Bad News, the Gumper, #29, and a Busy, Busy Week

Posts may be few and far between this week as things are heating up on the interviewing front, but over the weekend the Habs blew a prime chance for a strong start the stretch run by losing 4-1 to the dreaded Leafs.

Monday night sees Kenny Dryden's #29 sweater retirement ceremony at the Bell Centre before the game against the Senators. It's ok Kenny, we forgive you for becoming president of the Maple Leafs. Dryden says he's very excited to connect with past greats who have worn the CH.

Sadly, hall-of-famer, native Montrealer, and former Habs goalie Gump Worsley passed away on Friday. He was a true character, and one of the last goalies to *not* wear a mask while playing! He'll truly be missed.

Back to the Ice, Boys!

I suppose that coach Carbonneau must have thought the all-star break was sufficient rest, because the Canadiens players were greated with a tough 2-hour practice on Thursday as a "welcome home" present. Things get going again on Saturday in Toronto against the struggling Leafs, and the boys return home on Monday for a revenge match against the Sens. If you recall, the Senators beat the Habs 8-3 in Ottawa on Hockey Day In Canada. The Habs will be retiring Ken Dryden's #29 sweater that night, so let's hope for a great performance. Kenny certainly deserves nothing less.

As if that isn't enough, the Habs play 15 times in 28 days in February, which is going to be a challenge in itself. Here's hoping the break was a restful and recharging one.

A Day of General Relief

Last night's game against the Thrashers was perfect medicine. Cristobal Huet (pictured) faced 45 shots and made 44 saves in the 4-1 win against the Thrashers. Considering the Habs recent form, this was VERY nice indeed. Even the much maligned Sergei Samsonov got into the act by scoring. Finkini favorite Guillaume Latendresse was very useful as well notching two points.

Huet continues to be a breath of fresh air after the years of listening to Jose Theodore blame everyone but himself after a bad performance, and take plenty of credit for the good.

In other news, the word is that the NHL's new uniforms that will be unveiled at the All-Star game will not be as drastic a change as first thought. Horizontal stripes will still be ok, the jerseys will NOT be tucked into the pants, and there won't be any "Cooperall" style long pants.

Sidney Crosby models the new uniforms which are not all that different, and to this I say "Thank Goodness." So many of the classic uniforms in all of sport are NHL uniforms (Canadiens, Blackhawks, Red Wings, Leafs, Bruins) that it would have been truly disgraceful for a major overhaul to occur.

After a rough last weekend against Jeff Jackson and Notre Dame, the Lakers head to Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing to take on MSU tonight and tomorrow night. Good luck, boys!

Ciel Tombé!

It seems that, indeed, the sky is falling in Montréal. Four wins in the last 13 games, and no goals scored in the last 132 minutes and 30 seconds. This includes sound drubbings in the last 3 games by Ottawa (8-3), Detroit (2-0), and Vancouver (4-0). Things are definitely looking bad for the Habs, and this in a city that eats, sleeps, and drinks Canadiens hockey. I don't envy Guy Carbonneau at all right now.

So, what can he do to turn things around? He's tried skating them extra hard, resting them, benching them, even calling them out in the media. Nothing is working.

Perhaps the upcoming All-Star break is coming at just the right time for the team. The schedule has been admittedly brutal lately, with back-to-back games, afternoon games, and games against the hottest teams in the league (part in thanks to these games with the Habs). Problem is, there are still games away to Atlanta and home against the East-leading Sabres before the break.

C'mon Guy, get the boys moving. Don't ask me how, but I know you can do it.

Eric Desjardins, and Spend it Like Beckham

It's that time again. What time, you ask? Well, I'll tell you (after a bit of inner dialogue, apparently).

It's time to honor another of the NHL's recently retired class acts. Now, I'm not going to say that Eric Desjardins was at the same level as Steve Yzerman. He wasn't. Yzerman was a leader both on and off the ice, and a rare, rare talent. But Eric Desjardins was cut from the same cloth. A self-depreciating, spotlight-shunning, go-about-your-business-because-that's-what-we-do type of cloth.

