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Less Leafs on HNIC?
posted by Mike Boone at 6h42 EST on Aug 1
To the surprise of four pre-schoolers who believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Leafs' Cup chances, Mats Sundin will not be announcing his decision today.
And the Toronto Star reports that Ethelred the Unready may be leaning toward hanging 'em up – his skates, that is, not the long-distance calls from Bob Gainey.
Sundin's agent, J.P. Barry told the Star Sundin is "just trying to decide if he's going to play or not. On the face of it, that's the issue. The longer that takes I guess ... increases the possibility of him not playing."
(J.P. Barry is not J.M. Barrie – though Sundin's current foray into Neverland could cause some confusion.)
If Sundin comes back, Matthew Sekeres of the Globe and Mail suggests Colorado as a dark-horse destination:
The Avalanche has roughly $10 million in available cap dollars and uncertainty at centre ice with both Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg unsure about their playing futures.
• • •
John Tavares a consensus Number One draft choice next June?
Scouts interviewed by the Toronto Sun aren't so sure.
"I would say he let up last year, that he wasn't as intense," one scout said. "The passion to score when he goes from the blueline in wasn't as great, but he's still an elite athlete.
"Maybe it's because of (the attention given) Steven Stamkos, or that his buddies such as Sam Gagner are already in the NHL. There's just a lot going on in his head right now."
• • •
The Chicago Tribune analyzes the addition of Scotty Bowman to the Blackhawks' front office staff:
"It wasn't easy leaving Detroit," Bowman said. "I've been retired six years and have had teams call me. But when I knew they were going to expand the staff here [I moved]. I wouldn't even have thought of joining a club starting from scratch. Looking at what's here for me and the Hawks with the team they have, the front office, the ownership [and] the fans [was the draw].
"I'll be like another set of eyes for Dale (Tallon) and [coach] Denis [Savard] and the organization and hopefully do what I did with Detroit. I'm going to be able to watch as many games as I want to. I love going to games and this is going to be an exciting place to go to games."
• • •
Analysis in the Globe and Mail of Steve Tambellini's move to the Oilers.
• • •
While Sundin ponders his future, Petr Nedved will try to prolong his career by attending the Rangers training camp
Share the agony and ecstasy of Habs fandom and read live blogs from every game with Gazette columnist Mike Boone.
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Ontario - it takes 26 hours of non-stop driving to get from Quebec to Manitoba - 20 hours to Thunder Bay and 6 more to the Manitoba border. I live in Thunder Bay - 16 hours from Toronto - and I still have to watch the ^%$%^&^*%$ Leafs every single Saturday. I long ago got RDS, and I doubt if I'll ever go back to CBC. Why can't those micro-brains figure out that we're not all Leaf fans - especially when we're so far away? Some Ontarians are so far west that we're in a different time zone.
Hello All Habs Fans
Just finished reading all the comments about how to view our beloved Habs, well my solution was I went out and bought a Free to Air sattelite receiver (Nfusion) total cost was $319.00 now I get everything free pay per view movies sporting events and all the packages MLB NHL NFL NCAA.
If anyone would like more info on this system feel free to msg me.
Habsman93
Just got a call from COGECO CABLE marketing dept. They are contemplating putting on there service the RDS channel. They would like to know how much interest is out there.
Please call 1 800 267-9000 and ask them to let there marketing dept know of your interest in RDS. PLEASE!
IAN
Wow, thanks for all of your replies relating to my post earlier today concerning which package to choose this year for viewing Montreal hockey games. I think I generated more posts than Sundin today! Your time and efforts are greatly appreciated. As Robert L stated, the fellowship and friendly advice displayed on this site today is an example of just how great HIO can be.
I have decided to go with the RDS package. Many people have raved about this channel throughout the year and I've been encouraged to not worry about my lack of French. Hey, when the boys raise their sticks in the air I will know that we have scored another goal (against the Laffs).
Springsteen used to sing about "57 channels and nothin' on" and Elvis used to shoot out the picture tube with his gun when he was bored watching TV. Their words and actions are good enough for me - I need some quality viewing and I'm sure that RDS will provide it. Bring on our centennial year!!!
Thank you, thank you very much.
The Original 24 Cups
24 Cups
You will not be disappointed with RDS!
Welcome aboard with the rest of us loyal RDS subscribers who only watch the Habs on this great specialty station!
"We will win the Cup only with Carey Price in the nets"
Ok - I had to register just to post this - long time site reader - been itching to describe my setup for awhile. I'm originally from Cornwall so I am a long time Habs fan (My dad has license plate CDNS 93 - autographed by Jacques Demers).
