Canadians

Canadiens: The Unlikely, an Employee I Met, and the CN Complex Closed
Maxime Truman
Canadiens: The Unlikely, an Employee I Met, and the CN Complex Closed

I told myself it was a nightmare. When you're leading by four goals with less than three minutes left in the third period, your chances of winning are about 9,999 out of 10,000, according to ChatGPT, and 99,999 out of 100,000 according to Gemini. And that's without even considering the fact that the Jets were the worst team in the entire NHL when they faced the Habs…

What happened at the Bell Centre is something that almost never happens.

In NHL history, it was the first time in 9,652 instances that a team trailing with three minutes left in the third period left the arena with a loss.

You're more likely to be struck by lightning, to hole a golf ball in one shot, to give birth to triplets naturally, to encounter a blue lobster in the ocean, to discover a two-headed animal, to land heads 16 times in a row when tossing a 25-cent coin, or to guess a friend's PIN on the first try.

You can blame the third-line players, the intimidating atmosphere of the Bell Centre for the opponent, the Canadiens, Jacob Fowler's play late in the game (he seemed exhausted), the Xhekaj brothers' fights that fired up the Jets, the Montreal centers who couldn't win a single faceoff late in the game, the fans chanting “Olé Olé Olé Olé” too soon, or Jake Evans and Phillip Danault failing to shut down the opposition—even though that's their primary role (they were each on the ice for three of the Jets' five goals)…

But in the end, this defeat is historic… and collective. It's up to the team to bounce back and make sure it doesn't happen again.

The big question: What changes will Martin St-Louis dare to make tomorrow against the Mammoth (a team that's playing very well)?

Jakub Dobes for Jacob Fowler? Yes!

Nick Suzuki in? I hope so.

Who should be benched on offense, though? Owen Beck? Florian Xhekaj? Oliver Kapanen?

And Kirby Dach—what do we do with him?

Can't wait to see the pairings and lines at practice…

The CN Complex, closed for a few hours

My colleague Pat Guillet found the doors locked when he arrived at the CN Complex to cover the Canadiens' practice. Practice was scheduled for 11:30 a.m., but Pat always arrives 90 to 120 minutes early. He likes to watch the injured players skating on their own to assess their rehab progress.

However, a security guard had instructions to follow regarding fans, the media, and military personnel specially invited to the practice: no one was allowed in before 10:00 a.m.

Why? The decision was made by the Montreal front office. As a reminder: last summer, since the practices weren't official Habs practices, the players themselves were the ones who refused to let fans and media members in.

It's a safe bet that Ivan Demidov skated alone and that the Canadiens didn't want anyone to be able to watch him. Are the Canadiens concerned about the Russian's rehab—a process that was going wonderfully at first but has since taken longer than expected?

Demidov, Matheson, Kapanen, Montembeault… the Habs have been keeping several matters under wraps since the start of the season.

You might say that the Canadiens aren't the only organization to act this way, and you'd be right. However, I'd respond that I'll always prefer transparency over secrecy.

In fact, I've been told that the footage of Demidov skating at the Bell Centre yesterday was filmed by someone who wasn't authorized to do so. That person was called in by their employer (the CH Group?). I don't know, however, what the consequences were.

Sometimes I wonder why we treat “Ivan Demidov skating in sweatpants” as if it were an ultra-strict and secret medical or nuclear protocol. After all, we're just talking about a guy skating on a rink in the Montreal area…