Game 4 preview: Guess who's back?

No, not Paul Mara's beard

Carey Price will be starting in goal tonight.
Wow, it feels like I haven't typed those words in years. Proof that our Jaro is worth the ink he gets, but maybe just not ready for so many consecutive playoff games. (But that shouldn't be surprising... if the playoffs were easy for a goalie, then New Jersey would have won more than one game out of four.)

Did I just accidentally insult three people in one paragraph? ...That's bad.

Anyway, I'm getting ready for some hockey and gourmet burgers, so here's the beef:
Price and the non-Skeletor mask in net. By the way, it's one of the biggest stories on NHL.com. I thought that was pretty interesting.
Ryan O'Byrne gets to put some skates on, and maybe bust some Caps.
Mathieu Darche is a scratch, but with about three minutes of play in Game 3, that won't be much of a change.
Jaroslav Spacek and Scott Gomez missed the morning skate... Spacek is either mildly injured or watched Glee and Lost last night and can't concentrate on anything else. Unconfirmed rumours that he and Gomez spent this morning on MSN, exchanging OMG's. (Too many abbreviations, I know. I'll stop. I have dignity. I'm not Gossip Girl.)
I'd be willing to bet money that Semyon Varlamov is going to be Boudreau's guy for a while, so the boo-birds will have to wait a bit longer for a 60-minute round of Theo booing.

In other league news:
The Selke Trophy, for best defensive forward (or something of that nature) will be awarded to either previous winner Pavel Datsyuk, previous nominee Ryan Kesler, or guy that might have been nominated before but I don't remember, Jordan Staal.
The Lady Byng Trophy, awarded to the player who best balances being a good hockey player and being a good guy, will be handed to either Pavel Datsyuk (he's like Jeremy Piven and Best Supporting Actor awards), Brad Richards, who is not the same guy as Brad Richardson, or Martin St. Louis, who will probably be the focus of RDS reporting tonight. (It's OK! I'm okay with that!)
My nemesis (one of them, as I have many) got to meet gentleman and scholar Dave Stubbs, and I have yet to meet him, so I'm pretty angry about that, but it's not like there's anything I can do about it.

The Bulldogs also have a playoff game tonight, so there isn't much left to say...
Go Bulldogs!
Go Habs Go!

Plus/Minus: about a team that's got more energy than I do

This Plus/Minus is a little bit late and a little bit low-fi, and you readers deserve much better than that, but LA happened, then Continental Airlines happened with their red-eye flights and insanely boring inflight movie that bored me nearly to the point of sleep (but not quite, unfortunately), then jetlag happened, then sleep-deprived 18-hour days including work and workouts happened, then daylight savings time happened, costing me more sleep, and now I'm quite sure I have a cold.
So be forewarned, there are no colours, and I haven't proofread. It's like improv! Unscripted! Like Twitter, only longer!
... Nope, there's no way to make it sound fun. Please don't hate me.


PLUS

I had no choice but to yoink this from Habs I/O, as it's just the cutest thing ever aside from kittens

+ 6: Habs winning = happy Montreal.

+ to the gentleman who coined "KilimanJaro": my favourite pun right now.

+ to the Bell Centre DJ's sense of humour: playing the Tragically Hip's "Courage" as injured Tomas Plekanec made his way off the ice during the Tampa game... somehow, the lyrics "It couldn't come at a worse time" seemed to fit pretty well.

+ Andrei Markov, in general.

+ For the next week or so, I say we call #31 "Big Haircut." I'm so happy I could cry.

+ Kathryn Bigelow has finally proven, once and for all, that ladies can play with the big boys. And that's what this blog is about: reminding people that girls kick ass. (Also, hockey.) So suck it, James Cameron. (I'm putting a minus within this plus for Alec Baldwin, who I'm a huge fan of, but if he really for some reason felt the need to congratulate Kathryn Bigelow by smacking her ass, he could've at least waited until the telecast ended.)

