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You guys might be interested in this quote from Erik Cole from this article in the local Raleigh newspaper:

Habs fan George Stroumboulopoulos gives his reasons: http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1716

Center Ice Online is offering free viewing of live pre-season games. If you like that, you can subscribe for the regular season (I don't know how much it costs).

Link to the short article. Excerpt: It states that European club teams would have to compete (a la European football's Champions League) to earn a spot in the tournament. It would make sense that the Stanley Cup winner would earn a spot. Anyway, this is all speculative at the moment.

It has nothing to do with jumping off the bandwagon, but jumping off a bridge into a train wreck sinking faster than a monkey on a rock. Or something like that. This is a fan forum, so you have to expect that people will shower this team with hyperboles and superlatives when things are going good AND when things are going bad. For the sake of fairness, I hope you're scolding people for overreacting when things are going good, too. I've been a long time member of this forum who doesn't post very often. Why? Because it's not in my nature to spontaneously vent whatever's on my mind. I can live with all the wild comments in this forum because I understand it for what it is: people are just venting their feelings about their Habs. It's cathartic. You shouldn't read any more into it than that.

This is Flames hockey and the boys are getting sucked into it. They have to be more disciplined and play their game, not Calgary's game.

You guys are going to get a kick out of this audio clip from The Hour. I have the video clip, but unfortunately, the sound is not in sync and I'm not enough of a computer geek to fix it. Here's the setup: Strombo plays a video clip of Cole promoting Strombo's show during the Leafs-Flames game last Saturday. Cole, as per usual, makes a slight mistake (remember, they both work for the CBC, so Strombo's not going to be unkind). Edit: Oops, I overlooked the Audio/Video Files forum. The mod can move this thread into that forum if he wishes.

Ah, I think you've sniffed out the true intent of my original post. I actually was asking people to justify their hatred of the Leafs, because I just didn't get it. After reading all the replies, I get it now. I'm also surprised that nobody got upset over the tone of my original post (which was condescending). You guys have shamed me with your civility. I think I'll just go back to rarely posting and full-time lurking.

The reason why this thread is relevant in the Habs forum is because I was asking why Habs fans in particular hate the Leafs. But I understand your point--both threads are similar. If that was your intention, then it was an extremely subtle joke that perhaps only you understood. That is, I don't think ch_nl and Doktor Kosmos overreacted. But you're a West Coaster like me and we do have a strange sense of humour out here, eh? Anyways, I was just wondering, when the Leafs and Habs were in different conferences and met only twice a year, did you hate the Leafs just as much then as now? To me, if the teams had less contact back then, the fans also would have had less contact. But I'm probably just being naive.

Wow, thanks for your replies so far, everyone. I didn't realize there was a recent thread about the Leafs in the NHL forum since I rarely look in there--I'm more of a Habs fan than an NHL fan, after all. I guess my hunch about why you younger guys hate the Leafs was correct--i.e., the obnoxiousness of Leafs fans out east. Plus, I'm all too familiar with the Toronto-centric media coverage, even though I'm in Vancouver. Like I said, I'm pretty isolated from all of that stuff out here, but I can relate to it at least a little. I rarely ever hear about the Habs--it's all Canucks all the time, which is to be expected. There's also a good number of Habs haters out here, because they still remember when the Habs used to come here and kick the Canucks' butt. Plus, it seems as though half of the fans at the games were Habs fans (and this is still true), which was another irritant for Canucks fans. On top of all of this, my brother is a big-time Canucks fan and Habs hater. We've had our feuds over this and sometimes it got very personal (pretty silly when you think about it). Anyways, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm glad I don't live out east. On the downside, that means I've never seen a Habs home game and I never got to see the Habs play at the Forum. My friend, who used to live in Montreal and is a Habs fan, likes to tease me about not being a "real" Habs fan because I never lived in Montreal. I don't take it seriously, though--I just tell him that he's short and he's never going to be any taller.

That thread with the clip about Chris Nilan brought back some memories. I can't remember that big brawl in 1986, though, but I definitely remember the players on both sides. I was 20 at the time (so you do the math ). Anyways, the rivalry with the Bruins was and is a real rivalry, not like the "manufactured" rivalry with the Leafs. The reason I say that is because the Habs have played the Bruins in the playoffs continually (not continuously, for you English majors out there) for as long as I can remember. The Leafs? The last time the Habs met them in the playoffs was 1979. Plus, from Grade 10 until I was 32, the Habs and Leafs didn't even play in the same conference. So how can I possibly hate the Leafs? Yes, a Habs fan who doesn't hate the Leafs. I can understand why some of us old guys hate the Leafs, but what I don't get is why you younger guys hate them--what do you base your hatred on? Even though I was certainly old enough, I don't remember the 1979 playoffs at all, the last time the Habs played actual meaningful games against them. If I can't remember, there's no way you younglings can remember (if you were even born yet). It seems like your hatred isn't based on anything substantial. Having said that, I'm fairly isolated out here on the West Coast, so I don't get to experience the taunting with all the Leafs fans out east. I'm sure that plays a big part in it.

