………………….”The Allo Police Media – a collection of bitter ex-coaches, players and wannabees whose collective lack of success accounts for their present positions in Sports’ equivalent of a Jerry Springer Show”
The US in general will never grasp Hockey as a major sport simply because it is not “theirs”. From their viewpoint, it is a Canadian sport….it’s an import. Baseball, Football, and Basketball, although arguable, are sports originating in their country. Each has a chapter in US history (Basketball to a lesser degree) and legends of the past are long told and repeated stories to which they cling to….no different than we do with our Habs. The US is a protectionist country for the most part and they do not welcome imports easily.
Yes, the NHL has pockets of fans in the East and to a lesser degree in the West but none of those teams are #1 sport teams in their cities. Come playoff time, if their team is in contention, sure the attention grows but it fades pretty quickly. They don’t talk hockey. It’s like Tennis, they get up for the Majors but not the rest of the tennis season…..and yes their are more tennis courts in the US than hockey rinks. Hockey is on the same level as Tennis in the eyes of the broadcasters. It is regional programming until playoff (majors) time when they can pick up as few viewers and hope a larger US matket team is in the finals.
No bias officiating is ever going to grow the market. Ownership throughout the league would not tolerate any team having an advantage over another. They would scream like hell if they knew a bias existed because it hurts their business and the model. The NHL is a CAP league with some revenue sharing. The only hope for an owner to have a “very good spring” is that the league is fair and balanced throughout where any team can win every 5-10 years if managed properly and with a little luck. Unlike Baseball where the MLB model does allow the larger market teams with money to have an unfair competitive advantage ie no cap. The philosophy there is the “lesser” teams will fill their stadiums when the “big” teams come to town and if you can beat them, it’s a story which feeds the sport. They dont care if Florida beat Minnesota for the Series, but beat the Yanks or the BoSox and you have success. The underdog prevails!! In the NBA they promote and allow their star players priveledges other players do not receive and very often it’s the teams with the stars that win. The money comes from watching the stars. The NFL survives on gambling…..it is the Las Vegas of all sports and would not be as big as it is if gambling was illegal.
The NHL owners know they are a regional and playoff driven sport in the US but are sold on the the fact they have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. There can be money made in the NHL US but if there was any bias towards the north, south, east, or west the league would crumble completely and return to much less than than 30 teams…..Hey, now that’s a thought!!!
(Blame HI/O for the lack of paragraphs)
It’s unfortunate that Koivu played at a time when the Canadiens couldn’t win the whole thing, because as much as he’s loved and remembered now, it would have been tenfold if he had held the Cup high. But he certainly made up for it in a big way with his off-ice big heart and generosity. Some guys take the paycheque and run. Koivu helped the hospital and the less fortunate.
Also, I’m giving away a whole bunch of Habs stuff and a few other things too if you’re interested. Info at http://dennis-kane.com/tell-me-about-my-small-cities-and-win-big-huge/
So, is the server hosting back to a local company instead of outsourcing?
To be fair, it was located in his abdomen which is pretty much his stomach, and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is in fact a cancer. I have to say Todd got that right.
I don’t understand his article. When did fans ever boo or slam koivu? It was the media making it a big deal. As for Kovalev love – so what? It was stated right off the bat Koivu was not coming back. He moved on. Kovalev, on the other hand, was undecided. So fans wanted to weigh in with a “protest”. I thought it was ridiculous, but what’s the harm? It was not meant as a slight to the captain.
Maybe we should go back through his archive and see if he slammed Koivu during his tenure?
okay can you give danno link powers back cuz so hell cut down on these zingers
Mario Lemieux’s cancer was Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Saku’s was a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and was located primarily in his abdomen. Without detracting from Lemieux’s own recovery, which was amazing and courageous, Koivu’s was a much more deadly form (typically less than 50% survival rate) of lymphoma.
The month of January started on a bad note with the loss of their best defenceman this season, Josh Gorges. Then injuries to Halpern and Cammalleri and Markov of course, added to their woes. But this team played as a TEAM, and the result is 6-1-3. Only one regulation time loss. They had a point in 9 out of ten games this month. That is impressive.
