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Friday Habs Links: Sergei Gonchar still a presence on the team

Here are your daily links, including pre-game 5 interviews, Sergei Gonchar in the team's meetings, hockey players talking about what the passing of Steve Montador means to them and the league, and more.

By Sam Li
Mar 10, 2015; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien talks to defenseman Andrei Markov (79) (right) and defensemen Sergei Gonchar (55) and Nathan Beaulieu (28) during the third period against Tampa Bay Lightning at Bell
Mar 10, 2015; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien talks to defenseman Andrei Markov (79) (right) and defensemen Sergei Gonchar (55) and Nathan Beaulieu (28) during the third period against Tampa Bay Lightning at Bell
Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

Montreal Canadiens

  • No major changes tonight for Game 5, and don't expect P.A. Parenteau or Sergei Gonchar to show up on the ice. Therrien tells us that although he's not playing, Gonchar is still attending the many team meetings. "He made his living on the powerplay". [La Presse] (French)
  • Pre-Game 5 interviews: everyone looking confident enough. The catchphrase of the day is "nothing has changed since Game 1". [TSN]
  • Brenden Gallagher on the Habs' powerplay so far: [Canadiens]

"Right now, we just have to match their desperation level. For us, the power play is a part of it. I think we just have to bear down and execute, like we do in all facets of the game."

  • Watch fans in St.Jovite, Quebec lose their minds when the Habs show up for an autograph signing. [CTV]
  • The mayor of Montreal is a big Habs fan. Who would have thought? [Canadiens]
  • Hal Gill is retiring after playing 1,108 NHL games. [CBS Sports]
  • The latest in sports fan technology. A Canadiens fan rigged up an automatic light show in his living room triggered by the sound of goals. Check out how he did it here. [Francois Maillet]

Around the League and Elsewhere

  • Watch Max Lapierre's obscene embellishment here, as the Pittsburgh Penguins face elimination from the Rangers. [Puck Daddy]
  • Incredible. There's an app that tracks every second of sports game to generate "excitement ratings". It uses "an algorithm factoring in parity, novelty, momentum, game pace, context and social buzz calculates a score between zero and 100". You get alerted if something exciting happens, or you can, y'know, just watch the game. [Forbes]
  • Lubomir Visnovsky took a hard hit from Tom Wilson in a Islander-Capitals game. He is out indefinitely with a concussion. How does the league's crackdown on diving penalties interfere with actual player safety? [Lighthouse Hockey]
  • Hayley Wickenheiser on her friend Steve Montador, who had passed away from what is speculated to be concussion related issues.  [Player's Tribune]

This is what Steve wrestled with and this is why he struggled to find that peace. He was so much more than a hockey player. The guy could have been a poet by day and moonlighted as a janitor by night. He wore so many hats (literally). He was an original, and there were not a lot of peeps in his circle that he could relate to.

Why?

Because the world of pro sports is sanitized, professionalized, and boring-as-shitalized.

  • Blackhawks' Dan Carcillo with his own story about Steven Montador:

As a hockey player, you’re just taught to push through the pain, no matter what. I got pretty close to getting halfway dressed when I started putting on my skates. I glanced across the room and saw the stall Monty used to sit in when we played together. I heard his deep, hearty laugh.

I broke down.

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