Maybe A Second Chance

If I had more time for yesterday's update, I would have liked to talk about the scape-goating mob that has come out of the bandwagonners. The same phenomenon happens every year and when we make the playoffs' they'll all be "cheering for the team and players they never lost fate in". I was going to make this whole exaggeration of our hero from earlier in the season (captain Saku Koivu) would be the next victim of scape-goating and trade wishes and rumours.

I seldom logged on yesterday, and was horrified to see that it has come to that. Yes I saw post blaming solely him self and his line and saw wish lists for trades involving him.

What must one do to get this crowd of Epsilons to understand thus is a team sport, and the successes and failures are seldom based on one player. That is all I will say about that subject.

This waiver exercise with Samsonov had less to do with trading him away as it was a lesson in humility. A cunning strategy by the management that in my opinion will pay off.

Samsonov is well aware now that a trade is out of the question, not because his management didn't try (I think they have been trying), but no one wants him. We're stuck with him and he's stuck with us. Only way out is to perform and get his numbers up.

Furthermore, in the case of an athlete who is plagued by self doubt, nothing could be better than publicly hitting rock bottom in one big giant ball of failure. You're thinking has Number 1 lost it? I'm fairly certain I did...after the second week of sleep deprivation and exhaustion but I know what I'm talking about here and anyone who plays golf will know exactly what I'm talking about. When things get as bad as they possibly can, you are no longer plagued with thoughts of "what if I mis-play" "what if I get embarrassed" "what if it doesn't work" "what if I play bad" etc...

Now that the plague of what ifs are gone, I believe Samsonov is on the way to becoming one of our key players for the stretch. If I'm the coach and I publicly state we can start from 0, I put him on the 1st line and leave him there for 10 games minimum. Although I am fairly certain that Koivu and Sammy could gel together nicely with Streit or Guillaume and there would be no need to change a thing.

Let’s see what happens for tonight. Chances are he'll begin his "come back" on the third line. Time will tell how this will pan out.

Samsonov's Gone in 3....2....1....

We have been talking about trades in recent times, and Samsonov seems to be a stones throw away from Chicago with the looks of it. At this time it would be wise to point out a few things.

First off, it is no secret this team, with its current members has proven capable of dancing with the best of them. Earlier on in the season, prior to our yearly post holiday slump, the team posed no doubt in our minds of making a serious run at the cup. Since then the synergy and the chemistry in the locker room has faded. A trade will only make thi matter worse by instilling doubt and fear in to peoples minds. So why have we been talking about it? Because at a certain point things will get to a dead end stand still, and a trade will remain the second to last plan to (just before firing the coach) to try and jolt this team. Does a kick in the proverbial but guarantee a fix? Not in the least. However it will lead to change. No guarantees that the change will be for the better, but when things are bad enough, odds are in your favour that things will only get better.

Every bit of hockey and HABS sense I have points to this being a secondary motivation for Bob with respect to Samsonov. A deal is practically done. Whether he’s goin g to Chicago or somewhere else, I knew (and maybe the historian can find this update) the day Samsonov spoke out after being benched and questioned his coach publicly, that Bob would begin to shop him around. His trade has less to do with shaking the team up, as it does with Samsonov following the path of the other rotten eggs we had in the locker room. Since Gainey’s involvement with the team, players with bad attitudes, no matter their skill level, have been banished one at a time, and the next in line is Samsonov.

Whether he has publicly requested a trade (just another sign of his personality) or not, he will be traded. He sealed his fate long ago. I do wish him the best of luck wherever he may end up, and I’m sure that he will, like most players who leave Montreal, end the season with a bang. However no matter what numbers he puts up, I’m glad we have a GM who puts sportsmanship on as high a pedestal as winning, and does not compromise an inch. There is a man who has his ethics, and that cannot be said about too many GM in any sport.

One more point I’ll throw out there is that knowing Gainey’s ability to foresee things beyond any of our visions, we will probably obtain a player in return for Samsonov that will make any sense in terms of our need for the roster. Rest assured that there is always more behind the scenes and eventually the pieces will fall in to place (case in point Carey Price). SO be patient and keep close to your PC’s and TV’s cause whatever’s going down, it’s happening soon and will get us all going "huh?"

