O Canadiens!

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!  -Canadian National Anthem

Public Service Announcement:  Ok, here we go!  The city is hockey.  The Montreal Canadiens.  Le Bleu-Blanc-et-Rouge.  The best team in the National Hockey League.   

The NHL is on notice.  Les Habitants are back.  The Canadiens, who beat Minnesota, 2-1, last night, will finish October with a 7-1-1 record.   Montreal’s .833 points percentage this month is the team’s best October mark since 1961-62.  Since the Canadiens were 7-0-1.  The Bobby Rousseau Canadiens.  The Jaques Palante Canadiens.  The Jean-Guy Talbot Canadiens.  The Canadiens who went on to the best record in hockey.

This year’s edition is pretty pretty pretty good themselves.  After tallying 104 points during the regular season last year to capture the best record in the Eastern Conference, the Habs were out muscled in the playoffs by the Broad Street Bullies.  That is not bloody likely to happen this season.  Not after Montreal signed Georges Laraque.  Not after Montreal signed Sports Illustrated’s number one enforcer.  That move has opened up the ice for Alex Kovalev.  It has opened up the ice for Andrei Kostitsyn.  Opened up the ice for Alex Tanguay.  Opened up the ice for a twenty-fifth Stanley Cup.

Just so you know.  Not that you care.  Saturday marks the 49th anniversary of Canadiens legend Jacques Plante wearing a mask into an NHL game. The first goalie to do so since Montreal Maroons’ Clint Benedict wore crude facial protection for a short-lived few games in 1930.

Public Spectacle:

That Game was Worth At Least 75 Cents (Dennis Kane) 

Peace out homies.  Six two and Even!

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