Sr. Columnist @Sportsnet. Montreal Canadiens/NHL Beat threads.net/snericengels Insta: instagram.com/snericengels/
Montreal, Quebec
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On Demidov’s commitment to the Canadiens, and how it allows Kent Hughes to keep building the team Demidov believes can win multiple Cups👇🏻
The Canadiens locked up a huge piece of their core with an eight-year Ivan Demidov extension on Wednesday. @EricEngels explains why this could turn out to be a big win for Montreal. sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/can…
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Jon Cooper on Team Canada delivering a win for the country: “I just hope Canada’s proud because every player in that room is proud to be a Canadian. And yeah, we needed a win. Not only our team, but Canada needed a win. And the players bared that on their shoulders. This one was different. This wasn’t a win for themselves. This was a win for 40-plus million people, and the guys knew it and they delivered.”🇨🇦
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I can honestly say that, in my 15 yrs covering the NHL, I have never seen anything like this Bruce Boudreau fiasco. I have no clue how any organization—even one as apparently as dysfunctional as the Canucks—could operate this way. The cruelty of it aside, it’s just so ridiculous.
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“I said it’s the best team that we’ve ever played against. I didn’t say the best team ever.”--Brad Marchand on Team USA.
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“I grew up a Montreal Canadiens fan and to have an ovation like that was pretty special.”—Sidney Crosby
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Ummmm… the Slovakian goaltender not being named player of the game is a mockery.
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Mad respect for what Brady Tkachuk just did. Snapped his head back to avoid a high stick and the refs thought he got clipped and called a penalty. Tkachuk waved it off and told them he didn't get clipped, so no penalty. Every player should be so noble.
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A 21-year-old smoked weed to cope with her mother's recent death. She told the Today Show she was trying to hide her pain.
Marijuana isn't a performance enhancing drug, and it's time for a change in policy if we're going to dash people's dreams over it.
BREAKING: American champion Sha’Carri Richardson cannot run in the Olympic 100-meter race after testing positive for a chemical found in marijuana. Richardson won the 100 at Olympic trials on June 19. apne.ws/yaWIVX6
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Honestly. This is some of the worst officiating I've ever seen in a game. It's the Stanley Cup semifinal.
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Xhekaj was asked how fight with Kassian started.
“I was smiling at him on the faceoff. He asked me what I was laughing about. I said, ‘You.’ He gave me a shot. I asked him if he wanted one. He said, ‘Sure.’”
Asked Xhekaj if Kassian said anything after.
“He said, ‘Good fight.’”
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Joel Edmundson: "It was a dirty hit, but the league's going to take care of it. If he gets back in the series, we're going to make life miserable for him."
On Evans and Scheifele.
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The fans should be incredibly proud of these Canadiens. All heart. The most memorable edition of the franchise in well over two decades.
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Me to Xhekaj: You need to come up with a more creative nickname for 'Slaf.'
Xhekaj: Working on it.
Me: What's yours? 'X?'
Xhekaj: Yeah, and some guys call me 'Wifi'
Me: Oh?
Xhekaj: You know how a wifi password usually looks something like my last name?
Me: Now that's creative!
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Great stuff from Brandon Hagel when asked about need to initiate the physical stuff versus banged up USA: “I think we’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras. That’s a part of Canada that we have in there. We don’t need to initiate anything. We don’t have any group chats going on. We’re going out there playing our game and then giving it everything and doing it for our country. We don’t need to initiate everything. We’re just going to play as hard as we can and do it for the flag on the chest.”
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Asked Josh Anderson what he took from Jonathan Drouin speaking up about his anxiety and insomnia issues. Quite an answer from him:
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Roughly 8-10 Montreal Canadiens are meeting with a French teacher today after expressing a desire to learn the language. A plan will be built based on their schedule after this initial meeting.
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I don’t know why—could be pure coincidence—but Jack Eichel is boarding a plane headed for Montreal right now. And he’s bringing his hockey sticks with him.
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Brendan Gallagher just reached out to clarify that every single member of the Montreal Canadiens is going to donate to the go-fund-me campaign for the Humboltd Broncos. A tremendous act of compassion and solidarity from @CanadiensMTL.
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1. Fleury was the best goaltender in Vegas.
