Trish Thornton's Sports Column Archives

Taking stock of some key players in the Canadiens' defence corps while hoping beyond hope that it doesn't jinx 'em!

Generally, I'm not a superstitious person. Oh sure, I have my lucky socks for those days when I need to wow someone in a meeting. Then there's the little wooden tennis racquet I still take to the court just in case the big aluminum one lets me down. And I admit that if I don't wear the correct home-or-away Habs sweater when I watch Montreal in the playoffs (keep dreaming, girl), I'm beside myself, convinced that they will lose.

When I started writing this weekly column about the Montreal Canadiens, I never thought twice about superstitions or jinxes. I wrote about Joe Juneau, Donald Audette and Jan Bulis with reckless abandon, with a sense that this year could be the turnaround year for Les Glorieux. And look what happened. The Montreal injury jinx strikes again. Or was it me?

This week, I had planned on writing about the Canadiens' underrated defence squad, the guys you rarely hear about. It's not just José Théodore, Andy Dackell and Chad Kilger who are responsible for Montreal's great penalty kill record (the Habs are 3rd best in the NHL in this category.) The no-name blueliners may be the brightest, quietest story of the season. So do I continue telling the story? Or will I be putting them in harm's way by talking about them?

Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead, I say!

Montreal hasn't had a blue chip defenceman for a while. Though Chris Chelios was an all-star in the late 1980's and Eric Desjardins picked up where he left off in the early 90's, the Canadiens haven't come close to anything like a Savard-Robinson-Lapointe trio. And we don't need punctuate that with a Doug Harvey either.

That said, this year's model IS worth crowing about, especially a couple of individuals who won't be nameless anymore.

Karl Dykhuis
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You probably can't place him. Do you even know what number he wears? It doesn't really matter, because a good solid defenceman should be invisible in this league. Karl Dykhuis was drafted 16th overall by Chicago in 1990. He was part of the Canadian junior team that took home the gold medal in 1991. He ended up in Philadelphia a couple of times, helping the 94-95 Flyers get into the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. In 96-97 he went to the Stanley Cup Finals with Philly only to lose to the powerful Red Wings.

Montreal picked him up at the end of the 98-99 season. A good thing too. Last year the Canadiens traded away their spiritual leader, Eric Weinrich, and Dykhuis stepped in to fill that gap. He's no Rob Niedermayer, nor is he a Chris Pronger. But the guy has some speed and his instincts in both ends of the rink have allowed his teammates to open up and play an offensive game that has been sorely missing on Montreal ice.

Dykhuis was recently rewarded with a 3-year contract extension. For a kid from Sept-Iles, what could be better than that? Oh, and he's number 28, by the way.

Patrice Brisebois
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On most days, it sucks to be Patrice Brisebois. Here you are, playing your heart out for a team you dreamed about forever, and the crowd is booing you. You block a million shots, your ankles are a mess from all the abuse the rubber has inflicted on them, yet they give you the nickname "Breeze-by" as if you're the easiest deak on the ice. And you don't complain. You never ask to be traded.

Patrice Brisebois won 2 junior gold medals (his second was in 1991 when a young Dykhuis was an up and comer.) He is the only member of the 1993 Stanley Cup team who still wears the tricoleur. Every year at the trade deadline, his name is mentioned, but still he stays in Montreal. Once again, a good thing.

This year, Brisebois is still blocking shots. You see him on crutches on off days. And you see him logging 24 minutes a game. The harsh Montreal crowd has toned down the boos. I think they are finally realizing that this guy is one of the big reasons why the Habs are still in contention. Brisebois makes Théodore look good and you don't even notice him. Of course there's still the odd play where he looks like he forgot to take his man, but then you think of all those blocked shots and you give the guy a break. 24 minutes a night.

Honourable mention
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Sheldon Souray is a team leader in the dressing room and a large presence on the ice. He makes the fans almost forget about Lyle Odelein. Almost.

Craig Rivet's ice time keeps increasing as his confidence grows. He's another guy you've kind of heard about, but you get him mixed up with that other defenceman whose name starts with an R….

