"Better than expected!" Poor Len reviews the Habs' first quarter

Salut! Poor Len Canayen icitte, with a look at the performance of Canada's team -- the Montréal Canadiens -- as we hit American Thanksgiving.

The significance of the date is that conventional wisdom says that any team which is over .500 at this point in the schedule is bound for the playoffs. Well, guess what? Les Glorieux, after their 20th game on Wednesday -- a thrilling 3-1 victory over Columbus -- are .525! Whoda thunk it?!

Here's how we get there. GP 20 - W 10 - L 9 - OL 1 - good for 21 points, 6th place in the Atlantic Division, and 18th place in the NHL overall.

Kudos to coach Martin St. Louis for moulding a group of rookies, hasbeens and neverwases into a team (or something like it) which plays entertaining hockey. Even when they fall behind 2-0 in the first two minutes. Even when a rookie defenceman scores an own goal, which happened twice in the last week. 

The Habs are fun to watch, and we fans can wear our merch with pride... unlike the fans of another team just five hours west on  the 401. [Can you avoid local references? Americans won't know what you're talking about. Ed.] [Who cares? Len.]

Star performers include the dynamic duo of Captain Nick Suzuki and Cole "Goal" Caufield. Gotta love those kids! They need a better player on the right of that top line, but even so, they're right up there with the likes of Crosby and Malkin or Bergeron and Marchand. Ils ont gagné leurs épaulettes!

Unfortunately, that's about it for the stars. The clubs No. 1 draft pick, Juraj Slafkovsky, has potential, and they're being careful not to push him too far too fast, but I wouldn't count on him for much this season.

Rookie defenceman Kaiden Guhle is proving reliable, if unspectacular,  whereas Arber Xekaj (unaccountably pronounced "Jackeye") is the opposite -- spectacular (already a fan favourite) but unreliable.  

In goal, Samuel Montembault shows considerable improvement, and a good thing too as the old pro, Jake Allen, is starting to suffer from shell-shock. As the +/- stat, -9, shows, they need a better defence in front of them. Weak links need to be replaced if the Habs are going to make it into the playoffs. 

That said, I humbly revise my pre-season prediction that the Canadiens would finish out of the playoffs. Now I think that, with a bit of puck luck, le Canadien sera là! Lifetime pct .988.

UPDATE ADDED 26/11: Yesterday afternoon the Habs eked out a 3-2 shootout win over Chicago, with shootout goals by Caufield, Suzuki and linemate Kirby Dach. 

How about those Blackhawks retro sweaters? Chief Black Hawk has been reduced to a tiny patch on one shoulder. I expect he'll soon disappear altogether, like Cleveland's Chief Wahoo. When will the wokeness stop?!

Anus horribilis 2020: Noted in passing (Sports... well, Hockey)

Ed. here. 2020 is almost over, thank God, truly an Annus Horribilis if ever there was one. (I know my Latin but Walt insists on leaving the headline as he wrote it.) Here is the final (no kidding) segment of our yearend review, saying farewell to some people in the sports and music fields -- really just subsets of the entertainment field -- who deserve a final tip of the toque.

We're going to do sports first, which for us means hockey. Is there any other sport? Poor Len Canayen already weighed in with his Sports Highlight of the Year, but that wasn't an obituary, so over to you, Len to tell us about... well, you tell it. 

Tank youse, Walt. A number of NHL players, past and present, died this year. Some were famous, some not. Among the latter was Fred Sasakamoose, who died on 24 November 2020 at the age of 86, five days after being hospitalized with Covid-19. 

Fred toiled in the minor leagues for six or seven years, playing just one season for the NHL Chicago Blackhawks. He appeared in just 11 games in the 1953-54 season, taking 6 minutes in penalties and scoring 0 goals and 0 assists -- 0 points in all.

So why is the passing of Fred Sasakamoose worthy of note? Well sir, he was the first First Nations (Americans read: Native American) player to suit up for an NHL team, and that was back in the `50s, before anyone heard of indigenous rights or diversity. And before SJWs started demanding that the Chicago team change their name and lose Chief Blackhawk from their logo.

That's what the NHL says, but real hockey fans will ask: What about George Armstrong, who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs for two games in 1949-50, and again for a remarkable 20 seasons, 1951-71. I always thought "the Big Chief" was an Indian (as we called them in those politically incorrect days), but the distinction seems to be that he was not a treaty Indian, whereas Sasakamoose was born in Debden SK which is the headquarters of the Big River Cree First Nations band government. That makes him an "official" First Nations person.

