Poor Andie and stupid journalists with a personal mandate

Hi guys! First I want to thank all the folks who took time to email me telling me that I am right and Mitch is wrong. No better way to start the day! I won't draw out this topic but I do think that my point was slightly misunderstood by Mitch and Pierre. I am the last person to focus on the negative regarding the Canadiens. I agree that Carey Price is a great goalie, future of the Habs etc.. but lets not get ahead of ourselves.. we should be just as critical of his play as we are of Cristobal Huet. Thats all.

That being said; as much as I appreciate the emails talking about how hard Mitch is on me sometimes, one of the great things about Mitch is that you can have a heated discussion/disagreement with him and nothing is ever personal. I enjoy the challenge of working with Mitch, if nothing else he keeps me on my toes and expects nothing but the best from the people he works with and tries to do the best possible show every single day. Don't feel too bad for me. I'm scrappy, I can take it.

Another topic I don't want to dwell on but I have to mention is the yearly visit from the TVA contingent showing up at practice and wasting everyones time with inane questions to Saku Koivu and Coach Carbo. First of all it would be lovely if these bozos had enough class to remain quiet after they get their xenophobic questions out of the way for the rest of Carbos press conference. I know its a lot to ask, but you just made all the reporters sit in the room while you beat a dead horse for 10 mins the least you could do is not screw up the rest of our audio with sounds of you taking down your camera, dropping tapes then conversing with your token English speaking (barely) reporter you brought along while Carbo is still talking. Second of all if it is such a cinch to learn a new language, why don't you learn some English? I love the irony of a uni-lingual French speaker telling another Bi-lingual person that they should learn French. ARRG! And they wonder why young people are leaving Quebec. Its no mystery to me. We are fed up with this. I love being Bi-lingual. It is truly an asset for anyone but its a choice. Even for the Captain of the Canadiens. He owes you nothing more than giving his all on the ice and being a good leader for his team.

Am I missing something here?

Well despite the fact that lovely listener 'lynch mob' enjoys commenting on my blog about how I should stick to 'weather and traffic' I will risk embarrassment once again and write about sports. And BTW Lynch Mob- Rod does traffic and weather. I do sports updates.

So after yesterdays practice that had 5 guys wearing the dismal gray jerseys we arrive today at practice to find that not only will Guillaume Latendresse sit this one out but so will Steve Begin. STEVE BEGIN??? The guy who is throwing himself in front of pucks in the pre-season? Steve Begin the guy who is sporting a chrome dome for a young fan going through chemo that he doesn't want to feel like an outcast? Steve Begin the heart of the team that leaves it all out on the ice every single time he laces them up?
I understand that Begin is not the number one point getter on the team but he has certainly not been a disappointment after 3 games of the regular season. And if there was something that Carbonneau saw that he did not like does Begin not merit a least a sit down for some constructive criticism before he rides the pine?
Begin found out he was not playing this morning by showing up at practice and noticing that his name was conspicuously absent from the wipe-off board.

After Carbonneau pointed out in the off-season that communication was one of the areas of his coaching style that needed improvement it is a bit surprising that a Canadiens workhorse would not get a personal word from the coach before hand that may have made the disappointing news a bit easier to swallow.

And here is why I love Begin. His response: 'I am going to do whatever I have to do to make sure that this never happens again.' Now that is a player you want on your team.

Where will the Habs finish

I am not going to pretend that I am enough of a hockey analyst to accurately rate how the eastern conference is going to shake out before even 1 game of the regular season is played. What I do know is that there is more to a team than a power-forward or a bona fide enforcer. For me successful teams usually have more to do with how the players jive together than individual strengths. I am calling the Canadiens to finish 7th and I feel justified in doing so because:

-The Habs missed the playoffs last year by a mere 2 points and they managed that with; the Samsanov soap opera, questionable goal-tending that got them down early far too often, a team wide flu, the Kovalev factor, Higgins injury, and a defense that let WAY too many goals make it to the goalie.

-Carbonneau will be better this year

-5 on 5 will be better (can't be much worse)

-Carey Price. Carey Price. Carey Price.

-Red Fisher called it and he knows everything.

As to where everyone else will finish I know the Flyers got way better but they lost 48 GAMES LAST SEASON! So I'll go:

1. Ottawa, have to admit Spezza, Alfredsson & Heatley pretty much kick ass
2. Carolina-can't downplay experience
3. Pittsburgh- If Crosby can pull his panties up
4. Flyers- they will be so amazed to not suck they'll finish strong
5. Sabres- I loved them last year...despite losing Briere and Drury they still have a lot of talent in Pominville, Afinogenov, Connolly etc..
6. Rangers- Avery is far too annoying to put them above 6th
7. Canadiens
8.Leafs- barf but hey it makes sense.

I have no clue about the west but I am rooting for the Red Wings cause they took Aaron Downey and he plays the game cause he loves it and is grateful for every day hes out on the ice.