New York Islanders – Musings and In-Game Scribbles
March 12, 2009, by Homme De Sept-Iles
NY Islanders 3 at Montreal 2 (OT)
The Montreal Canadiens under Bob Gainey are a quickly recovering entity. Certain individuals feel heard for the first time in a while and the units are playing for one another.
The team will go on a solid run. They lost to the Islanders but played fiercely and I wrote the usual amount about the game.
But I still feel the hollow bite of Carbonneau’s absence. It’s something that changes the way one views the game. I just came here to learn more about hockey, a game I thought I knew.
Turns out I have a lot to learn.
So here are some more post-game thoughts from Tuesday’s overtime win against Edmonton. Bob Gainey’s first game behind the bench after Carbonneau’s release:
When the game ended, I was weaker.
I hurt less than the anguished coach-less first period. I thought: who cares. If winning means firing the coach then what is winning worth. It isn’t worth it.
I read more. I came to realize the reasons why it happened.
It doesn’t change the feeling.
Carbonneau is not a bad-guy, a villain. Nor was Julien. Nor Vigneault.
Sam Mitchell’s firing, Rick Carlisle, Tony Dungy all come to mind. Top-rate coaches.
Who’d want to keep watching after any of those? I know most did, anyway.
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