No matter. Hockey was pretty much a white man's game in those days and it wouldn't have been easy for Sasakamoose (or Armstrong) to be accepted and travel with his team to places like, say, New York or Boston. But he did it, and inspired others to follow in his footsteps... errr, skate grooves. Well done. 

Regular readers of WWW will know that Walt and I [and Ed.! Ed.] are huge fans of Canada's team, the Montréal Canadiens. Henri Richard, one of the greatest players ever to wear la Sainte Flannelle passed away on 6 March 2020. 

He was called "the Pocket Rocket" because he was the younger brother of the legendary Maurice "Rocket" Richard. Some said he was drafted by the Habs because of the family connection, but he proved the skeptics wrong, starring with les Glorieux for the entirety of his 20-season professional career. He won 11 Stanley Cups as a player, the most in the history of not just the Canadiens but the entire National Hockey League. 

In the league's centennial year of 2017, both Richards were named among "the 100 Greatest NHL Players" of all time. Henri shared the ice with many of the Canadiens' greatest stars: Jean Béliveau, Jacques Plante, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion and Dickie Moore. He succeeded Béliveau as the Habs' captain in 1971. 

Other than the Canadiens' junior team, Henri Richard never played for another team during his career. "Because of the age difference, I didn't think it would be possible but I played with my brother for five years [1955-1960]," he told the Hockey Hall of Fame. "Maurice used to say that if I hadn't been there, he wouldn't have played that long. Some people say it was destiny, but I just think I was in the right place at the right time. That was a great team. There were so many great hockey players. I wouldn't have said it before, but now that it's all over, I thought winning like that was normal."

And so it was, during those glory years. It is the success of the Canadiens of Henri Richard's era, and of the Pocket Rocket himself, that gives us here at WWW hope for the future. Maybe this year will see the Stanley Cup return to Canada after a long absence. That would make Henri happy. His brother too.

Suggested name for the Washington (DC) football team

As widely expected, the NFL Washington Redskins have caved to the SJWs and their "woke" corporate sponsors and announced today that they would be dumping their Indian ["Native American", shurely! Ed.] warrior mascot into the same trash bin as Chief Wahoo, where they will soon be joined by Chief Black Hawk who looks like a twin of the Washington... errr... Native American, and perhaps even Notre Dame's Fighting Irishman. [What's wrong with him, ye spud-faced bastard!? Ed.]

All this was predicted by my goodself a year and a half ago. See "'Racist' logos, 'racist' mascots, 'racist' names - Where will it end?", WWW 30/1/18. Lifetime pct .983.

Of course the team name will have to change too. How can they keep on calling themselves "Washington" when they make their home at FedExField (formerly Jack Kent Cooke Stadium -- remember him?) in Landover MD? Is a puzzlement. I saw on the idiot's lantern today that the mayor of Washington DC is working on that problem. "First we have to seize the land," she said... if I heard her correctly.

The greater problem seems to be the second part of the team name. Some say that if you can have a football team called the Browns, and a baseball team called the Reds, and a hockey team called the Blues, what's wrong with "Redskins".

Aha! It's the "skins" part! Although not so heinous as the Word Which May Not Be Spoken Or Even Referred To By Its First letter, "Redskins" ranks right up there with "our little red brothers" [Ugh, kemosabe! Ed.] as one of the more foul racialized descriptives. It must go.

Just last week we reposted an anonymous fan's excellent suggestion for a new team name. See "Suggested name change for the Washington Redskins", 8/7/20. But for some reason, "Washington Foreskins" has not made the short list. So it's up to Walt, as usual to come up with a name which will offend no-one and satisfy everyone. Are ya ready?

Really ready?
Here `tis. (Drum roll please, Ed.)

The Washington Generals! The team's owners said that the new name should have some military connotation, and of course the Washington connection must be kept, so "Washington Generals" is perfect!

But (I hear you say), there's already a team with that name! They used to play against the Harlem Globetrotters, although of course they weren't in the same league. (Geddit?) True enough, but the key phrase there is "used to". After over 60 years of playing -- and losing -- to the showboating and basketball tricks of the Globetrotters, the Generals hung up their sneakers five summers ago.

They closed up shop with the worst record in sports history, having won one (1) game and lost more than 16,000. Their name became, like that of Harold Stassen, a synonym for losing, so much so that Krusty the Clown could bet on the Generals to win and we were all supposed to get the joke.

