theflower

I was using my Olympus EVOLT 500 digital SLR. It looks like a real camera with a 300X zoom lens on it which allowed me to get all those pics that looked like i was really close to the ice instead of 15 rows up where i was sitting. At first I had it on the wrong setting then I changed to sport and literally was taking shot after shot in hopes to get a good one. I took over 120 shots and i could have taken 1000, but I thought it would take me forever to upload hehe.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, firstly Frechette was the guy who got drilled knee on knee from where i was sitting it happened right in front of me and 2 dumbass leaf fans started to laugh and said get up !@@##, stop crying and making cry baby noises and stuff, it was totally classless in so many ways, they were this close to getting laid out by me for acting like idiots, but then i thought hey...they are leaf fans so they are already idiots. Anyways as far as the skating thing goes, Chips looks quick, I don't know if its decieving because of his size, but when he turns and steps on an angle to move to a place he surely has a quick first step and thats really what you notice. As far as Latendresse goes and I played hockey throughout all my youth and was the fastest skater I know as a kid and let me tell you I went to power skating and figure skating to get my skating skills up, if you look at his stride for one, it is horrible and for 2, I don't know who he was skating with last year but next to almost everyone on the ice he is about the slowest skater I have ever seen, although in a race against Ribs it might be a dead heat, because he is one of the slowest skaters I have seen. I use them as comparison, because I have seen both of them skate live on more than one occasion and frankly they both suck at skating. While you reference Ryder being slow he is infact not the best skater, but he does have a decent stride. Skating is alll about posture and good release through the legs with your upper body being as still as possible to gain momentum and speed. Skaters like Ribs and Latendresse do and up and down pumping motion when they start to take and and continue it when they get into stride. That up and down motion during their stride uses more energy than a regular stride and therefore results in less speed and more up and down going nowwhere fast skating. Hence why we were laughing yesterday, because he looking like a horse pulling a carriage. In skating power is derived from your legs your upper body is just for balance. Somewhere along the line Ribs and Latendresse have never had good skating teachers and frankly never built their leg muscles up enough.

can you say Kostitsyn hehe kinda interesting and thanks for the kind words. Doing a game report is a really hard thing. I tell you you forget half of the stuff you wanted to say and I just try to give as much info as I can. I hope some of you are able to use some of those pictures for your wallpapers and sigs and so on. I just was like a kid in the candy store with my dam camera. I was clicking like a fool hehe.

