NHL Franchise Boys

This is a wickedly entertaining 10-minute video which paints the Bruins organization as hypocrites.

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It looks like next year’s Winter Classic will be Toront vs Detroit at The Big House…

It’s all but confirmed by the NHL at this point, but it’s becoming pretty clear that the Maple Leafs will travel to the University of Michigan’s Big House for a game against the Red Wings, a venue that has hosted outdoor hockey before. It will be configured for 115,000 fans.

This would be the first time two teams from different conferences would meet in the yearly outdoor game (if you don’t count the Hertiage Classic), and also the first time we’d see a Canadian team in the made-for-NBC event.

 Obviously nothing is going to be outright confirmed until the ink is dry on the contracts, but there’s no mention of other teams or venues. Being in the Winter Classic, fans of both teams get a couple other perks, like an alumni game (can’t imagine how loud the reception from Leafs fans would be for Mats Sundin, Wendel Clark and Dougie Gilmour), and the privilege of being on HBO’s 24/7 (assuming HBO has interest in following these two teams). The NHL will approve the matchup with their major partners before announcing it, so it bodes well for the show to carry on for another season. On the other hand, these teams only play each other a couple times a year and the Leafs haven’t seen the Red Wings in playoffs since 1993. Either way, it should be one hell of a game.

Montreal Canadiens franco-fans will be protesting the angolophone interim headcoach Randy Cunneyworth on January 7th with what’s being called a “language rally.”

Mario Beaulieu, president of The French Quebec Movement, and Denis Trudel of French Movement Montreal  will be holding a rally outside of Bell Centre to protest what they call “the Anglicization of the Montreal hockey club.” Beaulieu says that not having a coach that speaks French is the last straw for a team that calls Quebec home, a home where French is the primary language.

For now, they might not have to worry long about Cunneyworth if he can’t get the team to win games. Then those “anti-anglo”  fans can push the Habs to hire Bob Hartley or Michel Therrien or Claude Jodoin or Denis Savard and leave the rest of the league knowing why most coaches won’t even bother considering Montreal when looking for a job. Making matters worse, the anti-anglos say there are just two or three players capable of speaking French on the team as well.

By continuing with the never-ending language issue, they are creating an atmosphere in which no one—English, French Canadian, American or European—will want to play or coach in Montreal. The Habs are poised to go backwards as they may never get the best coaches or players possible for a rebuilding team because of the language issue. 

Mr. Bettman…  All we want for Chrsitmas is an NHL franchise in Quebec City so the anti-anglos can leave our Habs alone!!!!