Freddie P's Blog

Get 'er done on Monday. Hopefully the fans in Montreal won't riot.

Category: Sports

It's to the point now where I don't think I'm going to watch any more games in this series. Why suffer the aggravation of watching a team that doesn't belong in the playoffs let alone in the second round tied with the Stanley Cup champs at two games apiece.

I understand why it's great for Hab fans, but for the rest of us who've been enjoying "real" hockey in the other series, it's simply too tough to watch.

The Habs should have been dead and buried tonight, and I'll be honest, with the way its lining up I can't help but wonder if this is going to be one of those bullshit Hab years like '86 and '93, although at least in those years the Habs actually shared the ice with the other team.

If it was any other team I might get pulled in by the oddity of it all, but Hab fans don't deserve this good fortune and to watch them react the way they do makes me want to upchuck.

They profess to know hockey, but this ain't hockey. It's some new sport featuring a guy who's playing way above his head while getting an extremely heavy dose of horseshoeitis.

It was interesting to hear Guy Lafluer on the Bill Watters Show this afternoon. When asked about the Canadiens rope-a-dope style in these playoffs he replied, "It puts me to sleep."

Well said Guy. I wonder if he still can't get a boner.

I know Freeway Frank has one in Calgary right now.

Category: Sports

It should have been 10-0 but we'll take 2-0. Tonight was justice for any genuine hockey fan.

It would be nice to watch a playoff game featuring the Habs where not "all" the action is in their end, and oh yea, the Halak bullshit is about to end.

The question is, will the Habs score another goal in this series?

Category: Sports

Category: Sports

I knew it wouldn't take long. After Jaroslav Halak's less than stellar performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, the excuses have started and right at the top of the list is one I expected. Fatigue.

Already Hab fans have been e-mailing CanadianThinker.com claiming that Halak was tired and it will be different in game two. Please.

I know a lot of you think I write a lot of this stuff just to get a rise out of the most aggravating fans in all of sport ( Hab fans) and although there's some truth to that, when it comes to Halak, I'm dead serious. The guy is over-rated.

The Washington series was an anomaly. The Capitals woeful playoff history and their lack of leadership when the pressure is on made up for half the battle in the last series and to pretend it didn't is just foolish.

You could see it last night. The Penguins bigger, stronger, grittier and more committed than the Caps and they have no problem going straight to the net, unlike the Caps who preferred to play the outside.

And how about the power play? The Montreal PK which appeared to be super-human during the Washington series looked like Swiss cheese last night.

What's the point of all this? Halak wasn't tired last night, he was exposed. Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad goaltender but don't tell me a 24 year old kid is fatigued after one seven game playoff series where he didn't even play all the games.

To use fatigue as an excuse is just silly and underwrites what makes Hab fans so tedious.

In my writings last week I exercised caution in my worship of Halak because I wasn't convinced what I was seeing was the real deal. Several glove saves were embellished and even more saves were the result of some extremely fortunate geometry.

The guy was on a roll with lady luck.

I know what's going to happen next. Hab fans are going to react to this by accusing me of exactly what they're guilty of. Premature evaluation.

But that doesn't bother me because in the end I'm completely confident I'll be correct.

Halak is over-rated, the Habs aren't a very good team and they caught the Washington Capitals at precisely the right time.

Against Pittsburgh it will be different. Much different and the Habs Stanley Cup drought will stretch to 18 long years.

Category: Sports

Interesting that Don Cherry made the point that Washington made Halak look good.

Who's Halak? The guy who got pulled in the third period tonight.

And who's Maxim Lapierre? A diving weasel whose hip is apparently connected to his neck.

And spare me the stuff about Matt Cooke. I admit that he's a dirty little prick, but that hit on Markov was clean as a whistle.

6-3 Pens. Not enough. Let's win the next one by four.

Category: Sports

What else? More hockey.

Category: Sports

Category: Sports

As promised, an audio version.

Category: Sports

The debate can finally be put to bed. We can no longer compare Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin because there is no comparison.

However, while Ovechkin failed to lead his team to victory against an eighth seed and deserves criticism we must keep a little perspective on this. Remove the goaltenders from mix and although Ovechkin and the Capitals didn't play very well, they still dominated the Montreal Canadiens.

Montreal didn't win this series, the Capitals lost it, and Ovechkin, as leader of the team and arguably one of the best players in the world failed to get it done. Just like he failed to get it done last year, and just like he failed to get it done in the Olympics.

Make no mistake about it, what happened to the Ovechkin led Washington Capitals in the first round will not happen to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round because Sidney Crosby will not allow it to happen.

Ovechkin crumbles under pressure, Crosby thrives on it.

In some respects it's extremely unfortunate for the NHL as a whole. Pittsburgh will dominate Montreal like Washington did, but the puck will not be as friendly to the unbelievably lucky Jaroslav Halak when coming off the sticks of the Penguins.

If anyone thinks Halak is really that good, I feel sorry for you.

It will be a pointless series against Pittsburgh and deprive us what probably would have been a great series if the Pens and Caps had eventually met. Not good for the league.

Meanwhile, rejoice Hab fans, you have every right to, but again, let's keep this in perspective, the Habs managed to upset a better team while actually being dominated by them. It's whacky, and I'm sure the vast majority of you never dreamed it would happen.

Even Freeway Frank gave up on the Habs after game three. You can read it on his facebook. But at that point he had no idea that the Caps were poised to give it away.

Yes, enjoy it Hab fans because it almost ranks up there with the Leafs upset of the Islanders in '78, and their upset of Detroit in '93, but not quite because at least those Islander and Wing teams had some backbone.

It's interesting, while I write this posting there is a huge mob in downtown Montreal blowing horns and waving flags, which is rather ironic when you consider Hab fans have criticized Leaf fans for first round celebrations is previous years.

At least they're not rioting. Not yet anyway.

I invite you to listen to an audio version of "Habs Watch" Thursday afternoon with Freeway Frank as my special guest. It should be posted in the late afternoon.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this. It's a (typical?) Hab fan calling a phone in show after game four. Again, ironic when you consider how Hab fans criticize Leaf fans for their behaviour.

I apologize for displaying a clean Hab logo. I'm actually breaking policy.

Category: Sports