Tuesday, November 3, 2009 12:54 PM
Hail the new hero of the nation
Well, it appears the Montreal Canadiens’ lumbering defencemen quotient has taken a sudden and worrying dip.
Hal Gill misses out on succulent Méchant Mardi action tonight against the mighty Thrash, turns out he’s been carrying a mysterious “lower-body” injury for three weeks now. Kinda explains a few things, doesn’t it?
Apparently it’s unrelated to the shot he took on the foot in practice on Monday, and if you believe that, perhaps we can interest you in some prime resort properties at French Immersion Acres in a rustic and charming locale north of the bustling metropolis of La Tuque, Que. (ok, it used to be a mine, but we hear it’s been cleaned up).
Hockey being a zero-sum game, Gill’s misery is Mathieu Carle’s delight. The 22-year-old Gatineau, Que., native – Outaouais represents! – plays his first NHL game tonight for the bleu-blanc-rouge, and boy is he nervous and excited.
“To tell you the truth, I’m not really nervous or that excited, I’m not really the nervous type,” he said. “I was happy (Monday) night when I got the call, but I’ve been waiting a while for this day. I woke up with a smile this morning, though.”
Carle bumps the Francophone Habs contingent up to four, which should reassure the Société Saint-Jean Baptiste and Rejean Tremblay a little (there are five on the roster – Comrade Georges apparently has a sore back, and isn’t able to “play” hockey.)
Carle’s not to be confused the with the determinedly Anglo Matt Carle who plays defence for the Broad Street Bullies. Oh no.
In our ongoing and interminable Goalie Watch segment, we’re happy to report that our guy Carey gets the start tonight – so much for win-and-you’re-in.
Jacques Martin said he’s got a feeling about Carey tonight. He didn’t specify whether it was a tingly type feeling or a something’s-out-there one.
There is also injury news from Habs-land.
FI’s skulking, trench-coated operatives report that the peerless Andrei Markov has shed his walking cast – you’ll recall from past FI installments he was stabbed in the foot by Scott Gomez – and was actually able to get on the exercycle and lift a few weights with his damaged foot.
Ryan O’Byrne was also in the Habs’ gym, he sensibly turned down the Belinda Carlisle tune (isn’t she a gay icon?) that was blaring on the sound system, and he’s slated to meet the team doctors next week to evaluate his wonky knee.
And Matt D’Agostini now officially has a concussion as a result of being smashed in the melon with a flying shoulder from Chicago's Andrew Ladd – well, duh – and will miss at least a week.
Though the Habs are typically cryptic about the injury status of their players, we applaud their transparency on the most transparently evident injury of the season to this point.
And we thank them kindly for sparing our long-suffering typists from weasel-words such as “concussion-like symptoms” – just call it a friggin concussion already, and be done with it.
