It's always spiteful in Philadelphia

I forgot that those "What DIDN'T happen today?" days could happen in June.

So the Flyers take away Columbus' Jakub Voracek and give them Jeff Carter, who I don't like precisely because he's a Philadelphia Flyer. But he didn't make Team Canada without being good at hockey, so this might actually be good for the Jackets. Do I stick to my stubborn guns or swallow my pride? Is this how Columbus reacts to being pushed aside last season in favour of the more exciting LA Kings? It was like your favourite indie band selling out and putting a song on some superhero movie soundtrack, but the song isn't terrible, and you don't know what to think of them anymore.

Oh, but then Philadelphia wasn't finished messing with what could have been a fabulously productive day. No, why would they be? I'm going to look up the name of the Flyers' GM (I don't know it because I really couldn't care less about the guy) then find him on Facebook or something and give him a piece of my mind.

(Paul Holmgren, eh? Well, get ready for a strongly worded email, Paul.)

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of Mike Richards. He's my age but he looks and acts like he's someone's dad, and that is not to be taken as a compliment. (Not in this instance. But I know lots of great dads, including my own, who are much better people than Mike Richards.) I'm also confused whenever teams trade away their captains, unless they really don't want the guy as captain anymore for some terrible reason. (Maybe I'm just too loyal to captains.) But, whatever, even though the Flyers built Mike Richards and thus deserve him, they decided to put him up for trade. 

And, of course, to spite me, they go after the Los Angeles Kings, who I'm having a not-so-secret flirtation with. So, yeah, in some cruel twist of fate, we'll all get to see Mike Richards in a Kings jersey next year, and not in a "dump a bucket of pig's blood on him at the prom" kind of way. Remember when Richards went off about P.K. Subban and rookies and respect and stuff? The Kings are in the middle of a renaissance, aided in part by all these draft picks and prospects. He's either going to teach them something or turn into a whiny old man really fast.

At least Brayden Schenn will be spared of potential rookie-bashing? Nope, there's no bright side to this.

To make matters worse, Wayne Simmonds is a Philadelphia Flyer. I love Simmonds. I don't love the Flyers. This does not compute. There have been rumours of Simmonds trades for a while now, and I was really hoping he'd stay put. Or maybe be traded to the Habs, because who doesn't want a fast, aggressive, threatening goal-scorer? Instead, he was taken away from a team that I love and sent to the Flyers. And I already know that he'll make a great Flyer, and I'll have to watch him be a great Flyer four times this year against my Habs.

It hurts.

So in one day, Philly poached two players Czechtacular loves and two players I love from the Western Conference. Nope. The Flyers aren't doing anything to make me like them.

Unless this whole Wayne Simmonds thing pans out.

Plus/Minus: a thriller of a week.

Any week where snowfalls don't outnumber Habs wins is a good week, right?

PLUS

+ How great is our captain? What a week for Brian Gionta.
+ Carey Price was just one of the younger guys who impressed me this week. PK put points on the board. Yannick Weber was great against the Rangers. And Picard actually did things.
+ Johan Franzen scored five goals in one game. Um. I don't even know what to say. Other than I'd look really good right now if I'd put him on my All-Star team. And "you don't mess with the Johan."
+ G9 Sports, launched on February 1st, should be in your bookmarks. It's a website, written entirely by female sports fans, that covers every major North American league. Most of its writing staff don't have other blogging outlets, so it's also a great showcase for writers who seriously know their stuff. Take note of two of G9's hockey blogs: "Straight Jackets" which is run by our friend Dannie, and "Leaf It To Her" which may be a Leafs blog but it's also run by our friend Bhavna, who introduced us to the "Joe Thornton Is Canada" concept. We're incredibly proud of both of them. And you should be too!
+ Biznasty scored a goal!!!
+ Congratulations, Green Bay Packers! Now I don't have to stop wearing my Packers tuque.
+ Oh, and the Habs fans at the Super Bowl. Proof that a) we're everywhere and b) there are more expensive tickets in sports. (Which does not refute a Minus in this post.)

