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About Mike Boone
Full Name
Mike Boone
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http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/mike_boone.html
About
I grew up in Park Extension, within walking distance of Dickie Moore's Dairy Queen on Jean Talon. Moore had a place on L'Acadie Blvd., and we used to see him driving around in his convertible with a Samoyed and a very dishy wife.
While "studying" at McGill University during the 1960s, I used to attend games at the old Montreal Forum. My fellow undergraduate reprobates and I would scramble up the stairs to get centre-ice spots in the top standing room section, where aged ushers didn't know or care what we were smoking.
I stood out in the cold for six hours to get tickets to the 1975 New Year's Eve game between the Canadiens and Central Red Army. With the exception of the birth of my daughter, the 3-3 tie was the greatest event I've ever seen in my life.
The Canada-U.S. Gold medal game comes close .... but I wasn't there.
I've been a professional journalist since 1974, when I joined the Montreal Star sports department. I've covered the 1976 Olympic Games, the 1979 Expos, pop music and MSO tours of Europe and Asia (classical musicians are WAY more fun to drink with than athletes). I wrote a TV & Radio column for 20 years and, since 2000, have written a City column for The Gazette.
The best part of being a Habs Inside/Out contributor is attending games at the Bell Centre. I think it's a great building: noisy, raucous and packed to the rafters with Montrealers and visitors who live for hockey.
And I still get goosebumps every time Michel Lacroix booms out "Accueillons nos Canadiens ..."
Having seen the Boston Red Sox win two World Series and the Pittsburgh Steelers add a couple Super Bowl titles, I suppose I can die happy ... but not before another Stanley Cup parade. And I'd really like my daughter to see a historic New Year's Eve game.
I like all the players. Covering baseball gives me a profound appreciation of pro athletes who aren't jerks.
My weltanschauung was summarized by the late great Bill Hicks when he said "all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves."
Have a nice day.
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I can't believe Gainey did something this stupid. I think I'm going to cry.
I did. Ughh what an awful move!
"You can take the money and not be happy. Or you can take the dream." - Alexander Ovechkin
McGuire on Team990 says Higgins traded to NYR!
Gomez...an underacheiving overpayed sack of *** for Higgins, Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko.
Oh yeah they sent us some ECHL'ers as well.
Can we just anul this move and fire Gainey now? What a disaster.
7.35 f'ing million. 84points highest season total. 5 more years. Uhhhhggg.
As a Gainey fan, I will still come out and say that this was a brutal, ill-conceived and stupid trade.
Absolutely pointless, and an awful salary-cap killing contract to boot...5 more years at $7.3 million cap hit. My lord...what a crazy over-reaction to criticism from all sides.
Gomez needs a shooter to produce...the Habs have very few shooters. This is not going to end well. And anybody who wants to quote me on this one can feel free to do so. With that huge salary, you can now forget the Sedins, Havlat, Gaborik and any chance at Kovalchuk or the like next summer. Stupid, stupid, stupid...
For who and is this sure????
Scott Gomez as per rds, Ian.
Scott Gomez
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The patience that Bob Gainey showed me when he could have gotten rid of me years ago, I am just really grateful for it." - Mike Modano, June 30, 1999
Oh and Komi, you're one of my fav current habs. You play the style of hockey I did when I used to play. I've always just worn my trusty Habs jersey during games too but last year I bought one of those t-shirts with the name on the back as a way to mix up my wardrobe and chose the one with your name on it. It's gonna suck if you sign somewhere else, ugh.
TEAM USA
Goaltenders: Ryan Miller, Jonathan Quick, Tim Thomas
Defensemen: Tom Gilbert, Tim Gleason, Ron Hainsey, Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, Mike Komisarek, Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik, Brian Rafalski, Rob Scuderi, Ryan Suter, Ryan Whitney
Forwards: David Backes, David Booth, Dustin Brown, Dustin Byfuglien, Ryan Callahan, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Patrick Kane, Ryan Kesler, Phil Kessel, Jamie Langenbrunner, Ryan Malone, Mike Modano, Kyle Okposo, T.J. Oshie, Zach Parise, Joe Pavelski, Bobby Ryan, Paul Stastny.
