Sunday, March 23, 2008

8-0

The number eight in an interesting figure: All spiders, and more generally all arachnids, have eight legs. An octopus has eight tentacles. Eight is the atomic number of oxygen. The Jewish religious rite of brit milah is held on a baby boy's eighth day of life. In chess, each side has eight pawns and the board is made of 64 squares arranged in an eight by eight lattice. The original Nintendo used 8-bit graphics. In tarot, card No. 8 is "Strength". It's also my very own numerological number.

In hockey, it`s the number of the NHL`s top goal scorer and perhaps MVP, Alex the Gr8. It`s exactly half tyhe number of wins required to win the Cup. It is also now the number of wins the Montreal Canadiens have earned against the Boston Bruins in the 2007-2008 NHL regular season.

Sweep. Sweet.

In last night's game number eight, yours truly had the honour of being present to watch the Habs pull off this historic feat. Against Boston, Montreal has won 11 in a row and 12 of 13 at home. They outscored Beantown 39-16 over the year. Since the '03-04 comeback playoff win against Joe Thornton's Brooins, the Habs are 2-42 against Boston. I think all of the above qualifies the Bruins as Monteral`s whipping boys. And thr world is as it should be.

It`s almost sad how dominant Montreal is over Boston (almost); as LG77 said during the game last night, cheering against them has become like picking on the retarded kid: you kindea feel bad about it, but itsso easy and its not like he`s going to retaliate. Even when the refs handed the B`s a powerplay with less than 2 minutes left in the third, even my normally paranoid self was relaxed and utterly convinced we would win (although I predicted we`d win in overtime - my bad). Turns out the Habs needed to make it dramatic, waiting to the last shot of the shootout to put a stake through the hearts of poor, pathetic Brooins fans. And what a beauty The Captain`s SO goal was: after Kovalev put the backhand-forehand deke into Tiny Tim`s head, Koivu went backhand all the way and put it past the spastic Bruins`tender.

Mission Accomplished.

Unfortunately this also means no more gimmie games in the six remaining against Ottawa (against whom we seem to play like the Bruins), Toronto (who always plays much better against us than the rest of the league), and Buffalo (fighting for their playoff lives and not a shabby club). And the Habs will have to do it without their own number 8, Komo (aka DOOM), the NHL leader among defencemen in hits and blocked shots, for the balance of the regular season at minimum. Last night Josh Georges stepped into Komo`s spot along Markov, and played a solid 25 minutes - and almost added the OT winner. The Swiss Mister was also solid in his return to the backend, further jacking up his UFA salary demands. Perhaps most gratifying was seeing Begin return to hit anything with the puck, including the Bruins` own Count Chocula, Zdeno Chara. (Seriously, if the hockey thing doesn`t work out for Chara, I`m sure he can go work as a spokescreature for General Mills.) Guys like Mad Max and Begin have to pound opposition defencemen at every turn in order to negate the Habs general lack of overall size. Of course, size is one advantage and speed is another. With the addition of Grabby, Mad Max and Little Tits this season, the Habs have gone from fast to blur. And most importantly for Montreal`s playoff hopes, Price has done nothing to dispell comparisons with Roy and Dryden`s younthful Stanley Cup runs.

Enjoy today and revel in beating a hated rival past the point of embarrassment. Tomorrow we face our own nemesis, the Sens, and the tables may be turned. May SLC have mercy on our souls.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Da Habs ate da Bs.

- 25Cups

Anonymous said...

As we say in the mysterious opium fueled Orient:

Watch the smug gloating, young grashopper.

We must always show our opponent respect as we crush his facial bones with the Ancient and deadly Han Emporor Graceful Crysanthemum Blossoms in Spring strike.

Life is long, and full of bad sitcoms, our enemy may live again, especailly in the first round, dumb-head. So get it? Don't piss the Beantown boys off. They might fuck us up yet.

Jeez, did I actually spell 'Crysanthemum' right? Spell check that fucker boys, get on it.

Cheers,
Jeff

Dave said...

Just had to do this, too easy. :)

"Sevens the key number here. Think about it. Seven doors. Seven-Eleven. Seven. Seven little chipmunks twirling on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' of gorgonzola when it's clearly bree time baby. Step into my office...cuz you're fuckin' fired!"

Anonymous said...

'Chrysanthemum'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysanthemum

Cheer up Jeff, at least you didn't type 'Brie' wrong.

- moeman

Anonymous said...

Thanks moeman, I had to wing it, no spell check in this crummy cheap broken down motel excuse for a window. Plus there's no water in the pool, and the ice machine down the hall is empty, meaning whiskey neat, AGAIN.

Also I like this Wufpirate, he's good man, fuckin insane, like don't let him pick you up hitch-hikin or nothin like that if yer a sweet little corn fed girl on the way to kaliforn eye A insane. But he's good.

HFF33 aka Panger said...

Jeff good point, we should respect a team that could be our frist round oppoenent. It's just so hard when I hate them so much...

Anonymous said...

"he's good man, fuckin insane, like don't let him pick you up hitch-hikin or nothin like that if yer a sweet little corn fed girl on the way to kaliforn eye A insane"

Brad Pitt was pretty good in dat dere movie. Or was dat Woody Harrelson? Either way, good, sick fun, like a Sens/Leafs game.

~ moeman