Game 13: Habs rally falls short in Chicago

I grew up playing hockey and have had a few concussions of my own so I can understand the value of keeping your head up but what I never hear is what is the value of levelling a guy who has his head down? This is where I believe we should take the conversation. After such terribly incidents the constant refrain is, "Shoulda kept his head up" which is classic victim blaming mentality. How about the guy who knowingly went after the guy with his head down? Look I can understand the desire a player gets mid game to destroy another player without necessarily thinking about the consequences of his actions apart from the feeling of power which comes from laying out a disliked opponent. But we cannot continue on like this as it is a self-propagating mindset. Kids see this from a young age and it is typically enoucraged by the league and victim blaming mentality of most hockey fans. We need to educate our kids that this is wrong and that we should respect our opponents as people first and the best way to start is by punishing these offenses harshly in the NHL.

Updating the situation mentioned by me below:

Ben Fanelli has survived through the night and is currently in critical but stable condition in Hamilton's ICU.

He's suffered several skull and facial fractures, including the orbital bone.

I'm sorry guys, it's really tough writing this so I'm not going to be overly wordy or detailed beyond that. I wish I'd have stayed home last night and didn't have to be on hand to see what I've been dreading was coming all along with this refusal to take these head hunters seriously.

An extremely promising 16 yr old jr hockey player cut down in front of his parents like this by an over-ager (20 yrs old) with 4 career goals and a list of discipline in the past like this.

Pictures of the two teams circled at center ice for 40 minutes while paramedics fought to save Ben's life. Let's just hope their efforts were successful and that someone in charge FINALLY pays attention to this garbage and GETS IT THE HELL OUT OF HOCKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.rangersrush.com/Gamephotos/Teamprayer1.jpg

 http://www.rangersrush.com/Gamephotos/Teamprayer2.jpg

[editor's note: single expletive removed; remainder of post intact]

[my own edit] Sorry guys, I fixed the closing. I admit I'm emotional about the subject and very frustrated, tried censoring myself better and missed one. Thanks for leaving the key message in tact and having a more rational head helping me with the language slips there.

bad bad bad hit, and yes it will take a superstar getting levelled for them to do something about this....and no toews even though a very good player and captain is not a superstar like crosby. On the other hand price played well last night, if we had atleast a little offensive punch last night we should of won, i believe price made atleast 4 beauty passes leading to odd man rushes and we only got 1 half hearted shot. Last goal was weak, I'll admit that, but when your goalie is making the saves how about you atleast throw a couple of pucks at the other guy....who even though he got the W looked alot more shaky then price. Price is not playing bad goalie, Halak is only playing slightly better IMO. The record's show Halak is getting the job done and I won't argue that W's are the most important stat, but we also need to realize that whenever we play a quality team (potential playoff team) we're letting up in excess of 3 goals per game. Sure everyone wants to crown Halak for his 4 game win streak, which was impressive. But the isles twice and atlanta (who my friend likes to say is a quality team, but I'm not buying) should be games that should be won. Then comes to rangers and we let up 3 goals.....then pittsburgh 6 goals....then chicago 3 goals.... Seems like we can't get it done against contenders unless we score goals, which we aren't doing enough of. Moen should not be the second leading scorer. We need to put pucks in the net, not late in games we need to score the first goal, maybe the first 2 goals and we'll be in good shape.

Finally bring up kostitsyn already, I don't care anymore about his lack of work ethic. Give him a shot, see if he can put some pucks in the net. Send Latendresse to the press box, maybe even lapierre... Sorry boys but we need secondary scoring and you ain't giving it.

We all love to talk goaltending here in montreal, like to make controversy myself included. But so far this season minus a few games (i.e. pittsburgh and vancouver), our goalies have given us a chance to win games. Somegames have been stolen other's not but over the course of an 82 game season you want to be given a chance to win, and Halak and Price are doing that, even if we're hanging them out to dry most of the time.

If players knew that they would be kicked out of the league for head hunting they would think twice before laying a hit like the one Ladd threw last night. Ladd went out of his way to get the most of his body on Dags face!!!! No room for this crap in this or any league. Our kids see this. The NHL has to take a ZERO TOLERECE approach to this situation. Hopefully Dags will be ok.

When the Hell is the league going to smarten up and actually do SOMETHING about this crap.

Is it going to take Crosby being levelled and hospitalized for them to say "guess we had better look into this" or will someone have to put out of the game permanently for it to happen.

