What happened?

The Canadian election is over. There is no clear cut winner but Canada has rejected Donald Trump. We can pretend what we want but this election was about Trump and those that support what he represents.   The influence the American media has on Canada is significant and Trump and Obama do make a difference in swaying Canadian popular opinion. Only 36% of the Canadian population voted for the right wing parties and if you include a portion of the Bloq vote then it was close to 40%.   These are the people that in the majority do not believe in climate change, LBGTQ rights, right to choose, letting in refugees or illegal immigrants etc etc. Obviously their votes were not all centered on all these issues and some voters, like those in the western provinces, were more inclined to rally around energy policy and pipelines. Also the Bloq gains was probably an outgrowth of the CAQ victory, but Trudeau still earned the most votes in Quebec. Quebecois nationalism is far from making a...

Ok I promised no more hockey blogs since the habs are out of it. However, the Don Cherry rant on Saturday got me to thinking of the habs draft preferences during the years and what we missed out on. Cherry railed against Brian Burke on Saturday for not having one player born in Ontario on the Leafs roster. So have the Habs management done better? We got David Desharnais, Mathieu Darche, and Louis Leblanc on the team and...well Rene Bourque sounds french and Blake Geoffrion has French roots. The issue for me has always been when selecting a player or a coach or a manager, the most talented should be drafted or chosen. The issue here is not only did we not draft the most talented but the most talented in most cases was a Quebec or francophone player. Some history to make my point. As already mentioned in another blog in 1977 we drafted Mark Napier in 10th spot overall. Who was drafted 15th overall none other than Mike Bossy probably the greatest sniper of all time in the NHL. Bossy w...

C'est octobre, un jour de pluie froide, et après avoir regardé la série musicale de Ken Burns, ma boule de cristal a une Foggy  Mountain Breakdown. Voici donc mes previsions inane et profondément moitie à moitié saine pour la saison 2019 - 2020: 1) Steven Stamkos ou Sidney Crosby remportera le championnat de pointeurs s'ils restent en bonne santé. Dans les dix premiers, je m'attends à voir Marner, Mackinnon, Mcdavid, Barzal, Gaudreau, Stone et Kucherov. C'est l année où quelqu'un atteint 150 points? 2) Le Norris sera une bataille de suédois en tant que Hedman et Karlsson devrait se battre pour elle. Vous pouvez aussi compter sur Brent Burns et l'émergence de Morgan Reilly. L'un d eux pourrait gagner. Rasmus Dahlin peut en faire un trio de suédois. 3) Le trophée Maurice Richard ira à Mathews ou Mackinnon. Matthews  semble toujours blessé   alors s'il ne joue pas une saison complète, il pourrait aller à Mackinnon.  Les joueurs qui ont mo...

It’s October, a chilly rainy day, and after watching the country music series by Ken Burns my crystal ball is having a foggy mountain breakdown. So here is my cloudy outlook and fifth annual fundamentally inane and profoundly half sane predictions for the 2019-2020 nhl season: 1) Steven Stamkos or Sidney Crosby will win the scoring championship if they stay healthy. In the top ten I expect to see Marner, Mackinnon, Mcdavid, Barzal, Gaudreau, Stone, and Kucherov. Is this the year somebody reaches 150 points? 2) The Norris will be a battle of swedes as Hedman and Karlsson should battle for it. Never can count out Brent Burns and the emergence of Morgan Reilly. One of them might win it. Rasmus Dahlin may make it a trio of Swedes. 3) The Maurice Richard trophy will go either to Matthews or Mackinnon. Matthews has been injury prone so if he does not play a full season it might go to Mackinnon. Long shots are Stamkos, Pacioretty, and Draisatl. For Draisatl, it depends if he plays ...

As we wave an enthusiastic goodbye and fare thee well to Pierre Gauthier and the Bob Gainey managerial era, I would like to discuss another Habs legend Guy Lafleur. I'd say from 1975 to 1980 Guy Lafleur was the best hockey player in the world. Guy didn't break many records during his time at the mountaintop. My blog wants to point out why. As great as Guy was, I always felt there was something missing or more a missed opportunity. Guy Lafleur was sensational with the Quebec Remparts during his junior career. In his final junior year he had 130 goals in 62 games. The Remparts also won the Memorial Cup. This may have been the last time Guy was unleashed to his full capacity. Through the shenanigans of Sam Pollock, Guy Lafleur was drafted first overall by the Stanley Cup champions. The year before Jean Beliveau retired a 10 time Cup winner, and big Jean classy as ever had offered his number 4 to Guy. Luckily Guy turned it down. Guy was bright enough to state he...

  Posted these tweets and now I combined them. A little habs trivia and history :     The habs had a dynasty in the 60’s few people mention 4 cups in 5 years and they made the cup final in between and no superstars other than Jean Beliveau and Henri Richard and a young Yvan Cournoyer for all 4 cups Boom Boom Geoffrion had 50 goals and 95 points in 64 games in 1960-61, if he had not missed 6 games he surely would have been the first to break the 50 goal record and score 100 points.   Claude Provost of les habs won 9 Stanley Cups only three players have won more Jean Beliveau Henri Richard and Yvan Cournoyer.   Jean Guy Talbot won 7 stanley Cups only two defencemen have won more Serge Savard and Red Kelly who was only a defenceman for 5 cups and then was turned into a forward  There are at least 5 members of les habs that won a cup with the habs and also won a cup with duh laffs i mean leafs John McCormack, Bert O...