Plus/Minus: Cool as ice

Somehow this Plus/Minus is longer than the two games the Canadiens played this week. And considering how long that Devils game felt, that's saying something. I took a break from it to watch The Office and I doubt I missed a single thing.

PLUS

+ Andrei Kostitsyn: holy crap. I wish Statistics Canada could give us stats on how many people got rid of their #46 shirts before this season and now regret it.
+ I almost want to give Carey Price two pluses: One for playing so well, even though one of this week's shutouts didn't belong to him, and the other for giving me the kind of happiness that only comes from giving Carey Price a plus every week.
+ Steve Bégin has a job!! Proud of him.
+ Did you guys see Marc Denis on TSN? He was much more focused and articulate than I've ever seen him on French TV. He gets a plus for keeping it together in a language that isn't his first, on a network that has slightly higher standards than RDS.
+ Building another rink for kids to skate on. Canadiens > municipal government.
+ Elsewhere in the league: hat tricks! Daniel Alfredsson (scoring his 1000th NHL point), Brad Richardson led the LA Kings to a win (matching the #GoKings' win in the Twitter hashtag battle for charity) and John Tavares and Lee Stempniak scored their first NHL hat tricks. (It's OK, Stemps isn't a Leaf anymore.)

GONE

+ If you're a Flyers fan, savour this moment for all it's worth. I may never give a Plus to a Flyer ever again. But Scott Hartnell has truly earned this Plus for donating his hair to Locks of Love. There's a sick little kid somewhere who's going to love his or her new wig, no matter whose hair it contains. And anyone who's cut their long hair really short knows that you notice when it's gone.

MINUS

- We had to wait 5 (FIVE!) days between Canadiens games.
- And then not a single goal against the Devils.
- Did I mention that I didn't see last Saturday's game, so I actually went six days between games?
- Now that Dave Morissette, giant teddy bear and BFF of PJ Stock, has left RDS, all the network has going for it is, um, Pierre Houde. And ok, Guy Carbonneau too. What are the odds that they'll hire someone else I like, or fire pretty much anyone not mentioned here?

Is there anyone left in this picture worth watching?

- Speaking of RDS: Alain Crete. The jacket. Again.- Does Mike Boone think that the Four Habs Fans are holding auditions for a #5? In the last week alone, he ripped off their "capitalize the CH wherever possible" thing, imitated the style of their Morning Skate posts, and talked about hoochies ice girls. It's not funny when Boone does it. Do what you're paid to do, guy.
- You know what? It's not even worth writing about all this "Rick Rypien attacks a fan" business. If you didn't already know that you should accept the consequences of your actions, now you do. The "fan" got a little shaken up (literally) after getting out of his seat to shout at an already angry hockey player. Rick Rypien let out his frustrations on someone other than an opponent. Whatever. And, by the way, it seems a little strange to me that the "victim" gave his statement to the NHL, then went crying to the press, and THEN went looking for legal representation after that. Then again, I am neither a lawyer nor a lawsuit-happy opportunist, so what do I know?
- Edmonton: good job getting cheerleaders. You know, because having three of the most talked-about rookies in the league isn't going to help you sell tickets. Taylor who? People go to hockey games for the skanks, right?

Not sure if this is a plus or minus
Did anyone else notice, in his pre-Senators game interview, Tom Pyatt's hair made him look a little bit like Vanilla Ice?

QMJHL playoffs underway: in which czechtacular attempts (and probably fails) to withhold bragging about her own team(s).

I would definitely have bored you with this subject earlier, but the playoffs is the time of year that piques the most interest among followers so I've tried to give myself more hope. Plus, I like to think my game previews are rather efficient in giving you the whole What You Need to Know with side bonus details sprinkled in over top. I will attempt, but by no means promise, to be equally brief here.

The format used in the Q is new to even me, but each division forms seeds and plays within itself before merging onto a single scene and playing much like the conferences in the NHL do. In other words:

West Telus: Rouyn (1) vs. Val D'Or (4) (hey, that'll be pretty simple in terms of voyage!) and Montreal (2) vs. Gatineau (3)
Telus Centre: Drummondville (1) vs. Lewiston (4) (don't ask me, I didn't decide Maine could be considered 'centre'.) and Victoriaville (2) vs. Shawinigan (3)
East Telus: Quebec (1) vs. Bathurst (5) (this one's a weird one. Bathurst got more points than Baie-Comeau, who is actually in the East Telus division whereas Bathurst is in the Atlantic. But the Atlantic has six teams whereas every other division only has four, and the two worst teams in the whole league are cut from the playoffs. Still with me? I hope so.) and Rimouski (2) vs. Chicoutimi (3)
Atlantic Division: Saint John (1) vs. PEI (4) and Moncton (2) vs. Cape Breton (3).

