To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high

If Alfie comes out like this, we're fucked!
And yes I know they're not Spartans.

Habs had a team meeting today and then an intense practice. Things were addressed, or vented, with video presentations, which is usually how Carbo works. It's important to get things off your chest or you'll just end up hating each other and that's one of the reasons why they don't go all gloomy after a loss and why the boys are so close. RDS has a lovely little insight into the mind of Sergei Kostitsyn, concerning his opinion on his former-friend Grabs. The kid never ceases to amaze me though. I knew bad blood must have spawned between them, but wow... Sergei says there's no I in TEAM!

And so, as Toronto apparently jumped the Remembrance Day thing (nothing wrong with that), the Ottawa Senators visit our humble abode. I've always had a soft spot for crazy idiot Jarkko. To the games!

Actual team news: Upon his 3rd open apology, the League has suspended Tom Kostopoulos for 3 games. Toronto media and random TSN peanut gallery trolls want his head, but get real, this is more than adequate for a guy who has no history of this and admits openly to his responsibilities. I have another problem with the League's decision though, but it's 2am and I better get some sleep. I'll leave it for another day. I will say this: I've not seen a player apologize like TK has, ever. All we ever hear is the famous "that's how the game is, I will hit you, keep your head up". Other players should take notes.

Swedes Play Hockey in Giant Golf Balls

I know this isn't about the Habs but it was a lazy Sunday and I had nothing else to do but flip channels. Oh, I did some laundry actually. That's always good to do. Anyway, the Sens and Pens were playing overseas in what looked like a giant golf ball or a crashed Death Star and I thought "Hey! It's hockey! I don't like either team but Fleury is a funny guy so maybe I'll watch it and drink some tea."

Ya, um... Hartsburg? Is that your new tactic to getting the Sens to play hard by having everyone all over the place? Whatever works for you, man.

Also noticed Therrien has the Pens playing just like he had the Canadiens play. In other words: badly. Have fun with Fedotenko and Satan.

In other news:
The Hamilton Bulldogs beat the Toronto Marlies and won the Iceberg Cup from some preseason mini tournament thing, and Desharnais got MVP. And for the record, I really hope the Habs give this little guy a serious look one day. He may be small but he's damn good!

Habs 5, Sens lose, I get a free game

Best preseason game ever? And I thought listening to Les Boys beat the Wings with a shootout and a greenhorn in nets was exciting! Of course it's extra special for me because this was my first live game ever. I have never seen the Canadiens play except on tv. I can't really count that Old Timers game either. All I remember about that: it's was boring, I saw Lafleur, it was in the Forum. Of course I've been inside the Bell Center, when it was called the Molson Center. Had my graduation on the ice. Saw the Tragically Hip and the Rheostatics play live. For a hockey game? Let's just say you don't know live hockey games until you've gone to the Bell Center.

How do we start off? Warm up skate, the crowd's cheering, the music is rocking. Start of the game, a full house is signing the anthem loud and proud. (Suck on that, Bloc). Then the boys warmup in the first, and proceed to slaughter the competition with a 5-0 shutout. As mentioned before, I have my tickets in the Grey section, which is actually a bit higher than the banners. I'm literally in the rafters. However the view is just phenomenal. Here I was thinking I'd need a radio to understand what was going on, or would need altitude pills. But no, players are a good visible size and I can ever see their numbers and almost read their names. Even though it's a preseason game, the whole place was electric. To Montreal, every game counts.

Here are some of my impressions of tonight's performance:
- Halak really needs to work on his puck handling... Oh my god, it got to the point where every time he wandered out I was cringing, hoping nothing bad would happen. (Usually missed the pucks anyway). Other than that, looked better in nets, didn't go down too early in the butterfly this time, though the few shots he faced were mostly pretty easy to save anyway.
- Desharnais won a lot of faceoffs from what I could see. (63% according to the stats, highest on the Canadiens side, who are usually pretty bad at faceoffs anyway). I like this little guy! He buzzes round, gets to the net, gets into the play. And he's 5'5".
- D'agostini, equally impressed, NHL ready and will probably get called up more.
- Pacioretty was also impressive. Will definitely need to be seriously considered next year should his AHL experience go well.
- Weber is Streit 2.0
- Stewart almost had another fight in the same place he pummeled McCabe. He was good too. If he's not on the team by opening night, definitly one of the first to come up, should definitely be on the roster permanently next year (unless something happens).
- Kovy was playing but look strained, hopefully he can work that minor injury out. But he still pulled the moves! Denfensive ones too!
- Alex Henry doesn't really play, he just fights. Would be happy in Philly.
- P.K Subban played a pretty good game until he got into a big fight (and whoever was the loser that started a fight with Subban, congratulations, you just got OWNED by an OHLer), and then was off the rest of the night. It was weird, but I saw he knew it. He looked pretty frustrated with himself everytime he gave the puck away. But he's young, he'll only benefit from the experience.
- Tom Kostopoulos rocks.
- O'Byrne was good tonight too. More diciplined. No penalties from what I can remember.
- Josh Gorges is great! Wow. Seriously, thank you Rivet!
- The Kostitsyns were on fire, Plekanec too.
- I will continue to call Spezza "Sputza". Reverse midos touch on this guy. It's an observation that has continued from last year's playoffs and IIHF games.
- Heatley was also playing, but I didn't really notice.
- SENS SUCK 5~~~O~~~ (That's what the guys behind me were yelling).

There's a new goal song too. No more U2 "Vertigo". I don't like Simple Plan, but hey, at least it's a Montreal band so the stupid press can shut up about it. Thank god it's not Arcade Fire (zzzzzzzzzz). I couldn't really hear the lyrics, just the music, but it's apparently specially written for the team. It works well with everyone screaming. Very rocking .

And the new scoreboard is lovely.