MINUS

- See that picture up there? Someone wrote that on the wall in a bathroom by the Bell Centre. I found it on Saturday after the Rangers game ended. I'm often grossed out by things I see in public bathrooms, but this might be the worst. Who on earth would desecrate a public place like this? Those walls are reserved for Habs' names and hearts. This is like graffiti terrorism.
- The snow (or something) prevented Team 990 superfan Louis from being at work on Wednesday night. He's an usher at the Bell Centre, and I was a little disappointed to see he wasn't at the entrance to his section. I could've totally been recognized for the non-celebrity I am. After all, it's not like being the girl on Game Points every Tuesday will get me free meals at the city's finest restaurants.
- Concessions at the Bell Centre got even more expensive. My popcorn was $6.60, and Steph Darwish of Lady Loves Hockey noticed that beer now costs $10.10. What? I remember when beer cost $9.75.
- George W. Bush, Cameron Diaz, and A-Rod were all on TV during the Super Bowl. OK, whatever, thanks, but next time can we see someone on TV who's either relevant or cheering for one of the teams that's playing? There were plenty of celebrities at the Super Bowl. And I bet most of them weren't stuffing popcorn into A-Rod's mouth.

- So a lot of people were upset by a contest on MotherPucker.ca called "Twitter Hockey Hottie" wherein  girls with pretty profile pictures get seeded, then voted off bracket-style and the winner gets a prize. The upside to this contest was that the women who participated last year didn't pander to the online creeps and put up ridiculous pictures that make them look like Maxim wannabe-models. That's literally the upside. So, obviously, this contest already looks like it would be minus material. People spoke out against it, and the guy running the contest decided to cancel it. Of course, he didn't apologize to the people who disagreed with him. He was just too lazy to take the heat for something he'd done, so basically no one on either side of this "debate" is happy. He should have either continued the contest and accepted all the hate directed at him, or cancelled the contest and ended it there, instead of whining like a petulant child. But that's my two cents.

Oh, and happy birthday, Steven Stamkos!

Oh now we're back again: Game Preview 3-9-10

Having completely missed the last two games due to a pressing need for a weekend vacation (also the fact that ESPN is not exactly one's RDS, now, is it) I'm feeling a little inadequate and at a loss of words to blog with right now. However:

The Canadiens had two big wins after their falling-apart episode on Thursday night, the most recent being a comeback shootout win against Anaheim on Sunday. That extra point shoved them back up into 7th spot in the East, and while tonight's opponent sits at 11th, all they need to catch up are four points, two of which they would love to get tonight.

Tomas Plekanec seems to be shaking things up again after a brief post-Olympic quiet spell (in which he said "nothing to see here folks, carry on" and snapped a shot past Jonas Hiller to cap the comeback). I'm just sitting here clutching my jersey waiting for an extension, which is apparently supposed to get done sometime "soon."

Not going to delve into the goalie situation, but the general feeling is the same: we shouldn't be worried about who's stopping what, just that the pucks stay on the right side of the red line. Now Tampa!

Bolts (not the animated movie about the dog, no)

• Steven Stamkos is ridiculous and so is his point-streak (29 PTS/16GP).
• Steve Downie is taking a more disciplined approach this season, so the tendency to depend on him as the wild child penalty-taker shouldn't be at play as much as it has been over the course of his career.
• The "homeslices" that I shouldn't need to name at this point (26, 4) are also on their usual point-scoring tears and the fact that this is a Bell Centre game should only add to their motivation.

Plus/Minus switches its CH for a Team Canada jersey

Earlier this week Tom Pyatt said "There's lots of action going on here in Montreal." That was pretty accurate - the last week or so has definitely given us a lot to talk about. Now that changes for a couple of weeks. No Habs games means I have more time to watch Lost. It also means less Roman, less Carey, less Metro... but it also means more Kim St-Pierre. 

