2021 the Summer of my contentment the Azzurri and the habs - Part 1

Do I really need a vacation after the sports euphoria I just incurred being an azzurri and hab fan. Some of it I barely believe even now it was all so surreal. The Azzurri are Emperors of Europe and the Habs are Kings of the North.

I was feeling positive about both teams as early as January (see some of my tweets back then) but my faith started to crumble a bit especially with the habs.

The habs barely made the playoffs. Some of it was due to Covid and their tortuous schedule when some  of the games had been cancelled due to Armia testing positive. Some of it was also due to their collapse during the year which led to Julien’s ouster. 

Bergevin and Molson were finally able to sign free agents when American owners decided not to spend after losing money in empty arenas. The cap space Bergevin had left unused for several years helped as well. The new habs players brought enthusiasm and a winning culture. Corey Perry was a revelation as he symbolically stood in front of the opposing goalie and dared anyone to budge him. Josh Anderson made kamikaze dashes around defenders who could not match his speed or physical prowess. Tyler Toffoli seemed to have the scoring midas touch and almost made a run for the Rocket Richard trophy before injury slowed him down. Edmundson who was ripped apart by the analytics folks before he even put on the sweater,  had the highest plus minus in the NHL. Jake Allen took over from an underperforming and injured Price, and courageously led the team to the playoffs exhausting himself by the end of the season. The long wait for Cole Caufield was over and he finally appeared during the final weeks and his scoring skills gelled instantly with the slick Nick Suzuki. Caufield brought back memories of the explosive Roadrunner and the playmaking skills of Mats  Naslund. Suzuki raised his game  when it counted during the push to make the playoffs and he never looked back.

Euro 2020 began with an eventful opening ceremony in Rome with Andrea Bocelli and goosebump fireworks. The Azzurri had not lost during their Euro qualifying games and they were continuing this streak with their World Cup qualifying games. However how would they do facing teams rated higher than them including Belgium, Spain, and England. 

In fact none of these Italians had ever won a tournament including the Champions league with the exclusion of Jorghino and Emerson who had won it with Chelsea a few weeks before Euro 2020. Not even their coach Mancini had ever won a tournament even though he and several players had won many league titles. 

Several players who had underperformed in the past and who had contributed in Italy failing to qualify for the world cup in 2018 were back including Insigne, Immobile, Verratti  and Belotti. Unlike what  happened in the past, many of these players came into the tournament with a new maturity  after becoming leaders with their club teams. Joining them were the young bucks like Chiesa, Barella, Berardi, and Donnaruma who seemed to be loaded with natural talent and were beginning  to cause waves in Seria A.

The habs were to face the leafs in the first round and few gave them a chance. I thought there was a way since the leafs had proven in the past they would fold as things got rough and physical. As well the leafs had been stymied by great goaltending in previous playoffs. I had little confidence in Price except for the fact he was well rested after missing the final quarter of the season. The habs also had a well rested Shea Weber and Brendan Gallagher who had been injured as well. 

The leafs pummeled the habs in three of the first four games. The habs had benched the young guns Caufield, Romanov, and Kotkaniemi and many wondered why. The Leafs had rallied when Tavares was knocked out of the series. There were only a few bright spots for the habs until game 5. A revitalized Price emerged and held the habs in the game until Suzuki and Caufield scored a momentum shifting  goal in overtime. I never believed Price could rise to the occasion after not showing much of anything for several seasons. He probably realized he had little to do with the habs making the playoffs and had something to prove to his teammates. The newcomer habs  who  had worked their butts off all season were looking to Price to finally perform to expectations. Price rose to the challenge making key if not outstanding saves and started displaying lateral movement he had not exhibited  since entering his thirties. The question then became where have you been Carey Price the last few years? You don't fire a goalie coach because things are going well. So the Olympic winning Carey Price would have shown up for another team if the habs had given up on him. 

In game five the habs defence started hitting everything and anything that moved. Chiarot started  throwing his body at everyone  and Weber who also had his struggles during the year began throwing his weight around. Weber wincing in agony most of the playoffs played as well as his 36 years allowed him. After the fact we found out he was less than fit during the year. Phil Danault who seemed to have hart winner Mcdavid's number during the year now was given the task of restraining rocket winner Auston Matthews in the same straitjacket. 

In the end the leafs did fold like a cheap suitcase and a key moment was when Jake Muzzin was injured in game 6. The magical highlights of this series will remain as fond memories to hab fans young and old including the winning goals by Byron, Suzuki, and Kotkaniemi and the numerous acrobatic saves by Price. In my eyes at least this felt as good as winning the stanley cup, the leafs had been dismissed.

The Azzurri played the first three games of Euro 2020 at home in Rome. They easily demolished Turkey and Switzerland in the first two games. They played their second stringers against Wales after having already advanced. They easily won that game as well.  Already their detractors from other countries were crowing about the weak opposition and just wait till they would meet higher seeded teams. Some notable non starters in the initial two games were the injured Verratti and Chiesa. Their replacements Locatelli and Berardi had performed admirably and scored as well. 

What many pundits noted was this was a different Italy that played a determined offensive game. The likes of  Spinnazola Insigne and Berardi were just as interested in carving up the opposition defence as their defenders were in stopping goals. Many pundits were also beginning to expound on the fact Italy had not given up a goal in ages and credit was given to the aging dynamic duo of Bonucci and Chiellini and the young giant Donnaruma in nets. 

End of Part One