MINUS

- I usually hate people who whine after a player gets traded, but there aren't as many people lamenting Matt D'Agostini as there should be, so here's my two cents: I'm going to miss 36 because his trade (to the Blues, no less, one of the more forgettable teams in the league, no?) marks another step in the dissolution of a boys club that I happened to love. Dags, Kyle Chipchura, Greg Stewart, and Carey Price won the Calder Cup together and brought some much-needed rookie energy to the Habs last season and the year before. They were all good friends off the ice, and the fact that they're the same age as me made them seem relatable, I guess kind of like the way that francophones like seeing Habs that are quebecois pure laine. They were a little group that I could root for within my favourite team, and while I don't like it when teams are broken up into cliques that eventually lead to conflicts, it was kind of nice to have a little core of guys that I could relate to, that would've been at my elementary school if we were all born in the same city. But now that little group is gone, leaving only Carey. Don't get me wrong, both he and I love the players that are on the Habs' roster right now, but it's not quite the same as it used to be for me. (Not to mention that people complained about D'Agostini's productivity this season, somehow forgetting that he was gone for over a month and suffered a pretty serious concussion... everyone remembers that Andrei Kostitsyn wasn't so dynamite after his head injury last season, and everyone knows how he's doing now, a year later. So if D'Agostini happens to tear it up next season in St. Louis, I'll hate to say I told you so.)

- Did Maxim Lapierre really deserve a four-game suspension for his hit? It warranted punishment, definitely, but four games seems like an awful lot when compared to other nasty hits and their accompanying sanctions. Looking at you, Aaron Ward. And you, Mike Richards, who almost killed a dude (but I guess a lifetime of playing for the Flyers is punishment enough). Sure, Ovechkin got punished for a hit that turned out to be a lot more damaging than he meant to, but it's just further proof that

- To the wonderfully classy and intelligent gentlemen who showed up to the Oilers game in blackface and Afro wigs, with "Subbanator" written on their jerseys. Words cannot describe their stupidity, and I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks they need to wear blackface a little more often so than passersby can throw eggs and other objects at them. (Props to Mike Boone for this gem: "Either bar those schmucks from the building or rename it the Jolson Centre.")

- What's with that suit jacket, Mike Cammalleri?

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.

Witty titles elude me today: Game Preview 11-25-09

Well, well, well. The Habs have an almost-identical record to the Pens in their last ten. Hard to have even conceived of, should you have a clear memory of the shellshocker that was the last game that these two met up (and believe me, I do). Ideally, the Habs will show that they have enough momentum behind last night's team win against the Blue Jackets to spur them heading into Mellon Arena, especially after a most encouraging sign, yes, that's right, Maxim Lapierre can survive without Guillaume Latendresse!

RDS' collective sigh of relief may not come yet, but here's hoping he adds to that tonight. (photo courtesy HabsInsideOut)

Injuries seem to be the new trend these days (newest: the limping Andrei Kostitsyn). Every team's got 'em, and despite how many eyes have been rolled at the cliches of saying so, it really is an awesome opportunity for some. Take David Desharnais for example. He's come a long way from his days of captaining the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and being that "too-short" kid just dying to get a shot. With every chance he got, he made something of it--most valuable player in the ECHL, a share of the top point-getting Hamilton rookies, his NHL regular-season debut--tonight of all nights against the defending champs.

These ones can fly

• A certain someone who I prefer not to name better not duplicate his feat of a hat-trick tonight.


• With seven points in five games and always dangerous, Evgeni Malkin (this is where my blogging counterpart runs and hides, for she saw the looks I gave my R.J. Umberger-supporting friend last night at the Bell Centre).


• Despite being 7-5-0-1 against Montreal, Marc-Andre Fleury has won his last two and faced a combined 53 shots in those games.


• Martin Skoula is ... from Litomerice? Wow, didn't know that. He's stepped up in the Pens' injury woes, notching two goals in a recent game against Atlanta.


• Maxime Talbot on the first line is a recipe for frustration that the Habs need to watch out for, lest there be penalty trouble.
  

Where the girls are

So it seems that while NHL hockey is still alive and well in our country, there are some problems brewing with the little guys.

More specifically, the little guys and girls.