So there's the perfect name. The old logo of the tiny white dude flailing aimlessly with a ball held over his head would have to change, of course, but a similar image, in which whites would be shown to be inferior, shouldn't be hard to design. And Everyone That Counts would be happy. Right?!

Suggested name change for the Washington Redskins

Agent 9 forwards an e-mail supposedly written to Chicago Tribune sports columnist Clarence Page after an article he published concerning a name change for the Washington Redskins.

Dear Mr. Page,
I agree with our Native American population. I am highly jilted by the racially charged name of the Washington Redskins.

One might argue that to name a professional football team after Native Americans would exalt them as fine warriors, but nay, nay.

We must be careful not to offend, and in the spirit of political correctness and courtesy, we must move forward.

Let's ditch the Kansas City Chiefs, the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Indians. If your shorts are in a wad because of the reference the name Redskins makes to skin color, then we need to get rid of the Cleveland Browns.

The Carolina Panthers obviously were named to keep the memory of militant Blacks from the 1960s alive. Gone. It's offensive to us white folks.

The New York Yankees offend the Southern population. Do you see a team named for the Confederacy? No! There is no room for any reference to that tragic war that cost this country so many young men's lives.

I am also offended by the blatant references to the Catholic religion among our sports team names. Totally inappropriate to have the New Orleans Saints, the Los Angeles Angels or the San Diego Padres.

Then there are the team names that glorify criminals who raped and pillaged. We are talking about the horrible Oakland Raiders, the Minnesota Vikings, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Now, let us address those teams that clearly send the wrong message to our children. The San Diego Chargers promote irresponsible fighting or even spending habits. Wrong message to our children.
The New York Giants and the San Francisco Giants promote obesity, a growing childhood epidemic. Wrong message to our children.

The Cincinnati Reds promote downers/barbiturates. Wrong message to our children.
The Milwaukee Brewers. Well, that goes without saying. Wrong message to our children.

So, there you go. We need to support any legislation that comes out to rectify this travesty, because the government will likely become involved with this issue, as they should. Just the kind of thing the do-nothing Congress loves.

As die-hard Oregon State fans, my wife and I, with all of this in mind, suggest it might also make some sense to change the name of the Oregon State women's athletic teams to something other than the Beavers, especially when they play Southern California. Do we really want the Trojans sticking it to the Beavers?

I always love your articles, and I generally agree with them. As for the Redskins name, I would suggest they change the name to the Foreskins to better represent their community, paying tribute to the dickheads in Washington, D.C.

Sincerely, Anonymous

Poor Len Canayen adds: What about those Chicago Black Hawks?! (And yes, it's supposed to be "Black Hawks", not "Blackhawks".) Offensive to two racial groups?

"Racist" logos, "racist" mascots, "racist" names - Where will it end?

It was bound to happen. Towards the end of yesterday's fond (but somewhat premature) farewell to the Cleveland Indians' beloved Chief Wahoo, I wrote that the Chicago Blackhawks' mascot, Tommy Hawk, "is the coolest Indian in all of sports." The Indian ink [sic. Ed.] was no sooner dry on the parchment when Poor Len Canayen was on the horn to correct me. Tommy Hawk, he told me, is not an Indian or First Nations person or whatever term's PC these days, but, as shown in the picture at the left, is actually... wait for it... a hawk... a black hawk. Geddit?

The only Indian in the picture at upper left is the rather noble-looking chap whose visage adorns the Chicago team's sweaters. (And they are sweaters, by the way -- hockey sweaters. Don Cherry gets his hair all on fire when commentators -- usually American -- call them "jerseys". Quite right, too.) That Indian, complete with coppery skin, feathers and war paint, is a logo, not a mascot. (A cunning linguist would debate even that point. A purist would say a "logo" should be a word, but in modern times it has come to mean any distinctive design.)

OK, the Chicago Blackhawks have an Indian for a logo. And a fine-looking logo it is, too. But who is that person? Is he supposed to be Chief Blackhawk (or Black Hawk)? There was such a person -- Black Hawk, born Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak in 1767. He was a band leader and warrior of the Sauk American Indian tribe in what is now flyover country -- the midwestern USA. Black Hawk was not a hereditary civil chief. He earned his status as a war chief or captain by his actions: leading raiding and war parties as a young man, and a band of Sauk warriors during the Black Hawk War of 1832.

