Look, I don't want to write about PatCHes for the third day in a row. I'm sure you don't want to read about PatCHes for the third day in a row. But really, what choice do we all have? The "Incident" (upper case I) as I guess we're calling it now, is going to cast a long shadow over the rest of the season. The effect was more than apparent last night in St. Louis. So at the risk of another day of anonymous Boston assholes invading the comments (here I'll comment for you: "Waaa-waaa, Montrealers are such pussies, get over yourselves, it was all PatCHes fault for trying to skate by a defenseman, waaa-waaa, crybabies, it's hockey, it's a violent sport etc. etc." Now go away) I am going to have to talk about PatCHes for the third day in a row.
And once again, for the third day in a row, I'll remind us all to remember what's important here and that's PatCHes. In the awesome news department, PatCHes was released from the hospital yesterday and went home where he is recovering. That is a minor miracle. Get well PatCHes.
Discussion of the Incident is not going away any time soon. Yesterday it was in full effect. If you want to get angry, read what Fuckface Bettman had to say. BTW, anyone from the NHL head office will now be referred to as "Fuckface ___" by me. Then to get even angrier, read the most pathetic media statement in the history of the universe from the NHLPA. At least yesterday some in the media realized what a joke the league was. You can feel better reading Stephen Brunt (in Toronto no less!) ripping into Fuckface Bettman, or Michael Farber taking the NHL to task, or even perennial FHF whipping boy Jack Todd who nailed it pretty well. We can all cheer Air Canada. We finally heard from the team with a decent politely worded letter from Geoff Molson.Even the Prime Minister weighed in.
I am sure the rest of the league will go on with their lives pretty quickly, but that just won't be the case in Montreal. There are petitions and protests, and the criminal justice system is getting involved. Habs fans are angry, and will be angry for a long time. That's just the way it's gonna be.
But it's on the ice where we can, should, and hopefully will, seek redemption and justice. It just didn't happen last night. Last night, the entire team had its collective head elsewhere. We can't blame them. The fans' collective head was elsewhere too. They certainly get a pass from criticism for one game (well, except CHicken maybe). That was your freebie boys. Now we've got a question for you. How are you going to react to it the rest of the season? Are you going to play like last night? Or are you going to rally around the Incident as a "they're all against us, let's get 'em back by winning" kind of thing?
The one problem I see is that last night showed how important PatCHes was to this team as a hockey player. There is no one on this team who can replace what he was doing. And by having to try CHicken or Tits as the winger with Gio and Gomez, you've fucked with your 3rd and 4th lines. And clearly CHicken was not up to the task. He could not have played worse. To the point where he was benched in the third. Tits did marginally better, but he's just not the go to the net kind of power forward PatCHes is. In fact he's the opposite. And with PleXXXe and Squid really nowhere to be seen either last night, the top two lines were a mess. That's not good. We sure could use a Matt D'Agostini right about now.
Maybe three players showed up last night. TFS was great. He gave us every chance to win. He was really the only one who had that "let's do it for PatCHes" attitude. I thought Lego played a good game, he really worked hard. And despite his continuous refusal to shoot, the Mexican seemed to play pretty well too. But those three were it. The defense collectively was terrible. But like I said, last night was your free pass boys. Just put it together for Saturday. Do it for PatCHes.
The cloud over the season is going to affect everything now. It's even affecting FHF - my heart just wasn't in it for Sexy Friday today. We can only hope that in the long run, the cloud lifts. If it doesn't, the sky is gonna be falling pretty quickly.
Morning update - wanted to add this video. Well done, internet.
50 comments:
Patches is on twitter, says he's feeling great. His twitter handle for those who wish to follow.
@MaxPacioretty67
Stephen Brunt is from Hamilton and he loathes and despises anything leaf. That makes him A OK in my books.
Bettman is so fucking arrogant, makes you wanna smash his smarmy face into a stanchion.
Don't these people realize it's Montreal they're fucking with? Actually I think they do and in the back of my mind I feel that plays a big part in the fuck-over. It's not going away anytime soon. And Chara is finished here. He'll be booed until he retires.
Anyhoo, back to the business of hockey. These guys are pros I'm expecting a much better game tomorrow.
