4/13/2004
Isn't this a bitch?
Well, that's that. Of all the ways to lose, this one has to be the worst possible. I can't believe I have to somehow go to sleep and then go to work tomorrow after this. I want to crawl in a fucking hole and stay there for about a week.
Make no mistake -- Alexei Kovalev was our best player by a long, long, LONG way. Sure, Ribiero had the two goals, but Alex was our biggest threat all evening, and he got the big goal early on in the game. But for this to happen....I suppose we could blame a lot of things...(by the way, if you didn't see it, Alexei Kovalev got slashed by a Bruin, he clutched his hand, Sheldon Souray crashed into him, allowing Glen Murray to nip in for the inevitable goal to end the game (and, I feel, our season...Boston isn't losing at home with the series on the line).
You could blame Jose Theodore, who gave up two more soft goals. But, he also made 40-something saves, so what more can you ask of someone, really?
You could blame the referee for not calling the (very obvious) slash. But, Montreal were no angels in the overtime either. And, they did call the penalty on Murray earlier in the overtime.
You could blame the Canadiens' power play, which has been anemic for ages now. But, you could conversely say that Boston was especially good penalty killing.
You could blame Souray, as that wasn't the first bad mistake he made during the game. But, Stephane Quintal got hurt much earlier, and the Habs were stuck with only 5 defensemen for the rest of the way...they had to be exhausted.
You could blame dumb fucking luck. But, I think that's an insult to a Boston team who played a tremendous game.
I choose to blame Andrew Raycroft -- the kid is the real fucking deal.
That said, 99% of me feels like we have nothing to be ashamed of...the Canadiens fought with everything they had, and I think overall, the team did themselves proud. I would say without a shadow of a doubt that we're as good a hockey team as the Boston Bruins are. Hockey just fucking sucks sometimes.
I want to say I still believe we can win it, but now, even I (who has done NOTHING but stand up for and believe in this team all season) concede defeat, even though I know that the team itself won't. They'll fight just as hard as they have since Game 2, but it's just a matter of not showing up in Game 1 combined with this most unfortunate of breaks giving the Bruins an insurmountable lead. However, this is a giant step ahead for us...Bob Gainey will build on this, and make us even better next season. Maybe we'll even have home ice in the first round for the first time in forever.
Good season. I already can't wait for next year.
Make no mistake -- Alexei Kovalev was our best player by a long, long, LONG way. Sure, Ribiero had the two goals, but Alex was our biggest threat all evening, and he got the big goal early on in the game. But for this to happen....I suppose we could blame a lot of things...(by the way, if you didn't see it, Alexei Kovalev got slashed by a Bruin, he clutched his hand, Sheldon Souray crashed into him, allowing Glen Murray to nip in for the inevitable goal to end the game (and, I feel, our season...Boston isn't losing at home with the series on the line).
You could blame Jose Theodore, who gave up two more soft goals. But, he also made 40-something saves, so what more can you ask of someone, really?
You could blame the referee for not calling the (very obvious) slash. But, Montreal were no angels in the overtime either. And, they did call the penalty on Murray earlier in the overtime.
You could blame the Canadiens' power play, which has been anemic for ages now. But, you could conversely say that Boston was especially good penalty killing.
You could blame Souray, as that wasn't the first bad mistake he made during the game. But, Stephane Quintal got hurt much earlier, and the Habs were stuck with only 5 defensemen for the rest of the way...they had to be exhausted.
You could blame dumb fucking luck. But, I think that's an insult to a Boston team who played a tremendous game.
I choose to blame Andrew Raycroft -- the kid is the real fucking deal.
That said, 99% of me feels like we have nothing to be ashamed of...the Canadiens fought with everything they had, and I think overall, the team did themselves proud. I would say without a shadow of a doubt that we're as good a hockey team as the Boston Bruins are. Hockey just fucking sucks sometimes.
I want to say I still believe we can win it, but now, even I (who has done NOTHING but stand up for and believe in this team all season) concede defeat, even though I know that the team itself won't. They'll fight just as hard as they have since Game 2, but it's just a matter of not showing up in Game 1 combined with this most unfortunate of breaks giving the Bruins an insurmountable lead. However, this is a giant step ahead for us...Bob Gainey will build on this, and make us even better next season. Maybe we'll even have home ice in the first round for the first time in forever.
Good season. I already can't wait for next year.
