Game 4: Even an Act of God can help out the Home Team
Believing in the lucky place of worship
Game day this past Thursday had an uncertain feel in the air. The sky was clear and bright, the winds were slowly picking up. I went into the back room for a moment and returned to see an angry downpour. I watched as the rain poured violently and furious.
It was game 4 alright, either do or die. The Canadiens were at home in Montreal and will take anything to tie the series, even an act of God.
In Montreal, religion and the sport go hand and hand. Where players perform inhuman acts of heroics and beat the odds when everyone would doubt before.
So far the 2010 Canadiens are more than exceeding expectations, call it miraculous. However, there will be no parting the seas or turning water into wine.
However, as always, there will be beer.
Which means we need to add one more thing to the playoff guide that is now key: make sure Cindy remembers to eat before watching the game. Was still feeling the onset of drinking Carey Price style. Note to self: don’t drink like a 22 year old.
I figure that’s why my friend from game 3 may have douched out on me: no one likes a sloppy drinker. Then again, my friend can drink three times as much. Still don’t get how he can do that. Then again, I will not try to attempt this at all.
Game 4: On my way to the bar as the sky calmed down from it’s god-like tactics, a rainbow was coming through dark clouds. Would that be an omen…nah. It’s taken me this long to be swayed to the Habs side of the playoff circle. To start believing in the way the whole religion debate goes, I really don’t know.
However, being on the superstitious side, I opted for Bifteck on St Laurent. I had an amazing winning streak during the Olympics with my hockey buddy not so long ago. Good times. Maybe this bar was due. I also see that everyone brought dinner to accompany the cheap beer and salty popcorn.
The Habs were very close in the last game, however the problem they’ve been having in the series has been Pittsburgh’s power play and goals, goals, goals.
I ran into an old acquaintance with his friends who had just finished law school and were taking a break while they were getting ready to pass the bar exam in a few days. I figure the most similar to the pressure the Canadiens would feel to playing on home ice are law students needing to pass the bar. Intense.
Pyatt scores early in the first, however Pittsburgh steals two more in three minutes. For the next two periods we watch nothing but a back and forth game where it was nothing but Pittsburgh.
There was a lot of bad officiating on our end which was frustrating to both team and fans. There was a point were the crowd at the Bell Centre started to throw stuff onto the ice after Hall Gill took a late penalty at the end of the 2nd.
Strange that we’re still in this series hanging on to our playoff lives. Pittsburgh is a lot bigger and stronger, we’re a small fast team playing a lot of defense. However it’s scoring that wins the game.
So why should we cheer for the underdog? I know I want to pick Pittsburgh and their winning ways, well, except for Sidney Crosby’s whining ways. Man, he doesn’t shut up, does he. Never realized how bad.
Well, we can emphasize with being an underdog in life. Things can be tough but if you can believe and fight hard then we all agree that we like that anything is possible. That we can pass the bar, drink one’s weight, pull all nighters, stop and take a moment and see someone do the impossible. When the Habs beat Washington, that was one Hell of an upset.
To do that twice is a miracle on its own, but when you understand what the Montreal Canadiens are about, it’s quite special. In the last while, I’ve watched the games with people I either rarely see or have much in common with.
Barely talked with the law students, however when Maxime Lapierre scored to tie the game in the 3rd, we all had something in common. We believed that the Habs can win this.
I’ve watched with a variety of fans and friends in the last while, some hardcore, some I didn’t even know. The ones who’ve seen the last Cup win back in 1993 and the ones who just got into it.
Seeing the expressions on their faces, nerves of steel and fingernails bitten down to the core. Drink after drink, thinking that referee made a bad call. Fans that need this motivation to get them going, some cases this is what everyone has after a hard day, a crazy exam period or a transition from one change to the next.
We need something to believe in. Right now, it’s the Montreal Canadiens. For a guy like Josh Georges, he’s not a scorer but part of the posse that has shut down Crosby and Malkin. For Jaroslav Halak, who is carrying a team by literally standing on his head being octopi-like between the pipes. We don’t have the greatest scoring chances as Pittsburgh outshot us, but when there’s five minutes left and holding the lead by one and watching Halak stop Malkin on a breakaway…
you better damn believe that anything is possible.
On a different note: the Canadiens have decided to not believe that Sergei Kostitsyn has a place in their lineup and thus won’t be around for the rest of the series, or at all. And thus, I have to retire the Sergei Kostitsyn joke. Sucks that this happened, he is talented and has the potential, however not the right mindset for the team. I guess it’s true what they say about having the right attitude.
Take note.
