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The centennial season schedule
posted by Mike Boone at 17h20 EST on Jul 17
Not an easy sked:
• 12 sets of back-to-back games, starting with season-opening visits to Buffalo and Toronto on Oct. 10-11. Plenty of work for Jaroslav Halak, and let's hope Georges Laraque is good for eight to 10 ToI so Carbo can roll four lines.
• Five sequences of three games in four nights, including two such sets in February
• A six-game February road trip that will include stops in Calgary, Edmonton, Colorado, Vancouver, Washington and Pittsburgh
• A four-game holiday trip (but idle on Dec. 23!)
• A Nov. 26 visit to Detroit
• Four of their last six games on the road
• • •
Here's the team press release, including the exhibition schedule:
MONTREAL (July 17, 2008) – The Montreal Canadiens and the NHL today released the schedule for the 2008-09 season. The team will open the season on the road, facing the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, October 10. The Canadiens’ home opener at the Bell Centre will be on Wednesday, October 15 against the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens’ regular season will end on Saturday, April 11 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, at the Bell Centre, wrapping up an 82-game schedule covering 184 days.
All weeknight games at the Bell Centre will start at 7:30 p.m. The traditional Saturday night home games will start at 7:00 p.m. with the exception of four weekend afternoon games; Sunday, January 4 against Florida (1:00 p.m.), Saturday, January 31 against Los Angeles (3:00 p.m.), Sunday, February 1st against Boston (3:00 p.m.), and Saturday, February 21 against Ottawa (3:00 p.m.). The January 31 and February 1st games will take place on Super Bowl weekend.
As the adjusted NHL calendar kicks in in 2008-09, the Canadiens will face their division rivals (Boston, Buffalo, Ottawa and Toronto) six times (24 games). Four games will be played against each of the other 10 teams from the Eastern Conference (40 games). The remaining 18 games will be played versus Western Conference teams for a minimum of one game against each of the 15 Western teams, plus three (3) "at large" games featuring Canadian rivals (Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton) to be played at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens will play nine preseason games between September 22 and October 4, including five (5) games at the Bell Centre, as the team will host Ottawa, Florida, Detroit, Boston and Minnesota. Preseason games will be also be played in Halifax (September 22 vs Boston), in Roberval, Quebec featuring the Hockeyville promotion (September 23 vs Buffalo), in Detroit (September 24) and in Ottawa (September 27).
All Canadiens regular season games will be broadcasted on RDS, CJAD and CKAC. RDS will once again feature a number of Canadiens games for their Tuesday night broadcasts Les Méchants Mardis (17). Canadiens home games will be played at least once on each day of the week, with the exception of Fridays. Saturday remains the busiest day on the schedule with 23 games, including 17 home contests.
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Believe it or not, but Greg Norman is at the top of the leaderboard at the British Open as the second round comes to an end. Hope springs eternal for all us that are over the age of 50!
The Original 24 Cups
He's on top alright. On top of Chris Everet.
"WRINKLEMANIA"
Look who is sitting in fourth (he is now in fourth!!)....DAVID DUVAL. There was a time when Duval would go second after Woods in golf pools. He is only 36 years old though ....amazing just the same. I would love to see one of those guys pull something incredible off. Weir is in contention and Rocco seems to have maintained his momentum....this might actually be interesting even without Tiger..
The Atlanta Thrashers have come to terms with forward Angelo Esposito on a multiple-year contract, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 19-year old Esposito was acquired by the Thrashers from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a NHL trade deadline deal last season along with Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen and a first-round selection in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft (Daultan Leveille) for Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis.
The Montreal native has yet to appear in the NHL however he has enjoyed a solid junior career with the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL with 96 goals and 150 assists in 173 games.
Esposito was originally selected by the Penguins in the first round, 20th overall, of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.
And this is why Gainey and Timmins draft college bound players. Esposito is in no way ready for the pro game.
I'm saying that had Esposito been going to college, he likely would have stayed in the NCAA for at least another year.
pat s,
No doubt you are right about most players coming from junior A. But a good many teams are now starting to look toward NCAA D1 hockey, Montreal included.
