Yes, the title does tie in to what happened to my eye. I didn’t get into a bar fight but I figure a punch would be less painful. Not as painful as the back to back losses the Canadiens sustained over the weekend.
We had a win streak. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and then sometimes you’re bound to stink it up in Leafs Nation.
I was going to watch the game with someone I used to watch games with, but got the text that he had other plans, again. Basically I can relate to what Montreal and currently Ottawa is dealing with: I have a Kovalev of my own. I’ve had rain checks from this guy for over the last two seasons and like Montreal, enjoyed the presence he has when he feels like showing up.
I decided not to text back, I don’t feel like playing another cat and mouse game. This is how I deal with my own Kovalev, not going to bother and not going to let him ruin my game.
Back to back games can be tiresome, I watched Detroit from my house but trekked to a bar I was curious about for the Leafs match-up: Brasserie Cherrier (3637 St Denis). I went solo to this semi-seedy bar on a Saturday night. I hoped for giant crowds, lots of beer and Leafs hatred. Instead, it was 10 guys at the bar and emptiness.
Where is everyone, it’s Saturday night hockey?
Brasserie Cherrier was indeed a dive, there was a guy playing a street game at one of the tables, the one where you try to find the ball under three cups. He placed 60 dollars at the bar for the first game. The bartender told him to drink his beer and leave.
But, it is good for game watching, there were flat screens at each corner and they carried the channel to see the game in 3D however who here in a seedy bar carries 3D glasses? I figure after a few beers I might be seeing 3D anyway.
But what I was seeing on the screen was not the same Habs from last week. PK was back but playing it safe. Has he conformed his game? Not a good sign. Will I start seeing pictures of him partying on Facebook? That’s how Carey Price ended up in decline. Price did good against the high shooting Red Wings but deserved to rest, it was Alex Auld’s turn against his former team.
There was a lot of player movement before the game, David Desharnais got the call to replace Gomez but detoured when they decided to move Weber to wing. Weber was back on the D when Jaroslav Spacek got caught in a fight that went wrong.
Now we can have both Weber and PK, problem solved. Sucks for Spacek. They called up Max Pacioretty, he’s been the scoring leader in Hamilton, please don’t kill his confidence.
Other things that sucked in the Leafs game, they have to have a ceremony for anything. Leafs Nation is milking as much legacy as they can get. Things aren’t going as planned, at this rate we’ll never see Dion Phaneuf smile.
I wasn’t smiling at the bar either, it’s hard doing sketch bars by one’s lonesome. It sucks to see Phil Kessel have a good game when the day before the team was vying for 1st overall against the West’s best in Hockeytown (otherwise known as Detroit).
No guys hitting on me here, a good sign. They were busy drinking their tall bottles and swearing in French. Tall beers are the popular thing in sketch bars, a Molson M goes for 6 dollars. I stuck to a pint and cheered one time when Mike Cammalleri scored.
And with that, something flew into my eye. By the end of the night, I was wondering if I hit myself. Nope, it was a eye infection. Told you it was a painful loss. The bar has potential for last minute hockey watching needs however make sure you bring a crowd. Alone in the bar is what they’re accustomed to.
The blog and the Habs are going to be on weird schedules for the next few weeks with Christmas and New Years around the corner. The Habs have another back to back game and then a 7 game road trip and we will be in holiday mode (expect a post a week). We can’t cover all the games but will still follow and find weird bars.
Shout Outs of the week: Shout out to the thousands of Nordiques fans on Long Island stating that Quebec deserves a franchise again by going to see a game against 2 struggling franchises. Don’t see any Jet fans doing that…yet.
