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Smile!

March 22, 2019, 4:00 PM ET [27 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Last night, I couldn’t watch the game live, I was on a bus to Montreal for today’s event. I’ve always had good karma when it comes to contest but when Mega Fan Ford launched their “be in the team picture” contest I thought “wow I want to win that one!”. Sadly, lady luck wasn’t with me this time around...However, one of my friends won and she was allowed to bring a guest: enter me!

She wasn’t the only winner however, there were 100 winners, each with a guess. That’s a lot of people...so we soon realized that we wouldn’t be on the ice with the players but rather at the back of the picture in the red seats. Some had thought they’d be taking turns with their guest for 100 pictures. Needless to say this would have been a long process and I doubt NHLers want to sit around for 2 hours smiling, so it made sense. Personally, I was just happy to be there and to get to watch the optional skate that was scheduled afterwards.

While we weren’t on the ice for the pic, we were allowed to watch the official team pic, the one with Flambo (the team’s MIRA dog, no he’s not for the referees) and the one with their families being taken. Seeing Shea Weber with his gloves on trying to hold on to Flambo’s leash and get him to sit still was quite funny. Joanie Deslauriers was bouncing her latest kid in a good rhythm trying to get her to calm down and she eventually succeeded. Philip Danault’s near newborn looked like he could fit in one of his gloves.





There were also some sweet moments like Jeff Petry’s older boy Boyd literally running on the ice to jump in Youppi’s open arms. Jordan Weal doing pretty much the same thing to meet Flambo and Kotkaniemi tagging along with the Niemi familly. Those kind of moments remind you that these people are not just hockey players, they’re also human beings.

Once the picture taking time was over, it was time for an optional morning skate ran by associate coach Kirk Muller. Out of the players who faced New York last night, only Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jonathan Drouin jumped on the ice. I’ll admit I was rather glad to see Drouin out there working his butt off. Both Antti Niemi and Charlie Lindgren were on duty with Nicolas Deslauriers, Dale Weise, Matthew Peca, Mike Reilly, Charles Hudon completed the attendance list.





They skated for nearly an hour, about half of which was a mini 3 on 3 match. Why mini? Because they didnt use the whole lenght of the ice, they put the nets across one another inside the blue line and what followed looked like so many of my memories as a kid. A bunch of hockey fanatics playing with intensity but still having fun and above all, wanting to win that darn game. It was a tightly contested affair and KK eventully scored the game-winning goal before unleashing the mother of all celebrations, much to our delight. Things wrapped up at about 12:30 and even though it wasn’t exactly what some expected, we all left with a Kotkaniemi like grin on our faces, feeling privileged to have witnessed those moments. Kudos to the longtime suffering Charles Hudon who hasn’t played in ages but is still being a great teammate, it sure looked like Kotkaniemi likes him...





About last night:
- that Drouin goal was a real beauty and the way KK set up the table for him was nothing short of magnificent;
- Carey Price: You could tell quite early on that this was going to be one of those games were Carey is on fire and looks as intimidating at the great wall of China (would have said the Berlin wall,but had to think of something else since that one is somewhat demolished);
- Miracles DO happen: Joel Armia scored his first power play goal ever (and also had 6 hits to his name by the end of the game)! Granted I don’t know if he scored some in minor hockey but still, at least his first at the very top level;
- The Habs were dominant shooting 34 times, winning 65% of the faceoffs and also gettin10 takeaways.

The Tricolore’s triumph coupled with the very timely demise of Columbus in Edmonton resulted in the CH now being back in 8th place as the second wild card of the eastern conference. Both teams now have 8 games to play and the Canadiens are ahead by one point. The Bleu, Blanc, Rouge is now really in control of its destiny and the remaining games must be won. Yes, the last week of their calendar is somewhat harsh with meetings against the Jets, the Capitals, the Lightning and the Leafs but all of these teams will have qualified by then....it could be that they give some rest to their key players before the real season kicks off. Should Montreal beat the Hurricanes and the Blue Jackets by then though, this just might not come down to the wire...


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