Hi guys, I just wanted to say I was at the game today and it was pretty fun. At times it was a little boring, but nonetheless, with the exception of a few knucklehead Leaf fans sitting behind me and making fun outloud about Frechette after he was hit knee on knee and levelled to the ice, they were lucky I didn't get up and drill them both in the head to be honest. Other than that, I had a good time. I took my sweet digital camera and uploaded a ton of pics about 120 I think to my flickr website at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/greezybro/ Feel free to have a look and tell me if you like any. I was shooting like a mad man not really looking at the shots just firing away in hopes of a few good ones. Anyway onto the player reviews. I must start by saying that I was really focussed on Grabovski most of the game, as I think he is about the only player who has a chance of making the big squad, so some other players got less attention, to be fair I am keeping most player reports short unless something important happened with them. Mathieu Aubin - Played a good game, honestly though, he does need at least a few more years of seasoning at 19 years old, I would put him at playing in Hamilton for at least 3 years and after that who knows. He does have good size and he has decent wheels, I just don't know if he will ever be NHL material. Grade - B Kyle Chipchura - Well, what can I say, he continues to impress me with his skill, his speed, his grit and frankly he reminds me of a carbo, muller, jarvis type more and more. He does alot of the little things right and he uses his head, which I think is his greatest asset. Nevermind his leadership abilities. After the game, when walking towards the dressing room lets just say he let out some words loudly to describe how unhappy he was with the outcome. He definitely has a winner, leader type A personality. I for one see him on the Habs in 2 years and perhaps a future Captain. Grade - A Mathew D'Agostini - This kid just better and better each time I see him. He looks really quick on the ice and he has great vision. He also has good hands and a quick release that I noticed during his goal. For 19 years old, he has a future in the NHL, although in what role who knows. In about 3 years time he may be a 1st or 2nd line player, but 3rd or 4th would probably be he is more likely destination. Grade -A Mikhail Grabovski - Other than John Mitchell who I hate to say it, was outstanding in this tournament for the Leafs, Grabs was special on the ice yet again in so many ways. The first period was all Toronto and they really did a good job bottling him up, but after that he was flying around the ice. I tell you, if his English was better he might have got alot more opportunities. He has a great knack for finding open ice and space to move in and honestly with some talented players, I think he could be scary good. It would be a travesty to keep this guy in Hamilton and frankly, If I see ribs playing between Kovy and Sammy over this guy, someone must have lost their mind. He is the guy for that line without a doubt. His only problem will be whether management is ready to move Ribs and maybe Abs for some defenceman to allow this kid to come up. As it looks to me there may not be a spot for any rooks on the team we have this year and that would be a disappointment. Grabs has been playing in the 2nd best league in the world for some years now, Hamilton would be a major step back for him in his growth. Grade - A Sergei Kostitsyn - Another good night for Kosty Jr. You can see some chemistry between him and Grabs that I didn't see in Game 1. He looks good on the ice and you can see he is clearly a future NHLer. I think if their is any chance he can play in Hamilton this year over London, he will only get better and fast. From what I have seen, he is a really quick learner and thats a good thing. He did take a few lazy hooking type penalties which I did not like but still he played well enough for me to forget about that. The Grabs-Kosty-Aubin line was the best on the ice for us and Kosty was a big part of that. Grade - B+ Guillaume Latendresse - Some people are not going to like what I have to say about him, but frankly he is not the real deal. The french media are dying for a French-Canadien hero and from what I have seen he is not it. Don't get me wrong, he has talent, he is good with the puck, he has good vision, he has good hands, now the bad, he at least in this game took some bad penalties and the worst thing is, HE CANNOT SKATE!!! In the old NHL he could have made it, now unless he gets someone to teach him how to skate and maybe have him lift weights to get his leg strength up to that of an ox, he is way, way, way too slow. We were commenting as we watched the game that it looked like he was dragging a horse and buggy behind him as he laboured up the ice. It was awful to watch. Where did he learn that stride and who the heck taught him how to skate should be shot, honestly, I couldn't stop laughing. All that being said, his other abilities might be enough for him to make the pros, but personally, he wouldn't play on my team, not in this NHL anyway. Grade - A (Skating - F) Ben Maxwell - He gets my "lock" to be a future habs vote. I was so impressed by this 18 year old, I can't begin to tell you. He is multi-talented and he just looks great out there. Works hard every shift, moves around the ice with ease and he clearly has alot of talent. I personally think, he was the steal of the draft for us and we really got a stud in this kid. He seems to have a presence on the ice like a veteran, he played with Chips alot and he was outstanding. Ben Maxwell you are the future, don't stop doing whatever you have been doing, because if you keep going like this you are going to be a really good NHLer. Grade - A+ Juraj Mikus - Well, whatever aspirations he has for the NHL are clearly well off in the distance. I am not going to say he is a bad player as he is clearly not. He just is a player though, nothing really special about him. Does nothing badly, but then again does nothing great. Good future Bulldog at best in my opinion. Grade - C Gregory Stewart - I will say what I said again on Friday, this kid looks big and he looks tough. In this game he did not impose his will as much and I was kind of hoping he would. He is a good skater, gritty and goes hard into the corners every shift, I like him and his style of play. Is he a future NHLer, maybe he could grow into a good checking forward. Grade - B Ryan White - Unfortunately, if we are comparing 18 year olds to 18 year olds, I am taking Ben Maxwell over Ryan White everyday of the week, but they are different types of players and while I think Ryans is still a tweener and needs alot more work, I can see potential in him. I know he is only 6'0" but he looks big to me for some reason and he plays with an edge to him and I like that. I want to see how a few years in Calgary and a year or two in Hamilton help this kid get better, but I like him and think his upside is good. Grade - B Mathieu Carle - He impressed me with his skating ability, as it was very good. He has to work more on his positional play and to be a good defenceman he has to use his body more. It seemed when he went in the corners he preferred to stick check guys for the puck as opposed to burying them. On the upside though, when he takes off with the puck he looks silky smooth. Obviously at 18 he has alot of time to fill out and get bigger. I like what I see in him and clearly his is a good future prospect for us. Grade - B Cameron Cepek - did not play Jon Gleed - He played a pretty decent game. Again I don't see a future for him with the Habs, but in Hamilton he has a good one. He took a few dumb penalties which hurt us and he is an average skater at best. The upside on him is that he has a little mean streak to him and I like that, but thats where it ends for me. Grade - C Ryan O'Byrne - He is the only other guy I see in this camp that has a chance to make the Habs. I will tell you he is raw, maybe not big enough yet and he still needs to fill out in the middle, but where are we going to find a 6'5" guy that can skate backwards and forwards so well, has a decent shot and good puckhandling skills. This guy could be a monster with the right coaching. The fact is we are a little thin on defence and frankly, I would prefer this guy over Streit anyday, because he is young and clearly ready to learn on a new level. He plays smart positional hockey and seems to be a very cool customer on the blue line, these are huge traits to have to be a good NHLer. Grade - A Carey Price - I take back what I said the other day about Price's glove hand, today it looked great. He played very well in net, and yes he did have a few dicey moments, but more than anything, I think those big nets were the problem. The reason, I think Price was rated so high is really because, he is an excellent positional goalie. Infact he reminds me of a young Huet, with his quietness in the crease and his very effortless style of goaltending. I am looking forward to his growth and I hope he gets to Hamilton by next year. All things look good for the kid. Grade - A Of course the rest of the players were there as invitees, but I am going to give a big shout out to the play and the effort of one Frederic St. Denis. He scored a goal in the game, was a very exciting offensive defenceman in the game. In alot of ways he reminds me of Cube squared. I want to say, he earned an invite to camp with his play, and I for one will be cheering for him to get a chance to go to training camp with the Canadiens. He was one of the better players on the ice the whole game through. He is very quick, he moves very well with the puck and defensively he is quite sound on both his positional play and his checking. I like the kid, Bob give him a chance and sign him for Hamilton we could use him. Grade - A Thats all for now guys I hope you like the read and I hope you all share with me training camp in Montreal as I would love for you all to keep the rest of us Canadiens fans outside of Montreal informed on our beloved Habs.