When I started following the Habs back in the 80s, they were the team of an aging Lafleur, Gainey, Naslund, Robinson, and Carbonneau. They then progressed to a team of Richer, Chelios, and Patrick Roy. As Richer and Chelios went elsewhere, Canadiens fans were left wondering about the direction of the team. Then along came a young defenseman named Eric Desjardins. He wasn't a world beater, but for some reason he was my favorite Canadien of this era.

Then came 1993, and the magical, heart-attack inducing run to the Stanley Cup. I was living in
Traverse City, MI at the time and was glued to a 1960's era short-wave radio listening to the French-language radio broadcast of the games. Ron Hextall and the Nordiques had the nerve to beat the Habs in the first two games of that year's playoffs, after which the Canadiens reeled off four straight wins (two of which were in overtime). This was followed by 4 straight wins against Buffalo in the division finals (three of which were in overtime).

The Canadiens next faced the surprising New York Islanders in the conference finals, and won 4 out of 5 (two of which were in overtime -- and one in double overtime) propelling Les Glorieux into the finals for the 29th time. I was psycho. Seriously. I had rituals. Dirty socks. A countdown calendar. I even grew a playoff beard (well, a goatee - but I didn't shave it off until, like, 2001). Barking mad. What do you expect? Seven of the 12 wins had come in overtime!

So the Habs met Wayne Gretzky's LA Kings in the finals that year, who had just come off an absolutely riveting 7-game series victory over the *barf* Toronto Maple Leafs. Yes, EVERYONE was hoping for a Canadiens/Leafs final, but The Great One had something to say about that. LA won the first game at the fabled Montreal Forum, but during the next game, a 3-2 win by the Habs, Eric Desjardins scored three times. Each one was more beautiful than the last, with the final goal coming in (yes, you guessed it) overtime. Of course we didn't know it at the time, but this was to be Desjardins' ONLY career hat-trick. What a time for it to happen.

Well, the Habs went on to win the Cup that year four games to one, and of course three of the wins came in overtime. That made 10 out of 16 wins in overtime. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck by the time it was over. I also remember where I was when I found out that he was traded. I was coming out of chemistry class at Lake Superior State University, and was gleefully informed by some Leafs fans. Yay! Despite the trade, the following pictures show just how I remember Eric Desjardins (sorry Flyer fans).

After scoring the hat trick against LA:










With Lord Stanley's Cup:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2iefwIGeB9LNLS2400GrDK_yaj7bHYjKzqYgM9PJaeYDsFzPnyx5ICjJDZVPmJlm5YGnTDU3FI24FFp6gXKqItpcSDfuOe3BYVyKb3PtBVUXOoqakbG8ADQz6czF-ksN_dp0aPQ/s1600-h/Eric+Ceremony.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2iefwIGeB9LNLS2400GrDK_yaj7bHYjKzqYgM9PJaeYDsFzPnyx5ICjJDZVPmJlm5YGnTDU3FI24FFp6gXKqItpcSDfuOe3BYVyKb3PtBVUXOoqakbG8ADQz6czF-ksN_dp0aPQ/s200/Eric+Ceremony.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018974282537497586" border="0" /></a>It's that time again. What time, you ask? Well, I'll tell you (after a bit of inner dialogue, apparently). It's time to honor another of the NHL's recently retired class acts. Now, I'm not going to say that Eric Desjardins was at the same level as Steve Yzerman. He wasn't. Yzerman was a leader both on and off the ice, and a rare, rare talent. But Eric Desjardins was cut from the same cloth. A self-depreciating, spotlight-shunning, go-about-your-business-because-that's-what-we-do type of cloth. When I started following the Habs back in the 80s, they were the team of an aging Lafleur, Gainey, Naslund, Robinson, and Carbonneau. They then progressed to a team of Richer, Chelios, and Patrick Roy. As Richer and Chelios went elsewhere, Canadiens fans were left wondering about the direction of the team. Then along came a young defenseman named Eric Desjardins. He wasn't a world beater, but for some reason he was my favorite Canadien of this era. Then came 1993, and the magical, heart-attack inducing run to the Stanley Cup. I was living in Traverse City, MI at the time and was glued to a 1960's era short-wave radio listening to the French-language radio broadcast of the games. Ron Hextall and the Nordiques had the nerve to beat the Habs in the first two games of that year's playoffs, after which the Canadiens reeled off four straight wins (two of which were in overtime). This was followed by 4 straight wins against Buffalo in the division finals (three of which were in overtime). The Canadiens next faced the surprising New York Islanders in the conference finals, and won 4 out of 5 (two of which were in overtime -- and one in double overtime) propelling Les Glorieux into the finals for the 29th time. I was psycho. Seriously. I had rituals. Dirty socks. A countdown calendar. I even grew a playoff beard (well, a goatee - but I didn't shave it off until, like, 1999). Barking mad. What do you expect? Seven of the 12 wins had come in overtime! So the Habs met Wayne Gretzky's LA Kings in the finals that year, who had just come off an absolutely riveting 7-game series victory over the *barf* Toronto Maple Leafs. Yes, EVERYONE was hoping for a Canadiens/Leafs final, but The Great One had something to say about that. LA won the first game at the fabled Montreal Forum, but during the next game, a 3-2 win by the Habs, Eric Desjardins <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5266332996658484924&q=eric+and+desjardins&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;hl=en">scored three times</a>. Each one was more beautiful than the last, with the final goal coming in (yes, you guessed it) overtime. Of course we didn't know it at the time, but this was to be Desjardins' ONLY career hat-trick. What a time for it to happen. Well, the Habs went on to win the Cup that year four games to one, and of course three of the wins came in overtime. That made 10 out of 16 wins in overtime. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck by the time it was over. The following two pictures are just how I remember Eric Desjardins (sorry Flyer fans). After scoring the hat trick against LA: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinL5MAS4iiHB7xL6KcpD1YmLzMYFHSxAsMZ1EAN1xWxDwn-abNEKGx90kYaYcl_4-RGpqajSxbPgqOVc2RTQiCeQAWTYfn2YIbEOh5ZInC61McIkOsYacfxTrLxRVRkbtzmHh0oA/s1600-h/Eric+finals.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinL5MAS4iiHB7xL6KcpD1YmLzMYFHSxAsMZ1EAN1xWxDwn-abNEKGx90kYaYcl_4-RGpqajSxbPgqOVc2RTQiCeQAWTYfn2YIbEOh5ZInC61McIkOsYacfxTrLxRVRkbtzmHh0oA/s200/Eric+finals.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018985496697107474" border="0" /></a> With Lord Stanley's Cup: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9hVqUZ6lJXKkEBJSvXaaggpqbYHQx3K5QZjNWlMaQeJDTxaZWlWN6QZVRVDjPtw8lCQu42GmzRCzlyxLBFeaqe7_hY1jxUSDtgFDp5ROZ7jDgO9InPvwEj7aYENywRS3gbZFm_g/s1600-h/eric+with+cup.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9hVqUZ6lJXKkEBJSvXaaggpqbYHQx3K5QZjNWlMaQeJDTxaZWlWN6QZVRVDjPtw8lCQu42GmzRCzlyxLBFeaqe7_hY1jxUSDtgFDp5ROZ7jDgO9InPvwEj7aYENywRS3gbZFm_g/s200/eric+with+cup.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018985866064294946" border="0" /></a> The Flyers honored Eric Desjardins tonight with a fitting ceremony, and in a very short speech, Eric thanked both the Canadiens and Flyers organizations equally, despite playing only 6+ seasons in Montreal and 11+ seasons in Philadelphia. Merci, Eric! <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCIp_FpD47zSIa9t3p-bmk1FXkJBrxfMabE-Y0WWZncH_ZN9tz61Qt5avSLx8KT7p99wcT6Cdw5bXej5x1LifrFzhyBs22I4SsTWb1hlkjGE3LhiAnZy7WoW6xRhPcZLiHXis4Q/s1600-h/nbecks12a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCIp_FpD47zSIa9t3p-bmk1FXkJBrxfMabE-Y0WWZncH_ZN9tz61Qt5avSLx8KT7p99wcT6Cdw5bXej5x1LifrFzhyBs22I4SsTWb1hlkjGE3LhiAnZy7WoW6xRhPcZLiHXis4Q/s200/nbecks12a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5018988485994345522" border="0" /></a>On the other end of the personality spectrum, David Beckham (aka Golden Balls) and his many hairstyles are coming to the US to play soccer next season for the LA Galaxy. "How nice!" you say? "Good English lad, coming to help out the sport here in America, yeah?" Not so fast. Golden Balls is going to make nearly <a href="http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=58742007">$1 million dollars</a> to play here. Per week. If he works a standard 40 hour week, that's $25,000 per hour, or about $416 per minute. Bollocks, if you ask me. I'm sure this will spike ticket sales, but not for all five years of the contract. There's no way that Major League Soccer has this kind of money to throw around, and if this brings about the downfall of the league, I'm going straight for Posh's bobbling head. Fact.