TEAM CANADA (The projected invitees)
Goaltenders: Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Cam Ward, (Marc-Andre Feury)
Defensemen: Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Shea Weber, Jay Bouwmeester, Robyn Regehr, Duncan Keith, Mike Green (Dion Phaneuf, Braydon Coburn, Dan Boyle, Brent Burns, Marc Staal, Brent Seabrook)
Forwards (will most likely make the team):
Centers: Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, Vincent Lecavalier, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Eric Staal, Jonathan Toews (Some of these will have to play the wing)
Left Wing: Rick Nash, Dany Heatley
Right Wing: Jarome Iginla, Martin St. Louis, Shane Doan
Others : Joe Thornton, Joe Sakic, Brad Richards, Simon Gagne, Patrick Marleau, Brenden Morrow, Jordan Staal, Corey Perry, Marc Savard, Mike Fisher.
When comparing, these two team on paper are nowhere near close. USA projects to be a team that is really young with one or two stars (Kane, Parise...) where as Canada is fully loaded. Just the group forwards listed in other possibilities seem more capable than the US roster. What do you guys think?
Even though team USA has improved, I personally believe that is not enough to compete against teams such as Canada and Russia. Komi against our big guns from Canada? Really?
That is why I pick Komisarik to be worth no more than 2 million and should be a 5th D. Someone is going to get sucked in for 4 million or more, not Bob!
The two national teams that worry me the most this olympics in hockey is Russia 1st and Sweden 2nd
It's all about the actual games, look how much of an upset the 2006 team was, didn't even win a medal. It had a sick roster but flopped, I'll pass judgement during the actual olympics.
bye bye Mike. you've been my fave Habs player for a few years now. i remain optimistic, but that may be misguided and naive. it was nice loving you, i'm not looking forward to hating you.
"After much discussion and thought, Mike Komisarek has decided to enter the
Free Agent market tomorrow at noon. Should they desire, we intend to keep
Montreal involved in the process as they have treated Mike so well during
his time in the organization. He remains interested in resigning with them."
Matt Keator, Agent for Mike Komisarek
That noose is getting pretty tight around your neck Bob.....
For a guy going to test the market, that is pretty positive talk toward the habs.
Troll.
Go Habs Go!! "I can't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) is saying because my Stanley Cup rings are in my ears" - Patrick Roy
That's your only response to this disaster. Bottom line, it's a failure of management. If he's such a priority, you give him market rate. Your gonna have to pay throuugh the nose on July 1st to get a replacement anyway. That is if you could convince anyone to play here, but BG is zero for 1000 so far in his tenure.
Cause Lang, Tanguay, and Schneider were such bad moves.
Either you're not a fan and just srewing with us, or your a fan who has no F'n idea what you're talking about.
I guess you prefer teams that finish with 77 points and miss the playoffs 4 out of 5 years. Go back to 2003 and watch that team play. You'll come back asking Bob if you can lick his nuts.
Thank God you're not in charge.
Go Habs Go!! "I can't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) is saying because my Stanley Cup rings are in my ears" - Patrick Roy
Troll.
Those moves did zero for the team. Remember when we finished 1st, huh, huh, huh? Where did we finish with these clowns in the lineup?
I liked Komi when he was a hockey player, however since his rebirth as a figure skater, he's not doing it for me. Cya!
HAHA - he almost nailed the triple lutz last year when fighting Lucic :)
The Habs last pick in this year's draft Petteri Simila was just drafted 21st overall in the CHL import draft. Hopefully he decides to come over where his adjustment and development will be sped up.
Last Hab to record 100 points. Anyone? A skillful swede by the name of Mats Naslund.
Perhaps the Sedins would do well here.
No Hossa please!
E.
Per TSN: Sharks have signed Blake
How could Toe do that to us?
Good one! Yeats
LOL - I only posted that cuz someone mentioned the possibility of picking him up in the podcast. I actually wonder if we might see Roloson available. So far, the Oilers only offered him a 1-yr, $3 million deal, and he hasn't bitten. I like the idea of having him instead of Halak to support Price. Price needs a back-up like that to help bring him along.
Scott - If he's not taking 3M from Edmonton then I'm sure he won't be taking 800 grand from us. BYW, the last thing in the world Price needs is an older backup who will tutor him. He needs a young guy to challenge him and let him know his job in on the line. Halak is a perfect fit in that regard.
Worked out real well so far. I think he played better with Huet as back up than with Halak.
You might be right, but I think he'd benefit more from a veteran to bounce things off of.
Go Habs Go!! "I can't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) is saying because my Stanley Cup rings are in my ears" - Patrick Roy
Okay, but didn't they try that experiment last year? And didn't Price lose his confidence again, just like in the 2008 playoffs? Time to take a different tack with his development.
