Last weekend, a few friends from back home were in town. So I got to hang out with them. We played laser tag and just hung out in their hotel room. It was probably the best night I have had in the city and it was nice to have people to talk to.
~~ The following is all Habs related, I won't be mad if you are not interested and stop reading here. ~~
So it's been 5 weeks since I moved here, I haven't made it to a Habs game, seen a player or really done much 'Habs-related' stuff since I've been here. Besides going to the Forum, which is probably my favourite place in the city, I haven't done much. I listen to the games in French on the radio, when I can and I love seeing all the Habs logos around town. Last Saturday was the first time I was downtown, while a game was going on. It is magic how the city and everyone in it is excited during games. Since I've been here the Habs haven't been doing good, I even considered my moving here as a jinx. Which is just silly, I know. When times are tough they always say 'something has to change'. Well there has been changes since I've been in the city. The Habs acquired Tomas Kaberle (honestly I wasn't really a fan of his, he played in Toronto and with Boston last year, who beat my Habs to take the Cup). His first game with the Blue, Blanc et Rouge, he had 2 assists but since then I haven't heard much about him (14 games played, 1 goal, 8 assists, not bad but still).
The Habs also fired their coach and hired and interim, unilingual coach in Randy Cunneyworth, which has cause quite the stir (to say the least). My opinion, I don't have a problem with an English speaking coach. Honestly, I understand the Montreal media wanting a French coach. But I look at is this way, even if there are French speaking players on the team, not everyone is going to understand French and yes the Media wants French quotes but all the other 29 teams speak English. If we are bashing the coach for only English speaking, why is it not a problem that the Captain is not only English but an American?! (just sayin'.)
But what happened today was different. For the first time since moving here I was actually looking at tickets for a game, Feb 5th to be exact against the Jets. Only a few days after my birthday, an afternoon game, against the 'newest' team in the league. Sounded like a perfect idea, I even found reasonably priced tickets, not the best seats but just being at a game in the Bell Centre would be a dream come true. Unfortunately you have to get 2 tickets and well that would be a waste of a ticket. So I vetoed that idea, I'll have to save my money and keep looking.
Then for a change I decided to watch the game online, I haven't actually watched a Habs game since before I moved here. I was out, so I started watching in the 3rd period, I didn't see or hear that Mike Cammalleri wasn't playing. The feed wasn't very good, it kept cutting out, and the Habs were losing, so I wasn't watching that closely. When I got a twitter update on my phone saying he was traded, I was shocked, I turned the video off on my computer and turned on the radio. The game ended and without official confirmation on where he was headed (or who we got in return), they just kept saying that Cammalleri was pulled before the 3rd period and traded. I'll admit that when we acquired Cammalleri, I didn't know much about him but I remember watching a 'cribs' video of his house in LA and he seemed so down to earth, and he was fun to watch in the Habs jersey. He quickly became my favourite, current Habs player. He also seemed to really embrace living and playing in Montreal. Last season they had a show called "Nos Canadiens," which spent a day with a player, one thing that I remember about Cammalleri's day is that he really made an effort to speak French. After tonight's game they played an interview with him, in which he said he loved it here and he even had just built a house, which they haven't even spent a night in. Like I said before he just seemed so down to earth, how could you not like him?!
So I was a little upset when I heard he was traded, I know trades happen, I just didn't expect him to be traded, especially in the middle of a game. I guess I have to also talk about the interview the day before, which is not the reason for the trade. He was being honest when he said something along the lines of the team playing as if they expected to lose. He didn't call them losers he just basically said that they didn't have a winning mentality.
I kept listening to the radio to find out that he was traded back to Calgary and we would be receiving Rene Bourque, in return. [Bourque tweeted that he might have the most French name on the team but he didn't speak a word of French, also that he was looking forward to playing in Montreal.] I don't know much about Bourque and I won't hold the trade against him, it;s not his fault.
Now as the night went on, I was getting over the trade, as best as I could. That is until I remembered that I skipped out on my chance for an autograph and to meet him, not long after I had arrived in Montreal. In fact it would have been a week after my arrival. He was going to be at the Best Buy. The day before the autograph session, I was actually in that store. It was so crazy and hot in that store that I had decided that I didn't want to wait, also I figured that I would have another chance, another time. Now I try not to regret much in my life and I don't regret my decision, entirely. It was before Christmas it would have been NUTS in there, I wasn't ready for that craziness. I just wish I had done it, I didn't have anything to lose. Nothing I can do about it now... besides wish him good luck in Calgary and hope that I get to see in play in the future. And I guess I have to see what I can find about this Bourque kid.
~believe.
Update: Cammalleri wore 13 in Montreal (I'm pretty sure he has worn it he whole career) but for his second stint in Calgary he will wear the number 93. Ironic since the Habs last Stanley Cup win was in 1993. [#13 is currently being worn but Olli Jokinen for the Flames].
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