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About Dave Stubbs
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Dave Stubbs
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About
Dave Stubbs has been a sportswriter since 1976, which was roughly a decade after he wore the first of many holes through the knees of his jeans playing nets in road hockey (using a modified butterfly popularized by Hall of Famer Glenn Hall). He still has the welts to show on his shins from that rotten, frozen orange ball.
Stubbs kept thick hockey scrapbooks filled with game summaries and Gazette and Montreal Star stories, collected dozens of Bee Hive Corn Syrup photos and put a fortune of hockey cards through the spokes of his bikes. First book ever owned: Scrubs On Skates, the classic by Scott Young (Neil's dad).
Stubbs's fantasy is to travel back in time to the 1950s and watch the great Canadiens dynasty that won five consecutive Stanley Cups. Or a decade earlier, to watch Elmer Lach centre Rocket Richard and Toe Blake on the fearsome Punch Line. Or at least to get Rogie Vachon into the Hockey Hall of Fame – where he belongs.
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You know what, that sound clip actually did answer one of my questions. I think that hearing Martin trying to explain how chipping the puck away -- in other words, giving up possession -- fits into a puck possession style finished crushing any hope I had that we might have a puck possession style where puck possession is actually something they do, rather than a buzzword, and with that, any hope that the Habs might significantly improve 5-on-5 during his tenure. Clearly, he doesn't intend on driving actual puck possession -- his system tends to lead to the reverse -- but since "puck possession" is en vogue he tacks the name on to his system as an empty label.
Seriously, why am I supposed to believe that the Habs are a well-coached team at this point? Really?
Backtracking a bit. Many of you may recall the incident in the OHL in which 16 yr old Ben Fanelli was drilled from behind by 20 yr old Mike Liambis and suffered a fractured skull and various other associated injuries that required him to be air lifted to Hamilton and spent awhile in ICU fighting for his life before recovering. (he's still on the long road to recovery by the way, hopes to return to school this semester and has been able to attend a Rangers game to watch it in person but, this isn't about him right now).
Anyhow, Laimbis was tossed out of the OHL for life with the suspension for that incident and he went on to sign to play in the IHL to continue his hockey career. Well, seems as though some things never change as another of Mike's hit from behind victims, this time in the IHL has spent a week in the hospital fighting for his life. This time the injury sustained was a ruptured spleen. The IHL has since suspended Liambis again.
I guess some people just never run out of second chances even though they don't seem to learn from them. Ask Steve Howe (former Yankee pitcher and professional coke snorter)
Price is working on his slap shot to try to bolster the offense. Far too often this team hasn't given him any goals to work with (well documented that in half of his starts they've been held to 1 or 0 goals in regulation) so he must figure that if he wants to get some wins, he's going to have to score a few goals (at least 1 per game) so that he can get 2 full goals per game of offensive support. Then if he can continue to hold the opposition to 3 or fewer goals per game in 90% of his starts, that'll mean a lot more wins.
It's a shame they can't find a power foward to do it but, when the goalie's bigger than all of your forwards (save for Laraque) you gotta do what you gotta do I guess.
Do you find it funny that we have a goalies that are 6'3,6'6" and 6'9" i in our system but no forwards that big? LOL
There's a sign that says you cannot be this big if you want to play forward for the Habs.
It prevents them from doing those stupid Disney World commercials if they ever win anything since none of our forwards are tall enough to get on any of the rides anyway.
Well, I'm a little disappointed by Martin's explanation of his system. He says he wants to play a puck possession game and then talks about chipping the puck off the boards (which isn't really part of a puck possession system then, because you're essentially giving up possession then trying to retrieve it). Tape to tape passing is all well and good,but it's not a system
He does mention he wants production from the back end, which is good and expected given his personnel.
