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Just a question - does SRC still show Saturday night games, or does RDS now have exclusive rights? Zap2it is telling me that the game is not on SRC tomorrow...
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I'd go with Souray. From what I understand he's quite the man about town and he probably knows where to go hunt up some good looking ladies.
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I just wanted to add one more thing about the Leafs being overhyped by the media.
Leafs fans and the media in general won't shut the hell up about the 1967 Leafs. Yes, I know, that was the year of Expo and the last year of the original six, and that team was interesting because they were all 100 years old. But what annoy me is that the Habs team they beat in the finals won the cup in 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969. They came VERY close to winning the cup five years in a row. That Beliveau/Richard/Rousseau/Backstrom/Tremblay/Laperriere/Duff/Cournoyer/Worlsey/etc. team should be remembered as one of the best of all time, yet it is largely forgotten because of all the attention bestowed on the bloody '67 Leafs. It really makes me upset.
Not a big fan of Toronto in general. It has to do with family being from Cleveland. Lake Eerie is disgustingly dirty. So that makes Toronto just a town by a dirty lake.Not to split hairs, but Toronto is on Lake Ontario, not Lake Erie.
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Overall, I have nothing against the team. I honestly don't think there has been a Leafs-Habs rivalry since the 1960s. The late 1970s certainly do not count: we played 8 playoff games, and guess who won all all eight? Those Sittler-MacDonald-Palmateer teams never had a chance. That's not a rivalry, that's a one-sided ass-kicking. But I digress... since there hasn't been a rivalry for so long, I can't really say I hate the team. I dislike the Bruins and even a team like the Hurricanes much much more based on recently history.
That being said, "Leafs Nation" annoys me, in two ways:
1) Media hype: players like McCabe, Tucker, Domi etc. are completely overrated by the TO-centred media. I get sick of hearing how very average D-men like McCabe should win the Norris Trophy, about how Domi could score 25 goals if he got 15 minutes of ice time, about how Raycroft and Aubin are the most underrated goalie combo in the league... yawn. We hear so much rubbish about the Leafs in the media that it's impossible not to get annoyed.
2) Many Leafs fans are completely insufferable. Not all of them - some of my best friends are Leafs fans, and one will even throw a temper tantrum if you mention the name "Tom Kurvers" to him, which is hilarious - but a very vocal minority. They buy into the media hype and constantly tell you how awesome their team is. And they have a HUGE problem with the Habs and our history. They simply cannot accept that the Montreal Canadiens are the most succesful team in NHL history, and they try to dismiss that. I was at a party once in Toronto, and I met this one really obnoxious Leafs fan... once he found out I was a Habs fan, he wouldn't leave me alone. "You know you only won all those cups because you got all the French players, right?" (Universal entry draft began in 1967. Cups since then: Leafs 0; Habs 10) "You probably think Ken Dryden is a better goalie than Mike Palmateer!" (find me one person outside of Toronto who thinks Palmateer was better, and I'll be happy). "You probably think Jacques Plante is the best goalie ever. No, you probably think Patrick Roy was the greatest goalie ever!" (Who's better, Johnny Bower?) This went on all night. And I'm sure all of you know a Leafs fan like that, too.
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Any word on who the Flyers are playing in net? Niitymaki played last night, so I'm assuming we'll get Rebound Machine Esche. Does anybody know for sure?
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Well I'm not saying it's better or worse, people are just dismissing the hatred of the Calgary/Edmonton rivalry. Different reasons for fueling the rivalry but I'd be willing to bet my life Calgary and Edmonton hate each other just as much as Montreal/Quebec City.
I'm not dismissing the Battle of Alberta at all, nor underestimating the mutual emnity between those two cities. For what it's worth, I think Flames-Oilers is the best rivalry in hockey today, by a long shot.
But Habs-Nords went way beyond people from two cities mutually detesting each other. Which is why it gets my vote.
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I give up.
I guess people won't understand it until they actually live in the two cities. Maybe BRob or kerp can help me out here.
I'm not denying that Flames-Oilers is an awesome rivalry, but it doesn't touch Habs-Nordiques, which, though short, is the most intense rivalry in the history of North American pro sports. Here is why:
There is the same civic rivalry as Edmonton and Calgary. I'm not downplaying the Edmonton-Calgary hatred - I was born and raised in Yellowknife and therefore quite aware about how deeply those two cities hate each other - but you have the same thing in Quebec. Montreal and Quebec City do not get along, and have not since the 1600s.
