Well, That Was Fun...

I will not translate the subtitle, but I will explain my feelings...

The Montréal Canadians lost yesterday in a 6-1 Game 5 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in that team's backyard. I expected this to be the result last night after all of the things I've noted about my team - lack of shots on goal; defence without determination, etc. - but I must admit that I felt more offended about what I saw in the Game 4 crash and burn on Wednesday.

A 4-0 loss in Montréal...and I felt crushed.

If you have to lose, lose, but don't give the other team what some commentators have called ''the laziest shutout in playoff history''.

And how was our goaltending?

Our beloved Jakub Dobeš faced about 40 shots over three periods and still managed to keep his head up and do the best he could in our own barn. I have absolutely no problem with a rookie putting on a performance like this. The love that he is receiving from this town and the team's supporters is well-deserved.

As for the rest of them...

Seriously, how do you have a kid like Cole Caulfield hitting the first fifty-goal mark in the Bell Centre as a Hab, and Nick Suzuki - the captain, boys and girls - reaching 100 points in the regular season, and we have to deal with statistics like this: 12 shots on goal in one game?

12?

How deeply embarrassing does it have to be before they decide to change things, even with this being a repeated pattern with them.

Even I had to admit that the old playbook does not work. They had been doing something interesting as a ritual before the games that now seems both tragic and deeply ironic. Old Canadiens legends were stepping onto the ice with a torch in honour of a line from a famous World War I poem - In Flanders Fields: "To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high."

Game 3 at home had Claude Lemieux hoisting that flaming symbol of hope, and the recent news proves that there are some coincidences that cannot be ignored:

Maybe I should not mention this, but I feel that this does matter. I was a fan of the above bulldog after his essential role in the 1986 win (he would go on to win three more Cup rings with other teams). And what makes it worse is that it was learned that it was a suicide, not just old age or health (60 still feels too young).

There is always a problem for players in this city when it comes to the press and fans. The Canadiens were much better on the road than at home for all of the playoffs, as if there was a particular pressure that they did not have to face in their home and native land. I hope that this is a sign that other players need to talk about what has not been mentioned, and that they remain loved, no matter what the score is, or how many times they have lifted Lord Stanley's finest silverware.

So, it is a beautiful Saturday and I have to head out soon. Our women's hockey team, Montréal Victoire, won their championship (the first Canadian team to succeed at this level in the PWHL), and they will have their parade heading through the city's downtown core this afternoon with the Walter Cup. Everyone in this town should be out there today, with the thought in their heads that this should be a yearly event.

Our men should feel pride in making it as far as they did, and the women, once again, have become an interesting role model for us all.

We deserve to celebrate.

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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