From Stars to Stars: A Look Back At Three Former Habs

Tomorrow night at the Bell Centre, the Habs are playing host to the Dallas Stars. After Sunday nights game against New Jersey, playoff hopes are looking about as likely as Tim Thomas voting for Obama this fall.

At first glance the Dallas Stars look like another Southern American hockey club that nobody cares about. Upon further examination of their roster, many Montreal fans of the 2000’s will have memories of some former players while watching tomorrow nights action.

Let’s take a look at 3 current Stars, who used to be ‘stars’ in Montreal:

Sheldon Souray: Things got off to a rocky start in Montreal for Souray in the early 2000’s, battling injuries over the course of three seasons. The great aspect of Souray’s game was his powerful slap shot. On December 6, 2006 in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs Souray ‘unleashed’ a fake slap shot on then Maple Leaf scapegoat, Andrew Raycroft. The result looked like this:

If the cowardliness of Raycroft didn’t leave you laughing and enjoying the 4-3 victory that night, then mayb

e this uncovered file photo of Raycroft post game will:

Michael Ryder: We all know what Ryder did to the Habs in the playoffs last season. It’s over. Oh, he’s having a great year in Dallas? Who really cares. There are two nights in Habs history that are embedded into my mind when I hear the name Michael Ryder:

April 7, 2007: The Habs were playing the Leafs in what has become known as ‘The game where I boxed up all my Habs swag for another year, and switched to baseball’. Ryder scored a natural hat trick as the Canadiens went on to lose 6-5 to the Leafs, thus eliminating their playoff chances. It wasn’t all bad though. The very next day the city of Montreal decided to take on a role not held by anybody since the early 1980’s. The role of New Islander Fan.

Maple Leaf fans will tell you what happened after that game.

February 19, 2008: Ryder scored a ‘hat trick’(later corrected to 2 goals and an assist) in a game against the New York Rangers. The big deal? The Habs trailed New York 5-0 going into the 3rd perio

d. It was the biggest comeback involving a New York franchise since people realized early last week that ‘Wow, the New York Knicks still exist’.

Mike Ribeiro: From Montreal, drafted by Montreal, hated by Montreal. This informative video (0:27 second mark) is a ‘What To Do If Injured Video’ used by Ribeiro during the 2004 Eastern Conference Quarter Finals:

If Jeremy Lin can turn over the ball a million times and still be a hero, we can beat the Dallas Stars, and these former Habs.

Game time is 7.30 @ The Bell

You can read more posts by AHF @AngryHabsFan