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Media jackals dog Koivu ... again
posted by Mike Boone at 6h08 EST on Sep 5
The hardest working man in show business:
In his column today, François Gagnon writes about joining the RDS team, assures readers he will remain at La Presse on the beat and blogging. He'll be doing pre- and post-game reports for CTV-Montreal and will dissect games on the morning after with Radio-Canada's René Homier-Roy.
Whew! And he forgot to mention the Team 990.
• • •
• Christopher Higgins tells Pierre Durocher of the Journal he'll play centre if need be. Steve Bégin is looking forward to training camp and has a new neighbour on his south-shore street: Georges Laraque. In other real estate developments, Andrei Markov and Francis Bouillon have bought new houses in Candiac.
• In his Fox Sports column, Lyle Richardson – aka Spector – has a list of players whose names could turn up in trade rumours. No Canadiens mentioned.
• The Vancouver Canucks will retire Trevor Linden's number 16.
• David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail on Mats Sundin.
• Sidney Crosby becomes the youngest recipient of the Order of Nova Scotia.
• The Phoenix Coyotes don't want disgraced player agent David Frost monitoring propsect Adam Keefe at their training camp, Steve Simmons writes in the Toronto Sun.
• The Philadelphia brain trust thinks Simon Gagné will be 100 per cent this season.
• Scott Burnside on Scotty Bowman spending time with the Cup.
• In The Hockey News, Mark Moore – older brother of Steve and author of Saving the Game – on why there should be more NHL teams in Canada.
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Good ole Mr Gillett should hand koivu a nice contract sooner rather than later and shut these media jackels up.
Besides who plays the game!! The players not the writers......
When your boss hands you vacation time you take it the way you see fit. Koivu does so much for the Montreal community and kids. I'm sure he donated some money in his absense!
It's NEVER over til it's OVER!
Hi Dave,
Thanks for defending our captain and leader and one of the truly deserving heroes in the sporting world. He may not have a cup ring ...yet...but he is the ultimate role model and has touched lives in ways that we can't even begin to understand. Sakudeserved a response and I am very thankful that someone with your influence and stature in the media community would take it upon yourself to do the right thing. Kudos to all involved and a very welcome, refreshing piece on a person and hockey player who is beyond deserving.
If a highly paid professional athlete dogs it on the ice, mails in the effort or otherwise is a disgrace or an embarrassment to his team, then I've got nothing against calling him on it.
But for missing a golf tournament almost three weeks before training camp begins, so as not to leave a training program that's been undertaken for the good of the team? Please.
As I said in my column, I respect my Journal de Montréal friend Bertrand Raymond enormously. He's almost always a voice of reason in a sea of mindless comment made purely for the reaction it's intended to provoke. But I don't agree with Bert's criticism in this case.
One letter writer to me said that Koivu is a good captain but not of the calibre of most of his predecessors. I suggest that a captain's worth in Montreal extends far beyond his work on the ice.
And I loved this note, sent anonymously (of course) to me as a text message:
"Despite Anglomedia's Adulation Of Ragdoll Koivu, we Don't Want Him! G O H O M E And Get un Gars De Chez Nous!"
Dave Stubbs
Habs Inside/Out
Sports Feature Writer, Montreal Gazette
Un Gars de chez nous eh. Well Vinny didn't want to come. Briere didn't want to come.....Les Gars de Chez nous don't seem to want you either bub. We can all see why!!
"Give Koivu a Lifetime Contract"
Hear! Hear!
"Give Koivu a Lifetime Contract"
LE Journal de Montreal is a joke...maybe Dave or Mike should print a french version of their articles in the Gazette just so our french supporters can leave that excuse of a paper and read the gazette
---
We ride together
We die together
Habs Fans for Life!
Well said.
I love Koivu (as an athlete anyway) to death.
And I'm offended by these unjustly aggressive francophone "reporters".
Ex nihilo nihil fit
Hey Everyone,
I'm a big habs fan living in Toronto, just wondering if someone can tell me how much or how little fans in Montreal are influenced by the crap comming out of that french journal newspaper.
We aren't influenced by their garbage. (At least, I hope we aren't...I know I'm not!) It's just very sad, ridiculous, and laughable what these guys pull every year...
And I don't care what anyone thinks, I strongly believe #11 will rise to the rafters one day. Hey, if they can think about putting #33 up there, why shouldn't Koivu get that honour? (With or without Cups).
******
the notwithstanding clause - The general consensus of an ordinary Habs fan in Montreal
My god, could they quit bashing koivu???? it's like they don't have a life or something and that's all they think about..what dumbasses. look, koivu is obviously a good captain since he's been ours forever. he ,plays with heart and passion and he's the soul of our team. I don't see what you can not like about! god.
gohabzzzz
I'm still waiting for the day when the french media interviews Saku in Finnish.
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If a man speaks in a forest where no woman can hear him, is he still wrong?
Dave,
Excellent article and comments by you! Kudos for you to stick up and support our Captain!
I totally agree with you!
I am not a big fan of golf but am forced to play on the greens to wine and dine our clients at my firm where I work.
I have always believed golf is a rich man's sport or a sport you play when you retire.
Being raised by European born parents, European football (soccer) and hockey were my passion sports I played while I was young and still play both sports!
Players like Plekanec, the Kostitsyn brothers, Markov, Hamrlik, etc. not showing up at this stupid tournament the Canadiens put on every year shoould no be mandatory. What the hell for? They do not play golf period. I am sure they follow soccer more than golf during the off season. How many fans on this site follow soccer more than golf? Not many.
"We will win the Cup only with Carey Price in the nets"
No matter in which language it is spoken, if golf were any slower it would be called farming. man i hate that so called sport. Le Journal.. LEAVE MY CAPTAIN ALONE!! you anthropomorhic imbeciles. how do you say that in french?
"Les imbeciles anthropomorphique." Remember, half the English language has French roots, and they have all the best insults. Remember the French taunter in Monty Python and the Holy Grail? :)
Gilbert
2008/09 is the season of the Habs
Yes ,but with the BS coming out of their mouths how would they know if ?
LOL!! I so TOTALLY agree with you
Maybe someone should tell 110% that the univeral language of hockey is english. I would also rather have our euro guys training in their homelands vs having them break up their training regiments to come over for a golf tourney. I understand it is a charity tourney but maybe they should have it a couple of days before training camp starts instead of 2 weeks before. If it is a couple of days before camp starts, all the players will already be here. It makes sense to me anyway.
This is so dumb...are you kidding me??? As much as I would love to tell all our european-based athletes to leave their families early just to come play golf, I can't even justify saying it, let alone actually complaining about it.
This is stupid, and the fact that 110% is again making such a stink about something so DUMB reminds doesn't surprise me...they do have their reputations to maintain.
Saku is a saint...not to mention the heart and soul of the team....that Bertrand loser can kiss my hairy newfie a$$!!!
www.metroboards.com
Pardon my french but these same french media wretches at the JDM and 110% are the same ones who moan and groan why no free agents want to play in Montreal and then skewer Koivu for not showing up for a bloody golf tournament?
These guys need to give their heads a shake. And it's not an English/French thing either as they are equally despised by former french-speaking Montreal Canadiens as well. Vive la difference, eh?
If bullshit were electricity, 110% and the Journal de Montreal would be the equivalent of ten nuclear power plants.
Big Bird - Now your talking.
awesome comment
Haha! Now that last line is killer!
"Give Koivu a Lifetime Contract"
Very true, I agree 110% ;)
Well the puck doesn't even drop on training camp and Koivu is already creating a stir...Gotta love the Montreal media, both languages! I just want the hockey to start so we can have relevant topics to discuss.
But just for fun, imagine that the Habs win #25 this spring and Koivu is the driving force, leading the playoffs in scoring and winning the Conn Smythe. I bet the douche-bags at 110% would say his accomplishments were because of selfish play and Latendresse should have been the MVP with his 8 minutes per game.
I don't think they are anit-Koivu so much as they dislike the Habs. The Habs being a success, while the Nords bailed out, still smarts. Montreal isn't Quebec city, and Quebec city isn't Montreal. It isn't the team composition so much as the city and culture it represents. (Both of which are first class; not that they care)
If it isn't Koivu they will find something else to pick at. Some people are like that, and others listen. Just be glad they're not worming their way into the school system. All malcontents eventually decide to take their message to the youngest first, trying to get it in there as an unquestioned truth before reasoning and questioning is developed.
The day after Koivu retires, his jersey should be hanging from the rafters.
1. www.flickeringpictures.com - not a hockey site, but still kinda neat
2. Josh Gorges on Montreal's attack: "They're comin', they're comin' and they keep comin'. Just line after line, wave after wave..."
Does his home in Finland have rafters? 0 Cups.
Gilbert
2008/09 is the season of the Habs
Koivu won me over last playoffs, but the numbers just arent there.
30 Teams in 30 Days .. Illegalcurve.com .. Boston Bruins ..... http://www.illegalcurve.com/2008/09/04/30-teams-in-30-days-boston-bruins... ............................................................ Buffalo Sabres ..... http://www.illegalcurve.com/2008/09/05/30-teams-in-30-days-buffalo-sabre... ............................................. Vancouver Canuck's GM Gillis will play wait and see into November .. The Vancouver Province ..... http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sports/story.html?id=beb73199-04a...