Montreal Canadiens: More Whipsaw Performances.

After the Canadiens' General Manager Bob Gainey settled the case of Georges Laraque, many observators said that an important part of the team's distractions went away with Georges.

The team responded well immediatly afterwards. The Canadiens defeated the Eastern conference leaders, the New Jersey Devils before shutting down the New York Rangers by the impressive score of 6-0.

But the good performances were equally matched by bad ones once again as the team suffered two humiliating losses. One to the hands of the Florida Panthers and then, to the Tampa Bay Lightning by the score of 3-0.

Even worse, there was some friction between Andrei Markov and Carey Price going on since a few days already. Nothing to help the team right now. But this morning after the team practice, both players hugged each other in a faint attempt to make us believe that everything is alright.

This is a very bad time for this to happen to the Canadiens. The team is currently struggling to keep up the pace with the 8th place team and would greatly benefit of some stability and team chemistry right now. With less than 30 games to go in this 2009-2010 regular season, a winning streak would be much appreciated by the club's fans.

The team will travel to play the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

(Picture: Canadian Press.)

Brett Favre: Like A Warrior, Until The End.

Last Sunday, the NFL's NFC and AFC championships were played and once again the football fans had a great show.

Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings were at the Superdome to face the New Orleans Saints for a spot in Super Bowl XLIV. The Indianapolis Colts, with their 30-17 victory over the New York Jets a little earlier, were waiting to see who they will face in two weeks.

A fierce battle between the Vikings and the Saints raged during more than an hour of play. Both teams exchanged touchdowns, hard hits and crucial turnovers. For one, Brett Favre had his dose of hard hitting. One of the worse of them, from behind, sent Favre on the ground in obvious pain.

The Vikings down 21-28 at that moment were desperate to see their quarterback back on the field. And once again, the 40-year old phenom laced his shoe back on and returned to the field, limping.

After a couple of difficult series, the Vikings orchestrated an ultimate drive, ended by a Adrian Peterson touchdown. 28-28.

This was Peterson's third TD of the night despite dropping the pigskin four times. The Vikings even had an last chance to win the game during the final minute of the game but Favre tried to force a ball down the field and was picked by the defense.

This suspensful game needed extra time and the Saints won the cointoss. They did not allow Favre to creep back in this one. A well designed drive allowed their kicker to win it from 40 yards out.

I have to congratulate both the Colts and the Saints for reaching the Super Bowl this year. Both of these teams deserve to be there.

As for my favorite NFL player, he once again played like a warrior. Determined, tough and charismatic, he once again made me believe that everything is possible in this world. But the ultimate goal just slipped between his fingers once again. Will he find the inner strenght to come back next year? I truly hope so because he once again gave us all a hell of a show.

Congratulations Brett for your accomplishments.

(Picture: Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson, Canadian Press.)

Patrice Cormier: Done For The Season And Playoffs.

The Quebec Junior Hockey League has decided to punish severely Patrice Cormier of the Rouyn Noranda Huskies for his vicious hit on Mikael Tam of the Quebec Remparts. Cormier is suspended by the league and will miss the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs.

The decision of the league is fair in my opinion. Such disgusting actions on the ice deserve a severe punishment. In this particular case, justice prevailed for the good of all hockey players in this league. We just have to hope that the lenght of the suspension will make a good example to anyone who wishes to hit someone to the head.

(Picture: Patrice Cormier, RDS.)

Patrice Cormier Hits Mikael Tam: Disturbing Images Moves Press.

This last Sunday, during the overtime period of a regular season game in the Quebec's Junior Hockey League opposing the Quebec Remparts to the Rouyn Noranda Huskies, Patrice Cormier of the Huskies viciously blindsided defense men Mikael Tam with an elbow shot to the head.

Tam fell on the ice face first, unconcious and convulsing. Disturbing images that went all around the world and that will take long to be forgotten. It took me two full days and positive news about Mikael Tam's health condition to lower my level of outrage.

In my humble opinion, and should I have the opportunity to take that kind of a decision, I would ban Cormier from any organized ice hockey competition and send him to an anger management therapy. This kind of behaviour endangers every other player's health while sending a disgusting image of ice hockey. Those actions deserve this kind of punishment.

In that same line of thought, could it be possible for a professional player to ask a judge for a restraining order against Cormier stating that with Patrice Cormier's past actions, he is endangering his Million dollar career?

