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By Rick Stephens, Editor-in-Chief, All Habs Hockey Magazine

MONTREAL, QC. — I hear from Dom after most Canadiens games – well, except when 31 records a shutout. He is one of the 62,000-plus valued Twitter followers with whom I interact on a daily basis. Dom has worked out a simple mathematical formula that provides an instant game summary that is meaningful to him.

HGA1 + HGA2 + HGA3 = NSGCP

Where:

• HGA(period) – Habs goals against
• NSGCP – Number of soft goals allowed by Carey Price

Dom is a Halak-ite and has been on the warpath since June 17, 2010, the day, the third-string goalie for the St. Louis Blues left Montreal. Jaroslav Halak remains a darling to some despite the overwhelming evidence that he isn’t cut-out to be a No. 1 goaltender in today’s NHL. Further to that, given recent reports, Halak is likely on his way out of St. Louis for his poor performance and conflicts with management.

But the comparisons of Carey Price to (insert-personal-favourite-goalie-here) are rarely rational. It’s not about a breakdown of talent and potential. It’s purely emotional, with statistics carefully selected (and excluded) to fit the narrative.

Dom freely admits that he “despises” Carey Price and always will until the franchise goaltender delivers a Cup to Montreal. Dom is not a bad guy; he’s respectful and I enjoy hearing from him. He is a committed casual fan who is simply misguided — he is blind to the elite talent of Price and the failings of those who play in front of him.

It’s hard to determine what Dom enjoys more, a Canadiens win or the real and imagined errors of No. 31. Yet I know that this fan will be true to his word, ridiculing Price every step of a Stanley Cup run but jetting from L.A. to Montreal to take part in a Ste. Catherine street parade when the day arrives.

My Twitter friend Dom is far from an anomaly. It’s something that fans in other NHL cities must find bizarre. After all, Price is the same player who was chosen as the best goaltender in the East by 25 NHL coaches in Bob McKenzie‘s awards poll.

But many of the members of the mainstream-media in Montreal are agenda-driven. Facts and analysis only get in the way of a ‘good’ story. And some undiscerning Canadiens fans hungry for information are only too glad to lap up this tainted gruel.

For Dom, his favourite sources are the Bleacher Report and Jack Todd. At least BR has slideshows.

These days, Todd describes himself as a novelist. He is the former Montreal Gazette sportswriter who retired in January 2008 to “concentrate on writing fiction.” On that he has been doing a superb job — unfortunately the Gazette (seemingly unaware of his declaration) continues to pass his work off on the sports pages.

At a time when the internet was in its infancy, I found myself outside this great city yearning for the inside scoop on the Habs. I managed to navigate my way to the Gazette’s digital sports columns passing on the much-too-dry offerings of Pat Hickey for Todd’s rather unique view of the Canadiens. My typical reaction was ‘this guy can’t be serious.’

His commentary seemed off the mark and was always sprinkled with a heavy dose of moral superiority. His politics were extreme and I got the sense that he would be far more at home in cold-war era Minsk than Montreal.

As far as him being serious, I never really answered that question. Was he trying to be sarcastic? Was he a political writer? Did he really believe the things he wrote? I eventually lost interest.

But those were the days of limited choice. Fortunately now, Canadiens fans around the world have options. High quality new media publications are a source of information and an opportunity for fans around the globe to engage in a community. They also push the main-streamers to provide a better product — well, at least some.

I’ve only had one brief interaction with Jack Todd. Towards the end of this past season he tweeted me complaining that the All Habs wave gave him motion sickness. A lame joke I thought initially. Then in a huff, he unfollowed.

Odd.

No loss, I wasn’t following him. But I do think that Todd would benefit from a lesson on fan rituals, both old and new, delivered expertly by my colleague Avi Goldberg.

I personally have nothing against Mr. Todd. He simply hasn’t been relevant on the Montreal Canadiens scene for quite some time.

In an attempt to recapture some of that lost attention, Todd has, at every opportunity, attacked Carey Price via his column (or is it a novella.) You see, Todd was an exuberant supporter of Cristobal Huet. Remember him?

Huet spent the majority of his pro career tending goal in relative obscurity in the Swiss and French leagues. During a brief window following the departure of Jose Theodore, Huet enjoyed some success with the Canadiens but was eventually traded to clear the crease for the franchise goalie, Carey Price.

The expression “Cristobal for President!!!” screamed across the page of Todd’s column on the last day of 2007, just before he started his fiction-writing gig. He continued, “Seriously, people. When are we going to appreciate the talents of one Cristobal Huet, goaltender?”

Then came the moral accusation with Todd citing prejudice as the reason Huet wasn’t getting the respect he felt was deserving. “Maybe it’s because he was born in France, not Drummondville or Moose Jaw or Irkutsk,” wrote Todd.

This was not your ordinary fan-boy crush. It got a little creepier when Todd began to refer to the Canadiens goalie as “Baby Huey.”

Todd, and others, have never been able to let it go. Huet’s success turned out to be short-lived with flame-out stops in Washington and Chicago. He last played for Lausanne HC of the Swiss B league.

But numbers and talent be damned, Todd continued to carry the torch. Price stole his man’s job. He must pay.

And thus began the five-plus year crusade to run Price out of town. The columns have been frequent, vicious and full of nonsense. Todd is willing to do a great deal of literary gymnastics to find a way of burying the young goaltender.

In a weak attempt to beat back his critics recently, Todd tweeted that he likes Price, “we [both] grew up with horses.” For me, the reply had the same depth yet far less sincerity than the words of Sherri Ann Cabot from “Best in Show.” Talking about her husband (44 years her senior) she said, “We have so much in common, we both love soup and snow peas, we love the outdoors, and talking and not talking.”

When Price did his exit-day media scrum, he talked about many things including his commitment to winning a Stanley Cup in Montreal. But when Price briefly lamented his lack of privacy, Todd sprinted for the always-sharpened hatchet and began swinging wildly. His column commanded Habs GM Marc Bergevin to have a heart-to-heart with Price to determine whether he had the stones to remain in this pressure-packed city.

The inference was that rather than facing the music, perhaps the young man would like to flee his duties and should be given the chance. “If this isn’t the place for him, then both sides need to figure it out now.”

Not to play amateur psychologist, but knowing his background, does it strike you that Todd may be projecting his own failings on Price?

I don’t expect that the novelist will get the response he hopes from Bergevin. As for Price, I’m certain that he will continue to stand tall and face his adversaries, something Todd never mustered the courage to do.

All Habs Out Loud
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