Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Canadiens apologize to Flyers

Centre Hice has learned that the Montreal Canadiens have sent an official apology to the Philadelphia Flyers.

The statement is in response to post-game comments from the Flyers’ Mike Richards about rookie defenseman P.K. Subban.

“That punk needs to get with the program. The kid has been in the NHL for, what… not even a year? And he’s got the nerve to be out on the ice actually looking like he’s the real deal? I mean, c’mon. When I came up, if I tried to push the envelope and show some skill, the veterans would have taped my ass cheeks together, not that I would have minded. But the kid needs to earn respect before he can make us look like chumps. Look at me. I had to almost kill that Booth guy to get mad props from my team, but I’m a better guy for it. And it’s bad enough that he’s encouraged by their coaching staff by giving him a lot of ice time, including on the powerplay. They’re a mess from the top down.”

Richards’ comments followed a whitewashing by the Canadiens, in which the Habs disrespected the Flyers by a score of 3-0.

“Originally we were going to let P.K. make the apology” said Habs captain Brian Gionta. “But we got together after the game and decided that P.K. wasn’t the only one at fault. I mean, (Carey) Price didn’t even allow one of those 41 shots to get past him, not even one of the really tough ones. If that isn’t thumbing your nose at the opposition, I don’t know what is."

(continued below)


Subban totally disrespecting Zherdev during Tuesday night's action at the Bell Centre

The apology, issued as an open letter to the Flyers and their fans, reads in-part:

“We the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club would like to offer our sincerest apologies for last-night’s debacle regarding our actions against the Philadelphia Flyers. We understand that it was wrong for us as a hockey team to make our opposition, who was 9-0-1 in their last 10 games, look like our bitches."

The apology went on to note that Jeff Halpern was “deeply upset that he didn’t bleed after hitting his head on the ice after the Powe hit” and that Maxim Lapierre “promises that next time he will take a fight more seriously, and not just use it as a way to get one of their douchebags to sit in the penalty box for five minutes.”

In post-game comments Gionta also addressed a discussion that he and teammate Scott Gomez had with Flyer defenseman Chris Pronger after the final siren. “With the shutout, we wanted to get the game puck for Carey. We might have been pushing it a little by making that request, but then for Pricey to toss it to a kid after the game, well… talking about rubbing salt into an open wound. The veterans will have a word with him about his selfless actions.”

As for Pronger, he noted that, “it’s not just the Subban thing. The Habs have been breeding this sort of thing for years… even back to the mid-70’s. I’m still hearing horror stories from Philly vets about how that Robinson guy totally disrespected Dave Schultz. I mean, making a guy cry on national television is just wrong.”
.
.
.

3 comments:

Joe said...

This is the first time I visit your site and OMG that has to be one of the best articles i've read in a long time! GO HABS GO

Dennis said...

Nice, funny, and to the point. Great job.

YOUR RESIDENT BLOGGER said...

Thanks, guys. Hopefully I didn't catch each of you with mouthfulls of coffee. :)