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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

GIONTA HAS BEEN NAMED THE CANADIENS NEW CAPTAIN

































Today in Montreal, the Canadiens have named a captain and his name is  Brian Gionta and they named the 2 alternates who are Andrei Markov and Hal Gill. Gionta is the Habs 28th Canadiens captain in 101 years of  history. But there has been a twist in the tail. Gionta is the 2nd American born captain of Montreal. The only other player in Habs history that was from America that was the Habs captain was Chris Chelios. But like the Canadiens had said at there golf tournament "we don't talk politics." Not like it matters where he's from as long as he deserves to be the captain. "He does deserves it," said teammate Scott Gomez. "He's a hard worker, he's great with the young guys, he's great with (the media)."

The Habs last captain was Saku Koivu (second longest captain in Habs history) now the Habs captain is Gionta."It's one of the most storied franchises in the league. It's obviously quite an honour,” said Gionta. “I'm real excited about it, but obviously, with all the guys, the hall of famers who have come through here, it's pretty special.”

After going through the Habs first season with out a captain the Canadiens will have high hopes for Gionta so is there some added pressure on him?"I don't think it's any added pressure. You just go out and play. I'm just a quiet guy. I just go about my business. I do things by example, I guess. I'm not the rah-rah guy. I just try to work hard and compete for my teammates," Gionta said. Last season Gionta lead Montreal in goals last season with 28 goals and he was 4th on the team in points (46). Gionta will make his debut as Captain sometime this week.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

NHL Pre-Season game 5: PRICE LEADS THE CANADIENS TO A VICTORY


















(3-1-0) Florida Panthers 2-6 Montreal Canadiens (3-2-0)
                                       Final

Last night in Montreal, it's only Pre-season but Carey Price needed to prove himeself and he did just that as the Canadiens roll over the Panthers with a 6-2 win. In the win Carey Price made 19 saves on 21 shots."They were very supportive," said Price of the Habs  fans in attendance. "It makes things way easier, easier on me and easier on my teammates." In the win, the goal scorers for Montreal were Plekanec (who had 2 goals and he scrored a nice rap-around goal), Spacek,Pyatt,White and Cammalleri. As for the Panthers, Booth and Weiss scored in the loss and Vockoun made 20saves on 22 shots and his reaplacement Markstrom made 9 saves on 13 shots.

But the Big story in this game was Price for a good reason. Price had a good game probaly his best game since his rookie year. This game was a big win for him to get his convidence back since he hadn't won a regular season game since November 2009.  Now Price can celebrate the win but the day that he can really break that drout will be on October 7th against Toronto (the first regular season game)."We all wanted to play better and not have what happened in Ottawa snowball," said Price. "I felt the same as I did in Ottawa, but we played better." The Habs next game will be on Thursday aginst Buffalo.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Monday, September 27, 2010

CANADIENS CUT 18 PLAYERS FROM 2010-2011 ROSTER

Leblanc (in picture above) is 1 out of the 18 players Cut from the Canadiens 
















Today in Montreal, the Canadiens announced that they had cut 18 players and 2 out of those 18 are the Habs last 2 top draft picks named Leblanc and Tinordi (who will not report to Hamilton but will go back to there own junior teams). Leblanc will go back to the QMJHL and Tinordi will go back to the OHL. The other 16 players that were cut will report to Hamilton tomorrow.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Here are the 16 players assigned to Hamilton:

Goaltender (1)
Robert Mayer

Defensemen (7)
Neil Petruic
Kyle Klubertanz
Brendon Nash
Frédéric St-Denis
David Urquhart
Sébastien Bisaillon
Marc-Antoine Desnoyers

Forwards (8)
Alexander Avtsin
James T. Wyman
Jimmy Bonneau
Andrew Conboy
Dany Massé
Olivier Fortier
Ian Schultz
Aaron Palushaj
The Canadiens Injury List:

Curtis Sanford (lower body)
Andrei Markov (knee)
Roman Hamrlik (knee)
Hunter Bishop (upper body)
Max Pacioretty (upper body)
Ryan Russell (lower body).