Well I hope you're right. I like Halak a lot FWIW. So, who is this dedicated coach you speak of? Did I miss an anoouncement on Melancon's replacement?
It was an empty-netter. Like O'Byrne, I had to put it in.
On the Roloson thing, as long as Gainey/Martin will actually play the guy. We don't need another kicker rotting on the vine.
btw - is that your "Toe in the crease" rule?
LOL!
Dude, you're on fire .. you here all week? Should I try the prime rib?
Yea, but wink at the waiter. It's the sign that you're a friend of the chef!
Good to have ya. If BG's success rate holds, we're gonna need some comic relief.
Well, with Komisarek now as good as gone, things could get very hot for BG very, very quickly.
For those saying that the fans have no onus or effect on the attractiveness of the team...look at it this way: if you do a bad job for a stretch, people will boo you; most can live with that, but when they start throwing things at you and harassing you on the street, it would make you think twice. Sure, when you are good it is great, but for many, the bad outweigh the good. How would you like it if you went to work and in the afternoon, I decided to chuck a water bottle at your head and a bunch of us harangued you all the way to the parking lot? Would you really want to go back to the office?
So yeah, having passionate fans can be great, but it also means they can act like heroin addicts looking for their next fix at any cost. So it is not just Bob's ineptitude, it is all of OUR ineptitude.
We can complain about the lack of success in getting UFAs, fair enough, but the level of vitriol being used right now should only be reserved if he did not put a contract in front of them and say, "Sign here." He has tried and the players say no....and accordingly, we sometimes boo those players.
So, before I criticize any moves, I will wait for them to happen and remember...when Gainey did not get Sundin and got Tanguay and Lang instead, many were not happy...but by December, we were thrilled he signed them...so even if we want to criticize whatever occurs, we should also at least let the games be played first.
"Even Roy can be run out of town after 2 Stanley Cups."
Whatever.
The fans suck.
We get it.
My point was that the fans do not suck per se...more than anything, we Habs fans are a bunch of SCHIZOs.
"Even Roy can be run out of town after 2 Stanley Cups."
Some of you really, really do.
Go Habs Go!! "I can't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) is saying because my Stanley Cup rings are in my ears" - Patrick Roy
I still say the answer, the only answer, is Raphael.
_____________________
To You From Failing Hands We Throw The Torch, Be Yours To Hold It High.
Shit me! Al Franken has won that Senate seat in Minnesota! That must be an amazing place to live. They eat, drink and sleep hockey 24/7, elect a pro wrestler Governor and send a comedian to the Senate. Man, that are just the best!
Apparently, Trevor Timmins is good friends with Moorhead High School (Minnesota) head coach Dave Morinville. I am told that this is a big reason for our Minnesota draft picks. Dave is an extraordinary high school coach who consistently has his smaller high school competing against the top talent in the country. It's also the former high school of Brian Lee and Matt Cullen. IF, Dave has any influence on our draft picks, I'm very comfortable with it. I'm not at liberty to share my source, but it is definitely somebody WHO WOULD KNOW. I am certainly NOT pulling an Eklund, so take that for what it's worth!
There is no substitute for having guys on the ground you can rely on when it comes to scouting. It's also an area that you can throw money at to help the team that is not capped in any way.
Thanks for sharing, FHF! So was this year's team underwhelming? I notice we bucked the trend and left MN untouched last weekend.
Moorhead High pulled a wabbit out of their hat and made it all the way to the State Championshp again, before being pounded by Nick Leddy and his Eden Prairie team.
On another note, I went to see Danny Kristo play a few times this year when Omaha came to Fargo and ran into the Mike Lee wall. I was impressed by Danny but was really hoping that somehow we could get one of his teammates. Some French kid named Leblanc or something like that...
I was impressed with both of them, and with Kristo going to UND next year, I think I'll have to make the 80 mile trip a few times this season. I really hope Leblanc has a change of heart and goes to the WCHA where he can develop into a better player. I'd love to see him go to U-Nebraska Omaha and work under Dean Blais. He is an amazing developmental coach.
I really think Mike Lee should've (and would've had he not had a bad finals) been a first round pick. He was hands-down the best USHL goalie. He also did a ton for the community and has well known for being the first one to practice and the last guy to leave. It will be fun to watch him at St. Cloud State next year. I'm very fortunate to live in the best hockey region in the USA and so close to Canada. :-)
I still do not get what is wrong with drafting players from Minnesota...it is the hockey center of the US...if we are to draft any US players, players from THAT system would make the most sense....now if you complain that the only draftees came from there, that is another story...
