Colin

Don't you guys mean Dive Portugal Dive?

I think it suits them. Smallish, kind, cuddly.

Metcalfe. Ontario. Which was amalgamated by Ottawa. But then, I was born, was raised, and have spent my whole life in Ottawa. Mostly the west end, Nepean. I remember back in 91 when they were awarding the expansion franchises how I felt when Ottawa's name was called out. I recall exactly how I felt actually. I can picture everything in the room. I felt complete and total... ...indifference. My reaction? "Another team for Montreal to beat." When I was a youngster, dad used to let me stay up for the first period of hockey games. I was very pleased to watch these red, white and blue... er, scratch that... bleu, blanc, et rouge players constantly winning. Especially against the blue and white buffoons who were an embarrassment to watch (coincidentally my father's favourite team). Somewhere along the line I remember watching a game at a neighbour's house with my family and theirs. Habs - Buds. Final score? 10-3 Montreal. As the sole Montreal fan in the house, I mocked the Leaf fans ruthlessly all night. Well, as ruthlessly as you can get when yer a youngster. I was actually born during the finals in 1971. The doctor and my father kept praying that my mom could hold out until the end of the game. Fortunately for all involved, Colin popped out after the game leaving both dad and doc pleased as punch for being able to watch the game in its entirety. Sadly, the Habs lost the game 2-1 to the Blackhawks. http://chicagoblackhawks.com/photos/1971_gm1.jpg For all you older fans, hope you enjoy a little nostalgia looking over that "official" game sheet. Here's the rest of the series for those interested in a trip down memory/history lane: http://chicagoblackhawks.com/history/1971S...Scoresheets.asp And here's a little story about how we almost didn't win that Cup. Down 2-0, the crossbar saved us from falling way behind. Then a little magic started to happen. http://proicehockey.about.com/library/blqu...ckhawks1971.htm Two folks named Lemaire and Henri Richard took over - along with the help of the travelling Ghosts - and brought the Cup back to Montreal. It was only the second time in league history that the visiting team had won game 7 of the Cup finals. (Those uggy blue and white fellas did it in '45.) I guess you could say I was fated to be a Habs (or Hawks, but really... REALLY, who'd bother???) fan from the very beginning.

Based on production and comparitive players, estimtes I've heard will have his arbitrator awarding something like $5-5.5M. No matter what the decision is, though, Lamoriello is in huge trouble. He's not got his head wrapped around the new CBA at all. As for a Montreal link, I would doubt it. I don't think the Devs and Habs are truly compatible trading partners as of this point. I'd be far more curious to see what happens now that Legwand is signed, since he had several rumours regarding Montreal surrounding him.

Okay, it's not just me that YIM has crapped out on. Anyone know what's wrong with the service? And as for Alberta? Too much damn winter. I live in Ottawa and we have too much. If I had to deal with snow in May and June? Even rarely? Shoot me.

I wonder if Snow's business suit will have a giant cardboard box in the back of it like his uniform did.

Koz, all I can say is this: do you need a bib while at Ribby's knees? 1st line? *snorts* Have you actually WATCHED HIM PLAY FOR CRISSAKES?

And one of the most classless punters in the game returns. Joy and bliss. The folks at RDS must be whooping it up since The Franchise is back. Disappointing move by Gainey, though it's also an understandable hockey move. I would have hoped the GM would see not signing him as addition by subtraction, however he obviously feels that King Ribby can serve a useful purpose on the ice that cannot be otherwise filled at this point in time. This unfortunately slows Gainey's quiet purge of all the classless elements in Montreal. A downer for fans who are sick of the three-ring circus.

Peca would make a very solid 2nd line centre. He may not be big, but he's another who plays huge and he adds an offensive dimension which is more than decent. Furthermore, he's a natural leader and would bring more accountability to the dressing room. Finally, he'd never in a million years put up with Ribeiro's schtick and would probably mount the little dork's head on a pike outside the Bell Centre as a warning to anyone about being an ass in Montreal.

The paper in France (?) that ran the story on Ribs talking about Koivu's leadership stands by its story (though so long after the incident, I don't have the link anymore). However they were contacted by the Canadiens and (I believe) the NHLPA as well as Ribs' agent in order to supress the story. It was not a scrum along the boards where Ribs hit Koivu, it was in the slot area, and Ribs high-sticked his captain during a very difficult time during the season. And Ryder was completely miffed when Ribs indicated that his passes weren't being finished properly. After regrouping the next day (and probably having a talk with Ribs and the management) Ryder came back the next day to spin it all in a slightly more positive fashion. Ribsy is one of the last classless louts in Montreal, and it might actually be interesting to watch them if he gets dealt. It's been rather fun to watch Gainey slowly get rid of all the classless elements associated with the team, actually. More fun than watching them play.

