What happened?

There was a time when Quebec and Ontario would exchange the next one. You got Gretzky we got Lemieux, you got Hull we got Lafleur. However, in the last decade the next one seems to be coming either from Ontario or Nova Scotia. The slew of next ones from Ontario  include Tavares, Stamkos, Hall, Seguin, and next year Connor Mcdavid. Nova Scotia has produced Sydney Crosby and Nathan Mckinnon. Patrice Bergeron is probably the best player from Quebec but he is no offensive superstar. The last number one pick from Quebec was Marc Andre Fleury and the last next one was Vincent Lacavalier 16 years ago. Martin St Louis is still going strong at 38 but he came from nowhere to become the star he is. The best habs player is either the Westerner Carey Price, the Torontonian PK Subban, or the American Max Pacioretty. I recalled there was a period  Quebec journalists were clamoring for a Team Quebec who they thought could compete with Team Canada. That was an era Quebec could have fielded a team that

I am at poolside at an extravagant hotel and I am pissed. Well I thought all was well in Habsland. Finally coming to their senses management got rid of overpaid deadwood Josh Gorges and Brian Gionta. They terminated George Parros, Doug Murray, and Ryan White forgettable non- NHL calibre players. Could Travis Moen and Tomas Plekanec be far behind? I thought the reason for not keeping Gorges and not affording Gionta was simple -to re-sign the Norris trophy winning franchise defenceman PK Subban. Bergy gambled a couple of years ago when he signed Subban to a 2 year bridge contract. Even though most hockey pundits understood the superstar potential of Subban and the stats bore that out, Bergy newly hired wanted time to evaluate the star and leadership qualities of his inexperienced defenceman. Bergy was applauded two years ago for holding firm a little like Reagan when he fired the air traffic controllers as one of his first moves as President. In the ensuing two years PK did it all wi

Well I am seething at another Azzurri exit in the World Cup. Where do I start? Prandelli just quit and so did Abete. Good riddance to both. I was so positive about Prandelli after the Lippi disaster in 2010. He brought in the fantasistas in Cassano and Rossi. Balotelli would join after a year. We were on the right track up to Euro 2012. Misfortune had followed with Cassano needing heart surgery and Rossi needing two knee surgeries. They went to the Euro 2012 final which was justly deserved. Right after that, Prandelli got the Italian manager disease known as arrogance. He decided he didn't need Cassano anymore. All his attention would be on Juventus and of course Balotelli.  Basing all your hope on a 23 year old who showed the maturity of a spoiled brat was a disaster waiting to happen. Balotelli had become unproductive both with Manchester City and then with Milan. His efforts seemed to be more aligned with getting attention at all costs as he tried to make people forget his perfo

There was some celestial harmony when Danny Gallivan would say back to the point and Lapointe fires and scoreesssss. It seems that Guy Lapointe was always there. You see him in the grainy videos of the 71 stunning Cup win where the habs eliminated the Bruins and Hawks. He was there in the four straight cups in the late seventies. He was prominent in game 7 versus the bruins in 1979. Savard and Robinson that night had had better days. He was there in 1972 giving the Russian the choke sign in game 1 and playing a strong role in Canada's win in Russia. He was there in that famous game versus the Red Army on New Year's eve in 1975. He played with Jean Beliveau and JC Tremblay. He played with Guy Lafleur and Larry Robinson. Yes he was there and everyone expected Guy to have an error-free fast skating offensive game with a good hip check every once and awhile. If Guy Lapointe should be remembered for anything it was that he was consistently very good, game in game out almost ev

I am really unsure if the Azzurri will even get out of their group this year. England and Uruguay have beaten and tied the Azzurri in their last 2 meetings. England got off to a very good start in Euro 2012 and when they met the Azzurri in the quarterfinals were more or less exhausted. Meeting the Azzurri in the first game could be an advantage. Uruguay has some great strikers that could put an unbearable pressure on the Azzurri if they need to win or draw the final game in the group. Costa Rica could be a problem because the other countries will be concentrating on their key matchups. Once and if the Azzurri get out of the group stage they will be more prone to go far. By that time they will be more confident and the knock-out games will put pressure on the opposition as well. I was hoping that some key players would have been chosen. Totti I think was needed to add leadership and fantasista skills even at his age. If Cassano falters or gets tired there are few that can replace him. W