But there are two HUGE reasons that Habs-Nords beats the Battle of Alberta:
1) During the 1980s, an extremely tumultuous time in Quebec history, the two teams came to represent different political visions of Quebec. I don't want to get into this, but somewhere along the way the Nordiques came to be associated with nationalism/separatism, while the Habs were pgeon-holed as the team of federalism and of the anglos. Obviously it's more complex than that, but that's more or less the key dynamic.
2) Molson owned the Canadiens and O'Keefe owned the Nordiques, and there was a bitter economic battle between the two breweries that mirrored the rivalry on the ice, especially with regards to Canadian TV rights.
Calgary-Edmonton can't even hope to touch those two things.
This may be an opportune time to float this out there...
I know about the Habs-Nords rivalry because I'm writing my PhD about it. No, seriously. If anybody knows of any books, articles and anything else relating to the rivalry, PLEASE contact me. Anecdontes too. Anecdotes are good. Send me a message through this board if you have anything to contribute.
Thanks.
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My guess is that Huet might have strained something during the buffalo game an the team is just doing this to be safe
I do think we should trade one of them during the year. Way too costly for a backup
I agree, markierung. I think Huet definitely pulled something in that shootout.
Though I'm not sure Gainey is looking to deal one othef them. With the exception of the truly elite guys like Kiprusoff, Luongo and Brodeur, it doesn't look like many goalies are going to get 65 or more this year. Lots of teams seem content to have two #1 goalies and my hunch is that the Habs are one of them.
Hey wats up guys!! Catclaw awesome game thread.One thing I don't really understand how come Aebischer's GAA is 1.88 when he only played 1 game and had 2 GA...so shouldnt it be a 2.00 GAA?
And NHL.com has him at 1.85
Can someone clear this up?
And also Huet has a 3.69 GAA when letting in 4 GA... :?-
For GAA purposes, one game is defined as 60 minutes. Since both games went into OT, both of our goalies have strange looking GAAs.
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Nice post, Colin.
Yes, of course TSN is biased towards the Leafs. It's a simple question of numbers: since Southern Ontario is easily Canada's biggest media market, and 98% of them are Leafs fans, TSN is obviously going to carry a pro-Toronto bias. I lived in England last year, and there the same biases there, but towards London. If you spend any time in Greece, you'll start wondering if there are any soccer/basketball teams that come from outside of Athens. I'm sure it's the same in every other country (e.g. "East Coast bias in the USA) and it's not going to change any time soon.
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Two words: Gilbert Brule
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I also wonder about the timing. They sign Lats (french canadian hero) and then get rid or Ribs (previous French Canadian hero). I never thought Gainey really cared about that stuff, but I now suspect that even Gainey is not up for a fight with the French media. Imagine if he sent Lats down and traded Ribs... yikes.
It's one thing for BG to not care about the ethnic composition of the team, and quite another for him to understand that other people do. That Ribeiro was traded after Latendresse signed for the year is no coincidence, IMO.
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Avery is walking on thin ice. I wouldn't be surprised if the Kings let him go this summer. He's got personality problems that is creating a major distraction to anything relating to the kings. He's a joke.
He was one of the players that was supposedly instrumental in getting Andy Murray fired. He's developing quite the reputation as a cancer.
The guy obviously has huge psychological problems... I mean, he doesn't just flip out, he goes off the deep end. "You're the reason the league doesn't have a national television deal"... I mean, who says things like that?
I'm almost 100% sure he'll end up playing for the Leafs in the next two or three years. It's pretty much inevitable.
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http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=161766&hubname=
Avery confronts Brian Hayward, says that he was a "terrible player." Hayward responds "how would you know? When I played, you were in your third year of eighth grade."
Hayward is suddenly my favourite NHL media personality.
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two things montreal as always had:
1- good goalies
2- great goalie coaches
I don't know may teams that can brag that they have 5 decent goalies in their system
huet
aebi
halak
danis
price
the job of the goalies coach is to make good goalies better. Melanson has done that perfectly so far.
how many coahces changes as he survived ??
huge thank you'rollie
We might even have 6 quality keepers in the system: anyone know how Chris Heino-Lindbergh is doing in Sweden?
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I was thinking that perhaps he doesn't trust his current linemates. I can't remember him ever playing with Ribeiro in the past, and he certainly has never played with Murray.
