A Winning Habit
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Canadiens Fans: 5 Things To Do In The Off-Season

By Lissa Albert

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3. Videos On Social Media

YouTube has a ton of videos for Habs fans to peruse. There are clips of great goals, highlight reels, even some full games that have been uploaded. You can subscribe to many YouTube channels that are hockey related, such as the Canadiens’ own YouTube channel. There, you’ll find highlights of the season, some awesome goals (like this one by P.A Parenteau, a game-winning goal against Tampa Bay, on a fake-out assist by P.K. Subban)

Or you can peruse the Canadiens’ website, where the HabsTV tab has a plethora of videos. One series I highly recommend is The Duel. Also found on YouTube, the idea of The Duel is two Canadiens players up against each other in challenges. There are Duels from this season and last, with appearances from now-former Habs players like Brian Gionta and Mike Weaver.

Duels range from Subban vs Brendan Gallagher hilariously trying to complete lyrics from a given song, an oldie with Brandon Prust and former Canadiens’ forward Travis Moen trying not to be the one to pop a balloon, and a staring contest between Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin (I really have to recommend this one).

HabsTV also offers “The Hot Seat”, where Habs players are given a mic, a question, and answer on video. Some of the questions are:

The videos are short, funny, and show a distinctively human side of the players we normally see talking about the game they’ve just played, or the one they’re about to play. It’s also a great way to get to know the players, and see the kind of chemistry they have with one another.

2. Keep Up With Off-Season Developments

Let’s face it, Habs fans – this is Montreal. There is no “off-season”. There’s always something Canadiens to read about, talk about, or be on watch for in the news. In July, for example, the Habs hold their annual Development Camp.

What’s fun about this is that the public is invited to come watch, and I’ve attended several times. It’s a great way to see some of the new Habs prospects,  invited prospects (some already drafted by other teams, some undrafted), and some familiar faces as well.

For example, shortly after the 2012 draft, I was able to see Alex Galchenyuk in action at Development Camp. Last year, I watched Nikita Scherbak, and it was not only exciting to see, in person, these names we had just seen picked by our team, but to watch them – as well as some awesome talent – on the ice, in drills, in scrimmages, and in mock game situation.

This is the roster of who was invited last season, and as you can see, there are some names who have become well known this season. Even though he’s no longer with the Habs, watching Jiri Sekac on the ice was definitely a preview to a spectacular player in action.

As well, during the summer, the Canadiens’ Twitter account keeps fans updated on the whereabouts of players, new developments, fun tweets from players and even commiserating with fans who ask the perennial summertime question:

1. Count Down

This last suggestion is what I call “just go with it” – because all the others, while effective, don’t come close to the amazing feeling of Habs hockey in full swing. Even pre-season hockey, while an anticipation, isn’t quite regular season.

It’s summer. We all enjoy the warm summertime weather, the relaxed feeling of the summer months, holidays and “staycations”. The lack of freezing temperatures, no snow to shovel, no ice to navigate.

We all look forward to the festivals the summertime brings. Here in Montreal, the Jazzfest, the Just for Laughs festival, film festivals, and even a giant water gun fight open to the public are just some of the events the city hosts. We look forward to long days and balmy nights.

But let’s face it: we’re fans of the Montreal Canadiens. And with that membership in this incredible club comes the knowledge that the cooler nights and shorter days bring back our beloved Habs to entertain, excite, and keep us on the edge of our seats for 82 regular-season games and anticipation of a long playoff run.

Eight months, if we’re lucky, almost nine if we’re luckier, of the game that we love so much, and the team we support playing it 3 or 4 times every week, sometimes more.

So sometimes, the only way to cope with the long wait till October is to count it down.

Some people use online help.

As of this writing:

Screenshot Lissa Albert 2015

Others countdown in their smartphone calendar app, or a computer calendar. Still others do the good old-fashioned wall calendar, with a big red circle around October 7th, and crossing each day off with growing glee as the “X”s add up.

Whatever it is that helps you cope with the long wait till the Habs hit the ice again, we’re all in the same boat.

I’ve listed some of the coping mechanisms I turn to – what are yours? Please comment below!

And stay tuned – we’ll be bringing you any breaking news, new developments, draft picks, player tweets as they happen. We, here at A Winning Habit, know you’re missing the Canadiens as much as we are.

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