The Habs Bruins rivalry has always been one-sided for many decades until the late 80's. It was more of a habs curse on the bruins. No matter who and what the bruins threw at the habs including Orr, Esposito, Cheevers, Middleton, Ratelle, Park, O'Reilly, Oates and Thornton the habs would eventually come out the victors. The last decade has seen a reversal of fortunes up to a point. I guess the first inkling of the rivalry was when Rocket Richard took out his frustrations after being high sticked by Bruin Hal Laycoe and retaliated with a high stick of his own and then went loco on the linesman punching him unconscious. The Rocket was suspended for the rest of the season by anglo Clarence Campbell and the quiet revolution finally took to the streets. As a footnote, the Rocket the leader in points up to then  would be overtaken by the Boomer in the last few games and would never win a scoring championship. The Bruins team of the sixties stunk until the arrival of Number 4 Bobby Orr

                            I always felt that politics should  not affect my daily life.  However, from the start of their getting power the pequistes have done just that.  As  an allophone in Quebec, I have watched so many twists and turns of the sovereignist movement in Quebec during the decades and every twist and turn has made my head spin. From the time of the Camille Laurin shock therapy Bill 101 that led Head Offices to leave Montreal for Toronto and left many allophones gripping with 20% unemployment. Meanwhile the mobile anglophones moved down the 401. Then we had the Rene Levesque resignation and the separatist reincarnation when he died. There was the period of the many turncoats from federalist to separatist or vice versa. We had Claude the squealer Morin, to Lucien Hamlet Bouchard to Jean Lapierre and finally Francois TwoFace Legault to the filthy rich PKP.  There was a time that maybe the sovereignist movement had history on its side. However, this is the 21st century wh

Well it was almost a year ago that I wrote a blog about les enfants terrible of soccer and hockey Mario Balotelli and PK Subban  http://strummer-whathappened.blogspot.ca/2013/04/les-enfants-terrible.html  I ended that blog by saying that these two athletes had endless potential but their egos may get the better of them. So after a year where are they now? I cannot really say much has changed. They still seem to bring out the best and worst of fans, players, coaches, and pundits. Their potential is still a great unknown. Both ended last season on a high note with Balotelli joining AC Milan in January of 2013 and taking them to a champion's league berth and making the Azzurri qualify for the World Cup, and PK Subban winning the Norris as best defenceman in the NHL.                        Things started off brightly as well in their 2013-2014 campaigns with Balotelli scoring consistently, and PK continuing his Norris like play at the start of the season. Then

Well haven't the last few weeks been a drag for the habs and hockey. Once the olympic teams were announced we all knew the final two weeks before the olympics would be a strain on olympians and even non olympians who were looking forward to the next few weeks. This blog is really to discuss the two Habs that made it on Team Canada. It is a very important tournament for both players to establish credibility amongst the hockey elite. Carey Price is having a great year even superior to PK Subban's. PK Subban has had a good year but nowhere near his Norris winning year.  On twitter we have heard all the excuses for both players as to why they are not as successful as they should be. For Price, we always get the team's defence is porous, he gets no goal support etc etc. For PK, he is playing with immobile defence partners, he has to do it all himself since the habs offence is futile.  This time there will be few excuses with Team Canada. They are playing with fellow superstars a

Well I am relatively pleased with the Habs at mid-season over-all. However, since we are discussing a team there are always positives and negatives. My impressions: Michel Therrien- I think he has done a very good job considering the talent level on the team. He still has no first line center. He still has no rugged defencemen other than Douglas Murray. However, there are questionable decisions he makes. His lack off faith in young players like Galchenyuk and the likes of Tinordi, Bournival, and Beaulieu have retarded their progress. Not to say he is all to blame, if they had put on a better performance they may have forced Therrien's hand. As well, his stubbornness has led to Bouillon being overplayed as well as others like Gionta and Bourque. The lacklustre performance by the Habs in the last few games has me concerned. Therrien is more there for motivation and the troops don't seem motivated. His assistants Gerald Galllant and JJ Daigneault are there for strategy. Not su