A Montreal Canadiens fan blog
Posts tagged Ryan O’Byrne
Shots against is the big issue going into the new season
Sep 30th
I know there’s been tons of talk this off-season about everything…. wide spread panic about trades, silly media leaks about striking goaltenders… strong scrutiny at pre-season play.
Well, the regular season is almost upon us. With that I thought I’d share one aspect of the Montreal Canadiens play that I believe NEEDS to be improved. It’s a stat that you hear about in the regular season but doesn’t get a whole lot of attention otherwise.
It doesn’t give you a big “crash/bang/boom”…. isn’t spectacular like that Kovalchuk contract. But, it slowly sinks a team.
Shots against.
The shots the opponents manage to get through the defense and unto the Habs net. This has been a stat that has been haunting the Canadiens for far too many years.
Here are the shots against stats for the last 10 years!
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100th anniversary ceremonies
Dec 5th
Last night was a magical night for Montreal Canadiens fans. I thought they would have some special surprises planned but I couldn’t have guessed how it would have unfolded.
I watched RDS for many hours before the game and was impressed from the beginning. I thought it was just great.
When they dimmed the lights in the Bell Center I almost felt goose bumps all over.. I knew something pretty neat was gonna take place.
Then… when the pucks were dumped on the ice and I saw Patrick Roy walking on the ice in full gear…. I was in awe. It was awesome. Seeing all those guys jump on the ice brought back alot of memories. One guy I hadn’t noticed walk on the ice was Mats Naslund… later when he was introduced I was so pleased to see him there. He was one of my favorite players in his time in Montreal.
I won’t try to name every player that skated with the alumni… but let’s just say I thought it was very classy and very cool for the die hard Canadiens fans. Many of those guys I hadn’t seen in their playing days but like some of you (I’m sure) I’ve read about them and have seen their statistics over and over again. I’m not just really a fan of the Montreal Canadiens I’ve seen on the ice….. I’m a fan of the Montreal Canadiens rich history as much as I am the current team they ice year after year.
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Has the season self-destructed??
Nov 20th
The constant injuries and lack luster play has certainly been tugging away at the optimism I had coming into the season. A quarter of the way through it’s still pretty hard to read exactly who this team is. But although it is hard to discern it’s not really something that can be faulted on management.
I’m not saying that there haven’t been moves (or “non-moves”) made in the last few years that I think were bad in hindsight leading up to today… but what I am saying is that one can’t honestly measure just how good this team is
We’ve been without our best player and other players who were keyed in as integral parts of this team.
When compared to last year’s team and the “core” that the Habs had prior to this season it still speaks loudly to me that this group is 10-11-0 after 21 games… without Markov… and other pieces of the puzzle also out.
There’s a great article on the numbers without Markov over at Lions in Winter… check it out.
There’s been quite a bit of doom and gloom from what I’ve been hearing in regards to the season and the talk about a “rebuild” has begun. Honestly, I think we’ve just begun “the rebuild”.
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Thinking about the team 3 games in
Oct 7th
So we’re 3 games into the 2009/2010 NHL season. In these first 3 games there’s been many ups and downs already.
The Canadiens have had 2 big injuries and 1 minor injury in their first 2 games and thankfully last night everyone made it out ok!
Here’s a few thoughts on some ups and some downs so far (in no real particular order).
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Season just about on and some last cuts made
Sep 29th
As I write this there is 2 more sleeps before the new 2009-2010 season opens with the Montreal Canadiens facing the Toronto Maple Leafs. I’ve been waiting for this long enough to qualify me as a slightly obsessed fan.
Jacques Martin has made some more cuts and now we have the team or roster together that will start the year.
The cuts that were made today were Ben Maxwell, Tom Pyatt, Yannick Weber, Mathieu Carle and Curtis Sanford.
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