Olympic Hangover, and goodbye O Happy D'Agger

Well I think I speak for many of you, who did not realize the Canadiens restarted their season until about 6:30 last night. I'm sure even a larger group of you were confused when our fourth line combined for 3 goals. It was definitely not Olympic caliber, hell, it wasn't even a good game for NHL standards, but it was great to see the Habs open the homestretch with two points. Then, this morning I check out the unusually dormant Trade Deadline page on TSN, and see that the Canadiens have shipped yet another young underachiever. Yes Matt D'Agostini was dealt to the St. Louis Blues for prospect Aaron Plushaj, and it was not a major trade by any means. But I do like it, Plushaj was a College Star in Michigan, and was nominated for the Hobey Baker award for the best player in the country. He was a 2nd round pick who is having a very good year for the Peoria Rivermen of the AHL and will be a contributing factor on the Bulldogs until he is ready to make the step to the pros.

All for now, I will update you on any other trades that show up, if you want some entertainment throughout this over-hyped day, read Jay Onraits blog on TSN, there is a funny dude right there.

Peace for now,

E

A Canadian Legend is born. Sidney Crosby fulfills his destiny.

4 Hours after one of the greatest Hockey games the world has ever seen, I am still in awe of young Canadian who captivated the country. No it's not Montreal's own Nikki Yanofsky, although "I Believe" is catchy. Sidney Crosby is only 23 years old and he has conquered the Hockey World. A Memorial Cup appearance with the Rimouski Oceanic, World Junior Hockey Gold in 2005, a Hart and Art Ross Trophy in 2007, and Captaining his team to a Stanley Cup in 2009. His goal today, in Overtime, cemented his status as a Canadian legend. To all of his critics who call him "too soft" who doesn't have the "flair of Ovechkin" or the "power of Parise", he is a winner, a determined leader and proud Canadian. I'll take Sidney any day of the week. This has been one of the proudest day for our nation, and as the Cauldron extinguishes and these 17 remarkable days of athleticism come to a close I can only say, thank you Vancouver for an amazing experience, and Hab Fans, welcome back to the jungle that is the Montreal Hockey scene, where we have no superstars, are not playing for a Gold Medal game any time soon, and our GM is not a hall of famer, quite the contrary actually.

Nice to be back,

Peace,

E

Time to nut up or shut up. Gold Medal Preview.

A quote from the great Woody Harrelson should set the scene today. All the planning, the evaluation camps, the selections, the round robins, all come down to a game against the United States of America, a team that upset Canada and set the country into a panic induced delirium. Although the last meeting of these teams did not bode well for the Great White North, I remain a cock eyed optimist. Canada crushed Germany and then demolished Russia, the early tournament favorite. The close 3-2 game against Slovakia should not be any room for concern as the Slovaks and Jaro Halak played a defensively responsible game that led them to a victory over the Swedes. So we get to the game plan. What does Canada do to beat the United States this afternoon.

To win, Canada must play Canada's game. They must combine creative passing, hard and accurate shots, and energy through blistering physical play, with an better than solid effort from Roberto Luongo. They must come in here and try to channel teams of the past, they must battle like Paul Henderson and Phil Esposito in '72, skillfully overpower their opponents like Mario and the Great One in '87, and have the desire and pride of Sakic and Kariya in '02. This has been a magical Olympics for Canada, and even with the many disappointments, came heroes, John Montgomery, Charles Hamelin and the courageous Joanie Rochette led to record totals for our country, and with a win today at Canada place, we would set a new International standard for Gold Excellence.

To Scott Niedermayer and Team Canada, we are all with you today, from Newfoundland to Nanaimo, let our cheers inspire you to end this incredible fortnight of Athleticism on the highest note possible.

Peace, and enjoy the game Canada,

E

Hockey D-Day. Canada Russia

Let's hope we get some Henderson-esque heroics tonight. It's not going to be easy, the Russians shoot often, skate fast, and have Ovechkin. Need I say more. It seems like a lot of people in this country are panicking, and turning on players who before this "apocalyptic" loss to the States, were considered national heroes. To the people of Canada: CHILL THE HELL OUT.

Maybe it was a little naive to believe that Canada would roll through the competition, and before people start writing Obituaries before we even take to the ice, let's consider this.

Russia lost to the Slovaks, who in turn, almost lost to the Norwegians yesterday.

Does this mean that Norway and Russia would tie?

