Thought I'd try something new this week.
A live discussion on tonight's game between Ottawa and Montreal.
Be patient as this is my first attempt! :)
Showing posts with label Ottawa Senators. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ottawa Senators. Show all posts
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Monday, December 28, 2009
Halak-a-mania Storms Into Ottawa
The Senators home rink essentially becomes a Bell-Centre east when the Montreal Canadiens roll into town. Tickets are still available as this is put together.
Robert Lefebvre, at Habs Eyes on The Prize, had his first insight into a Canadiens road game in the nation’s capital earlier this month and posted it on his blog.
Anyways back to the man of the hour, the man with the power, to sweet to be sour, Jaroslav Halak.
A few weeks back, after it was learned that Halak and his agent had requested a trade, I expected to see some good performances out of the young goaltender to increase his value and/or establish more playing time in Montreal.
But did anyone expect what we have seen in the last four games?
The Slovak-born netminder has been stellar in all four games of this seven-game road swing in which he has faced Halak has faced an average of 46.5 shots on goal, making 180 saves on a total of 186 for a .968 save percentage. His goals-against average during that stretch is 1.48.
Halak was named the NHL’s First Star of the week, after posting three wins and stopping 140 of 146 shots he faced. His GAA now sits at 2.53 and has a save percentage of .926
"It just shows the focus he's had," centre Scott Gomez said of Halak. "What can you say? He's in a zone. It's almost like you're scared not to give him that many shots because we don't know what will happen."
Three questions come to mind:
1. Can the Canadiens get the shot total against reduced to a more reasonable number for Halak to face?
Chances are unlikely given the Canadiens tight schedule in December that has limited their practice time.
2. How much longer can Halak, and the Canadiens for this matter, continue this pace?
Halak is clearly an NHL level goalie, but how much longer can he face a multi-shot barrage day in and day out. Also consider the teams he has faced are not the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, San Jose Sharks, or Vancouver Canucks.
3. What to do with Carey Price?
Even though Price had some soft goals in his last few starts, the losses were clearly not his fault. Jacques Martin will eventually have to give Price a chance to prove himself again, likely in one of the two games in Florida.
So far, when Halak runs the table for four or five starts, Price has remained in support of his fellow goalie and team. How long can that last though?
In four games, since his return from a season opening injury, Markov has eight points and the Canadiens top the NHL in the man-advantage category, with a mark of 25 percent.
Gionta set to return?: Scott Gomez is picking up the pace he’s paid the big bucks for with five points in his last two games.
Gomez could get a boost to his numbers as he could be re-united with the injured Brian Gionta as soon as Monday night. The pair practiced Sunday on a line with Benoit Pouliot.
Gionta has not seen action since breaking his foot, on November 17, and will be a game time decision.
But as the Canadiens medical ward is finding some empty cots, Roman Hamrlik still remains out with a lower-body injury.
The Bad Guys: The Senators sport one of the best home records in the NHL, but are missing some key components to their offence.
Captain Daniel Alfredsson is expected to be out four to six weeks, with a shoulder injury, and Jason Spezza is not expected back until after the Olympics with a torn MCL.
Nick Foligno is also on IR until late January after having arthroscopic knee surgery and was expected to resume skating this week.
This is the third meeting of the season between Montreal and Ottawa. The Senators won the first match-up, 3-1, on Oct. 17, and the Canadiens earned with a 4-1 victory, with Halak, on Dec. 8 in Ottawa.
Earlier in the month, the Russian Ice Hockey Federations’ GM, Vladislav Tretiak, bypassed Ottawa on a tour of NHL cities, and made it clear he wanted the best players at that moment.
With 20 points this season, at the time the selections were announced, the 36-year-old was not one of them.
Kovalev responded that he could use the time off, to go with the two and a half months he’s already had off this season, I guess.
Guess the 20,000 goal scorer and win tix!: Just less than a century after Jack Laviolette potted the first goal in Canadiens history, the team’s 20,000 could come tonight, barring a Senators shutout.
Dave Stubbs of HabsInsideOut is offering up a pair of VIP tickets to the Canadiens Jan. 3 game vs. Buffalo for the HIO member that picks the winning goal scorer.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Called out Sens Clearly Didn’t Listen to Their Boss
The Ottawa Senators fired 46 shots at Jaroslav Halak on Tuesday night, one went in during the Canadiens 4-1 victory.
On Sunday, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk called out his superstars, though not naming names.
"It's obvious what we need," Melnyk said Sunday. "The elite players have to start to play their best. Once they do that, I think we can be as competitive as ever. Hopefully that happens fairly quickly and we're back to where we were at the start of the season."
Jason Spezza and Alex Kovalev are clearly two of the elite players that he is referring to.
It's the whole group," Melnyk continued. "Some show up some nights and some don't. It's the elite players, that's basically it, but I'm really pleased to see guys like [Mike] Fisher step up to the plate as well as he has."
Well Mike Fisher continued to impress, scoring the Senators lone goal Tuesday and registering seven shots to earn second star honours.
Kovalev and Spezza on the other hand managed just two shots each in the game.
Mike Boone of HabsInsideOut.com made this notable comparison, “Marc André Bergeron will earn $750,000 this season. He has seven goals. Alex Kovalev makes $5 million. He has four.”
And Kovalev wonders why Russian Olympic GM Vladislav Tretiak didn’t pay him a visit two weeks ago. Sorry Alex, it wasn’t the travel schedule. Mr. Tretiak wants the best Russian players now, not from two or more years ago. Enjoy your two-week break in February.
As for Spezza, this quote after Tuesday’s loss makes you wonder if he even read Melnyk’s comments, “We got a lot of pucks at the net, but just didn't do a good enough job of getting pucks in the net.” We?
Cammalleri, Plekanec, Bergeron and Hamrlik celebrate Kostitsyn’s goal - Reuters
Meanwhile, Kovalev’s former line mates in Montreal, Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn, have certainly found a groove with their new winger Mike Cammalleri.
Plekanec had three assists on Tuesday, while Kostitsyn scored on the power play and set up another. Cammalleri had his fifth goal in three games.
The trio combined for six points and now has seven goals and eight assists in wins over the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and the Senators.
"Plecks is playing really well. He's creating a lot and we're getting a lot of production as a result," Cammalleri said.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Down on Habs Street…and other Canadiens news
It looks like by Friday, the Montreal Canadiens will finally have a street, or part of a street, named after them. It’s something that should have happened years ago.
Hockey30.com reports that Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay will announce that all or part of rue de La Gauchetière, the address of the Bell Centre, will be renamed Rue des Canadiens.
City hall officials are on record that council had looked at ways to honor the Canadiens 100th anniversary, but nothing has been formally announced.
There will be some form of announcement by the Canadiens at week’s end though.
Team VP of Communications and Community Relations, Donald Beauchamp,did talk to The Metropolitan News.
"I'm going to just have you wait a little bit on this one because we're planning something very soon,” he said.”We're planning on doing something on Friday for a number of things but I won't tell you what.”
All we know, from Mr. Beauchamp, is that it involves something to do with the Centennial Plaza.
From a couple sources over the summer, I have an idea as to what one of the announcements may pertain to. But like Mr. Beauchamp, and in confidence, I have to keep it to myself.
What else is happening:
The Hamilton Spectator’s Gary McKay checks in on the sulking Belarusian known as Sergei Kostitsyn.
The H does not stand for Habs wants critics to lay off Kyle Chipchura
Yves on Habs looks on the Canadiens after the first three games.
CJAD’s Abe Hefter weighs in and feels coach Martin is going to have to keep Gomez, Cammalleri, and Gionta together.
The Daily Hab-it looks at the positives in the Canadiens first loss of the season.
Special ticket offer for Ottawa area Habs fans:
Purchase 2 tickets to the Sens vs. Pens game on October 12 at 7:30 p.m. and you'll get the opportunity to pre-purchase 2 tickets to watch the Sens face the Canadiens this season on Tuesday December 8 or Monday December 28.