2. He won the Vezina.
3. They traded him for no return.
4. I hope he shuts them out every time he plays them for the rest of his Hall of Fame career.
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When hockey returns, home teams wear their white jerseys. How would you feel about that?
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Thomas Chabot, making $832,000 this season, plays 37:56 in the second half of a back-to-back for Ottawa. Kawhi Leonard, making $32.742M this season, was rested 22 times last season and has already missed eight of L.A.'s 28 games this season. Don't @ me.
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This is what Paul Byron said after being suspended three games for charging MacKenzie Weegar.
Paul Byron, one of the cleanest and most likeable guys in the NHL.
Maybe someone should show this to Mark Scheifele.
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Coyotes CEO Xavier Gutierrez says someone had part of their finger bitten off during that insane brawl at Mullet Arena last week.
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Seth Jarvis seated between Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby in Canada’s room. “Best seat in the house,” he says.
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Josh Anderson wins it in OT. Someone arrest Carey Price. He just committed the robbery of the century.
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Sean Monahan's dad was in the Canadiens locker room after the game. Asked him how it felt to see Sean score that goal. "Fucking awesome," he said. Canadiens players were thrilled for Monahan, considering all he went through the last two seasons. He played a great game.
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Last Wed, I woke up, stepped on my scale and saw that I was officially down 50 lbs since embarking on a life-changing journey in Jan. It was a proud moment, and I’d like to share a bit about how I arrived at it. If you’re looking to make changes but unsure of how to start...
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Jake Oettinger, take a bow. That was the best performance by a goaltender in the playoffs since Jaroslav Halak in 2010. Just ridiculous.
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Brendan Gallagher said Zdeno Chara called him to apologize after cross checking him in the throat. He appreciated the gesture.
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Petry confirms it was just a broken pinky finger. The eyes were because of setting his finger back in place. "I passed out and basically popped all the blood vessels in my eyes."
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I'm just going to say it: Jesperi Kotkaniemi would have been bonkers to walk away from a deal that would pay him three times as much as he'd likely earn this coming season. And you're bonkers if you think he should've walked away from it.
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Alex Carrier played through that, and much more. “Everyone was dealing with something.”
Brendan Gallagher played with a broken rib. Josh Anderson had multiple injuries since December.
This Habs team had a lot of heart.
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Lane Hutson was offered more but signed for less. He bought himself security and bought the Habs a bit more room to continue building a championship-caliber team. He wants to win.
He could’ve held out for more and could’ve waited much longer.
Not doing that says a lot about him
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"I get knocked on my ass--I have time to reset, you can't tell me the goalie doesn't have time to reset."--Brendan Gallagher.
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Cameras on Ivan Demidov as crowd is going crazy as his assist is announced. “Holy fuck,” he clearly mouths.
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Marc Bergevin says Shea Weber has several injuries (ankle, foot, knee, thumb). "Even missing a practice for him wasn't an option. He has a lot of mileage...He won't be back next season, and probably won't be back for his career."
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"In the end, I don't think I played well enough at the start of the series," says Carey Price before Shea Weber interjects and says, "I don't think that's true. We didn't play well enough in front of Carey." Weber credited the Lightning for being the special team they are.
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The Slafkovsky kid is so green, he's waving to the crowd as they're cheering him for his first goal. Hilarious.
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Arber Xhekaj on his first-ever Stanley Cup Playoff experience:
“That was unbelievable. My heart was beating out of my chest before the game even started. We’re on the bench after O Canada, my heart was pounding and I was like, I’ve got to calm down here. So, I’ve never experienced anything like that, and it was over the expectations I even had. Just this city is really special.”
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Jesperi Kotkaniemi says he’s saving his $20 signing bonus for Christmas gifts for his mom.
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Jon Cooper just said Carey Price is the goaltender of his generation, the best his team has faced.
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Happiest person following Grieg-Rielly fallout should be Tim Stützle. Hardly anyone talking about him diving all over the ice this morning.