During the War of 1812 -- the only war America lost until Vietnam -- Black Hawk fought on the side of the British, hoping to push white American settlers away from Sauk territory. Later he led a band of Sauk and Fox warriors, known as the British Band, against European-American settlers in Illinois and present-day Wisconsin in the 1832 Black Hawk War. After the war, he was captured by US forces and taken to the eastern states, where, in true American entrepreneurial fashion, he and other war leaders were put on display on a tour of several cities.

Shortly before being released from custody, Black Hawk told his story to an interpreter. Aided also by a newspaper reporter, he published Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk, Embracing the Traditions of his Nation in Cincinnati iin 1833. His book was the first autobiography of a Native American [That's today's PC term, in the USA. Ed.] to be published in the USA. It became an immediate bestseller and went through several editions. Black Hawk died in 1838 in what is now southeastern Iowa. He has been honoured by an enduring legacy: his book, many eponyms, and other tributes, including (I would suggest) the Chicago team's name and logo.

I must admit, though, that the logo doesn't greatly resemble the real Black Hawk. That's him, looking askance from the top right. Is that logo racist? How about the mascot? Why does Tommy Hawk have to be black? Has the NAACP heard about this? Will the Chicago hockey team be forced to remove the Chief from their uniforms and merchandise, just as Cleveland has been forced to do away with Chief Wahoo? Will either team also have to change its name to satisfy the SJWs and PC police? Stay tuned.

So, farewell then, Chief Wahoo

An assiduous reader reminds us that the Toronto District School Board has been justly ridiculed on WWW prior to the Islamophiliac nonsense described in "Canada's loony left, pro-Muslim 'public' school board", WWW 16/1/18. Last fall, in "PC gone mad! Toronto public school board drops 'Chief' from job titles", WWW 11/10/17, Walt quoted at length from Post Media's Christie Blatchford, who took the TDSB to task for its decision to excise the word "Chief" from all its job titles, in the interests of not giving offence to Canada's First Nations (read: indigenous peoples... or... wait for it... Indians).

The TDSB's ultra-liberal, ultra-PC diktat was provoked by the fake-news controversy in the Excited States of America about whether the Cleveland baseball team, known for decades as the "Indians", should change their name to something less "racist". Since that idea was a non-starter, the SJWs were demanding that the team get rid of its mascot, whose smiling face has adorned its caps, uniforms and other paraphernalia since 1947. His name is... or was... Chief Wahoo.

I say "was" because today the Cleveland Indians caved. Team owner Paul Dolan announced that the Chief would be around for the 2018 season, but would then go to the Happy Hunting Ground to join Mr Rebel (Boone County KY High School), Colonel Reb (Ole Miss), and the old Darkie toothpaste guy.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the meeja, "The club ultimately agreed with my position that the logo is no longer appropriate for on-field use." Playing Mortimer Snerd to Mr Manfred's Edgar Bergen, Mr Dolan said, "We have consistently maintained that we are cognizant and sensitive to both sides of the discussion. While we recognize many of our fans have a longstanding attachment to Chief Wahoo, I'm ultimately in agreement with Commissioner Manfred's desire to remove the logo from our uniforms in 2019."

So Walt's use of the past tense was premature. Chief Wahoo gets one more year, during which the Indians will continue to wear his image on their sleeves and caps. Merchandise featuring the beloved mascot will continue to be sold in northeast Ohio "to retain the trademark."

What happens in 2019? Will the designers just kind of lighten Chief Wahoo up, changing him to pink and then to white, like they did with the Darkie dark guy who became the Darlie white guy? Or will they paint out the feather, make him darker and change his name to something more in line with the city he represents, like, say, "Prince Leroy"? I can hardly wait to find out.

Oh (as Columbo used to say), there's one more thing. The forces of political correctness hit a double on this one, but the inning isn't over yet. They'll keep batting until they force the Cleveland team to drop the moniker "Indians" as well. And then? There will be other racist team names to expunge from the vocabulary of American sports: the Kansas City Chiefs, the Washington Redskins, the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Blackhawks, whose mascot is the coolest Indian in all of sports. His name is Tommy Hawk.

"Racist and vulgar messages" appear on Habs Twitter account

Walt is probably the last person on earth who doesn't have a Twitter account. Famous and not-so-famous people have one. Famous organizations too, including every sports club you ever heard of and some you never heard of. Those you've heard of would of course include the Montréal Canadiens. Bien sûr!

The Habs Twitter feed is very popular too. Just yesterday, while Walt was returning from the birthplace of the NHL, the announced that it had reached the million follower mark, the third team in the league to have reached that elevated plateau. (The other two are the Chicago Blackhawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs.)

To thank those million-plus fans, le CH posted, at the hashtag #CanadiensMTL1M a special message with a little surprise. Well, perhaps not so little, because 1000s who clicked on the hashtag saw this:

Unfortunately, this picture -- all over the Internet or at least the Canadian part of it today -- has been cropped so that we can't see the number of "likes" and "retweets". Not so this next one.

Whatever can it all mean? The Gazoo's Dave Stubbs (head cheerleader for P.K.Subban) has accused Poor Len Canayen of being racist for daring to criticize the alleged defenceman, who happens to be black. See "Is Habs' coach Therrien to blame for blaming P.K. Subban?" (WWW 18/2/16) and "Gazette's Jack Todd on the 'Subban–Habs fault line'" (WWW 23/2/16). Walt [and Ed.! Ed.] hasten to point out that Poor Len had nothing to do with these "racist and vulgar messages". He would never call P.K. a n1gger just because he dresses like a pimp and carries on like an NFL player showing off for the "homes".

The offending pix have been taken off the Canadiens' Twitter account. The club has apologized and promised that there will be no further lapses into political correctness.

Stanley Cup: Chicago vs... errr... BOSTON?!

Walt will man up and admit when he's wrong. Or even half-wrong, as was the case with my predictions for the Stanley Cup semi-finals.

I was right about the Western Conference clash between Chicago and Los Angeles. Last night, in the second double-overtime game in a row, the Blackhawks prevailed to win the game 4-3 and the series 4 games to 1.

Noteworthy: The Los Angeles team's first goal was scored by #74, known to those fans not afraid of being punished for blasphemy as "King of Kings".

Trivia: The Blackhawks have (IMHO) the second-coolest sweaters (not jerseys!) in the league. Not counting black and white as colours, how many colours can be seen on said sweaters? Answer later.

Meanwhile in Beantown... the Pittsburgh penguins folded up like a cheap suit and were swept by the big bad Bruins of Boston in four straight games. Walt is ahhh-mazed. How a team with Crosby, Iginla, Malin, Neal and Letang could have trouble scoring is beyond me.

Score on Walt's prediction for the semi-finals: .500. Lifetime pct. .978.

What about the Stanley Cup final? It's axiomatic that it winning playoffs all comes down to goaltending. Chicago's Corey Crawford is usually very good, "usually" being the key word here. Boston's Tuuka Rask is almost always excellent. Although I'd love to be wrong, I'm betting on the Bruins.

Answer to trivia question: Looks like SIX (6) colours to me: red, tan (or whatever colour the Indian is), yellow, green, dark red and orange -- the most colours on any NHL sweater.

Walt announces winner of Stanley Cup 2013

A reader has the temerity to suggest that Walt give the results of his prognostications every now and then, and admit his (very occasional) errors and inaccuracies. Very well. Here is the tally from the first round of National Hockey League playoffs.

Walt handicaps the NHL playoffs -- Western Conference
Let's be clear. The point of the exercise was to predict which teams would go through to the second round. The guesses about how many games it would take to settle each series were just for fun. Walt called three out of four correctly, the exception being the LA Kings' Quick win (geddit?) over St. Louis Blues. Pct. right .750.

Walt handicaps the NHL playoffs -- Eastern Conference
Puck pundits saw some surprises in the results here, but the only series that fooled Walt was Montréal vs Ottawa, which the Senators won in just five games. But when a team plays without half a dozen of its key players, including its ace goalie, what can you expect? And incompetent officiating doesn't help either.

The other surprise (to Walt) was Toronto stretching its series against Boston to a 7th game. The choke is on Maple Leafs fans. As in the West, Walt got three right, only one wrong. Pct. .750.

Now let's cut to the chase. Never mind the second and third playoff rounds. What you want to know -- and make money on -- is who's going to win Lord Stanley's silver chalice. Right? You can turn off the TV for a couple of weeks, and when you switch it on again in time for the Stanley Cup finals, you're going to see... Pittsburgh Penguins vs Chicago Blackhawks (formerly the Black Hawks).

Chicago was the class of the NHL Western Conference all of the Bettman-shortened season. They let Minnesota win a game in the first round just for the sport of it, and to finish the series on home ice. Pittsburgh can play much better than they did in a 4-1 win over Ottawa last night. Malkin, Iginla and Sid the Kid -- how ya gonna stop those guys?

Walt's prediction... May I have the envelope, please? ... ... ... Chicago. You read it here first. Lifetime pct .978.