Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
April 10, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
We get a look at a fight from tonight’s Atlanta game. The Thrasher’s unsavoury Evander Kane shows his colours as he whams his opponent once to take him down and then again to hit his head off the ice. What did you learn in Ontario minor hockey today, son? Oh, the usual.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Carolina Hurricanes
April 8, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Renaud Lavoie interviews Marc-Andre Bergeron. Bergeron is auditioning for a television career. He’s like Robertson Davies. Getting paid by the word. But unlike Davies, Bergeron makes a boring answer more unbearable by extending it.
Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Islanders
April 6, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Missed it? Musings capture the game in writing. Based on the RDS telecast, Musings take about 20 minutes to read. More detailed than an article, fresher than a looping highlight and good with morning coffee. Or late-night chocolate.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Buffalo Sabres
April 3, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
The ice is lit in an oval of wet white and American lights; le bleu, le blanc et le rouge.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Philadelphia Flyers
April 2, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Flyers in amber. There’s only so much skating they can do.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Carolina Hurricanes
March 31, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
One of the benefits of not watching English-announced Canadian hockey telecasts is that, as viewers, we are more free to decide for ourselves who the heroes and villains are; who the skilled and unskilled are; the English-Canadian networks are far too influenced by the star-makers culture that has slowly poisoned Canadian sports television.
Montreal Canadiens vs. New Jersey Devils
March 27, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Parise is skates and shark over the blue line. And quickly. His efforts are cornered and squared as the Montreal defenders take up the appropriate angles.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Florida Panthers
March 25, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
McCabe, uh, is prone to turnovers. Bad ones. Planet of the japes.
Montreal Canadiens vs Buffalo Sabres
March 24, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Long passing is a fantasy best forgotten against Buffalo.
Montreal Canadiens vs Ottawa Senators
March 22, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Men from Quebec aren’t afraid to shop. Or admit it. Real men don’t give a hoot.
Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs
March 20, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
It’s ugly but. But what. What a terrible, disrespectful effort from Montreal tonight.
Montreal Canadiens vs New York Rangers
March 16, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Rangers are finally awake. Popcorn finished, they look up from their programs and start asking about relevant players. Hey, is that Jack Lemaire? Is that King Dryden?
Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins
March 13, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
I agree. Keep the shootout. Unskilled players oppose the shootout. Or traditionalists. What is more reflective of hockey than skills? In Quebec, growing up, there was nothing else to consider.
Montreal Canadiens vs. Edmonton Oilers
March 11, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
What a winner. Oh, did I spell that right?
Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning
March 9, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Downie hacks Moen right in the mid-section. Replay shows how deliberate and iron-hawk it was. Man. Sticks are like email. They make people brave.
Montreal Canadiens vs Anaheim Ducks
March 8, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Carlyle is hiding his disappointment behind his ferocity.
Montreal Canadiens vs Los Angeles Kings
March 7, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
We see a shot of the King bench and I don’t see a lot of silver glitter. The days of grainy gay and grey gretzky are done. It’s all matte and mute now. The uniforms look fat letter and thick font. They’re not bad but they’re not compelling.
Montreal Canadiens vs San Jose Sharks
March 5, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Heatley is in. Uses the screen. One-on-two. Leans left. Shoots. High. Glove. The glove. The Pricey, dicey, smiling red gant glove. We loves it.
Halak 41
March 3, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Canadiens poem. Jaroslav Halak.
Montreal Canadiens vs Boston Bruins
March 2, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Canadiens win the faceoff on the glistening ice. Boston’s logo at centre ice, as I’ve said often, is compelling and tonight it is nearly majestic. I’m glad to return to a traditional rivalry with the usual suspects on a Tuesday night when only those who care about and understand the teams involved are watching. More or less.
Slovakia vs Norway
February 24, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Slovakia is just another red, white and blue team that is in a big vat of milk. A very big vat.
Russia vs. Slovakia
February 19, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
In front. Puck bobbling. Coverage bungles. Bryzgalov has trouble trapping it. Chaos of the seven-second near-crease variety occurs. The voices in the booth crack and stretch. Russia survives.
Montreal Canadiens vs Philadelphia Flyers
February 13, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Briere has a “my business here is done” look on his face as he settles onto the bench. It was done here a long time ago, bud. Now you’re just wasting everyone’s time. Must be nice. Four-gamer.
Montreal Canadiens vs Philadelphia Flyers
February 12, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Stick to Price’s mask as he lies on the ice. And the Flyers jam at it like witch-hunters. And it goes in. Hartnell’s pitchfork was sharpest.
Montreal Canadiens vs Washington Capitals
February 11, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Demers talks about Neuvirth a bit. Then he references the NFL. He wants to know what the details are on injuries. Renaud Lavoie adds that in a serious league, we are told what is going on. Oh, get over it. In a league run by gambling interests, we are told what is going on. Be glad that this league, your NHL, doesn’t have the same type of transparency.
Montreal Canadiens vs Pittsburgh Penguins
February 6, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
We get a brief shot of the Pittsburgh bench. The grey ash of the crowd is behind the players' winking white helmets. And a balding dude who resembles Rick Tocchet is behind the Penguin players. I wonder how bad it all smells. Hockey is one of the most unpleasant-smelling of the sports.
Montreal Canadiens vs Boston Bruins
February 4, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Bruins move it out. They are bent raster and dusty spider; confused offensive.
Montreal Canadiens versus Vancouver Canucks
February 2, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Canucks set it up. Pass goes to the slot. Sedin. For Sedin. I watch the back of the net. Old, haunted child reflex. It stays white. Whistle. Someone falls on Halak. Nothing else.
Montreal Canadiens versus Ottawa Senators
January 30, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
More Olympics-flavoured commercials. The experiment is a grand disaster already and threatens to be one of the great white elephants in Canadian history. It will be a worse economic blunder than the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Felicitations.
Montreal Canadiens versus Tampa Bay Lightning
January 27, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Not good enough. How do we know Cormier is a good kid? Just watch this kid, Cormier. Take a look at how he carries himself in the future. And look at the tape; see how he carried himself in the past. And then decide for yourself. Lots of guys don’t have track records. And yet they manage not to commit these kinds of attacks. Is Cormier as good as those kids? Mistakes don’t happen at random. They happen as part of a pattern of behaviour.
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