Palmer's inaugural Habs blog

Alright so it seems that today is the day of the guest blogger. Not only did my main man AK drop one hell of a blog on us a little while ago, but now i have the pleasure of posting Dave "Poundcake" Palmer's first ever blog that will be near and dear to my heart as I am a loyal Habs fan for life. Consider yourself lucky today everyone, and if you ever feel like throwing down a little blog of your own, just ask for the password or email it to me and consider it done! Without further ado.....Palmer's habs blog.

I'm going to start my guest blogging debut with something that is very close to my heart. There are very few things in the world that I 'LOVE'. This is not a word that I throw around very easily. I love my family (Jackson and Bones included). I love music. I love laughing and having a great time. I have told one girlfriend that I loved her (boy did that relationship ever go south) and one close friend (super gay but we've been friends for a couple decades)

There is one thing that I know for sure that I love; always have, always will. My earliest memory was in my aunt and uncle's basement. I was maybe 4 or 5. My older cousin (5 years older than I am) was playing video games with his friend and they asked me a question. This question was important because it would shape my life. I didn't realize it at the time but the friend was a leafs fan and my cousin was a habs fan. The friend: "Hey Dave, what's your favourite hockey team?" Trying to pick the answer that I figured would most impress my cousin whom I greatly looked up to: "uhhh.da maypo lweafs?" Unbiased at the time, I saw the look on my cousin's face and immediately changed my answer. I stuck with it, and you know what? I will NEVER, EVER in my life regret it.

I LOVE the Montreal Canadiens. I know I'm going to take some heat from all the leafs fans, but I've been doing it my whole life and I'll defend the Habs until I'm black and blue in the face. Too much? Fuck you.

I remember when I was in grade 4, which was in 1992-93. Joey McBain (the cool guy in class) was a huge leafs fan, which by default made everyone. I stuck with my habs. I was probably one of the only kids in school that had a habs starter jacket and baseball cap. Boy did McBain ever eat shit when the Habs won the cup that year. Getting to stay up extra late to watch Guy 'creamy bacon' Carbonneau hold up that cup gave me the biggest smile I can remember. This will forever be a fond memory for me.

After that, the habs were fairly quiet, but I stuck with them. They pretty consistently have made it to the playoffs and have even made it to the second round a few times. In 2004, they squeezed in to the 8th playoff spot only to play the powerhouse of a team, the Boston Bruins. They won the series 4-2 only to lose to the Stanley Cup winning Hurricanes in the next round. Last year they took first in the east and that was not at all easy to do with teams like Pittsburgh, Ottawa and Boston. They beat Boston in the first round but lost to the Flyers (who went to the cup).

In grade 7, like every student in Ontario, I was commissioned to write and present a speech on the topic of my choice. I don't think it takes a brain surgeon to figure out what I chose. I actually came in 2nd place and lost to 'the cute girl' in class who probably talked about troll dolls or Polly Pocket or who cares what else. I guess troll dolls are cool? Fuck it, I had a few.

The ultimate reason why I know I love this team is because of a distinct thing that happened this year. I, for the first time in my life, made the trip to the BELL Centre in Montreal, which for me is my MECCA. The atmosphere, and the feeling of knowing that I was surrounded by 21,500 adoring fans, who love the Canadiens just as much as I do: priceless. Of course I was drunk, which turned me into a big watery-eyed baby. Never in my life have I had so much fun. Chanting the Ole chant at the top of my lungs, high fiving complete strangers every time the habs scored and going just bat-shit crazy when they scored in OT to win the gameI will, at the very minimum, go to one habs game per year. I've already made plans to head down to good ole' MSG in NYC on April 7th to see the habs play the New York Rangers. SO STOKED!

This year they are playing unreal hockey (though not the past two games). The team is an equal mix of seasoned vets, up-and-coming youngsters and great goaltending. They're tough, fast and smart. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's a great year to be a habs fan. With Creamy B and Kirk Muller (the respective captain and assistant captain of the '93 winning team) behind the bench, I can't help but feel like this year could be really special. I don't want to jinx it, but just know that if Kovy or Koivu end up hoisting that cup for the 25th time in team history, this guy right here will be one happy little dude.

N'I'm out