All Habs Headlines: Wednesday May 27, 2015 |
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On this day in hockey history… 1993 – Wayne Gretzky scored a power play goal at 1:41 of overtime to give the Kings to a 5-4 win over the Maple Leafs in Game 6 of the Campbell Conference Finals. It was the game Wayne Gretzky called his greatest ever. The Kings went on to face the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final. |
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► The clock ticks on Reway
- The Canadiens have just five days left to ink Martin Reway to a contract or they forfeit his rights. The 20-year-old Czech forward must sign a contract by June 1st or he will re-enter the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Reway was a fourth round pick in 2013, 116th overall.
- Reway was playing in the CHL for the Gatineau Olympiques when selected by the Canadiens, therefore is subject to the clause in the CBA that provides a two year window by which the team must sign the player to a contract.
- Reway scored nine goals and racked up 28 helpers in 34 games in the Czech Extraliga this year. His 37 points were good enough for third highest on HC Sparta Praha, while playing 14 less games than the teams leading scorer, who had 50 points.
- Reway’s body type and hockey abilities aren’t unknown commodities for the Canadiens organization. The trade of Sebastien Collberg at the 2014 deadline (Thomas Vanek trade) wasn’t catastrophic due to players like Sven Andrighetto, Charles Hudon and Reway who are, at least physically, carbon copies. The quality that sets the 20-year-old apart is his skill. Don’t get me wrong, the aforementioned players are very skilled but Reway, in my opinion, is the most talented. He is the fastest skater by far out of them, and when he has the puck, it is on a string. A testament to his talent is he scored more than a point per game in a league predominantly made of of full grown men.
- At 5-foot-9 size is an issue but not the only one. Reway stated this past year that he would rather win a championship in the Czech league than win a Stanley Cup. Is the NHL his primary focus?
- Reway captained the Cinderella Slovakian team to a bronze medal at the 2015 World Junior Championships, it’s first hardware at the tournament in 16 years.
https://twitter.com/rewy77/status/596624598671720448/
► Hawkey’s rehab is on track
- Canadiens’ sixth round pick in 2014 (177 overall) Hayden Hawkey went under the knife in December 2014 to repair the medial collateral ligament and the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Hawkey was injured on November 29th in a collision with an opposing player.
- The expected recovery time for the 6-foot-2 goaltender is about eight to nine months, which would put him just past the halfway mark.
- Hawkey faired well when he defended the goal in Canadiens training camp. This past year with the Omaha Lancers of the USHL he had a 2.99 goals against average accompanied with an .896 save percentage in just 15 games played.
- Hawkey told the Providence Journal, “I’m on track for a full recovery and should be 100 percent no later than September. I’m back on skates. I’m still limited. Can’t do anything crazy like crossing over or skating backwards yet, but it’s a good start and things are going well. A lot of it is strength now, so it’s a lot of time in the gym and rehabbing. It’s a long process and I’ve got a couple of months left.”
- The 20-year-old American said that the Grade Three tear that he suffered was the worst possible tear that could have happened. If all he is saying is correct, Hawkey may not be ready for the start of camp in the fall, but could join the club well into pre-season games.
- Hawkey is committed to Providence College of the NCAA in the fall.
► Extension for Hitch
- Somewhat unexpectedly the St. Louis Blues renewed the contract of head coach Ken Hitchcock for one more year. Under Hitchcock’s reign, the Blues have a record of 175-79-27 in four years.
- This is a surprising move due to the fact that it looked, for a while, that the writing was on the wall for Hitchcock. Early playoff exits in each of the first four years of his tenure as head coach of the Blues are the important thing to Blues fans, not regular season success.
- Former member of the Blues Max Lapierre said that a reason for the Blues’ shortcomings is that they play a system that is playoff hockey all year round by playoff time, the entire team is physically and mentally drained.
► McCarron in Mem Cup final
- With a 2-1 win against the Kelowna Rockets Tuesday night, the Michael McCarron led Oshawa Generals punched their ticket to the MasterCard Memorial Cup final.
- The Generals remain unbeaten at 3-0 in the tournament earning themselves a spot in Sunday’s final.
- McCarron was held off the scoresheet, just barely, as he ripped a shot off the post in the dying seconds of the first period. The entire Canadiens brass was in attendance to watch McCarron play including Marc Bergevin, Trevor Timmins, Donald Audette and Serge Boisvert.
- The 6-foot-6 Canadiens prospect is excelling in the middle of the ice; playing him at centre is looking like a stroke of genius by head coach D.J. Smith.
- Former Canadien Patrick Roy was honored prior to the start of the game with a banner-raising ceremony. Roy was the owner, GM and coach of the Quebec Remparts.
- Zachary Fucale will look to lead the hometown Quebec Remparts to a victory on Wednesday against the resilient Oceanic.
Toute l'organisation des Canadiens est présente ce soir. Marc Bergevin, Trevor Timmins, Donald Audette, Serge Boisvert et compagnie.
— Anthony Marcotte (@anthonymarcotte) May 26, 2015
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