Everyone’s caught up with Canadiens spirit. Here, four cars back to back have Canadiens flags. They were quickly joined by a fifth, a couple of guys rushing to a nearby apartment with a case of beer.
Even STM drivers are getting in on the action, including this poor soul who had to work during the first playoff game between the Canadiens and Boston Bruins tonight. Let’s hope his show of support isn’t denounced by his employer as being “vandalism.”
NHL Eastern Conference Standings (FINAL)
First in the Eastern Conference. First in goals in the NHL. And our first-round opponent will be the Boston Bruins, who we’ve beaten 10 times in a row.
Awesome.
Maclean’s is going for the big popularity grab with a front-page story on why the Toronto Maple Leafs are such a piss-poor hockey team. It focuses mainly on the fact that the organization makes lots of money whether the team wins or not, and there’s not as much pressure to succeed. It blames apparently systemic internal management problems, as well as the complacency of the Leafs audience, which pays the largest ticket prices in the NHL year after disappointing year.
To me, this brings up a simple question: Why don’t the Montreal Canadiens have the same problem? The Bell Centre hasn’t had an unpaid-for regular-season seat in years, including all 82 games last year — a year we finished one point below the Leafs and out of the playoffs. It’s not like the Habs aren’t also scamming fans out of money by focusing on the past instead of the present.
One clue is briefly touched on in the article, so passing a mention that it’s enclosed in parentheses: The media.
For all the references to the city’s rabid media corps, the team is, in fact, treated with kid gloves and feted at any sign of improvement.
This would seem to contrast with the Montreal media’s treatment of the Canadiens. Anything short of the Stanley Cup is unacceptable (though no serious journalist put the team anywhere near the top of the standings they’re sitting in now — most didn’t even have them making the playoffs). We’ll berate you if you don’t speak our language, and we’ll even bug you while you’re recovering in a hospital bed. Oh, and make sure you repeat your answer to our questions 16 different times so everyone gets it. It’s gotten so bad, head coach Guy Carbonneau had to step in this week and ask the media to calm down.
So I ask you, dear readers (and bloggers, including the ones I totally dissed yesterday): What makes the Habs better than the Leafs in the long-term?
Something to think about as the Habs totally kick the Leafs’ ass tonight at the Bell Centre. (I’m working in sports tonight, so if you think of an awesome headline to mark the triumphant win, let me know and I’ll arrange to get it rejected by a senior editor.)
With the whole Patrick Roy scandal still fresh in everyone’s mind, a new debate has been sparked by The Gazette’s Red Fisher: Should the Canadiens retire his No. 33 jersey, as they’re expected to do next year?
Roy abdicated his rights to that honour with his capitulation to irrationalism on Dec. 2, 1995, when a stunned Forum crowd saw him allow nine goals on 26 shots in an 11-1 meltdown to the Detroit Red Wings. It was only then that he was taken out of the game by coach Mario Tremblay.
That move sparked lots of reaction in the newspaper punditosphere, as columnists left and right start debating the same topic.
I was going to put together a roundup of their positions, but I quickly realized that almost all of them are in favour of retiring the jersey. (Though some, like Réjean Tremblay — who went on vacation during all this but isn’t standing behind Roy — haven’t yet weighed in)
It’s not that they’re giving knee-jerk reactions to this. Most of them give solid, reasonable arguments, showing they seriously considered their positions first.
The arguments against retiring the jersey (by Fisher and others) are as follows:
The arguments for:
It’s a tough decision that the Canadiens management will have to make this summer (hopefully while chugging champagne out of the Stanley Cup). But other columnists have already said they think it should happen.
Here’s what they have to say:
Cependant, je pense que le Canadien peut encore retirer le chandail 33 de Casseau sans insulter ni les anciens ni les partisans de l’équipe. Patrick Roy a été le meilleur gardien de but de l’histoire. Il a gagné la Coupe Stanley deux fois à Montréal.
Il n’a pas été parfait. Mais va-t-on me faire accroire que Doug Harvey était parfait ? Et Serge Savard ? Et Guy Lafleur ?
Oui, Roy a manqué de jugement, mais il se donne corps et âme à ses Remparts. S’il passait ses hivers en Floride en jouant au golf et en comptant ses millions, il serait un meilleur citoyen ?
