Thursday, September 23, 2010

Price pays the price for Halak exile

Wednesday brought the first opportunity for the fans of the Canadiens to publicly proclaim their opinion on the off season move to trade Jaroslav Halak, and the returns were in early and they were loud.

Carey Price took to the Montreal ice in the team's pre season home opener and by about the one and half minute he probably was wishing he had been the guy on the plane out of town.

Montreal's fans turned on Price early with the first of Boston's four goals of the night arriving behind Price at the 1.23 mark of the first period, the Habs goaltender played the first thirty minutes of the game, allowing 4 goals in total, all of the Bruin's scoring on the night in a 4-2 victory.

Montreal fans are notorious for their expressions of euphoria and then despair depending on the current tide of events, holding perhaps the most mercurial of temperaments of all NHL cities.  When you're on the good side of the Habs faithful life can be very, very good, when they turn on you however, there is no season that is too short.

For Price it would seem that one game into the home cycle of games the season may already be too long.

The Habs clearly identified him as their goaltender of now when they moved the popular Halak off to St. Louis after his remarkable Stanley Cup run, still without the backing of the fans or at least their patience,  the prospect of Price finding the time to take hold of the position seems short.

While one can understand the fans confusion over the Habs priorities during the off season, taking their anger out on the one player that could make the difference between playoff success and failure next spring seems rather strange.

Then again, this is Montreal, where controversy and conspiracy seems to be the ever present undercurrent of the game, Carey Price may just be the latest player to get caught in the middle, how he handles the oncoming pressure could very well set the stage for the rest of his career whether in a the rouge, blanc or bleu or eventually (perhaps inevitably) in other colours.




National Post-- Boos rain down as Price falls short
Globe and Mail-- The Price isn't Right
Globe and Mail-- Bruins walk over Price
CBC-- Hab's Price rusty in loss to Bruins
Toronto Sun-- Price drawing jeers from Habs fans

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