A stirring win by the home side yesterday! The Impact have taken the USL First Division title for the third time in the club's history, thanks to a 3-1 win over the defending champs Vancouver at Saputo stadium giving them a 6-3 aggregate two-game series win. The victory was especially sweet in a season filled with controversy and bad play where the Impact could have fallen apart at any minute. But the team held together through the adversity and played best when it counted.The Impact exploded for their 3 goals late in the first half, on strikes by Tony "Tits" Donatelli (penalty in the 30th minute), Joey "Joojoo Shabadoo" Gjertsen (40th) and Roberto "Club Downtown" Brown (42nd). The Impact cruised from there, defending the big lead with skill and determination, a task made easier by the red card on Whitecap defender Shaun Pejic.
Impact veteran and captain Mauro "Bella" Biello, perhaps playing his last game in an Impact uni as he contemplates retirement, was thrilled with the victory, saying that "at this point in my career to be able to lift that championship cup again was unbelievable." He added that "we are going to fucking party all night. W00t! You would not believe the quality hookers 'n blow that Joey Saputo can lay his hands on. Man that dude's connected."
Oh yeah, Habs lose, Kovy has glorious return to Montreal, yada yada. You didn't think I was going to waste my time reviewing that crap did you?
13 comments:
Olé!
Dear Mr. Gainey,
Thank you. Merci.
Sincerely,
Je suis Christopher Higgins.
One down! Let's see if the Als can finally do something when it really counts.
As a non-Habs fan I have a question for you guys and I am asking this in total sincerity (Sp?). I don't mean to mock, I just really want to know:
Why is Bob Gainey still the GM?
He's been the GM for years and the Habs have gotten absolutely nowhere with him. They've barely made the playoffs, they were able to make it to the second round TWICE...Habs have changed coaches, players, obviously the missing link is the GM. I thought for sure that he would be fired after Montreal lost to Boston and was totally shocked when he wasn't.
I am just looking for your opinions.
@ Carina
The Gillett-to-Molson sale isn't final yet (at least I don't think so... they list Gillett as the owner at Canadiens.com).
WV: "nonism". The fastest-growing religion in Montreal right now.
Gainey built a very good team two years ago. He also built up our farm team and scouting, which were in dire shape when he took over.
I don't see how last year can be blamed on him.
This year he had to rebuild. It's way too early to tell if the decisions were correct.
@Carina: Part of it is that Bob hasn't had the same high picks to play with as some of the other supposedly genius GMs out there have had (Hello, Ray Shero!). Another factor is that whomever is GM will have to deal with the high tax situation in Quebec that drives a lot of FAs away from us.
Boone has a great post at HIO about last night's game that really calmed me down and made me feel less negative about this team.
@Carina - I guess you don't know what we had before him. THAT was terrible. Bob turned the team around and rebuilt the farm system. Also many of our better prospects are still in school. And whether people think those that are up here were rushed is moot as there's no one else to take those spots. As for the turnover, well he did try to get some of them back, but we don't know what he saw in the room and it must not have been pretty. And thank god he didn't trade Price for Lecavalier, who has done very little this season so far considering his status and how things went last season. (Remember folks, he only played Beliveau in a movie, he is isn't Beliveau).
Also no one else has the balls to do the job. (No I don't want Mr. I traded Chris Chelios back). Plus he tells the media vultures to their face, albeit in a polite roundabout manner, that they're morons.
I can think of a handful of GMs out there that would (or should) lose their job way before Bob...
@ Number31
And without the benefit of top-tier picks, too. Still, I can't help but wonder whether the Molsons will give in to public pressure if the Canadiens are still sitting in 10th or 12th by December.
BTW, Marc-Andre Bergeron called up, Belle sent down. A pity. I'd rather see Belle stay up and Gill benched.
Thank you guys
@ Number31: Admittedly I am not aware of what the Habs have on their farm but if that's the case then I guess that is reason enough. It will be interesting to see how the young'uns develop.
Thanks!
That impact game was insane. I was one of around twenty fans that tried to go celebrate on the field after the final whistle. I managed to jump onto the field, only to be tackled by two fat cops seconds later.
I don't see what firing Bob in the middle of the season would accomplish, besides firing someone for the hell of it. Obviously JM isn't going to be fired this season (not saying he should be there are obviously people who are displeased right now) unless he's caught smuggling Uranium into Iran while having sex with an underage boy, so Bob may be the choice to satisfy the baying mob.
Also, as much as we'd like to wish it Gill isn't going to be demoted or traded or anything. Come on, you're going to send a guy wearing an "A" to, well, the AHL? Also, think of the damage it'll do in terms of attracting future FAs? "All I did was play poorly in maybe five or six games and they sent me down to rot in Hamilton. Don't sign to play in Montreal, no matter what".
I agree, Belle looked decent and at least a hell of a lot better than Swiss Miss II. He also needs a FHF nickname.
There's no reason to fire Bob anyway. Besides, the Molsons were involved with the team when he was hired. This new "ownership" is actually more a shift to a majority ownership than what they had before.
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