First, I'll address a problem that's been plaguing the Greater Toronto Area for a while now, and that doesn't seem to be getting any better. There's a shortage of ice rinks, particularly due to the popularity of amateur hockey in the city. (No word on what team's success has inspired so many Torontonians to lace up their skates. If anyone has any idea, let me know.) There are too many teams and not enough rinks, and evidence to suggest that a city policy giving priority to youth recreational teams over competitive teams isn't being enforced. Girls' hockey teams aren't getting enough ice time, and Toronto mayor David Miller tried to make good by promising them more. Which, in theory, is great. Unfortunately, the only way he can make this promise is at the expense of other teams, namely boys' teams. There's no other solution for now, but obviously taking practice time away from anyone isn't an effective solution. Hockey players, at any level, want to play, and taking an opportunity to do so away from them isn't fair. It's simple common sense.

However, the Greater Toronto Hockey League, a competitive boys' league, seems to be reacting a bit selfishly to this decision. I'm not siding with anyone in this debate, but I'm also aware of the possibility that boys playing in the GTHL may have the talent to make the NHL someday, and while I don't want to take any training time away from that, I don't think that it's enough reason to give them priority over female hockey players of the same age and skill level. I strongly believe that a girls' hockey team should have just as many opportunities to practice as a boys' team (for reasons which I will continue to list) but I also believe that Toronto has a bigger problem than just dividing ice time - many major cities have had to cut budgets for things like arenas and community programs in favour of things that may seem more vital, like improved transit or sanitation, or wine tastings at city council. But there's a problem in doing so, and until government budgets start to magically afford everything should be paying for, there will always be a problem.

A shortage of rinks has also caused some crooked executive decisions to be made in Nanaimo, B.C., where a girls' bantam hockey team was dissolved by the local Minor Hockey Association. The association claims that a low turnout was to blame for the dissolution of this particular team, the Mid-Island Extreme, but the team's coach argues that there was no lack of interest this year. The girls who would have played for the Extreme have the option of trying out for a midget-level team alongside girls a couple of years older, where there will obviously be more competition for attention and thus possibly diminish their chances of being noticed by scouts and invited to play for higher-level teams or getting a chance at a hockey scholarship. This bid to increase ice time for remaining Nanaimo-based teams will likely benefit boys' teams, who already enjoy a more favourable practice schedule than their female contemporaries. According to Chuck Blanaru, a lawyer leading the complaint against the Association, "midget-level girls already have to practice at 5:30 in the morning once a week. But midget boys get two practices every week." This last quote doesn't put into evidence all of the ice time that both teams get, but it shows something...

Dedication. Little boys everywhere who grow up playing hockey pretend that they're going to make the NHL one day and imagine themselves on the ice with the greats. I've spent a decent amount of time babysitting and playing goalie for a tween boy who could spend hours practicing his moves, shooting plastic balls against basement walls and garage doors, and commentating his own plays as he weaved around his cul-de-sac pretending to take passes from Alexander Ovechkin and Alex Kovalev. Somehow, it's easy to see why the dream is more real for a little boy than a girl. And British Columbia has given the Canadiens (see: Price, Gorges, Fancy New O'B) and the NHL in general (Sakic, Kariya, Yzerman) some pretty impressive talent, so I guess a general desire to develop the talent of potential NHL stars can be pretty overwhelming, in B.C., Ontario, or anywhere that children play competitive hockey. But to somehow discredit girls' teams because their star forward will never lead a team to a Stanley Cup victory, and deny them the advantage of ice time or the opportunity to play, just isn't fair. The midget girls' teams in Nanaimo may have the disadvantage of waking up for 5:30 AM practice, but they do it anyway for love of the game. They may never have the chance to make nine million dollars a year playing hockey, no matter how good they are, but I'm betting that many of them are extremely talented and not at all discouraged by an age-old gender bias.

Women's hockey may not be as popular or as shiny as men's hockey most of the time, but female Canadian athletes have given little girls something to believe in. Take, for example, the gold-medal-winning Canadian Olympic hockey teams in both 2002 and 2006. Our womens' team was spectacularly talented, successful, and gracious. On that team was the fantastic Kim St-Pierre, who's set to make her third Olympic appearance in February. In case your memory needs refreshing, a little over a year ago, Carey Price was out with the flu and couldn't practice. The Habs needed a second goaltender to practice against, and who got the call to come out and play? The closest goalie who had enough talent to play with the big boys.

And she was female.

But it's not like things like this happen every day (St-Pierre was only the second female to come close to the NHL and she was present for just the one practice).

