The Bruins are sore losers

I have to say that’s the most pleasure I’ve had writing a headline in this space in ages. The Bruins are sore losers. Doesn’t that have a great ring to it? It’s right up there with my previous favourite – Gauthier must be fired now! (I liked that one so much I must’ve used it about a round dozen times last year!)

So Sunday night, the Habs come into Beantown and win maybe the most important game of the season so far. Montreal triumphed over the Bruins 4-3, coming from behind to boot (the B’s were up 3-2 coming into the third period). The result? Montreal is in first place in the Eastern Conference and they just stole two points from one of the teams that they’ll be battling with all year.

So what’s kindly old coach Claude Julien’s take on the loss? He says the game was all about embellishment, that the Habs were all pulling out their best thespian moves, faking like five-star Euro soccer players.

Here’s Bruins coach Julien’s take on the game: “It’s frustrating because tonight, as everybody saw, there’s a lot of embellishment. This is embarrassing for our game, the embellishing. And right now they’ve got over 100 power plays so far and it’s pretty obvious why. We’re trying to clean that out of our game, and its got to be done soon.”

What a joke! Actually I love it because it proves that Julien is so upset that he’s just making up crap to justify the fact his team lost this huge game. Embellishment? What about Zdeno Chara slamming his huge fist into Alexei Emelin’s metal-plated face for what seemed like 15 minutes? Julien defended that one too, saying he was happy to see his captain retaliate for Emelin’s harmless hit on Tyler Seguin. I am a big believer in retaliation – within reason.

If someone runs over Carey Price, I’m happy to see my man Brandon Prust go after him. But don’t try to destroy the guy for heaven’s sake. Someone tweeted – I can’t remember who – to say that Emelin was one punch away from having his career ended. That’s nuts. That shouldn’t be allowed. And what’s up with the refs just standing there watching that brutal violence? Again I don’t mind fighting and having the refs let them fight because most NHL fights are more choreographed than a Grands Ballets Canadiens performance. But when a guy is doing real damage to the other guy, step in and stop it man! And for Julien to say how much he liked Chara’s psychotic behaviour is just reprehensible.

To sum up – here’s what I’m trying to say to M. Julien: You lost pal. Suck it up. Take it like a man. Admit the Habs were a better team on this night. You tried to beat up the Habs and play the usual Boston Bullies game and Les Boys out-smarted you and out-skilled you. Oh one more thing, you might be familiar with this tune – cue the Habs victory song! 🙂

Na na na na, hey hey, good-bye!

Hey Habs fans! Show a little faith….

Last night, the last thing I tweeted was: ‘Right now I feel like someone kicked my head in.’ To which fine Montreal filmmaker Tara Johns replied: ‘Yet another head injury in the NHL this year – deplorable.’

A few minutes back, my friend Brendan – no joke, that’s his name – called to ask if I was hanging by my fingernails from the Jacques Cartier bridge. Yes he’s a comic. He went on to tell me he stopped watching the game when the Habs began to implode in period two – and who can blame him. The rest of us were absolute masochists to watch that mother of all meltdowns.

O.K. at least it wasn’t quite as bad as the Rangers blowing that 3-0 lead to Washington the other night, but still. It was brutal. When the Canadiens were up 3-1 last night, Bruins coach Claude Julien and not-so-nice-guy captain Zdeno Chara looked shattered. (By the way, am I the only one who finds that Julien and Jacques Martin are curiously alike and curiously mind-numbingly boring?)

So the short version is it wasn’t a good night – for me or anyone else who cares about the most storied franchise in professional hockey. That’s where the faith comes in. You gotta have it, as George Michael put it (long before he became known to police forces on several continents).

But Bruce Springsteen of course put it best: ‘Show a little faith/there’s magic in the night’. That’s all I got for you today. Play Thunder Road. Heck play all of Born to Run. And – it is Good Friday after all – pray.

– Brendan

Here is the video of my new favourite Bruin – NOT! – showing his true colours Thursday night. Here is Andrew Ference showing what he thinks of Habs fans.

And worse here is Ference’s pathetic excuse for his behaviour. It was, apparently, a glove malfunction!