While most of the camera crews and media were off covering Bob Gainey’s new conference about the departure of Georges Laraque, there was action on the practise ice at Brossard.
Sergei Kostitsyn practised on a line with Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri. The younger Kostitsyn looked good and should be ready to go this weekend making his return against the Devils or the Rangers.
Carey Price did not practise. It was explained that it was a therapy day for him. Goaltender coach Pierre Groulx filled in.
But what caught my attention was the dispute between Cammalleri and Max Lapierre. It wasn’t clear what started the disagreement but there was a marked difference in the moods of the two players. Lapierre was very casual and was laughing, and joking. Cammalleri was intense perhaps upset by Wednesday’s loss and the team’s recent poor play.
The verbal jousting between the players went on for quite some time. The players came close and tussled with Lapierre losing his helmet. At one point it got a little more physical with Cammalleri losing his stick which slid into the path of the players drills.
The two were separated by teammates but the yelling continued. Lapierre and Cammalleri came together once more. Travis Moen acted as a peacemaker.
Following the altercation, Cammalleri went off by himself and focused on stickhandling skills. Lapierre joined a group doing shootouts from the blue-line.
The entire incident was handled by the players. Coaches stayed out of it other than Groulx who tapped Laps on the pants afterwards. Cammalleri was involved in a similar incident with Josh Gorges in November.
When asked about the fight in the practise coach Jacques Martin said: “It bodes well, I am not happy that we have lost a point yesterday, and the players aren’t either. It is this energy that will bring us to New Jersey. We must prepare for a very important game.”
There is an expression “hated by the opposition yet loved by his teammates” that is often said about players who similar style to Lapierre. Unfortunately, the saying doesn’t apply to Lapierre. It appears that his attitude is starting to wear thin with his teammates.
Despite all the criticism of players like Matt D’Agostini, there is no one on the team who has been a bigger disappointment than Lapierre this season. Max showed some promise last season, but other than a few shifts, has been completely invisible this year.
Lapierre has been given opportunities on every line, and special teams and has done nothing.
Cammalleri clearly loves being in Montreal and hates to lose. It seems that he could no longer tolerate Lapierre’s pitiful contribution to the team coupled with an indifferent attitude.
While cameras didn’t capture the entire incident, there is a short clip here:
Watch TSN video here
Pat Burns told Russ Courtnall….You skate and skate and do nothing out there. I view a lot of Hab forwards doing exactly that this current season !
Why do local boys always end up being in headlines, seemingly for the wrong reasons?
It's partly rhetorical, but let's recall just a few short years ago to the clique of Theo, Ribeiro and Pierre Dagenais (no, I haven't forgotten him). Budding stars in their own right (except for Dagenais), Ribeiro and Theodore were both eventually dogged by rumours of their night life dalliances. Both were shipped out of town by FedEx overnight hyper-priority express.
More recently, Latendresse had been in headlines for poor play, and in tabloids for his love life. He, too has been catapulted out of town.
And now Lapierre, who was also on the rise, has come under the microscope for reasons that are entirely his own doing. He has been absolutely terrible this year after being quite effective last year.
What is it with local kids and this team? Is it really as simple as the media and attention they receive gets to their heads and they begin to believe themselves as being bigger than the team? Do they not learn?
The Canadiens have come under criticism from certain people for not having enough Quebecers on the team. Some claim that they cannot relate to a team filled with everyone but francophones. But can they relate to a team filled with miscreants? Do they want to relate to a team laden with local boys who don't deliver on the ice?
Call me crazy, but I thought that Canadiens fams of any language would relate more to a winning team.
Right now, with the departure of Laraque, there are only 3 Quebecois left on the current roster: Mathieu Darche, Max Lapierre and Marc-André Bergeron. Coach Martin and Benoit Pouliot are both francophones, but hail from Ontario.
And being brutally honest, Darche will not be here long, Bergeron is probably gone at season's end and Lapierre seems to be on thin ice. Can we imagine a team with no Quebecers? Can this happen? Has it ever occurred that a Habs roster features zero players from la Belle Province?
So…
A. 27/11 – Cammalleri vs Gorges = nothing to see here; move along.
B. 21/01 – Cammalleri vs Lapierre (as mentioned by Rocket) = "… It appears that his – Lapierre – attitude is starting to wear thin with his teammates…"!?
C. 21/01 – Metropolit and Moen threw elbows at each other = nothing to see here; move along.
Cammalleri and Lapierre both have big mouths and stuff like that happen all the times. At least, contrary to D'Agostini, they are showing some emotion!
PS Last season, 24 years old 6'2", 207 pnds speedy Lapierre gave us 15 goals, plenty of hits, great FO%, solid defensive play and strong forchecking… he was "centering" one of our best lines (Latendresse – Lapierre – Kostopoulos) and he sure has the capacity to draw penalties!
I really hope Martin finds a way to extract the best of Lapierre; he can give so much more to this team but right now, just like Paciorrety, S. Kostitsyn (before his injury), Metropolit (lately), Moen and D'Agostini (our 3rd and 4th liners), he is not helping his team.
Alright, I could spend the whole day on here giving my 2 cents on this Cammy and Yappy altercation, but I don't want to start anything. Again, we're speculating on what the fight was about, and I would agree due to your description it was probably Cammy telling Yappy it's enough of your crap play.
I think someone said it best, (just wish i could find their quote) when they said something about how Cammalleri plays proudly with the CH, and came here knowing the history, what it means to be a hab, etc, and Yappy was born here and thinks he just gets a free pass to play here and that he is 'designated' if you will to play here.
Guess what honey, time's up. No one is designated to play here, home town or not. For ONCE, put your 800K where your mouth is, shut up, be aggressive and stop shooting from IMPOSSIBLE angles, PASS the puck, stop irritating everyone and play HOCKEY.
I remember hearing players say they hate Lapierre because he talks so much shit and doesn't absolutely nothing besides talking. Well you are running yourself out of town! One good season isn't going to salvage you.
The fans aren't tolerating losing, and its seeming neither are SOME of the players.
Like Anonymous said :
"Cammalleri and Lapierre both have big mouths and stuff like that happen all the times."
Remember Lapierre an Komisarek last year?…
I am not so sure that J. Martin is right about it being "good for the team" though…They should play TOGETHER!
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