Go Habs Go

Before leaving for this year’s hockey road trip, I contacted the folks at the All Habs blog to learn more about Montreal and the Canadiens. To thank them for their suggestions, I agreed to write about my experiences and give my perspective of the Habs and the Bell Centre as someone visiting the arena for the first time. I’ll start by writing this: the Bell Centre has the greatest hockey atmosphere I have ever seen in person.

It starts when you first walk into the arena. Almost everyone wears a Canadiens jersey or T-shirt. When you enter the seating area, you are amazed by the dozens of banners commemorating the Stanley Cup titles and retired players.



This has to be intimating or perhaps inspiring for the Habs’ opponents. At the very least, it is significantly more impressive than the WBNA Attendance Leader banners hanging from the Verizon Center in Washington. The introduction prior to the game is terrific. About 15 minutes before the opening face-off, the scoreboard shows pictures of Canadian fans wearing jerseys or showing off a Habs towel or flag from all over the world such as the Great Wall in China and by the Sydney Opera House. Then, the scoreboard shows each individual player and some videos of Montreal greats. Of course, the crowd cheered for all of this with the loudest applause reserved for goalie Carey Price. Unfortunately, Price was injured and didn’t play in either of the two Montreal games I saw.

The Good:
- The crowd was loud and chanted Go Habs Go or the Olay, Olay, Olay, Olay song constantly throughout the game.
-Cool Zambonis



- The Canadiens are a fun team to watch. I forgot how great it is to see Alexei Kovalev with the puck.
- Robert Lang is such a solid player. He had two assists each in the two games I saw him play.
- Gregory Stewart – I don’t think he was even on the team in the first game. He brings a lot of energy and is someone that really stood out. I’d like him on my fourth line.
- Andrei Kostitsyn had goals in both games and could be on his way to becoming a superstar.
- Youppi



The Not So Good:
- There were way too many people and sections trying to start the wave. The wave was great 20 years ago; not so much today.
- Tomas Plekanec is useless. How is he on the first line with Kovalev?
- Tickets were far more expensive than those in Ottawa and Toronto.
- Georges Laraque was injured and didn’t play.
- From my seat in Section 334, Row FF, I couldn’t see anything in the lower corner to the left of the goalie.



The Other:
- I had recommendations to visit Le Keg in Old Montreal for dinner. While I didn’t eat there (we walked into the restaurant, but then had to move the car since we parked in a reserved area), we ate at Steak Frites instead. Great steak and service! By the way, Le Keg is a chain. It seems like it is the Canadian version of Outback or Lonestar.
- It was so freaking cold in Montreal! I’m never going there in January again!
- The Canadiens had a feature during a commercial break where they asked each player what they were secretly afraid of. Unfortunately, the players all answered in French so I’ll never know what scares Maxim Lapierre.
- I was expecting to hear Celine Dion and Nickelback during every stoppage of play. However, it turns out that they played a lot of music by other Canadian musicians like the Rolling Stones, U2, Linkin Park and Flo Rida.



By the way, attending a Maple Leafs game in Toronto was the exact opposite. More on that another time.

The Return

Hi there. I’m back from my week-long hockey road trip which took me to games in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto with stops in Rochester and Buffalo to see friends. While I was away, I heard that there was some type of celebration in DC and a sporting event in Pittsburgh. I was without television or internet throughout much of the trip, so I’m not sure if these are just rumors by a Canadian conspiracy group.

Anyway, I’ll write a lot more about this year's hockey road trip and the Steelers going to the Super Bowl over the next few days. In the meantime, here are some questions that I hope you can answer (let’s call this trivia Wednesday):

1. What is the status of Hines Ward?

2. Did anyone go to the inauguration? If so, how was it? (You are not allowed to say that it was cold. The temperature yesterday afternoon in DC was at least 30 degrees warmer than Montreal.)

3. How was the Bloggeration Ball?

4. Did you know that Jock Callander is on the Stanley Cup?

5. What can I do with $3.50 in Canadian change in DC?

6. Why did I buy a copy of Monday’s Toronto Sun newspaper?

7. True or false: I enjoyed seeing the Andy Warhol exhibit in Montreal with dozens of loud, French-speaking middle school students?

8. True or false: Canada has exotic businesses called Starbucks, Costco and Sears.

9. True or false: The 2009 AAA Ontario tourbook says the following: Baseball fans can see the Ottawa Lynx, the AAA farm team of the Montreal Expos, play April to mid-September at their stadium, Lynx Stadium.

I had a great trip, but it’s good to be home.

Monday Morning Thoughts

While I must mention yesterday's Steelers game, I also have some thoughts on other topics below.

After seeing every road team win during this playoff weekend, the Steelers looked really good Sunday afternoon in comparison. Willie Parker had his best game of the season running for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 181 yards and a touchdown, but more importantly, had no interceptions or fumbles and was only sacked once. Santonio Holmes had a huge punt return for a touchdown, and the Steelers defense did a great job shutting down Darren Sproles who was held to 15 yards rushing and 91 yards receiving, 62 of which came on a late touchdown when the game was out of reach.

Next up is the Baltimore Ravens: Round 3. Remember how Baltimore Ravens fans complained after Santonio Holmes’ catch was ruled a touchdown on December 14? Well, they’re still bitter. Jamison Hensley of the Baltimore Sun wrote the following after Saturday's Ravens win, "These Ravens won with some help from the officials. In a season in which it seemed as if they never got a break from the officiating crew, the Ravens got a big one yesterday: no penalty when the play clock expired before Flacco's 23-yard pass to Heap on the game-winning drive." I really hate the Ravens and Ravens fans.

I highly recommend Slumdog Millionaire, which I saw this weekend. Just a great story based around a game show, a scary childhood and a bit of a love story.

I watched part of the Golden Globes last night and felt bad when they introduced the star of Hotel for Dogs, Don Cheadle. Cheadle is an amazing actor from Hotel Rwanda, the Ocean 11 films, and Crash but because Hotel for Dogs comes out soon, he has to be attached to that film when presented?

The high in Montreal on Thursday is going to be -4 and then -3 on Friday. That’s the high! I can’t wait!

Based on this forecast, I’m not sure if my Louis Lipps jersey will make the hockey road trip as I may need to the room in my suitcase for multiple parkas.

Oh, I'm still looking for recommendations of things to do on my Canadian road trip, but I'm now looking primarily for indoor activities. Thanks.

Canadian Road Trip

Let’s say that you are taking a road trip to Canada with stops in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Where would you go in each of these cities? The reason for this post is because I am taking a road trip to Canada with stops in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. What a coincidence!

I attended a wedding in Montreal almost 10 years ago, but don’t remember much about the city besides taking a river cruise and visiting the William Shatner Center at McGill University. I’ve never been to Ottawa, and figure that since I’m there, maybe I can be Prime Minister for the day. Toronto is one of my favorite places, and I plan on visiting the Hockey Hall of Fame on this trip since I’ve never been there before.

I’m heading to these cities as part of my third annual hockey road trip and will be attending NHL games in each place. Besides the hockey games, I’m looking for suggestions of things to do. Therefore, please feel free to add any suggestions about things to do and see in the comments section below. In addition, I’m also looking for ideas about places to eat/drink in each city, preferably near the arenas.

Thank you!