The Bunny in Back

It's been a long, cold winter. On too many nights in January, the temperature dropped down to nearly minus-30 Celsius, much colder than that with the windchill. Because our deck is a source of food, I sometimes see a bunny crouching motionless – ears back, whiskers twitching. There are seeds out there for the birds …

You can have your Corsi – Jeff Petry got juju eyeballs

Between the third period and the beginning of the overtime Thursday night, a fat moon rose through a haze of streaky cloud over Montreal. It was St. Jean Baptiste. There were intermittent bursts of fireworks. Cars roared past decorated with the Canadiens flag in one window and the Quebec fleur-de-lys in another. It was a …

Young King Cole is a Merry Young Soul

After the 4-1 victory over the Las Vegas Mar-a-Lagos Tuesday evening, the cameras followed Cole Caufield as the Canadiens celebrated.             There was no real reason for it. Caufield had scored another sniper’s goal, this one on a hard, quick shot off a feed from Corey Perry but three other Canadiens had scored and, as …

Maybe it’s time to admit it – the Canadiens can play

They have won in Toronto. They have won in Winnipeg. Now they have won a game in Las Vegas to seize the home-ice advantage as they head back to Montreal for games Friday and Sunday.             At some point, we are going to have to concede that these Canadiens can play a little shinny and …

Hockey in the Air-Conditioned Nightmare

A guy I once knew boasted that he had seen everything Europe had to offer, even though he had never been across the Atlantic.             He had seen the canals of Venice along with Doge’s Palace and the San Marco Campanile, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, …

Thirteen days that shook the north

            Thirteen days. That’s all it took. Thirteen days.             Thirteen days that upended the North Division of the National Hockey League. Thirteen days to save the jobs of the GM, head coach and who knows how many other scouts and assistants.             Thirteen days to knock the Maple Leafs Stanley Cup train off the …

A league in need of shock treatment

It’s all so drearily familiar. Player goes berserk on the ice. Someone is injured. While the injured player is down, his teammates try to get at the offender. The guilty party pleads his innocence. His coach defends him to the max. Fans of the team with the injured player demand justice. Fans of the other …

The team Hockey Night forgot

 At the end of the first period of this unforgettable Game 7, Hockey Night in Canada went to its analysts to tell us what we had just seen.             It had been a pretty even period, with the Leafs the better team early, then the Canadiens taking over and leading in shots at the …

There’s no vaccine for what ails the NHL

 So much right. And so much wrong. In the past week, the National Hockey League has shown us both its faces. The infectious joy of young Cole Caufield after scoring not once but twice in overtime. The contorted visage of Tom Wilson as he grabs Artemi Panarin by the hair and slams him to the …

Time for Geoff Molson to speak out

Artemi Panarin is the most courageous player in the National Hockey League, bar none.             Panarin has stood up to Vladimir Putin in support of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned by an undercover hit squad working for Russia’s FSB spy agency. If you don’t think that takes courage, you don’t know the meaning …