Wanted it more

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but every time Montreal pulls the goalie in the last few minutes of play to put on that extra forward, we never score. It’s always a heart break. And a couple times, the opponent scored on our empty net.

But yesterday, we pulled a Russia.

We were down 2-0 against the Bruins. Not just down 2-0... down 2-0 right up to the middle of the 3rd period.

Usually, the Bell Centre fans get mad at the team. Usually they leave. Or worse, they boo. But yesterday, they didn’t. I told @All_Habs that I had threatened them, but honestly, I didn’t have to. I’m guessing they knew how important yesterday’s game was. We were battling for the #1 spot in our division (it’s division, right?). Whatever... it’s a #1 spot in something AND it was against Boston (BOOOOO!!!). Yesterday, when we were down 2-0 in the bottom half of the third period... THEY CHEERED TO SUPPORT OUR BOYS!! Yup... they chanted encouragement. Lots of it.

The refs had already taken away one of our goals (I don’t care what anyone says, that goal was clean. There’s no way Darche touched it. Look at the puck trajectory.). And I had jumped on Gomez when Boston scored their second goal for not wanting it more. In my mind, Gomez had failed Price in that split second. But I’m not one to hate any of our players. And Gomez, in need of some significant redemption, found it. He fired it into the back of the Boston net, bringing us to 2-1. AND THE CROWD WENT WILD!!!!

It was amazing how the momentum changed when the idiot refs took away our first goal. The team was now focused and ready to take the baby home. With only 3 minutes left and an empty net, Captain Gio said, “Enough of this bullshit. I’m just gonna send this baby in.” ET LE BUT!!!! The game was tied. Oddly enough, this is usually when everyone starts singing Olé, but I didn’t hear it.

Cut to the first 10 seconds of overtime. Boston managed to find itself down one man to a penalty. I don’t know what happened to the Habs, but it was like they suddenly decided they were going to be the Harlem Globe Trotters. I screamed at them to stop the inane pinball action and just shoot the puck. But to no avail. Typical men weren’t listening to me. ;-)

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Patches stepped up his game and had what he called the biggest goal of his career thus far. It was a beautiful shot – one that would definitely NOT need to be reviewed. And, against all the naysayers and Habs haters, we beat the Bruins (who were 16-0-0 when leading, up to this point) in our giant phone booth. Le Centre Bell exploded (along with a bit of a brawl between Patches and Chara) and for the first time in a long time I could breathe. I never knew I could hold my breath for over 3 minutes. =P

Twitter Commentary:

Cammalleri: He left the ice after 3 shifts and didn’t come back. Some idiot tried to spread a rumour that his wrist was broken. “No joke, just heard from Cammy’s dad,” was the tweet. Then there were the others who said, “Why is everyone so upset that Cammy’s not coming back? He wasn’t producing anyways.” We don’t pay him $6M/year to not be on the ice. Maybe he’s in a slump and not producing on the ice, but if he’s NOT ON THE ICE, then FOR SURE he’s not going to be producing. If he’s at least on the ice, he has the opportunity. I’m not defending him. Because it’s obvious there’s something the matter with his game. But holy heck. He IS one of our star players, so no matter what kind of streak (or non-streak) he’s having, he’s absolutely no use to us if he’s not on the ice.

Picard: Yeah... so I really like his name and had high hopes for him just because it’s good to be able to cheer, “YES!! MAKE IT SO!!” But aside from being able to provide a good cheer, he hasn’t done much in the last few games. I wish I could say that he deserved this shot more than Weber, but I don’t think I can. Picard, feel free to prove me wrong. In fact, I’d like you to prove me and everyone else wrong. But until that moment comes, I think you should probably sit down.

Defence overall: I was not happy with you yesterday. I know everyone’s looking at Picard right now, but he’s not the only one who fell apart and left Pricey with nothing but maybe an over stretched groin muscle (well... it looked painful, even if it wasn’t). You cannot turn the puck over IN FRONT of the net. You’re getting better at winning the battles behind the net, but seriously... STOP GIVING THAT FUCKING PIECE OF RUBBER AWAY!

Plekanec: I just had one repeated tweet over and over again last night. Please stop being snakebit. Please. Please. PLEASE!!! I fully intend to buy a Plekanec jersey tomorrow (or the day after). DON’T MAKE ME REGRET IT!! Especially since the only other Habs jersey I own is a Patrick Roy jersey. There’s NO regret there. And the only other official jersey I have is Joe Sakic’s Team Canada jersey. I feel nothing but love when I wear those jerseys... so STOP BEING SNAKEBIT! I want to be able to wear yours with as much love as I wear theirs.

And that, my dear Habs, is what wanting it more looks like. Thank you, so very much, for finally wanting it as badly as the rest of us do.

GO HABS GO!!!