HabsWorld.net -- 

The week that was for the Montreal Canadiens
was an interesting one, not good or bad, but interesting.  It started off
atrocious, and ended with a pair of important wins over teams with better
records than them.  Meanwhile, the Bulldogs had a rebound week, taking 4 of
6 points.  We’ll
also have a closer look at Loic Lacasse, and a final thought on how to make
the All-Star Weekend just a little more interesting, in this week’s edition of
the Recap.

Previous week’s grades in parentheses.

David Aebischer:  B+  Were the goals he allowed shaky? 
Yes, but he kept the team in a game they had no business whatsoever being in. (B) 

Cristobal Huet:  C 
Looked a little off, even in the wins, how many got through him that didn’t go
in?  (C-)

Mike Komisarek:  B  Still steady as always, could’ve put
the shaving cream to some use though. 
(B)

Andrei Markov:  D+  Deserved the period benching he got,
I wouldn’t have been upset if that was extended for a while longer.  (C-)

Guillaume Latendresse:  A 
Top player of the week for the Habs, even in the 2 ugly losses.  (B-)

Alexander Perezhogin:  C  Is starting to regress, could he
be the scratch when Begin returns? 
(C+)

Aaron Downey:  C  Didn’t hurt the team in his lone game,
could be worse.  (C)

Garth Murray:  C-  Cleared waivers, what does that say? 
(B-)

The Bulldogs
rebounded somewhat this week, taking 2 of 3,
although the two wins were against the same team, in a back-to-back, with both
games being at home.

Tuesday,
January 16, 2007 – Omaha 3, Hamilton 1
Hamilton Goal: 
Benoit (5)
Shots: 20-18 Hamilton
PP:  0-8  PK: 
4-5

Friday,
January 19, 2007 – Hamilton 2, Grand
Rapids 1
Hamilton Goals:  Milroy (18), Locke (11)
Shots: 28-24 Hamilton
PP:  0-7  PK: 
1-4

Saturday,
January 20, 2007 – Hamilton 5, Grand
Rapids 1
Hamilton Goals:
Milroy (19), Grabovski (12), Lemieux 2 (3), Kostitsyn (13)
Shots: 32-28 Grand Rapids
PP:  1-6  PK: 
6-7

1) 
 Those poor PP results you see in the game-by-game portion are telling of the
season thus far.  The team is 2nd last in the league, just 37/278, a piddly
13.3% success rate.

3)  Despite not playing in almost a month, rookie Matt D’Agostini
remains 8th in team scoring, his point-per-game average ranks 5th on the squad.

By Jason Brisebois

Today’s prospect is goaltender Loic Lacasse.  Lacasse, a native of
Granby, was drafted by the Canadiens in the 6th round, 181st overall in the 2004
Draft.  The 20 year old is currently playing in the CHL.  It has been
a windy road for the netminder, as he was dealt last year from Baie-Comeau to
Drummondville.  Then, before the start of this season, he was dealt to
Quebec.  He was later released, and has now been signed to start for the
Oshawa Generals in the OHL, an entirely different league.  Lacasse is a
fairly skilled goalie.  He has good size to go along with his great glove
hand, and solid puck handling.  He will however have to improve his size
and mobility, if he wants to be able to compete at the next level. The next step
for Lacasse is to move into the pros.  With a very crowded situation in the
Canadiens organization expect Lacasse in the ECHL next season, quite possibly as
a backup.

Next week: To be determined.

Ah, the All-Star Break has finally hit us, and
for the most part, we couldn’t care less aside from the fact it’s 6 days without
legitimate NHL hockey.  So allow me to submit to you a way to make the
festivities more interesting, since simply scrapping the whole thing won’t be
the cash cow the NHL cherishes so much.  Number 1: Scrap the game itself,
it’s not real hockey anyways.  Name what would be the teams since that’s
the alleged honour in itself.  Number 2, and this is the biggie: Expand the
skills competition, that’s all most people want to see anyways.  Make it
last both days, so no gate revenues are lost.  This is how you do it
though: All teams currently hold skills competitions individually.  I
propose that the winner in each individual category (hardest shot, accuracy,
fastest skater, as well as a somewhat new category, the wildcard shootout.) 
The fans would vote for the player to represent their team in the shootout
category, keeping that part intact.  Scrap the East vs West, North America
vs the World, Old vs Young, "Bettman’s Boys vs Saskin’s Stars," and whatever
other dumb ideas the league thinks of.  No teams, just every man for
himself, who is the king of each category, and for the shootout aspect, who is
the most creative?  This would be a better way for the league to showcase
more of their talented players, and would ultimately make things more
interesting, which doesn’t take much given what we’re about to witness on
Wednesday night.

Note for readers:  Since the Habs play just 1 game next week, we
will postpone the next edition of the Recap, and carryover things until 2 weeks
from now.