Then Montreal scores to take the lead at the start of the 3rd period and the Montreal drunken faithful start singing that Ole, ole, ole chant with about 15 minutes left in the game which is a) pretty cocky and b) pretty stupid. Sure, maybe if that made it a 3 goal lead but the way these goalies were playing it was pretty premature. Plus, it's Montreal; no game is a sure win for them since 1977.
Sure enough Pittsburgh scores then there are some more goals and then I see...him; WTF! - Thomas Kaberle is playing for Montreal? He's been on more teams in the last three years than Michel Petit. Yeah, I WENT THERE. I thought Kabs retired after he won a Stanley Cup with Boston carrying Zdeno Chara's hockey sticks into the dressing room. Yet, seeing him reminded me of a hockey souvenir shop i went to in Parry Sound, birthplace of Bobby Orr and coincidentally also home of the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame and Museum.
So I'm walking around the small town center and duck into this little curio shop full of sorts of stuff and there, hanging from a rafter are three hockey pictures. There is a framed picture of Bobby, at a cost of $75. There is also a picture of Mario Lemieux for the same price. Which is fine, both hall-of-famers, both retired. But then, right between these 2 superstars of the game is a picture of Thomas Kaberle as a Toronto Maple Leaf. For some reason, this picture was, you guessed it: $75.
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| $75 with frame? Sold! |
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| $75 with frame? Sold! |
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| $75 with a free trip to Disneyland? ...uh.. I'll get back to you. |
To give you an idea how preposterous this was, here are the three individual stats for these guys:
Bobby Orr; 657 games played, 270 goals, 645 assists, 915 points with 953 PIMs for an average of 1.39 points per game.
He amassed 17 trophies in 9 years, including winning the Conn Smythe (playoff mvp), Hart (league mvp), Art Ross (scoring leader) and Norris (best defenceman) trophy all in the same year. And he was a defenceman, in theory and a true game changer. He also has 2 Stanley Cups to his name and the youngest ever to be elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame after injuries forced him into early retirement.
Mario Lemieux; 915 games played, 690 goals, 1033 assists, 1723 points with 834 PIMS for an average of 1.88 points per game.
He amassed 17 major awards in 12 years, including the Hart, Art Ross, Masterton (exemplifing perseverance and dedication to hockey), and Lester Pearson (League mvp as voted by players) trophies all in the same year. He then took three years off due to health problems, bought his team, became the first player/owner in recent memory and adopted Sidney Crosby. He's won 3 Stanley Cups, 2 as a player, 1 as Crosby's boss and foster dad, won Olympic Gold, a Canada Cup with one of the most famous goals in hockey history and basically if it weren't for #99 would have been the greatest player in the league.
Thomas Kaberle; 984 games played (and counting), 87 goals, 476 assists, 563 points and 260 PIMS for an average of well...let's just say not over 1 point a game.
He's amassed a lot of hockey jerseys over the last few years, with 5 (including a Czech team) in the last five years. He is second in Maple Leaf defenceman scoring, behind Borje Salming which is like saying Shane Churla is second to Bure in delivering elbows and has 1 Stanley Cup ring when he appeared behind Chara's shadow for a few games as a Boston Bruin, to the angst of Toronto Maple Leaf fans everywhere. Yet, for some reason in a small semi-famous town off of Lake Superior some shop owner with little knowledge of hockey has equated Kaberle of equal value to Lemieux and Orr. The horror, the horror, the horror...
But hey! At least we found this definitive highlight video of Kaberle on this great website downgoesbrown.com.
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