Habs train derailed by Flyers? Not so fast we've seen this before.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Philadelphia Flyers - 2010 Eastern Conference Final



OK I think it's time I jump on the bandwagon to defend my beloved Habs. Firstly let me acknowledge that losing 6-0 in the opening game of a series is not my preferred way to start now that the game is over the only important number is that the Flyers lead the series 1-0. The last time I checked this is a best of 7 series and there are still at least 3 chances for the Habs to pull out a win, or 3, before they can be counted out.

Lets take a trip down memory lane. At the start of the playoffs the Habs won game 1 of their series versus the Caps but then went on to lose 6-5 in game 2. Game 3 the Caps took control of the series with their 5-1 win leading many to believe that it was game over for the Habs. After the Caps won game 4 6-3 taking a gripping 3-1 lead in the series it was clear that the Habs season would be coming to a crashing halt very shortly. But it didn't. Habs went on to win the next 3 games taking the series in 7 and moving on to face the Penguins.

Critics quickly counted Montreal out and called their win over the Caps a fluke and a lucky break and advised Montreal fans to prepare for their ultimate demise at the hands of Sid the Kid and the Pens. After losing 6-3 in game 1 it was easy to believe that the critics may be right and that the 8th seeded Habs wouldn't stand a chance. But then game 2 comes along and the Habs, once again, prove the critics wrong with a strong 3-1 win over the Pens. And so went the series. The Pens would take game 3 and the Habs would tie it in game 4. After the Pens won game 5 many said ok it's over for the Habs now. Even if they win game 6 the Pens will take the series in game 7. Wrong again. Habs took game 6 and game 7 to win the series.

So why is it that, once again, after 1 game everyone has counted the Habs out so soon? Has history not shown that this team clearly has a solid game plan. These guys know what they were doing and I have faith that they will prevail in this series as well.

I expect a tight series, again, but the Habs have proven that they know how to adapt. Watch for a different team to show up on Tuesday night. My advice for the Flyers is don't get over confident, it will be used against you if you do.

Should be a great series, stay tuned.

Preview of rambles to come...

Let me take a moment to give you a bit of background as to who I am and what you can expect to read in this blog.

There are many topics that interest me, some of which I will blog about and others, well others I will keep to myself.

Here is a list of some of the things you might come to expect from this blog.

• Habs talk, as the post-season heats up watch for commentary on the Montreal Canadiens as they redesign their team for a fresh start at the drive for 25 and the drive to their 100th Birthday in December.
• American Idol, naturally stay tuned as I provide all of the info on Idol and what will happen with the top 5 and who will be crowned the 8th American Idol
• Nascar, I'm a big Nascar fan so watch for the odd Nascar blog when I get the chance to actually watch a full race
• Music, Ottawa is a hotbed for live concerts this summer kicking off in a few weeks with Elton John and Billy Joel and then it will be time to prepare for Bluesfest 2009 which will feature live performances from KISS, Stone Temple Pilots, Our Lady Peace, Blue Rodeo, Styx and of course over one hundred other acts.
  
• Movies, as the summer heats up so do the movies that start screening on the big screen. Some notable flicks that are coming up inlcude Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator: Slavation and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as well as some family favorites returning with their next installments: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs as well as the much anticipated next installment from the Harry Potter series with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

So as you can see there is a lot going on in the next few months so there should be a lot to write about.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my next installment of my Idol series as we discuss how the top five did with Rat Pack.

American Idol Week 7 - Wrap Up

I'm going to keep this short because in my opinion that's what they should have done with Idol last night.

To quickly sum up the evening they had a few disco era performances that were mediocre at best, one of the performers was in her 70's and was wearing a dress that was almost short enough to be considered NSFW (not safe for work) let alone safe for TV, trust me I had nightmares after that one.

