Something to look out for over the next few weeks...

While pre-development and post-draft and pre-training camps along with the ever-tumultuous free agency season will surely keep your writers busy over the coming months, we still need to commemorate the year that was. So we're getting a leg up on the NHL's actual hardware session with a series of our own recognitions.

Our first and second categories, which you get to help choose, are the following:





Roster shots are our first impressions. Impressions that can be brightened by an eager smile or flattened by robotic poses. A couple of ~czechtacular favourites highlight the "best" category (simply because each of them made me laugh out loud, otherwise you'd see four Plekanec heads, okay), but the randoms are worth noting if not for their happiness to actually be sitting there (notions that ex-Habs Tanguay and Streit seem to have undervalued) but also for their epic hairdos. While Boston's photographers seem to have ignored the "allocated head-room" rule by including way more grey than necessary in their shots, and we still don't know why the Habs insisted on posing like they were covering something, photographic style was not an element included in the "worst" category (Tanguay, though, provided the best "Robot" of the Lightning).

Unless you want to look through 27 pages of gettyimages and tell me I'm missing someone, have a go at voting for (or against) these!

Habs Development Camp kicks off Tuesday

Habs' prospect Gabriel Dumont. Photo from Journal L'Express
Since hockey fever ran rampant in Montreal this season I'm pretty sure this is the Habs' way of spreading themselves out so that we don't have too much withdrawal. A "pre-development" development camp of sorts (in that it obviously won't include the players of this year's draft, lest Trevor Timmins have some mind-altering time-warping abilities we don't know about) starts this Tuesday, June 1st, and runs until Saturday, June 5th. I commissioned myself to this blog post because I happen to have seen a hell of a lot of 5 of the 22 players in the last few years, rookie seasons, President/Calder/Memorial Cup runs and all.

Drummondville-bragging aside, last year's first-rounder Louis Leblanc is sure to be a headline again, especially now that his chances of making his QMJHL debut this season are something that Chicoutimi Sagueneens head-coach and GM Richard Martel has a firm belief in. The rest of those attending camp, divided into forwards-dmen-netminders are as follows:

BISHOP, Hunter
CICHY, Michael
DUMONT, Gabriel
FORTIER, Olivier
HOUSE, Tanner
JOHNSON, Patrick
KRISTO, Danny
LEBLANC, Louis
LEFEBVRE, Philippe
MASSÉ, Dany
NATINNEN, Joonas
QUAILER, Steven

BENNETT, Mac
DESNOYERS, Marc-Antoine
HARVEY, Myles
KISHEL, Scott
NASH, Brendon
STEJSKAL, Joe

BÄUMLE, Thomas
BLANCHARD, J.-Christophe
GILL, Riley
SIMILA, Petteri


Tryout Marc-Antoine Desnoyers was the Voltigeurs' (and almost the league's) standout on defense this past year. The 20 year old wasn't gun-shy either, registering 54 points, plus the franchise's first-ever playoff hat trick against Rimouski. However, it was his +47 rating that made him most valuable.

Ex-Rimouski captain Olivier Fortier missed most of the year due to injury, but managed to show off his abilities in the few playoff games he played in with Hamilton. He registered his first professional goal in a 3-2 win against Abbotsford in the Western Conference semi-final, which turned out to be the game-winner.

Dany Massé's season was a lot like Fortier's, coming off injuries faced in the President and Memorial Cup runs of 2008-09. For a player that was often scratched and put on fourth-line duty, he managed to register a shot for every game he played and stay on the plus side defensively.

Free-agent signing Philippe Lefebvre, who may or may not be a Montreal Junior as of next season, proved why he should have been drafted. The Trois-Rivières native racked up close to 30 goals with Drummondville despite only being relied on as second-tier offense.

Last year's 5th-rounder Gabriel Dumont probably doesn't need to be elaborated on for my poor Twitter followers. But for those who don't share that misfortune, picture your typical energy guy.....on speed. He can be the smallest guy on the ice, but if the other team's fridge of a tough guy happens to be in one of his teammates' faces, guess where Dumont is headed. He'll play through anything and everything, as his broken hand this year and myriad of other injuries last year can tell you, and, as a bonus, he can lead the league in scoring (51 goals, 2009-10). This season, in addition to his somewhat surprising stats, he received the Guy Carbonneau Trophy for defensive forward of the year (which, by the way, Fortier had won two years prior).

So I went on a ramble on that last one. Sorry. Let's just be happy Sean Couturier is only draftable in 2011, otherwise we'll just be here all day.

Plus/Minus: perfect cure for the playoff hangover

It's been a hell of a season, and I'm sad it's over. At the same time, I'm kind of enjoying the rest and free time, as I'm sure our Habs are. I'm also quite sure that combining "time with friends" and "get out of the house to avoid American Idol" is something that only I, not an NHL player, would be happy about. They're probably enjoying the extra sleep and not needing to be on a plane every other day and whatnot. Meanwhile, fans everywhere are thisclose to pulling their hair out because of the lack of hockey and the Habs Inside/Out server crash.