Tuned in last night. Wow what a difference from the broons game. Lego was the only one with any jump. We couldn't break threw the centre zone in the second... I'm with you 29. Free pass last night. Today and tomorrow to get your head around it, maybe PatCHes being out and at home will help the guys refocus? But it ain't all bad!!! the leaf lost and stay 6 out of a playoff spot... so... that's.... something....
*goes to find whiskey*
GYMFHG
Keep at it PatCHes
wv: I am "unabl" to muster much more enthusiasm this morning. Much like out team last night *finds whiskey*
*through, CHrist... we couldn't break through the centre zone
Fuck Face Gary spews and there is an 8.9 on the planet. The little shrew has angered the Gods. Everybody better put on your helmets. If you live in San Fran you better get going. This is just going to get worse ...
I turned that game off at 2-1. Man did they look terrible.
Anyone see Joe Thornton's comments? That big lug danced around the elephant in the room - Jeremy Jacobs, the cheapskate Bruins owner who is Bettman's best buddy amongst the owners. This isn't a Colin Campbell/Greg Campbell issue, folks. Greg Campbell has only been a Bruin for a short time. Jacobs is the guy with Bettman in his back pocket.
Buy a T-shirt at Charasucks.com
A portion of the proceeds go the the Montreal General Hospital in Patches name.
http://www.charasucks.com/
Steve said:Its always darkest before you stub your toe on the door.
@29 Fuckface and sky is falling "zeitgeist"
If you look carefully at the cloud over the Bell Center, you see an angry God, this is not Jesus on a bagel, its a real fucking angry God.
I hope he is angry at Fuckface Buttman. He had the nerve to threaten Air Canada, fucking arrogant fuck. But what if the angry God hates Strippers and Hockey? Oh we are fucked
Steve said: stay away from the Leonard Cohn.
I know alot of you are stitting around in a dark room today with a bottle of whiskey in one hand, a clicker in the other scanning the horrible events that have befallen the Habs, Patches and now Japan. You have likely taken the shotgun out of the pickup and its leaning against the couch. For GOD sake do not put on any Leonard Cohn and for good measure Nick Drake.
@HF10, I emailed the exact same comments to Michael Boone last night about Jacobs, even the back pocket part. Jacobs runs the NHL not Fuckface Bettman (thanks 29). It used to be Snyder and Dollar Bill Wirtz, now it's Jacobs. Boston is immune to punishment.
@10 + Maritimer start puking
The best way to protest this injustice by the league is to vote with our wallets. Air Canada had the decency to come out and say it, so I will follow their lead. Starting with a letter to Honda as to why I'm turning my back on them, to canceling my automatic renewal of my yearly NHL Package, etc. Oh, I don't pretend that I wll kill their bottom line, but it does make me feel good. Damn good! I'm not waiting on a criminal investigation or on a "Upon further review, the league has determined..." Nope, taking matters in my own hands and spending my cash somewhere else. Yes, I'm taking names and kicking some sponsor ass!
What?!? No Sexy Friday?
As Algren-San said to Kazimoto:
"What could be more necessary?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaOExzvVB7E
From Steve's link,
"What will surely fire up the conspiracy theorists, who have been venting loudly on all forms of media following Zdeno Chara’s hit on Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens, is the identity of the driving force behind Bettman’s new contract. It is Jeremy Jacobs, the NHL’s chairman of the board of governors who just happens to own the Boston Bruins, the team that employs Chara. However, as chairman, one of Jacobs’s duties is to keep the commissioner and the other key executives of the NHL under contract"
Bingo.
Hey Hey I understand we got an injured Hab a dirty "fix is in" decision from the suits, and an 8.9in Japan ... but we're talkin Boobs here. Where are the Boobs?
how am i supposed to explain that to my children?
isn't that the excuse they gave for handing out suspensions to avery and wisniewski?
bunch of hypocrites.
I find it hard to comment on anything anymore. I find everything so offensive....
They are paying Fuckface Bettman $7.2M? For what?
for being the incompetent fuckface that he is.
Sigh. I haven't been able to push PatCHes out of my mind for more than a couple of hours since Tuesday night. It's really distracting and disconcerting.
And now Japan is dealing with one of the worst earthquakes in its recent history...
Two of my biggest loves are suffering deeply today. =(
Impossible as it seems fuckchara keeps raising the bar for fuctardness. who?
@ezzelorharr prepare for more, Tokyo is well past due for a major quake, last one 1923.
