NEWC - The Semis
- Thread starter The Napkin
- Start date
That’s fine, I get it, really I do...hating the Habs has been in my blood for generations, and you enough of my story to recognize my knowledge and passion for the game and it’s history, as well as my love for the Bruins. That said
1) Success breeds contempt. Even with their occasional runs like this year, Montreal hasn’t won shit and is a bit of a joke at this point. Tampa has not only been the best team in hockey over the last handful of years, they cheated to get away with avoiding the inevitable price of success ( and I’m tired of the ‘it’s in the rule book’ or ‘other teams have done it’ argument- this team should not have been allowed to stay together this year and be this good, but people seem okay with it)
2) Compare the rosters. Philip Danault aside, I at least respect the rest of the Habs...I’ll not argue hard defending Perry or Tatar or whoever, but overall this is a likable roster of players. Tampa on the other hand has been full of despicable players, the majority of whom are the type to elbow you in the back of the head and then run away laughing. Off the top of my head Killorn, Maroon, Gourde, Coleman, Goodrow are awful (I’ll have Johnson and Gallagher cancel each other out as I have a soft spot for small skilled rats)...Even Jon Cooper. I love the Cooper story, he sounds like he’d be a great guy to play for; I despise his smug, pretentious, entitlement. Everything that doesn’t break right for them is some affront, and this attitude pervades the whole franchise. I kind of find Ducharme, well, charming, and Bergevin is generally regarded as one of the funniest and most well liked GMs in the league.
3) Montreal’s media is absolutely absurd, it’s as if Shank and KPD had babies and those babies became more famous than the actual players in some cases. I mention this because I think this is why a large part of their fan base is bat shit crazy. Almost every Habs fan I’ve met (and I was going to Montreal when you were in diapers @PedroSpecialK
) in person has been a genuinely knowledgeable and passionate hockey fan who hasn’t minded (and often enjoyed) having some beers and talking hockey with a Bruins fan. And I honestly think that they’ve been chastised by their drought...I think that their general air of superiority has been deflated enough that they’d accept a Cup with some humility. Unlike the Leafs.Tampa’s fans and media by and large know nothing more than the fact that their team is good, and they wantto keep telling us that, as if the rest of us can’t comprehend what that’s like.
some of this is probably recency bias from not having to deal with the Habs this year and from our recent inability to get past Tampa, but that’s a thing. When I was a kid we all hated the Blue Jays and As more than the Yankees...that obviously changed quickly.
to be honest I don’t really want any of the teams left to win it.
Fair enough but the other problem is they are trying to win by using a pack it in defense and just playing an absolutely boring game. God knows that's the last thing the league needs to start doing. We don't need Lemaire 2.0.
See I don’t mind hyper defensive structured counterattacking teams, as long as there’s variance in the league (which there really wasn’t much of when people tried to imitate the NJ trap or Detroit LW lock). Much like the Islanders, I appreciate how well Montreal is doing what they need to do to win, especially given the skill gap.
and again, I’m not interested in the Habs winning in the slightest. My point was that I despise Tampa these days.
and again, I’m not interested in the Habs winning in the slightest. My point was that I despise Tampa these days.
It's not just you.
He's everything you said he was.
And then some.
I hope Tampa destroys them Thursday night and that shithole of a dump they play in collapses into a steaming pile when the last person shuts the lights off and exits the building.
Just addressing the bolded. I think this has been really overblown this year. I get why people are upset but it will be forgotten in two years. It's just a loophole that a lot of teams use.That’s fine, I get it, really I do...hating the Habs has been in my blood for generations, and you enough of my story to recognize my knowledge and passion for the game and it’s history, as well as my love for the Bruins. That said
1) Success breeds contempt. Even with their occasional runs like this year, Montreal hasn’t won shit and is a bit of a joke at this point. Tampa has not only been the best team in hockey over the last handful of years, they cheated to get away with avoiding the inevitable price of success ( and I’m tired of the ‘it’s in the rule book’ or ‘other teams have done it’ argument- this team should not have been allowed to stay together this year and be this good, but people seem okay with it)
2) Compare the rosters. Philip Danault aside, I at least respect the rest of the Habs...I’ll not argue hard defending Perry or Tatar or whoever, but overall this is a likable roster of players. Tampa on the other hand has been full of despicable players, the majority of whom are the type to elbow you in the back of the head and then run away laughing. Off the top of my head Killorn, Maroon, Gourde, Coleman, Goodrow are awful (I’ll have Johnson and Gallagher cancel each other out as I have a soft spot for small skilled rats)...Even Jon Cooper. I love the Cooper story, he sounds like he’d be a great guy to play for; I despise his smug, pretentious, entitlement. Everything that doesn’t break right for them is some affront, and this attitude pervades the whole franchise. I kind of find Ducharme, well, charming, and Bergevin is generally regarded as one of the funniest and most well liked GMs in the league.