I hate to think that in 2009, female hockey players are at a disadvantage only because their male counterparts have the potential to go further. After all, this is young girls we're talking about. The Mid-Island Extreme girls are 14 and 15 years old. If there's ever a time in a girl's life where she could use something like a sports team to surround herself with people who support her and maybe let out some of her frustrations in an active way, around 14 or 15 would definitely be it. High school is a pretty tumultuous time for girls (as I'm sure it is for boys) and playing with a team, not to mention having a pastime that you're passionate about and releasing endorphins through physical activity, can do wonders for self-esteem. And that's on top of the physical advantages of regular exercise, especially among growing concerns of obesity in North American youth.

There's no reason good enough to keep girls away from sports, whether as players or fans. I hope that the issues in Toronto and Nanaimo come to some sort of logical conclusion for the moment, until the ice rink shortage can be resolved.

Picture worth (almost) a thousand words.

Let it be known to the rest of the population that wasn't at the Bell Centre last night: I love this man.

(No. Not Conboy, Russell, or Belle. I mean the man hovering over them, adamantly directing his players for the faceoff with 5.4 seconds left on the clock, having been disallowed a goal in a scramble that can only be described as frantically desperate.)


Before last night's contest against the Binghamton Senators, the Hamilton Bulldogs were the only team in the AHL that had yet to be defeated in regulation time. Guy Boucher is a very big part of the reason why.

You're going to look at me and say, "Well, obviously. He's the coach that led your little Drummondville team to their first President's Cup and all the way to the semi-finals of the Memorial Cup, of course you'd love him. He's a man that knows how to win." That's only the half of it. He's a man that knows how to lose, too.

Drummondville was not the centre of the QMJHL in 2007-08. They were more like the embarrassment. They weren't even at .500, they were at .200. In 70 contests, they only won 14. And sure, there was no Derick Brassard. Definitely no Guillaume Latendresse. Tomas Svoboda and Scott Howes were tearing up the Atlantic Division, and Tomas Zohorna went to play for Pardubice in the Czech Republic. The sole excuse that fans could fall back on was "it's a rebuilding year."

Ho, hum. Team full of youngsters or not, that excuse was never good enough for their coach. From a man that has battled adversity for much of his life, there could never be a "settlement" with the status quo, nor an acceptance of defeat just because of the uncontrollable factors. He let them know it, he let the media and the fans know it. He wanted more than anything to give the Voltigeurs' faithful the full product of what they came to see, and to do that, he knew his players needed to come out and play. There were practices at 5 a.m., there were bag skates, there was every disciplinary tactic you've ever heard of in the game of hockey. And sometimes, the night before would have only been a 2-1 loss, rather than an 8-2 shellshocker.

Why? Guy Boucher is a man who values work ethic. If you don't fight hard enough to get even close to that tying goal, your level of talent (or lack thereof) immediately becomes void. He wouldn't shy away from telling letting the media know what he felt was lacking, either. In a single press conference, he can be asked just one question, "What went wrong tonight?" and be able to leave everyone with soundbytes worth an entire newscast. But he's not a man that singles out a particular player. When he's ashamed of a loss, it's because he knows his team could do better.

It's that kind of mentality that the Canadiens need on their farm club, to not only promote the worth of their prospects, but to band them all together so that if one guy makes it to the Habs ahead of another, it won't be so much every-man-for-himself but more like "that's awesome for him. Now I know what I've got to do to join him."

Result? The Canadiens' call-ups have all been different this season. Weber. Belle. Carle. White. Pyatt. You try and tell me I'm making this up.

It was visible last night when the 'Dogs mustered 37 shots on goal, with all of it only leading to more frustration, except in the instance of P.K. Subban's marker. Everyone at the bench was on their feet hoping for their teammates to bury a loose puck, only to watch so many power play chances come up fruitless. There were several points during the game in which goals were thought to have been scored, and Boucher's classic bench-boss intensity--a trait he is known league-wide to be one of the masters of--was very prevalent even in the dying seconds.

Except that he knows how to use that intensity for better means. He had moved on from the non-goal and was working with his players to try and get a new one, despite the improbability of that happening.

Always working towards what can be done the next time, only lingering briefly on the mistakes. That's the kind of mentality that owns a President's Cup ring, and that won't be the last piece of hardware that comes to it.