The Beginning Of The Demise For Syd The Kid

Yesterday's win had the full spectrum of excitement. It was a win, in a high emotion game, during a mini-rivalry, and being shafted by the refs. All these combine to make a brand of hockey I can get used to, but my heart has no capabilities for.

Syd the diver was back at his cinematics again, and if he doesn't get warnings from the NHL he'll continue tp dive and tarnish an ecstatic career which awaits him. Unfortunately he is not playing for a coach who cares for or mentors his players, but rather gets them caught up in his high emotions which crosses the line every other game. The future of our sport will be influenced by Crosby's style. Unless Therien gets the boot or Crosby leaves Pittsburg, unfortunately he's headed in a bad direction and Crosby's 19 year old over stimulated ego and "maturity" will not work it out for him self.

Man am I glad to be a HABS fan and have an honourable GM who hires honourable coaches, who in turn coaches a honourable bunch of kids. I know how it feels like to watch one of our guys take a big dive (oh Ribeiro) and it's very embarrassing. The result of the game almost has no meaning over the feeling of filth. Thank goodness we have not had something of the sort in a long long time.

All I can say to our boys is keep fighting the good fight. Don't give in to cheap antics. I would rather loose a game by getting shafted by the officials, than to draw unmerited penalties for a win. Than again that is just my opinion and I'm sure a significant portion of fans would prefer the latter. At least my conscious is clean, and so is the one in our locker room. "To you we

So What's The Excuse This Time?

I’m not sure what that was yesterday, but it was not the same team as Thursday night. Perhaps the boys had their minds on today’s game and couldn’t get focused on that game, but that would be just as worse as doing their “Jerry wana be acts”.

Now we are below the Penguins on NL and the HABS have the additional pressure of knowing that if we loose, the Pens tie us in points.

I’m going to save judgment on this situation until tomorrow’s update because if they win decisively today, than they have just been focused on Crosby’s dives and Armstrong’s assaults, and just want to win the series and send the Pens a clear message. Loosing yesterday’s game on account of focusing on today’s game is wrong, but forgivable, if they do play and win. If not, my judgment would be slightly more sever than that. We’ll see what happens.

Oh and on a last note, the Pens claim Armstrong is injured after his altercation with Souray, If I recall he played another 10-15 mintes that game and picked up points. So was this an injury with a time delay, or was it a bullet in the foiot following the quotes from the HABS players about Sunday’s game?

I never like Michelle Therrien. A coach should not behave in such a weak, emotional manner crying at times, whining about his players all the time and muttering death threats to the opposition’s bench. Under his leadership so far I have seen Armostrong lay the cheapest of shots (leagel but cheap), avoid the consequences from the official, and run away from the consequences from the bench, and worse I have seen the ambassador of hockey become a cheap dirty woosy diver (sorry Crosb…all the respect for you, your talents and accomplishments, but much like Briere and Iginla, once I see you dive, the rest is as they say history). The best things the Pens can do following the move into a new arena would be to dump Therrien and get an honorable coach. Cheap shots and cheap tricks should not be part of a game plan, nor should they be rewarded. Therrien is a pest which has tainted more than one NHL team, and in my humble opinion, the sooner he gets the boot the better.

Long Story Short...

Yesterday's post was getting much too long and so I had to cut it in half. The down side was however, that everything I wanted to say has already been said. So without going in to details and sounding like a broken record, I just want to reiterate the fact that Souray stuck up for Koivu showed great team spirit, the fact that the team fought so hard with so much passion showed team unity across the bench, and Carb's as well as Gainey's public comments showed team unity and spirit behind the bench. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that such devotion and loyalty for ones team mates and coach can only mean good things.

keep in mind that the Canadiens' superb success at the beginning of the year was reasoned by many to be associated with the tight camaraderie between the players. During the slump, not that the team turned on one another, but there were fingers being pointed whether it was vocal or not.

The intensity and/or the lack of our team spirit was neither the sole cause of the slump, nor is it going to fix everything. But it is just another good sign that things are headed in the right direction.

The results over the weekend will be a great indication of whether that game was a fluke, or if we are getting back on track. And I really hope Higgins appreciates how much faith his coach put in him on Thursday and repays the team with a superb performance against the Isles and then a spectacular one against the Pens.

HOW TO REF IN THE NEW NHL 101 - PENALISE THE HABS

First of my eternal gratitude goes out to Maxime Lapierre. Thanks to him and Crosby's immaturity, we have been blessed with an exciting and emotional two game series which will send many running for their heart medicines during the rare commercial brake. Whether we win or loose the series, playing two high emotional games can only help in reviving the lost pulse of our team.

We've seen signs of life lately the most recent one being Don Souray's definitive message in the second period. You can rest assured the Pens will have their heads up when Souray's on the ice on Sunday.

The only down side to Souray handing out a can of whoopass was the grose negligence and trigger happiness of Don Coharsky. The 2-5-10-game misconduct to Souray was a major mental spasm to say the least. But the cherry on the top was the decision to let this guy who assaulted Koivu and drop the gloves against Souray get away with just a major for fighting...I mean a minor for charging or boarding or roughing...wait a minute did he get away with no penalty?! Well if he doesn't get major for fighting and Souray gets a five for fighting AND a two for INSTIGATING I ask you Dan, who did Souray instigate a non existing fight with? Oh it was that leprecon again? Well if you're out of pills I'm sure Mecgouh can lend you a few.

Now understand that many (not all) of these calls were up to interpretation and its up to the refs to decide. They make mistakes and unfortunately in Montreal we are constantly reminded of this. My problem with last night however is that all interpretations were one sided...as if you had one side favoured. If you are really going to burden a team with a seven minute penalty (keep in mind one of them was a major) you best absolutely positive that the sequence in your head is exactly what happened. The interpretation of the ref was that: 1) the guy getting whooped did not drop the gloves (so no major to him) and 2) Souray kept hitting Armstrong while he was just trying to protect him self. I find it extremely difficult to believe that none of the refs (especially the one trying to pull Souray off his traumatized victim) saw Souray getting punched in the face twice. This leads me to believe that either Coharsky did not listen to his linesmen or the linesmen did not speak up during this gross miss-sentencing. Either way all the refs on the ice failed their jobs simultaneously and with their boss present in the arena I wonder what the repercussions will be? Nothing I presume.

Now that I have that off my chest I have learnt two lessons from this. 1) Some of the refs do not hesitate to go on a hunch in calling penalties. In some cases (such as last night) it is a game deciding decision. The NHL must crack down on the officials who make such obvious mistakes on game deciding goals/7 minute penalties or anything of this nature.

Lesson #2) Souray, if you're going to pummel someone, don't make it so one sided. Remember what happened in Calgary? Again it was the rare occasion where you dropped the gloves and you damn near changed his face forever. Let the poor saps get in the first few punches and then you can annihilate them.

Part Two of this game discussion will follow tomorrow (with all the good stuff we did and how proud I am of our team for sticking in there and getting that point).

Penguins Fantasies

The hot hand gets the nod for the night. And he'll have to remain upwards of 100 degrees Celsius to stop the Penguins, mainly the 200 degree Crosby. The Pens are on more than just a roll. They're playing a more open desperation type of game. Not to say that they are a desperate team, far from it. But the young, energetic and talented core of this team brings this almost naive and fearless attitude to the ice. We should all be so lucky to have a team like this. In fact the Quebec Penguins not only sound nice, but comply with the strict regulations of "the Office de la Langue Francais". on the other hand I don't think I can handle being schooled by Quebec city's team for the next decade since we all know what this team could accomplishing if they remain with the same roster.

This brings me to my next Penguins fantasy. The reality of the new NHL is that once a team travels deep in to the off-season, or wins Lord Stanley's cup, all the players' values grow incrementally. As such it is difficult to keep the same roster, and damn near impossible to keep all your top guys. Furthermore there is no doubt in my mind that in the very near future the Pens the Pens will make a serious run at the cup, or even win it. So what if Crosby moves on to another team? Say a team he has admired since his childhood? I'm salivating more than Pit-bull staring at a T-Bone at the prospect of seeing Crosby in a HABS jersey. Wouldn’t that be something!

OK I know there is no way the Penguins would move to Quebec, and even less of a chance that Crosby will play as a HAB, but a man can dream can't he...

I don’t think I have to point out to anyone that a loss to the Pens tonight will result in a drop in NL standings, so this game is rendered even more important.