Canadiens captain Saku Koivu leads a rush up ice during practice today. Gazette photo
Canadiens defenceman Ryan O'Byrne was struck in the face by a puck near the end of this morning's practice in Verdun and went to a local hospital for stitches and further evaluation.
Maxim Lapierre's shot deflected off O'Byrne's stick and hit him in the face, forcing him to leave the ice bleeding from the cut.
O'Byrne wasn't the only one dinged this morning. Goalie Jaroslav Halak was cut beneath the right eye by the stick of Robert Lang in a goalmouth scramble, Lang's stick piercing Halak's cage. A trip to the bench and quick repairs by athletic therapist Nick Addey-Jibb sent him back into ation.
Christopher Higgins and Mike Komisarek did not practice, undergoing a little preventive maintenance back at the Bell Centre. Both are expected to skate tomorrow. Georges Laraque was unable to skate, according to head coach Guy Carbonneau. The doubt increases that he will be able to play in Friday's season-opener as hoped.
Kyle Chipchura filled in on a line with Saku Koivu and Alex Tanguay, though very little line practice took place, while defenceman Alex Henry, on waivers, skated with the team, his first full-team practice in a few days as he rehabs a back injury.
Shocking but true, traditional Habs hater Don Cherry has stated he believes the Canadiens can compete for the Eastern Conference title this season.
Cherry credits the Habs chances to the team's coaching staff, led by Guy Carbonneau and Kirk Muller, as one of the main reason's for the team's strong potential.
He also says goaltender Carey Price will be a key piece of the puzzle and likes the acquisition of Robert Lang.
"I don't see [that] they need anything," Cherry said.
Former Canadiens prospect Corey Locke, who had a few short stints with the big club but was essentially a Hamilton Bulldog for his four professional hockey seasons to date, has been reassigned by the Minnesota Wild.
Locke was acquired by the Wild from the Canadiens this summer in return for defencemen Shawn Belle.
Max Pacioretty battles with a stick-less Chad Anderson Thursday at the Verdun arena.Peter McCabe, The Gazette
The Gazette's Kevin Mio reports from training camp Thursday that several other names can be added to the list of names in the Canadiens team clinic.
There are now as many as 10 veterans suffering from a variety of injuries, mostly groin and hip problems.
But head coach Guy Carbonneau isn't concerned about the long list of injured players, mostly veterans. The coach said keeping the players off skates was a precaution and that if the team were in the playoffs, he expected all the injured players could play through their injuries.
Read the full piece, which will appear in Friday's Gazette, here.
At Foxsports.com, Spector, AKA Lyle Richardson, writes that the Canadiens represent the best chance to win the Stanley Cup for Canada. Read it here.
Stu Hackel of the New York Times hockey blog, The Morning Skate, chimes in on the exhibition game from Roberval, and he's not too complimentary to the NHL Network's coverage of the game.
Canadiens blue-like prospect P.K. Subban has a penchant for offence and he showed off his skills on Sunday with a goal during an intra-squad game in Pierrefonds.
Georges Laraque was the first casualty of camp, suffering a slights groin injury that the team says is not serious. We will update the situation as we find out more.
Also, captain Saku Koivu was kept out of the afternoon scrimmage as a precaution as he continues to mend a foot injury.
The Canadiens take to the ice Sunday morning in Pierrefonds for Day 2 of training camp, split into two groups that are likely to be the teams heading to exhibition games starting on Monday.
Team A consists of Jaroslav Halak, Marc Denis and Robert Mayer in nets, with Roman Hamrlik, Ryan O'Byrne, Josh Gorges, Patrice Brisebois, Pavel Valentenko, Yannick Weber, Conrad Martin and Chad Anderson on the blue line.
The Canadiens opened their on-ice sessions Saturday in Pierrefonds, and the many fans in attendance gave their team a warm welcome, including newcomes Robert Lang, Alex Tanguay and Georges Laraque.
Read The Gazette's story on the day's practices here.
Robert Lang, acquired from the Blackhawks a week
ago, was raving about the Canadiens fans that flocked to Pierrefonds'
Sportplexe 4 Glaces on Saturday.
The second group of the day hits the ice at 11:30 a.m. for a two-hour session.
The B Group includes Jaroslav Halak,
Andrei Markov, Mike Komisarek, Tomas Plekanec, Andrei and Sergei
Kostitsyn, Alex Tanguay and prospects Cédric Desjardins, Mathieu Carle,
Max Pacioretty, Ben Maxwell, David Desharnais and Ryan Russell.
With the team only doing drills on Saturday, it will be difficult to get a read for potential line combinations, but that will come on Sunday.
One thing that was observed early was the fact Alex Kovalev and his lineate from Pittsburgh, Robert Lang, came on the ice together, the last two players on for the 10 a.m. session.
Kovalev and Lang seemed inseperable during early drills, with Kovalev jokingly tossing pucks at Lang several times during skating drill.
After an hour on Rink 1 in Pierrefonds, the A Team switched sides to Rink 2, where they continued with the drills to complete a two-hour session this morning.
It's 9 a.m. and the parking lot and stands at the Pierrefonds Sportsplexe 4 Glaces are already packed with Canadiens fans itching to see their favourite players hit the ice in preparation for the 2008-09 season.
For those of you who can't be here, we will keep you posted with any news and developments as the Canadiens practice until 3 p.m. today, and hit the ice again Sunday morning at 11.
With Bell changing the look of its logo, it was only a matter of time before the arena that bears the company's name would get some refreshed branding.
And those new signs arrived on Wednesday, replacing the old blue and yellow signs.
Continue reading for a picture of the larger Bell sign that will adorn the home of the Canadiens.
Both photos were take by The Gazette's Dave Sidaway.
The Gazette's Dave Stubbs, down at the Bell Centre as I write this covering Canadiens rookie camp, set things up in Monday's edition of the Montreal Gazette.
In all, 23 prospects will look to make an impact on Canadiens brass as they attempt to crack a jam-packed roster that leaves little room for rookies.
Two of the main players to watch will be highly-touted forward Max Pacioretty and defenceman Pavel Valentenko.
Canadiens president Pierre Boivin has called a news conference for 3 p.m. today at the Bell Centre at which time he will announce that the Canadiens will retire No. 33 in honour of Patrick Roy as part of the team's festivities celebrating its centennial season in 2008-09.
The Hall of Fame goaltender led the Canadiens to their last two Stanley Cup championships in 1986 and 1993. His stats, his Wikipedia entry and his fan page.
According to RDS, Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey is already working on a Plan B should Mats Sundin decide not to join the Canadiens.
According to Gainey: "It's hard to be very optimistic because we haven't had much contact with him. We haven't gotten the message that he is very interested by the Canadiens. We have a place for him, and on paper we offer him a nice option."
Gainey hasn't closed the doors on Sundin, but is concerned about his physical fitness since he has not trained during the offseason.
The Canadiens could be looking at trades with the Flyers and Blackhawks as an option should Sundin sign elsewhere. Both teams are over the salary cap and need to shed some players and payroll before the start of the season.
Here's the second part of Manny Almena's piece on Tomas Plekanec, who talks more about his offseason routin and gives his thoughts on the newest members of the Canadiens.
Some of the readers who are anxiously awaiting the release of EA Sports NHL 09 might be happy to learn that in honor of the centennial, there will be a playable all-time Canadiens team in the game.
Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, Doug Harvey, Larry Robinson and Ken Dryden are all featured in the following video clip of the game.
Players will be helmet-less in the game if they were when they played with the Habs, and they've even captured such elements as Dryden leaning on his stick between plays.
David Littman of EA Sports Vancouver, the producer of the game says the Canadiens 100 team is the best team in the
game.
Canadiens fans from Habs Inside/Out had the idea of organizing a summit last season and the idea turned into a very successful weekend enjoyed by dozens of devoted fans from across Canada and North America.
At the end of last year's event, it was said that this would not be a one-time event and HIO fans have held true to their word.
Some members have been hard at work organizing the second annual summit, on Oct. 25, 2008 when the Anaheim Ducks visit the Bell Centre.
We here at HIO Central have decided to give the summit its own blog, where organizers and attendees can share their thoughts and plans for the event.
Please note: We're simply providing space users to share information, but it remains a fan-initiated and
fan-organized effort, not an official event of the Gazette or HIO.
The Canadiens.com's Manny Almela caught up with Habs centre Tomas Plekanec as the Czech native enjoys the offseason back in his home country.
Among other things, Plekanec has been busy building a new house near his home town, but he assures everyone that he has been working just as hard getting ready for the 2008-09 season.
According to Hockey, Le Magazine, in its 2008-09 poolers edition, the Canadiens will finish in second spot in the Eastern Conference, behind the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's a reversal in order from the Hockey News prediction, but still a good sign for the Habs.
Unfortunately, the magazine does not predict a 25th Stanley Cup during the team's 100th season.
John McGourty of NHL.com prepared a report looking at the prospects in the Canadiens system and the conclusion is that there is plenty of depth on defence. Ryan McDonagh, Mathieu Carle, David Fischer, P.K. Subban and Yannick Weber are the players McGourty says show signs they will become capable NHLers.
The article, posted on Canadiens.com, features profiles of those five prospects, as well as Jaroslav Halak, Ben Maxwell, Mac Pacioretty and Matt D'Agostini.
Habs Inside/Out encourages lively debate, but there is a zero-tolerance policy regarding racism, profanity and behaviour that we deem to be offensive. We will, without warning, ban those who do not abide by this simple rule, so as to maximize the enjoyment of readers and participants of both sexes and all ages.
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