A Winning Habit
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Canadiens Lose Game 6 and the Series; Season Over

By Lissa Albert

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May 9, 2015; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens fans cheer in the FanJam area before game five against Tampa Bay Lightning of the second round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

Speaking of fans on Twitter…

In the aftermath of the loss, the Ugly came out. If you have the pleasure (?) of being on Twitter as a Habs fan, you know how it can be. Suddenly, fingers are being pointed, the armchair coaches are playing their own game, and suddenly, everyone has a solution.

If they hadn’t stopped playing in the last seconds of Game 3, the Habs would still be in it.

If they hadn’t lost their heads in Game 2, they’d have won it.

If they had gotten rid of (insert name of now-hated player here), the Habs would be a Cup contender.

If they’d won the game, they’d have been back in Montreal and they’d have won Game 7 and they’d have gone onto the ECF…

It’s the shoulda-woulda-coulda crowd, alive and well, and more frustrating than the loss.

I can’t deny, my sense of “what if” rose sharply but we can’t look at it that way. It would drive us up the proverbial wall. And it really doesn’t help.

So instead, why not look at “what if” in the future?

What if, in the off-season, GM Marc Bergevin gets a top forward to put on the second line so that the Habs don’t rely on Max Pacioretty alone?

What if, in the off-season, and on into pre-season, the team begins to work on a power play that has been dismal for a couple of years now?

What if, in the pre-season, and on into regular season, we see a core group of players who will begin to emerge as the Team we all know is lurking in the near future for a Cup run?

Please remember that every year, since the Habs finished dead last in the East (not too long ago, folks – it was 2011-12, followed by a shortened season post-lockout – where they finished second), they have only gotten better.

It takes time for a team to regroup and after that non-playoffs year, the coach, general manager and many trainers were brand new.

All we can do now is, if you wish, continue being a true fan who believes in your team.

Does this hurt? Of course it does. The Habs had broken so many records this season alone, even changing a 106-year history by forcing a Game 6 after coming from a 0-3 deficit. It just wasn’t enough.

What doesn’t help is the level of ludicrous that rose sharply on social media. (Yes, yes, I know, I should stay off it in times like these but I use it to take the pulse of a fan base)

The Blame Game started. People exorcising their disappointment by sacrificing the player they despise the most. Because that’s what the Blame Game is – there are those who have an open hatred for certain players and in times of loss, those are the scapegoats.

Newsflash: no one player is responsible for the loss. No one could have stepped up and saved it all by himself. So stop pointing fingers, and start accepting that fact.

To share one last thought – there is plenty of hate for the Habs on social media. Some are fans of rival teams, some are just disgruntled fans of teams that didn’t make the playoffs, some are gloating fans of winning teams.

But this guy shines above all. A fan of arguably the biggest arch-rival the Canadiens face every year – the Boston Bruins – and showed a lot of heart. I had to give him a hat tip, on Twitter, and here where he has earned my respect.

It doesn’t change the facts, nor does it take away the sting. But it’s nice to know there are people who will reach out in our time of grieving.

The best thing we can do now – and watch this space, because it will be what I plan to write about – is to understand what we watched this series, this post-season and this regular season, and bask in the pride we all feel as Habs fans.

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