Here's the exact page that has the clip of the interview. I'm not sure how long it will be there, so I uploaded it to (I'm not sure how long it will be there, either ). BTW, if it weren't obvious from the interview (near the end when Koivu sees Strombo's Koivu jersey), Strombo is a Habs fan. I saw him mentioning it once on his show during the Habs vs. Canes series. And another "star" who might be a Habs fan is Nellie Furtado. If I remember correctly, she was on Vicki Gabereau's Vancouver talk show a few years ago and she mentioned that her family, even though they live in Victoria, are Habs fans. She said "Go Montreal Canadiens!" then realizing she was in Canucks country, she quickly said something like, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that." Anyways, I might have pulled all of that out of my butt. The only thing I remember for sure is that she said, "Go Montreal Canadiens!" and then had second thoughts about saying it. Not that any of this matters.

I really don't understand why he isn't better defensively, especially since he came up through New Jersey's system.

You've never seen the girlfriends and wives of NHL players before? I wonder why these fake-blonde babes can overlook the fact that most of the players are missing a few pearl ivories. Oh yeah, "fame" and $$$$$$.

Umm, he's no Leafs fan (unless I didn't get your Leafs joke, which is possible since I'm slow ). You should read his comments about Bob Cole (and Greg Millen). If anything, he's an Oilers fan, since he lives in Edmonton and works most of the Oilers games (he has some interesting comments about Mike Comrie). He's been working since the early eighties, so he was there during the Oilers' glory days. One interesting thing that he said (for you home theater geeks) is that HNIC's HD broadcasts of games in Western Canada are not true HD--they're shot in standard definition 16x9 and upconverted to 1080i. The CBC has only one HD truck and guess which city it's usually at? People watching the Leafs in HD on HNIC are seeing true HD. Of note to Habs fans, he worked the outdoor heritage game at Commonwealth Stadium. He just posted recently in that thread. Ask away in that thread if you have any questions.

Here's the thread at RedFlagDeals: Ask me anything about Hockey Night in Canada....... Almost all of the posts were made earlier this year, so if you guys ask any questions in that thread, I'm not sure if he'll notice. It's a great read, anyhow. Some cool info about HNIC and TV telecasts in general.

Don't forget the Czech Republic (a nod to Tommy). To tell you the truth, I'm more relieved than happy. Carolina was only in this game because the Habs let them into the game. They almost blew it. But it feels good being up 2-0.

I wonder if they will have anything left in the tank to beat the Pens after an emotional series vs. the Leafs, plus it will be their third game in 4 days, or fifth game in 7 days (going back to Monday's game vs. the Caps). It's like they're playing in the Olympics or something .

I don't post here often, but I've been lurking in this forum for a lot longer than some of the regulars (I say that with pride, of course ), and I just had to say this: Wow, that was one hell of a post . That's the stuff we need to hear, i.e., first-hand experience of what the players are like and what goes on behind the scenes. I hope you post more of this in the future--and believe me, the more details, the better! I'm also in Vancouver so I'll have to catch your show.

Ron Mclean would be proud It's better to vent our frustration here rather than taking it out on the wife, girlfriend, dog, cat, inflatable doll, whatever. I would say that they played like women, but that would be insulting to the Canadian women's hockey team.

From the Nov. 22, 2005, edition of The Hockey News, in the "Snapshots" column: If the Montreal Canadiens need any material to post on the bulletin board for motivation, they may want to print J-P Dumont's Nov. 8 entry on the Buffalo Sabre's blog. After suffering back-to-back losses to the Habs, Dumont writes of the upcoming Nov. 25 rematch: "It's going to be payback time, not just to win, but to destroy the Canadiens. We have the talent and the players to do nothing less."

I tried posting some Gazette articles a few months ago, but got friendly reminders from the admin and some regulars about copyright and all (not complaining, btw, I was bad ). You should check if your public or school library has subscriptions to online newspaper databases. For instance, Canadian Newsstand has Gazette articles from 2 days ago and going back to 1985; PressDisplay has Gazette articles from today and for the past two months. I login to my public library's website from home and check the PressDisplay database whenever I want to read a subscribers-only Gazette article. You can also sign up for a free 7-day trial of PressDisplay. It's quick and easy to sign up--just an email address and your name, no credit card required. You can view up to 7 newspapers and back issues for up to 3 days. Go to http://www.pressdisplay.com and click "Sign in" on the upper-right corner.

Actually, I like McGuire better now than when he did the Habs radio broadcasts on CJAD. Back then, I thought he was a little too much of a homer. Then again, all local broadcasters are probably like that.

Hmm, it's funny that I never looked at it that way before. That only makes sense, though, if he isn't stuck on the fourth line. If that were the case, he's better off in junior where he will get more minutes and play on the top line.

Here's a picture that I entitle, "Youppi, the lucky bastard" (if he's a he):