Habster:
Another year has passed us by with varying degrees of emotions and state of mind. Some of us will cherish the memories of 2007 and reminisce with fondness about the year while other will be happy to finally be rid of 2007 with a new found hope for 2008.
With the start of a new year, there are some people (don’t include me as one of them!!) who always seem to make the traditional New Year’s resolution(s), some are realistic and attainable while others are just too hard to achieve for some people. I believe you shouldn’t have to wait until a new year to set personal goals especially when they affect your life and the lives of others (ie- smoking)……..alright enough with the soap box sermon!!!
Since I don’t make new year resolutions for myself, I thought it would be fun to make a list of resloutions for the Montreal Canadiens. Here we go!!!! (in no particular order):
- Bob Gainey promises to never give up his search for a big, offensively gifted #1 center to help take the pressure off Koivu and Plekanec.
- Saku Koivu promises to lift the Stanley Cup over his head at the Bell Centre and finally silence all his critics. If he can’t achieve this goal here then I hope he can do so some where else before the end of his career.
- Michael Ryder promises to continue scoring goals and reach 20 goals with the Canadiens or another team and probably flourish next season with a 40 goal season on another team (like all former Habs: Ribeiro, Leclair and Chelios to name a few).
- George Gillett promises to lower the price of beer, food and tickets so every Habs fan can enjoy a game at the Bell Centre without taking out a loan once or twice a year.
- Guy Carbonneau promises to cut down on his wonderful facial expressions behind the bench, show the referees more love, communicate better with his players and let his players gel on the same lines for more than a few games (have you seen the great chemisrty on the KPK and line which has been together for quite some a while!!!)
- The youth movement promises to continue its strong play and help carry the team into the playoffs and beyond!!!!
- Alex Kovalev promises to continue displaying his incredible skills, determination and hustle for the remainder of the season while maintaining his point a game pace.
- The KPK line promises to dazzle us with their chemistry, precision passing and skill set.
- The Montreal media (especially the french print press) promises to cover only hockey related issues while leaving the political/language issues (if there are any???) to the petty politicians.
- Pierre Boivin promises to leave the hockey decisions up to Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau and the rest of the hockey operations department. He also promises to not give ultimatums (“missing the playoffs is unacceptable”) before the season starts which puts added pressure on his team or GM…….as if they don’t have enough pressure already!!!!
- Christobal Huet promises to continue his great play and never allow a game to go to a shootout…..please!!!
- Mike Komisarek promises to hit everything into another time zone and continue to have calves/shin that have more bruises than a two week old banana.
- Tomas Plekanec promises to continue playing like a first or second line center with many more multi-point nights
- The “Flying Kostitsyn” promise to thrill Hab fans with their wonderful creativity and bring sibling rivalry to a new competitive level.
- Carey Price promises to be patient and continue to demonstrate his icy cool demeanour in high pressure situations.
- Christopher Higgins promises to lead his teammates by word and example while bleeding the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge through and through!!!
- Trevor Timmins and his amateur scouts promise to continue their relentless search for young talent throughout the world so Canadiens fans will never see the likes of draft pick busts like Matt Higgins, Terry Ryan, Brent Bilodeau and Turner Stevensons.
- Last but not least, Montreal Canadiens fans promise to remain the most passionate hockey crazed and knowledgeable fans in the world!!!!