That would in the end result to the same point: Ban Cormier before he kills someone during a hockey game.

(Picture: Mikael Tam, Canadian Press.)

Montreal Canadiens: Difficult weekend.

The Montreal Canadiens had two important games this last weekend as both the Ottawa Senators and the New York Rangers were within the Canadiens' range in the standings.

After taking a short 2-1 lead in Ottawa, the team collapsed to finally lose by the score of 4-2. Then in New York, Montreal took a 2-0 lead in the first period but completely collapsed once again and lost 6-2. The Canadiens cannot continue to drop points in the standings for very long before their playoff berth races away from them.

Of course there are some positive points here and there. For example, Benoit Pouliot has adjusted his marks and is now having a blast along with Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez. But somewhere, the good points just don't weight enough in the balance.

We have seen an immediate effect on Tomas Plekanec's production since Andrei Kostitsyn's injury. The club's depth isn't good enough to provide immediate offensive support to Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri.

The major problem of the club is still their defensive coverage. I have not seen any improvement since day one in this department. The opponents skate in Montreal's zone with ease and can easily send 40 shots on net. There is virtually no stick checking (and I don't mean cross checking here) and no bodyckecking.

With the Olympic tournament scheduled in less than a month and the trade deadline coming only two days after the Games' closing ceremony, some General Managers, including Bob Gainey, will have many propositions on the table.

(Picture: Benoit Pouliot, Canadian Press.)

Ristorante Adventure Romantica Contest.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Dr Oetker. All opinions are 100% mine.

A new contest named the Dr Oetker Adventure Romantica Contest has been launched by Dr Oetker and is for Canadian residents only.

This time, the delicious ''Ristorante pizzas'' could win yourself a tour for two to a winery or vineyard near your location!

All you have to do is collect and register your PIN online. PINs appear in specially marked boxes of Dr Oetker ristorante pizzas. You can register as many PIN as you wish until June 30th 2010.

A total of 100 008 prizes are to be won.

-100 000 Free pizza coupons.
-5 ''Ristorante for a year'' prize packs.
-3 Vineward tours.

I think that this contest is interesting because of the amount of winning boxes and also the grand prize that is up for grabs. In fact, there is a winning box among every twenty boxes or so...

I find the grand prize very interesting. especially for a couple. To tell the truth, I have not visited a local vineyard in a couple of years and would love it.

I bet that so few of us has ever visited a winery or a wineyard in our respective locations. This is a great way to discover who makes the finest products in our own regions. I envy the winners already because this would make a perfect gift to my girlfriend...

Cheers to Dr Oetker once again for another great contest. And good luck to all of you.

Montreal Canadiens: First Win In 2010.

The Florida Panthers constituted the first victims of the Montreal Canadiens in 2010. A 2-0 victory acquired at the Bell centre.

Jaroslav Halak was in net for Montreal and stopped the 38 shots from the Panthers. A second shutout victory this season for him. Benoit Pouliot, with a late first period goal and Brian Gionta in an empty net constituted the only offense of this game.

The depth of the Canadiens without Andrei Kostitsyn was put to the test as head coach Jacques Martin juggled with his lines trying to find more sustained offense. More often than not, the goaltenders' margin of error is very slim.

The New Jersey Devils, the Dallas Stars and the Ottawa Senators will, in succession, be the Canadiens' next three opponents at the Bell centre.

(Picture: Jaroslav Halak and Paul Mara, Canadian Press.)

2010 World Junior Hockey Championships: Team USA Wins Gold.

These 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships will be remembered for the classic gold medal match, which was simply spectacular.

The overtime period was necessary to declare a winner and John Carlson scored the winning goal taking away Team Canada's 6th straight gold medal with that 6-5 victory.

I have to tip my hat to Team Canada's determination in this one. Down 3-5 with under three minutes to play in regulation, Jordan Eberle scored twice and tied the game in dramatic fashion. But the ultimate goal never came for Canada during overtime.

The game was difficult for the starting goaltenders in this game. Both Jake Allen and Mike Lee finished the game on the players' bench, replaced after giving soft goals.

Here is the 2010 World Juniors podium:

Gold Medal: Team USA
Silver Medal: Team Canada
Bronze Medal: Team Sweden

A mention for Team Switzerland who finished fourth after defeating Team Russia in the quarterfinals.

Congratulations to Team USA for their great victory.

(Picture: Team USA, Getty Images.)