3) Montreal’s media is absolutely absurd, it’s as if Shank and KPD had babies and those babies became more famous than the actual players in some cases. I mention this because I think this is why a large part of their fan base is bat shit crazy. Almost every Habs fan I’ve met (and I was going to Montreal when you were in diapers @PedroSpecialK
Tampa’s fans and media by and large know nothing more than the fact that their team is good, and they wantto keep telling us that, as if the rest of us can’t comprehend what that’s like.
some of this is probably recency bias from not having to deal with the Habs this year and from our recent inability to get past Tampa, but that’s a thing. When I was a kid we all hated the Blue Jays and As more than the Yankees...that obviously changed quickly.
to be honest I don’t really want any of the teams left to win it.
Noone talks about the blackhawks win in 2015 as tainted or cheating right? Well in 2015 Patrick Kane broke his collar bone before the trade deadline. He was making $6.3 mil on a $69m cap. Kind of similar to Kucherov from a cap % perspective. At the trade deadline they aquired Antoine Vermette, Kimmo Timonen and Andrew Desjardins. Their cap number was $76 mil. 10% over the cap. Patrick Kane miraculously recovered right in time for game 1 of the playoffs and they won another cup. It's just part of the game and that was 6 years ago so clearly there is no stomach for closing the loophole. We should just expect it.
They will eventually pay the price for it as their team is aging, has a lot of big contracts and they don't have a lot of young talent coming. They wont be good forever, this is just their window.
None of what you said is particularly wrong, but dude. Dude.
It's the fucking Canadiens. It doesn't matter how many pleasant, hockey-knowledgeable Québécois you've had the pleasure of meeting (I know there are plenty), they cheer for the fucking Canadiens. I don't care if PK Subban isn't out there right now diving around like a crash test dummy, or that Mike Ribeiro isn't out there trying to nurse a call whenever he isn't sexually assaulting underage nannies, they still wear the toilet seat on their chest.
Giving this cap-dodging scumbag Lightning organization the satisfaction of being in the same stratosphere of hate as the fucking Canadiens is just wrong. Tampa has barely been around, in terms of hate-ability they're maybe in the running for the Calder trophy - Montreal is the perennial Hart winner having a lowly point-per-game season.
Good point - the lightning learned their lesson apparently.And the team they beat in 2015 was ....
As an aside, what in the fuck is Pete DeBoer thinking
View: https://twitter.com/JesseGranger_/status/1407391054156877825
View: https://twitter.com/JesseGranger_/status/1407391054156877825
I fell in love with the sport of hockey in the 1970's.
My Dad was a Boston Police officer, his cousin was the head of security at the old Garden, my Dad did loads of details at Bruins games and he and my uncle got myself and my high school and college friends into countless Bruins games. My Dad played softball for the BPD team in a city league, Daisy Buchanan's was their sponsor, my Dad used to take to me to games every Sunday and then we'd go to Derek's bar after the game, he'd be there along with various other Bruin players from time to time. My Dad used to have cook outs in the Summer at our house in West Roxbury and Bruins players would come; Esposito, Cheevers, Hodge, Cashman, Dallas Smith, Stanfield, McKenzie and Sanderson among others.
My Dad loved hockey and the Bruins; LOVED it.
Game 7 of the 1971 semi finals was on Greek Easter, we went to church and my Dad talked my Mom into letting me and him listen to the game on the radio in the car..............when the final horn went off and they lost, he slowly lowered his head up against the steering wheel...............I sat there for a minute or so and finally said "Dad, are you ok?"..................he replied "Yeah........just give me a minute."
1971 scarred me for life, that Bruins team was absolutely stacked having won the cup the year before, Dryden stood on his head and robbed the Bruins of back to back Stanley Cup wins, the Bruins won it again in 1972, should have been a threepeat.
Back to back Stanley cup losses to the Candiens later in the 70's reopened the wound, then 1979 and too many men on the ice at the forum after Gilbert came into net to rescue the Bruins in that series and pull a Dryden on the Candiens, but it was not meant to be, yet another cup denied at the hands of those assholes.
Four Stanley Cup championships in the 70's denied, would have given the Bruins six in that decade.
I hate that team and fan base with the fire of 10,000 suns and speaking of suns, I'd be all for firing the Canadiens and their fans into it.
