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!!!

Wanting it more

Reposted from Xanga

That’s what is missing. I was watching the World Juniors play hockey last night – USA vs Canada and I realized why it was a considerably less frustrating game to watch. It reminded me of why I was able to sustain myself with watching Olympic hockey every 4 years while I was on my NHL boycott over that stupid lockout. Because where they lack in skill, experience, or team chemistry (whatever you want to call it) they make up for it in passion. They just want it more.

As an NHL-er, what is it that you want? A better contract, good endorsement opportunities and to not get injured. Right? How do any of those things directly affect your play in an 82-game season? Not that much. Sure, everyone wants to win a Stanley Cup, but usually, by about the third month into the season, you already know whether or not your team has a reasonable shot at it. After which you coast, because your team either has no shot in hell or you’re in for sure. For fans, this sucks. How many nights do I have to yell at my computer (living in Ontario means often times, I am watching Habs games via an internet feed because I’m too poor/cheap to subscribe to RDS):

• WANT IT MORE!!
• WHY DON’T YOU FRIGGIN’ CARE?!?
• THEY PAY YOU MILLIONS TO DO THIS!!”

Sure, I understand that it’s hard to grind it out and want it as badly as an Olympic gold medal every single night, but surely three months (Dec-Jan-Feb) of non-stop apathy in the middle of the season cannot be considered acceptable.

Why do you think I love little Eller? It’s not because he’s really so superior to everyone else. He’s got great potential, and he’s got some pretty good moves (for a rookie), but that kid is all heart EVERY GAME – THE WHOLE GAME. Even when we’re down by two goals and we don’t have a hope in hell of actually winning (short of a miracle) he’s still there, all over the place, pushing as hard as he can… even after Cammy’s given up. And Cammy’s my *FAVOURITE* player, so the fact that I’m saying this means something.

For most teams, you’d think it’d be easy to keep the momentum going when you’re on a winning streak. Sadly, this was not the case for Montreal. We had two hot HOT HOT months and you know what happened? No one looked at why we were winning (Price was saving our asses with logic defying skill). Everyone was okay with just accepting that we were winning. And when a team relies so heavily on just one person, what happens? I don’t care how strong you think Pricey is mentally… carrying the team by yourself is no easy feat. If he gets injured, or worn out, or tired, or even a little deflated from one too many bad goals, we lose.

People are saying Price isn’t tired. People are saying it’s confidence. People have so many damned things to say but did anyone go and talk to our MIA offense? Yes, that last game we played was good for the offense in terms of shots on goal. And yes, Pricey did let in a pair of weak goals. But I would not be so quick to pelt Price with rocks. His stellar performance in October and November were not even remotely matched by ANY of our forwards. Who in our offense can you say performed as well in their job as Price did in his? Maybe Plekanec? Maybe him, but that’s it. How sad is it that in the last game we won, two of the three goals were scored by… a defenseman… one we JUST acquired? I’m not downplaying The Wiz’s value, but I AM highlighting our deficient offense.

I am one of those fans that loves the team no matter what. But I am not so blind as to be unable to see holes in our game. Call it Jacques Martin and “the system” if you want. Call it a division of malcontent amongst the ranks. Whatever. I’m an outcome-only kind of girl. I don’t really care how you go about getting it done, as long as you don’t break the rules (cuz cheating is just fucking wrong) and you get it done.

Our offense is not getting it done. For those blaming Price, maybe you need to be reminded that the Flyers didn’t get to the Stanley Cup finals on the back of stellar goaltending (oh, look who’s been put on waivers). Nor did the Blackhawks (Niemi who?). Even if Pricey posts a regulation shut out every single game that he plays, we simply cannot win if we can’t put the puck in the back of our opponents’ net.

I would love to see our PHD line (Pouliot, Halpern, Darche) put back together, but it’s a pretty sad state of affairs when I’m dreaming about the third line. Cammy needs to start scoring. Shooting into the goalie’s gut or sending stuff flying over the net is not typical Cammy. Maybe he’s got hang ups about not being captain. Maybe he’s got hang ups about Jacques not listening to him in the beginning when he said that he didn’t want his line (with Pleky and Kostitsyn) broken up. Maybe he’s not getting laid enough. I dunno… he’s just go to get over it and start showing us why we pay him $5M/year. Questions will be answered, eh? Well start answering them with, “I, Michael Cammalleri, SCORE GOALS FOR MONTREAL!”

Don’t get me started on Gomez. Just don’t.

Tomorrow, the Habs have another day of rest. Game day is Thursday. I’m not going to be unrealistic about anything, but I also don’t want to end up being the only one chanting blind love (as I have been of late to compensate for all the negativity) all the time. I love them no matter what, but let’s be realistic about how they’re performing, ok?

Habs, you really have to stop making it so damned difficult to love you! My love can withstand challenge, but every so often it DOES STILL NEED to be fed. Don’t let me down, eh?

YOU NEED TO WANT THAT WIN MORE!!!
Want it more, and we just may win the game.

GO HABS GO!!