Stephane Robidas, ya, that guy! He and Andrei Markhov may be the future of the Montreal blue line. These young guys are getting a lot of ice time already, bringing speed to the game as well as solid hockey smarts.

Montreal's defencemen certainly have their work cut out for them. Injuries and more injuries always mean new players and new line combinations. Which of course means more giveaways, more mental errors by the young forwards resulting in a lot of work in their own end. But I have a feeling if these guys can weather the injury jinx and hang in until Juneau, Bulis etc. are back on the ice, Montreal will indeed be in the playoff hunt 3 or 4 months from now. I'll cross my fingers just to be sure…

Posted by trish at 04:07 PM | Permalink

Not this columnist and her first quarter review of the Montreal Canadiens.

After four measly columns, have I already succumbed to the traps of living room lazy-boy sports journalism? Am I taking the easy road, giving you a paper-thin report card that does nothing to enhance your already brimming brain of hockey knowledge? Heaven knows every mullet-headed hockey pundit, every part-your-hair-in-the-middle and squeeze-into-the-starch-white-collar hack has given you his thoughts on the first quarter of the NHL's 2001-02 campaign, of Montreal's surprising start. Is there anything more to say?

Damn straight there is! And not just names and numbers either. The Montreal Canadiens' "peaks and valleys" season so far has a million stories and I'll try to get through the best of them in my allotted bandwidth.

The numbers (well I have to start somewhere!)

After 23 games last season, Montreal had a 6-15-2-0 record. In fact it was just over a year ago that Coach Alain Vigneault and General Manager Réjean Houle were fired with the team mired in an awful ten-game stretch of 9 losses and 1 win.

This year's numbers are obviously better at12-8-2-1. But they don't really tell the story. Within those 23 games, the Canadiens had three significant streaks: 1) the fast start where they were undefeated in 6 right out of the gate; 2) the nine-game stretch where they had one win and virtually no starting goalie; 3) the current (as of November 28) 5-game win streak.

Think about it. Without that middle bit when Jeff Hackett and José Théodore were both on the sidelines, Montreal is having a great season. And while some of the naysayers will protest because some of those wins have come against bottom-feeder teams like Columbus, Atlanta and Florida, I say so what? You see it's that very point which proves that Montreal is a better team, a real playoff hope - because they didn't win the "gimme" games last year! In that awful 1-9 run they lost twice to Tampa Bay and had back-to-back losses to the Islanders - that was last year's Islanders, folks! They could get up for the big games and defeat the Sens, the Leafs and the Flyers. But honestly, there are so many gimme teams that the gimme points counted more than those spoiler wins. So far so good, eh?

You're bloody well right
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Brian Savage, the Canadiens' leading scorer, recently talked about the Donald Audette acquisition and what it meant to the team. His thoughts were eye opening. He said that as long as he'd been with Montreal, he'd never really had a solid right-handed guy to play with. I thought about it, trying to remember his line mates of old. Other than a brief fling with Stephane Richer around 1997-98, I realized it was true. Montreal, with its incredible history of right-handed snipers (Boom-Boom Geoffrion, Henri Richard and Guy Lafleur) has been without a big shot from the right side.

To get right down to it, they've been without a lot of shots, period! Which is why bringing Audette to Montreal has already made a difference. He shoots. A lot. And he scores too. If Doug Gilmour plays his dig and shovel game between these guys, he's got a sniper on either side who can finish the play. If it's Yanic Perreault at centre, it's a trio of smarts, finesse and power.

While we're on the "right" track, it should be noted that the last time Montreal brought in an aging right-handed ringer was 1992-93 when Brian Bellows came to town. He and another aging right-handed sniper by the name of Denis Savard both helped the Canadiens win the Cup that year. Just a tidbit to put away in that brimming brain…

Depth
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Over the past few injury-riddled years, we have seen a lot of Montreal's farm hands. The kids have carried the club quite honorably, but that kind of bench depth will only fill the holes so far.