The HABSWORLD.net EHM League needs a couple of new GM's. We're looking for two enthusiastic and determined GM's to pry the Cup from Ottawa's hands! While previous EHM experience is certainly helpful, a new member with enough time and determination can take the league by storm. If you are a rookie, we'll find a 'mentor' GM or two to teach you the ropes and get you on the right path to victory and the planning of your Cup parade. There are two sims (league-wide updates, for those unfamiliar) each real-time week, and each of those sims covers one week in sim time. Most active GM's in the league are available and working on the game for three or four hours per week, but not all at once. Right now we have two teams available including the superb Chicago Black Hawks who were built into a contender and the New Jersey Devils who, despite being a perennial playoff team, have never had the solid leadership they deserve. Important Links: HWL Application Save File

Politics + Sports. And therein lies the reason that I don't care about pro sport anymore. That and the million dollar whiney athletes who drug up and complain they don't have enough. As for booing the anthems at games? I don't like it, but everyone has an opinion. Sure, it'd be great if people were all literate and mature enough to write to their MP or congressman when they had an issue, but instead the uneducated boo. Which, incidentally, is why the human race is becoming stagnant. Sure, we're technologically moving ahead, but we're human doers, not human beings. Very few know how to "be" anymore. Tangent. And Fanpuck, I don't know your politics, but I do know yer an intelligent person who can surely suss out why people would boo the US. Instead of being angry about it, you might as well just live with it and be pleased that the US fought hard to allow people to boo. (And try and ignore the US politics of today where you have the wiretaps and you can be removed from a group near the president if they don't like you, and all the other freedom things that the Bush administration has taken away. Hypocritical dopes.) Tangent again. And if you *really* want to get to the rotting underbelly of the habs fans, Fanpuck, come live close to Quebec, or in it, and start dealing with the political garbage surrounding the French-English thing. You'll go home and giggle at the nonsense boos after having to deal with that crap. Why I can barely stand hockey anymore.

Officially, it's tampering. Unofficially, Carbo is visiting his daughter and Morrow, probably, while Gainey is catching up with some of the many friends he has in the Dallas organization and the area. If they happen to come across Arnott and have a beer with him? Well, Bob's yer uncle.

Fascinating. Higgins, in his first year, plays better and better and better all year long, and he's summarily dismissed as having any hope of being a 1st line winger. I have no idea if he will or not, but the utter lack of respect he's been shown in this thread tells me that I won't be coming to you for financial planning! lol

Arnott signs July 1st.

While it's not what I'd call a "nothing" surgery, it's not a major thing. I've had that kind of "surgery" on my eye as well, and my vision is just fine. As long as you get it soon before it gets worse and worse, which they have done, the prognosis is very good. Basically, he lay very still on a table while the doctor directed a laser at the retina in his eye to burn the retina back into place. He's have miniscule blind spots that he won't notice and probably didn't suffer more than the mildest pain during the surgery. I had cryosurgery on my eye - for places on the retina that the laser can't get to - and that's far more painful apparently.

Arnott. ...with Kovy.

Condolences.

I think they half backed in and I'm an Anglophone. It came down to crunch time where they needed one frikking point at the end of the season and they turned in two pretty poor performances. It was quite obvious to me that this team decided some time back that it made the playoffs. Not so true, obviously. Sure, they had that streak of wins to put them in the drivers seat, however good teams don't just get into good positions, they close doors - they have killer instincts. Montreal got into position, then failed utterly to put in a performance worthy of closing the door. They didn't completely back in, but they didn't drive through. Kinda of a sideways sidle through the door while looking both ways hoping not to hit anyone in the doorway. They've come a long way since the coaching change, but there are still some very bad habits out there as well as some poor attitudes that haven't come around yet. Unfortunately, the next mistake isn't likely to come from the players, but from the coach. I'm assuming Aebischer is going to get the start in net despite the fact that Huet has been stellar with us, and I'm just not convinced that's the way we should go.

Oh BOO! Frikkin Arsenal led by Wenger. Barf-o-rama. Go Villareal - hammer the Gunners! I love how Wenger says he wants Arsenal to be like Liverpool. *snorts* In their dreams.

