New domain!

Thanks to two dear friends, Alice (please visit her photo blog if you are so inclined) and Chantelle (who does not have a blog/website but if you're in the Petawawa, Ontario area, stop by her smoothie shop, Euphoria Smoothies, and tell her I sent you) -- the blog now has a domain!  Point your browser to www.bloggingcarbo.com.  The old Blogspot address will forward to the domain as well.

And just so this post is on topic:

This is one of my favorite photos of Guy, taken during the 1999-2000 season.  (his last as a player)  It is by the photographer Brad Amodeo.

Loss and winning.

If I may take a personal detour from the news stories for a moment -- I have been a fan and admirer of Carbo's for nearly four years.  I have been asked many times what it is about him that draws me to him.  I have to say it's the determination and passion that he brings to the game, no matter how he may be involved in it.  As a player, he was often considered the "heart and soul" of whatever team he was playing for.  Hockey is his life; he was born to play the game and driven to win.

This never became more apparent to me than this past June, when my father passed away very suddenly due to a heart attack.  Once I had some time to process the shock, I thought of Carbo.  During the 1999 playoffs, when the Dallas Stars were on the way to winning their first Stanley Cup, Guy lost his own father, Charles-Aime, the same way.  He said at the time:

It has been a tough three weeks, and I don't think I'll ever be happier to see the ice than tonight.

Life has a way of challenging you, and I've had plenty of that this month. My dad died last week. The funeral was Monday in Quebec. Now, I'm back in Dallas and it's time to play hockey again.

I've thought a lot about all of that, and the thing that keeps coming up in my mind is that playing hockey is what my dad would want me to do. It's funny. My mom got me started playing hockey, but my dad always took a special interest. He called me the day before he died, and we talked about a lot of things. He was really excited about the goals I scored in the Edmonton series and he was ready for me to get back skating after I hurt my knee (April 23).

It was nice to talk, nice to hear what he had to say. And that's what I keep thinking about.

Playing hockey, winning championships, they are my dreams. But they are his dreams, too. He spent a lot of time and a lot of money trying to help me make them come true. And he took as much pride in what I did on the ice as I did.

It has been a hard time for our team throughout the past two or three years. We've lost a lot of friends and family. But each time something has happened, we've had hockey to turn to. It's an escape, but it's also what we know, what we do. It's comfortable to be in a game, to be doing what we love to do, to be fighting for something we've been fighting for all our lives -- something all of our parents and family have helped us fight for.

I don't know how I'll feel tonight. I don't know how I'll react to being out of the game for three weeks, to wearing a knee brace for the first time in a long time. I've never done this before in the playoffs -- I had never missed a playoff game before -- so it's all new to me.

I know at some time I'll probably think about my dad, and that'll be good. I'll remember what he liked most about the game and about me playing. I don't expect to become Superman just because my dad died, but I also know it's time to move on. It's time to do the things he would want me to do.  (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

And he played, and he won his third Cup ring, and that summer, he took Lord Stanley to his father's grave in Quebec to share the victory and a quiet moment with his departed loved one.

Carbo speaks out against counterfeit jerseys

With the popularity of sports merchandise, the advent of counterfeit jerseys.  The Montreal Canadiens and Reebok have joined forces to educate consumers on the difference between real jerseys and fake.  Carbo is the face of the new program; to be seen online, in arenas, in print, and on the radio.

“Travel a little and you see fake purses, shoes and watches,” Carbonneau said at a Bell Centre news conference on Thursday. “It was just a matter of time before hockey jerseys became a big, illegal business.”

Carbonneau looked in game-shape Thursday wearing his captain’s C-branded, nameplated No. 21 as he recalled the days of his youth when a Canadiens sweater was almost the expected annual gift beneath the Christmas tree.

“I remember practising outdoors all those days in a Habs jersey and you’d pretend you were Maurice Richard or Jean Beliveau,” he said.

“With this campaign, I’d like Canadiens fans to avoid being victims. We’re not going to stop people from buying counterfeit jerseys, that’s their prerogative. But we’d like to inform those people that the $200 or more they spend isn’t buying the real thing.” (Montreal Gazette)

(photo credit:  Montreal Gazette)

Carbo applauds Shanny

On Tuesday, Carbo appeared at Guy Lafleur's Bleu Blanc Rouge restaurant for the unveiling of 12 serigraphs of Canadiens legends by the artist Pierre Pivet.  He applauded the work being currently done by the NHL's Senior VP of Player Safety, Brendan Shanahan.  He stated that Shanahan was always a player in good faith, and that the NHL has evolved into an era where suspensions were not severe enough.  He also said that the new system in place is extraordinary and truly transparent.  (TVA Sports; article in French)

(photo credit:  Agence QMI)

Stairwells and sherseys

Two things, probably not of a whole lot of note except to me.

Diane Lau, webmaster of that most wonderful of Carbo sites, has given me permission to post this photo of the stairwell in her house.

That's her photomatched 1984-85 home Canadiens game-worn jersey, and an Artis game-used stick circa 1988, which happens to also be inscribed by Guy!  What a lovely display.  Thanks, Diane!

In merchandise news, player t-shirts (also known in the hockey world as "sherseys") have become quite popular.  Carbo has a Habs player t-shirt that has been widely available for quite some time.  But I have never seen a Dallas Stars one...until now.

if you're in the Dallas area, head on down to the Stars pro shop at the American Airlines Center for one of these babies.  Carbo's time with the Stars was important and special in his career, so it's nice that Dallas also gets its Carbo shersey due.  (photo credit:  Twitter/AshlyStar)

Hello and welcome.

I've been a Carbo fan for going on four years now, and the idea to start this blog came into my head several times.  Surely there are others like me who like to keep apprised of his doings?  Hence, this blog.  The main, undisputed source for information on Guy Carbonneau is and always shall be Diane Lau's formidable website; this blog merely exists as a companion, with current info.

A special welcome to Carbo's many admirers from Quebec; while I have second-level French, this blog will exist for the time being in English only.

so let's start with a news roundup, shall we:

• on October 2 at the Dr. Pepper Stars Arena in Frisco, Texas, Carbo will be playing in the first annual Dallas Stars Alumni Classic.  any Stars fan would be crazy to miss this event, as it includes many players from the '99 championship team.  however, it is open to Stars season ticket holders only.  (Examiner.com)
• there's a nice sidebar about Carbo in this NHL.com article about his son-in-law Brenden Morrow here.
• on September 25 (that would be yesterday), Carbo attended the opening of the Pat Burns Arena in Quebec's Eastern Townships.  he participated in an alumni game and presented a sweater to Burns' widow, Line.  (CBC.ca)

(Guy, Line Burns, and Patrice Brisebois; photo credit, Le Reflet Du Lac)