Since André Savard has taken over the general manager duties, he has made a few little trades that at first glance seem insignificant. Zholtok for Kilger? Ho hum. Linden for Bulis and Zednik? Sure, why not? Even the off-season signings of Juneau, Dackell and Perreault had a sort of "whatever" feeling about them. But mix these new guys in with a Petrov, a Savage and a Robidas, and all of a sudden you have 4 strong lines. Well, that's what we're seeing in the first quarter anyway.

All 4 lines can score. All 4 lines back check and cover the defensive zone. When Coach Michel Therrien wants to dress 7 defencemen, any one of the guys on the top two lines can play an extra shift on the 4th line. On top of that, Juneau and Dackell have been strong on the penalty kill, while the once expendable Zednik has become an offensive threat.

So…?
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Maybe they aren't so surprising. Maybe it is all in the names and numbers after all and my analysis is redundant. Then again, I think it's good for hockey fans across the map to know and appreciate this year's Montreal Canadiens, since they've fallen out of the headlines for far too long. Whether or not they keep up this pace, Canada's most decorated hockey team is definitely exciting to watch again.

Posted by trish at 04:03 PM | Permalink

I went to one of those geeky comic book/gamer stores yesterday and bought an action figure. You're thinking, that's about right. Only 30-odd shopping days until Christmas and she's picking up a Spiderman figurine or a Power Puff Girl for the young'uns.

Think again.

NHL action figures have become a big deal, for the most part because of a certain hockey fan cum comic book writer cum toy maker who grew up in Alberta (and no, we're not giving you a plug, Mr. McFarlane). The first collection that came out in 2000 included an incredible life-like model of Curtis Joseph and a stunning replica of Patrick Roy. And that made me very sad. I assumed I would never see a beautiful action figure wearing les bleu, blanc et rouge. Face it, the Montreal Canadiens haven't had a big name star worthy of super hero status since… since… well, since Patrick Roy. Argh!

Early this year I received an insider's newsletter (okay, I AM a geek!) telling me what players were going to be the next big 6 in the action figure gallery. Peter Forsberg, John LeClair, Dominik Hasek, you know, the usual suspects. But there on the list, hidden among the future Hall of Famers was José Théodore. Yes, Montreal's little #60. Huh? Isn't he a backup goalie? Do I even remember watching him play?

Oh me of little faith.

Théodore has had some incredible moments in his erratic career with the Canadiens. As a rookie in the 1997 playoffs, he posted a 56-save performance in a 4-3 triple overtime victory over the New Jersey Devils. In the 1999-00 season, he played 30 games, recording five shutouts along the way, and was ranked second in save percentage with a 91.910 mark (superstar Ed Belfour finished first at 91.916). Last season he scored a goal and recorded a shutout in a single game.

But an action figure? A super hero? I wasn't convinced.

Until recently. José, the perpetual backup goalie, was called on to fill Jeff Hackett's boots as Montreal's number one stopper. He's taken that challenge and raised his level of play beyond what any puck pundit believed he could. In spite of the team's middle-of-the-pack .500 play this year, Théodore has a better goals-against-average than Roy, Joseph and Hasek. He's 8th in save percentage as he faces a barrage of rubber almost every night.

But it's not a statistic, not a measurable number or a ranking of any sort that has earned Théodore his super hero status. José stays in the game. When his teammates have a lousy first period (and that happens a little too often for my liking), he keeps them in the game until they wake up and start shooting. When the game goes into overtime and the skaters look like they're happy with the single point, Théodore is still working his cup off to keep the puck out.

Because of that attitude, that dogged effort from the little guy who doesn't have a Robinson, Savard and Lapointe in front of him, it looks like his mates are starting to be inspired. Rather than settling for the tie in OT, they're licking their chops for a goal. They're shooting. They're hitting. They're playing like a team who wants to be better than .500.

So today I walked into the geeky little store and headed to the NHL action figures. Pavel Bure? As if! Mats Sundin? I don't think so. Martin Brodeur? Spare me. A José Théodore to go, please! And now he sits in the number one position on my top shelf while Patrick Roy has been relegated to the bottom. He's getting a little dusty anyway.