I hope they never win another cup for as long as I live.
But the Blackhawks and Islanders and whoever doing it doesn’t make it okay for Tampa to do it.
Edit: And I kind of feel like I’ve heard lots of people bring up the Blackhawks example...
You can obviously feel how you want about it, I'm not trying to tell you otherwise. That said, 17 teams used LTIR this year. I think 10 last year. The leafs were $11mil over the cap last year and Tampa was $8-$9m already last year. It's just part of the game and honestly, teams going over the cap is probably good because it means more teams will spend more money and that means better hockey long term. I get why its annoying but its clearly not going away. That was my larger point. I've certainly made cracks about them being over the cap, too. It doesn't feel equal, but the simple fact is they took advantage of a loophole that more than half the teams used.
Really? I actually think this is worse than what we all were pissed at Tom Wilson for (understanding that Wilson sucks all around and has been doing that BS for years). He basically hits an unaware player directly in the side of his head with the stick and then falls on his head as his on the ice. Seriously, Fuck Matt Barzal. He should have been suspended too.
Agree with this but Tampa has the reigning Super Bowl champs. No soup for them. Go anyone else (but not Habs or Isles).
Ranking IMO the ten worst losses of my Boston fandom;
1.) The Scottish game
2.) 1986 World Series
3.) 2019 SC final
4.) 1971 SC semi final
5.) 1976 playoff game vs the Raiders
6.) 1978 playoff game vs the MFY's
7.) 1979 SC semi final "too many men on the ice" vs the Canadiens
8.) 2007 AFCCG vs the Colts
9.) 2003 ALCS vs the MFY's
10.)2015 AFCCG vs the Broncos (I think it was 2015; the 20-18 game)
All ten of those resulted in a lost championship.
Pretty amazing I can come up with ten that resulted in a lost championship; there are plenty more, but still, this is a great, great sports town and the last 21 years have been especially incredible, so you have to take the good with the bad.
Not sure how many of you can stream the Hockey Night in Canada feed, but Kevin Bieksa has been killing it every night with his commentary as part of their studio panel.
“The Canadiens need Carey Price to be like Danny Ocean, and steal one for them tonight.”
So maybe that’s not totally hilarious, but he is quick witted and pokes fun at himself and his fellow panelists and gets the rest of the panel cracking up too.
“The Canadiens need Carey Price to be like Danny Ocean, and steal one for them tonight.”
So maybe that’s not totally hilarious, but he is quick witted and pokes fun at himself and his fellow panelists and gets the rest of the panel cracking up too.
What was he doing on those last shots before the end of the period, closing his eyes? The defenseman cleared the puck between his legs.
I'm personally rooting for the Habs here and this series overall for maximum NHL/border chaos, and then them losing in 7 in SCF in heartbreaking fashion. (Pref. to TBL)
Then, brother, do I have the tonic for you! Sportsnet Canada is desperate for you to watch Kes’ House!
View: https://youtu.be/DHNFit1HCEI
I’m counting down to the Quebec premier rushing their reopening to get more people in the Bell Centre, if not for Thursday, then definitely for Game 1 of the Final.
This really is the nightmare scenario. Montreal got to walk through a division where nobody hits or plays defense and got a Vegas team that just had to play Colorado after a tough 7 game series with Minnesota before that. Now they’re 100% healthy and their goalie is locked in. This sport is so fluky and random. I don’t know how anyone builds a consistent winner. I guess it’s just draft a Kane-Toews, Stamkos-Hedman, Crosby-Malkin at the top of a couple drafts and have a shot every year, knowing there’s a good chance that a team with a combination of a hot goalie, puck luck, favorable officiating, or a good path has as a good of a chance as you do to win during your window.
My relationship with MTL is complicated. I hate Les Canadiens with the heat of a thousand suns when they play the Bruins. Otherwise, my French Canadian heritage (my mother‘s side of the family is 100% Québécois) kicks in and I find myself rooting for them against any other opponent. I wish it were different, but it’s not. C’est la vie.
As much as I love the sport of hockey, this sums it up for me regarding the playoffs/teams coming out of nowhere and making a run.
A hot goalie plus puck luck plus favorable officiating plus a catchy 1980's theme song equals the 2019 St Louis Blues, a team that won a cup and hasn't had a whiff of one since.
And probably never will again if there is a God in heaven.
Last edited:
If the refs would just fucking call the game to allow skilled players more breathing room neither the Blues or Habs would have a prayer.
I don't think even the 80s Oilers could win more than twice with this crap.
I don't think even the 80s Oilers could win more than twice with this crap.