I am not reassured at all, but he didn't really say anything. There was no discussion of strategy except for a willingness to chip the puck (which I don't see how is a "puck possession" style), no explanation of whether conceding the lines and collapsing around the goalie is what he wants, no explanation of whether he prefers the players to chip the puck out and not risk turnovers or pass the puck to generate transition. I guess I had my hopes too high that he'd actually say something meaningful, but there were no answers in his post and I'm left with the same questions, foremost among them is whether he has a plan to fix the Habs' godawful 5-on-5 game and whether the ultra-passive system we're seeing on the ice is what he intends to implement.
Well at least the Kostitsyn brothers will enjoy having Orthodox Xmas at home and getting sloshed with Stolichnaya and watch the team on TV and see how bad we are.
"We will win the Cup one day only with a mature Carey Price in the nets, I hope"
You mean they will be watching your favourite team,the leafs?
Leafstv "telling their fans they deserve to win for over 40 years"
Just cause I criticize my team, does that make me a Leafs fan?
"We will win the Cup one day only with a mature Carey Price in the nets, I hope"
Stubbs you tell no lies...ive seen carey price play before too hes unreal
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Longue passe de streit...intercept par markov...a plekanec...a markov...a cammalleri...tir...ET LE BUUUUUTTTTTTT!!!!!
one of my junior high teachers used to practice with Carey and his dad on an ice field by one of their farms back in BC. Price was like 8 years old i think, i cant remember....He said Carey's had a hard shot since he was a kid!
Ha funny... I too knew a guy who ...was familiar with him in junior --this a while back, and said also he was
an really good forward with one of the hardest shots on his junior team!!!!!
He shoots 85 mph, I bet there's not one person here who could match that.
They call me Shane
I think it would be funny to see NHL goalies playing hockey against each other as forwards and defencemen. It makes no sense, but I would be entertained to watch them play against each other as skaters. Then you could have two defencemen as the goalies or something! Only in my imagination I suppose...
I'd watch that over the all-star game! Such a great idea!
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This concludes our broadcast. Goodnight.
That would be wicked!
"love cannot drown truth, Nefertiti"
Haha, at the next All-Star game they should have a game of 3 on 3, except it's the goalies dressed as skaters, and throw in some junior goalie's.
Happy Birthday (79) to Dickie Moore!
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Ya! The Habs Rule! now on Twitter!
Sorry for the long post, I have read through all the comments and have a couple of things to say -
So I was at the game last night, and as I usually do when the Habs play, I was at the glass 10 minutes before the boys came out to warm up. I think you can tell a lot about a team dynamic in the warm up (IMO). What this team needs is a Captain. They don't have any leadership, on or off the ice. They were all like individual players focusing on their own thing. The ones who really try (Pleks, Cammy, Markov and Hammer - yes Hammer) are trying to do it by themselves and they can't, you need the team. Even Ovechkin needs Backstrom. Having a Captain on the bench would help as well. JM is like a wet noodle. I agree complaining to the refs will get you no where but he doesn't show any emotion at all, makes it seem like he doesn't care, which affect the players (IMO). When Pleks got hit, I was out of my seat screaming (2nd row from the ice), not one player seemed to care. He is our best player and he gets mauled and no one even steps up?
I am at all the Caps home games, and they are awesome and I have seen them beat many teams (their home record is unbelievable). I was hoping for a win, but was realistic, I wanted to see them compete, and a few do. A Captain, needs to get the non competitors going because JM can't. In the warm up Pleks stoodd off by himself bent over lokoking at the ice. He was focusing so hard, I could see him as Captain now.
Good post Rudy, but isn't the Captain already there? I mean, the player who will be named Captain is already on the team. If was a true leader, he'd already be leading, irrespective of whether he was wearing a "C" on his jersey.
I just don't see how a huge difference will be made by having one guy designated -- difference in terms of leadership.
Agreed... you don't need the C on a sweater to be a leader... otherwise we'd name Kovalev the captain.