Absolutely sickening. Not entertainment anymore

Once a Habs fan, always a Habs fan

A couple of days ago a poster was asking where you can get pocket hockey schedules. Branches of the Bank of Nova Scotia have them - at least in Ontario.

After seeing that photo, it really brings everything into perspective. Hockey is an entertainment industry. It is enjoyable when your team plays good. It is even better when your team wins. But I really hate to see someone's health gets destroyed.

The last two games are reality check. Even after 25 games our team, as is, will stay in the bottom half of the league. The fans like to trash a few players. But as a whole we are not strong enough.

Does the apparant concussion to Dags mean we can finally call up Little Tits without losing too much face? I hope so.

Ladds hit was dirtier than Richards on Booth. He jumped and clearly aimed for his head. Should be 5 games, but the league will probably do nothing and say he should have kept his head up.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

WTF is this Ladd guy doing on the ice?  It's been a long time since I've seen a hit where the guys feet left the ice so much.... this kid should not just be suspended, he should be tossed in jail.  I'm tired of this BS. I'm sure many of your long-time 'fans' of hitting will hate me for saying this but I would have protested Scott Stevens HHOF induction if I had been in town. That guy ruined more careers and damaged more lives, and it's time the league get with the f-n program.I rarely wish harm against anyone but I take small consolation that it's a concussion that ended his career.  That bas***d belongs in a cage. 

The league sticking their heads in the sand on this is like doctors in the 1960's behing hired by tobacco companies to say that smoking doesn't cause cancer but maybe cancer causes smoking.  And I love the taste!  As much as it frustrates me that the Habs don't have the grit of some other teams I am grateful that the Habs never the one dishing out these more severe hits - even accidentally.

Nahlsy's post down below is incredibly sad.  My kid is 6.  If he plays hockey when he's older, and some kid pounds his head into the boards I don't know what I'll do.  But what I might do is sue the NHL for allowing this to be a part of what is supposed to be family entertainment.  

LET'S DO SOMETHING... Are any of you a php, Wordpress or Joomla programmer and want to put up a site like : www.hockeyfansagainstheadhits.com?  Are you a PR person?  Are you connected to high profile athletes who would support something like this?  Contact me. We can try to add as many high profile voices to the call for the NHL and NHLPA to fix this - neurologists, sports figures, entertainers... the world is full of people who know this is wrong.  A-holes like Gary Buttman only respond to two things: money and power.  The Internet has the power.  

--------------------------------------------------- `Could this team miss the playoffs? Who knows?' - Bob Gainey on the new Habs.

Anyone have an update on this kid that plays for Kitchener?.......I cant find anything at all.

Also....any update on Dags?....................AND has anyone noticed the speed this guy has?....me thinks he's going to be a keeper / John Leclair type.

Hey does anyone know what happened to that guy with the really really ugly tattoo on his back?

Great goalies make the big save when the game is on the line, that is what great goalies do.

Chicago has  very good young team with possible the second best defense in the league. |They were at home after losing thenight before.

We started slow and then showed some character to make it a close game.

Price was solid but yes we miss our best player on D and we are short a top 6 forward.

I'd still take this crew over last year's..in a heartbeat!

Ladd's hit was no different than others that have gone unpunished. That being said teams are picking up for players who have been run over legally or not because the league is doing nothing....especially if a "star" player is the offender. Ovec and Richards get off scott free...Ladd? Who knows.

Still, someone should have paid for that hit....

"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." (anon)

I read posts and the donkeys are out, braying incessantly. AK46's deflection off the bar was the difference in a game where Price played well, yet looked bad on 2 goals. For every great save, another one goes in. Halak should start. He's got the winning record. Style points don't count.

What I didn't like was the lack of physicality, especially by most of the forwards. NO hitters make for fast skating hockey games, but it's not the new Habs' style. They have to hit to be successful. A lot of forwards who did nothing last night had more ice time than Lats. Big guys need time, but if you can't decide on his linemates after 3 seasons, trade him. I'd rather watch him score 25 on another team than hear all the donkeys braying about him on this site. OH, and bleep SK74, too. The spoiled rotten tomato is where his attitude should leve him; in the minors.

Happy Halloween, donkeys.

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Beliveau- his legend is 600' tall and growing...

Another futile effort from Gui, get outta town Latenderarse...hit something for the sake of God! Tomas Plekanec is NOT a second line centre...deal with it Bob ! We need desperately a big center and someone to replace Markov or we will continue to be hard pressed to make the playoffs. I said the other day we would make them with no problem ...well we got problems, and they must be addressed if we want to move forward in this league. Ladd should be suspended for at least 5 games for that dirty hit on Dagostini's head, another one bites the dust. Something has to give, if it weren't for Price the score would have been much higher...he deserves another start at home against the Laffs. I like his new mask,beats the hell outta that Garth Brooks outfit...go habs go  !! Gotta beat the Laffs tonight...or we will never here the end of it from those diehards who think the Laffs are a contender for the post season..gimme a break and hammer theses guys into the ice C'mon Bob send for reinforcements, the Dogs have what we need, bring Pyatt up and put Gui up in the pressbox to observe what an NHL game looks like from a place where he can't get us in trouble...its time he was sat down, Kostitsyn too sit him right beside Gui...

My take on the game was the goaltending was solid the d- sucked and the forwards were not able to connect their passes. The defencemen are making very common mistakes. I was a defencemen and i remember my coaches always saying to me "pit your head on a swivel" in front of our net. This mean cover the slot, look for the point man to come in. I thought I saw last night alot of disorganization in our own end zone that caused a few of the black hawk forwards to be open for passes, this happened very rarely in the Hawks end zone. This tells me that our Habs need help defensively. Our forwards had difficulty passing, it seemed like coming out of our end zone and through the neutral zone we could not connect for the first 2 periods and this caused numerous turn overs. I am not sure if we are not looking if the team is not supporting each other so that they can make shorter passes and the loing passes are what are being turned over. There are thing going on there that the big teams are seem to be connecting and we are not. Because of this inability to connect passes we had two goals on solo efforts. You can not compete in this league that way. Also AK46 needs a kick in the royal ***. He does not deserve to play on the first line and we should go back to the best option of Gionta, Gomez and Camerelli and leave it like that for the rest of the year. If we can it would be nice to make some trades and pick up a player that improve our second line and or defence.

Terrible defence. Gill aka "Lurch" is too slow and Bergeron is also not up to snuff. In the Pens game he stumbled twice and once tonight skating backwards. He too is awkward. Spacek had his undies removed by Kane on a move towards our net. We need defensive help.

As far as the forwards are concerned, the gears are not meshing. They are not playing as a unit. Individual efforts won't win too many games, AK46 did not cover Sharp on the winning goal. Ever since AK27 left, the brothers have had problems. AK46 seems to be disinterested, and his brother, of course, is in deep doo-doo.

By the way, where's BGL. Is he injured? After the on D'Agostini, BGL should have been there to fix Ladd's clock.

If not for Price, the score would have been much higher - again. Price had no chance on all three goals. There is nothing wrong with Price. It's what's in front of him that draws criticism towards him.

As far as the coach is concerned, he seems lost. He's looking up and down the bench trying to find a forward line combo that will click. Hello Jacques! This is not OTT where you have great players: welcome to reality.

not one young player on the main team or ahl team shows any scoring ability...but not a suprise ...look at their stats in junior ..minimal scoring ability...why gainey keeps taking north american forwards who score 20 goals in junior...you may need 1 or 2 to be defensive specialist but we have about 9 . very few offensive players in the nhl had poor stats in junior...some got off to slow starts ..carter in philly but he was a proven scorer in junior...gaineys forward drafting has been a failure ...he has put together a roster where 85% of our forwards are basically 5-8 goal scorers a year...only scorers we have are free agents ...many posts say we need time to gel ...but i wish someone could explain to me why players who have not shown scoring touch in lower levels will find their scoring abilities in the nhl...it just does not happen ...

CP played very well tonight. I know he would like to have that 3rd goal back. Habs were outshot in every period last night. Halak should get the start tonight. Price don't need fans booing him if the team is loosing to the Laffs. Laffs are playing pretty good hockey lately. The Laffs shot count has been 30 plus shots a game. The Laffs will be close to 40 tonight if our Habs  D keep backing in on their goalies. This is going to be a bruiser of a game tonight. Laffs has a big team and will take the body all night long. Andrew Ladd hit was a head shot and it was the right call by the on ice offical. Ladd gets at tap on the back from a couple of his teammates as he goes to the bench when ejected from the game. It was good to see the Habs players mixing it up after that hit Ladd dished out. The top line was a minus 2 for the night. Geesch!!!

