What I’ll be looking for – Habs vs Avs
Tonight, the Montreal Canadiens take on the Colorado Avalanche and is the Canadiens home opener.
Coming into tonight I’ve seen positives and negatives in the previous 5 games. The Avalanche should provide a very formidable opponent. They’ve got some great young talent and their taking off.
Here’s what I’ll be looking for tonight:
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Posted by Yves Date: Thursday, October 15, 2009
Categories: Pre-game comments
Tags: Andrei Kostitsyn, Brian Gionta, Carey Price, Colorado Avalanche, Kyle Chipchura, Mike Cammalleri, Montreal Canadiens, Scott Gomez, Shawn Belle, Tomas Plekanec, Travis Moen
Mission number 5 of 2009 about to begin…. thinking aloud
As I write this, I’m watching the early CBC game… watching the Penguins play with the Leafs.
I’ve had a really busy few days… but I’ve been thinking about this game tonight.
Seems as though there were so many questions coming into this season and to be honest I thought maybe some of them would start to be answered a few games into the season. Maybe that’s just some childish thinking on my part. But as the season has started, I’m just really left with many more questions then answers!
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Posted by Yves Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009
Categories: Pre-game comments
Tags: Montreal Canadiens
Pre-game thoughts: Montreal Canadiens vs Florida Panthers – First pre-season game
We’re just a few hours away from the first pre-season game for the Montreal Canadiens this season! For some of you, if you’re anything like me, it’s been a long time coming. Since the last playoff game back in the spring I’ve been thinking about these first pre-season games.
Here are a few pre-game and really “pre-season” thoughts.
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Posted by Yves Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009
Categories: Management, Players, Pre-game comments
Tags: 2009/2010, Andrei Kostitsyn, Bob Gainey, Carey Price, David Desharnais, Florida Panthers, Guillaume Latendresse, Mike Cammalleri, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, Scott Gomez
Week 2 – Post Guy era
I for one thought the team would respond a bit better to having Gainey behind the bench.
I was “flabbergasted” (or whatever) while watching the Islanders game where we could say that so many were minor leaguers out hustle and outplay the Canadiens. I simply couldn’t believe how well the Islanders seemed to play against my beloved Canadiens.
And wow…. Mark Streit, he’s having a great year. Anyone thinking that he wouldn’t have the numbers because he would be on a “worse” team were wrong.
It hurts to see a guy like Streit walk away for nothing. It really does. Same thing has happened with a few guys in recent history and I have a feeling that a few will walk away again.
Now I know that being in Gainey’s position at trade deadline would have been a hard one, if he was thinking about letting guys walk for nada… and I’m sure one of the reasons why no one was really moved was the fact that missing the playoffs is unacceptable. At least that’s the mark that’s been set.
So coming into the Rangers game tomorrow night it’s a must win. In fact, it’s a bit more then a must win in my eyes. These guys have to play playoff hockey and they have to start playing it now. Because they’re now in a position where every game counts so so much.
We’ll also get to see the “new look” Sean Avery.
I’ll be watching and hoping.
Go Habs!
Posted by Yves Date: Monday, March 16, 2009
Categories: Game comments, Montreal Canadiens, Pre-game comments
Tags: Bob Gainey, Mark Streit, Trade Deadline Day, UFA
Lineup changes and young guys sit
Tonight’s lineup VS Atlanta Thrashers has an interesting mix…
Tanguay – Plekanec – Kostopoulos
A. Kostitsyn – Koivu – D’Agostini
Higgins – Lang – Kovalev
Begin – Lapiere – Laraque
A. Kostitsyn – Koivu – D’Agostini
Higgins – Lang – Kovalev
Begin – Lapiere – Laraque
I think if Kostopoulos can grab some loose pucks with his hustle in the offensive zone his line mates tonight may get on the score chart (not the only reason they might of course)…
AK-Koivu-D’Agostini line should be neat… I think D’Agostini played well last game and if Andrei Kostitsyn plays like he can this line could fly.
Higgins-Lang-Kovalev…. lookin’ for that chemistry they had years back, Lang and Kovalev will be lookin’ for the old magic.. I expect Higgins to play hard….
The 4th line… these guys should be pretty good at getting in Atlanta’s face… Lapierre can be a pest… and he’s quick on his skates… Begin the human missle and always out to hustle and George…. who wants to mess with him anyway???
I’d like to see George Laraque put in front of the net…. maybe on a couple of power plays… I personally think that has potential.
Tonight, for probably one of the first times in his short career, Sergei Kostitsyn is a healthy scratch…. and it seems like his coach believe’s he needs to check his attitude.
I’ve liked Sergei from the moment I saw him play…. but I must admit, last game I was not impressed… and appparently Carbo thought it carried over in practice.
Latendress is the other to sit out. Not sure exactly why he is sitting.
Looking for some hard work tonight.
Go Habs!
TSN
Posted by Yves Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Categories: Montreal Canadiens, Pre-game comments, Roster
Tags: Roster
Habs VS Isles – Who will step up?
At the start of the season the talk was about how deep the habs were, there was lot’s of talk about a couple of the prospects in Hamilton and talk about being atop the league with whispers of a cup coming to Montreal had become common.
I’m still not sure I would panic at this point but I must say that at this point of the season, we’ve seen both great potential and also some of the things that may need a “tweeking”….
One of the things that sticks out a bit and has been talked about is on the D. Especially now that Komisarek is out. Brisebois is having to be in the lineup full time… O’Byrne is getting prime time…
About Brisebois, I think that playing a certain number of games, he can give some quality. Playing full time, I’m concerned that the quality will surely diminish.
For O’Byrne, I thought he was gonna play a great game against Boston…. he came out being much more physical, which is an important part of his game. Not sure if it’s all psycological, but he’s made quite a few mistakes… some being quite costly.
I’m starting to wonder if playing Dandenault at D wouldn’t help at least in the short term. He’s a guy I think works hard, plays his role and he’s played on D most of his career…
I would love to see a couple of farm “teamers” come up and maybe shake it up a bit… like D’Agostini, Maxwell.. Max Pac.. but I think it’s hard to make those moves because there aren’t very many guys you can move to make room.
I’m sure whatever happens, Gainey isn’t sitting around “hoping for the best”…. if there is a good move to be made, I’m confident he’ll pull the trigger.
Tonight, the Islanders are in town. I really want to see guys play hard…. and EVERY shift. Tonight, they gotta start kicking the monkey off their backs.
Hard hitting, hard skating…. lot’s of shots on goal.
One would hope that this is “the slump” in the season, and that the tides of work ethic (etc..) will bring the habs to peak at the end of the season… what a story that would be.
Peace!
Posted by Yves Date: Monday, November 24, 2008
Categories: Montreal Canadiens, Pre-game comments
Tags: Ben Maxwell, Bob Gainey, Mathieu Dandenault, Matt D'Agostini, Max Pacioretty, Mike Komisarek, Ryan O'Byrne
