Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
January 22, 2012, by Homme de Sept-Îles
Musings and In-Game Scribbles
My English is as good as yours, I just write these in a stream-of-consciousness mode that I insist excuses me from small things like rules of grammar or general etiquette. Let’s call it conversational English, hopped up on beans. You know what kind of beans (no, Carl Mellesmoen, not the magic ones).
Montreal Canadiens (17-21-9) visit Toronto Maple Leafs (23-18-5)
Saturday, January 21st, 2012
Game Forty-Seven (score posted following scribbles)
Missed it? Musings capture the game in writing. A written transcript typed during the game, posted and edited about thirty minutes afterward. Based on the RDS French telecast of the Montreal Canadiens game, Musings take about 23 minutes to read. More detailed than an article, fresher than a looping highlight and good with morning coffee. Or late-night chocolate. A unique way to re-experience the game.
click here to expand post (it looks prettier)
I have a guest. Normally a Vancouver affiliate, he’s based in Ottawa and visiting for a brief while.
Price starts.
Early go Leafs go chant. Dies with two repetitions.
Mild action and Houde advises the Leafs to take advantage of Montreal early. Leafs had last night off. Montreal played and should be more tired.
But the Leafs are unconvincing and the Canadiens have come out like the losers Cammalleri suggested they might be.
Slow, lethargic and waiting. Let the other team set the tempo. That’s a form of losing.
And I can’t be traded.
A discussion on Kadri’s abilities and disappointment associated ensues. Where did the disappointment come from where are the expectations based?
He was seventh overall.
PK Subban, Karl, is interviewed by Renaud Lavoie.
The most important thing is to support your son as he pursues his interests. Renaud hoped Senior might call out junior. Nope.
First Period
PK Subban is called. Roughing.
Toronto power-play.
Eller intercepts. Breaks free and clear by ten feet, extends it. Slows. Waits.
No move.
The shot. Closed pads and the five is zero.
Replay shows two Leafs dogging it. Just flapjack tongues on the ice. Wow.
Borje Salming is shown in the arena
We discuss an academic blogger who produces some 250 posts a month at her peak moments.
She’s Spanish.
Teaches Spanish. She’s actually Russian. Ukrainian. Oh.
Seven and half in the period.
We discuss simultaneously musing a Canucks game.
We have the computers to do it, boy.
Hey, Salming was shown in the crowd!
Tomas Kaberle stood for Salming and tapped the side of the boards. Salming is Swedish, a defenceman and the first Swede of consequence in NHL history.
Kaberle, Czech native and long0time Leaf has heard plenty about Salming over the years and has had a chance to appreciate the defensive great’s legacy. Probably met him one or two times.
Pacioretty. Desharnais. They smoke to the net. Reimer is down (Ed note: It’s the other guy). Stops it. Swash of snow.
Five oh four.
Cole and Pacioretty have eight and seven points respectively in January.
My Ottawa affiliate shares a story that I consider sad. I’d like to use my affiliate’s name but that would lose us the story.
I ask him if he has a favourite super-villain. Apocalypse, he guesses. I wince and ask him if he’s serious. Apocalypse laughs and says, no. He begins mulling over super-villains.
He stops after ten seconds.
Apocalypse says that he knew someone in university days who had a nervous breakdown and just sits in his room and blogs. About catching flies. Sometimes he’ll blog just one word. He can have hundreds of posts a month. Sometimes five blog posts using the same word.
I try not to find parallels.
Two minutes.
Emelin slides to block a shot after a Gill giveaway. Full commitment.
Cole to Plekanec. The crowd the net. Off the back glass.
Bourque just bangs it in.
Apocalypse says that was a disgraceful play. They let them break out. Bourque was the third man and nobody took him.
I nod.
Lombardi responds.
In alone. Past it all. And the magenta flash and magnesium flare are all we see.
Flashpot goal. But the replay shows that Lombardi hasn’t suddenly developed Briere hands. He’s’ still Matthew Lombardi and his last dribble fooled Price.
Was Price stuck? Not as supple from two games in a row played? Looked as if he bent like a hanger and stayed there.
Period comes to an end with Canadiens lolling about in their zone. Toronto led on shots 10-8,
First Intermission
Montreal 1, Toronto 1
Mario says if there’s anyone from his NHL career he can compare to PK Subban it might be Pierre Larouche. But he says it’s only one shared quality. And that nobody has the entire package, the talent, the extrovertedness, the talkativity and the selfishness.
I push Apocalypse to retell an amusing anecdote from his past. I find out the story is from his younger brother’s point of view. Didn’t know that. We argue over whether his nickname should be a supervillain’s.
Who?
A calculating, in-the-shadows kind of supervillain, muses my guest.
So, like a white-collar criminal? Like slinking Brian Mulroney?
No, like Loki.
Uh. No.
We finally agree on Dr. Phosphorus.
So when Dr. Phosphorus was younger, about five years old, he was
Second Period
Toronto 1, Montreal 1
Komisarek delivers a hit, then tells Moen to keep his head up. Declines the invitation stubble-dance invitation.
Montreal has a power-play.
Doesn’t it bother anyone that Bourque has Kovalev’s number? Just sayin’.
First segment sees slow turn to slop.
Segment rectifies with the Cole line on the ice. They work the perimeter. And we get caught up discussing whether newly appointed Ottawa head coach Paul McLean is getting by on demeanour. I like McLean, admit I’m a sucker for demeanour and say he effects a good Gepetto. A rough-hewn, old-world vigour yet with the sun and smile of a compassionate man.
We watch some video. And I see some flags.
Great.
I rue my earlier mistakes in evaluating players and other hockey personas.
My Ottawa affiliate says, “I have little sympathy.” Apocalypse reminds me that it took him years to convince me that Pat Quinn was not “all that”.
Yes, I once admired Pat Quinn. I bought into all of it. The Flyers. The Kings. The Legend.
I never noticed the imperious glances and silenced reporters. I never put three and five together. And the zero Cups. Quinn is the longest-serving Cupless coach in NHL history. They just kept giving him job after job. Just because he’s Pat.
Pat Quinn; 1979-2010, 0.514 winning percentage; no Stanley Cups. Number two on that list? Ron Wilson.
Back on the bench, Kaberle says “that’s ok” as Subban take ownership of something. It’s a shift from last night’s deep interest in the tape on his stick (as Subban complained to the coaching staff about his teammates during the game; he turned the puck over blind then said someone should have been on the hash. True. But he did give it up.)
Penalty ends with no further threats.
Desharnais line. Eight oh five. Emelin on the right point. Kaberle opposite.
Emelin finishes a check in his right corner. Cole wit another behind the net. Puck is out. Brief entry.
Lines change. Kessel, who’s been well-covered by Subban and Gorges tonight.
Kadri is on. He’s going through some tough times, apparently. Like what. Finding out he’s an ordinary hockey player? Many find that out. Tom Pyatt comes to mind.
We’re shown Pacioretty whap-whap-whapping Kadri in the corner. Did something precede?
Another Montreal power-play.
First minute is negligible.
We discuss Kadri further.
Apocalypse finds the following quote a bit surprising
First: “It is still a pretty big if. But to see Kadri spin around and bat a puck out of the air for a goal, as he did in a 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, is to see the potential for something special.”
Then Kadri: “Obviously, it takes some skill to put it into the back of the net,” he said. “With a little luck, I guess.”
Still preening.
No dangerous shots.
Plekanec is chasing. Then he watches the puck escape around the boards.
Toronto led on shots 12-9.
Second Intermission
Montreal 1, Toronto 1
We discuss Gary Bettman. We agree that he has integrity; just has some blind spots. He needs to know when to give up some of these dying franchises, says Apocalypse.
An anecdote from Apocalypse’s past is demanded. A favourite story of mine, I find out it involves his younger brother. Didn’t know that.
Now we argue over whether his nickname should be a supervillain’s.
A calculating, in-the-shadows kind of supervillain, muses my guest.
So, like a white collar criminal? Like Alan Eagleson? Bruce McNall?
No, like Loki.
Uh, no.
We finally agree on Dr. Phosphorus.
So When he was younger, Apocalypse was about thirteen, his younger brother Dr. Phosphorus, was about five years old.
Apocalypse was going to a new school and Phosphorus asked what it was like:
Phosphorus: How many friends do you have?
Apocalypse: Oh, about 100.
Phosphorus: And how many people are there at the school?
Apocalypse: I think 500
Phosphorus: Wow. You and your 100 friends are going to lose against all your enemies.
Third Period
Toronto 1, Montréal 1
Moen with a perfunctory finishing check as the puck leaves. Pushes a man up against the boards. Its’ an apologetic gesture.
Slow hockey punctuates my long-winded ( yet another) speech on David Desharnais. I end by saying he commands dignity and gets it.
Glass is off and I have a chance to document. Two and a half gone.
I finally realise that Jonas Gustavsson is in net.
Apocalypse asks me what Reseau stands for and I guess “an incubator”. I know I’m off and sure enough;
Un réseau est un ensemble de nœuds (ou pôles) reliés entre eux par des liens (ou canaux). Les nœuds peuvent être des points massiques simples ou des sous-réseaux complexes. Les canaux sont à leur tour des flux de force, d’énergie ou d’information.
A network, then.
Aha.
Glass is still out of place.
I discuss how some musings seem great at the moment but aren’t. And the reverse.
Some dainty, balding fellow drags a wheeled metal staircase from the Gretzky area and the repairs are done; behind.
We discuss Subban’s minutes (20-25 after the scratch and normally around 20-22) and Bergeron’s suggestion that Subban be moved from the power-play.
Gomez to Diaz. One-timer. Darche in the crease. Lifts a leg. In the net. Goal.
Montreal 2, Toronto 1
Earlier this evening, I was in the ACC-Union Station to meet Apocalypse (VIA train) and saw several Montreal fans. Again, I’d thought (mistakenly and with old man Anglo hearing) that the Canadiens were going to be at home all month. Just what did I mishear?
I talked about it with a random fan; talk to turned to 11-12 and we laughed and agreed to discuss 11-12 next year.
It’s been a long year for Montreal fans.
Price goes to the bench to have a skate scraped for snow.
Montreal entry. Desharnais. Nearly whacks at a slot pass. Now he’s chasing. The full effort. All the way back to Price’s crease lip. And the threat is ended.
No idling. No nonsense. No Cammalleri.
We discuss Cammalleri’s trade. He was sent home in the middle of the game. Apocalypse suggests that it was on purpose; a message to the rest of the team. I exhaust the list of other options before agreeing.
It wasn’t an accident.
You get one chance to remove one crown jewel. Squeeze it for its precious elixir. Frame the move. Sell it.
All of it. The message goes out. And maybe the other jewels get a little less comfortable. Maybe sparkle more.
We shall see.
Thirteen twenty-three.
Darche takes a seat.
He leans toward Kostitsyn and points onto the ice. Makes a point.
At the last intermission, Tremblay listed the players most likely to be traded. Kostitsyn was on his list.
Gill is penalized.
We compare Resident Evil 3 with The Thing (PS2). The Thing was the first game to make me scream in fright. And produce, at another point, a long, cold rivulet of sweat.
Price makes a save off a deep shot and rebound.
Kept in.
Kessel. Circle-top to Lupul. To the net. And Price gets across.
Subban and Lupul struggle in irritation with one another following the freeze. Subban really got in there, shoving
Ten and a half.
Toronto penalty ends.
Apocalypse says that Ron McLean hasn’t made a good effort not to be biased. And that he’s become full of himself.
People don’t perceive their own biases (often, he amends).
True.
Myself included. But some are worse than others.
Kostitsyn. Left side. Keeps. Shoots. Cole beside.
I like it. He should shoot more. Of all the guys. He should. One of the best shots on the team.
Gustavsson stops it.
I discuss the Edgar Allen Poe space in our basement, the one we don’t’ know what it holds.
And Eller scores meanwhile.
Kadri is called for running Price. Crowd boos. That’s their job.
But they’re wrong.
Legit call.
Montréal power-play.
First segment sees the Canadiens kicked out.
Six minutes. Twenty in the penalty.
Gomez behind the net. Plekanec. They exchange under the end line.
Two passers. Too many passes.
Bourque with them.
Hockey is a game of improvisers and you hope that the right guys are on the right lines. Nobody is going to tell you to change your style. It grooves or it doesn’t.
What key is it in? Ace showed up with one orange shoe and the other green. And he plugged in. And it worked.
That’s it.
Disappointing process? That’s how hockey offensive lines work.
Kadri and a teammate collide, Keith Aulie, perhaps.
Apocalypse says that he saw the name started with an L.
I chortle and recount a reader comment (a one-time appearance, I’m sure) saying that this was “the worst sports site” he’d ever been on. I think I’d referred to a rink by its old name satirically (and anti-corporately) and made one or two other non-TSN mis-trots.
I guffaw.
This ain’t Monday morning ESPN. It’s Sunday afternoon with a coffee.
Jam and the jam again. Toronto is on a power-play. Price splays, a militant barbie. White pad and staunch skate.
Period ends as I describe a Cammalleri moment when he stopped to admire himself in the mirror. And another where a youngster pokes fun at him and he didn’t know how to react.
I really did hope he would work out.
Montreal wins. Price kibitzes with Darche. The resigned low-fives with Subban.
Final Score
Montreal 3
Toronto 1
HDS Stars: David Desharnais, Carey Price, Alexei Emelin
RDS Stars: Carey Price, Rene Bourque, Erik Cole
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