www.dennis-kane.com Open in urlscan Pro
103.146.112.59 Public Scan

Back to summary

Submitted URL:
https://www.dennis-kane.com/ex-hab-boss-jacques-demers-going-to-the-senate/
Effective URL:
https://www.dennis-kane.com/
Submission: On June 06 via api (June 6th 2024, 4:06:52 pm UTC) from US — Scanned from AU

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

GET https://dennis-kane.com/

<form role="search" method="get" class="search-form" action="https://dennis-kane.com/">
  <label>
    <span class="screen-reader-text">Search for:</span>
    <input type="search" class="search-field" placeholder="Search …" value="" name="s">
  </label>
  <input type="submit" class="search-submit" value="Search">
</form>

Text Content

DENNIS-KANE.COM ———SINCE 2007

Search
Primary Menu Skip to content
* About Me

Search for:
Montreal Canadiens, Orillia, Toronto Maple Leafs

CHURCH LEAFS

April 21, 2019 Dennis Kane 1 Comment

Bob Haggert, trainer for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1960s, got married in
Orillia to a local girl who was the daughter of someone my grandma knew. Grandma
gave me a heads up about the wedding at a church in Orillia (St. Paul’s United
Church on Peter St) and I went up there and there were a whole bunch of Leafs
standing outside the church talking and smoking and probably commenting on how
hot the bride was.

I was about 11 or 12, and I remember only Dave Keon and Red Kelly. The rest are
a blur. And I swear on my mother’s grave, the next morning at my own church,
Guardian Angels, Keon and his wife sat right in front of me and my family!

Most of the circa 1962 Toronto Maple Leafs were standing outside a church in
Orillia, and the only other person there was a little guy who appreciated the
whole thing but probably wished they were Montreal Canadiens instead.

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Dave KeonOrilliaRed Kelly
Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs

FROZEN CRANBERRY

February 23, 2019 Dennis Kane 6 Comments

Years ago, long before I showed up in Powell River, a small lake here, Cranberry
Lake, would freeze over in the winter and folks would skate on it.

I’ve heard many times about this, and it is a little odd considering that these
days the temperature only slightly dips below freezing a handful of times, and
Mexican Windmill palm trees grow without a problem in these parts.

But back in the day, they skated and played hockey and had kind of a normal
winter considering this town on B.C.’s west coast is within a temperate
rainforest.

The other day my friend Dave McLennan left a Powell River Living magazine in my
mail slot that shows kids on the lake back in 1950, the year I was born.

I love this picture. Thanks, Dave.

And of course, Go Habs Go tonight in Toronto!

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Cranberry LakeHabsLeafsPowell River
Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Carey Price, Edmonton Oilers, Jacques
Plante, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Max Domi, Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens, Shea
Weber, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks

HABS THOUGHTS

February 10, 2019 Dennis Kane 10 Comments

Earlier today, Sam Armenio on Facebook sent me his excellent rundown on this
year’s Canadiens. He also asked me to share my views, which I do after you read
Sam’s really well-written and well-thought out essay.

Here’s Sam –

Dennis,

I just viewed your website and I think you’ve done a great job…I find some of
your commentary entertaining and in some cases quite interesting. So I thought
perhaps we can share some views as we both enjoy the feats/blunders and all
thing Habs…how did that loss(Leafs) strike you? Some people didn’t think (I’m
one of them) that the Habs couldn’t turn things around this season…and
pleasantly I was wrong. The Habs actually played a quality type game and I
thought they should have won. Directly pointing to a less than appealing power
play…especially during the last 40 seconds and then into the overtime…but the
chances throughout the game is a far switch than what would have been last year.

I still feel the team didn’t get the push they needed…sort of what we witnessed
in the Superbowl, where the defenses really shut down the offenses and then 1
team taking the bull by the horns and making something happen and a blown
coverage or soft play would eventually decide the fate of the game.

Here classically, we have Price again…yes he played a super game focused well
throughout but after a mishap at the Leaf’s blue line getting caught and then
the subsequent attack by the Leafs, catching the defense off guard…Petry late in
getting to Marner and then the smooth pass to Tavares and Danault taking the
wrong turn and giving Tavares the space and time to flick the puck up over
Price’s glove… where I think Price just under played it…yes if only he moved up
a foot before dropping to his knees…His glove was right there!! Ahhhh…. such has
been my view that he almost never bales out a teammate who makes a blunder and
leads to a sudden rebound attack on him…this to me is a trait that I don’t
believe he will ever shake and not sure because of that…if ever the Canadiens
will hoist the cup while he’s there…yes I hope I’m wrong and he’ll shake this
out and we will eventually land the Stanley Cup…the only other way is to have
the offense score more goals than the other team…which is really what the
Washington Capitals did last year.

But at least the team is exciting…definitely missed Byron’s quickness on this
night…generally he can provide some sudden attack and catch the other team…I
still think the coaching has been better too…why the power play sucks?? I mean
look at what the strong teams in this area are doing and replicate it…practice
it…you know the rant by Allen Iverson…it’s only practice…well that doesn’t apply
here…they need to do it until it’s fluidity applies and the quicker the puck
movement and the better decision making then will there be success (I think
Kotkaniemi needs to be there as a second trigger point to Weber (which will give
him more space and time) kinda what Galchenyuk did sparingly)…There were times
also that the players just didn’t shoot…why? Where’s the hit the net…mantra?…are
the coaches doing their best behind the bench…I always said throughout the last
3 seasons where’s the adjustments made as the game progresses?? With Therrien
there seemed to never be any adjustments…players with short limited skills
always doing the same obvious plays, no setting up…dumping the puck in…missing
teammates that are open or soft passes that get picked off going the other
way…poor decisions by not choosing the opposite or open space areas and forcing
the puck in the area where the other team is in good position to get the puck
and a quick transition to the offense and catching the Habs defense for a strike
on Price…Oh well!!

What about the Marc Bergevin reign…what’s your thoughts on his tenure?
Management’s finally put a better effort on the big center dilemma…I still think
they need a strong type defenseman to match up with Petry and another strong
winger…here don’t think Shaw fits in…yes he scored that early goal but really it
was a deflected shot on Anderson…which is another factor that the Habs cannot do
well…that is getting in front of the other team’s goalie and distracting him on
the play…get rebounds….break the obvious play and get to rebounds or cause
deflections…this is a coaching issue!! I would sure like a guy with tenacity and
soft hands…thinking of a Duchesne or even Jeff Skinner…yes both of these players
are of the smaller type (and surely can’t have too many of the short kind) but
they bring another dimension of speed and soft hands which the Habs don’t have
enough of…

Till the next time…

Sam

And now me –

Good stuff from Sam, eh?

This gives me a chance to say what I think about the team, as I haven’t really
done it yet this year, and I also haven’t done many game recaps lately either.
So Sam has kind of motivated me.

I only saw half of the first period of the Habs and Leafs battle at the Bell, as
I was sitting in the Puerto Vallarta airport with my iPad, and then I had to get
on the friggin plane just as the second period was about to begin.

Maybe it was good that I missed it. Seeing Tavares score in overtime would’ve
drove me to the dark side, or at least to the pub a couple of blocks away here
in Powell River.

I agree with what Max Domi said. This team can beat any team in the league (as
least when they’re looking sharp), and with all the orgasms and giddiness we’ve
had to endure from Bondi media about the Leafs, it would’ve been unreal to see
the Canadiens win that game.

I’ve mostly been an optimist about the Habs. It’s been that way every year since
the 1950s, and for the most part, even if they were down 4-0 after the second
period, I’d always hold out hope that they’d come back and win the game. I never
said they were tpoast when it was still possible to win. And if they can make
the playoffs, what if we see magic happen?

That sort of thinking changed a few years ago, when they became absolutely
dreadful, with not a hope of doing anything remotely good near season’s end.
They were incredibly boring, I’d find my mind wandering and my eyes looking at
the wall, and they were small and star-less, and did I say boring? Where is that
50- goals scorer? I thought Max Pacioretty was a lousy captain, and although he
could be a sniper at times, he avoided physical contact even though he’s a big
man. I hated that. Brendan Gallagher has shown from the get-go that’s he the
real deal because of his heart, and imagine if Max had even a decent chunk of
what Gally has.

I had originally thought (or hoped) that Galchenyuk would blossom into a
superstar and the next great hero of the CH. But it turned out he was just a
young kid who, even with great talent, apparently could be easily distracted by
the ladies and such, and he pissed me off to no end about what could have been.

Carey Price, over the course of his career, has been either unreal between the
pipes, or a true sieve who seems to let things get into his head from time to
time, even though he told us all to chill out a few years back. I remember a
game in Vancouver when he’d been in the league just a few years, and he was as
brutal as can be. Just a horrible night for him. The pucks he let in were, for
the most part, terrible goals that had us all wondering. Then, years later in
the Sochi Olympics, he was unreal, the best in the world, nothing could get by
him.

So when I see Sam mentioning that the overtime goal might have been stoppable
but many on different websites say the tic-tac-toe play was unstoppable, I have
to agree with Sam a bit, even though I didn’t see the goal. Price can be as
brilliant as can be, but there are times when he doesn’t stop something that
maybe Terry Sawchuk or Jacques Plante or Vladislav Tretiak or Martin Brodeur
might have stopped, when we really needed him. He’s been good this year, though.
At least for the most part.

One thing I’d like to say about the Canadiens of the last few years, the ones
who sucked royally. At least they weren’t the smurfs of the years prior, with
wee Gionta, Cammalleri, and the guy who stills makes me grind my teeth – Scott
Gomez. It’s hard for me to even write his name. And I don’t care if sometimes
Gionta and Cammy contributed, it was the fact that the team was so friggin small
it was embarrassing. Did you ever look at the Habs and some of the teams they
were playing against from back then, lined up for the national anthem? It looked
like fathers on one side and sons on the other.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi makes me smile several times every game. This guy could be a
real beauty in a few years. He’s got great style, nice centreman height and he
shows surprising confidence for being only 18. He’s smart, and he seems to have
good hands. I think he’ll be what Galchenyuk couldn’t be. Taking KK in the draft
was a fab move by Bergevin.

Jonathan Drouin reminds me of Saku Koivu the way he handles the puck, he’s got
17 goals so far this season, and is a terrific skater. Lots of people complain
that he’s too hot and cold, and maybe he is, but he’s still only 23, which
people forget. And it’s not really an honest comparison, but people whined about
AlexMandry Mahovlich, especially when he was with the Leafs. They said he was
asleep half the time. But he wasn’t asleep, it was his style, and there were
those nights when the magic happened.

Phillip Danault has been a solid centreman who is smart, with good size, and
good hands. He’s the skilled kind of player would help any team, and he’ll be a
key guy if the team makes the playoffs.

I think Jeff Petry is getting better and better. I remember when a TV
commentator questioned Petry coming to Montreal in the beginning, saying he
wasn’t at all impressive in Edmonton and too soft. But the guy’s turned out to
be excellent, even though he sometimes coughs up the puck near his goal.

My favourite Bergevin move? Just after he was hired, his first order of business
was to buy out Scott Gomez. I was a big fan of Bergevin after that.

I’m not always a big fan of our GM, though, but I will say one thing. I
completely agreed with the Weber-Subban trade. I think Subban was a distraction,
and I think he could be an asshole sometimes in the dressing room. I remember on
one inside-look TV show when they showed him throwing sticks around the room and
swiping tape off the table, as kind of a rah-rah thing. The cameras showed other
players nearby looking bemused, and you could almost read their minds. And
Subban knew he was on camera. It’s been said many times by people that PK is all
about his brand, and I firmly believe that. And from Brendan Gallagher’s
comments to the media last year or the year before, he thinks the same thing.
Gally’s probably not the only one either.

Saying anything bad about Subban isn’t a popular thing with a lot of fans but I
don’t care, I’m too old to let that bother me. I’m glad he’s gone and I think
Weber is dominant in many ways – his shot, his hard-hitting, his leadership, and
the respect his teammates have of him. And of course, a much better captain that
Pacioretty.

I think the future looks bright for the Habs, and maybe, just maybe, young KK
will be the big star we’ve all hoped for every year but an elusive one for sure.

I think they’re going to make the playoffs, and who knows what could happen
after that? Isn’t it great!

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Carey PriceFrank MahovlichJeff PetryJesperi KotkaniemJonathan DrouinPhillip
DanaultSaku KoivuScott Gomez
Uncategorized

A LIFE-CHANGER

January 30, 2019 Dennis Kane 15 Comments

This is Lyla. She’s four years and three months old now, and we’ve had her since
she was seven months old when we sprang her from a foster home. It took me a
while to come to grips with the idea of raising a baby, we’d gotten her just
months after I’d retired, and our marriage was completely strained and on thin
ice.

But more and more I fell in love with Lyla and I wouldn’t have it any other way
now. My only worry is that when she’s 15, I’ll be 80, Lucy isn’t far behind, and
that’s pretty friggin old. I wonder if she’ll be embarrassed when she brings
friends home.

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Uncategorized

THE BEGINNING

January 16, 2019 Dennis Kane 5 Comments

The spring of 1971. The beginning of a Hall of Fame career for Ken Dryden. After
playing in just six regular season games, Dryden backstopped his team to a
Stanley Cup, and was also awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Dryden would win the Calder for top rookie the following season.