I live in the Niagara Region. I watched a lot of Junior A hockey when we had the Niagara Falls Thunder. Good calibre of hockey? You betcha! But the Thunder moved to Erie Pennsylvania, and just at that time Niagara University in Lewiston, NY put an NCAA D1 hockey program together. I started crossing the bridge to the U.S. to watch college hockey and had my eyes opened big time. Tough game, hard hitting and fast skating. I haven't missed the Junior A game at all. Unfortunately, for you, you will not see fighting in NCAA hockey. But do yourself a favour and take in an NCAA D1 hockey game if you are ever near enough to one. I think you will be surprised.
Agreed about NCAA D1.
Junior play in Canada is pretty uneven. I've seen many Moosehead and Sea Dogs games, and I have to say that while the level is better than D3 NCAA, the difference can be pretty marginal.
Fair enough. I wasn't saying the college game is better than the junior game...I was just pointing out that college hockey is great hockey, and that for those who have not seen NCAA hockey...they should see it.
Junior A hockey remains the mainstay for developing young NHL hopefuls. But let's be honest, there are three Major Junior A leagues...the West, the OHL, and the QMJHL. Without getting into arguments with the regional stalwarts on this site, I think it is fair to say not all junior leagues are created equal.
Since 1983 the Western Hockey League has won more Memorial Cups than the OHL and the QJMHL combined.
15 WHL
7 OHL
4 QMJHL
seems you brought a knife to a gun fight.
LMAO...I could have started something there.
Suspended Until Further Notice : .. sportsnet ..... http://sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/07/18/radulov_suspended_contract/
the Morning Skate : The Blackhawks' Convention , The Rangers Litigation .. by Stu Hackel .. NY Times ..... http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/the-morning-skate-the-black...
Miller signs extension with Buffalo:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/17264-Goalie-Ryan-Miller-signs-fiv...
That's great news for Buffalo and the NHL hockey world in general. The Sabres could not afford to lose this guy after what has gone on in the past few years with UFAs leaving for greener pastures.
The Original 24 Cups
I've always liked Miller; I think he has what it takes to backstop a team to a Cup, and there are not many goalies who give me that sense. Of course, given that he plays for the Sabres, we'll probably never know.
Funny, but the Sabres are a team that strikes me as a perpetual also-ran, like that kid in high school you never talked to, but you knew people who knew him. They perennially travel up and down the middle third of the conference standings--sometimes better, sometimes worse, but never great and never awful. Other than when we actually play them, I have no idea that they're even in the league.
The Sabres were 1st in the league last season; the year before, they were 3 points behind the conference lead. That said, I think their small window of opportunity is already closing rapidly (losing Briere AND Drury really killed them) and next season will really decide whether last year was just an off-year and that they can rebound (they're still a very young team), or that it's time to rebuild and they start trading away their stars for draft picks.
http://onehab.blogspot.com/
It's difficult to judge the Sabres from last year. I think they had 20 back-to-back games last year. Very brutal.
Finally the Sabres lock up part of their core. Gainey bashers often bring up how we rarely get return on our pending UFAs. Darcy Regier has lost Drury, Campbell, Briere, and Zubrus in the past two years and he has 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks to show for it.
If you are thinking of attending the Habs Fan Summit, WestJet has just released their fall specials - 50% off flights up to the end of October. Book now!
Here's the link - great deals:
http://c3dsp.westjet.com/guest/deals/index.jsp
~Listen to the smart dog!
PLEASE EVERYONE---don,t book anything until we tell you to. Tickets are not yet secured, we will tell you ASAP.
IAN
Unfortunately, it's only good for travel on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
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http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/462670
I just thought I had better post this in advance of the inevitable suggestion that the Habs have a friend in the schedule making office.
The laff's longest road trip of the season is four games... and that happens once.
The Habs have a six, a five, and two four game trips.
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Itll be interesting to see how the eastern conference adapts to the extra travel this year. The west owned the eastern conf last year also.
Chuck
It's called handicapping.
The rangers have a brutal October...Ottawa has some nasty stretches too. In our division: Buffalo and Toronto have the easiest.
To be fair though, the Rangers (and the Islanders and the Devils) will each have six "road" games which will allow them to be sleeping in their own beds after the games.
Same deal goes for Buffalo and Toronto... just with a slightly longer bus ride.
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I want to aplogize if I offended anybody on this site. Nothing like a little heated debate on geography to get the blood flowing. Lets go HABS!!!