Pre-season Game 4: CANADIENS BEAT THE WILD 4-3
















(0-3-1) Minnesota Wild 3-4 Montreal Canadiens (2-2-0)
                                      Final

Last night in Montreal, it was game 4 of the Habs pre-season which came against the Wild. The game started off fast pasted. With shots (from both teams) coming from everywhere. But The goalies stood tall until the 10th minute when Engqvist  scored to give Montreal the lead. But 4 minutes later the Wild would respond with a goal from Clutterbuck. It was a tie game going into the second period. In the second, the Habs would score 3 unanswerd goals in less than 2 minutes fromWhite, Boyd and Nash to take a 4-1 lead going into the 3rd. In the 3rd, the Wild would score 2 more goals but it wouldn't be enough as the Habs win 4-3.

"Max said early in the first period to keep playing off each other and keep feeding off each other and we'll used that energy to keep playing," White said. "He played awesome, going to the net hard and making plays. When he plays like a big man out there he's tough to stop." In the win Alex Auld made11 saves on just 15 shots. "We were terrible in the first two periods," said Minnesota's Matt Cullen. "We have to do something in our last two exhibition games before we go to Finland. We've got to get it together." The Habs next game will be tonight against the Panthers on RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Thursday, September 23, 2010

PRICE TELLS FANS TO "RELAX"

















Today in Montreal, Carey Price spoke to the media about last nights fans and he told the fans something they have to learn."Relax, chill out, we have lots of time. We're not winning the Stanley Cup on the first exhibition game," he said about the fans booing him last night at the Bell Centre. "I don't know what (the fans') message was but I don't think it's the correct way to go about things." This summer the Habs chose to go with Price over there playoff hero Jaro Halak. Due to that, every mistake Price makes will be noticed because they will compare him to Halak's playoff performance. For example, Price didn't play his best last night as he gave up 4 goals on 10 shots. So the fans took exception to that and they Jeered and Booed him. But it's not right. The fans aren't doing the Canadiens and Price any good by booing.

"Wherever I go in the city, people are very courteous," Price added. "Nobody's ever come up to me and said, 'You suck' to my face. I don't think anybody would ever do that. It's just that when you get in a crowd, people are a lot more brave." Price will have a chance to prove that he can play on October 7th which is the Habs first game that counts so he will look to make the most of it when that day comes.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

FANS BOO PRICE IN 4-2 LOSS TO THE BRUINS


Last night in Montreal, it wasn't the way you would want to start the season if you were Carey Price. Price was booed by the fans after giving up 4 goals on 10 shots in a 4-2 loss. Price was even jeered after making a save. But what is this all for? It's only Pre-Season. "We all got his (Price) back and we're all supporting him," said Habs forward Mike Cammalleri. "No one in here is booing him, so if everyone wants to identify with this team, we're all supporting him so jump on board." Price had nothing to say to the media after the game. But what his teammates said speak for himself. " Everyone here is frustrated with it," Gill said about the Hab fans booing Price." But we can't go and fight the fans were having a hard enough time fighting the Bruins."

Curtis Santford came in at the 10 minute mark of the second period to reaplace Price. At that moment the score was 4-0 but Sanford didn't give up a goal as he made 7 saves. In the loss, M. Lapierre and T. Plekanec scored for Montreal. As for the Bruins, Rask made 38 saves on 40 shots in the win. As you can tell by the shot totals it was all Montreal but they couldn't beat Rask."I felt good but I don't feel the same as I would after 20 games. It's not a shutout, but I've got be happy. Not many mistakes,"Rask said.

The Habs next game will be on Friday against the Senators on RIS (not RDS) at 7:30pm E.t.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

LEBLANC TO MAKE HABS DEBUT AT THE BELL CENTRE


Today in Brossard Quebec, Habs head Coach Jacques Martin announced the Habs starting lineup for the Habs first pre-Season game. One of the big names that is involved in that list is Louis Leblanc. Leblanc was drafted in 2009 by the Montreal Canadiens 18th overall but now it's his time to shine and the Funny thing is he's not Nervous.“I don’t feel nervous. I’ll rest up today and I won’t spend too much time thinking about the game tomorrow. I’m not going to change my preparation; I’ll just keep doing what I always do,” he said. “I’m really excited to play my first game with the Canadiens. I have an amazing opportunity in front of me here. I worked hard at rookie camp before getting to the big camp and I think that being part of the lineup tomorrow is a reflection of that.”The puck drop for the Canadiens first Pre-season game (Vs Boston) will be at 7:38 pm E.t and 4:38pm Pt on RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

The roster for Wednesday night's opener against the Bruins:

Goalies: Carey Price and Curtis Sanford

Defencemen: Jaroslav Spacek, Josh Gorges, Hal Gill, Yannick Weber, Jarred Tinordi, Frédéric St-Denis.