I wish I could have been there to write a report. anyways, I won't be there for Monday nights game, but I will be there on Tuesday for the final game. Right now it looks like the Leafs and Habs will meet to decide the tourney winner on Tuesday. Also, I plan on taking my video camera to at least get some video or snapshots to post with my review of the game!!

thanks for all the great replies guys, I really appreciate it. As far as Grabs in the defensive zone, he tracked back well. I personally expect a center to be the 3rd man in helping his D in the corners and he did that. Obviously defensively he needs some work, because his offensive game is so strong, he looks weaker on defense. That being said, I don't believe his line had a goal scored on them during the game so +/- wise he would have been a +4 i believe as he was on the ice for 4 goals. I guess if you cause the other team to be chasing you all night, defence isn't an issue lol. I know that he will have to improve his defensive play to play for carbo, but honestly, if he was to play with Kovy and Samsonov that line would only be on the ice for one reason only to score goals. I don't think with that kind of talent, they would have the puck in our own zone too often hehe.

Ya, I was at the game too, I posted a game review article to give my 2 cents of the game and our players have a look at it. Oh yeah and Grabovski stole the show!!

Montreal lost 6-5 in overtime vs the Leafs in the Rookie camp tournament at the Ricoh Coliseum here in Toronto. I for one was at the game and had an opportunity to see the goings on. Let me just say I was excited as can be to goto the game and there were as many habs fans there as their were Leaf fans which for me was very exciting. Anyway, I wanted to give some player evaluations for you all on the game so you can get an idea of how some of the guys looked in the game. Kyle Chipchura - played a great game, one of the quickest players on the ice, I had no idea he was that fast. He played very gritty and worked really hard to setup a beauty of a goal, by winning a puck against the boards with 2 guys drilling him and getting a past to an open man for a goal. Grade - A Mathieu Aubin - played an OK game but sometimes looked lost out there. For a fairly big looking guy, he seemed somewhat slow at times, although he did deal out some good checks at various points of the game and did get a goal on a great feed from Grabs for the empty netter, if I remember it right. Grade - B Mathew D'Agostini - scored a great goal on a feed from Chips and worked hard all night. Quick skater with good skill and has potential to get better, maybe not ready for the pros yet, but has potential down the road. Grade - B+ Mikhail Grabovski - In one phrase he was a man among boys. Outstanding speed and skill. 2 beautiful goals and one sweet assist. He dished out a few hits and didn't mind the rough stuff as Toronto made several attempts to drill him and he just got right back up and kept going. He is clearly ready to play in the NHL without a doubt. He played center between Aubin and Kostitsyn and was by far the best player on the ice. His 2nd goal was a thing of beauty as he blew past the leaf defenceman and walked in on Pogge and deked him out of his jockstrap. I knew his was very good and he played center in Russia and he played center here, leads me to believe he can easily take Ribs spot at center on the habs. Grade - A+ Sergei Kostitsyn - Showed flashes of brilliance, playing with Grabs and showed a good deal of speed and decent vision on the ice. He is young at 19 but he definitely shows promise. I can't wait for the day we have the all Belarussian line playing on the Habs with Kosty's on the wings and Grabs in the middle, but that dream might take a while to happen. Nevertheless, Sergei played well and looks like a great prospect down the road. Grade - B Guillaume Latendresse - Well he had moments of brilliance followed by moments of pain. I think he was on the ice for most of the goals scored against us. A skillful player at times, but i heard he was slow, I never realised he was that slow. On the OT game winner by Toronto, Latendresse took off before Robbie Earl on a 2 on 2 break to backcheck and Earl blew past him in a foot race to get the game winner. On the brightside, he had some good scoring chances on the down side he couldn't finish them. For me his inconsistent effort reminded me of so many others like him that have talent and seem to pick and choose what nights they are going to play and other nights they don't show up. Reminded me of Ribs and thats not a good thing. In his defence, he is apparently coming off a concussion, so maybe that explains his soft play. I want to believe he has potential, as far as making the Habs unless something improves I would put him more than a few years away from making the habs team. Grade - B- Ben Maxwell - I did not know much about this guy before the game, but I certainly will remember him after it. He played very well. He showed good speed, great work ethic and very good vision on the ice. I was impressed, he also is a very good puckhandler and skater. At times on the power play he played at the point, he also threw some good hits. For me, it was just the fact that every time I saw him on the ice, I kept saying, boy who is that guy he looks good out there, and sure enough it was Maxwell. As far as a prospect goes, he looks good to me. Of course one game is no indication, but if he keeps this up he will be a habs one day. Grade - A Juraj Mikus - He played pretty well, he had one rush up the ice where he basically went end to end blew past a few guys dumped a few leafs along the way and looked good. He showed some quick feet and some good