It’s my Parting Shot for my Monday Musings…..
One down, two to go as far as I’m concerned – when it comes to the three teams that I want to see eliminated from the N-H-L’s Stanley Cup Playoffs…..
The one down is the Ottawa Senators, the Canadian city that only has a team because it’s our nation’s capital – the home of bad government and overpaid civil servants, the latter of whom I severely doubt have paid for a ticket to attend an N-H-L game! I got upset back in the 90s when Ottawa got a team while my hometown of Winnipeg was being threatened with losing theirs. My belief back then still holds today. Winnipeg is more of a hockey town than Ottawa is and will ever be! I’ll add Quebec City and the province of Saskatchewan as being more deserving of an N-H-L team than Ottawa from a purely passion and producer of hockey talent perspective! Alas, I do know that the real world won’t allow that to happen!!
One of the two to go teams is the Edmonton Oilers. The team led by the built-in by scarred lip sneer of Glen Sather from the late 70s and through their 80s glory years had an annoying arrogance that has led me to dislike them vigorously. It didn’t help that as a media person in Winnipeg during the 80s, I had to put up with arrogance of their public relations person, flanked by some – not all – some Edmonton media types who strutted around and talked as if they had something to do with developing Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Fuhr, Coffey, etcetera into the dynasty that they were! So, yes, I take great glee – while being incredibly surprised – that this year’s Oil are on the verge of being eliminated by a bunch of quacks! I mean Ducks!!
The other one is Montreal. My dislike for the Habs goes back to when my late father and I first started watching Saturday, Hockey Night in Canada games together back in the late 60s. My dad’s disdain for the Canadiens goes back to when he actually had a try-out with the New York Rangers back in the early 50s as a 19-year-old and grew contempt for them while traveling for a short time with the Rangers and sitting in the stands as the EBUG in case Gump Worsley got hurt. My dislike stems from the Habs beating my favourite player of the day, Bobby Orr and the Boston Bruins, on a seemingly year-to-year basis. I got so upset one year that I took out my frustrations on the neighbour and had to apologize afterwards to him and in front of both our fathers. My dad did pat me on the back afterwards, but I had to learn to control my temper! As for this year’s Montreal team, they’re good and their series with Tampa Bay is a dandy, but I’m all in with the Lightning!!
That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!