When they first took over the games, I was ecstatic. Every game all year long? Brilliance. However, since the beginning the language/ethnicity issue has grown. Pedneault used to be very much less the bigot that he is now. Go back and listen to some of the game tapes if you have any old ones recorded and you'll see what I mean. As for turning down the sound and ignoring the ridiculous commentary? Honestly, it's gone beyond that for me now. There are a few factors which have soured me on the game, but the language issue is, quite frankly, the worst. Now, I'm not going to throw a blanket on habs fans and say that it's everyone, because of course it's not. I'm not even going to suggest that most fans are the problem, because I don't actually have any clue on the numbers. Even if it's a small minority, the fact that Montreal boasts such a massive following means that the minority is still a huge number of people. And when you consider that those who feel they are oppressed are always the loudest in speaking against said oppression... well you get the picture. I no longer get a thrill seeing the jersey, I no longer am pleased to see a game, in fact tonight I didn't even realize they played Buffalo until I was at a bar and happened to glance at the television, such is the depths to which my interest has dipped. It doesn't matter what you say or where you say it when it comes to the Canadiens, language/ethnicity will *always* come into play, and that's just tiring. I'm so sick to death of politics and other crap being fed into sporting events. I stopped watching baseball and football a long, long time ago because of it, and hockey is just the last straggler I pay any attention to because I was so involved in the game. Worse yet, I can't even step away and become just a fan of the game because the game has lost all its lustre. Look at games in the late 80's and just try to compare them to today's bore-fests. Now, add in all the greed, the fact that it costs exorbidant amounts to go to a game, and the fact that all respect is gone, and I could barely care less if they Habs make the playoffs or not. And sadly, it all boils down to the poor trodden upon French folk who feel they need to be equal - and in the process they ignore the fact that they go so far the other way it's painful. Again, I'm not trying to paint all the French that way, because it's assuredly not so - I love the Quebecois culture and people - just not the supidity that comes when the Habs are involved. And it's not just the wobegone French fans that piss me off, it's also the absolutely assinine English speaking fans who go completely the other way and disrespect the French. No, hockey isn't a sport anymore: least of all in Montreal. It's all about politiking and I can't stand it anymore. That Gainey & Co. aren't letting themselves be influenced nearly as much as previous regimes is great, but don't kid yerselves, that issue crops up into every aspect of every decision they make. Already there are arguments about Carbo's assistants and the fact that they should all be French, or none should be French, or he should choose one of each, or, or, or. How about just the best person for the job? How about just the best players on the ice? How about NOT praising Ribeiro for what he just isn't capable of being. I'm sick to death of it all. As to that last bit, I guess you could say that, for me, Ribeiro is that lightening rod that has ruined it all. As a hockey player he's decent enough. I could sit here and objectively analyze what he does and come up with the fact that he's a good enough player when he puts in the effort to make the Habs a better team if he's used properly. But the fact that Pedneault & Co. have deified him and have placed him on a pedestal and marked him as the French Hero... well therein lies the heart of the issue. If yer gonna have a hero, at least he has to be an actual hero, not a passably good player with a piss-poor attitude and a work ethic somewhat lower than a sloth.

To be more precise, if they need a whipping boy, it's a non-French person they point to. I can't watch the bullcrap broadcasts anymore because they look for any tiny little thing that Koivu does wrong and point it out, yet when Their Deity makes even the simplest play, they're praising him as the Next Coming. It's not just limited to the broadcasts either, if you go to the website they take every opportunity to praise Ribeiro and put down Koivu that is available. Sometimes it's very subtle, but the bigotry on RDS is becoming more and more apparent as each day passes. It's pretty sad too because there was a time when Pedneault could have been considered one of the most intelligent hockey men around. Now that he lets bigotry enter his commentary, though, it's become a joke. Now, perhaps my commentary is harsh, but it's time to call a spade a spade, or in this case, a group of bigots a group of bigots. Consider that, during Koivu's slump, they took every opportunity to comment about how the captain wasn't scoring and how he wasn't pulling his weight. Contrast that with the slumps Ribsy has endured where they either praise him for the small things he does right, or just don't comment on the things he does in order to minimalize the criticism they have to put on their hero. It's farcial. Ryder, despite being the leading scorer on the team, gets absolutely no respect from the RDS crew, to the point that they even marginalize his goals indicating that any two-bit hack could have scored in that position. The only player, right now, who has managed to avoid any significant criticism is Higgins, and that's because he's either too new to the scene, or he hasn't challenged the place on the team of a French player. Once that happens, you can be pretty much guaranteed that the gloves will be off on RDS and everything he doesn't do perfectly will be exposed and highlighted by Bigotry Is Us (RDS). And don't even get me started on Demers - a man I used to admire. He's well on his path to the Bergeron depths of bigotry and a place on 110% in my opinion. The only impartial commentator on the entire broadcast, in fact, is the other fellow (whose name escapes me at the moment) who used to give les plus cordiales des bienvenues to the viewing spectator for the last five years until someone told him that was getting old. Demers, guaranteed, is going to be bemoaning the trade of Theodore for the next year because he's such a solid goalie and because - and he won't hide it either - he's French, and the Canadiens need a superstar French presence. I hate to boil down negative commentary to pathetic bigotry, but if you pay attention to the trends and have watched RDS for the last pile of years like I have, it's quite evident that the French issue is huge. It's a shame, it has no place in hockey, and it's the number one reason I barely watch games anymore and, in fact, have lost most of my interest in the game of hockey.

That's kinda funny. Democratic? Republic, for starters. Democratic in spirit? Well, they can declare zones where free speech is not allowed, they wire tap whomever they please, they break democratically set laws to go to war when it's illegal. Guantanamo Bay? Abe Graive (sp?)? It's a fear society that's now controlled by the government. Democracy? There's little of that left south of the border. Everything that they supposedly hold dear and are apparently trying to defend around the world is quickly going up in smoke in their own home. Quite simply, Bush and his cronies are dangerously close to that which they purport to hate.

Baseball? The sport where fat guys can actually get employment standing around at first base or tossing balls at a guy with a stick? They still play this game? Seriously everyone, get outside. ENJOY the summer. *snickers* ...baseball... lol

While Huet didn't have as many opportunities to shine last game, it should be noted that "Tiny Tim" made the better saves. This, along with the S-word utterance and the God reference in the last thread will equate to a dismal night. Massive loss where Huet, Koiu, Kovalev, and Markov all get season-ending injuries.