puckhandling skills. I did not get to see that much of him as the Chips-Latendresse-D'Agostini and Kostitsyn-Grabovski-White line were on the ice the most. Wearing 68 as maybe an homage to Jagr made him noticable. Still a few years away. Grade - B Gregory Stewart - He was another guy, I have seen very little of, but I really liked his gritty play and work ethic. He looked good out there and many times I found myself asking, who is that Stewart kid man he looks good. He had a few really good chances to score and his hard work gave him opportunites to make things happen. Looks like a prototype 3rd or 4th line NHLer and could be used in that role down the line. Grade - B+ Ryan White - Played on a line with Grabs and Kosty and played pretty well. My wife was happy because he was born in Manitoba and so is she, so she frankly thought he was great. As for me, he played well for a rookie, but honestly Grabovski was playing on such a different level, at times you didn't even see who his linemates were. He just made you look at him all the time. With that being said, White has good potential. While the NHL maybe years away from him, he shows promise to me and does alot of things well. Considering he is only 18 he has a bright future ahead of him. Grade - B Mathieu Carle - For an 18 year old defenceman he was up and down. There were times he got beat and made those rookie mistakes and other times he showed good speed and puck movement that any rushing defenceman should. He through out some hits and took a few as well. He seems raw to me, but has potential, I see a good future ahead for him. Grade - B Cameron Cepek - Another 18 year old out there, but even though he is listed as 6'1" he seemed bigger out there to me. Maybe because he threw around his body pretty well and also played some decent D at times. He again is very raw, but has potential. If he fills out some more, I think he could become a really tough defenceman down the road. Grade - B Jon Gleed - At times Gleed played tough and looked mean out there. He isn't the fastest of guys, but for a defenceman has good positional play. He definitely imposed his will on a few Leafs out there. I honestly don't know if he will ever make the NHL, he is one of those on the bubble kind of guys. Maybe good enough to be a 6th defenceman one day or maybe just cut out for a career in the minors. Still though, good heart and good work ethic can take you a long way. Grade - B+ Ryan O'Byrne - Let me just say this, he is one big guy. WOW at 6'5" and 234 pounds he is big. Not only is he big, but he drills people left and right and has very good skating skills, including strong backwards skating skills. Not afraid of the rough stuff at all. Has a good slapshot, although he mistimed a few on the PP and they looked a little bad. Needs to work on his shot control and work a little more on his defensive positional play. In my opinion for what its worth, he should be playing in Montreal this year. He needs to get an opportunity to show what he can do in the big show. He might be a little raw and he might make a few mistakes, but his size and skating skill are something we definitely need on defence on the Habs this year. Grade - A Carey Price - Let me start buy saying the NHL has put in place wider nets for this tournament. At first I was like, man the goalies look small out there, and then I found out about the wider nets thing and it made sense. The first 2 periods Price look great. Great side to side movement, and for me he was very quiet in the net and positionally looked very strong which are all good signs of a strong prospect. He made a few big saves in the first 2 periods and I think outplayed his counterpart Justin Pogge in the first 2. Now for the bad news the 3rd period. OMG, after getting a tough one scored on him that was not his fault, to me he seemed like he was starting to get shakey. Well it may have seemed at first and moments later it was like the wheels came off. The leafs just had to put the puck upstairs and it was like Price just stood there and watched them go in. I think they scored 3 goals up high on his glove side and 1 high on his blocker side. To me, it looked awful. Again though the nets were bigger so who knows maybe he wasn't that comfortable with the angles and all. Remember he is a very good positional goalie and it seems to me his style of play is very effortless and simple. It could be he has learned to play that way to compensate for a weak glove hand. I can see how people think he has potential, I can also see how Justin Pogge who was drafted lower is a better goalie than him. Honestly, it seems to me that after going so high in the draft, he does not have the mind to handle the pressure, that is what I noticed as he started letting goals in. After getting drafted so high by us many thought he would be a lock for the world jr teams and he has yet to make one, even this year it looks doubtful. For some reason at times you think he won't make this save and he does and other times you think he has got this one and he doesn't. Honestly for all the hype and all the talent and he does have talent, I don't know with that weak mind of his whether he will ever start for the Habs in the future. We better invest in a shrink, because he seems to have a fragile psyche. Grade - C There were a bunch of other players who played as invitees. None of them stood out to me at all, but they were not going to get the playing time that our drafted and signed prospects would, so I am not going to grade them, but I will mention them by name so you know who they are. forwards Pier-Olivier Mouton, Eric Neilson, Kevin Petit, Alexandre Picard-Hooper defence Frederic St. Denis, Martin Frechette, Andre Joanisse, Conrad Martin