Oui, Patrick Roy a fait plusieurs conneries, ces dernières années. Oui, c’est un type arrogant et désagréable. Mais il n’a tué ni violé personne. Le retrait d’un chandail de joueur de hockey est relié à ses exploits sur la glace. Il n’y a pas de points bonis pour le travail auprès des démunis, des malades et des exploités quand on décide de lui conférer cet honneur. Inversement, on ne devrait pas prendre en compte le fait que le gars est déplaisant dans ses relations avec les autres avant d’accrocher le maillot sur un cintre qui sera accroché au plafond de l’aréna.
Pierre Durocher (Journal de Montréal):
Ça ne change rien. On retire un chandail pour ses exploits sur la patinoire et non son comportement en dehors. Patrick est le meilleur gardien de tous les temps avec Martin Brodeur.
Certains partisans ne se gênent pas pour prétendre qu’ils vont huer Roy lorsque son numéro 33 sera hissé dans les hauteurs du Centre Bell.
Mais, en général, je crois que les amateurs vont se souvenir de sa carrière phénoménale.
Si on retire son chandail tricolore, c’est pour ce qu’il a fait avec le tricolore. Point à la ligne. Et Roy a fait beaucoup.
Patrick Roy a été un gardien qui a permis au Canadien de gagner deux coupes Stanley. Il est, jusqu’à nouvel ordre, le meilleur gardien de l’histoire du hockey. Son leadership, bien qu’exercé de façon pour le moins particulière, mena son équipe vers des objectifs parfois impensables.
…
Ce qu’on doit retenir avant tout c’est que l’an prochain selon le scénario envisagé par la haute direction du Canadien, on doit retirer le chandail d’un athlète… et non le chandail d’un entraîneur qui roule sa bosse dans la Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec.
There still seem to be a lot of sports fans who expect something more from the players they cheer for. They seem to think that just because someone can dunk a basketball, hit a baseball or stop a hockey puck that they should also be a pillar of society.
…
When they hand out the Academy Awards, only acting ability is taken into account – not what Hollywood’s stars do when they’re not being filmed. Why shouldn’t it be the same way with sports?
Coming down on Red’s side? So far, only fellow Gazette columnist Jack Todd:
I think it was Maxim Lapierre who said last week that it’s all about the numbers and that nothing else should matter. Nothing could be farther from the truth. When it comes to this particular honour, it’s about the numbers and everything else.
The numbers say Roy belongs in this company. Everything else says he does not.
Non-pundits, meanwhile, are staying on the fence.
Honnêtement, je ne sais pas ce que je ferais. Est-ce qu’il faut séparer les exploits sur la glace de la vie courante? Faudrait-il attendre avant de retirer son chandail? Ce sont certainement des questions que le comité devra se poser.
The Montreal Canadiens have been here for 100 years and they’ve made a lot of good decisions over the years. I’m sure they’ll sit down and talk about it and make the right decision on this.
For those who missed it, the Montreal Canadiens officially clinched a spot in the 2008 NHL playoffs with a 7-5 win over the Ottawa Senators tonight, continuing their dominance at the top of the Eastern Conference.
With five games left (one against Ottawa, two against Toronto and two against Buffalo), there’s no mathematical way for our team to finish out of the playoffs. Barring some unlikely surge by the Senators combined with a five-game losing streak for the Canadiens, we’ll also finish first in the Northeast Division, which will ensure a top-three (and realistically, a top-two) finish in the conference, giving us home ice advantage and an easier opponent (*cough*Boston*cough*) for the first round of the playoffs.
That’s way better than even the most optimistic of pundits had the team finishing in their preseason predictions.
Part of it is because the team has been lucky, with no major injuries. Part of it is stellar performances from young players. Part of it is Alex Kovalev. Part of it is Carey Price. And we all know part of it is the sheer force of my will.
How far will we go? Farther than last year, that’s mathematically certain now.
According to the very scientific method of a poll on a blog, the Canadiens logo beat out the 29 other NHL teams logos in a head-to-head competition to win the title of NHL’s best current team logo. (I guess there really is a website for everything online, even one devoted to NHL team logos.)
Also be sure to check out this gallery of Habs logo and uniform concepts, including some disturbingly sacrilegious massacres of our dear CH.