(Mostly) Good times and great friends



Unbelievably, the Habs have continued to allow us to do this 



Back to the grind!

I'm glad to report that Centre Hice (and Montreal!) survived the recent road trip and 4th annual Habs Inside/Out fan summit. A great time was had by all, even considering that the Habs played against the Sens like they had skated the night before in Buffalo... which is, of course, what they did.

The first leg of the journey to the home of the chicken wing almost didn't happen. Unfortunately the Centre Hicemobile's alternator decided that it had had enough, and crapped out on the highway somewhere around Hamilton. Having your instrument panel and the rest of the interior electronics go dark while doing 120km/h in the fast lane isn't the ideal way to start a lengthy journey. When it happened I was flipping through radio stations; so I'll blame that brief moment of Celine Dion for killing the car. 

Luckily enough a quick boost and some prudent driving got the Centre Hicemobile back to home base, where Centre Hicemobile v2.0 was ready, willing and able to get us to Buffalo. Thanks goodness, too; seeing the Habs 3-2 victory over the Sabres was well worth the extra effort. Besides, if I hadn't been there in person to see Benny Pouliot's two-goal performance with my own eyes, I might not have believed it. 

Day two of the journey involved high-tailing it up the 401 to meet up with our favourite bunch of Hab fans, many of whom had invaded the city the night before to take in the Hab/Sabre game on the big screen while drinking Hurley's dry. Pre-game involved dinner at a local restaurant which included a charity raffle of Hab keepsakes and memorabilia to benefit the Gainey Foundation. Yours truly walked away with some cool Hab-related reading, and a tiny shirt emblazoned with the CH, which I'm glad to say that we'll be able to make use of by mid-May.

As for the game, well... did I mention that we got to hang out with a great bunch of Hab fans for the evening? The game itself was pretty lacklustre; the Habs played tired, and the Sens obviously benefited from their night off. But the beer was cold, and the quality of the commenting on the game from the folks around us was top-notch. If you don't get to enjoy a win, the next best thing is being able to laugh at a loss. And the three-star selections. Brian Elliott? Really?

Guaranteed game-enjoyment system





After the game, the gang reconvened at Hurley's Pub on Crescent Street to conduct to post mortem. Misery does indeed love company. And cold beer. To all of Centre Hice's friends--old and new--thanks for the laughs and great conversation. We can't wait to do it again next year.

The trip back home the following day was utterly uneventful, save for the hot blonde in the red Ferrari who teased me all the way from Cornwall to Kingston while the Mrs. napped in the co-pilot's seat.

Ok, that last part might not have happened, but gas was 99 cents/litre at one of the new service centres on the 401. Score! Hey, when you get to certain point in your life, you learn to find pleasure in the little things. 

I've to check out the camera to see if there's anything worth sharing. If not, I'll do what everyone else does: troll the web for other people's photos and post them as our own.

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