forum mont

Las Vegas - Like Yankee Stadium, the old Montreal Forum, the TEMPLE of hockey, was and is considered hallowed ground in Canada. My first major assignment was covering the 1979 Stanley Cup when the Canadiens hosted the New York Rangers. Just walking into Le Forum de Montreal was breathtaking. In New York, we had the Babe, Mickey, Joe D, Lou Gehrig and Yogi. When you looked down on the Forum ice, you saw the ghosts of Richard, Beliveau, Lafleur, Lamaire and Boom Boom Geoffrion. Quite a jolt for a kid from NYC. Even got to share a table at the buffet with the GREAT voice of the Canadiens, Roger Doucet. When he belted out O Canada before the game, I was ready to change my citizenship. Totally Top 10 in my career sports highlights. Wanna know my #1 highlight? Email me, ben@americasline.com, and I'll hit you back.

Okay, now that story time is over, you're expecting a winner. Obviously, the Lightning are the superior team, by a bunch. But back home, with the coach, Dominique Ducharme, finally back behind the bench and 3,500 crazies in the building, gotta take a look at Les Canadiens. They dominated game two with 43 shots on goal, Tampa had 23, and if it wasn't for Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy basically standing on his head, this series would be tied at a game apiece. So, now, Montreal has to bring that same heat, because as you all know, an 0-3 hole in hockey is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to climb out of. There have been 192 times that a team was up 3-0 in a series, and those teams have won 188 times. Yea, 188-4! So, this is game seven for the Canadiens, and even though it is not at the old Forum, we're still expecting some ghosts to skate along side the current group, and post a W.

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