boonie - (steven cooper)

Member since October 19, 2011

Habs fan since:
Favorite current player:
All-time favorite player:

Signature:

Recent Comments

• Comment on Current and former Habs get into Grand Prix weekend
  *** spoiler alert *** PK wins the Norris http://www.sportsnet.ca/shows/hockey-central/montreal-canadiens-p-k-subban-will-win-norris-trophy-as-nhls-top-defenceman/
• Comment on Prust among walking wounded as Habs clear out lockers Saturday
  Let's end this Price debate... He has top tier talent. I'll let each of you if that's top 3, 5, 10, ... He can make big saves and has the size, stamina and other attributes to carry a team and be a workhorse. He's won everything before reaching the NHL so his credentials are impeccable. Unfortunately, after parts of 6 seasons and a disappointing TEAM playoff exit, I think it's fair to say he's not a money goalie. That's ok. Few (very few) are. MAF is equally big and talented, and he shares a penchant for poor timing of weak goals. He's won a Cup and made another appearance in the Finals. For those who say "build a team and watch Price's success." Sure. In that sense he's Fleury. Thomas and Quick CARRIED their teams. The way Roy carried us to two Cups. There was enough of a team around those guys and they made the rest happen. In LA, Doughty is a young Norris guy. We have PK. The defenses are pretty much an adequate combination of size, experience, speed and shooting. In Boston, Chara is a beast. Their Cup winning D included Kaberle. K-A-B-E-R-L-E. Carter and Richards, Brown for LA; Lucic, Marchand and ... We can almost match that. Even if came a little short, it doesn't explain the difference between winning the Cup and being eliminated in round 1. He can be a piece of winner. Hopefully here, but maybe not. He isn't the guy to carry the team on his back and will a win... like Roy's OT performance against the Rangers (but I digress).
• Comment on About this season ... and next season ... and the one after that ...
  It's time for DIFFERENT. It's been THIS WAY for far too long. Bergevin needs to give us a NEW chapter. An occasional impressive regular season and one playoff run - memorable only because it diverged from an otherwise lackluster 82 game segment - just doesn't cut it. Our enthusiasm for a young, talented cohort turns to disappointment when the sum of the parts doesn't equal a Cup. PK, Chucky and Gally are unquestionably talented. Hell, two of them are candidates for major hardware. But what's going to be DIFFERENT this time? GMs turn Higgins into Patches; replace would-be scorers like Tanguay with would-be scorers like Cammy; exchange warriors like Saku for warriors like Gionta; shed soft perimeter players like AK27 for figure skaters like Scotty G. Our never-ending cycle of optimism and bust, starts and ends. But things DON'T CHANGE. We need CHANGE.
• Comment on Liveblog: Senators spank Canadiens 6-1, take series lead
  There are G's with talent and G's who are clutch. Roy was both. I have yet to see Carey step up when the team needs one.
• Comment on Liveblog: Senators spank Canadiens 6-1, take series lead
  Yep... travesty, reffing, the Walrus gave us a middle finger... All true. But with close game in the early third, needing a big stop to gain momentum and give our fighters a chance, Carey disappoints. I wasn't an easy save, it was probably someone else's fault. But he didn't step up. Down two and Gionta bearing down, Anderson preserves the momentum, the two goal lead and the game. The rest is history.
• Comment on About last night ...
  Habs fan since the 70s. Longtime HIO reader and a, formerly, frequent poster. I haven't posted since the Chara/Pac incident. I'm not sure that time provides objectivity, but it provides some distance from daily exchanges. Boone nailed a few days ago... we didn't expect much from last year's last place squad. So, flirting with eastern conference leadership for most of this season is the gravy for our poutine. Considering MB's biggest off-season personnel move was the big bodied, bigger attitude Prust signing, the real change this campaign is resetting the franchise's definition of self. (re) Hiring MT didn't inspire me, but I was happy to see us play talented youth to learn what we had instead of playing a conservative style with well-worn vets content to play for perpetual mediocrity. Are we as good as the first 40 or as bad as the last few? Are we Carbo's team that blew up in the playoffs or the Count's tiresome regular season team that beat the Pens and Caps in the playoffs? Band-aiding (TM) our psyche with a notable trading day pick up doesn't help MB learn what we have or who we are. He needs to know that to understand if our youth is the Oilers of the early 80s that needed to learn how to win or the dozens of pretenders masquerading as contenders (yeah, I'm talking about you last year's half season Leafs...) Now, this post wouldn't be complete without applying some of the above to Carey Price. We've been blessed with once in a generation goalies every generation for about a century. Price has the talent and the pre-NHL resume to look like he can walk on water, turn water into wine and one loaf into many. People here want to believe. Many are already following him. Multiples more want to. MB needs to know what we have in Price. This post-season will be a huge data point. It's a team thing, but not winning a series or two will begin to put an end to Carey's term here as the Next One. Sit back and enjoy folks. The next four weeks (hopefully more) will be the first chapter of our next generation.
• Comment on The latest on Shane Doan
  Add cup finalist ny, improving fla, surprising was and we're left fighting for one spot. You're bang on, we're bringing a knife to a gun fight.