Geez I was just looking at pictures of damage in Japan, I was never in Sendai but this quake hit hard on many of the small towns just outside Tokyo that I used to visit. The situation is far worse than I had first imagined.
Last night, I was listening to the Blues/Habs game on the St Louis feed on XM. Kelly Chase was doing "commentary" (I'm being kind here) and started growling about how apathetic Montreal's play was. Then, he yelled:
"Get Over Pacioretty!! It was a clean play!! People who know say it is! Players say it is. The NHL said it was! It's just Canadians wining! All Canadians (correct spelling, our whole country) are just wining!! What a disgrace!! Who cares? Get Over It!! Canadians winning over this!! Disgraceful!! What a joke!"
Who the hell does he think he is anyway?
Go VIA!
MONTREAL - First it was Canada's largest airline. Now Canada's main passenger train line has railed against the NHL.
Via Rail has issued a scathing letter condemning the league's decision not to suspend Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara.
The rail line — which is owned by the Government of Canada — says it's a proud sponsor of pro hockey.
But it calls the league decision on Chara's hit against Montreal's Max Pacioretty senseless.
It laid out its complaints in a terse letter Friday to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
"Via Rail is concerned, as are its customers, that the NHL seems unable to take appropriate measures to protect the physical integrity of its players," Via's general counsel, Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, wrote.
"In Via Rail’s opinion, the NHL’s quick and ineffective ruling on the Pacioretty/Chara incident of last Tuesday is totally unacceptable as it does nothing to try to reverse the alarming trend of vicious hits that have sidelined some of the game's greatest talents."
It urges the league to take action on violence when general managers meet next week in Florida.
The move follows a similar one from Air Canada — which threatened to pull its sponsorship.
But the airline's threat was dismissed by league commissioner Gary Bettman, who said the NHL could find other air carriers.
The NHL has been swamped with criticism and ridicule following its decision not to fine or suspend Chara for what many considered a vicious and potentially life-threatening hit.
Unlike Air Canada, however, the rail company is not threatening to revoke its financial support.
"This is not about our sponsorship really. It's about saying what we felt needed to be said about a subject that is important to our customers, our employees and to Canadians," said a company official.
"But being a sponsor gives us the right, as a stakeholder, to say what we said to the NHL today, from inside the arena if you will."
Via sponsors the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators but will not divulge the amounts it spends, citing confidentiality clauses in its commercial contracts.
I'm still pretty disillusioned. I don't mean to overdramatic or anything, but I just don't care about the NHL right now. Normally I'd be poring over the standings and other stats this time of year, but I really don't know what's been going on since Tuesday. I'm sure it'll wear off and I'm very glad Patches is all patched up but I'm just so ill from the whole incident.
My friend from Korea just emailed me to say that Hab fans are yet again going overboard with this. I forwarded him many NHL's players reactions, media reaction (incl. TSN and CBC, not known for their Hab love), Air Canada's reaction, the PM's reaction and now the Via Rail reaction (thanks Moe!). This isn't some fanatical thing. I feel like I witnessed a henious crime and the police showed up just to step over the victim while joking around with the perpetrator.
But tomorrow I'll be meeting some buds for the game up in Outremont so I'll be full of bagels and beer by the 2pm game start. I'm sure some afternoon drinking will lighten my spirits. With everything going on in the world I just feel like it's too much. Can we go one day without an earthquake levelling a city or a tyrant murdering his own people? At least one hockey game without the threat of paralysis?
I'm going to get poutine and watch my Simpsons DVDs until my belly hurts from both.
heh, tsn says the leaf loss last night was heartbreaking. Really? Despite it being the PHucktards, I kinda like seeing the leaf lose, a lot.
"It is time to stop being stupid." ~ Ken Dryden
http://bit.ly/frw6EA
rest of the season? meh.
The St. Louis Blues have had six players sidelined by concussions this season. So it's interesting to see Blues GM Doug Armstrong is adding his voice to that of Canadiens owner Geoff Molson calling for a collective movement to figure out what to do about the issue of safety and brain trauma.
Armstrong wants the guys responsible -- the players themselves -- to step up.
"As much as people are looking for the league to take a stance, I believe the players also have to take a stance. For every Montreal player that's injured, there's a Boston player that caused an injury," said Armstrong. "In that situation, I'm not saying whether it should have been a penalty or not. But the players are going to have to decide what they want as part of the game, also.