Anyway I've been living in Mississauga for 13 years and had lost touch with hockey because of the lack of Habs games.
This all got solved last year.
Starchoice offers RDS - if you get the HD package - you get access to RDS HD for no extra charge (You still have to channel subscribe to RDS for 3.99 a month I believe).
This gets me every Habs game in HD - but with French announcers - my French is really bad now after so long away.
I do have a Windows Media Center PC in the basement though (Wicked for childrens DVD's and Shows) - so I set that to stream the CJAD live webcast over the audio input to my stereo using VLC.
Problem is the audio from there is always a 12 seconds out of sync (roughly). So I have the VLC set to buffer 18 seconds or so which effectively delays the audio playback. I use VLC specifically because you can adjust the streaming delay in the shortcut to start the program as well as specific the URL. So all I need is a shortcut on the desktop to launch it all perfect.
Then on my sat receiver - which is a DVR530 - I pause the video playback till it says 30s delayed - and then play.
Bingo - perfectly synced RDS.HD Video + CJAD English Steam. Only downside is you can't flip channels around without having to resync the video by pause/playing again.
I also programmed my Harmony remote to set all this up automagically - so my wife can tune into the games if I am away. And I don't freak out if someone sits on a remote somewhere.
Watched every game last season - can't wait for the next one.
CBC and Cole can rot for all I care. Even if the CBC picks up more habs games - I will bet you the HD feed will most times be Toronto. I can't go back to watching in non-HD.
I highly recommend Star Choice - their HD package is great - and the DVR is great as well.
** Reposting cause it was bumped to third page by the time I thread replied.
Any chance you attended SLHS in the 70's?
lol - actually it was CCVS in the 80's :)
Cornwall's changed alot since you've been around last. Domtar gas been torn down, and the Seaway Bridge isn't far behind.
Actually my parents are still in Cornwall so I get pretty much weekly updates with photos of Domtar. My dad almost got arrested taking photos from that bridge for me.
Pretty weird seeing that skyline now for sure. Back when I was still working construction - one of my last jobs was putting in that white fence you see on 2nd street on the south side of the road where the big hill is by Domtar. Still standing and still straight as an arrow. :) Not for much longer though.
Keep your eyes open for a maroon pontiac minivan with that plate # :) That will be my dad. The new arena center sounds pretty exciting.
Can't wait to hear HNIC theme song played on RDS for CANADA'S hockey team, The fabulous Montreal Canadiens. Unfortunately for us living in Ontario, CBC AKA Leaf Broadcasting System will still show the Losers. Would be nice to hear Hughson call some of Canada's hockey team games here!
THN's Logo Rankings. Habs in 3rd.
http://thehockeynews.com/articles/17432-THNcoms-NHL-Logo-Rankings.html
How can your logo drop in rank? It didn't change. And the Detroit logo is one of the worst around. Don't know what it's doin up there.
Yeah the flyers should be up there.
Not to mention Detroit stole their logo from the 1st team to be awarded Lord Stanley's Cup: The Montreal Amateur Athletics Association (MAAA).
http://www.hollywoodcollectibles.com/autographed/memorabilia/sports/coll...
The number 21273 makes me smile.
RDS has taken over from HNIC CBC,as the best Hockey broadcast. That is why the big changes at the CBC. RDS is the most watched hockey broadcast in canada.
Phone your Cable co. and request RDS and make sure you mention to forward the request to their marketing dept and they will put RDS on if they get enough calls.
That is what they said to me this morning.
So start calling 1 800 267 9000
I'm going out and buying a fist full of lottery tickets. I've been praying for this move for over ten years and I think the Big Fella upstairs is finally listening to me. You know my numbers, Lord, hear my prayer, now that you got rid of the dyslexic, inbred Bob Cole and his half-witted, pinhead, suck-up buddy, Greg Millen.
I don't know about you guys, but nothing was more soul sucking than turning on my beloved Habs for the first game of the play offs this year and hearing that idiot Knob Hole say, "Hello Canada" in his strange (Some of you would say “hick, bumpkin or yokel”, but I'm not about offending the disenfranchised, the new DD is all about being politically correct) Newfoundland (formerly called "Newfie", by some insensitive bastards, me not being one of them) accent. (Before any of you complain about that this rant might be insensitive, I just want you to know that I actually have a close personal friend who is of the Newfanese persuasion and she has even sent me salt cod. So I know she likes me because that’s like gold to them people)
I love it that they stuck the moron twins with the losers, who wouldn’t know a good play-by-play man if you shoved him down their throats (like CBC has been doing to us with Cole for years) These guys think Foster Hewitt was a genius. Ever hear him say “Cournoyer”? I rest my case.
