What a day! (Midseason edition)

Every now and then, a huge piece of news breaks out in Hab-land. ("Hab-land" usually being about twenty minutes away from where I am, but on days like this it feels so far away.) And it's always on those big news days that I'm otherwise occupied.

So here's what happened:

This is kind of what the pressbox looked like last night... Matt's going to start feeling an awful lot taller if he gets scratched again

Georges Laraque (he who was signed for 1.5mil a season after he kicked some ass and almost won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins) was let go a week after he helped the Canadiens to their most recent win. It's not the best of breakups... both sides are quite bitter about it, and I don't think I can blame them. The timing of this is... strange at best. But I guess this whole ordeal proves that maybe, just maybe being a francophone hockey player doesn't always make you a saint in this town.

We love Monsieur et Madame Jean!

In other news (this time about someone who has the glory and deserves it more than anyone else in this town), forever captain and HIHW favourite Jean Béliveau suffered a stroke, but is said to be in stable condition. He's still in the hospital though, and we know he's not reading the blog but we're still sending thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.


Other smaller news tidbits: Sergei Kostitsyn practiced today, Carey Price did not (therapy stuff), Mike Cammalleri and Max Lapierre had a bit of a dustup, and Jacques Martin still stands by his decision to play Ryan O'Byrne as a forward.

I saw a ghost today in Brossard

Hey, Georges. Been a while. What's going on?

Laraque and Ryan O'Byrne skated at practice this morning, and both stayed after most of the team was gone for some extra drills.
According to Habs Inside/Out, O'Byrne probably won't be playing until the weekend. I'd rather have a fully healed defenceman on the ice than someone who think he's well enough to play and risks aggravating the injury and missing even more games later on in the season, but the longer he stays away from the ice, the harder it'll be to get back up to speed, so... I don't know.
According to me, Laraque did some errands after the practice. I was surprised to see him at practice, so obviously I was in slight disbelief when I walked into a store and saw Georges Laraque. So, uh, I'd like to extend my thanks to the buyer at Future Shop in Quartier Dix30 for not ordering what we were looking for and making us go to another store.

Brian Gionta is still out (apparently he was limping a little at last night's Pour toujours les Canadiens premiere) so his spot on the expensive first line will be taken by Glen Metropolit, who took to the net and played some baseball this morning at practice. No, seriously. I don't have any good pictures to show you, but he picked up his stick and started batting away pucks. What a guy.

Carey Price is in nets tonight, and we'll see if he'll be as stellar on home ice as he's been the last two games. (Personally, I hope so... not only for the team but just to show those people who call themselves fans and say they don't jump on bandwagons, but still call their favourite team "garbage" and refuse to watch tonight's game. Yes, if you're wondering, I've actually met someone like that, who seems to think that the Habs are a later season of Heroes.)

Tom Kostopoulos is back in town, and we'll see if I still miss the scrappy, unintentionally funny workhorse.

Sergei Samsonov is back in town (I think) and we'll see if he has yet passed the statute of limitations for booing of former Habs.

Here are some of my pictures: