What happened?

Il est clair que les médias sportifs dominants s’attendaient à une saison désastreuse pour le Habs. Je pensais qu'ils auraient plus de chances de participer aux séries parce que les équipes ont tendance à rebondir après une saison extrêmement médiocre et que les athlètes sont fiers et apprécient le rôle d'outsider.   La réalité, c’est que l’habs a presque fait les séries et que les habs ont également un record décent. Les leafs, qui étaient et sont considérés comme des prétendants à la coupe, termineront avec moins d’une avance à deux chiffres sur l’hab. Les matchs entre ces clubs étaient serrés, l’habs a dominé dans tous ses matchs et le résultat aurait pu se passer de toute façon. Si les Habs les avaient gagnés, ils participeraient aux séries éliminatoires.                                     ...

Clearly the main-stream sports media expected this to be a disastrous season for the habs. I thought they would have a slim shot at the playoffs more because teams tend to rebound after an extremely poor season and athletes do have some pride and relish the underdog role.     The reality is the habs almost made the playoffs and the habs also have a pretty decent record. The leafs, who were and are considered cup contenders, will finish with less than a double digit lead on the habs. The games between these clubs were close, the habs outshot the leafs in all their games and the outcome could have gone either way. If the habs had won them they would be in the playoffs.   The important things Bergevin did last off-season were more who he subtracted from the habs than who he added. Galchenyuk was clearly not working out both with his defensive liabilities and his off-ice antics. His offensive capabilities were minimized by these liabilities. Pacioretty who ha...

The season is almost over and you know what that means... Time to review my beginning of the season predictions and whine. I consider these predictions a moral victory: 1) Nathan MacKinnon will win the scoring championship if he stays healthy. In the top ten I expect to see Tavares, Stamkos, Mcdavid, Marner, Barzal, and Drouin. Is this the year somebody reaches 130 points again? Well 4 out of 7 ain’t bad. Ok so I missed the Kuch and Kane and Gaudreau. The big disappointment is Drouin. He has had his moments but not close to the top tier of forwards. He may not even be in the top tier of habs forwards this year. As the brooklyn dodger fans would say annually ‘wait till next year’. As for MacKinnon he did his annual disappearing act in the second half and it is duly noted. At least he revived for the playoffs. 2) I am not confident about the Norris. The wild card is Karlsson and how he fits in with San Jose and Brent Burns. One of them might win it. Subban and Hedman have a shot at it de...

Statement games are important. The Canadiens victory over the Bruins a few weeks ago was just that. It was a tooth and nail game where the habs did not give an inch. Unlike the recent past,  Deslauriers fought Miller to a draw in a lively fight. Finally, even though the habs gave up a late goal due to a brain-dead penalty, they came back in overtime. This victory let the habs get back in the playoff picture. This habs team has confidence or attitude or whatever way you want to define it. It reminded me a lot of the 83-84 habs. That year, the habs had a subpar year barely making the playoffs. They had poor goaltending with the likes of Richard Sevigny and Rick Wamsley. There was a changing of the guard as Guy Carbonneau, Mats Naslund, Bobby Smith, and Chris Chelios began to take up leadership roles. The habs had also their version of Andrew Hammond as Steve Penney joined the team late in the season. Even though the team had a poor season, late in the year they played the bruin...

We are almost at the halfway point in the season and you know what that means... Time to review my beginning of the season predictions and gloat. Do I know my hockey or what: 1) Nathan MacKinnon will win the scoring championship if he stays healthy. In the top ten I expect to see Tavares, Stamkos, Mcdavid, Marner, Barzal, and Drouin. Is this the year somebody reaches 130 points again? Pretty sure by the end of the season Nate the great will win it all. Stammer got off to a slow start but he might be in the top ten soon. As for Barzal and Drouin they are prone to inconsistent play but they have had their moments. 2) I am not confident about the Norris. The wild card is Karlsson and how he fits in with San Jose and Brent Burns. One of them might win it. Subban and Hedman have a shot at it depending how their teams do. And then there is Rasmus Dahlin... I was right not to be confident and may be off on this one due to injuries. Subban and Hedman have been long term injured so they may not...

Soon it will be October,  autumn has mysteriously crept upon us and of course this means the start of a brand new NHL Season. Here are my fourth annual absurd and bizarre but fundamentally insincere predictions for the 2018-2019 nhl season: 1) Nathan MacKinnon will win the scoring championship if he stays healthy. In the top ten I expect to see Tavares, Stamkos, Mcdavid, Marner, Barzal, and Drouin. Is this the year somebody reaches 130 points again? 2) I am not confident about the Norris. The wild card is Karlsson and how he fits in with San Jose and Brent Burns. One of them might win it. Subban and Hedman have a shot at it depending how their teams do. And then there is Rasmus Dahlin... 3) The Maurice Richard trophy will go either to Patrick Laine or John Tavares. Tavares is an underrated goal scorer and Marner may set him up on a constant basis. Laine is a natural and sooner or later gets on fire. Don’t be surprised if Pacioretty is in the top ten if not in the running....

I used to love going on business trips because my clients usually could afford to send me to a nice hotel. Well in the summer of 2001 I was making plans to visit a client in New York. Normally, I would spend a week visiting the client. We had decided that the best time was in early September probably the week after labor day since we would have a full work week. However, a few weeks later another client proposed we should visit them in Paris in early September. Since I had been to New York several times and never to Paris, my choice was made. Our Paris trip was planned for September 13. On September 11th, I was in Montreal walking down Mcgill College street going to the client to get my plane tickets to Paris. I went into the Indigo bookstore to have a coffee since I was early for the meeting. I heard people murmuring like did you see what happened but most other things did not register. I went for a walk outside and saw a crowd of people looking at tv sets inside the Planet Hollywood...