jackpetrilli

I actually replayed (PVR) that one for my wife. It was a vicious shot to the head, 2 handed stick, and I slowed it down to show my wife the ref looking right at it. There was absolutely no justification for the no-call. It was vicious and blatant and the fans roared when it happened. Pretty obvious what was going to happen a la referee the rest of the night.

While giving up 50 shots??!!!

For the fifty years I've been following this team, we *never* get fair officiating. There are too many "anti-Habs" referees out there. Some have commented to me that all fans think the refs are against their team. But I'm for Team Canada and I never feel that they get unfair officiating (despite all the moaning by biased commentators). Once my team is eliminated, I will sometimes stick for another playoff team and I rarely think they get the short end of the stick. Paul Stewart (former Nordique) used to be murder against us, until Koivu and the Habs organization was really nice to him when he got back from cancer. After that, he called the games fairly. Not so for the Habs. They get shafted almost every other game by stupid or marginal calls or by the ref ignoring infractions against us. Latest example - Ottawa player shoots the puck into the crowd during our powerplay and the ref claims the puck hit one of our player's stick. How could he have seen what didn't happen? Or how about Prust's goaltender interference penalty? The only exception to this is when we get a Francophone referee. Last night, even one of the CBC commentators said that it looked like the refs were looking for something to call on the Habs. In the last 2 games, Ottawa has been getting away with murder, especially when it comes to interference. Yet we can't even think of doing something without being called. Over the years, I've come to accept this. I only get really upset when I see a call against us that I've never seen before in my life (like that penalty shot against us in overtime, playing Pittsburgh in the playoffs some fifteen years ago). One of my buddies, who's a Maple Leaf fan, just laughs with glee when he sees some of the calls against us.

Okay, I'm happy Price played great in game 2 but, please, you're getting carried away. Those other goalies were not in games were their team was completely dominating like ours was. And those other goalies were not at an .870 or so save percentage for the last month. I'm a Habs fan, not solely a Price fan. If he is costing us game after game, I'm gonna get pissed, not be all-forgiving like some people here. (Just like I would be for any player hurting the team - like Brisebois those many years ago). If Price continues to play like last night, I will praise him *because he helped my team.* If he messes the bed, I'll be all over him *because he hurt my team." Again, I'm a fan of *the team,* not any single player at the cost of the team. (Some here were willing to throw the team under the bus solely to defend Price, despite the fact that the team played great in game 1, and I won't do that for any single player.)

While I don't think we played as well in this game as last, Price played *much* better, especially in the 2nd when we really needed him. If he can maintain this level for 3 of the 5 remaining games, we should win, because outside of the goaltending, I think we're the better team. Price just needs to hold up his end of the stick.

Need I remind you that we badly outplayed Ottawa in this game, so Ottawa's so-called strategy *did not work!!!* Our team played very well. Stop being so results oriented and realize that they won because of Anderson and we lost because of Price. Switch goalies in this game and we win 6 - 0. It really bugs me that people are putting down on how our team played when they played one of their best games of the season. They were stoned by Ottawa's goalie, not by Ottawa's style of play. (And please don't tell me that most of our shots were perimeter shots because they weren't. Anderson made many highlight-reel saves.) It is a team game but... Can't win in football when the QB is bad; can't win in baseball when the pitcher is bad; can't win in hockey when the goalie is bad. I don't want to see our team play goon hockey. I want to see us play exactly like we did last night and have Anderson come back down to Earth!!!

Yeah, we are, but not for too much longer. We just played a f-----g great game, and lost due to goaltending (on both teams). Do you expect Ottawa to be this bad every game? Can we continue to play this way every game? When does the team start to lose confidence (if they already haven't)? If Price couldn't improve on his horrid play that he's demonstrated for the last 2 months, why is he suddenly going to do it. (CBC showed a graphic. His save percentage the first 2 months was around .925, not Anderson-like but good enough. March's was .905, and April something like .876) I absolutely hate to say it, but not only are we going to lose, it's not even going to be a long series. And for those of you who are praying for Budaj, he's also not the answer, although I think we probably would have won had he been in tonight. He's proven over the years that he's not a starting goalie. Look, some here are going to say, that I'm not a true fan because of all the negativity. Well, I am a fan and have been for the last 50 years. And there's a lot to be hopeful about. For the first time since Serge Savard, we have a very good GM. Therrien has been my favourite coach since Jacques Demers. We are this close to being a great team. And I'm not asking for a Kenny Dryden or a Jacques Plante. We just need a solid goalie who doesn't soil the bed once the pressure's on. I think if Bergevin makes this one extra improvement, the future looks very bright for this team. We're young, we're fast, we're grittier than we were, and we're talented. We just need decent goaltending when it counts.