"I think it's unfair just to think the owners and the managers are going to be able to decide ... because if the players don't want to buy into whatever rules are there, then it's not going to matter."
Stop drinking Tims, now I know they are owned by some US monster shit, and it will take a long time, but write and dont drink their cocaine laced products for a week. Socita Bank is another target, stop spending money, I have been doing it for a couple of years, and you find everything important does fit into a shopping cart.
Seriously, if the people of Montreal boycott Tims, it will only take a couple of days before the buckle.
Toronto is not going to do it, they think Patches leaped into the barrier, you would not believe the crap the MSM in Toronto is saying. To its credit the Fan 590 has been balanced or even leaning in the proper direction.
Wv very close to festives fevizep
What Forrest is hidden by the trees.
Fuckface Butman gets a new secret contract. Fuckface Butmans southern stragy is about to meet Gettysburg.
NHL goes NASCAR, come to a game someone might get killed, Dueling Banjos.
AWWWWwwwwwwwwwwww PHuck! PHuck! PHuck!
I pray that AC calls PHuckPHace Buttman's bluff and that Via and others join together.
I know that many of you dear fellow posters, like myself fly around Canada, ya just try and run 6 teams and a hockey schedule without AC, pretty much impossible.
Phuckface has ruined the league, yes he has made it into a more profitable business but he has ruined the game. PHuck him and his ilk.
I hope the Gary Bettman gets slow painful stomach cancer.
What too far? Too PHucken bad, Phuck him PHuck him and PHuck him, that was a retarded decision and I can't keep it in anymore.Phucken' bunch of monkeys making all their decisions solely on revenue and nothing else.
I'm always doing that shit, trying to take a conciliatory approach, well sometimes it leads to the real feelings coming to the surface.
If anyone doesn't like it tough shit, I live in a democracy where idiots are running the asylum and I can say whatever the PHuck I want.
@Mr Natural, are you part of the problem or part of the solution, I am assembling a crack team, you may want to join, we are going to attempt something difficult, some would say impossible, but I can not be stopped.
Its called SAWMIOAM. Yes we are going to teach America where Montreal is on a map. Show American Where Montreal Is On A Map.
Mr. natural, I appreciate how you feel. I've never been more numbed by what is happening to our game, played by the team, I love. I will say though that no matter how disgusted I am with horribly egotistical people like Fuckface Bettman, that I wouldn't wish cancer on my worst enemy. I respect everyone's free speech but I recently lost a very young member of my family to that horrible disease. He's gone and was dealt a slow and very painful death. I know we are frustrated, we miss the beautiful game of skill and thrill. We miss PatCHes, a great kid coming into is own, a kid with not only one-ice abilities but a smart and humane voice of concern for the better of the game and the safety of his colleagues. I am not trying to soapbox as I agree with you and feel the same way, its just that my recent experiences tell me that life is so precious and as much as I cannot stand or handle certain aspects of what is happening, even a slug like Fuckface Bettman doesn't deserve cancer. Apologies if this is too much of a rant.
@moeman well said, although a stab in the cock while painful is not fatal or permentantly debiliting. Cancer bad wish, stab in cock, positive vibration.
Sopel on a rope has a broken arm. Might as well take the team bus and just drive it into the St Lawrence. Someone somewhere does not want a parade!
Isles smack the Bs. Thx.
some solace tonight
@HF10: Re: Jacobs
That's why I think the Molson letter is the big thing coming out of the whole story. Goeffrey M. basically said he expects changes and is fully willing to personnaly commit to said movment.
The owners are the ones with all the power. All of the oethers are just employees. Molson stepping up does two things, at least:
- It enables whistleblowing, because said whistleblowing now reinforce a reform movment with a leader (if Molson truly means to do this; I beleive he does)
- It takes the conversation away from discussions about Chara, headshots and whatnot and squarely confronts the real bosses (the owners) with a global issue: players safety. Get the owners to agree this is an issue, then a real reform can happen.
Hopefully Molson pulls it off before one of these poor bastards dies on the ice.
March 2008. Steve Begin crosschecks Marc Savard to the back of his neck. Savard had a non-displaced cervical vertabral fracture. Where was the hysteria from Quebec?
