The mood was light for the Canadiens yesterday, the loss to the Flyers had not dampened their spirits and it's understandable considering that they still banked 6 out of a possible 8 points last week. The Habs will not have any representative at the NHL All-Star Game this coming weekend so on the NFL championship Sunday, they had a local version of the All-Star weekend skills contests the following events were on deck:
-Hardest shot; -Fastest skater; -Accuracy shooting; -Long distance shooting and; -Continuous shootout event.
Even though a massive snowstorm hit Montreal from Saturday night all the way through Sunday, 12 000 fans showed up to the Bell Centre for the event. Of course, one has to admit that there was probably no need to hold a contest to know who has the hardest shot amongst Habs players, I mean you can just catch one game and you'll soon know that the Captain has the best slapper. In fact, it's pretty much general knowledge since he won that competition at the All-Star weekend in the past (3 times, including a whooping 108.5 mph once, just 0.3 mph less than Zdeno Chara's record). Yesterday though, his winning shot was 103 mph and Jeff Petry tried his best to give him a run for his money with a 102 mph shot. I used to love that contest when I was a kid and it featured the likes of Al Iafrate and Al McInnis. Needless to say that shots are harder these days but back then, I guess I was easier to impress.
Le kid a du talent.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 20, 2019
The kid's got skills.#GoHabsGo @taikinajalka @RONAinc pic.twitter.com/2XWGoGYneA
The Canadiens had the day off today and will be back at practice tomorrow in Brossard in readiness of their match-up with the Coyotes on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre. We'll probably find out if Carey Price will serve his "suspension" for refusing to attend the All-Star weekend in the game against the Coyotes or against the Devils on February 2nd.