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Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
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Montreal and Dallas completed a big deal Wednesday night as underachievers Martin Rucinsky and Benoit Brunet were sent to the Lone Star State while underachievers Donald Audette and Shaun van Allen are headed north. Canadiens' GM André Savard spoke after the trade was made:
“I think we lost an offensive player and we gained an offensive player. The difference is contracts. Certainly we didn't want to give up any offence, and we didn't. That's what we got with Donald so it's a gain, I think, for the future.”

A change of scenery will probably work wonders for these 4 guys, all of whom have played key roles offensively and defensively in their careers. Donald Audette in particular has been a proven catalyst for struggling teams. Last season he single-handedly gave the Atlanta Thrashers credibility in the strong Eastern Conference. Maybe a dose of his offense will give José Théodore a breather from time to time.

Posted by trish at 04:01 PM | Permalink

It's like this, fellas: when you get the puck on your stick in the opponent's end of the rink, just fire it at the net. Is that too much to ask for? I know, the odds of that puck going into the net are small, but at least there's a chance, a dream, a hope that you'll light it up.

The Montreal Canadiens haven't lit up much of anything lately, except perhaps the phone lines to the farm team in Quebec City. For some reason, the forwards have forgotten that it's in the best interest of the team and the scoreboard to shoot. More shots on net = more potential goals. It's not rocket surgery, for goodness sake!

In a recent game in Boston, the numbers flattered the visiting Canadiens as Montreal's final SOG (shots on goal) count read 20. As if! Maybe 8 or 9 with a handful of dribblers from the high boards -- and even that's pushing it. I could hardly watch the game, cringing with every hesitation, every befuddled rush by the boys in red. At times I found myself counting the players on the ice just to make sure Montreal wasn't playing a man short. "Two minutes for too many invisible players on the ice."

That's what it looks like. Insecurity. Confusion. The players don't seem to know what the game plan is. They play as if they haven't been given a specific on-ice role. This will happen when the core of a team is made up of cast-offs from other clubs; marginal second-line centres and third-line wingers become a struggling team's offensive hope. As a result we see Yanic Perreault squeezing the stick a little too hard, or Joey Juneau thinking too much as he crosses the blue line offside.

Then there's the other thing, Montreal's "little speedy guy" legacy. What am I on about? The Canadiens always seem to have a fast little highly skilled player on their roster. Think Yvan Cournoyer, Mats Naslund, Russ Courtnall, or for those who like the obscure, Kjell Dahlin and Gilbert Dionne. With little Captain Saku Koivu out for the season, this year's Mr. Speedy Boots is Oleg Petrov, a 5-foot-9, 172 pound winger whose bouts of brilliance can excite even the most cynical Montreal fan.

So why is that a bad thing?

It's not, really, it's just bad timing. Cournoyer and Naslund dipsy-doodled for the Habs when there was a supporting cast that could clear a path for them, or a line mate who could anticipate their bursts of speed and get them the puck on the fly. Pete Mahovlich, Guy Carbonneau, Bob Gainey and even Claude Lemieux allowed the speedy guys to play their exciting style of hockey.

Petrov, however, has seen an ever-changing stream of line mates due to all the injuries and the turnover in personnel year in year out. So when he does that incredible head-fake to cross the blue line, more often than not you'll see him hesitate, looking to make another great move or a slick pass, and you'll find yourself yelling at him to SHOOT THE PUCK!… but the hesitation is all the opposing defenceman needs to poke check the opportunity away. Sigh.

Is it the coach's fault? To some extent I'd say yes. If only because these guys look so confused, like they're still in the first week of training camp. But Michel Therrien can't control the injuries. He can't make a Fleury and Lindros out of a Petrov and Savage. His boss, André Savard, and his boss's boss, Pierre Boivin, can't afford it.

To be fair to Therrien and the players, the Montreal organization has been in a state of confusion and hesitation too. For 20-odd years! Drafting a Doug Wickenheiser instead of a Denis Savard; seeing the unknown Gainey rise to superstardom while a sure thing like Terry Ryan never makes it. From the top down the Canadiens seem to have no confidence in what they do, whether it's the trades they make (how do you ever face the fact that you traded Patrick Roy and John LeClair away?) or the shots they don't take. And like it or not, all of us hockey fans need the Montreal Canadiens to shoot and score more often.