BETTER THAN MAKING IT TO THE CONFERENCE FINALS

Little-known fact: Scott Gomez uses these moments to unleash the meanest "yo momma" jokes in history.

(photo from canadiens.com)

+ I'm sad that the season's over without some rings on our Habs' hands, but if you read my last post, you know how proud I am of my team.
+ An outdoor game between the Habs and Flames next season? Excuse us while we break out into song.
+ To our second-favourite country, the Czech Republic, winning the world championship.

Good job, guys!

+ A recent Gazette article said that stores selling Canadiens merch got a lot of requests from women who wanted lady Hab shirts in "the real colours" - this is a huge step in our crusade against pink hockey merch!
+ Here's to you, Jaroslav Halak. Habs fans love you more than you will know. (wo wo wo)
+ In addition to his arsenal of on-ice tricks, Mike Cammalleri unleashed a new weapon during the Flyers series: making crazy faces. We love it.
+ Maxim Lapierre for being an effective shit-disturber.
+ All the supporting players who've come out of the woodwork and helped the Habs get as far as they've come.
+ I've come under some heat for saying this, but I'd like to thank those morons in Philadelphia for restoring the good name of Habs fans.


WORSE THAN LOSING TO THE FLYERS
(although, seriously, is there anything worse than losing to the Flyers?)

photo from Facebook via Bulldogs fan Scott Gardner, who I've never met but he seems to have had awesome Game 7 seats

- The Bulldogs lost too? Aw.
- Am I to honestly believe that in the months since the Habs took Dominic Moore, there hasn't been time to stand him against some white wall and take a picture? Why does he still have his Flo Panthers roster shot?
- "Start the season with injury and finish the season with injury." We miss you already, Marky! November seems so far away.
- If I may express personal opinion for a second (and I will, because this is my blog and you'll listen to every damn word I say), I hate Dustin Byfuglien. If that's how you spell it. I usually just call him "Fugli" and leave it at that.
- Alain Crete's new glasses make him look like some kind of hipster Mr. Magoo. I guess I'm glad the season's over.
- RIS gets a major minus for promising to air season postmortem interviews live on Tuesday. They did not.
- Twice now, the Moron Rioters have unleashed destruction upon downtown Montreal mere days before the Habs get eliminated from the playoffs. I'm just a bit too superstitious to let this slide one more time, so tell everyone you know that rioting makes the Habs lose.


The Winter Classic and Kyle Klubertanz purchase news are obvious attempts from the NHL to keep me writing, but I need to take a couple of days of "me" time, if only to get used to the sight of Jonathan Toews' mutton chops. I'll probably be back before you know it, but before I (briefly) go, I'd like to thank you readers for a great season! It's been a fun first season for me, and knowing that so many of you are reading and coming back to Hab It Her Way so often makes me try to be a better writer. Okay, sappy part over, sunbathey part begins!
See you at the end-of-season sale, maybe? If I don't see you here first?

A note on the Bulldogs

Second post-mortem post in a row. Second series loss endured by PK Subban and Ben Maxwell in the last three days. I'd pile on the vodka except there's a little too much Motrin in my system at the moment.

The Hamilton Bulldogs had thrown more than double the shots on net than the Texas Stars could muster against them, but fell victim to four unanswered goals and missed the chance to repeat 2007's exploits against Hershey in the Calder Cup Finals, losing Game 7 by a score of 4-2.

For now we'll talk about the 31 franchise records that were made on the way to this loss and the 52-17-3-8 record that few expected with a rookie coach behind the bench, constant callups, injuries, and other threats to team chemistry. Much like its parent in the NHL, this team wasn't supposed to be where it was. By the looks of all the newcomers and the number of potential and eventual graduates, it was en route to maybe pushing the 40-win mark, and even that would have been deemed respectable. But they went above and beyond, bringing new faces and even newer prospects to the Conference Finals of the AHL, and each of these made their own mark on the franchise (which quite frankly is really all Guy Boucher asks for from his players). Two goaltenders with both the talent and the experience saved and stole games for the Bulldogs, the defense corps shattered offensive records while providing a mainstay on the blueline, while the "never make it"s and the "too short"s collaborated to burn out those red lights behind opposing goaltenders much like you'd see in that Vapor commercial.

I'll admit I had a selfish want in following this team's playoff run: getting the opportunity to follow two successive Guy Boucher league titles. But the Blue Jackets (among others) are already drooling and it's not because he didn't make it to the final dance. It's for all that stuff that happened way before that opportunity could have even been thought of. Much can be the same for every member of the Hamilton Bulldogs: each of them gets to come out of this a little bit older, a little bit wiser, and a lot more confident and hungry for the next time. Pretty attractive stuff.

That's all folks

The Canadiens' semi-charmed playoff run is over. Lost just wrapped up, sort of, with a series finale. Tuesdays just aren't the same, and even though the sun shone so brightly this afternoon, it felt like a dark day. I'm not - repeat, NOT - a sore loser, but I'm going to miss the Canadiens until next season.

I'll be honest here: I've been thinking about what I'd write in my end-of-season post pretty much since the playoffs started. It might be a little tough for me to remember what I wanted to write a tumultuous month and a half ago, so I might forget a few things. But one thing that I certainly won't forget to mention is how proud I am of this team. Everyone assumed that this season would be all about slow rebirth, and we'd be seeing promise of the suture but still coming in dead last in the league, giving us the advantage of the #1 draft pick. But our Habs proved us wrong: who wants a Taylor or a Tyler when you've got a Jaro, a PK, or a Tomas?

That, of course, was only one of the questions that this season's team answered:
What would happen if almost none of last year's free agents stayed with the Canadiens? (I actually asked this to ~czechtacular about a year ago, and followed it up with "Who would be captain?" Still waiting on an answer for that last one.)
What would happen if Halak became more than just the other white meat?
Are we going to make the playoffs?

It was a regular season full of ups and downs and injuries and roster changes. How I ever thought that the 2008-09 season would have given me more blog material is beyond me, really. (Let's keep that last part between us, ok?) We started this blog in the preseason, after all of the summertime buying, selling, trading, and all the other things that happen in the offseason and have had tons to write about. We've made it to 200 posts in less than a year, and we have our incredible Canadiens to thank. This is a team that didn't give up despite losing big-ticket players to injury at various points during the season. This is the team that snapped the Washington Capitals' epic winning streak, long before eliminating them from the playoffs. This is the team that got rid of the defending Stanley Cup champions. Yes indeed, ladies and gents, this is the team that knocked two of the best teams in the league out of the race for the Stanley Cup. This is the team that shut down the NHL's two biggest stars. This is the team that snuck into playoffs and made it to the final four. This is also a team that looked very, very different at this time last year. Bob Gainey cobbled together a bunch of players from all over the league, and in less than a year they became Stanley Cup contenders. I expected a lot of the new players not to know what they were in for, that playing for the NHL's most storied franchise also meant that they would be living their lives under a microscope, in a place where "La ville est hockey" is more than a slogan. So far, all the players who've joined the Habs' roster in the last year have embraced their role as  Montreal Canadiens both on and off the ice.

They've given me a team I can be proud of, and a team I can write about even when I have very little to say. They stuck around for a whole month after my birthday, for the first time in a very long time.
So the best thing I can say, on the first Tuesday of this year where I have no Lost and no hockey (only Glee), is a retweet of the last thing Damon Lindelof will say about the Lost finale:
"Remember. Let go. Move on. I will miss it more than I can say."

Here It Goes Again

Game 5 is upon us, and it's yet another elimination game. The Habs, the journalists, and the fans know this dance so well that we don't even need to hear the music anymore.

A very important step in the playoff tango

This time a lot of people think that our team has reached the end of the road, and really only one thing has remained unsaid: It's not over til it's over, bitches!

Go Habs Go.

Game preview: Habs v Flyers, Game 4

100th game of the 100th year... Good going, Habs!

No, I don't know what's up with a Saturday afternoon game either. I hate afternoon games because I always forget what time it is, and assuming it's around 10:00 once the game ends, I feel just a bit sleepier than I did three hours earlier, even though I haven't had supper yet.

In any case, the Habs turned their game around on Thursday (killing my Videotron feed and my recorded TV shows in the process, of course) so things are definitely looking better than they did a few days ago. So here's what to watch out for:

• Will Michael Leighton want revenge?
• The Battle of the 13's: There's a lot of speculation about unfinished business between Mike Cammalleri and Daniel Carcillo, whose mustache is apparently to be feared, although Pouliot-stache was much cooler. RIP, Pouliot-stache.
• Speaking of Carcillo, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone's favourite troublemaker Max Lapierre got all up in his face today. (Carcillo: "I don't understand when he talks sometimes!" Me: "Then move to Arizona but stay away from the Coyotes!")
• And speaking of Lapierre, now that Ian Laperriere has been cleared to play, I'm sure American commentators are shaking at the prospect of having to pronounce both names properly.
• Finally, the Habs' supporting cast will probably continue their upswing from last game. Go Habs Go!

Edit: it's almost game time and yes, it looks like my sister's favourite Jeff Carter will be taking the ice even though he's still broken, and that Carcillo's been left out of the lineup. I will not make any assumptions about him being scared.

Pregame shows for this game:

RDS: The usual - entire reporting staff is outside wearing headsets, talking about absolutely everything that could possibly be discussed. Fans cheering in background.

CBC: Toronto FC.

NBC: Gymnastics.

Yes, gymnastics.