And thennnnnnnnnnn (in my best Chinese takeout from Dude Where's my Car? accent) whoever emerges from the first round as the top seed overall plays the last seed overall and so on. The lowest-ranking "favourite" is Montreal and the highest is Saint John. Thus, barring upsets, those two would face each other in the second round (and I would be forced to bring my notes and books to the Verdun Auditorium in studying for finals because there's no way I'd miss that).

So who should we be looking out for?


The aformentioned Sea Dogs took over the league this year with their 22 game winstreak earlier in the year enabling them to sit atop that first seed throne. They form a stable hybrid of youth and veterans, and boast two champions from Drummondville's squad last year in sniper Mike Hoffman, drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the fifth round last draft as a 19 year old, and goaltender Marco Cousineau, playoff MVP of 2008-09 and Anaheim Ducks prospect. Workhorse defensemen Yann Sauvé and Simon Després provide an influx of offense in addition to their future-NHLer poise/defensive mad skillz (I know, I sounded almost credible until that point) and European forwards Stanislav Galiev and Tomas Jurco each finished with strong numbers in their rookie campaigns.

The Moncton Wildcats made a flurry of moves to bolster their roster and inform the rest of the league they're serious in their bid to re-live the days of the Keith Yandles and the Martins Karsumses and even the Josh Tordjmans. (Excuse my nostalgia, but it's the first President's Cup run I followed in its entirety.) Goaltender Nicola Riopel, despite only having played about a third of the season, has come up with some solid wins between the pipes for the Wildcats, and Nicolas Deschamps, acquired from Chicoutimi, finished tied for first in the league in points (there is some debate he can snatch away the "tied" part and claim the Jean Beliveau trophy from Sean Couturier but I'll bite my tongue about that for now).

The Victoriaville Tigres are the darkhorse of this top-4 it seems, but have also had a very strong campaign under bench boss Yanick Jean. They threatened Drummondville for tops in the West Telus Division for a time and also made several statements with their acquisitions over the Christmas break. They will look to surprise everybody with their efficiency in both kinds of special teams and capacity to upset the big guns on every squad.

(I've waited as long as I possibly could before claiming bragging rights, so keep that in mind.) From worst to first to second isn't too shabby for a Voltigeurs' squad that last year had Yannick Riendeau, Dany Massé, and the aformentioned Mike Hoffman doing all their scoring. 17-year old Sean Couturier (might) have the scoring title in just his second campaign. The Phoenix/Bathurst native is on his way to turning lots more heads en route to what looks like a top-3 position in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Chris DiDomenico is back from the broken leg he suffered during the last playoffs and has fared very nicely since his return. Habs' prospect Gabriel Dumont has the goal-scoring title in the Q with 51, and teammate/future teammate Philippe Lefebrve didn't fare too badly himself with 26 goals and 29 assists. Meanwhile, in nets, once crucified by Canadian hockey fans for bringing back silver (oh, the horror), Jake Allen now boasts the lowest goals-against average in the QMJHL and the CHL at 2.20 and has convinced his teammates and surely the rest of the league that he will be the go-to guy in the bid to bring Drummondville another title. I have a myriad of other Jake-isms for you, including his almost-record shutout streak of 188 minutes and 47 seconds, but I suspect you get the idea.

*photo cred: lhjmq.qc.ca, my Sea Dogs Newsletter that joyfully brightens up my inbox each Friday, and Journal L'Express Drummondville.

Predators get to us

Maybe the Habs needed a little help from Schwarzenegger on this one. The closest thing we had was Carey Price, and he definitely helped.  I've never felt this pleased after a loss before, and it's kind of confusing.

Interesting fact: Nashville won this game but Price still stopped over 50 shots on goal, a career record. He deserves some credit for saving a game that was mostly played in his zone.

It maybe wasn't quite as eventful as tonight's game in Toronto, of which I only watched the first period and I can definitely say that it's so much more fun watching the Flames win when a) it's not against Montreal and b) when they're embarrassing the Leafs. Within the first five minutes I'd seen two goals, two fights, and five guys hitting the penalty box. I kind of like Calgary again.
I'd also like to point out that the Air Canada Centre is definitely not cool enough to be blasting "Fight For Your Right" during a video montage, and that the lack of Beastie Boys during Habs games needs to be rectified. Can someone get on that? (And while we're on the subject, get well soon, MCA! From what I know, his radiation treatments should be over so I'm hoping all is well.)

