Plus/Minus: Do the wave

I'm not quite sure what to say about a week in which Carey Price posts two shutouts but the Habs also lose to the Islanders. Life is full of surprises, I guess.

They see me trollin'...

PLUS
+ Erik Cole's trolling is hysterical.
+ Two shutouts, Carey. Unbelievable. I love my goalie so damn much.
+ Travis Moen. Goal. Again.
+ For the even rarer goals: A Plus to Paul Bissonnette for scoring his fifth career goal! And his mom was there! Probably the only time I won't be grossed out by a headline like "BizNasty scores with mom at game."
+ Drew Doughty's mustache.

+ Ironic that Glee's best episode of the season came after its worst. "Hot For Teacher" is easily one of my favourite musical numbers this season. And I don't usually do this, but I immediately downloaded the  Adele mashup.
+ I usually like my funny shows to be funny, but damn it if How I Met Your Mother isn't so damn good at the dramatic stuff.
+ The first two episodes of Once Upon A Time hadn't quite convinced me to love the show. But the third and fourth episodes most definitely have.

MINUS

He's a natural!

- For some reason, I'm not able to put Mason Raymond as a write-in vote for the All Star Game. Can someone please fix this? Voting for MayRay is an annual tradition for me.
- Jonathan Toews and Carey Price didn't make the Sexiest Man Alive shortlist? WHY I NEVER. ...Oh, wait, this isn't that kind of blog. Still, I am offended.
- I'm kind of upset that the Hamilton Bulldogs didn't win at the Bell Centre on Friday, but I'm more upset that their next game in Montreal isn't against the Marlies. It's on my hockey wishlist!
- I talked about what a mess this whole Penn State situation was last week. And now we find out that former coach (and octogenarian) Joe Paterno has been diagnosed with cancer, and without even thinking about it, popular opinion dictates that he deserves it. I don't care who the patient is, a cancer diagnosis is NEVER good news. Finding joy in someone else's misfortune because he had it coming shouldn't be popular opinion. I'm not taking anyone's side here. I'm just stating what I think is right, and you're all welcome to disagree with me if you'd like to.

- Eddy Palchak retired before I started watching hockey, and now he won't be around to tell stories about all the amazing things that the Canadiens have done. His passing is an unfortunate reminder that eventually, the Habs' golden history will be so far behind us that all we'll be left with are memories. Let's keep those memories alive, and do everything to support our team and have incredible stories of our own. Rest in peace, Eddy.


Oh, and this week Sidney Crosby is back or something, I guess.

Plus/Minus tries new things

Happy Easter Monday, everyone. (Yes, chocolate is probably on sale, and no, I won't be offended if you want to read this later and run out to buy some right now.)
This week, as usual, was full of ups and downs, complaints and cheers, and is ripe for the plus-minus treatment, but I thought I'd try switching it up a little instead of lumping all the Pluses and Minuses together. (I guess this is my week of trying everything, what with my last post being one of the angriest things I've written on this blog to date).

A PLUS goes out to Jaroslav Halak, posting shutouts on two consecutive days and being named the NHL's first star of the week...
but a MINUS to everyone who's still acting like he doesn't get star treatment. The city loves him! And for good reason! Hello? What newspapers are these people reading? (Or writing for?)

A PLUS goes out to Dave Stubbs for saying what Jacques Martin should have said and supporting Carey Price, both online and in print, after a good game where he got booed...
but a MINUS to the geniuses who booed their own player in the first place, because they're clearly going to the Bell Centre for all the wrong reasons, and then sending negative comments to Mr. Stubbs, who is clearly not a chimp, a douchebag, or a poser, but I can think of some people in the cheap seats who are.

A PLUS to some great goals by Plekanec, Pyatt, Bergeron, Fancy New O'Byrne, and Sergei Kostitsyn...
BUT I kind of wish there could have been more. At least the team scored more than they let in? Yay?

A PLUS to the Bulldogs for having a kickass season and roaring into the playoffs, and to the PK Subban  for making it to the AHL's All-Rookie team...
but a MINUS to everyone who's ready to call him up, make him Habs captain and all this business. These are the same people who point out the flaws in our player development and who've screamed for blood when a younger player disappoints, and I'm a little worried they might just be perpetuating the cycle. We've got a great young defenceman who's talented enough and getting better by the minute and just generally likeable, but calling him up too early could lead to the same old story. Let's not count our PK's before they hatch, and see what happens in the months before next season starts. You know, since this season isn't even over yet.

A PLUS to the Olympic medallists who were honoured this week at the Bell Centre. It's nice to see them now that they're done their World Championships.
It would have been nice to see them get some free swag or maybe a handshake from an assistant captain, but a warm Bell Centre welcome is pretty good too, considering how prone to booing some fans are. I mean come on, some of them only won ONE gold medal. If that's not enough to make a drunken idiot start booing, then I really don't know what is.


I've got to let my poor laptop cool down a little (send any cooling pads to: hab-it-her-way.blogspot.com) but... last week of the regular season. I know you're excited. I am too.

Pictures yoinked (mostly) from Habs Inside/Out and Canadiens.com

First win in 2010!

What's better: winning or Paul Mara's beard?

Good job, Jaro, for shutting out the Florida Panthers. Good job, team, for doing what needed to be done so very badly... and also taking the advice of the analysts between periods. (Maybe now they'll shut up.)

A fine goal by Benoit Pouliot in the closing seconds of the first (from now on, that kind of thing is dubbed the "Reverse Steve Begin") and a cute little empty-netter by Brian Gionta made sure that the Panthers did not have the puck where they wanted it to be. The Habs also avoided penalties (for the most part), so I guess we should be applauding their good behaviour.