Before you celebrate too much, though, don't surprised if they bring Numnuts out of his pasture in loserville and stick it to us in the play offs again. I mean, this is the CBC.
Now you've gone and offended all us insensitive bastards!
Robert
Bet you never thought you'd find me on that side of the fence, eh?
Now the question is, how long until I'm exposed as the fraudulent $#it disturber I really am?
Masterful rant!
Thank you, Eric.
Now I'm waiting to hear from our Newfounese brethren. For some reason I have the feeling they might not be so enthusiastic about my 'salt cod' and 'bling' comparison.
DD, I'm not sure they will take it poorly. My family is from down east originally(N.B.) and if you were to replace the salt cod with lobster or clams I bet they wouldn't be phased by that comment.
To be honest, and at the risk of sounding too serious here, I think we'd all be better off if more people valued salt cod over 'gold'.
(Now having read some of the exchanges between you and Lee Hayes I suspect you might have a heyday with that comment. Go ahead call me a commie!)
Now I know why we seem to agree so much. My mother is a also a herring choker and my father is a bluenoser. I can just picture some ol'sea dog wearing a salt cod necklace. Actually, I was trying to get a re-action out of J.T. but she's a cagey one, that one.
Lee and I have fun with this "commie" rant, because I too, lived on the left coast for quite a while and have seen the pseudo-hippie culture up close and personal-like.
P.S. Being a unionized plumber, I'm probably a little more on the left wing than Tommy Douglas, but if you tell Hayes, I'll have to kill you.
Not to worry, I will keep it under wraps. That granola crunchin' wing nut will have to give me the patchouli torture test to squeeze a word out of me.
People with east coast roots do tend to find their kind in a crowd, don't they? I think it has something to do with a heightened ability to detect BS. The other thing is, if they are from a certain era, when a certain public broadcaster had their heads screwed on right, they tend to be Habs fans. Two important qualities in people.
Eric,
My maternal Grandfather, from the Mirimachi, was one of the wisest and funniest people I ever met. He had a saying for every occasion. He could cut through the BS in a second and have you rolling on the floor laughing while he was doing it. I don't think I need to add that he was a die-hard Habs fan as well.
My Dad's Mom was a Habs fan, she thought Jean Beliveau was a god. She gave me some really neat cards that the Habs used to send out to fans. I still have a Yvan Cournoyer card. It's funny though, because my Dad and older brother were both leaf fans when I was growing up. I had the time of my life riding those two incessantly. It was just too easy to bait them, especially during the ballard years.
They both have switched over to the sens now, which is why I believe most sens fans are leaf ex-patriots. Even Melnyk is a leaf fan who just came out of the closet.
Eric are you going to the Summit?
No one beats maritimers for sayings and stories. For the first ten years of my life we would drive from Montreal to Jacquet River N.B. every summer. I have such fond memories of just sitting around a group of aunts, uncles and friends and just listening to the stories and hearing them fly around non-stop. And everybody, even those that had moved to Ontario, were still Habs fans. That did change later but, I am not joking that I really didn't think anyone was a leaf fan back then.
I have read a few of your post about Sens fans and I agree they are awful. They are all so half-hearted, like the team, and in my experience they are drawn from ex-fans of several other, mostly Canadian, teams. Kind of like they are made up of the 'anybody but the Canadiens' crowd. Though one friend says he's a fan of both, yeesh.
As far as the summit goes I have a few things going on that are keeping me from being able to commit right now. But, I am thinking, if everything turns out well, I might make the trip and scalp a ticket if need be.
Oh yeah, I loved that story about Pete Mahovlich and Bowman you shared in the tread just before this one.
Yeah, I have a couple of friends who say they are both. What the &*%# does that mean, you either in or your out. Wishy washy candy asses.
The ones I have the most fun with, though, is the ones who say they used to Habs fans but they have to cheer for their home town now. Watch they'll be the first ones jumping on the bandwagon when we win again, especially now that the sens are on their way down. I always tell them that they were never real Habs fans because a real fan doesn't change, except maybe leaf fans.
Here's a good test I use. I always ask some one who says that they are Oilers or Islanders fans, and are old enough to remember the original six, who they cheered for before they switched to these teams. Nine out of ten will tell you that they were leaf fans. Although most of them have probably jumped to some other ship by now. (Usually the sens or the Wings) In my opinion, leaf fans are born rats ready to jump their sinking ships.
I hope you can make it down for the Summit.
Yeah, you could feel the bandwagon take on a heavier load last spring, it will continue to for the next few years I figure.
DD
You forgot the part about Millen holding Cole's drool cup.
.....and changed his depends during commercial breaks.