Hey Readers,
A recent article written by Jamie Bell of the TSN.ca website http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=355220 posed the question whether the rivalry between two of the National Hockey Leagues most storied franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens still exist?
Being a loyal Montreal Canadiens fan since the 1994-1995 season, I have heard my share of cheers and jeers for my beloved franchise and equally shots taken and complements received from the Maple Leafs faithful. I for one will admit that I have admiration for the Maple Leafs. I cheer like any good Canadian fan for all six of the nations teams to make it into the play-offs. I always find a Maple Leaf or two for my roster on my fantasy hockey team, amongst my many Habs. And like most fan, nothing would give me more satisfaction for than for the Maple Leafs to make their way into the Eastern Conference Finals, just to have a energy filled, seven game, losing play-off series to the Montreal Canadiens.
The major question that is posed by Bell haunts me though. Does a rivalry still exist? As the article states, neither team have had a significant play-off series with one another in quite some time. Neither team has been the odds on favorite during the regular season taking the crown away from the powerful Pittsburgh Penguins or the high scoring Washington Capitals or the re-surging Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference. Many recent games have been good, but nothing noted as bonafide classics. However, in my opinion, the rivalry still very much exist. In the earlier years where stars like Maurice "The Rocket Richard," Lanny McDonald, Guy Lafleur, Daryl Sittler, Ken Dryden, Johnny Bower, Jean Beliveau, Frank Mahovlich, Doug Harvey, and Borje Salming created the rivalry between the franchises in such heated regular season and play-off bouts. As the years progress and the rest of the NHL had caught up with similar talented rosters, I think the fans have been tasked with stoking the fire of the feud. So yes, I think the rivalry will never die, the fans will hold the torch high until the teams are ready to take back the torch and continue to contribute the legendary feud.
For those of you who've been following this blog, you may have noticed a fairly regular posting of humorous videos. For this week, I thought I'd switch things around a bit. The first video from YouTube has chef Martin Yan from the television show Yan Can Cook teaching us how to relax and bone a chicken. This video is primarily a cooking based clip but Yan has the charisma and the timing of a comedian and shows his sense of humor throughout the clip.
The second clip I decided to embed is of the brilliant Canadian/Scottish improvisation comedian Colin Mochrie and American improvisation comedian Ryan Styles from the show Whose Line Is It Anyways? Colin Mochrie has always been one of my favorite Canadian comedian who will be coming to the Saskatoon area on March 13th. I unfortunately will not be able to go to the show, but his latest DVD, the Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood Two Man Group DVD is in the mail. If you are unfamiliar with Colin work, here's a nice introduction of a YouTube clip to my favorite Whose Line cast member .
Martin Yan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVHO1JY4Vc8&feature=related
Colin Mochrie and Ryan Styles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDhamZOl5Po&feature=related
Greg
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