Forwards: Tomas Plekanec, Michael Cammalleri, Benoit Pouliot, Maxim Lapierre, Travis Moen,Tom Pyatt, Jeff Halpern, Louis Leblanc, Gabriel Dumont, Aaron Palushaj, Benjamin Maxwell,Andrew Conboy.

Scratches from Team A: Ian Schultz, Olivier Fortier, Sébastien Bisaillon, Dave Urquhart.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

NOT FRENCH ENOUGH?


Today at the Habs golf tournament, the leader of the Parti Quebecois named Pierre Cruiz thinks the Montreal Canadiens don't have enough players that speak french."I can tell you we don't talk about politics in the dressing room,"Molson (Habs owner) Said. "We are in the hockey business and not into politics." The Habs have only 3 french speaking Canadien players and only 2 of them are from Quebec. But it doesn't seem to be a problem for the french speaking Canadiens. "It would be nice to have players from our city. But we are here to be the best hockey team on the ice. So I don't think it matters," Lapierre said. This debated all started from the Habs website front page.(Shown in picture below).



When you go to the Canadiens site and it says we are Canadiens it's kind of offensive when they only have one french player on there team.Why don't you put only 1 English speaking player on Toronto and see how they react,"Pierre Cruiz said. These Quebecers will never learn. They have to understand that it's not like it use to be. There is only 4% of quebec players in the NHL. Back 30 years ago there was 40%. So it's much tuffer to get a team full of frenchmen. Just because there not born in Quebec doesn't mean anything. So they will have to live with it. Anyway, the Fans don't have a problem with it. So why are we talking about this?"There's no magic number,"Molson said. "What matters to us that we know that we're doing our job in identifying Quebec talent, in being better than other teams in mapping out stars that come from this province, and trying to make them fit into our medium- to long-term plan."

Written By Andrew Di Pardo
Quotes courtesy of CTV

Friday, September 17, 2010

Report:GIONTA'S GOING TO BE THE CAPTAIN?


Today in Montreal, the headlines were all about the captaincy which according to Francois Gagnon of the Montreal newspaper "La Presse" has been solved. This writer states that Brian Gionta is going to be the Habs captain. But there's one problem, Gionta knows nothing about it."No talks, just what you guys have heard with Mr. (GM Pierre)Gauthier last week, saying that a captain will be named," Gionta said. "I woke up this morning to the newspaper, just like you guys did." When Gionta was asked if it would be a Honor to wear the "C" he said:"
"It would be an honour, obviously.I'd be honoured to be considered, but it's nothing I've thought about too much. "

Canadiens head coach Jaques Martin also spoke about the captaincy and he said it's still undecided."When it comes to selecting a captain, we will continue our process, but what I think is most important is that you have to address your players first and we will continue our interviews with the players and then before the first game, we'll announce who the captain will be," Martin said. But say if Gionta were to officially be named captain his teammates would approve."If it is Brian, that's great," said forward Mike Cammalleri. "You can look at his leadership on the ice and the way he plays the game, his work ethic and he's well liked by his teammates. There are a lot of good assets that would make Brian a good captain."

"If it is true, he deserves it," said teammate Scott Gomez. "He's a hard worker, he's great with the young guys, he's great with (the media)." Brain Gionta lead Montreal in goals last season with 28 goals and he was 4th on the team in points (46). If Gionta's named the Habs 28th captain he will be the first American Captain in Habs history. If you look at the Habs captains of the past you will see that 26 out of the 27 captains were Canadian's and only one was European and that player was the Habs most recent captain named Saku Koivu. But if Gionta is the first American Born Captain it wouldn't be a big deal because he is a veteran who has experiance by winning Stanley Cups and he's a great leader.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

58 PLAYERS INVITED TO TRAINING CAMP



SOURCE:Canadiens de Montréal (Canadiens.NHL.com)

The list of players invited to training camp includes 6 goaltenders, 18 defensemen and 32 forwards.

Training Camp Schedule (September 17-21)
Please find below the schedule for the first five days of training camp. The Canadiens will play their first preseason game on Wednesday, September 22, against the Boston Bruins, at the Bell Centre.