Habs coach Al McNeil wasn’t as fortunate. Because of a clash with Henri Richard
over ice time, McNeil, even though the team had just won the Stanley Cup, was
demoted to the minors and replaced by Scotty Bowman.

Below, from the Toronto Star after the big win.

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Ken Dryden, Montreal Canadiens

AN OLD NEWSPAPER

January 9, 2019 Dennis Kane 8 Comments

I found this in one of my boxes of old newspapers. I was 25 and living in Ottawa
when the amazing 1975 New Year’s Eve game between the Habs and Soviets was
played, although this paper is from the Vancouver Sun.

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Habs-Soviets 1975 New Year's gameKen DrydenVancouver SunVladislav Tretiak
Uncategorized

THE OLD MONTREAL BARNS

January 7, 2019 Dennis Kane 7 Comments

On one summer day back in 2013, while you were at the beach getting high and
ogling the opposite sex, I was getting stuck in Montreal traffic, working my way
around an inner city marathon involving thousands of runners, all of whom seemed
in slightly better shape than me.

I did this because I wanted to see where the old Habs barns once stood or still
stand. And I’m almost sure I didn’t hit one runner.

First, the 3,200-seat Jubilee Arena in east-end Montreal, at the corner of St.
Catherine and Malborough (now Rue Alphonse – D. Roy.)

The Canadiens played there during their first ever season, 1909-10, and again
from 1917 until it burned down in 1919.

What the Jubilee looked like, inside and out –

And what it looks like now. Nice, if you like warehouses.

From 1910 to 1918, the Canadiens played at the Montreal Arena (or Westmount
Arena as it was also called), at the corner of St. Catherine and Wood, one block
west of what would become the Forum.

The place held 4,000 people seated and another 6,000 standees, and burned down
in 1918, forcing the Canadiens to move back to the Jubilee for a very short
period.

The Montreal Wanderers played there also, and I kind of feel for this long-gone
team. After being a powerhouse in the old ECAHA and NHA, they joined the NHL in
1918 and played just four games before their barn burned down. So they called it
quits permanently.

What the Montreal Arena looked like then –

And what it looks like now –

Next, the 6,000-seat Mount Royal Arena near the corner of Mount Royal and St.
Urbain, where the Canadiens, after the Jubilee burned down, played from 1920 to
1926 . After that they would take residence (with the Maroons) in the Forum,
which was built two years prior in 1924.

The Mount Royal Arena burned down in 2000.

What it looked like then –

And what it looks like now. A Provigo supermarket –

The classic Montreal Forum, built and opened in 1924 –

Renovations in 1968 made it look like this –

And then, after the team had moved to the Molson (Bell) Centre, the beautiful
Forum became this –

And finally, the Bell Centre, originally named the Molson Centre, which opened
in 1996.

The Canadiens’ dressing room, which the tour guy said is the smallest dressing
room in the league, partly because they wanted to keep it as similar as possible
to the Forum dressing room. and something about moving from the Forum after the
season had already started.

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Bernard Geoffrion, Doug Harvey, Elmer Lach, Emile Bouchard, Maurice Richard,
Montreal, Montreal Canadiens

‘CHEZ BUTCH’ POSTCARD

November 24, 2018 Dennis Kane 5 Comments

The postcard below, which I bought on ebay, is from Chez Butch Bouchard, a
classy joint that was located in downtown Montreal at 881 Demontigny East.

Chez Butch was owned by the big defenseman from the late-1940s to late-1970s,
and was a popular spot for teammates and wives to let off steam.

Emile ‘Butch’ Bouchard passed away in 2012 at the age of 92.

The extra large postcard is in mint condition.

Below, from circa-1954, Butch and the gang, which includes, among others, Doug
Harvey, Elmer Lach, Gerry McNeil, Bernie Geoffrion, Ken Mosdell, and of course
the Rocket, enjoy a few pops with their wives at Chez Butch.

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Bernard GeoffrionButch BouchardChez Butch BouchardDoug HarveyElmer LachGerry
McNeilKen MosdellMaurice Richard
Buffalo Sabres, Carey Price, Joel Armia, Jonathan Drouin, Max Domi, Montreal,
Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Paul Byron, Tomas
Tatar

HABS LET IT SLIP AWAY

November 6, 2018 Dennis Kane 5 Comments

The Canadiens led 3-1 at one point in the second period of Tuesday’s game at
Madison Square Garden, Carey Price was stellar for only part of the evening,
Jonathan Drouin was terrible for most of the evening, and by game’s end it was
the Rangers who had skated away with a 5-3 win.

The Habs were playing their second game in two nights, and at times appeared out
of whack, particularly Drouin, who turned the puck over so many times it was
sometimes hard to tell what team he was playing for.

Drouin has had a slew of lousy games this season and he needs to stop this
nonsense before Habs fans and media turn on him in a big way and he passes the
point of no return.

Tomas Tatar scored twice, the first coming just 23 seconds into the game, which
was also the first shot of the game, and he now has five on the season. Tatar
had almost as many scoring chances as Drouin had turnovers.

Max Domi notched his 9th on a power play in the second period, which made it 3-1
at that point.

After Domi’s goal, the Rangers slowly but surely took over and scored the final
four markers as the Canadiens, possibly because of fatigue from playing the
night before, simply ran out of gas. Although being tired might be a easy
excuse.

Turnovers, fatigue, and bad penalties, including another ‘too many men’
infraction with just 3:50 left in the game with the score tied 3-3. The
Canadiens did the same thing the night before in Brooklyn.

New York scored the winner with 2:44 remaining when Neal Pionk, doing a fine
impression of Bobby Orr, went end to end and tucked it behind Price. Less than a
minute later, the Rangers added the insurance.

Random Notes:

Joel Armia was injured in the second period after being clipped knee on knee.

Habs outshot the Rangers 34-32.

The second period saw a parade to the penalty box for both teams, and at one
point, while leading 3-1, the Canadiens weren’t able to take advantage of 5 on 3
power play, which would have made it 4-1 at that point. Instead, the Rangers
began to mount their comeback.

Habs were 1/6 on the power play, while the Rangers went 0/6.

Paul Byron is still mending from a lower body injury and hopefully is back soon.

Next up – Thursday, when the Buffalo Sabres visit beautiful downtown Montreal.
The Canadiens dropped a 4-3 decision to the Sabres back on October 25th.

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Carey PriceJoel ArmiaJonathan DrouinMax DomiNeal PionkPaul ByronTomas Tatar
Carey Price, Max Domi, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, New York Rangers,
Tampa Bay Lightning

TOO MUCH LIGHTNING

November 3, 2018 Dennis Kane 6 Comments

Except for a goal by Max Domi just 58 seconds into the game, the Canadiens
weren’t able to solve Tampa goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, and the visitors hung
a 4-1 beating on the bleu, blanc et rouge at the Bell Centre Saturday night.

Montreal had their chances, plenty of them, but it wasn’t to be.

The four unanswered goals by the Lightning began midway through the first period
after Nicolas Deslaurier took a penalty for slamming Ryan McDonagh into the
boards, which led to Steven Stamkos (his first of two on the night), scoring on
the power play.

Deslaurier’s penalty was deemed boarding, but all I saw was a good, hard hit.
The rule book says boarding is called when a player pushes, trips or body checks
an opponent causing them to go dangerously or violently into the boards. I
didn’t see that. I saw a guy playing a man’s game.

Fighting is almost gone from the game. Bodychecking seems to be on its way out.
The NHL has become a vintage European league now.

Stamkos’ goal changed the momentum of the game. It had been all Habs up to that
point, but Tampa Bay took over and Vasilevskiy shut the door when called upon.
The Russian netminder showed the kind of goaltending we’d hoped Carey Price
would display on an almost nightly basis. Sometimes we see it from our guy. Much
too often we don’t.

It’s okay, you can’t win ’em all, and they can redeem themselves in New York
when they play the Islanders on Monday and Rangers on Tuesday.

Random Notes:

Vasilevskiy stopped 34 pucks while Price handled 32.

In the last eight games we’ve seen the Canadiens win one, lose one, win one,
lose one etc. etc.

Seeing kids on the ice during the HockeyFightsCancer pre-game ceremony was an
emotional sight. Kids getting this dreaded disease has to be one of life’s most
unfair things.

Sharing is caring!
* Post
* Share
* Pin
* Mail
* Share

Andrei VasilevskiyCarey PriceMax DomiNicolas DeslaurierSteven Stamkos

POSTS NAVIGATION

1 2 … 468 Next →

www.dennis-kane.com Open in urlscan Pro 103.146.112.59 Public Scan

Form analysis 1 forms found in the DOM

GET https://dennis-kane.com/

Text Content

www.dennis-kane.com Open in urlscan Pro
103.146.112.59 Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM