Game Day Preview: Canadiens vs. Boston

"The times, they are a changing" - Bob Dylan

Ever since the Chara/Pacioretty incident on March 8, 2011, life as we know it changed. For the Boston Bruins, they quickly became the NHL's #1 villian. Players who had zero involvement felt it was their time to speak up on the issue. Guys like Joe Thornton accused the NHL of giving Boston preferential treatment. Boston was labeled a hate filled town who bathed in the blood of Max Pacioretty, Donald Brashear and any other player succumbed to injury at the hand of a Boston Bruin. The team was hated, sneared at and mocked wherever they went. Through it all, the city of Boston told their citizens and their team to keep on fighting, that nothing said or done could break the spirit of being a Bruin. We, as fans, knew the team needed us and we came to their aid like a mother would tend to her wounded child. They needed us and we needed them.

After the jump, we look at how Montreal has changed because of this incident...
The city of Montreal, however, changed for the worst. What happened to the city wasn't just about sports, it was about culture. Everything changed. Television, gaming, movies, street signs, everything changed and became anti-Chara. Don't believe us?



Days of Y'Orr's Patrice Purrgeron went on a secret mission to Montreal and took pictures of how the city has changed. Patrice was roaming the streets of Montreal when he came across this little scamp playing his handheld video game. He asked him what he was playing when the child showed him this.


As if that wasn't enough, the little boy let Patrice play the game and what unfolded shocked us!






Unreal! Patrice thought this was an isolated incident until he walked into a nearby arcade. He saw two boys playing Mortal Chara and the slighty taller boy had a Fatality on his friend. It was clear that the older boy was Zdeno Chara while his friend was Max Pacioretty.



What happened was this:



Not pleasant in the least. The thing is, it just wasn't video games. The city of Montreal re-shot movies too. While Patrice was walking by a movie theater, he saw these posters.




credit to Alison F for the Chara picture

It seemed like the Chara venom was everywhere. There were even hotels dubbed "No Chara!" suites. Insanity.


They stood outside of coffee shops and the city capitol. They booed and hissed when the NHL didn't hand out a 20 or 30 or life suspension for the man they dubbed "The Life Taking Z". Everywhere Patrice went, he heard talks of Pacioretty never playing again. THe very thing that Max loved, playing hockey, was taken from him. It was a miracle if he could walk. This soldier of the blu, blanch and rouge - their greatest offensive threat since Maurice Richard - will never see the inside of the Bell Centre again because of what Chara did. Where was "la justice"?

Unfortunately, there was none for the people of Montreal. A city turned upside down by that vicious ogre wearing 33 - donned in black and gold drapes like he was Xerxes trying to slay the Spartan army. This time, however, it wasn't just Chara anymore. Mark Recchi also spoke out about the incident and deemed that the Montreal staff may have "over-emblished" the incident a little.

OVER EMBELISH HE SAID! OUTRAGE! HE'S NOT A DOCTOR (or is he?)



How can you say someone over embelished something just because they broke their neck, suffered a severe concussion and then was fine enough to sit in a darkly lit room and watch a fucking huge, bright screen? How dare you Mark Recchi!

Recchi, who stands for free speech, justice and the American way MUST BE STOPPED! He isn't allowed to express his opinions about anything. It doesn't matter if he's been playing hockey longer than Chara and Pacioretty combined! It doesn't matter if he made valid points!


Oh right, there's also a fucking hockey game tonight! Can you believe that? Through all of the bullshit, Paciorrety is fine and the Bruins/Habs have to square off because this game actually matters. Habs fans can call their radio stations all they want, crying and complaining, saying that the Habs should go after Chara's knees because it's not going to happen. This is just like the Matt Cooke incident.

Gary Bettman, Mike Murphy or Colin Campbell will call both teams and warn them about retaliation. The teams will play a hockey game. There won't be any fighting, any cheap shots and probably not much diving on the bad side.

Whatever. Mark Recchi is the speaker of truth and a fucking Patriot. And if the Bruins lose, they'll still be in first place in the division.

Suck it.