September 17
Medicals and Physical Testing

September 18
Practices, groups A-B 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Game A vs B 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Practice, group C 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

September 19
Practices, groups A-C 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Game A vs C 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Practice, group B 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

September 20
Practices, groups B-C 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Game B vs C 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Practice, group A 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

September 21

Practices, groups A-B 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Scrimmages
Canadiens fans are invited to attend all practices at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard, starting on September 18. Fans will have access to the stands for the scrimmages on September 18-19-20.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

INJURY'S ALREADY?


Today in Montreal at the Bell Centre complex, it was day 2 of the Habs rookie camp and Players have already caught the injury bug. As Habs new comer Lars Eller (aquried in the Halak trade) has a lower-body injury, Hunter Bishop has an upper-body injury and Andrew Conboy has a lower-body injury. Don't forget Andrei Markov also has an Torn-ACL from game 1 of the round 2 of the playoffs which will keep him out till January. I don't think Markovs injury will give the Habs problems. But those 3 players that got hurt at trainning camp are now at the risk of not making the Habs roster. So if those players get back before the end of camp they may have to work the hardiest so they have a chance at making the team.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Monday, September 13, 2010

A NEW CAPTAIN IN MONTREAL?



Today in Montreal, Canadiens Gm Pierre Gauthier announced that there will be a captain in Montreal by the Habs first regular season game."There will be a captain before the season starts," Gauthier said. "There has been a process developing an identity for the club last season and the further we advanced (in the playoffs), the more people stepped in - it wasn't just a select group of players. We're going to get the end of the process before the start of the first (regular season) game." But now the question is who will it be. According to sources the contenders to be the Habs next captain are Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri and Andrei Markov (who turned down the captaincy request last season). The last time Montreal had a captain was in the 08-09 season his name was Saku Koivu who currently plays for the Anaheim Ducks.

Koivu was the Habs captain for 9 seasons (2000-2009 the Habs second longest captain), and he spent a total of 14 seasons with Montreal. He had 191 goals and 450 assist in 792 games with Montreal. But back on the subject of the Habs NEW CAPTAIN, I believe a captain in Montreal will help them succeed in the Playoffs based on the Habs leadership from the Captains in the past. Anyway, Habs Gm Pierre Gauthier didn't only talk about leadership but he talked about the Habs future which he believes is going to be a great one."Last year's process developed an identity for our club," he told reporters. "We felt stability was going to be important. We wanted to solidify and keep our core of players. We have a better knowledge of who we are and what we can accomplish."

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Sunday, September 12, 2010

2010 OFFSEASON RECAP


CONTRACTUAL STATUS
Under contract Years left Signing date
Scott Gomez 4 years 6/30/2009
Michael Cammalleri 4 years 7/1/2009
Brian Gionta 4 years 7/1/2009
Tomas Plekanec 6 years 6/22/2010
Andrei Kostitsyn 1 year 7/1/2008
Travis Moen 2 years 7/7/2009
Max Pacioretty 1 year 1/2/2009
Mathieu Darche 1 year 6/22/2010
Tom Pyatt 1 year 6/28/2010
Benoit Pouliot 1 year 6/28/2010
Andrei Markov 1 year 5/28/2007
Roman Hamrlik 1 year 7/2/2007
Hal Gill 1 year 7/1/2009
Jaroslav Spacek 2 years 7/1/2009
Josh Gorges 1 year 7/9/2008
Ryan O'Byrne 1 year 7/16/2008
PK Subban 2 years 5/13/2009
Dustin Boyd 1 year 7/1/2010
Alex Auld 1 year 7/1/2010
Curtis Sanford 1 year 7/1/2010
Frédéric St-Denis 1 year 7/1/2010
Maxim Lapierre 1 year 7/13/2010
Carey Price 2 years 9/2/2010

Unrestricted free agents Status
Glen Metropolit 2 years / Switzerland
Dominic Moore 2 years / Tampa Bay
Marc-Andre Bergeron

Paul Mara

Dan Ellis 2 years / Tampa Bay

31 players will take part in Habs rookie camp


Today in Montreal, Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin announced that 31 players will be taking part in the Canadiens Rookie camp. Some big names for the Habs future will be there like Yannick Weber, Louis Leblanc, Lars Eller, Ben Maxwell, Max Pacioretty,P.k Subban and the list goes on and on. But the one big name that won't be there is Jason Missian who is expected to be in the next 5 years the Habs backup goalie. But don't worry Habs fans just because he's not at training camp doesn't mean he won't be a Hab in the future.It should be an exciting camp which will begin this Friday in Montreal at the Bell Centre Complex. Gates are open to the public.So you can go watch the future stars.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Players attending:

Forwards
Alexander Avtsin
Hunter Bishop
Jonathan Brunelle
Andrew Conboy
Gabriel Dumont
Lars Eller
Andreas Engqvist
Olivier Fortier
Brendan Gallagher
Louis Leblanc
Philippe Lefebvre
Dany Massé
Ben Maxwell
Max Pacioretty
Aaron Palushaj
Ian Schultz
Dustin Walsh
Ryan White

Goalies
Robert Mayer
Nicolas Champion
Peter Delmas
Defensemen
Sébastien Bisaillon
Marc-Antoine Desnoyers
Morgan Ellis
Kyle Klubertanz
Brendon Nash
Frédéric St-Denis
Joe Stejskal
P.K. Subban
Jarred Tinordi
Yannick Weber

Thursday, September 9, 2010

HABS SIGN HALPERN TO A 1 YEAR DEAL


Today in Montreal, Canadiens Gm Pierre Gauthier announced that he had signed forward Jeff Halpern to a 1 year contract. The terms of this deal was not realesed.“As soon as Montreal showed interest, I was pretty excited. To be able to put on that jersey and play in that city for that team is a tremendous honor,” said Halpern. “I’ve played in the NHL for a long time, but I’m probably more excited for this than I’ve been at any point in my career. It’s a special feeling to join this organization." Halpern will wear number 15 this season with Montreal. He wanted to wear number 11 but Gomez took the number so he chose number 15.

Halpern spent the 09-10 season with Tampa Bay Lightning and the Los Angeles Kings and he played 71 games. In those 71 games he had 9 goals and 10 assist (19 points in total). He will be a big part of the Habs 3rd line.“I’ve played in some of the most southern cities with great weather and great organizations, but I’m a bit of a hockey nerd,” admitted Halpern. “I love being around it and I love when people are talking hockey and they’re kind of breathing the sport so the chance to play in that environment is a special thing for me.”

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Saturday, September 4, 2010

CANADIENS SIGN CAREY PRICE TO A 2 YEAR $5.5 MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT


Today in Montreal, Habs Gm Pierre Gauthier announced that he has signed Carey Price to a 2 year $5.5 Million dollar contract. “We are extremely happy that Carey has agreed to pursue his career with the Canadiens. Carey is a key member of our Club. He has proven that he has what it takes to be a good goaltender in the league, and we are confident he will perform to the best of his abilities for years to come in a Canadiens uniform”, said Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier. Carey Price played 41 games last season and he had a record of 13-20-5 with 2.77 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. Price also apeard in 4 playoff games but he didn't pick up a win.

“For me personally, I know I have to play better. I’m not putting the onus on anybody else,” confirmed Price. “It’s something I’m going to have to do and we’re going to have to do it as a team. We’re all going to have to play well in order to win and I personally want to play better.Last year was definitely challenging for me,” continued Price.It’s never easy not to play, but being able to learn lessons like that at a young age definitely helped. This past season, I learned that ice time isn’t just given to you; it’s earned.” Price will be looking just like he said to have a bounce back year. He would like to see more wins,less losses and a few shutouts. He will be hoping to have a year like he had in his rookie campain when he led the Habs to 1st place in the East.

“I feel great. I’m really excited to be back. It took a little longer than expected, but I’m just happy to have the deal done before heading back to Montreal,” Price said. “This year is a brand new start and I’m looking forward to getting into it.” You can expect Price to have a great season this year.
Written By Andrew Di Pardo

HALAK RETURNS TO MONTREAL FOR AUTOGRAPHS


Today in Montreal, former Habs goaltender returned to Montreal for farewell autographs."It's really surprising, but it's nice that many people showed up," Halak said. "It feels weird, but I have great memories here and that's why I wanted to say thank you to the fans." Halak signed items from Hockey sticks to Canadiens Jerseys just so he can say a good bye to his fans."I'm sad I was traded, but I'm happy I will get a chance to play and be a No. 1 goalie," he said. "I was surprised, but I'm happy they got me. They showed me respect. I'm looking forward to it. It's a new challenge, new team, new friends."

Halak was traded to St.Louis on June 17th and was signed to a 4 year $15 million dollar contract on July 6th.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo