Hit The Post with The Voice of the Als & Canadiens on CJAD

Isn't there something typically Bob Gainey and classically Canadiens when he's sitting in the highest row of the Bell Centre wearing a Habs jersey and fans around him don't even notice? Only a few clued in before the spotlights hit and finally starting asking for autographs of Mr. Gainey and the other Ring of Honour guests at the 100th Season Homeopener.

If Christopher Higgins worked out so hard that he put on 6 pounds of extra muscle and did more skating than ever before in his offseason training...how come he's hurt to start the season? "I should have spent more time on the beach!" claims Higg.

That quirky Bruins tying goal could have bounced the Canadiens right out of any hope of repeating as conference champs if Carey Price were hurt scrambling back to his crease and being waylaid by a sliding teammate trying to cover the empty net.

Mathew from Westmount, on assignment for the UN in Tajikistan, e-mailed from his Honeymoon in the jungles of Borneo to tell me he was listening to CJAD coverage of the game. And I thought that earth tremor early first period was Georges Laraque slamming Shawn Thornton over the boards at the Montreal bench! (For the record: my honeymoon was in the jungles of Manhattan. After a 6-hour overnite busride from outside Concordia's Hall Building. First class all the way baby! I don't know why Mrs. M has stuck with me for going on 25 years. Must be the hockey-card collection.)

Tom Kostopoulos read the legendary "from failing hands" quote to me after morning skate on the day of the Home Opener. Though he was raised a Leaf-lover TK is now devoted bleu, blanc, rouge and says the current players really do feel the leadership passed down from previous generations of Habs greats.

Did you know Jacques Plante had an indirect hand in Carey Price's development? Carey's Dad Jerry told on his son's draft day that Plante was goalie coach for the Flyers back in the late '70's when Mr. Price was a late round draft pick. He couldn't unseat Bernie Parent or make it to the NHL but he developed a love of goalie masks and some of Jerry's home-made masks still hang on the walls of the barn at the Price homestead back in Anahim Lake in the God's Country that is north-central BC.

How come the Dallas Cowboys have room on their roster for someone like Pacman Jones but NOT Jamel Richardson?

Anthony Calvillo will make his largest donation ever to the CJAD Touchdown Club. He tosses in $100 bucks per td pass matched by CJAD on behalf of our listeners and this year the recently announced "Calvillo Family Room" of the Cedars Cancer Institute will benefit. Let me suggest sprucing up the room with Alouettes paint colours!

The Pride of Pointe-Claire via Nokomis, Saskatchewan Elmer Lach says Dick Irvin Senior was harder on him than the coach was on Rocket Richard. "He knew I could take it," says the earthy lover of Eskimo Art and Montreal Canadiens hockey. You'll see his playing weight listed at 172 pounds at some websites but the man Beliveau called the best centre ever to play for the Habs says he weighed in at less than 145 at his first NHL tryout!