Games like this kind of ruin the whole "win and you're in" mantra. Price was the best player in the CH tonight, and he deserves to get the start again tomorrow, and he deserves a damn win already.

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http://berkshireonthehabs.blogspot.com/

Seen the hit by Ladd, its no different than the many hits Scott Stevens used to make. The rise of headshots was popularized by Stevens. But since he was a very good hockey player and a popular player, forwards were blamed for not keeping their heads up. When the player dishing out the headshot is not that good or popular; hes an animal.

I have been telling people to shut up about the goalies and concentrate on how bad our D Is.

47 should have stayed home and watched the Habs or go on Rds. Gillosaur has taken over Breezbye spot as one of the worst Habs D In history already!!!!. We play and are very small on D. Pathetic.

I have also been saying for this team you need to dress The Rock against the big teams In the league. If he was on the bench, that horrible hit might not have happened and If It did, we'll you know what happens. 40, 84, 28 are just not good enough to be playing.

The Count can make this team climb Mt. Everest, swearing all the way to the summit and It won't change a thing. This Hab team was not setup properly. We won't be able to compete with the west at all and the Big eastern teams will destroy us as we'll.

The Goalies are never to blame. We have two very good, maybe great goalies and Bob, Trevor and whoever else In charge of scouting and drafting have to show some Accountability and do what's right, RESIGN.

I LOVE the Habs!!!

plenty of emotion in cammalleri and price's post game reaction i hope price realizes he played great tonight and doesn't get too down with himself

What a disgusting hit by Andrew Ladd. Call it legal all you want but he was headhunting. He also left the ice for that hit to specifically nail D'Ags in the head. It was almost a similar hit to Mike Richard's hit last week.

After all the discussion about headshots and non-suspensions last week, Ladd should be stripped a couple of matches for that hit. Players have to learn to police themselves. A hit like that is a slap in the face to hockey's reputation.

My two cents... Price played good, and smart!  Handled the puck well and at one point (I think during the 2nd period) he purposefully shot the puck towards the Hawks bench after a dump-in while they were changing - trying to catch them with too many men.  (Not sure if anyone else mentioned this or not, but I noticed it).

I also agree with the posts on keeping the lines intact.  Stop changing the top line.  Keep Gionta, Cammalleri & Gomez together and hope they score a bunch every game.  Try to make a good second line, put the pressure on this 2nd line to produce, if they don't, make a trade!  Bring in someone who will produce! 

The whole team didn't play 60 minutes tonight.  For a good part of the game, it looked like the Habs played last night, not Chicago!

The defense could've been better too.  Bergeron may have a wicked shot on the PP, but at times he sucks defensively! 

And as for the hit on D'Agostini, Ladd should be suspended.  Ladd is 6'2", D'Agostini is 6'0", so he didn't have to jump up to hit him!  (Not that he should anyway)  I'm not sure from the replays if he left his feet when he hit D'Ags, but he certainly left his feet after the hit!  He deserves to be suspended!

Hopefully tomorrow will see a win!

- We miss Markov badly when we try to counter. Hamrlik can pass sideways or backwards. Those forward passes are just not as accurate as Markov's.The other Dmen's passes are even worse.

- MAB is a defensive liability. One small hit, he'll lose the puck.

- AK is mentally not fully engaged in the game. He appears not ready to receive a pass. He did try and gave a few hits.

- Price played good. I still think he could reevaluate the technique when the stick should be on the ice. A goalie has to play the percentage.

- Pacioretty had a good game.

- Latendresse for me is too slow to be effective.

At least this game is better than the previous one.

I didn't think the game was that bad, sucks to lose.  But they weren't that far from coming back.  I thought Price played well, I didn't think AK did.  That experiment is over I hope.  If we lose tomorrow I might take on Timo's tone:)

I didn't see the game, I was at the Kitchener Rangers/Erie Otters game tonight. I did see the head shot on D'Agostini, which unfortunately wasn't the most terrifying or brutal head shot that I had the misfortune of watching tonight.

I can't remember ever crying at a hockey game but, what I saw tonight..... it's just not , I dunno anymore

There's a 16 yr old kid fighting for his life in ICU in a Hamilton hospital, where they send life threatening head injuries in Ontario after a god awfully brutal cheap shot. The attacking forward had a defenceman facing the boards behind his net, he jumped in the air and elbowed him in the back of the head and drove his head into the boards. They stopped the game while paramedics tended to the unconscious victim on the ice for 40 minutes with the players of both teams out at center ice praying for him.

