“Don’t trade Carey Price,” said Scott, after watching last night’s game.
A caller to a Montreal sports radio show disagreed. His name was Andrew, and he gave the usual lengthy and exaggerated preamble that was intended to convey credibility. Andrew had played hockey for years, even a little goal, and perhaps did one term as the Pope. (Sorry, I stopped paying close attention to his introduction.)
“I’m fed up with Price,” said Andrew, “He was totally out of position (on Tim Connolly’s goal).”
Unfortunately, Andrew had failed to notice that the Sabres had a 6-on-4 advantage at the time.
Any knowledgeable hockey fan would surely recognize that Price played an outstanding game. But, this is Montreal, where reason often takes a winter vacation.
And it not only happens with fans who sometimes let their passions get in the way of hockey sense. It even occurs with so-called professionals.
Shortly after the game, a headline appeared in the online version of the Montreal Gazette that read “Price blows it for Habs in Buffalo.” It was attached to a game report by Pat Hickey.
Response from online commenters and the Twitterverse was swift and deservedly critical. Fans were outraged that the headline was written so recklessly.
Through the intervention of Dave Stubbs, the headline was quickly changed. It read “Habs blow 2-0 lead late in Buffalo.”
Later in the evening, it was changed one more time to “Canadiens lose shootout in Buffalo.” However the language in the link remains: “http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Price+blows+Habs+Buffalo/2722074/story.html”
The Gazette blamed an unnamed web editor for the original error citing workload and deadlines. It could happen to anyone, they said.
While we all make mistakes, few of us work for an English daily newspaper in the No.1 hockey-rabid city in the world. And was this mistake as innocent as claimed?
I can understand that an overtaxed web editor may make a typo, may misidentify a player, or most likely, may write a very boring, generic headline. Yet this person, who clearly hadn’t read Hickey’s article nor watched the game was making a bold statement. He/she (incorrectly) placed the blame for the loss on Carey Price.
When a web editor looks way up the pecking order and sees three anti-Price writers like Hickey, Todd, and Fisher, perhaps an assumption was made.
It is truly unfortunate that some have such a jaundiced-view of a player with the talent of Price.
Oh, and that fellow Scott with a contrary opinion on Price, from the first line of this piece? His last name is Bowman, winner of nine Stanley Cups, and a record 1,244 regular season victories.
(photo credit: Reuters)
You can probably still find the article (I believe it was back in November or December) Hickey wrote on how Martin was concentrating on the Habs' "net work". It was about how he would like the forwards to go to the net, crash the net, make the other team's netminder's life difficult. The picture chosen for the article was of someone scoring on Price.
I'm sorry about how taxed some copy/web editor is, but seriously, a high school newspaper could do a better job.
Maybe they hired a Leafs fan.
Hickey makes me sick.
Every time I read one of his articles it makes me cringe.
I write for the sports section in my school paper (Queen's University), and me and others who work for he Journal often discuss how Hickey is one of the most disrespected "journalists" out there in the sports scene.
Price did lose the game, he failed to stop the puck because he was way out of position as well as giving out rebounds on every shot he managed to get a piece of.
You can blame the coach, the players or whoever but the truth is that Price once again let the game get away from him, he has a knack of doing that.
I hope JM will play Halak from here till the end of the season as well as the playoffs. At least with Halak we have a chance to get the win.
What's with all these idiots hating on Price? Did they actually watch the game last night?
These fools can't play the game, so they pick on a 22yr old kid who has more talent in his finger then they will ever have!
I understand that it was upsetting at the time and the loss was in no way Price's fault, but please, it's not a conspiracy. It's unfortunate that your writing has to lose so much credit when everything else is so well-balanced, and yet your take on the goalies is so one-sided.
It wasn't Prices fault it Was Martin's fault
Can't help but feel for Carey. He played well.
Some questionable coaching at the end of the game…. and the team, or the "system" implodes.
Really, while it's technically the goaltender's job to stop the puck from going into the net… it's the team's job to make sure he (the goaltender) is not under a crap load of pressure…. and the coaches jobs to make sure the team has a sound way to achieve a good defensive result.
It's too easy to blame "a guy". That's why he gets it so much. Price was hyped by fans and media alike…. and now when he's in net and they loose (no matter that he had just stopped 40 of 42 shots)…. he's "the guy" that gets the blame.
It's silly.
Comments are closed.