i would like to see this deal happen for jokinen, its a major upgrade for us and we get rid of ribeiro who is not cutting it as a line2 center. plus it gives us some much needed size and skill up front. My only concern is plex, i would hate to lose him, but sometimes you have to do that to make a good deal happen. I would prefer dags in the deal, but he already was traded away from florida before and im sure they don't want him back

well i tried to make that trade in my eastside hockey manager game NA version and failed. Vancouver was unwilling to make the trade as they felt the canadiens did not have enough to offer them in return. so no jovo and bert in my world hehe

ribeiro, i dunno if he denied it. but according to the mods at canadiens.com he has already denied this story as has ryder according to their mods. What they are saying is that they are part of the montreal organisation and it is not our place to make any statements that may appear contradictory to the players or coaches in anyway, shape or form. I wonder if its not common knowledge that this story has been refuted how suddenly they are able to tell me that this story is a load of rubbish. Sounds like alot of propaganda to me. I saw a man who was running naked in the streets....PR machine.....no you didnt and if you did you might wanna see a doctor it never happened....hehe. Sounds a little like area51 to me lol

We're not in the NBA or NFL. Keep this super-hard gangster talk there, I'm not interested in Sprewell or anyone else from those leagues. It's about respect - respect for his teammates! If there's a slump, start with yourself to search the mistakes but not go out and state that your linemate isn't scoring goals. @Roo-AH! Roo-AH!: I really like the Zamboni idea ... :/) I agree bro, he disrespected his teammate and he took it to the media whether he now denies it or not. He needs to pay a price for it

i just wanna say thanks for this awesome forum at least in here we discuss both the positives and the negatives about the habs. I have always believed intelligent conversation is a good thing. Constructive criticism is a good thing and yes we need a place to talk about all of it. Unfortunately, i just got a warning on the canadiens.come forum for posting the story from le journal about ribs blaming ryder and was told it was considered flaming a player especially since both players have denied the story. Like they would say anything else. Its a sad day when we can't openly discuss in an intelligent, contructive way these topics but rather get these topics banned and get warned so sad. As you can see here in habworld we ARE discussing this topic as we all see some reasons to discuss an article posted in a major quebec newspaper. Thanks to habsworld and the intelligent posters and people in here you will always keep it real for all of us!!!!!

just beautiful, you would think the nhl might reprimand the refs for the horrible job they have been doing this year and instead here we are paying the ultimate price for their idiocy!!! well done NHL !!

a bag of chips for dags is well worth it that guy is the most selfish , useless player we have. the only redeeming quality about dags is the quote, from the movie snatch, where the dude says "do you like dags" and that makes me laugh all the time and the only thing i like about the name dags hehe