As the best damned defenseman on NHL 1994 for Sega Genesis (he's on the bottom right):









The Flyers honored Eric Desjardins tonight with a fitting ceremony, and in a very short speech, Eric thanked both the Canadiens and Flyers organizations equally, despite playing only 6+ seasons in Montreal and 11+ seasons in Philadelphia. Merci, Eric!

On the other end of the personality spectrum, David Beckham (aka Golden Balls) and his many hairstyles are coming to the US to play soccer next season for the LA Galaxy. "How nice!" you say? "Good English lad, coming to help out the sport here in America, yeah?" Not so fast. Golden Balls is going to make nearly $1 million dollars to play here. Per week. If he works a standard 40 hour week, that's $25,000 per hour, or about $416 per minute. Bollocks, if you ask me.

I'm sure this will spike ticket sales, but not for all five years of the contract. There's no way that Major League Soccer has this kind of money to throw around, and if this brings about the downfall of the league, I'm going straight for Posh's bobbling head. Fact.

Update (1.12.06): Apparently MLS is only paying about $400k of Beckham's annual income. And Posh still looks like a bobblehead.

Mon Dieu! Quelle Nuit!

Quelle nuit dans la LNH (What a night in the NHL)! The Habs bounce back from their bout with the flu with an inspiring 4-2 comeback victory over the Atlanta Thrashers, and inspriational leader and captain Saku Koivu gets his 500th career point. Looks like maybe, just maybe, the boys are feeling better.

The Red Wings / Avalanche tilt was an exciting one as well, and was decided by the dreaded shoot-out. Normally, this would merit NO mention in this blog, but the game winner by Henrik Zetterberg was not to be missed. What a move! It was reminiscent of Foppa's move in the 1994 Olympics vs. Canada.

Oh, and if you didn't already admire Troy Smith, take a look at this piece from USA Today.

ELMO and the Toronto Maple Leafs

Check out this great video. Well, maybe not so great if you're a Leafs fan.

Go Habs Go!

Pay No Attention to the Resounding Thud from Glendale

Nuh-uh they di-int.

Yuh-huh, they did, boys and girls.

So I didn't expect our beloved Mr. Tressel to get out-coached in such a manner last night. And then there's the matter of losing to @#&!ing florida. Just unacceptable. I'm actually out of words about this game. I just want it all to go away, which I think is the general consensus of Buckeye fans everywhere.

College basketball world (yes, even you Duke): Do NOT let these clowns win both major college sports titles in the same school year. Please.

Habs, Lakers, and the Anticipation in Glendale

This picture probably isn't fair, since Cristobal Huet has been playing VERY well for the Canadiens all season. That being said, times are pretty frustrating in Montréal just now, and the flu bug that has hit the club isn't making things any better. On top of that, the Bell Centre hosted back-to-back afternoon games this Saturday and Sunday where the Habs were disappointing losers 4-3 to the r@ngers, and 3-0 to the Devils. Two players were brought into the fold from the AHL club in Hamilton, and one of them, Mikhail Grabovski, was quite impressive. Things don't get any easier with Atlanta coming to town on Tuesday.

