BIG BIRD HONOURED

Last night's festivities honouring Larry Robinson were yet another accomplishment in Big Bird's illustrious, and on-going hockey career, and another feather to add to the Montreal Canadiens Organisation's cap. The proceedings were relatively short, to the point, classy and emotional. Kudos to the Ottawa Senators team to come out and watch the ceremonies,0and a bigger homage to Big Bird for personally thanking and shaking the hands off everyone out there minus the camera men (he got the when the could put the cameras down. although it would be ludicrous to think #19's career, accomplishments and gracious and humble personality could be covered in 30 minutes, the ceremonies were a clear reflection of his leadership, warm personality and his ability to relate with me...the average Joe. The NHL can use more characters of his hard working, gritty but respectful team player, and the whole sport is better for having Larry Robinson been a part of it for 12 years as a player, and continues to be with his involvement in the administration levels of the New Jersey Devils.

It would have been hard for anyone to believe that after a ceremony like that the players wouldn't be inspired a-la-max, and that was the case. The Montreal Canadiens were clearly motivated and inspired, however so were the Senators. Despite the loss last night, I think we played well. We were intense whenever we could be, and we kept the energy levels up even though we were playing catch up all the way.

Unfortunately Ottawa just played better...period. They are the top team in the league for a reason. Good news is we have 60+ games to get our game to their level.

I only have two complaints from last night. First and foremost, that ice surface was the worse I've seen in the Bell center in a long time. Secondly, Huet has got to pick up his game. He made some great saves, but the fact of the matter is he has let in 11 goals on 94 shots in his last three games, giving him a 3.67 GAA and a 0.8794 save % with a 0-3 record. I realise many of those goals were lucky bounces off skates and defensemen, but a good goalie should be covering for all eventualities via proper placement and position. Unlucky goals will always happen, but when you start letting in a lot of them, it could be an indication of weak positioning.

Something else Huet doesn't have going for him is that Carrey Price plays behind the same team, same defence, same system, and we see the same unlucky bounces, but they end up in his glove, tip of the pad, end of the stick, post, off target, etc, essentially anywhere but in the net. Maybe I have the benefit of being ignorant and hiding behind my numbers, stats and probability analysis, but basically my position is that a goalie can't stop them all, however with proper positioning and stance he should be anticipating and stopping them more often than not. Huet has not been doing this as of late, and his loosing record is a direct result of this unfortunate situation. Whether it is time for Price to slowly take over the starter position is a debate I don’t want to get into, however one thing is for sure: With Price winning and Huet underperforming, the French one is not helping himself.