Spector opens the season in Toronto, Pittsburgh and Edmonton for two classic Canadian matchups and a banner raising in between.
TORONTO — There may be no end to the hockey season anymore. But thank goodness, there is still a start.
It was just over three months ago that Maxime Talbot buried the Detroit Red Wings, and Sidney Crosby limped off of the Pittsburgh Penguins bench to hoist a Stanley Cup that, in the end, his teammates had earned for him. Not the other way around, for a change.
There was still time left, as we drifted into summer full of hockey issues, to ponder the San Jose Sharks choke job, the Calgary Flames habitual early exit — if not a choke also, then what might you call it? — and the seven goals that made Roberto Luongo cry. In the weeks since, the National Hockey League has drafted a new class, broken the bank on another free agent spree, and fretted endlessly over Jim Balsillie and a God forsaken franchise in hockey’s death valley.
It is all, however, relegated to history now that the real reason we all hang around this game has come around again.
October has arrived. Opening Night has returned.
This, friends, is why we are all here.
And so, we embark on one of the cooler gigs in a while: Three nights. Three Cities. Three Openers.
It starts in Toronto — (We know, The West. Everything starts in Toronto) — where the Montreal Canadiens visit in a meetings of two of hockey’s hopefuls. Hopeful in Toronto that a four-year rebuilding process can begin bearing fruit in Year 2, hopeful in Montreal that a pit lane overhaul can be sent back out on the track and run 500 miles without blowing up in GM Bob Gainey’s face.
There are wishful elements to both, as we see it. Perhaps they are too small and unfamiliar with each other in Montreal, and typically harboring expectations that exceed the pace of the building process in Toronto But none of that matters right now.
There are no warts on Opening Night. The tiny Habs have yet to be pushed off a puck, and much maligned goaltender Carey Price’s attitude towards the fans and media is still patient.
Vesa Toskala hasn’t let in a stinky goal yet; Mikhail Grabovski is still a first-line centre; Phil Kessel will be a 30-plus goal man until he returns from injury sometime in November.
Skepticism? If it is fair to push it aside in Toronto right now, then it will be totally barred from The Igloo on Friday night, where the final Opening Night at Mellon Arena comes with a banner ceremony.
This could be the start of a dynasty, but for now there is one last chance to look back on a Stanley Cup won in one hell of a good hockey town that nearly lost its team not so long ago. Now, they are the defending champs with a new building on the rise, just this side of Shale’s Café. (When in Pittsburgh, guests of this column drink at Shale’s…)
Then on Saturday, we’re home to Edmonton where two entirely different sets of expectations clash in the familiar Battle. Both have to find the next level — the Flames from a playoff regular to a Cup contender, and Edmonton simply to graduate to where Calgary is today .
Jay Bouwmeester gives Calgary an out-of-this-world blue-line, though last we checked, you had to score goals to win playoff rounds. That pressure falls again to Jarome Iginla, who will be asked by Brent Sutter to score the second goal in a 2-1 Flames victory, oh, about 40 times this season.
The hope in Edmonton starts with Pat Quinn and Tom Renney, a pair who have spent their September eyeballing many of the same traits that deposed Craig MacTavish bemoaned when he stood in their shoes.
Quinn has used terms like “cream puffs” and “morning glories” when talking about his Oilers forwards, and makes the point of starting the season with young star Sam Gagner as his fourth-line centre.
He will ask his troops for perseverance, though many of them still prefer the perimeter.
He wants crust. They’d rather cruise.
Just another issue that we’ll get to later.
Starting Thursday, it’s about the hockey again.
Hallelujah.