Idol runner up from last year David Archuleta performed LIVE, yes LIVE imagine that something on Idol that wasn't prerecorded this year. After his performance he passed along some advice to the bottom two and the remaining contestants. "Don't worry", he said, "Idol creates so many opportunities" he went on to ramble and smile more about how much stuff happens after Idol...poor kid I think he is still in shell shock. Funny, I was a fan of his during the show last year but now that he has an album out I really don't care for him at all.

Anyway I said I'd keep this short.

As expected Lil was cut lose almost right after the openning credits last night leaving the remaining 6 in suspense about who would be sent home with her. Would it be Matt, Anoop or would America shock everyone and send someone completely unexpected packing. Well once again in true Idol dramatic fasion, remember I've spoken about this before...sometimes I wonder if the 3rd member of the bottom three isn't actually in the bottom three but is put there to create some dramatic tension (aka ratings). Ok now that I've teed it up the remaining two in the bottom three last night were......

Anoop, to be expected and Allison....ok everyone can get over their shock now there is no way Allison was going to be sent home. Which means that, yes....Anoop Dogg is out of the mansion and back to the Dogg house.

So lets see how I fared with my picks.

For the bottom three I picked: Matt, Lil and Anoop - ok so I was off by one, but I still believe that Allison wasn't in the bottom three but only put there to create some drama and make Idol less predictable.

I picked Anoop and Lil to go home and voila Anoop and Lil are gone. Word on the street is that next week's theme on Idol is Rat Pack Standards....is it just me or doesn't it look like they are running out of artists that want to mentor the Idols?

Heard today that Vince Neil from Mötley Crüe is considering an Idol appearance (http://tinyurl.com/dfamlz), apparently he's been getting friendly with Ms. Underwood who, of course, is singing a cover of Mötley Crüe's Home Sweet Home to send eliminated contestants home. Wouldn't that be cool....now that is an Idol that I would enjoy watching!!!

American Idol Week 6 - Wrap Up

Another week, another Ford Video and another group performance, this week's performance was actually tolerable for once but I still think they are a waste of time.

Had some special, prerecorded, guest performances by Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Hudson. Hudson was performing a song from her debut album (how many years ago was she on Idol?) and Cyrus was performing her latest single, which actually wasn't too bad. I've always wondered how artists like Miley would fare on American Idol...would they win or get voted off early? Some food for thought there....post your comments below.

Anyway we are down to 7 Idol's left and without further ado lets get to the results from America's voting.

I picked Matt, Lil and Danny for the bottom three this week but America decided that they still aren't convinced enough by Anoop's performance to cut the guy a break so the actual bottom three was Matt, Lil and Anoop (still pretty good I nailed 2 out of the 3). Anoop, rightfully so seemed a bit dismayed by the fact that he was in the bottom three but rightfully said that it was America's choice and he respected that, way to go Anoop!! One thing you can smile about, Anoop, is that as of last night you are ranked 5 out of all of the Idols and that is not a small accomplishment.

Rightfully Anoop was sent back to the couch leaving Matt and Lil standing in the bottom two.

After the drum roll it was reveled that America felt that Matt's roller coaster performances just didn't cut it to deserve a shot at the title. I guess they saw something in Lil that they felt she deserved more of a chance, I tend to agree. Matt keeps falling back into his old rut, because he insists that's the kind of music he wants to make, but America disagrees. Lil, on the other hand, keeps trying, her performances haven't really gotten worse or better. It's only a matter of time before she gets in stride and blows the roof off of the theatre....the only question is does she have enough time on her side.

The only thing that remains now is to hear Matt sing his way home....oh wait...what about the judges save? Simon did mention that they would consider saving one of the two.

Now I don't know if I'm just tone deaf or what the problem is but I thought that Matt's performance last night was worse than the night before. Paula and Kara were going wild, not quite sure why, and Simon and Randy were kind of like WTF!!! Anyway long story short the judges wasted their one and only save of the season on, Justin Timberlake wanna-be, Matt.

Oh well next week's theme is Disco and two people will be eliminated so I fulled expect to see both Matt and Lil back on their respective buses home.

Until next week it's Stanley Cup Playoff Time.