Either way, I'm in total agreement - he needs to smarten up and share the puck.
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option, interesting point as to Ribeiro's pt distribution. I would look at it a different way (and I do not know the answer) - How many of Ribeiro's come when the team is within 2 goals of the opposition? Now I imagine, due to the nature of hockey and particularly the recent history of the canadiens, almost all of everybody's points come in that scenario.
If Ribs' goals are coming in blowouts, then the win ratio point distribution argument loses merit.
Your wish is my command! (plus, I'm really bored - I have literally nothing to do today)
Ribeiro has 15 goals this year:
1 has come in the 1st period, with a tied score
1 has come in the 1st P, with the team +1
1 has come in the 2P, with a tied score
2 have come in the 2P, with the team -1.
2 have come in the 2P, with the team -2.
1 has come in the 3P, with a tied score.
2 have come in the 3P, with the team -1.
1 has come in the 3P, with the +1.
2 have come in the 3P, with the team -2.
1 has come in OT.
1 has come with the team +/- more than 2.
(7 of Ribs goals have come in the 3rd period or OT. Interesting.)
Ribs has 33 assists this year:
7 have come in the 1st period, with a tied score
5 have come in P1, with the team -1.
1 has come in P1, with the team -2.
1 has come in P2, with a tied score.
4 have come in P2, with the team -1.
1 has come in P2, with the team +1.
1 has come in P2,with the team +2.
3 have come in P2, with the team -2.
1 has come in P3, with a tied score.
4 have come in P3, with the team -1.
1 has come in P3, with the team +2.
1 has come in OT.
3 have come with the team +/- more than 2.
Looks like Ribs tends to get his assists early, and tends to score goals later in the game. He also seems to step up when the team is behind by 1 or two goals: he has 8 G and 17 A when the team is in situations like that.
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Well, Koivu had a major slump this year, by far the worst of his career. Until that slump, he was producing at about a point per game ratio (-/+ a point or 2), and was actually more productive that many start centers including Sundin, Richards, Modano, Sakic, and Lecavalier. Since he came out of slump, he's been producing at more than a point per game ratio, and is making Higgins look very good, and revived Ryder. Considering that it was an exceptional slump, as Koivu may never have had the wingers to be overly productive, but he was always playing very well and with great consistency, I'm willing to forgive him.
Ribeiro however has never, ever, proven to me that he can be reliable, and he has never shown a single once of consistency. He's constantly going through ups and ups, and pretty much always for the same reasons. Although he will give you the occasional great game, like he did last night, you just cannot count on him when it matters the most. This to me would be unacceptable for one of my top 6 forwards; you have to be able to count on your top players. In a crucial moment, I know I can send Koivu out there, not Ribeiro. I'd rather send a forth-line marginal player like Begin or Murray, or even a rookie like Plekanec or Higgins before I send Ribeiro.
Yes Ribeiro has a decent point production (although he's often been getting more ice-time than Koivu since he was paired with Kovalev, especially on the powerplay), but 3/4 of that is made up of garbage points that mean very little. Ribeiro's points are like saturated fat and empty calories: they look good now, but they'll hurt you eventually.
I'm just wondering what you mean when you say about Ribeiro's points that "3/4 of that is made up of garbage points that mean very little". 9 of his 15 goals and 17 of his 33 assists have come in Habs wins; that suggests that Ribeiro producing in fact means a lot to this team. Don't get me wrong - Ribeiro often frustrates me as much as the next guy - but it's completely unfair to say that his his production means "very little."
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Well, I think the irony in all this is that during that infamous 3-0 Sens where all those comments were said, it was us who were short on defense. We had only dressed 5 that game, one of them being Coté who had been called up from Hamilton that very day. Markov was serving his suspension for "shoving" a linesmen after the BS call against the Laffs in OT, and I'm not sure who else was injured but...... the sens didn't seem to mind that we were missing our guys with their comments after that game, but now all of a sudden it matters when it's them who are short handed. By no means am I comparing our d corps to theirs, but truth is the situations were very similar.
I'd like to call this poetic justice!
You're confusing games. That 3-0 game against the Sens was in January, while Markov was suspended in November for the incident with the ref. Markov was indeed injured for the Sens game in January, but other than that we had our full compliment of defensemen.
We did play Ottawa after Markov was suspended, and that game wasn't any better. 4-0 loss. We were missing Markov, Souray and Komisarek. Rivet, Dandeneault and Bouillon all played close to 30 minutes.