Plus

+ to #14 for ending Washington's 14-game winning streak.
+ Our Hamilton callups were a huge part of the team this week, both literally and figuratively. They were fantastic - all thirty-five of them.
+ Scott Gomez was great this week. Two goals, plus he didn't back away from Chris Pronger after Friday's game.
+ to one of our favourite bloggers, JT from The H Does Not Stand For Habs, whose comments section became a minor firestorm of francophone backlash this week after she commented on this city's need for a French-speaking GM. Some people apparently weren't very happy with her, and it was ridiculous criticism for one of the most level-headed and knowledgeable amateur journalists this team has. I'm not going to go into it any further because talking about the language issue as it relates to the Canadiens is like hitting on a gay guy: I can say whatever I want but it's not going to change anything.

+ She looked a little disappointed that she didn't win gold, but I'm still proud of Jennifer Heil's silver in moguls, and of all our Olympians so far, including skier Alexandre Bilodeau who just made history by becoming the first Canadian athlete to win a gold medal in Canada.
+ Team Canada!!! Watching Olympic hockey is part of what got me back into watching hockey, so I'm looking forward to the next two weeks. Hayley Wickenheiser is so awesome.

The biggest + of the week A plus and a big thank you go out to all the readers who made comments this week and increased my donations to the Canadian Cancer Society, to those of you who will comment after I type this, and to everyone who's helped spread the word and to everyone who's going to match our total donation. So far that's only one person, but it still makes $4 for every comment! This plus is also for NHL Arena boards poster bMac for designing the "Comments = Donations" graphic mere hours after I asked for it.

He's from Ontario and he's not even a Habs fan but he helped the cause regardless of his allegiances, so a Hal Gill-sized thanks goes out to him.
I had originally said that the charity drive would end with this Plus/Minus, but you've got until midnight on February 15th instead so say anything you want until then!


Minus

- Geez, what's with the head injuries? It's bad enough that we've already got a variety of injuries on this team.  Two Habs were carted off the ice this one week bleeding from the head... I have my suspicions as to why the injury fairy's been going crazy on us lately, which I might share when the time is right. But Gorges and Spacek get a plus within this minus for picking themselves up and not missing the next game, just because they're badass like that.

- I don't like giving minuses to players, but it kind of hurt to see our goaltenders not playing as well as we know they can against the Flyers. This isn't necessarily a minus to them (there's enough hate directed our goalies as it is) but rather to the way that Saturday's game turned out.

- I already expressed my anger about Michael Leighton taking up with P.K. Subban after Friday's game. Stupid, unsportsmanlike, and completely useless to mess with a guy after his first NHL game, because there's no way Leighton could have any beef with him.

I'm not used to seeing the Habs calendar only half-full, but it is. So, go Canada, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the world brings to the table.

On beating the Capitals

Every now and then, a team will play a game that says a lot about them as a team, and as a franchise.

Last night's 6-5 OT win against the Washington Capitals was that kind of game.

The Canadiens proved that there's a lot to be proud of. Our prospect development might be seeing a turnaround, as Tom Pyatt and David Desharnais recorded their first NHL points. Our small forwards (that ever-popular joke material) played big. Even Scott Gomez got in on the game. You know it's a special night when Gomez scores a goal. The team proved that when they really get things going, they can overcome pretty much any challenge.

It was also the proof, once and for all, that some idiots will never be happy with this team. They didn't seem to notice that the Canadiens ended the Capitals' 14-game winning streak, a feat that not even the reigning Stanley Cup champions were able to accomplish. I'm not even sure these people even know the Habs won. Hell, some of them (I won't name names, but they're people who should know better) couldn't even stop player-hating long enough to acknowledge that their home team won. Two points, hello? Isn't that a good thing? They couldn't even set aside the so-called "goalie controversy" long enough to realize that Jaroslav Halak might need some rest, and that it's maybe not a good idea to have him start every game before our Philadelphia aller-retour, tire himself out, then jump on a plane to Vancouver, be Slovakia's go-to guy for the Olympics, and come back and play some more. Even if this was the case, there'd be more bellyaching no matter where the Canadiens wind up in the standings come season's end.

