This past Sunday I accompanied my wife Angie and my son Anthony to the Bell Centre to watch the Habs vs Sid the Kid and the Pittsburgh Penguins…….As the game went on Anthony started sneezing and coughing ….....After the game, my wife wanted to take some pictures with some of the players…….I said no problem as long as Anthony doesn’t sneeze on any of them. As he’s about ready to take a picture with Mike Johnson, what do you think happened? Yep, you guessed it,…..he sneezes right in Johnson's face……my wife and I felt terrible; but being the gentleman that he is, Johnson looked at us and said, ‘‘don’t worry my kids do the same thing to me all the time.’’ Gotta love Mike Johnson…..he’s a class act.
3 days later, the good news is Anthony feels a lot better, bad news is I have been in bed for the past 2 days with the flu…..thats ok I needed a break from PJ; I’ll be back Thursday.
OK; lets talk about Sergei Samsonov….5 things you need to know.
1) In the offseason; a free agent Centreman was priority # 1; not a winger
2) Canadiens overpaid for Samsonov; he’s not the player he used to be.
3) 9 games in, he had 2 goals and Carbo wanted to relegate him to the 4th line. Carbonneau should have been more patient.
4) It was obvious the line of Plekanec, Samsonov and Kovalev couldn’t play together;
why did it take 50 games to split them up?
5) Carbo should have given Samsonov an opportunity to play with Koivu.
Bottom Line: Early in the season, Samsonov and his agent let their displeasure be known to everybody; add to that Samsonov didn’t produce. Those two things don’t mix well, especially in Montreal.
As for the Habs, going into the season, I predicted them to finish 8th in the East. Their start surprised everybody; but since January 4th, the Canadiens have lost 10 of 16. During that span, they have scored 38 goals and have given up 52 goals. Their #1 goalie, Christobal Huet has been struggling with a save percentage of .883. As for their PK; it has dropped 6 percent going from 2nd best in the NHl to the #10 ranking. Folks, what happened in the first half was a ‘mirage’ because the team overachieved. This team will once again battle for a playoff spot.
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7 comments:
Enough with the hockey talk Tony. It's time to enter the octagon and talk about UFC 69 which is going to have the potential fight of the year- Diego Sanchez vs. Josh Koschek- which as far as I'm concerned, is easily more interesting than George St.Pierre defending his titale agains Matt Serra.
Predictions- Josh Koscheks wrestling and takedowns is too much for Diego and he'll lose via submission- rear naked choke.
You heard it hear first.
Travis Lutter is an idiot, by the way. How do you have 6 months to prepare for a title match and not make weight? What a jack ass. But I was almost impressed when he got the full mount on Silva and started pounding on his hubcap nose. But I was even more impressed with Silvas triangle choke and elbow strikes to Lutters empty head.
Hello Tony...please enough with Koivu...how can he help any other of his team mates when he can't help himself...he is not the type of player that makes the players around him better...he himself needs better players to make him look good...why do you think Teemu Selanee never came to Montreal...if you believe in the lotery thes are the numbers YOU DO NOT USE TO WIN: 11,15,47,52,57....People would be surprised to see how many of these guys would actually be picked up by other teams if possible....Only mistake the coach ever made was compare Koivu to Yzerman....10 years in Montreal never made it past the second round!!!!
Ciao Tony
Marco
Hi Tony,
I believe Samsonov and Koivu will not work well together on the same line. Both players like to hold on to the puck and you cannot have that on the same line. That is one reason why Samsonov and Kovalev did not work well together.
Samsonov needs a winger that stands in front of the goalie(like Glenn Murray), perhaps Latendresse, so that he can make his fancy moves and shoot on a screened goalie. He also needs a strong 2 way centreman, perhaps Plekanec, inorder to compensate for his weak defensive play.
What do you think ?
Marco P.
Tony,
Getting CroCop in the UFC was a huge deal for Dana White, as was Rampage Jackson. I loved Jackson in Pride Fighting and the way he said "Eastman is my brother, but it was time for some black on black crime" after he lay a good beating on him. CroCop won, but I was hoping it would be from his patented left kick to the head.
Next theft by Dana White from Pride- Fedor Emylenko. Then you'll see an amazing heavy weight division.
Hey Tony enough crying and ranting about Samsonov. Maybe this guy is really not as good as everyone thought he was. Maybe he's just a little above average than the rest of the team but he's not the saviour of the Canadiens.
And about Carbonneau, I really don't think this guy is going to last too long. Players are coming to the arena and they don't know who they're going to be playing with that night. They'll never get used to the playing style of their linemates. Sooner or later the players are just going to stop playing for him altogether.
Take care Tony.
Hey Tony,
If you're going to be fair, isn't it time for someone to point a finger at Bob Gainey? While the "In Bob We Trust" mantra has been used by the likes of Melnyk, Price & Cassavant, you have never fallen for that. So, why can't you (and others in the Montreal media) come out and call a spade a "SPADE"?
Gainey has done a mediocre job in helping this team cover the warts that most of us have seen for years. While the new NHL requires players to be fleet of foot, it does still require its players to be TOUGH. This Habs team has lacked team toughness for more than a generation.
People will bring up Downey and Murray and claim that these punks are "tough" (Downey is still living off of the one-punch KO against Boulrice), this is NOT the toughness NHL teams require. What i'm talking about is toughness found in players who can actually play in the NHL!
While on the topic of Gainey getting a free pass...when will he step up and find a #1 centre? Isn't it time?
Peace!
Tony it's Marco Ammendolea Domonic's son any way did you see who the predators got,Peter Forsberg Predators are going to fly in the playoffs i dont know about canadiens though they are losing almost every game anyways ciao Tony.
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