At the beginning of the 3rd, when it was still 2-1, I told my wife, "I don't like what I see with Price." He had just misplayed 2 simple plays. Sure enough, about 30 seconds later, right through the 5-hole. Then on the next goal, even though the announcers are saying he's being screened, he actually wasn't. I watched the replay about 5 times on my PVR. The so-called screener is standing to his right. When the shot is taken, Price is looking at the screener instead of trying to pick up the puck. So, yes, he never saw the shot because he was not looking for it as he should have been. We will never win with this guy. The situation reminds me of QB Rob Johnson with the Buffalo Bills. He had all the tools. He was supposed to be great. He played some games where he was awesome. But it never happened because Johnson didn't have what it takes above his shoulders. The Bills threw away chances to win the Super Bowl because of waiting for this guy to finally fulfill his promise. Never happened. Same thing with Price. How many years are we going to waste waiting for this guy to realize his so-called potential? It hasn't happened in 6 years. Why would anyone think it's suddenly going to magically appear? Some here will point to Roy and say there were nay-sayers even with Roy. And there were. The big difference is that Roy had already won a Cup... and with a team that never should have won. My hope lies with Bergevin. He has proven to be a great GM so far. He needs to address our goaltending situation because, folks, we have one and it's a serious one. If there's a credible goalie becoming a free agent this year, he should sign him. At the very least, let Price compete for the job instead of handing it to him year after year. You simply can't win with poor goaltending. Philadelphia has proven that over the years. Vancouver with Luongo, same thing. How many years before their management finally woke up and realized that "Mr. Fantastic sometimes" just wasn't ever going to do it? For those of you who've played at any level, you know what a bad goal does to you, especially in a close game. We had just peppered Anderson with close to 40 shots after 2 periods, and we still lose the game. It also gives great confidence and momentum to the other team. "Hey guys, keep shooting. They'll go in soon enough. And our guy will keep us in the game." It's downright depressing and I'm really hopeful we don't waste any more years waiting for this guy.

Thanks... I found it... probably my mistake in searching (ch24 instead of 24ch)? Now I need to find those past episodes (after #1 which I've managed to find).

Habsddicted has put up a bunch of episodes on YouTube but unfortunately, they're only in French. My French is simply not good enough. As the taxi cab driver said to me in Tahiti (French Polynesia): "Your French is ugly but I can understand you." I could not find any *episodes* in English. Only the "flashes" and "weeklies" are there. (I already have access to those). Also, the episodes are *not* available in my part of Ontario (Mississauga). I did both a "manual" and "automatic" search in my PVR - no dice. I believe it's playing *in Montreal's version of TSN* this Sunday. No one has posted them on Usenet. TSN doesn't answer me. I'm getting desperate! Someone... please help!!!

>Great point about Markov and Weber as the top pairing on the PK. I generally refrain from getting worked up about >line >pairings and matchups, but that is just brutal. Wake up MT!! Therrien is a great coach. He doesn't need to "wake up." He knows this team better than anyone here does. It seems all it takes is a slump, to give a lot of posters amnesia.

It really all depends on Price. He kicked off this slump with some horrendous goaltending when we were playing well. Now he needs to do the opposite. Help the team get back it's confidence by stealing a game or two. If he can get his game back, we'll go deep in the playoffs, Toronto or no Toronto. If he doesn't, we're done (like any team would be without good playoff goaltending).

I've just gotten back from wintering in Adelaide, Australia. (Yeah, I know!) As a result, I've missed the entire CH24 series. Does anyone know how I can get the series? For example, is it offered online? Living in Mississauga, I don't even think I can get the last episode. It doesn't show on my guide for TSN so I'm thinking it's only offered to TSN Montreal. I sent an email to TSN, offering to pay for the series, but they didn't even oblige me the courtesy of replying! (I have been able to get the "flashes" online from the Canadiens official site and this has been good but I'd like to get the full episodes.) If anyone can help, it would be *greatly* appreciated.