People like this are exactly the reason why we haven't won the Stanley Cup in over a decade. There, I said it. You know what else I'm going to say? Congratulations, Habs, on an exciting win despite a slew of injuries and a really tough opponent.

Meatballs and meatheads: Game Preview 2-2-10

Third in the west, first in the Northwest, in addition to their usual pain-in-the-butt nature the Vancouver Canucks add their illustrious timing to come to prey on a Cammy-less Canadiens' squad tonight at the Bell Centre. Judging by the way my dog reacted when I finished typing that sentence (though it could just be the mailman), things once again look ominous for the bleu-blanc-rouge. But apparently the more ominous I make my game preview, the more they come out to surprise everyone.

Tomas Plekanec once again faces the prospect of new linemates. D'Agostini, Spacek and Mara made the pre-game skate this morning, but no word on their return dates. Cammalleri is out for six weeks. Insert other depressing fact here.

Neutral fact: Jaroslav Halak gets the nod between the pipes tonight. And now, bullet points:

• Remember when no one knew who Alex Burrows was? Man, those were the days.
• Reminding everyone what Swedish meatball leads the league in scoring is too redundant, but word is his twin brother's not too shabby, either.
• Mason Raymond, a Rookie favourite, risks prompting a Rookie hiatus similar to the one I just started with the Calgary Flames, which is ironic because Raymond grew up a fan of theirs. NHL.com reports he has five points in his last three games.
• If it was possible for Mikael Samuelsson to be more annoying, he has been since the famous Snub.
• Last but not least, Rookie called it St-Leonard's national holiday for a reason. Roberto Luongo looks to backstop his team for their second win in the Canucks' current roadtrip.

The Game That Wasted A Perfectly Good Sign

Picture quality nonwithstanding.

Tonight's game, much like the last five, have given me no reason to wish for anything but starting the entire team from scratch and/or hiring hitmen to discreetly take out as many opposing players as possible to make a team forfeit because they're wondering "how did we suddenly lose so many players?" Actually, one hint may be this weather, but according to all reports (at least 21, 271 of them--yes, the two seats next to me were actually empty) no members of the Minnesota Wild perished from frostbite. Shame.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have at last erupted from my academic coma. It is not to announce great things, however. The Habs have lost their last five in a row and tonight was just one of those examples where everything went wrong, and no one was good enough no matter how desperately they pushed at the net (or from it). The recluse of the penalty box was not as prominent an option to avoid the pinball-puck waiting for every man wearing a CH this time around, but boy was it noticeable that Hamrlik wasn't there. So few powerplays leave the frightening reality that goes by the name of Marc-Andre Bergeron. Not that I can pin the blame entirely on him (as much as I'd enjoy that). The Habs never typically do well around this time of year, and as much as this year would love to be different, it hasn't. (And all I can hope for in my temporary long distance from my mini-calendar is that we don't have the fateful December 23rd game this year. Please tell me we don't. Please. I can see the RDS montages now.)

The only thing that warranted any laughs were the Annie Villeneuve-chants. He's no Sidney Crosby or Mike Komisarek to the Bell Centre crowd, but there's definitely no shortage of ways to pick on LaTender.


Either the best or worst thing happens now. A ridiculously long roadtrip. The maybe not-so-good thing is the "inferior" (for now) teams the Habs will face along the way. They tend to save their best for Ovechkin, or centennial games that I miss because I'm at a game of my own, or something. But here's hoping the CHristmas cheer will extend far enough to break out of this slump. Spike the eggnog, ring the bells, tear the wrapping paper, find some W's, and climb those standings, boys! It's my new CHristmas wish. One I'd like to share with all Habs' fans.