This team is playing 60 minutes. Earlier if they were down a couple of goals, then they would end up losing 3-0. Now they are keeping at it and despite bad officiating, they don’t give up hope and the result is like last Saturday night, a valuable point gained.
“It’s too much for one guy to shoulder. For us, we’re going to do it as a group. It’s about sharing that responsibility win or lose.” – Mike Cammalleri
Timo, it’s not cause you say Donkey Balls, but because you do not consistently keep up the proper tense in your sentences… Here at HIO we have very high grammatical expectations…
There may be other teams, but only ONE Club De Hockey…
That was odd, everyone knows it was non-Hodgkins lymphoma, like Mario….right?
I got as far as the headline. What a tool.
- In Price We Trust
AH Nuna…. sadly these posts are getting worse and worse. But one piece of friendly advice. When rooting for a player in a post, try at the very least, to spell his name correctly.
It is interesting how you got Price’s name correct and not our former Captain’s… That being said i am not surprised as I do not really count you as a fan, in fact I don’t think you would know the Bell center if you were sitting inside it.
+1
On Saturday night, the Ducks player clearly was holding PK Subban’s stick. When Subban pulled his stick to get it free, the stick went up and hence the high sticking call which shouldn’t have been a penalty and why Subban was suprised.
There have been too many instances of poor officiating against the Canadiens dating back to last year’s play-offs.
“It’s too much for one guy to shoulder. For us, we’re going to do it as a group. It’s about sharing that responsibility win or lose.” – Mike Cammalleri
I disagree. It’s a stupid NHL rule that he had to clear waivers in the first place. ANYONE could have signed hm. Detroit does and suddenly he’s wanted? Would *you* want to play for the Islanders? How on earth will it help his career? They aren’t going to the playoffs and his numbers would be terrible. He’s better off staying in Europe.
I don’t see the point in waivers for unsigned players.
I am sorry to say, but I believe you are dead wrong about this. HE SIGNED WITH DETROIT. Not NYI, and look at what that team is doing. Tanking for the future. Trading Roloson and Wiz is proof of that. I mean what were they trying to do???? Cap space??? I wouldn’t join the NYI either if i was Nabokov. Where does that leave him for the next so many years. Helping a team tank for the future then retire before he can compete for anthing??? Makes no sense.
There may be other teams, but only ONE Club De Hockey…
ummmm totally disagreed on so many levels
Too bad Carey Price sucked so bad, Gainey had to blow up the team and let Sakku go.
It is unbelievable how much of a little bitch Nabokov is being. “I wanted to help a team in the playoffs, and I don’t see how I could do that with the Islanders.” What a cheap, pointless, selfish, arrogant idiotic move. He’ll never be back in the NHL. Good riddance. —Hope Springs Eternal—
Yes but surely you or anyone else can imagine the PR nightmare had Quebec gone deep or worse win the Cup? Later that summer we all learned of the relocation to Colorado. Im going to paraphrase an excerpt from canadian wrestling legend Brett Hart’s book about a conversation about the wrestling business he had with wrestling legend Lou Thesz. *As soon as someone pays -its entertainment, at one time (early 1900s) pro wrestling was a real and legit actual competition and it was popular, but then came a man (I forget his name, me the cat I forget, not lou thesz)) that was so good he never lost, matches would last up to 6 hours but he never lost. People stopped going because they figured itd be the same result. So one day, to get asses in the seats, he arranged to lose on purpose to drum up interest.*
Pro sports are entertainment and a business. The refs in the nhl orchestrate a spectacle more than anything else, no one outside Canada really cares about the NHL, it isnt looked at with a microscope like the NFL. Its a business and its only normal they have a desired outcome when so many dollars are at stake. I dont think a bad team will get help, but if a team is good enough to have a chance and is in a key market, I think they do get preferable treatment, for the sake of money and interest.
[Disclaimer]: I’m a hockey fan. I care about the habs, but probably not as much as you.