"Even Roy can be run out of town after 2 Stanley Cups."
Not only is there nothing wrong with it, its a pretty smart move at times: players in the NCAA can be left to develop there without worrying about potentially losing them to the draft again if they aren't signed. Throw in the relatively high calibre of many of the NCAA conferences and the fact that the young guys often get to play against players that are as much as 5 or more years older than them and you get a development environment much more suited to the NHL than that provided by Major Junior Hockey in Canada.
As said before, its perhaps overkill to pick everybody from a particular area, but the Habs have had very poor luck with their WHL draft picks (Price and O'Byrne have made it, so to speak, while the jury remains out on Chipchura, Maxwell and White), so I am perfectly okay with them avoiding that particular part of the world unless its a can't miss prospect. I just don't trust their Western scouts.
They have done very well in Europe (Kostitsyns, Halak, Plekanec, Streit and Markov) and the U.S. (Komisarek, Higgins, Pacioretty, Hainsey and McDonagh on the doorstep). Their top picks from the OHL (Webber and Subban) have not amounted to much yet but have a ton of potential, while their QMJHL forays have yielded some good role players in Lapierre, Latendresse and Ryder.
So in terms of stocking the cupboards with talent, Europe and the U.S. have been very kind to the Habs, while Canada has been much less so. This indicates to me that Timmins really needs to beef up the teams Canadian scouts as well as the pro scouting department of the team.
Nothing! I think the only thing some people find wrong with it is that the Habs often pass on the annointed Quebec Mr. Hockey.
And he's a Dead Head to boot! I can't wait to see him do stand up on the Senate floor.
Our favorite hack Eklund is suggesting a HUGE announcement from the Habs by 4. Yeah, ok!
What day, month or year?
Sedins it is!
Impossible. They can't be signed before noon tomorrow.
Chuck - I have to laugh when it comes to the Sedin twins. For months now, they have been ridiculed and referred to as the sisters. Now, in a time span of 24 hours, they are totally embraced as saviours on HIO. Just blows my mind.
Blows my mind as well. So many are opposed to acquiring Vinny, yet the consensus around here is that the Sedin sisters would be excellent signings. Why are two lifetime contracts better than one? The Sedins are simply point scorers, and really offer nothing else. There are no intangibles that come along with them.
I'm not against signing the Sedins, although you can bet if they came here it would be for much less than the 12 year deals asked for to stay with the Canucks. People keep tossing these numbers around, but forget the context: the Sedins want to stay in Vancouver and understand that to do that, they need to give the team financial flexibility. This is most easily (and attractively to the players!) accomplished via long-term deals.
This does not mean that the Habs, if they sign them, will sign them to 12 year deals at $5.5 million per year cap hit. More likely, they get 3-5 year deals but for closer to $7 million, as that is much more Gainey's style. And that I could handle.
To be honest, I see very little advantages over the Sedins in most of the other players putting up similar offensive numbers. The Sedins control the puck, play a relatively smart defensive game and play a style that is not likely to cause serious injuries. The fact that they are consistently combining for 70-80 goals per season puts them in select company in the league. More importantly for me, even when they are not scoring, they are controlling the puck in the opposition's end and cycling like crazy. This wears down the opposition's players as they are constantly chasing. This makes life much easier on the Sedins' team.
I'm tired of watching the Habs constantly chasing in their own zone and wearing themselves down. Having a line that could do that to the opposition would be a nice luxury, regardless of whether the players were born in Canmore, Ornskoldsvik or Timbuktu.
Whoever was ridiculing them hasn't watched them play much. I wish we had a couple "sisters" that get a point per game.
Go Habs Go!! "I can't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) is saying because my Stanley Cup rings are in my ears" - Patrick Roy
We have the Kostitsyn sisters...
I prefer the Sedins, but still hold out hope the Kostitsyns will be very good too.
Go Habs Go!! "I can't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) is saying because my Stanley Cup rings are in my ears" - Patrick Roy
I really hope Koivu comes back, didn't he say if he wasn't signed before July 1 it meant he wasn't coming back?
He said if he isn't signed by the 1st of July, he'd test the market.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The patience that Bob Gainey showed me when he could have gotten rid of me years ago, I am just really grateful for it." - Mike Modano, June 30, 1999
:( time is ticking
If you're bored Boone, check your eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemail.
