andrew shaw

 The year is 2016, yet why do we act like its the 1950's? Stick with me I'm going somewhere. Last night in the Chicago-St. Louis game, Andrew Shaw was assessed an interference penalty at 17:56 of the 3rd Period. As he is skating away he give the double fingers and says something along the lines of "[EXPLICIT] You" to what we can only assume is a referee. Then he was placed into the box, that's when things got really bad. He says "[EXPLICIT] [Gay Slur] you." Again, why do we act like its the 1950's. He said the most unthinkable thing you could say, it doesn't matter if he meant to say it or not, we saw it. Why do we as a society think that its OK to say that? I'm serious use the comments to let me know. But we have people who are bullied everyday because they are gay. Some are bullied to the point that they commit suicide. Which is NOT good. Shaw said after the game according to the Chicago Tribune " I really don't know whats said" as reported by Chris Kue, you can read his full article here. So whats next for Shaw? well there is an investigation, and with as much buzz as this generated, i'm sure that there will be a punishment, whether it be him suspended or paying a fine, he deserves to be punished.

Dear NHL, this is why your Fourth

Dear NHL,
 I LOVE YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE!!!!! That's what all us hockey fans are saying, why don't you care about us? Why do you care about the non NHL fan? The talk has started up again that many GM's think that they need to shrink the size of Goalie gear. Why? To increase scoring? Why cant we just leave it alone. There are 2 reasons why scoring isn't up this year, first, maybe the goalies are just that good, or that skaters aren't scoring. I mean here are the top 5 Goalies according to GAA, Ben Bishop with 2.06, John Gibson with 2.07, Brian Elliot with 2.14, Jonathan Quick with 2.16, and Cory Schneider with 2.17. All respectful numbers, that means they allowed around 2 goals on average this season. And I know, what about goals, well Alex Ovechkin has 42, Patrick Kane has 38 (more on him in a bit) , Jamie Benn has 36, Brad Marchand has 34, and Tyler Seguin has 33. So you can't say that its either of them. So why is Bettman so insistent on changing this? More on that later I have a theory.

Next is the World Cup of Hockey, while this idea does sound good, it has the ability to end in disaster. The reason I say this is the dammed format. Team America, Team Canada, Team Czech, Team Finland, Team Sweden, Team Russia,Team North America and Team Europe. Ummm what constitutes team North America? OH that's right, under 23. So thought you'd get to see Connor McDavid with the maple leaf on his chest, Sorry hes only 19. Jack Eichel with "USA" across his chest, think again sweet heart, he's 19 as well. And Europe? What is Team Europe, well how about every country not named Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden or Finland. Thats right, players like Zdeno Chara will have to play on Team Europe, even though Slovenia can field a team, they change their mind and decide that they want to have all those teams that never have a chance to win be on one team.

And Lastly how you handle Patrick Kane. Ah yes, the party boy, hailing from Buffalo, plays for the "hottest" team in the league. Who has had a crazy off ice life the past few years. Lets see, hes assaulted a Cab Driver, and over $.20. Two dimes, 20 pennies, 4 nickles, that's ridiculous Kane, but still he was never convicted. But the key, the big picture that the NHL failed to handle properly, was his most recent allegation of Rape. Kane was accused of Raping a women back in the off season after winning the Stanley Cup. During the said investigation the NHL didn't do anything to penalize him, they didn't reprehend him. NOTHING!!! The only group that was smart enough to penalize him was EA by removing him from their CRAP game. And after its all said and done what does he say? "I did nothing wrong". Kane here's the thing, it doesn't matter what you did, You need to grow the hell up. And so does the NHL, they did nothing to try and distance themselves from the situation. The only press release I can find with a quick google search is this one right here. AND THATS FROM THIS YEAR!!!!!!!

So in conclusion NHL, you are Forth for a myriad of reason, but THESE that I listed, only scratch the surface.

Sincerly,

All Disgruntled Fans in the League

P.S. my theory on why Bettman insists on shrinking the goalie pads and widening the nets, MONEY

TherriNOT

Michel Therrien

Greg Wyshynski reported it here, Michel Therrien will return for the next season, I REPEAT, Therrien will be back next year. The light at the end of this crap storm of a season, was bright, Pricey is feeling good feeling great, might even return soon (although I wouldn't risk it). The College Boy is in the race with Chucky for the Hab's scoring title. Then this hits me, all over Twitter.

Therrien Dissected

And I mean this in the sense of, lets see if we can try to understand what his plans are. We could attribute Prices injury back in November to him, I mean, come one he was rushed back from injury. I know it, You know it, that elderly Quebecois Hab's fan knows it, and since they are not revealing the injury, I shall use my powers of deduction to find out the injury. MCL, more specifically the MCL, Medial Collateral Ligament, was torn, in his right let, note that the right leg is what Krieder hit, in the Conference Championships 2 years ago. Then there's Tinordi, who really never played a good set of games for the Club.

The Future

 Is there any way that Therrien can save his blessed insurance? Maybe win the cup, maybe not drastically injure another player by rushing recovery. So what can we the faithful do? Maybe just find a way to numb anytime he's interviewed. I know for me that since I don't get to see or hear him talk unless I pull up the Hab's website. I guess as long as he's making Bergivin happy, were stuck being miserable.

Quoi de neuf?

The Habs start the final push for the end of the season. This includes 13 games, 7 home and 6 Away.  3 against the Panthers, 2 against the Wings and Lightning and one game each against Buffalo, Ottawa, Calgary, Anaheim, the Rangers, and the Hurricanes. At the time of this post, the Hab's sit 32-31-6, 6th in the conference South of Ottawa and North of Buffalo and toronto. And 5 seats back in the Wild Card. This has been a season I'd like to forget. For the Playoffs my Camp is "Anyone but boston" in the East. And in the West, "DALLAS! STARS!" or "Anyone but chicago". Honestly, I'd like to see Jagr lift the Cup again. He has worked hard for this long career.

AND HIS NAME IS JOHN SCOTT!!!!

 Smash Mouth's "All Star" was the theme for the whole All Star Break, well only because of one person, and he stands 6'8", called Jeremy Roenick out during an interview, and was all smiles the entire event. John Scott was the epitome of the term "All Star". Well for starters what does the word "All Star" even mean? Online dictionary defines the word as "composed wholly of outstanding performers or players." and considering how John was literally the ONLY player who wanted to be there, then yes he IS an All Star. 2 Goals, 1 Hit, 1 "Fight" with Patrick Kane. Still it was more fun than I had expected going into this whole event. But this is a message to anyone with connections to the NHL, the very same people who said, "Do you think this is something your kids would be proud of?" Well you be the judge. 

GAME 1; ATLANTIC VS METROPOLITAN

Game 1 consisted of the Jagr Atlantic taking on the Tavares Metro. The Game was fast paced, much like any 3v3 we have seen this season. All the games consisted of two 10 minutes halfs, making a 20 minute game. Scoring consisted of the the Atlantic, Super Swede Erik Karlsson (OTT), and the ageless Czech Jaromir Jagr (FLA) in the first. The Metro lit the lamps with Kris Letang (PIT) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (WSH). The Second half was the Atlantic Domination with Aaron Ekblad (FLA) and P.K. Subban (MTL). The Metro tried and failed to get the lead again, Evegni Malkin (PIT) scored the Meto's only 2nd half goal. The win would propel the Atlantic to play agianst the winner of Game 2. The Goalie system for the Atlantic was the Rivals: Roberto Luongo (FLA) and "Big" Ben Bishop (TB). And for the Metropolitan It was the duo of Cory Schneider (NJD) and Braden Holtby

GAME 2; PACIFIC VS CENTRAL

Game 2 was the game we all wanted to see, Captain Scott got to play this game the way he wanted, just having good ole fun. And Boy was it, the Pacific opened with John Scott (?), followed by Joe Pavelski (SJS), and Johny Gaudreau (CGY) both etched one. The Central scoring times were done by James Neal (NSH) 2 times, and Patrick Kane (CHI), who had a little "fight" with Scott. The second half opened with Daniel Sedin (VAN) getting 2 goals, Scott notched his second goal of the night, with Taylor Hall (EDM) and Drew Doughty (LAK) both getting one each. Central was responded withe Dustin Byfuglien (WPG), Tyler Segin (DAL) and Roman Josi (NSH). The Pacific would go on to win the game 9-6, which is incredible. Everyone had the Central number with the win, because "They have more All Stars". The Pacific would go onto play the Atlantic. Goalie rotation for the Pacific were Johnathan Quick (LAK), and John Gibson (ANA). While the Central Division had Pekka Rinne (NSH) and Devan Dubnyk (MIN)

GAME 3; PACIFIC VS ATLANTIC

Corey Perry was the only person to score a goal in this game. The goalies of both teams both worked hard to keep the score low, but it was amazing to watch. The best part was towards the end when the NHL opened up the MVP Vote, the twitter feed all said the same thing #NHLMVPJOHNSCOTT or #MVPJOHNSCOTT. At the end when Doc Emrick interviewed Scott after the game, the Pacific players all hoisted John Scott onto their shoulders, making sure that he enjoyed every moment of this game. He was named the MVP and awarded the Honda as his prize, along with a crystal trophy, and joining Bettman (Which BTW, find the image, John Scott is a GIANT, if I can find it will be added). But the crowning achievement was after, him just happy as can be, his wife with tears in her eyes proud of her husband, and his daughters just happy to be with their dad on this crazy NHL All Star Game.

Season outlook

I hope to blog more for the second half of the season, if I can I'll be on Twitter (@TxHabsfanBlog) and we can talk there, but should the Hab's call up John Scott? His personality would help the somber room, that and all it would take to keep people from hitting our stars is one good hit. But here are the hard facts, 

Trade Works

 So in a surprising trade, the Montreal Canadiens just pull a 3-way trade with the Arizona Coyotes and Nashville Predators. So what does this mean in the long run? Well the Canadiens have traded away Jared Tinordi, who only had 3 games played this year and had 5 PIMS. Arizona traded away John Scott, who has played 11 games, earned 1 point, and had a total of 25 PIMS. Nashville sends to the Habs Victor Bartley who played 1 game and is a -1 in +/-. And Ill be honest with you, I have no reason why this trade happened.


Here's some more the break down that I knew you'd all like

TEAM	PLAYER	POS	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PAY
MTL	Jared Tinorid	D	3	0	0	0	-3	5	850K
NSH	John Scott	LW	11	0	1	1	0	25	575K
ARI	Victor Bartley	D	1	0	0	0	0	0	800K

So what does this trade mean? How does it benefit the team in the long run? I guess only time will tell, will the new Gooner be good? 

Winter Classic

What happned New Years day? Lets see, had cabbage, ham, mashed potatoes, Mac and Cheese, black eye beans, did any thing else happen? Lets see, fireworks, all 2015 calanders became obsolete, what else? oh thats right...

HABS WIN 5-1 over the boston bruins

 Don't you just love a Blue, blanc, rouge day? So before we get into the grand game, lets look at the lead up, The Alumni game, that was amazing, for the first time getting to see the likes of Guy Carbonneau out there skating, Jose Theodore goal tending, Chris "Knuckles" Nilan out there with out a damn helmet on, let me say that again, HE SKATED AND PLAYED WITH NO HELMET ON!!!!! Granted that the bruins won it in the shoot out. The beautiful Les Canadiennes played the boston pride , NWHL vs CWHL, inter league play, which I didn't get to see, and there is no way to find a goal, but this was a big day for women's hockey everywhere, it put them on the big stage and let these beauties shine.
 Then the Winter Classic, the game that everyone was waiting for. Lets get started with the basics, as a hockey purist I would have loved to see the game done "normally". Sadly that didnt happen, instead of Rene Rancourt singing the anthemes, they had Jordan Smith do the US anthem, and Simple Plan do the Canadian anthem. (this is the NHL's attempt to market to NON-HOCKEY FANS) Anyway after that was done the teams took the ice. In the NW crease, standing 6'2" and weighing in at 185 lbs, wearing black and gold with the number 40, the Finnish Blocker, TUUKKA RASK, and in the SE crease, standing 6'2" and weighing in at 196 lbs, wearing blue, white and red with the number 39, Captian America,  New Englands own, MIKE CONDON. Yeah let that sink in for a bit. Now that its happened, lets move on. We had Gally back for the first time. And boy did the game start in an exciting way, Desharnias scored the first goal of the game, followed by Byron, Gally, Patches, and Byron agian. It was exciting, Gally was the First star, but the REAL star of this game was Mike Condon. A goalie who was seen as the enemy by friends and family for signing with MTL, but he showed them who was the best.
 Now the question, what can we take from this? well Gally is back, but Weise left, but no Pricer. Carey is out still, and the last time I saw an update, he isn't back yet. so where does this leave us, well Scrivy starts tonight in the net against Philly, were gonna have to keep waiting for Price to be back, but that my friends is for another day.

NHL; No Hockey Love

 Yeah a crappy name I know, and expect a long post. The NHL is slowly shriveling  up and loosing all its value because of the way its headed. Be it the idiocracy of Bettman, the All Star Game, the lack of respect from players to players, or the fact that some of us Hockey fans can only see our teams on TV maybe 5 times a year. (Please note that the number is not representative for all fans, since I'm talking about us who live out of market.)
 I started with Bettman so lets get on with the idiot. Bettman has had 3 lockouts, half of 1994, 2004, and half of 2013. This is the main reason no one likes him. Loosing many fans, and attempting to gain many more. When what he should do is try and keep us the fans watching and spending money on the NHL. So enough with this BS trying to entice new fans, and ask "What do the loyal NHL: fans want, what can i give to them?"
 Ah, the All Star Game, or as it is also called "First to 17 wins". WHAT DO WE GAIN FROM THIS????? Special jerseys that cost $195 USD? No, we want it to be a true test of tallent, Don't get me wrong, the skills competition is amazing, that's actually the fun part of the weekend. But the game? try agian. Traditionally we could vote up to 5 players, 3 Forwards, 2 Defenseman and a goalie. But this year they said only four players, one from each division to be the capitains, and that instead of 1 game its 3 games, and the winning team would recive a lump sum of money (which I cannot think of off the top of my head, or find at the moment.) But what should be a simple and easy hockey game, no pressure imediatly had gusto and pressure put on it, wasn't it suppose to be about fun? Now if the All Star Game was in Dallas (Texas) would I go? Yup, guilty as charged.
 But lastly we all know that the gentlemanly aspect of hockey is long gone. I'm talking about old school hockey, with Howie Morenez, Georges Vezina, Bobby Shore, these players all respected each other and would never take cheap shots. OK maybe so, but I don't think that any of them would say to the other "Good Game, Good Game, I'm gonna F*cking kill you". (Take that Lucic). But seriously, i know that there is some aspect of respecting each other on the ice, but what I mean is the blatant disregard for being gentlemen, I could easily turn this on the fans, but that my friends is for a different day.
 But to my point, NHL hockey is starting to loose momentum. Whats next? holographic jeresys? or two step hockey, stake 2 glides, and pass the puck? God i hope Bettman doesnt see this.