Quebecois

Well we lost 2-1, but i think it was a pretty good effort. Outshot them 37-17, should have been a Habs victory tonight, but stuff like this happens. We just need to rebound tomorrow night at the Bell Centre.

I dont think we need a whole lot of a run game. Just something that will prevent the defense from cheating too much. Calvillo has struggled in the past, but he did get us to the Grey Cup last year, and was named MVP (although he didnt do a whole lot.) The Argos are banged up, but i'm not going to take them too lightly considering the game 3 weeks ago.

Can't wait for this game. The Als got whipped by the Argos in their last matchup, but this time it counts. This is the first meaningful game we've had in ages! that's the biggest problem with the CFL, too high percentage of teams making the playoffs. Als rebounded nicely with a meaningless game against Ottawa that seemed to get their confidence back. I think it was important to go into the playoffs with a W. Hopefully we make our second straight Grey Cup appearence and trounce the Boatmen.

I like the top line. As you said, Ryder will bring more energy and enthousiasm than Hossa. I think the second line could work if Marcel can feed Perreault and Audette. Audette should at least be demoted from the second line if he doesn't pick it up soon. It's nice to have Chad back in the lineup. Just gives us another guy who can hit.

The all-star game hates Markov. He wasnt even invited to the youngstars game last year "because he didnt deserve it"

I think it's too early to make any rash decisions. We knew we would have a slump like this eventually, let's see how the team handles it and give this thing a couple more games at least before flipping out. A win on thursday and everyone will be content for the time being, we need to stop jumping the gun on things and be patient, and that is exactly what Gainey is going to do.

lol i think your right. Going by Murray's reaction, he had suffered an Audette-like tragedy. BTW, I'm getting real close to getting Bell Express Vu (i know ive been saying that for over a year now.) I can't wait till i can stop listening to surfernet for 70% of the games.

Habs win, but it sounds like we played Michel Therrien-esque hockey, got dominated in the third while sitting on the lead. A win is a win, bit concerned about Souray, looks like he might have hurt his bad wrist towards the end of the game, just gotta hope it's nothing big.

Actually, unless im mistaken we started 4-0-1 in the 2001-2002 season. Yeah it is a great start and its hard not to get excited about it, but that's all it is, a start, so we need to keep it going.

no toronto station as far as i know.

WOOHOO! Great couple periods for the Habs! Let's keep it up!

And which bad goals would this be? the double deflection? or how about the point blank one timer on the 2 on 1? Please, don't blame Theo for the team's bad defense, it just isnt fair.

Well not a great night for the Habs so far. Ryder is playing great in my opinion, im dying to see him on a scoring line. Bulis also has been solid. Can't blame Theo much, Habs arent giving him an opportunity to make the saves, too many giveaways and bad defensive coverage, the first PK was pathetic.

I guess what i was getting at is with Kilger on the 4th line, it gives us a balanced lineup, and i would feel like all of the lines are somwhat balanced and could provide a big spark at any time (except the third line of course) I definetely agree that Ryder deserves better than this though, i guess all we can hope for is that he gets bumped up to a more prominent role soon.

I dont mind Ryder on the 4th line, it's more the fact that he is playing with Dwyer on the 4th line that bugs me. Ward-Ryder. I'm hoping/guessing it will be Ryder-Kilger-Ward when Kilger comes back, which is a ton better because although Kilger has stone hands, he can at least finish better than Gordie

I'm kind of suprised we protected Dackell...I really thought he would be unprotected. Hopefully Traverse or Dykhuis gets picked up though

Sad news out of Atlanta... You have to wonder why Snyder wasn't even wearing a seat belt though. I'm just assuming this because he wouldnt have been flung 30 feet with one on.

lol yeah, i dont think any other teams fans would say their QB looked sloppy when he throws for 400+ yards, that would be a dream performance! I guess we just take for granted that our offense is this awesome.

Went to the Als-Ti cats game today. There were over 2000 Als fan, drowned out the Ti-cats fans most of the day. Pretty sloppy first half by the Als, they even trailed 17-9 at one point but came back in the second. Calvillo was over 400 yards, but didnt look extremely sharp, had a few terrible throws. Lapointe and Stokes are injured, no word on how serious.

Yeah it's ridiculous. Theo was stellar tonight, a great performance. The second goal was crazy, but it was a bit of a soft one. Other than that he was perfect, nothing he could have done on the first one, and he made a bunch of key saves. It's stupid how the media gets on Theo's case for no real reason.

hmmm i should switch my channel options so i can get Leafs TV for the night and then switch it back afterwards.... It's the perfect solution.

I'm sorry but if Koivu is gone for the whole year, the season is down the toilet. We would have absolutely no offense. I would think about playing guys like Higgins and 'Zhogin in key roles and just develop for the future before the strike.

This is shaping out to be a great event. Notables for the Habs include Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Larry Robinson and Guy Carbonneau. Too bad Roy isnt playing in nets though... here's the full article... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=54422

Prices are ridiculous, but i dont know if the owners have any other choice, because they are losing a ton of money as it is, it's not feasable to lower ticket prices at this point.

Seems weird to say it, and its going to be tough with no hockey season for all of next year, but a lockout is what this league needs. The NHL is losing more and more money, and it paid 73% of the revenue back that it had made to players salaries and benefits. The league cant survive like this. The players will gradually lose jobs, teams will gradually go bankrupt and then who knows what will become of the NHL. We can only hope that Bettman can get a long term solution for these problems, not a quick fix that will only last a few years. Players salaries are just far too high for more than half of the teams to compete. I hate how the NHL only has a select few teams that compete for the cup year in, year out. Sure you get a few suprise cup finalists, Carolina and Anaheim to name a couple, but in the end it is always Colorado, Detroit, New Jersey or Dallas that stand on top. Its been like that since 1995, its getting ridiculous. Sure there were dynasties in the old days, but they were almost entirely homegrown (draft picks) I know some of you are going to argue that a lot of these teams have draftees that played big parts on their team, however these teams are the only teams where players actually want to play and they have free shots to sign any free agent they want. These teams have won cups with their teams, yet they still spend the big bucks. Colorado has won 9 division titles in a row (i believe its 9) and yet they still upgrade with 2 more superstars this off-season. Detroit had to let go of Fedorov, but they signed Hatcher and Whitney. Maybe NJ isnt the best example because they havent made as many huge free agency signings as the other 3 teams mentioned. The Bottom line in all of this is: does anyone here really see the Wings, Stars, Avs or Devils being a bottom feeder of the NHL anytime soon? I have no doubt in my mind that the Wings will be ok despite their old age, because they will be able to purchase any player they want on the free agent market. (ill admit they have done a great job drafting too, but even without that young talent it wouldnt matter because they have $$$) I love the NHL and hockey, but the way things are going, finances are just too huge a part of the game for my liking. Parity is non-existent as the same teams seem to find themselves on top come June, and that makes the league less-enjoyable. For lots of reasons such as this, i find that, although i still follow the NHL like crazy, the NFL is on top right now in my own preference, despite the fact that i would say both sports are pretty close as far as my favourites. God i hope the new CBA helps this league, because it is heading into oblivion right now... Here is a link about the NHL's record losses. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=54418