Maybe Bob'll go postal and offer the Sedins $10M each per year for 20 years.
From Hell's Heart I Slap At Thee!!
Scary thought: What if they still said no?
Bob would then have the ultimate excuse for not signing anyone.
From Hell's Heart I Slap At Thee!!
We should have one area of the site for intelligent, optimistic but realistic posts, and another area for pessimistic, idiotic a-hole posts.
Just a thought.
Go Habs Go!! "I can't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) is saying because my Stanley Cup rings are in my ears" - Patrick Roy
To be fair, there are more than enough peckerheaded overly optimistic posts as well.
But those are far less annoying than a bitchy, whiny post.
Go Habs Go!! "I can't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) is saying because my Stanley Cup rings are in my ears" - Patrick Roy
such as your original post...................
- Pride + Envy = Second Place
Good point. I'm actually half kidding. I think I get just as much of a kick out of the "woe is me...Habs suck" posts as I do from the well thought out, optimistic posts.
Go Habs Go!! "I can't hear what Jeremy (Roenick) is saying because my Stanley Cup rings are in my ears" - Patrick Roy
just ignore the idiotic a-hole posts...no need to reply to them...if no one agrees with them, then they'll post less and less till they just stop altogether.
- Pride + Envy = Second Place
You can say that til the cows come home, but people keep feeding the trolls. It drives me crazy.
Rumour: BG is pursuing Wacey Rabbit.
lol. This guy would be an upgrade on Koivu!
How did you find that???
Everyone knows about Wacey Rabbit. Quick feet, but he's a hare small...
The funny thing is that Bob Gainey actually resembles Elmer Fudd.
Gainey isn't hunting, he just went to bed with a warm glass of milk. He will "show us" in October apparently. Boone, you should try out for 4th line center when camp opens, you would probably make the cut.
I am getting used to the sounds of crickets at the Bell Centre in summer. BG has a lot of bad luck landing the guys he most covets. I think he was pegging his hopes on landing Vinnie, which would've convinced a lot of other guys to jump into the pool here too. Call him Plan B (for Bob) Gainey
you know, a lot of bs has been thrown at Bob these past few seasons for being unable to bring quality UFAs to Montreal. but if i remember correctly, last season, he was handcuffed by the Mats Sundin Decision Saga. while under that big rock, he managed to sign the league's toughest guy (Georges Laraque) and two guys we badly want back on the team this year-- Robert Lang and Alex Tanguay. now, i don't know how folks would have fared in his place but he did one hell of a job signing outstanding UFAs last year. so what if he doesn't land Vinny this year (which is what is holding up everything else)? who else is? it's not like the Lightning is giving him away. he can't kidnap him from out of Tampa. and who else hasn't he brought in this year? Bouwmeester? no one else but Calgary got the rights to him right now. so Gainey hasn't landed Vinny (yet) and Bouwmeester's exclusive to the Flames for now. which other team in the entire NHL has done something worthwhile this week? this is not directed at Scott in Montreal, but to the impetuous naysayers on the eve of the unrestricted free agency 2009-- stop your belly-aching. stop riding Bob and let him do his job. it's not over.
Ya, it must be bad luck. He must have walked under a ladder or forgot his rabit's foots. 1 year, mabe bad luck. 2 years, ok, possibly bad luck. 5 fricken years? This isn't bad luck. It's ineptitude.
He was adept enough to bring a Cup to Dallas. Remember: He has 29 other GM's to compete with and a lot of guys are scared off from coming here because of issues like language, taxes, pressure and intrusive media hounds. He's also too smart to overpay out of desperation, unlike other GMs, who only screw up their teams' long-term future in doing so. Come on, BG is like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. He's a man among boys who is fighting the good fight. Let's just hope it ends better for Bob! I'm sure it's an uphill battle.
You keep believing that BS.
Don't need to believe in "bs", it's a fact. Just ask Modano what he thinks of Bob Gainey...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The patience that Bob Gainey showed me when he could have gotten rid of me years ago, I am just really grateful for it." - Mike Modano, June 30, 1999
The facts are the facts, dude. You're just frustrated, and rightly so. BG has bled for this franchise and been a stand-up guy. He has his name on the Stanley Cup and has fired a few of his friends recently because he did what he had to do. His job is on the line now, and if he doesn't make something happen, I'm sure the Molsons didn't think to bring Serge Savard along just for his good looks.