On a brighter note, it was a successful weekend for the LSSU Lakers, who tied and won at home against Nebraska-Omaha. This moved them above that team from ann arbor in the standings , and ties the Lakers for 3rd in the CCHA standings with 17 points.

Nationally, the stage is set for the OSU/florida showdown in Glendale. It's always interesting when your team is playing in a huge game against a team you can't stand. It's always great to beat 'em, and almost unbearable to lose against 'em. Here's hoping for something magical in Arizona....again.

To Friday and New, Old Beginnings

Funny thing, coming back to something. Maybe you know the feeling. You come back home, and wonder how people will react, especially if there's something you'd rather not face that's happened in the off-period.

It's certainly nice when these people react well, though. Like they've actually missed you. It makes you wonder what all of the mental gymnastics were about. I'll be sure to pay it back, when I see someone I haven't run across in quite a while. I know now that they'll appreciate it.

On a less dramatic front, it was a bad night indeed for the Canadiens and the Red Wings. Nine straight goals conceded by the Wings. Wow.

The Habs are teetering on the brink of a slump, and a quick trip to the Hockey's Future message boards got me thinking my perpetual impending sense of doom relative to this team is a trait of "un mordu des Glorieux", rather than being just limited to my maladaptive psyche.

Happy Friday!

It's official, I'm back at OSU!

Today I started my new position at OSU, with all of the accompanying joys. Funny how, once you truly appreciate something, those little irritants are more worthy of a laugh than a @#&%! What irritants, you ask? It all started with a 25 minute ride on the campus bus from OSU's west campus lots. Then I got keys to the lab, and to the building, followed by a fruitless search for an entrance to the OSU library, where I was hoping to complete some more job applications. Apparently, it's been shuttered while renovations are ongoing. Three years. I swear to you, some significant percentage of OSU's campus has looked like this since I arrived in 2001. It's incredible.

Anyhow, I was able to complete some work tasks quickly, and thought I'd update this for the day. Ain't being connected to the outside world grand? Let me tell you, it is.

Oh, and let's all laugh at these guys. What are you lot ready for? Your 3rd manager in 6 months?? We officially have "le disastre" at "le ipox."

Happy New Year, and Stevie Y

Happy New Year everyone.

For those who don't know - I'm starting back at OSU as a graduate assistant. What does this mean to you? Not much, likely. But to me, it means that I was able to quit my job at Safelite Auto Glass, which is a good thing. Talk about an exercise in humility.....

I just finished listening to the ceremony during which the Detroit Red Wings retired the #19 sweater in honor of Steve Yzerman's career. My first NHL love is the Montréal Canadiens, however, Mr. Yzerman is the quintessential leader, hero, and captain. Listening to him beg for the patience of the Anaheim Ducks for the duration of his number retirement ceremony is the epitome of this man's humility. My friend (and staunch Red Wings fan) Mark alerted me to a great story from ESPN that is circulating that shows the off-ice side of Stevie Y.

I have a great story about him, as well. A few friends and I were at a Red Wings game back in the early 90s. We knew of a great parking area in those days, courtesy of a very nice fellow from Windsor who pointed us in the right direction. Anyhow, back then, it was pretty easy to catch the players after the game, and get a few autographs if you waited outside the back entrance to Joe Louis Arena, near the river. We waited and got quite a few autographs that night, and one of the last to come out was Steve Yzerman. Most of the other fans were gone by that time, and as he was walking away, he warned us to be careful getting back to our car, since it was getting late. As we were getting to our car, we heard a honking sound coming from the road. We looked to see Steve Yzerman looking toward us, bidding us goodnight by waving his arm out of the driver's window of his SUV. I think we all stood there for at least a minute, just to be sure it had really happened.

This is a genuinely nice guy who was one of the best and most loyal players the NHL has ever seen. He will be missed on the ice, and the #19 sweater will (rightfully so) never be worn again by a Detroit Red Wing.























Thanks, Steve.