I agree with you. A captain is needed here. Love Pleks and Markov, but neither of them has that "stand up in the room" look to them, IMO. You are right that someone other than management (coach) needs to step up and challenge the room on some nights. Where is this team's conscience?
I question your logic here Rudy.
> They don't have any leadership, on or off the ice. They were all like individual players focusing on their own thing.
> In the warm up Pleks stoodd off by himself bent over lokoking at the ice. He was focusing so hard, I could see him as Captain now.
Okay, okay that makes it look like nonsense. But what I was trying to get at is that he looked like he was preparing, Max was flipping pucks over the glass to girls and Laps just kept skating laps around the ice. It was weird to watch and different than other warm ups I have seen over the last 20 games (2 games a year they play here).
I'm as big a fan of Markov as anyone but it should be obvious from these interviews that he can't be captain. He clearly does not relish interviews and can't communicate well enough to be comfortable addressing media.
Cammalleri is the obvious choice for me.
Last night's Canada-USA game is on TSN right now. Just in case you missed it.
I watched the overtime goal again this morning and the canadian goalie, granted he came in cold turkey...should have done bettre on the winner, it was a 3 on 1 but the trailing guy was too tired to keep up with the play properly so tuebert should have played the pass to the far guy...kadri made an amazing backcheck to catch up to the far guy, but if he took the trailer, and the canadian goaltender took carlson for the shot, the game would have kept going.
the problem was BOTH tuebert and the goalie played the pass...at the end of the day the player that's the most threatening is the one with the puck..poor read by the canadians.
- Team Halak V.S. Team Price...Montreal Canadiens Fans are similar to 14 year-old Girls going through Puberty.
Who won?
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Cheer for the crest on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.
I watched the US feed. Did Pierre's head explode like a ripe zit when Canada lost?
Seriously, I can't stop laughing.
Visions of Animal House dancing in my head.
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Cheer for the crest on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.
I heard him talking about Danny Kristo on Team 990 a few days ago. Pierre was lukewarm on him. Having seen Kristo play several times for UND this season, it was obvious he was talking out of his rump.
That's because Kristo is Habs property. And there are no job opportunities in Montreal for Pierre.
I was amazed comparing the rosters of the Canadian and US teams. Not one of the Canadian guys is playing NCAA D-1 and over half of the US squad is going to college.
though most people like to say chl prepares players the most for professional hockey because of the schedule i would think it might be the opposite because these 18 and 19 year old players playing NCAA D-1 hockey are already playing against 22-23 year old men.
I couldn't agree with you more. There are very few regular freshman playing D-1 anymore. Many of these guys play an extra year at prep school (called a PG) or in the USHL before heading off to university. You could be playing against 24- and 25-year old seniors. I am also biased on the issue of coaching. With Dean Blaise behind the bench, you know we were not going to be out-coached last night. Had he not changed his goal tender, the Canadian coach would never have removed Allen. The moves he made at the end of the third period to put the 2001 Final against BC into OT were legendary.
It amuses me greatly that Carey Price could probably outskate, outshoot and outscore BGL. Well it would amuse me except we're paying BGL more.
Stay tuned to HI/O tomorrow, when Martin will reveal the Meaning of Life.
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Cheer for the crest on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.
That explains the order that the Habs have placed with the Archdiocese of Montreal for incense and turibulums.
in other good news
THE HAWK. ANDRE DAWSON. SOLE INDUCTEE INTO COOPERSTOWN HALL OF FAME!
sweet! will he wear his bleu-blanc-rouge? :)
PROBLEM SOLVED, EVERYONE!!!!
CP as a sixth forward.
That should help him melt away those extra pounds!
Carey Price is in outstanding shape.....
"Isn't professional sports great. They continue to make the same stupid mistakes & still get paid"
Then, it would allow him the odd visit now and then to McDonalds!
System to be revealed....
Can't wait to hear it!
;-)
- Yves -
Blog - http://yvesonhabs.com
Twitter - http://twitter.com/yves_on_habs
The System to be revealed??? No, No, No....don't do it, Jacques.