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Yesterday, Jon Cooper was asked about what a Team Canada win over USA would mean for the country, given current political climate, and he gave this gem of an answer: “I’m a hockey coach. Am I aware of what’s going on around the world? I am. I think when you’re in the position we’re in to make a country proud, to make a country be able to stick its chest out a little bit farther, that’s rewarding. And we understand that. But—and I’m probably going to speak for the U.S. team—before that puck drops, I don’t think anybody will be thinking outside of this hockey game other than winning that game. Do we all know what it means? We do. But that hasn’t entered into our locker room. These guys are just all in it for each other and knowing that there’s an outcome we want but there’s a process we need to go through to get that outcome. And when it’s all said and done, if we pull this off, we’ll know what this will have meant for everybody at home and we’re very cognizant of that.”
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“Maybe it’ll be better if I start in October instead of February.”—Juraj Slafkovsky
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Alex Romanov wiping away tears after being cheered by Canadiens fans in his return to the Bell Centre.
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“It was everything you’d want in a hockey game. Sucks it didn’t go our way, but it’s far from over.”—Connor McDavid
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Arber Xhekaj on Radko Gudas not "answering the bell."
“He never does. I don’t know what’s up with that guy. He’ll be taking runs at guys’ knees all game. He does play hard, I’ll give it to him. But at some point you’ve gotta show that you’re going to be able to do that.”
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An ovation for Guy Lafleur, which started at 7:10, ran through 7:21, with Canadiens announcer Michel Lacroix interrupted three times as he attempted to ask for a moment of silence to be observed.
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Let me tell you: Cole Caufield passing that puck back a second time, with the quality of shot he has, tells you he'll do what his hockey sense tells him is the best play. He made the best play there, and the Canadiens live another day.
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Please stop saying “clean hit” just because it may not qualify for rule 48. It is a charge—up there with the worst charges ever seen in the NHL—and it was rightly penalized as one. It is not a not a hit to separate a man from the puck, but a hit to injure. And Evans is injured.
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97 per cent of my tweets are about hockey. If you have a problem with me colouring outside the lines about anything—and certainly to call out racism, or the ‘president‘ using his twitter account to threaten lives—you don’t have to follow. It’s okay.
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"Today, I'm not thinking about Carey Price the goaltender. I'm thinking about Carey Price the human being."--Marc Bergevin.
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Warm welcome for Andrei Markov, who’s back at the Bell Centre tonight for the first time in a very long time
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Whatever Carey Price is dealing with, I hope he gets the help he's seeking. I hope he's OK.
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Noah Dobson on coming to Montreal to join the Canadiens: “Without hesitation, it was a no-brainer for me. Just the opportunity to be part of the Montreal Canadiens, it’s an honour. It’s the best hockey market in the world, the fans are incredible, I love playing at the Bell Centre, and, just also, the group of players they have already and the talent they have on the team and what they’ve been building, I’m just super excited to join that group and add to it and excited at what we can do down the road in the future.”
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I would wager more Canadians were looking forward to watching the women’s hockey team than the men’s at these Olympics. Not to disrespect the men, but a point to illustrate how much we’ve latched onto the women’s game.
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Gallagher has enough time to get up and tip the shot, but Murray doesn't have enough time to reset?
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Love this from Mike Matheson, who is playing exceptional hockey for his hometown team. He has really found his rhythm after terrible injury luck throughout the season, and he has so much appreciation for getting to be a @CanadiensMTL
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Stop complaining about continuous overtime just because you saw one game go to five extra periods. This is one of the best things about playoff hockey. Always has been, always will be. Hope it never changes.
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The Habs have gone from unwatchable under Dominique Ducharme to must-watch under Martin St. Louis.
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Big day in Montreal. Ivan Demidov making his NHL debut and the Canadiens can clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Blackhawks.
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On now with @catbtoffoli, who is certainly excited for Tyler, but she's literally in tears about leaving Montreal--the city she fell deeply in love with and has family ties to. She's so thankful to the Canadiens and the MTL community. She feels indebted to many ppl here.
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No big deal; Nikita Kucherov misses the entire season after surgery, leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 17 points in 10 games...
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“If anybody wants to challenge me, I’m not going to back down. That’s a big statement from me.”—Arber “WiFi” Xhekaj.
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“First of all, he started taping his stick like a National Hockey League player. So that was defintely part of it.”-Gallagher on Slafkovsky
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According to @NatStatTrick, Kaiden Guhle was up against Sidney Crosby for 15:28 of the Penguins captain's 18:58 tonight. Helped hold him to zero points and just one shot on net.
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