Offer expires Monday October 12. Visit www.capitaltickets.ca/promo and reference the special pre-buy code: CROSBY
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Kovalev, Fisher lead Senators to a thumping of the Habs
Former Hab Alex Kovalev had a goal and an assist and Mike Fisher had a hat-tick and an assist as the Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 Saturday night in Kanata.
Unlike the night before at the Bell Centre, Scotiabank place was full of empty seats for the pre-season contest. I even checked the Senators ticket site and cold find 10th row seats in section 105 at 6pm.
The seats that were occupied had quite a lot of fans of the Bleu-Blanc et Rouge in them.
Kovalev heard the jeers of disgruntled Canadiens fans early in the game every time he touched the puck.
The Russian forward replied with a short-handed wrist shot through the legs of Carey Price to open the scoring.
“It was important to get the win,” he said. “We played a complete game.”
Kovalev tried to downplay the importance of playing his former team, but he had to have been surprised by the mixed reactions emanating from the crowd.
"I couldn't understand where I was playing - Ottawa, Montreal or somewhere in between," he said.
"It doesn't matter if they're cheering or booing, you know, you've got the crowd, you've got a lot of people who watched the game and that's what makes it exciting."
Montreal would score on the power-play later in the period when Jaroslav Spacek blasted a shot off the point to beat Pascal LeClaire.
Fisher scored on the man advantage for Ottawa late in the period.
Fisher and Peter Regin each scored even-strength goals in the second period. Fisher then got his trick in the third period, while Josh Hennessy closed out the scoring.
Pascal LeClaire made 23 saved and played the whole 60 minutes for the Senators.
Price struggled in the Canadiens net, making 12 saves on 16 shots through the first two periods.
“It’s gonna take a while to get back to md-season form,” he said. “We need to prepare a little bit better, it’s not an excuse.”
The Habs netminder was also asked on Kovalev scoring on him, having faced him in practice on several occasions in the past.
“It went straight through my legs,” he said. “He’s a good player and I’ve been watching him shoot for the last two years. Sometimes he’s gonna beat you. That’s what good players do. It’s something we’re going to have to get used to now.”
Cedric Desjardins stopped five of seven for Montreal in the third.
Eric Neilson, who dropped the gloves on three occasions in Friday’s win over the Senators, had a rematch with Matt Carkner early in the first period.
The aspiring Canadien’s tough guy’s discipline did not show up Saturday though, as he also left the Canadiens shorthanded twice and was in the penalty box when Fisher completed his hat trick.
“To me it’s about preparation,” said Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin. “ It doesn’t matter whether it’s pre-season or regular season. We had a good start, but there were some mistakes and they capitalized.”
Martin stated that he will go two more games before he begins cutting the roster down to size.
“That’s what training camp is for,” he said. You get to know your people, you take notice of what each individual brings, but you need to be ready on October 1st.”
The Canadiens play their next pre-season game Sunday, in Quebec City, against the Boston Bruins.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Canadiens and Senators set to go at it again
The Montreal Canadiens travelled to Kanata today for the second of their back-to back pre-season meetings with the Ottawa Senators.
“It’s definitely exciting",” said former Habs winger Alex Kovalev on facing his former team.
Kovalev did not play in Montreal Friday night, but if he had is way would have preferred to play in all six Senators pre-season games.
“We have many young guys trying to make the team,” he said. “..so it’s not my decision to make.”
Kovalev has been playing with fellow newcomer Jonathan Cheechoo, who was picked up in the Dany Heatley deal.
The Senators will be looking for their first pre-season win, after having three straight losses.
Ottawa coach Cory Clouston will be looking at tonight’s game very intently as the team begins trimming it’s roster.
"There's an opportunity for guys that play well tonight or might get another look," Clouston said “There's also a chance that somebody could play themself off this team.”
“Whether you are a vet or a young guy trying to make this team, these games mean something. We are looking at how hard they compete.”
The Senators coach also talked about the team’s lack of goal production.
“We’re getting chances, we’re just not scoring,” he said.
“We’ve hit eight posts in three games. It’s hard to explain. The positive is the chances are there. We’re just not scoring.”
Clouston also expects to let Pascal LeClaire play the full 60 minutes tonight in goal.
For the Canadiens, two hopefuls, who impressed coach Jacques Martin Friday, will start again tonight.
Ben Maxwell, who scored Montreal’s first goal Friday night will look to impress his coach further.
“You really get the sense of his nice progression,” said Martin.
“This is a solid two-way player with deceptive speed that he’s shown all through training camp. He worked really hard this summer and we’re seeing the results of that now.”
Eric Neilson, who logged 37 penalty minutes will also be out to terrorize the Senators for another night.
In the event Georges Laraque goes down to injury, it’s nice to see the Canadiens have another tough guy down the pipe.
Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette had a great post-game chat with Neilson Friday, and I came across a quote from Sidney Crosby, his former teammate in Rimouski, on the Habs hopeful.
“He’s very tough. He and another guy shared the heavyweight crown in our league.
He’s not only tough but very fast. He’s not there just to fight, he can skate and he’s a good checker as well.
There are a lot of guys who are tough but have trouble playing hockey, he’s not one of those guys. He can play too.”
- Sidney Crosby 2005 interview with HFBoards
Sergei Kostitsyn has also been cleared by Canadiens’ team doctors for game play and is scheduled to play tonight
Game time is 7:00pm at Scotiabank Place.
Canadiens Lineup:
Goal: Price, Desjardins
Defence: O'Byrne, Spacek, Belle, Benoit, Anderson, Markov
Forwards: Cammalleri, D'Agostini, Lapierre, A. Kostitsyn, White, Maxwell, Johansson, Pacioretty, Stewart, S. Kostitsyn, Neilson, Gomez.
Gomez on playing in Montreal: Rocky Bonanno of NHL.com talks to the Canadiens center on looking forward to playing in Montreal.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Canadiens beat Senators 2-1
It certainly wasn’t a playoff game, and you didn’t miss much if you missed the first two periods, unless you like a good fight or tow, otr three.
Nonetheless, the Montreal Canadiens came alive, in the third period of this pre-season tilt, to beat their division rival Ottawa Senators tonight at the Bell Centre 2-1.
Montreal only mustered four shots in the first period, and the Senators scored the lone goal of the period, when Milan Michalek fired a Jason Spezza pass by goaltender Jaroslav Halak.
Michalek was making his first appearance for Ottawa since being traded from San Jose in the Dany Heatley deal.
The Canadiens showed signs of life in the second, inspired by hopeful Ben Maxwell who tied the game at one on the powerplay at 5:15.
Another hopeful, Eric Neilson, showed the Bell Centre crowd his pugilist skills.
After laying out the Senators’ Jeremy Yablonski with a solid hook early in the period, he later took on Ottawa tough guy Chris Neil to a draw.
The New Brunswick native wasn’t finished as he and teammate Andrew Conboy would have a mini scrap with Ottawa’s Matt Carkner and Cody Bass respectively halfway into the third period.
“Neilson did an outstanding job,” said Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin. “He’s a smart individual who doesn’t put his team in trouble.”
Neilson’s 37 penalty minutes on the night is not surprising.
He racked up 207 PIM in 53 games with the Peoria Rivermen (AHL) last year and used to be Sidney Crosby’s body guard when the two played Junior in Rimouski.
Brian Gionta, one of the newcomers with high expectations this season, took a Tomas Plekanec pass to beat Robin Lehner with the game-winning goal at 15:56.
Plekanec and Gionta showed improvement, with linemate Max Pacioretty, as the game progressed, despite Pacioretty leaving the game briefly midway into the game.
The two teams meet again tomorrow, in Kanata, where former Hab Alex Kovalev is expected to play.
Kovalev ne joue pas ce soir
Ottawa Senators GM Brian Murray has asked Alex Kovalev to take a night off tonight to think about his game.
Nah, just kidding.
But, the Senator’s prize free-agent signing will not be on the squad that faces his old team, the Montreal Canadiens, tonight at the Bell Centre.
We’ll see “L’Artiste” in action Saturday, when the teams meet at Scotiabank Place, saving the dramatic return to Montreal for the regular season.
The Sens have struggled in the pre-season, losing their first two games, to the Florida Panthers, and accumulated just two goals in those contests.
“It’s not “a worry, but it is an issue,” said Sens coach Cory Clouston.
Well he can’t blame it on any lack of effort from Dany Heatley now, can he?
Habs injuries: Laraque (lower body) ,Hamrlik (flu), Sergei Kostitsyn and Kyle Chipchura still are awaiting doctors clearance for game play.
From the Sens Camp: A nice article on Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire, who looks forward to playing at least two periods in his home town.
Other Habs tidbits:
Dave Stubbs (habsinsideout.com) asks “What is wrong with this picture?”
Canadiens.com looks at Mike Cammalleri after his first pre-season game in a Habs jersey.
Jason at Flying Frenchmen is not big on a rotating captaincy.
Four Habs Fans get some input on coach Jacques Martin from bloggers for his former teams (Sens, Florida Panthers)
Lions in Winter has been looking, in depth, at the projected lines this season.
Friday, September 11, 2009
In Case You Missed it: Habs News and Blogger Views for Sept. 11
I’ll start off today’s mesh of posts and blogs with some non-Habs bits.
Control of the Coyotes: Hearings concluded this evening for the auction process for control of the Phoenix Coyotes. Now it will be Judge Baum’s decision to award the team to the NHL, PSE or throw both bids out. My money is on the league.
The CBC’s Jeff Marek did a great job of twittering highlights from the courtroom as they unfolded.
Hockeyville approaches: The 2009 edition of CBC’s Kraft Hockeyville is just a few days away. Greatest Hockey Legends has been compiling some great stories on the upcoming festivities in Terrace, BC. Well worth the read.
Theo Fleury launches his comeback: The Calgary Flames have invited reinstated winger Theoren Fleury to their 2009 training camp. The 41-year-old will attempt a comeback, much like Claude Lemieux did last season.
No trade, and no golf today, for Dany Heatley: A report broke on NHL.com yesterday (via ESPN) that the Kings, Sharks and Senators had made a three-way deal to get disgruntled forward out of Ottawa. All teams quickly denied it.
The Ottawa Citizen reports that Heatley made his deposit on a condo being built in the Byward Market area of Ottawa.
In the meantime, the Senators made a peculiar move by asking Heatley to not attend today’s team golf tournament, “in order to direct attention on the efforts of the Sens Foundation”.
Big Shoes to Follow: The Colorado Avalanche named veteran defenceman Adam Foote as their new captain. And no, they didn’t send a jet for him this time.
OK on to the important stuff:
Fore!: HabsInsideOut.com was all over Thursday’s team golf tournament, with tons of audio. It also includes the Gillet/Molson news conference.
ScottyHockey gives Four Habs Fans the inside scoop on new Habs blueliner Paul Mara.
Dennis Kane looks at the new Canadiens lineup for 2009-10 with notes on P.K. Subban.
Lions in Winter looks at recent developments and comments in the Canadiens lack of francophone players.
Camp Roster announced: 54 players were invited to the Canadiens’ 2009 Training Camp. Only three players from the rookie camp did not get invited. Robert Lang is not on the list either, so that rumor is put to rest.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Habs legend they called Cannonball
Pitre, born on this day in 1883, had played with Laviolette in Valleyfield, QC and with the Michigan-Soo Indians in the IHL.
The 5’11” 190lb, muscular winger/blueliner was exceptionally fast for a man of his stature. The story goes that he could even skate just as fast backwards as he could going forwards.
His combination of speed and size, along with blistering shot that terrorized goalies, had earned him the nickname “Cannonball”.
Laviolette sent for Pitre, who had been working the off-season in Sault-Ste. Marie, ON, via telegram.
The key phrases of that telegram read, “New League formed. New Canadien team formed. Big Money available. Come to Montreal.”
Unbeknownst to Pitre, the Montreal Nationals of the CHA were also in the midst of recruiting him for their team.
Pitre met up with a Nationals representative on the train ride to Ottawa. Thinking this was the team Laviolette spoke of, he signed on with them en route.