No you ingrates, it just means we have no idea what will actually happens until the puck drop tonight.

We are going to need consistent goal tending from Roberto Luongo tonight, he needs to show that he can win the big game. We need to get a lot of shots early and get Evgeni Nabokov out of a groove, we need to convert on the Power Play, no more oh fors, and slow down their skill players with big hits.

Is it a lot to ask for?

I don't know, is it a lot to ask for the best players in our country to play well executed Hockey?

We have a shot tonight, go out and cheer for you country Canada.

Peace,

E

Canada vs. Norway, how we are going to win... pfft...

I can not take the Norwegians seriously, I mean you are all nice people, but come one, anyone who wears those checkered pants, even if they are curling, should be laughed at a little bit.

Ok then.

Four years of brooding, sulking and muttering "wait till Vancouver" have come down to this. I don't think this will be a particularly close game, but I do feel that this will be a great chance for Canadians to work on their chemistry, the one thing that a lack of, could hurt Canada's medal chances. It will be interesting to see who wins the coveted 6th D spot, if Drew Doughty could impress and cement himself a line up spot. I personally am so impressed by Drew's amazing skill set, he has emerged as an elite Defenseman, in only his second year. The sky is the limit for this amazing youngster.

Fearless prediction?

7-1?

Am I being too gracious?
You tell me.

Peace, enjoy the game Canada,

E

Double Header and Olympic Preview

Watching last night's game almost completely cemented my view on how inconsistent the Canadiens are, but when they came back thanks to the heroics of Newest Hab Dominic Moore and the blazing end to end speed of call up PK Subban, who will only develop with age. Word is that PK will play again today as Jaro Spacek will sit game out after getting hit into the boards by Darroll Powe. I think today will be an emotional game as the match last night ended with some heated words. For anyone who watched the Opening Ceremonies, I gotta give kudos to Montreal Native Nikki Yanofsky, who killed it during the National Anthem, too bad Brian Williams fucked up that she was "from Vancouver". Also have to love the Slam Poet Shane Koyczan, whose poem "We Are More" was pretty patriotic. Canada plays it's first game on the 16th against Norway. And no one is not expecting a Gold Medal for our home squad. I think they can do it, if the Team comes together at the right time. Even though the line of Iginla-Crosby-Nash should be our #1 line, I do wish Eric Staal could take Iggy's spot, just so I could call it the "Crosby, Staal and Nash" line.

My predictions:

Gold - Canada: Can't bet against the host nation here.

Silver - Sweden: Will want to win gold with their nucleus one more time

Bronze - USA: Truculence pays off as the US shocks through youthful exuberance.

Enjoy the Olympics, enjoy the game tonight.

Peace True Believers,

E

In awe of Ovie. Habs 6 Caps 5 OT

I know we won the game, I know it was an important two points that got us into sixth place, but I cannot believe how good Alexander Ovechkin is. Let's ignore that he ONLY had 2 assists, a light night for him, but he scored (ok, maybe it wasn't a goal) probably the coolest, most awesome, bad ass goal I have ever seen. Hitting a 6'7 pillar into his own net for a goal is crazy. More than crazy, it's a story that people will tell for years to come when talking about Great 8 "All out desire to win". It was a big win. Not going to take that away from the Canadiens, Scott Gomez and Tomas Plekanec have been coming up huge since the loss of our three big wingers. I am overjoyed that Josh Gorges is doing fine, after a shot to the head that looked all out horrific. Even though he has played every game for the Habs this year, and many people do not want him to break the streak, I just hope he is ready to go for one of the games against the Flyers, probably our biggest two games of the season. A concern we might need to adress is our absolute futility on the PP of late, maybe due to the long term injury to Queen MAB. Maybe it's due to the fact that our second unit is comprised of 4th liners and AHLers. There is really no way to address these issues other than waiting for wounds to heal. A problem we can address, is how this team seems to play to their opponents level. When we take on Washington, Pittsburgh and New Jersey, we seem to always skate with them, hit with them and compete with them. However, when we take on middle of the pack teams like Boston, Tampa and Atlanta we play a boring and impotent brand of hockey that results in 3-1, 4-2 and 2-0 losses most of the time. How do we remedy this? I don't have an answer, other than just saying, KEEP FRIGGIN SKATING.

Sorry, I'm no Pierre McGuire.

Peace True Believers,

E