Anyway, the system is percectly obvious. Since we suck 5 on 5, we just position ourselves to get into PK or PP situations. Two areas in which we excel. And some of you thought there was a ref conspiracy. Hah, you guys don't know hockey. With a bit more practice...well, um, if we did actually practice often enough...maybe we could really get The System flying. Hook, slash, highstick...c'mon boys, do it for The System.
From what I've heard, JM possesses only the first three scrolls of The System. The final four are in the Vatican archives and have never been translated from the original Latin.
LOL
"love cannot drown truth, Nefertiti"
So we need Tom Hanks as coach?
Isn't Tom Hanks' latin rather weak?
"love cannot drown truth, Nefertiti"
That does help to explain the lack of carry-over of The System from one game to the next. The lads don't have all the information yet.
JM must get hold of the sixth scroll. A priest friend who studied for a time in Rome has told me that it is all about how to implement an effective two-man forecheck.
Are you serious? There is such a thing as an effective two-man forecheck? I always thought that was just folklore. A myth.
The only other copy of the Sixth Scroll was lost when the great library of Alexandria was sacked. Since then, NHL teams have dabbled with the two-man forecheck, but few coaches understand it fully. My friend also told me that Scotty Bowman visited the Vatican archives after leaving the St. Louis Blues accompanied by a Latin scholar. Coincidence? I think not!
The seventh scroll must be on "Goalie Management".
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Cheer for the crest on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.
I get the feeling that were we to obtain all seven of these scrolls, we would then find out that there is yet one more "forgotten" scroll, the rumoured "eighth" scroll, hidden away in some mysterious place.
The Vatican doesn't have it, but it has been rumored that an eighth scroll on God's Plan for Breaking Out of Your End of the Rink is actually at the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul.
Then we must send someone in search of this wonder. Someone from, say, the fourth line. Someone who has enough time on their hands.
I think Gainey should dispatch BGL on this quest.
Perfect! Indiana Georges! A man with a code of his own should be able to locate and decipher said scroll.
All he needs is a hat, a gun, a whip and some veggie snack bars!
The whip could be a problem. Hasn't been one of those in the Montreal dressing room for a long time.
I'm sure they could find one at Club Supersex!
If BGL was to go to Istanbul, would he not have to first pass waivers?
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Cheer for the crest on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.
No Chuck, we're talking Istanbul here, not the Buffalo/Fort Erie border crossing. ;)
I'm dying. Quick, someone post some line combos!
I'm thinking I might just go take a little nap. You never know what may be revealed to me, in dreams.
The Habs could tell the League that it is for conditioning purposes.
Martin describes his system? Sweet! I'll be awaiting the audio with bated breath.
wow. never thought a coach would be forthcoming about systems. good on JM.
btw, the gym makes sense. the guys looked tired and uninterested in playing physical by the second period.
Probably that's because it is really plain obvious to everyone else, so you can't really call it a competitive advantage anymore.
Gainey on signing Pleks:
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=304929
Sorry about the lost comment, Timo. Didn't mean to kill it. Post again...
Dave Stubbs
Habs Inside/Out
Sports Columnist/Feature Writer, Montreal Gazette
• On Twitter: twitter.com/habsinsideout1
Oh no, my master piece. I doubt I can ever re-create it.
What's going on around here? A System failure?
i was going to say . wow they banned Timo for that ..... ouch
That would never happen. Timo keeps HIO fair and balanced!
Eh... happened before.
But, they soon saw the error of that decision!
LOL... for sure. That's because The System began crumbling.
And the walls came tumbling down...
ya . why practice .... we're an unbelievable team already everyone knows thier role and gives it thier all not to mention we already know how to shoot pucks and make passes .... and dont get me started on defense our system is leak free besides when is the last time we gave up 30+ shots? ....... why practice i agree ..... we should all go to a dinner theater or something
or bowling