Eight games left in the season... I feel that now is a good time to look back at my season's predictions and laugh about how little I actually know. This is a humbling exercise because I think I got maybe 1 or 2 right.
Sometimes something from above interferes and delivers a miracle. With the Habs up 4-1, losing the lead (again) and heading to shootout, I honestly believed that if Devin Setoguchi had not somehow tripped, he would have scored and the 4th round would not have gone in the Habs favour. It was a hockey miracle.
Salut Jacques! I know we’ve never met, but we have a few acquaintances in common. Perhaps you are the one that picked up my left-behind asthma pump? I forgot it on the Habs bench last January when I had the privilege to play at the Bell Centre. Regardless, I write to you not to discuss bronchodilators, but to discuss the somewhat hellish opening of the 2011/2012 Habs season. You may be asking why you should read my letter, and I have no good reason, except I’m pretty sure that the majority of Habs fans feel as I do, and it would be in your best interest to heed to at least a couple of suggestions. First, a small recap… The Montreal Canadiens ended last season nearly moving on to the 2nd round. They blew a 2-0 game lead to lose all home games, and an OT game 7 to the eventual Stanley Cup...
Been a long time since I've written a post...an awkward amount of time actually. My excuses are feeble and few. In the summer I focus on tennis and softball and not on writing a blog. Then before I knew it training camp was over and the Habs are playing their first game tomorrow! What will my first post be? How about some season predictions, if only because I like to look back at the end of the year and see how many I got wrong. First though, a little side-blog plug. This season I'll also be writing for a new Habs blog called the Montreal Bias. I'll try and not be repetitive in my posts on this blog and that blog.
First off...it's been over 2-weeks since I've written a post!! It's terrible, and I blame my free trip to NYC and my new job for the delay. However, it seems like it was all meant to be, as I have been saving all my Habs Anger up (aka Habger) up to rant about whatever that display was yesterday evening.
Welcome to 2011, the post-LaPierre era :) With the New Year comes time to review what I thought would happen in this 2010-2011 season. By the end of this week, our Habs will have played their 41st and 42nd game, meaning by Sunday morning the season will be just over the halfway mark. I don't pretend to be the Nostradamus of hockey, but in looking back at what I predicted, I'm not doing so badly. I would give myself a B-. Below, in bold are my the prediction I made, in italics is the reality, and in plain old font is my self-assessment. It's kind of like the yearly self-evaluations I do at work, but instead of the cash bonus I will reward myself with the uninhibited adoration from my millions of fans.
Did you know that a hockey game is 60 minutes long? That even if you are dominating for 20 minutes, you can still easily loose? I thought I knew that, but during the 1st intermission I was all "Habs are the best", "Carey Price will never let in a goal again", and "Philly is all talk, when a bunch of amateurs". Well, much like the Canadiens, I had a rude awakening once the puck dropped in the second period. Like most other fans out there, I realize our team can't win all 82 games in a season – and there will be stinkers, like last night... but that doesn't mean I can't point out the obvious deficiencies that lead to last night's collapse:
I wish I had PVR'd last night's game, because with 10-minutes left in the 3rd period all I wanted to do was hit the fast-forward button and get the game over and done with. Some interesting statistical facts presented themselves to the fans last night:
Well…wasn’t that a debbie downer of a game. SO much promise for about 58 minutes, and then BAM! it all comes tumbling down… Here are my ten points, on what was a really exciting but really disappointing home opener. Gionta’s player introductions really was special. I love how the Habs marketing department are all over the Captain’s french lessons. I am sure LaPierre had a good laugh over being call LaPierrere All joking aside though, that took some courage. Speaking a language you barely know in front of over 20,000 people is no easy task. Well done Captain! Ryan, Ryan, Ryan…. why oh why do you have to get a delay of game penalty EVERY SINGLE TIME! Powerplay? What powerplay? Half the opportunities were cut short because neither Cammalleri nor Subban can keep their emotions in check, and the other half of the powerplays were once again fruitless. At...
I agree with Damian Cox in his futility assessment concerning rookie camps. So while there are a plethora of rookie camp story lines I could take up and write about, I want to instead look to the future and make my 2010/2011 season predictions. The first of which is that 9 out of 10 won't happen and my credibility as a forecaster will be lower than Pierre McGuire's (remember his man-love affair with Komisarek and how he's take the Leafs to the promised land). So without further ado...my predictions
