Remembering the Rocket and other post-playoffs Habs notes

Ten Years Ago Today, we bid adieu to Maurice “Rocket” Richard.

Below is a clip from CBC’s “The Magazine’s” coverage of Richard’s State Funeral, held four days later, with some retrospective on Richard from Jean Beliveau, Gerry McNeil and Elmer Lach.

It’s followed by a clip that really needs no introduction.

 

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The Montreal Canadiens season may be over playing-wise, but there’s still lots of talk on the team as well as tidbits on and from other former players.

A signing already?: No it’s not Halak, Price or Plekanec. The Habs signed defenseman Kyle Klubertanz to a one-year deal.

Price’s lesson learned: Marc-Antoine Godin had a great piece in today’s  La Presse on Carey’ Price’s learning experience sitting on the bench. Robert Lefebvre offers an english translation on his site.

More on Carey: Dennis Kane submits his thoughts on keeping Carey Price and/or Jaroslav Halak at Hockey54. His choice is…

The Flower weighs in: Guy Lafleur spoke to the Montreal Gazette’s Arpon Basu about the Canadiens season after an awards ceremony in his name at the Bell Centre. You’d be surprised to hear what he had so say.

Habs make playoff profit, but tickets going up: Canadiens owner Geoff Molson spoke to the Montreal board of trade on Wednesday. Despite profits from the playoffs, ticket prices for next season will rise approximately 3% on most seats.

A video retrospective:  A collection of video highlights of the Habs 2009-10 season,including the one below, has been compiled by Shauna Denis at canadiens.com

Russ Courtnall figure skater:  Former Habs forward Russ Courtnall and Calgary Flames star Theoren Fleury are the first two hockey players confirmed to compete in season two of the popular CBC program “Battle of the Blades”. The news came as part of the CBC’s fall lineup release. The remaining competitors have yet to be announced.

I am Iron Man: Ok I’m not, but Kyle Roussell has a great piece assigning superheroes to the Habs roster. Kyle actually has a good choice for Iron Man.

Habs Sale this weekend: The Canadiens are having an end-of-season and game-used equipment sale this weekend at the Bell Centre. I was at one of the game-used equipment sales in November, and saw some great deals not just for collectors but even for the beer-league hockey player all under $100. Well worth the trip if you’re in town.

If that’s not enough for you to spend: Classic Auctions has it’s latest up for grabs through June 22. The highlight is the jersey worn by Paul Henderson when he scored the winning goal in the ‘72 Summit Series.  Dennis Kane weighs in on this as well.

Unless the LottoMax kicks in, I won’t be bidding, but I’ll be perusing through the under $200 stuff, and still dreaming.

More Habs signings: Again, not Price, Halak or Pleks. A trio of former Cup-winning Habs from the ‘50s and ‘60s will be at an autograph signing in Toronto on Saturday. Ab McDonald, Albert Langlois and John McCormack will be signing from 12pm onward at AJSportsworld.

Ab McDonald has an interesting tie in to this season’s Stanley Cup Final. He was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks after the 1959-60 season, and went on to score the Cup-winning goal for Chicago the following year.

The Great One’s dad meets my dad: My dad has his brush with hockey greatness this afternoon, when he ran into Walter Gretzky at a Cambridge, ON bank promotion. He reports he had a lengthy and  memorable chat with the “World’s Number One Hockey Dad” and was really impressed with how gracious a man he is.