This all lies squarely on the shoulders of people like Brian Burke, who when he's not putting bounties on crippling kids like Steve Moore, is fighting the notion that head hunting should be outlawed because he likes it and it would take hitting out of his game. (Guys) like Colin Campbell that look at figures stating 800 different NHL players have had concussions since 2000 and he claims they're just faking it for the insurance money so there's no need to do anything about it. These kids in jr hockey see that the NHL loves this stuff, they watch tv and see the way to get on the hilight reel is to pull a Ladd and jump up in the air with a flying elbow to the forhead, trying to cripple D'Agostini and they do it to a 16 yr old kid in jr hockey, while his parents watched in the crowd. His mother passed out, his father had to tend to her while watching paramedics trying to save his kid's life frantically.... because Brian Burke and Colin Campbell don't think this head hunting B.S. it a problem.

I just hope to hell that the on-ice death it's going to take for these stupid (idiots) to finally pull their heads out of their backsides and do something about this horrific problem doesn't have to be 16 yr old Kitchener Rangers defenceman Ben Farelli. Good luck Ben, please pull through this so that you don't have to be a statistic.

Tonight, I just really don't give a crap about hockey or who won anymore. Sorry about the language.

(Editor's note: we've cleaned up a little of the language here from an emotional and otherwise good member of the site.)

Boone said this is going to be a statement game and statement it was. The statement is: "We suck. We are a pathetic bunch of overpaid millionaires who suck. We are so bad we can't beat a team that is missing it's best elements on defense and up front and has a terrible goalie."

What a bunch of pathetic losers. Even when they had chances all shots were fired either at Huet's chest or at the defenseman. I thought our 8 million dollar men were supposed to be "skilled". Skilled my rear end.

4 game winning streak and everybody is in love with BG and a great team he's built. Well... I hope you've all enjoyed the massacre in Pittsburg and the suckfest in Chicago. Leaf at Bell tomorrow? Haha... I can't wait. Two worst teams in the league meeting... should be a fascinating match up.

just wondering... investing in some CH winter gear, should I get me CAC jersey/sweater + toque or pinstripe jersey/sweater + touqe? Can't decide. Maybe Green Leaf C jersey/sweater and a generic habs hat? baah. Hey maybe if they actually WIN it will help me think.

Gio!

...overall I saw it as Chicago playing down to Us ...even with Toews missing ...but relax, This Team is not a Stanley Cup Team ...We ALL knew THAT going into the season ...it's crazy not to be a Fan and be patient and watch this Team mould Itself

...get a life guys

Habitant means PASSIONATE HOCKEY

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=423049

conspiracy theory of the night: after a night of plotting at the kostitsyn residence, both sergei and andrei have come to the conclusion that the only way sergei will get out of montreal is if andrei tanks as well. After all, they're definitely more attarctive as a package deal...

If the team keeps playing this kind of crappy games, we will see JM's test sooner:

(AK46)-Plec-Gionta;

Cammi-Gomez-(Lapierre), whichever you call it 1st and 2nd.

This might be a long season  :(

______________________________________________________ Gionta for Captain.

Our forwards can jel all it wants, if the D can't do didly squat it doesn't matter. Our goalies have to be near perfect everynight. They can't win the game every night. They can only do so much.

"Truth! You can't handle the Truth"

It's been said before, but it's time to bring back SK74. Lapierre makes me cringe when he's on the 2nd line. He's not an offensive player!

Sad!!!  People are sad for losing the game.  It's ok Bros, it will be ok.

we will have major problems with leafs sat...again we keep talking about goal and d,,,but reality is we have a  collection of forwards where 85% of them are 5-8 goal a season scorers...none of our young players on the team or ahl ever showed offensive abilities in junior or college...why are they going to score in the nhh...gainey drafts junior north american players who score in the 20s goal range...very few goal scorers in the nhl did not show scoring ability in junior...

I'm disappointed. Why can't this team score when it counts in the 3rd period?

Its not to late but the ship is worse than last year. Geusse you could say chop the head off and so on. Bob is a great man, but great men know when is when.  WHEN

Pffft.

Halak on Saturday night.

Je suis

Sieur Bugs Potter, écuyer. Major-général du dépôt de munitions Fort Gainey, contre-amiral du torpilleur de classe-II Sainte Flanelle, et sous-secrétaire du ministère de la Défense Tricolore.