Realizing his error on meeting Laviolette, Pitre signed with the Canadiens.
The Nationals filed legal action to prevent Pitre from playing with the Canadiens, but on January 5, 1910 , the night of their inaugural game, a judge ruled in favor of the Canadiens.
Pitre scored 10 goals in the Canadiens first twelve-game season. he would score 19, 28, and 24 goals in the following three seasons.
He went to the Vancouver Millionaires for the 1913-14 season, but returned to Montreal the following year bagging 30 goals in a 20 game season.
He won his only Stanley Cup during the 1915-16 season after leading the NHA is scoring with 39 points.
While his offensive totals continued to be impressive, Pitre’s speed over the years was slowing tailing off.
In his final two seasons, Pitre found himself concentrating on playing as a defenseman.
His final game was the second game of a two-game total goals series, versus the Ottawa Senators, for the NHL title in 1923.
The Canadiens lost the series by one goal. Despite the losing effort, being overweight and used as a substitute during most of his final season, the 39 year-old saved his best defensive effort for his last game.
“Didier was sensational on defence,” wrote La Presse.
“One expected him to be exhausted after a few minutes, but he was like a wall against the Ottawa attack.”
The last of the original Canadiens announced his retirement after the series, finishing with 220 goals and 59 assists in 254 games with Montreal.
It is even said that he was once criticized by his coach for apologetically helping an opponent up after he had knocked him to the ice.
Elmer Ferguson, who wrote about Pitre through his career, had this to say.
“Many played brutally, but Pitre was not one of them. It is doubtful if the big, good-natured Frenchman ever did a mean, or unsportsmanlike thing in his whole career.”
“Pitre was a very loyal player with a generous heart,” wrote an unnamed journalist.
“The fans liked his lively character, his engaging repartee, his extraordinary drive and the unbelievable speed of his rushes.”
Pitre died in 1934 and was enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.
Other notes about Didier Pitre
- Before his first Stanley Cup win, he competed in the Cup final in 1909 with Edmonton, and again with Montreal in 1917 and 1919.
- Hall of Famer Cy Dennehy called Pitre one of the fastest skaters of all time.
- In a January 16, 1919 game against the Ottawa, Pitre and Jack Darragh, of Ottawa, each had natural hat tricks in a 10-6 win for the Canadiens. That feat was not repeated until Jonathan Cheechoo, of the San Jose Sharks, and Ryan Smyth, of Edmonton Oilers, each did in a 6-4 Edmonton victory on October 19th, 2006
- Became a coach and referee in the Michigan-Soo area after his retirement as was also named to the NHL’s officiating staff.
- Played alongside 22 Hall-of-Fame players during his career.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Dollars and lack of sense. How much would you pay for pre season tix?
As the 2009-10 NHL season approaches, ticket sales for your favourite teams are slowly beginning to start.
Pre-season tickets are now readily available for most teams. By next Saturday, all 30 teams will have their pre-season tickets on sale.
I did a little shopping around to see where the deals might be.
As I live in Ontario, I started with the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Sens have tickets available for their three home pre-season games, ranging from as low as $12.94 and cap out at $150.
The Leafs have four pre-season games at the ACC. Tickets there start at $27 and peak at, sitting down? $416.00!! Prices are the same be it the Buffalo Sabres, or the Pittsburgh Penguins.
I received an insider email today to purchase Leaf pre-season tickets in advance of the public sale.
There’s some clever strategy by Ticketmaster and the Leafs. When you choose the Pittsburgh game. There is no choice in seat preference. You have to take what they offer.
Now let’s see what pre-season tickets sell for elsewhere in the league.
Montreal Canadiens: I didn’t see any pre-season pricing. But since they typically go close to regular season prices, we can assume a range from $28.00 to $201.00
Calgary Flames: $34.00 to $256.00
Edmonton Oilers: $38.50 to $205.00
Vancouver Canucks: $26.50 to $382.50
Detroit Red Wings: $9 to $150.00 (US)
Washington Capitals: $35.00 to $280.00
Boston Bruins: $32.50 to $251.50
Pittsburgh Penguins: $54.00 to $184.00
Tampa Bay Lightning: $15.00 to $349.00
New York Islanders: $19.00 to $175.00
Tix for the Islanders pre-season game in Kansas City ; $10 to $150
Phoenix Coyotes: $10.75 to $325.75
Now the question, would you pay these high-end prices for a pre-season game, in which you may, or may not, see the teams top stars?
For me, I think $100 would be my max.
I’ve made the weekend trip to Ottawa, in the past, to see the Canadiens/Senators in pre-season before. Even with gas and a hotel, you still pay far less than in other cities. Not to mention for $100 I was right on the glass.
But sorry, there’s no way I’m paying over $300 in September to see a team that I wouldn’t pay the same amount to see in the regular season, especially if they have no hope to even make the playoffs.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Canadiens ticket info and Downloadable Calendars
Tickets for the Montreal Canadiens 2009-10 schedule, announced yesterday, won’t go on sale for a few more weeks.
The Canadiens website indicates that 3 and 10-game packs will go on sale sometime in August.
Single game tickets usually go on sale in the first couple weeks of September.
Ticket stubs from the ‘75 New Years Eve game and Lafleur’s 500th goal game
Season tickets for 2009-10 are sold out (always are) but the team does offer a waiting list to get on.
Some tickets are being offered by season ticket holders through outlets such as Stub Hub already as those people know they will have their tickets in September.
Meanwhile pre-season tickets for the Canadiens game in Ottawa on September 19 will go on sale August 22 at 10am through capitaltickets.ca
Season ticket stub from the ‘07-08 Playoffs that was never used and one from Game Four of the ‘76 Finals where the Canadiens clinched the Stanley Cup
The Canadiens also have downloadable schedules available through their website.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Habs 2009-10 Schedule is out!!! Bulldogs and Cyclones sked news also released
The NHL officially released the Montreal Canadiens 2009-10 Regular Season Schedule this afternoon. The official press release can be found here.
The Canadiens will kick off Season 101 on Thursday October 1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the ACC.
It will be the first game of a five-game road trip to start off the season.
Maybe a good thing to get it over with early:
The Canadiens head west to play back-to-back games in Calgary and Vancouver on Oct 6-7, wrapping up the trip on Oct. 10 in Edmonton.
We all remember the disastrous western trip from last year, and so far coach Jacques Martin has not planned a team bowling night.
The Canadiens’ home opener is against the Colorado Avalanche on Oct 15 where they will have a six game home stand.
We’ll get a possible look at John Tavares twice in Montreal in four days (Oct 22 and 26)
Montreal then faces the Stanley Cup Champion Penguins in Pittsburgh on Oct 28.
The First Must-See home game: Saturday Oct 17th,when Alex Kovalev returns with his Ottawa Senators.
Christopher Higgins returns Oct 24 with the New York Rangers
Komisarek returns Oct 31, where it will be brick night: First 5000 fans get unused off-cut bricks from the Centennial Plaza to do…
Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals roll into the Bell Centre on Nov 28. The game will be at the Bell Centre and not at Olympic Stadium as rumored.
Dec 4 against Boston will mark the 100th Anniversary of the Canadiens’ formation. Note the starting time of 8pm as there will be a ceremony beforehand.
Montreal looks to have a tough schedule in December, playing 11 of 17 games on the road and ends the month with seven in a row during the holidays.
Montreal has 15 back-to back games with just one of these at home, so Jaroslav Halak could see lots of work this season.
The NHL shuts down for two weeks, after Feb 13, for the Olympics.
Even with 21st Century technology, the NHL’s logistics team still cannot find a system to make it work evenly:
After the Olympics, the Habs are in Boston on Mar 2, then off to California (if it’s not in receivership) to play San Jose, L.A. and Anaheim and back across the country to face Tampa on Mar 9. That’s a lot of travel.
March closes out in the Canadiens’ favor for the playoff run however , with five of their last eight at home.
The season concludes on Apr 10 at the Bell Centre against the Maple Leafs.