Posted by trish at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In the 1993 playoffs, I saw something that scared me. The face of a “Killer.” He was bruised and gaunt, his compact frame nothing but muscle and heart. There was fire in his eyes. A fire that hadn’t been seen since…well, since the Rocket’s bleu blanc et rouge glare.

So why was I scared? Because it wasn’t a firey red of Les Glorieux that he was wearing, it was the dreaded Toronto Maple Leaf sweater. Moreover, it looked like the Canadiens might just have to face him in the Stanley Cup Finals, and I’m sorry to say I didn’t think the Habs could beat the “Killer”.

As we know, everything turned out the right way that year for Habs’ fans in the end. Montreal never had to face Doug Gilmour and the Leafs. Whew! However, not much has gone the right way since then. Oh sure, there was an unexpected and exciting first round playoff win against Jagr and the Pens in 1998, but lately, it’s only bad news that comes out of the Molson Centre.

Now wait a minute, you say. What about the fast start this year? Hope? Then they signed “Killer” himself. Playoff bound? Well, let’s not get carried away just yet.

Doug Gilmour came into a hockey town that desperately needs a winner (sounds like déja vu all over again doesn’t it – the Leafs were just awful before he showed up in Hogtown). Battered and bruised over the past 2 or 3 years, the Canadiens have been criticized for being too weak, too fragile, and too young - each descriptor a result of being one of the NHL’s Third World teams. What the Canadiens needed was emotion, drive, fire. Gilmour was about to make an impact in that direction right away.

Knowing only too well how many man-games Montreal had lost in the recent past, how their talented captain was undergoing cancer treatment, the injury to goaltender Jeff Hackett in a game against Buffalo, set the stage for the Killer’s revenge. There’s no love lost between the Sabres and number 93, and it showed when he took the ice in Buffalo a couple of nights later. When goalie Jose Theodore made a daring dash to the blueline, he collided with the Sabres’ Vaclav Varada. Without thinking, purely on instinct, Gilmour went after his former teammate. “Mess with another one of my goalies and you’ll pay, brother!” Theodore left the game with a concussion, Gilmour and Varada were each given a 1-game suspension, but the Habs won the game.

I know, it’s hardly the Rocket Riots of March 1955, but it is something. The Canadiens have given up on so many gritty, talented power forwards since they won The Cup™ in ’93 (John LeClair, Darcy Tucker, Turner Stevenson, Mike Keane, Craig Conroy to name a few… merci, M. Houle) that it’s good to see some kind of emotion. Even if it has to come from a geezer.

The Magic Numbers?
But let’s think about this geezer and the numbers that surround him.
- 1982: Gilmour drafted by the St. Louis Blues
- 1982: current Montreal back-up back-up goalie Olivier Michaud not born yet
- 39: number worn by Gilmour in St. Louis and Calgary
- 39: age Gilmour will be around the time Mr. Bettman is presenting the the 2002 Stanley Cup
- 93: number worn by Gilmour since he left Calgary
- 93: the last year Montreal won the Stanley Cup

Coincidence? A little mystique still left in the Club de Hockey? Well here’s another interesting tidbit about the 1993 playoffs: Montreal faced the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference Finals that year. Yes, the surprising Isles had a surprising year back then… kinda like they’re having now…?!

Forgive me. A girl’s gotta dream!

(Post script)
When I was asked to write a weekly column about the Montreal Canadiens, I was both elated and depressed. I have been Montreal’s biggest fan and harshest critic forever, and it’s kind of a dream to write about them. But then I thought, is it going to be week after week of injury reports and near death experiences, not to mention the constant despair of defeat?

Probably. But that has never kept a true hockey pundit down before. As much as I’ll want to cheerlead and wave the flag, you can be sure I’ll call it as it is. And if it gets too bleak in the cold dark winter months, I’ll just pretend it’s the mid-1970’s and we’ll all feel better!

Posted by trish at 02:56 PM | Permalink