Thx to the Isles fans that booed Fuckface Chara.
Hopefully fans in 29 NHL cities will follow suit and boo his 6'9" sahved ape ass. Won't be fun being a pariah but hey some fucking lessons are hard to learn. Like the kidz say, deal with it.
@natural: I am usually with you in the back of the bus sipping on our bootleg, whistling at the girls and sometimes the more attractive boys, and sticking our arms out the window. But I have taken a step back here.
When I first heard that there was no suspension I had to take a bathroom break at work to calm myself down. I daydreamed, and then nightdreamed, of revenge against everyone. A few sticks to the face here, a brick through a window there. I hated myself for it, but damn it felt good.
But you know what? I'm better than that. We're all better than that. The Montreal Canadiens are better than that. None of us, the Habs included, got to where we are in life by being vengeful pissants. We live our lives/play hockey in a way that speaks for itself. 24 Stanley Cups. Les Glorieux. Forum Ghosts. More HoF inductees than anyone else. Our history isn't perfect, but the Canadiens have always stood for class and composure--and most importantly SUCCESS--in the face of goons, cheap shots, jealousy, injustice and egoism. Our franchise, and us as fans, have survived much worse without losing our identity and I refuse to ruin 100+ years of history to a guy like chara, or a nothing like bettman and his cronies. We owe it to future generations of fans of the Habs to not let our good name be associated with that of those cretins. There should always be a 'despite' when those words are spoken in the same sentence, not a 'because'. Our fathers and their fathers gave us that legacy and it is our duty to keep it for the next generation.
The Montreal Canadiens will prevail by not lowering themselves to the standards of the boston bruins, the media's expectations or the nhl brass. We will not give in to the madness around us. We will continue to suceed by keeping our identity, our love of the game and our sense of justice. We will prevail by loving our team for not resorting to cheap hits to win at any cost. We will prevail because we are THE HABS. We are the MONTREAL CANADIENS.
Justice may have been lost, but we will not lose ourselves.
@orangeman, your right what makes us special is we are fucking special
Don't read this; http://bit.ly/eybbeu
@orangeman In three days of over-analysis and the flurries of mixed emotions, that was the most poignant, empowering and all-together true thing I've read. Thank you for helping me see through the anger, and showing me where to stand.
/sinks back into the creeper shadows
moe, I read the first paragraph and then looked up the author. This is the same guy who called our boys cockroaches. This is the same man who said on NESN that it warmed his heart to see chara slash Max in the back of the knee the game before. This is a psychopath. I'm not just throwing out that word. He is like Bill O'Rieley. I can't get angry at him. I'm upset at the CBC (with my tax $) employing a mentally unstable person to spew hate. FOX is terrible, but I don't give them a % of my income to exist.
I urge every CanadiAn who believes in free speech, but doesn't want to support speech that incites violence, to react against this. We are Air Canada. We are Via Rail. At least in reference to the sponsorship of the CBC.
We want other sponsors to step up and tell the League what's what, we have the same opportunity. En masse, let's tell the CBC that if they continue to support these pyschopaths we will pressure our gov't to cut funding to the CBC. An election is coming up and if they don't think this is serious, let Cherry and the rest of those guys find a job in the private sector.
Anger is one thing and it can be healthy. But actions speak louder. An email, a petition, talking to people to let them know. Information is the most powerful tool.
Inform. Organize. Act.
For the love of the game.
Hey Richie,
I wanted Steve Begin BANNED from the fucktards League, not just for that, but from his constant stupidity and dirty hits. He sullied the jersey while the RDS guys called him "un bon gars de chez nous". Yea whatevs he played hard, but he was still an idiot. I was dancing in the streets when he wasn't resigned. And yes, he is a nice guy off ice, but on ice he's a fucktard.
Then the Bruins went a gave him a contract.
If the Bruins really gave a damn about Savard, why the hell did they give him a contract?! It's the principle of the fact, the same way Bob Gainey laughed and closed the phone on Dennis Gauthier's agent when Gauthier wanted to be a Hab obviously forgetting the vicious knockout elbow he threw on Josh Gorges (his 5th suspension in that season). So where were you when the Bruins hired Begin?
Now Begin is with Nashville's farm team and probably will find himself playing for the LNAH in Sorel-Tracy with the rest of the no-job goons of the NHL.
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