The Canadian has two regular-season wins in 18 games and it’s a party at the Bell Centre.
This shows two things: Firstly, CH is happy to have such great fans. Second, perhaps it’s time to stop saying that Montreal is such an unforgiving market for its hockey team.
I paid $1,000 to watch the Canadians vs. Las Vegas game last week.
I was there with my partner and my eldest, who had just turned 4 years old. He actually loved it. Except when we arrived at the Bell Center and went straight to the gift shop. My poor boy was convinced we were at a mall and not a Canadiens game.
He didn’t find it funny after a long journey from Quebec.
We paid $400 for three tickets in the front row of the highest section. We even made a deal with a reseller.
There’s also gas, a hotel room, two Molson Ex vouchers each, a nacho, fries, a Putin and a popcorn, a hat, a cup of Juraj Slafkovsky that my girlfriend bought me to make me sick afterwards, and more that I wrote a controversial column about him. Parking, lunch and dinner.
In short, we are close to $1000.
We spoiled ourselves. It could have cost a little less. But it’s still a lot of money. We have the privilege of being able to do this. It will cost the two children this $1,000 if we take them to an all-inclusive hotel in the south for a week.
If you want to win…
The goalkeeper was Cayden Primeau, third on the team. He was sensational in the first half. It screamed “Carey!” And I don’t really understand those who said he had an excellent match.
Poor thing, he was bombed and had no miracles left. Although he wasn’t to blame for the defeat, he ended up conceding three bad goals. Not one, three.
If you want to win, it’s illogical to ask your third goalie to step into action in front of Las Vegas. But the CH is on trial and the defeat is not that serious.
But I paid $1000 to see the third guard.
There was a photo of Cole Caufield on my post. Poor Cole had one shot on goal during the game. He is averaging 3.8 per game this season. They say it’s difficult for him.
I hope, Batinse! He played with Juraj Slafkovsky and Christian Dvorak. If he gets into the opponent’s zone with the puck, nothing happens. The advanced stats are pretty clear. Last year, 14 Canadian forwards were better at entering the zone and creating a scoring opportunity. Caufield may try hard, but he can’t do everything on his own.
Martin St-Louis explained that Caufield learned many other things besides scoring goals. That’s okay if winning is secondary. Otherwise it certainly won’t help the team win.
But I’m the Keller who paid $1,000 to watch Cole Caufield do something other than score goals.
Before the start of the year, management tried to present a drug with a good peanut butter coating by saying that it was important to make progress. But the medicine is starting to taste good. And progress is not always clear.
Therefore, I, the Keller, paid $1000 with full knowledge of the facts.
The medication passed
And you know what? I had a very nice evening. The medication still worked.
I think 21,000 of us had a lovely evening. It was one of the worst defensive games CH has played in a long time and the club was very lucky to play against an ordinary Adin Hill. It’s shocking to see his team come away so strong defensively. But it was still pleasant.
However, if I’m lucky enough to be able to spend $1,000 to watch a team that doesn’t want to win that much and isn’t making much progress, then I think CH can still be counted on such wonderful amateurs.
Deep-pocketed amateurs who swallow the pill and try to find positivity, progress, joy and unicorns.
I repeat: CH won two of 18 games in regular time and it is full. It’s the crowd delirious. It’s positive. It doesn’t boo. It sings. Long queues form in front of the traders. You don’t lose patience when an attacker dies in the corner at the zone entrance for the third time in this period. It doesn’t matter if CH relies on several undermanned experts but has one of the worst numerical disadvantages in the NHL.
In short, CH is lucky to have such fans. However, I’m a little worried that it won’t last forever if progress doesn’t happen more quickly. Other than Kaiden Guhle and Justin Barron, I don’t see anyone taking a big step forward.
I fear that the $1000 mark will become increasingly difficult to unfold.