The Canadiens will have seven pre-season games from September 17-26. Five games will be at home, while the other two will be in Ottawa (Sep 19) and Quebec City (Sep 20 vs. Boston)
First six Hamilton Bulldogs home games announced!
Five other confirmed dates are also set with a Nov 6 game played in Montreal at the Bell Centre. Opponents are to be determined when the AHL releases the official schedule later this summer.
ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones Schedule released!
It could be handy for our Ohio area Habs fans or those travelling south of the border on the way to Florida this winter! Catch a game on the way down I-75 !!!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Who will lead them?
Well the Montreal Canadiens roster officially got trimmed by one more player.
Despite a “rally of the masses” on Sunday afternoon at the Bell Centre, Habs GM Bob Gainey told CJAD radio on Monday that Alex Kovalev would not be returning.
Hours later, Kovalev took the money ($10 million over two years) and ran up the highway to Ottawa Senators.
The Northeast Division will be fun to watch this season without a doubt.
With Kovalev’s departure and the likely signing of Saku Koivu to either Buffalo, Atlanta, Anaheim or whatever square Eklund’s rumor dart hit this afternoon, this leaves the captain and all assistant captains off to greener pastures.
Mike Komisarek defected to the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1 and Christopher Higgins was traded to the New York Rangers on June 30.
The question now has to be asked, who will be the next captain?
Andrei Markov has been an assistant captain in the past but is unlikely as a captain.
You have to remember that Koivu was criticized for not speaking French. Markov can barely speak English so it’s safe to rule him out.
The Kostitsyn brothers??? Georges Laraque ??? Forget it!
Scott Gomez seems to be an early popular choice, despite not playing one game for the Canadiens.
Sorry Mr. Gomez, but there’s too much tradition to just walk in and take the “C”.
Ditto for Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta.
All likelihood two of these three will be alternate captains.
Young bucks Josh Gorges, Maxim Lapierre and maybe Guillaume Latendresse would be a good choices as an alternate captains in my opinion, but I feel none of this trio is at a full leadership level.
Roman Hamrlik is the long-time veteran on the team, but could be moved before the start of the season.
In any event, the Canadiens have never gone without a captain in their history.
Guy Carbonneau and Chris Chelios alternated months in the 1989-90 season when the team vote was as close as the Quebec Referendum vote.
The captaincy of the Montreal Canadiens has always been voted on by the players, so ultimately it will be up to the final roster when it is set sometime in late September.
The players may elect to go a shared route in the 2009-10 season.
Either way, that individual is the go-to man by the fans and media of a team with 100 years of history, and 16 years and counting without a Stanley Cup.
Preferably I want a long standing captain like Koivu (win or lose), and not a revolving door that we saw in the mid-90’s.
But let’s not rule out the current captain just yet, shall we?
List of Montreal Canadiens Captains
| Jack Laviolette 1909-10 | Emile Bouchard 1948-56 |
| Newsy Lalonde 1910-11 | Maurice Richard 1956-60 |
| Jack Laviolette 1911-12 | Doug Harvey 1960-61 |
| Newsy Lalonde 1912-13 | Jean Beliveau 1961-71 |
| Jimmy Gardner 1913-15 | Henri Richard 1971-75 |
| Howard McNamara 1915-16 | Yvan Cournoyer 1975-79 |
| Newsy Lalonde 1916-22 | Serge Savard 1979-81 |
| Sprague Cleghorn 1922-25 | Bob Gainey 1981-89 |
| Billy Coutu 1925-26 | G. Carbonneau/C. Chelios 1989-90 |
| Sylvio Mantha 1926-32 | Guy Carbonneau 1990-94 |
| George Hainsworth 1932-33 | Kirk Muller 1994-95 |
| Sylvio Mantha 1933-36 | Mike Keane Apr – Dec 1995 |
| Albert “Babe” Seibert 1936-39 | Pierre Turgeon 1995-96 |
| Walter Buswell 1939-40 | Vincent Damphousse 1996-99 |
| Hector “Toe” Blake 1940-48 | Saku Koivu 1999-?? |
| Bill Durnan Jan – Apr 1948 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