As for Habs-Predators:

• Bouillon appeared pretty at ease with his new team but still gracious toward his old one. I thought seeing him play again might make me miss him, because he played big despite his small frame, and I kind of do miss him.
• The Latendresse flip-flop. He got benched, which was a shocker but a good decision on Martin's part, then was told to lace up his skates because an injury to Brian Gionta took him out of the lineup. Seriously? A lower-body injury? Didn't he just get over some flu-like symptoms? Someone needs to be taking better care of our Gionta. According to the graphics department at RDS, Nashville has two Jason Arnotts. How? Is Montreal eligible for this apparent athlete cloning? Can we get a backup Gionta? How about a second Markov - to sub in for the one who's injured right now, and then to stay on for penalty kills when Original Markov comes back?
• Okay, now on to Gui for real: giving him Chipchura and White as linemates seemed like a pretty great decision. It's a physically threatening line (surprise: Latendresse is a big guy) boosted by the speed and agility that Ryan White brings to the table. Plus all three of them kind of had something to prove tonight, with White still a little green, Chipchura back in the lineup, and Gui almost not part of it, so it was an excellent showcase for three young players to show us what they've got. We maybe didn't see them play their best tonight but there was some visible effort, especially by White and Chipchura.
• And yes, the recently re-elected man of the hour, Carey Price, played a great game. I'm not saying it started with his decision to dust off a country-western helmet for this game (when in Rome, you know... I'd probably have done the same thing) but you never know. He played fearlessly, he was impressive but not too flashy, and he only got more focused after the first goal went in. It would have been nice if some of our shots on goal had actually made their way into the net, but them's the breaks I guess.

Personally, I'm going to enjoy the next day of knowing that our loss can't be blamed on a single player, goaltender or otherwise, and of listening to the sound of people deciding which bandwagon they're on at the moment while I keep my feet on solid ground.

Two games in two days? Spooky...

The Habs were in Chicago last night, and they play again tonight. (Something tells me that Joel Bouchard will talk into the camera tonight as if it's the team and tell the players to eat a powerbar. But it's Halloween, so I say chocolate is acceptable.) Last night's game was exciting at times, and if the Habs can keep their energy level up I think that being on home ice against the Leafs might make the difference and win this game. (Also because the Leafs suck, obviously.)

On to last night's game. I'm starting to worry a little bit about games on the road, to be honest. I know that in part it might just be because Pittsburgh and Chicago are solid teams who didn't undergo as many roster changes as we have lately, so we got outplayed, but I'm still a little worried about whether we can keep things together.

That being said, last night's game was a big one for the younger players. Kyle Chipchura continued his trend of improved play. He's been playing with a lot of heart lately... now if only one of those shots could actually get in the net and shut everyone up about him. (Also thank you for getting into a fight and sticking up for your boy.) Max Pacioretty played one of his best games of the season so far. Guillaume Latendresse also had a decent game.

Goaltending was pretty good, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. And thus, I'd like to take this opportunity to say something in case there are still people who need this to be crystal clear: Carey Price does not suck. Sometimes athletes have bad games, yes. But they make it to the major leagues because they don't suck. I can go on, but I won't because it's not worth it.

And finally we get to Matt D'Agostini, who suffered a pretty disgusting hit to the head early in the game, didn't return to the ice, probably has a concussion, and that's all I know. Dear Chicago: You just lost YOUR CAPTAIN to a malicious head shot. Wouldn't that make you more familiar with what happens to a player after a hit like that, and how much the world hates the moron who hit him? No? Okay, then, Andrew Ladd, congratulations. You're an idiot. Thanks for injuring another one of our players, you know, because we can afford it. We have many other words for you, so if you'd like to know where we think you should go, contact us and we'll gladly give you a piece of our minds.

(Then to add insult to injury, Chicago won 3-2, meaning that we had to hear the world's most annoying goal song three times in one night. Good luck getting it out of your head.)

In any case, here's hoping that the team got enough rest since last night, since Mike Komisarek apparently expects to get booed (he's not a moron, you know) and we're guessing that losing to his old team a month ago has only made him angrier.

Tonight also marks the return of the old-school striped jerseys, which look a little dizzying on TV but would make awesome T-shirts, so get on it, merchandise people.

And finally, your bloggers would like to extend the biggest of Happy Birthdays to Tomas Plekanec!