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I predicted about a month ago that one of the two Canadian teams (Edmonton or Vancouver) and one of the two Californian teams (San Jose or LA) would take the last two sports in the West. Looks like that's what'll happen.
Sorry to any closet Kings fans out there, but LA is a complete joke. Last night they lost 5-0 at home to San Jose. They were outshot in 34-14. They are a disgrace to the NHL. I understand that sometimes a coach burns out a team and the team stops listening... but what kind of team quits on a coach when they're supposedly battling for their playoff lives? And make no mistake, the Kings QUIT on Andy Murray. That team has no spine... not really surprising if you consider that Sean Avery is considered one of their "emotional leaders".
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Isn't Thomas nearly 30? Streit is like 27 or so and he isn't classified as a rookie.
Thomas is actually 31 going on 32. I wasn't sure if there was an age limit or not - looks like there is!
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Dion Phaneuf is without a doubt too good to be on this list. He will almost definitely be Ovechkin's runner up. Crosby should finish third, I think. Svatos might have a chance to be up there had he not gotten injured. Meszaros has done great. He has the highest +/- on the team but that's because Ottawa leads the league in GF and GA hence their players dominate the +/- category. Mike Richards has done well too. I don't think Tim Thomas is a rookie to whoever said he was. I believe he's in the same boat as Huet (floated around as a back-up for many years until finally stealing the show this season).
By the way, why not throw Crosby's name on the list? It's not like he'd get any votes...
I think Lundqvist should be second in the Calder race. He's been the best goalie in the NHL this year, IMO.
Tim Thomas played a grand total of 4 NHL games prior to this year. He's definitely still a rookie, unless there's a age limit or something.
Also, Meszaros leads the entire league in +/-, which is really, really impressive.
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D'Agostini put up some nice numbers in Guelph too. Anyone know how Mikus did this year?
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I personally think Perezhogin is a future 35 goal scorer. I was absolutely livid when he was taken off the Koivu/Kovalev at the beginning of the year, he was MTL's best skater through the first eight games IMO. I think he only got 3 or 4 games on the 2nd line before being demoted again to about 5-7 minutes a game... totally destroyed the kid's confidence. Obviously, Perez has to learn not to overcome obstacles like that, but why mess with a good thing? That Koivu/Kovalev/Perezhogin line was killer to start the year.
I have a feeling we'll see Perezhogin break out in a big way next year.
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It wasn't, but that might have been his worst mistake. However, at the end of last season, we were stuck with a highly over-priced Brisebois, as well as Traverse and Dykhuis both playing with guaranteed NHL contracts with the Bulldogs. That was over 6 millions of mismanaged money that could have been used for so much more. That's not even mentionning Juneau, Sundstrom, Dackell, and a few other overpaid guys that gave us very little in return.
Negociating contracts just wasn't Savard's strength... not that Gainey has done that much better with Bonk, Sundstrom (again), Dandeneault (1.5M for this guy!), Theodore, Zednik, Kovalev (that's one long hefty contract for a guy that only shows once in a while), and maybe to some extent Koivu (although we have absolutely no one to replace him, and I doubt he would have gotten less on the open market anyway).
But again, as a talent scout: Bravissimo!!
Trading Asham for Czerkawski wasn't his greatest moment, either. But we're really splitting hairs here, aren't we? We're lucky to have the likes of Savard, Timmons and Gauthier in the front office. All three of those guys could be GMs elsewhere.
Here's something interesting I just noticed while looking over Roy's career stats. While his playoff performances were ridiculously strong, his worst two regular seasons (statistically speaking), were 1986 and 1993. In '86, his GAA was 3.35 and his save percentage was .875. In '93, his GAA was 3.2 and his % was .894.Not overly surprising, all things considered. Patrick is known for his pride/ego, so it would make sense that his two worst regular seasons would be followed up by absolute blinders in the playoffs. Also, it's not surprising that he was so good in the 1996 playoffs considering what happened earlier that year in Montreal.
Game Thread | Ottawa Vs. Montreal | 10/14/06
in Habs & Hockey Talk
Posted
Thanks habs_in_the_blood. I didn't live in Canada last year, so I'm pretty clueless about the state of the Habs TV situation. Since HNIC will be showing Leafs/Flames here, looks like I'll be listening to CJAD or CKAC online.