Family day at the Bell Center and the kids came out to play.......

Guy Boucher tends to his brood in Hamilton

I missed the beginning of the game today, unfortunately Mr. Moey insists on eating every day and the cupboards were bare.  When I finally tuned in the Habs were leading the Pens 3-1.  I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things.  A couple of minutes later my heart was in my mouth when Andre Markov went down and didn't get up.  You could have heard a pin drop in the Bell Center, and one of the commentator's remarked how Hab fans sure know who's their bread and butter.  He sat on the bench for a couple of minutes and then returned to the ice.  I let out a huge sigh of relief along with the Russian Olympic team and the Hab's coaching staff.

The kids were energizer bunnies, it was fun watching a rookie line pin Crosby and Malkin in their own zone for a  couple of shifts.  Guy Boucher is doing a brilliant job with them, maybe one day we'll be seeing him behind the Habs bench.

I have to agree with Guy Carbonneau, just when you think with the injuries they have to key players that they have no chance of winning the game (especially against the Penguins) they prove you wrong.  That was one of the best games I've seen les boys play this season, one of the few times they played their hearts out for a full sixty minutes.

So, bring on the Bruins tomorrow afternoon and hopefully the bears will be licking their wounds after being attacked by a pack of rabid bulldogs.

Family day at the Bell Center and the kids came out to play.......

Guy Boucher tends to his brood in Hamilton

I missed the beginning of the game today, unfortunately Mr. Moey insists on eating every day and the cupboards were bare.  When I finally tuned in the Habs were leading the Pens 3-1.  I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things.  A couple of minutes later my heart was in my mouth when Andre Markov went down and didn't get up.  You could have heard a pin drop in the Bell Center, and one of the commentator's remarked how Hab fans sure know who's their bread and butter.  He sat on the bench for a couple of minutes and then returned to the ice.  I let out a huge sigh of relief along with the Russian Olympic team and the Hab's coaching staff.

The kids were energizer bunnies, it was fun watching a rookie line pin Crosby and Malkin in their own zone for a  couple of shifts.  Guy Boucher is doing a brilliant job with them, maybe one day we'll be seeing him behind the Habs bench.

I have to agree with Guy Carbonneau, just when you think with the injuries they have to key players that they have no chance of winning the game (especially against the Penguins) they prove you wrong.  That was one of the best games I've seen les boys play this season, one of the few times they played their hearts out for a full sixty minutes.

So, bring on the Bruins tomorrow afternoon and hopefully the bears will be licking their wounds after being attacked by a pack of rabid bulldogs.

Whee! That was fun, but for how long?

It's funny, in spite of the fact that the boys beat Vancouver last night, coach Martin wasn't  overly pleased.  He described the second period as wide open but it's not the "system" he wants them to play.  Yawn.  I have the Habs' most memorable games DVD set.  One thing that stuck with me was before the big Rangers come back game on the DVD, Guy Carbonneau does a short interview, he said "as a coach if you're down 5-0 you're already planning your strategy for the next game."  He also said when the guys started their come back he just simply ripped up his notes, threw them away and let the guys play how they wanted.  After watching last  night's game I wish Martin would rip up his notes.  The other day Scott Gomez was quoted saying "we need another game plan."  Glen Metropolit sounds extremely frustrated, I don't think he and Martin see eye to eye. Sometimes the guys actually look bored and disinterested.  I wonder if Martin's system is what's been stifling Sergei Kostitsyn and Max Lapierre?  Sergei was the best player on the ice last night.  I wonder if that's the reason they're good one game and crap the next?  Martin has to go back to the drawing board and instead of trying to instill his "system" play the system that best compliments the players' abilities. Until that happens, it's going to be a rocky ride.

Whee! That was fun, but for how long?

It's funny, in spite of the fact that the boys beat Vancouver last night, coach Martin wasn't  overly pleased.  He described the second period as wide open but it's not the "system" he wants them to play.  Yawn.  I have the Habs' most memorable games DVD set.  One thing that stuck with me was before the big Rangers come back game on the DVD, Guy Carbonneau does a short interview, he said "as a coach if you're down 5-0 you're already planning your strategy for the next game."  He also said when the guys started their come back he just simply ripped up his notes, threw them away and let the guys play how they wanted.  After watching last  night's game I wish Martin would rip up his notes.  The other day Scott Gomez was quoted saying "we need another game plan."  Glen Metropolit sounds extremely frustrated, I don't think he and Martin see eye to eye. Sometimes the guys actually look bored and disinterested.  I wonder if Martin's system is what's been stifling Sergei Kostitsyn and Max Lapierre?  Sergei was the best player on the ice last night.  I wonder if that's the reason they're good one game and crap the next?  Martin has to go back to the drawing board and instead of trying to instill his "system" play the system that best compliments the players' abilities. Until that happens, it's going to be a rocky ride.

How 'tweet it is.....or not

Recently I've been having issues with my Twitter account.  It was sending out messages to my followers, like "Hi" among other things.  I was tearing my hair out because I wasn't composing or sending them.  I changed my settings, disabled my phone etc., and then I decided to Google "problems with Twitter" and finally found an answer.  Someone had hijacked my account for Spam purposes.  I found it strange that instead of normally going to my Twitter homepage it kept asking me to sign in.  That's were the son(s) of a gun got my password and then the "fun" began.  I apologize to my followers who were on the receiving end of this crap, I didn't send out "Hi" three days in a row, some people must have thought I was a nutter.  The one consolation is that apparently it happened to Barack Obama too, so at least I'm in good company!  It's simple enough to fix, I just had to change my password.  For the next little while I'll be keeping a close eye on my direct messages to make sure no more garbage is generated.  It has been a very frustrating couple of days.  Isn't technology wonderful?

How 'tweet it is.....or not

Recently I've been having issues with my Twitter account.  It was sending out messages to my followers, like "Hi" among other things.  I was tearing my hair out because I wasn't composing or sending them.  I changed my settings, disabled my phone etc., and then I decided to Google "problems with Twitter" and finally found an answer.  Someone had hijacked my account for Spam purposes.  I found it strange that instead of normally going to my Twitter homepage it kept asking me to sign in.  That's were the son(s) of a gun got my password and then the "fun" began.  I apologize to my followers who were on the receiving end of this crap, I didn't send out "Hi" three days in a row, some people must have thought I was a nutter.  The one consolation is that apparently it happened to Barack Obama too, so at least I'm in good company!  It's simple enough to fix, I just had to change my password.  For the next little while I'll be keeping a close eye on my direct messages to make sure no more garbage is generated.  It has been a very frustrating couple of days.  Isn't technology wonderful?

Baby, it's cold outside.......

And seeing that YouTube replay of Volchenkov colliding with Cammalleri did nothing to warm the cockles of my heart.  I'm of two minds about this team, if Cammalleri is out for a significant amount of time (and by the looks of it he will be) we're pretty much toast.  I don't know if that's a bad thing, at least we have a reasonable excuse.  I had hoped that  the weekend wins against New Jersey and the Rangers were going to be a turning point for our Habs, but the two losses in Florida dispelled that notion rather quickly.  The thing that bothers me the most with this team is inconsistency.  I want to get off the good hockey bad hockey roller coaster, it's starting to nauseate me.  I'm not sure what the problem is, for the most part our off season signings are doing their jobs.  Defense has it's moments and Andre Markov is not yet 100 percent.  There's no contribution to speak of coming from the third and fourth lines, and I'm not sure about the coaching.  I'm certainly no expert but I don't understand why Bob would hire a defensive minded coach and then go out and sign purely offensive players.  *scratches head*

When Bob blew up the team this summer it took me a while to get used to the new look, but I'm basically a positive glass half full type of person and all I really wanted was for the team to be better than last year.  I didn't have unrealistic expectations, I was hoping to finish 6th or 7th in the standings and get through a couple of playoffs rounds.  Bob would have had the season to assess the team and make some adjustments during the summer.  As we stand right now, I don't see us making the playoffs.  Maybe with the return of Andre Kostitsyn and depending on the severity of Cammalleri's injury we MAY have a SLIM chance. The only other positive is the teams we are battling for position are as mediocre as we are.

The only thing I'm sure of is after this season I DON'T want another year of crap.  I'm as loyal as the next fan but one decent season in seventeen is just not acceptable and from what I've heard from Geoff Molson it won't be acceptable to the new ownership either.  I don't care what it takes or who has to go to make this team competative and fun to watch again, please God just make it happen.