These Habs are History

By Launy "The" Schwartz

I learned a long time ago that you can’t just focus on the negative, so let me start by validating the Montreal Canadiens. You made it further than anyone thought you would (including good ol' Schwartzy) in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

You beat the mighty Washington Capitals, causing their missing toothed Russian dynamo, Alex Ovechkin to feel a Siberian-like chill.

For an encore, the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins fell as well, leaving Sidney Crosby to wallow in his own pool of tears.

Finally after, accomplishing these historic feats, another team that made the books came along and put an end to the good stuff, the 2009/10 Montreal Canadiens.

Wait... what!?

I’m not ignoring the fact that the Flyers also carved their name into the annals of time with their comeback from a three and ‘o’ deficit against the Boston Bruins. The men in orange played some great hockey, and that momentum carried over to the Eastern Conference Final.

But, with all due respect to the Philadelphia Flyers, it was the Habs that beat themselves.

Many pundits will point out that Philly is bigger, and they out-muscled the oft-mentioned mini-Montrealers.

Well, count me out of that group because that’s just too easy.

Sure Chris Pronger casts a shadow at the other end of the building, but guys like Daniel Briere, Mike Richards, and Claude Giroux manage to hide in there long enough to create some offence.

The Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge relied far too much on ‘Captain’ Mike Cammalleri, and Brian ‘The Giant’ Gionta – who plays like he’s 7 ft. tall – to score all the goals.

All the while, someone should have reminded Tomas Plekanec, Benoit Pouliot, and Scott Gomez that the little black piece of rubber goes in the net, not just around it.

Besides game three, these Habs ignored the basics, which is often what wins games.

Most of you will say they outshot the Flyers, and Michael Leighton was outstanding.

If that makes you sleep easier at night, then bottle that up and sell that to the insomniacs out there. I’ll stick with NyQuil.

When shots from the perimetre, with no one in front of the net to collect the garbage is the norm, you may as well gift wrap the game and hand it to the opposition.

Knowing Philadelphia, don’t count on a thank you card. Infinity is a long time to wait.

Speed wins hockey games, and the Canadiens… ummm… they… ummm… were slower than the Flyers?

Yes sir.

Those big bad boys of brotherly love won every battle to the puck and the Habs paid the admission to watch every time.

I am proud of what the Montreal Canadiens accomplished in these Stanley Cup Playoffs. At the same time, sucking up that pride is awfully tough considering that they made history on many levels.

And the one piece of history that hurts the most, is that this is the first decade in 100 years that Stanley is not coming to town.