Happy New Year.

It's 2013.

The actual anniversary isn't until June 9, but still:  Happy 20 years since Guy captained the Canadiens to their most recent Stanley Cup win (and the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup).

Another photomatch for the Carbo gamer

Happened upon this photo tonight on eBay:

(photo source:  eBay/The Sporting News)

Yep, that's Guy wearing my jersey.  Not only is there a match to the green thread sewn into the "T" in "Stars," I took the jersey out of its case to match the black mark on the bottom.  The auction states that the photo was taken in 1996, so if that holds true, Guy wore the jersey during the latter half of the season.  Awesome stuff for me.  I gave the jersey a big hug upon discovering this, before returning it to its case.

Guy to appear at Toronto Sports Card Expo in May

2013 is the 20th anniversary of the Habs' 1993 Stanley Cup win, so it's fitting that members of that winning team would headline the three-day 2013 Toronto Sports Card Expo.  So far 13 members of the team have signed on to join coach Jacques Demers for autograph signings and photo opportunities during the event.  Along with Guy, Patrick Roy (the 1993 Conn Smythe winner) will be there; as well as Vincent Damphousse, Kirk Muller, and Mathieu Schneider.

More information on this event will become available in January.  (examiner.com)

Guy et le doigt d'honneur*

It was in the spring of 1994 when Guy hit the golf course with Canadiens teammates Patrick Roy and Vincent Damphousse.  Three days before, the Bruins eliminated the reigning Stanley Cup champions in seven games in the first round of the playoffs.  Also on the Rosemere golf course was Normand Leveille, a photographer with Le Journal de Montreal, taking photos at a distance with a powerful telephoto lens.  Guy asked Leveille to stop.  Leveille didn't.  Finally, Guy had had enough.  The next morning, a photo ran on the front page of the paper:  Roy and Damphousse on either side of Guy, whose middle finger was raised.

The gesture was seen as Guy giving his middle finger to Montreal fans.  He assured the public that it had nothing to do with them and he merely wanted his privacy.  In the end, he issued an apology.  It was certainly not a shining moment in the life of Guy Carbonneau.

So it surprised me when I discovered recently in an old article that Carbo has this photo in his personal archives.  Surely he'd wish to forget that it ever happened -- after all, the end result was his trade to St. Louis for the unknown Jim Montgomery.  

Why does he keep it?  Here is his excerpted answer, translated from the French:

"Because it is a stage of my life.  It is not so much the photo but the content of the accompanying article that shocked me.  My reaction was interpreted as a gesture of disgust at the public.  Instead, it meant that the photographer did not belong there.  I regret having made this gesture, because I'm not that kind of person," Guy said, noting also that his wife Line also expressed surprise at his reaction to Leveille.  "The photo is not hanging on the wall at home, but it is part of my life."  (Le Journal de Montreal)

It was the trade to St. Louis that hurt Guy the most.  The photo was the widely accepted reason for the trade, but it was intended even before that due to the downward turn for the Habs in the 1993-94 season.  Also of note was the fact that general manager Serge Savard was trying to renegotiate Guy's contract and instead opted to unload it.  Many, including some of Guy's former teammates, felt that the Canadiens had made a big mistake.  Rejean Tremblay wrote:

"Carbo wasn't a superstar.  But he was the real thing.  Tough, stubborn, proud, capable of speaking his mind."

The next year, the Canadiens missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years.

* Doigt d'honneur is the French term for the middle finger.  I have personally never seen the photo, though I once sent a Montreal friend (hi, Kathy!) on a wild goose chase in the library's microfilm archive to find it.  

An item added to my wishlist & a lockout quote

This piece of Dallas Stars Stanley Cup memorabilia was brought to my attention recently:

(photo source:  Dallas Craigslist)

It's a "slice of the ice" from the Stars' 1999 Stanley Cup win -- taken from the ice of the Marine Midland Arena (now the First Niagara Center) in Buffalo, New York after the Stars' victory.  This is entirely too fabulous to me -- the ice (okay, water) from Guy's final Stanley Cup win.  So I pretty much decided that I have to have one of these and am now on the hunt.  I'll keep everyone posted.  :)

EDIT:  This post is becoming a hodgepodge but I had to add this, because it pertains to the era when Guy was playing.  I'm sure some of you will remember NHL on Fox and the dreaded FoxTrax.  Yes, those hockey pucks with LED sensors that were designed to streak across your TV screen with comet trails and other such ridiculousness.  Long a thing of the past, and apparently now the pucks are prized collector's items.  Go figure.

And with talks between the NHL and its players' association again at a standstill, I saw a quote published on Twitter on Thursday (when the talks broke down) in regards to another retired player that resonated with me, so I'll paraphrase the adapted version here:  Today is a day when I'm glad that Guy Carbonneau is long retired, so I don't have to worry about the lockout ending his career.  So true, so true.  Like just about every other NHL fan, I'm beyond frustrated with this lockout.  I wish the two sides would stop pointing fingers at each other and just get it done already.  The fans deserve that much. 

Carbo to square off against Hockey's Greatest Stars

At the 2013 All-Star Classic which is to be held on Sunday, March 24, 2013 at the Bell Centre, Montreal Canadiens alumni -- including Guy -- will face off against some of the greatest NHL players from the '80s and '90s,  Coached by Guy Lafleur, the Habs alumni team includes Alex Kovalev, Chris Nilan, Chris Chelios, Vincent Damphousse, and Denis Savard.  The Greatest Stars team includes players such as Peter Stastny, Eric Lindros, Theo Fleury, and Ray Bourque.  Curtis Joseph is slated to be in goal for the team, which is being coached by Michel Bergeron and Jacques Demers.  (TSN)

Carbo on selection committee of new RDS series

With the NHL lockout still in full swing, RDS, Quebec's 24-hour sports network and the French-language division of TSN, is about to take a look at at the greatest players ever to don the Montreal Canadiens uniform.  L'Ultime Classement will be a 11-part series on the franchise.  Guy is on a selection committee that also includes former Habs players P.J. Stock and Vincent Damphousse and journalists Bertrand Raymond, Michael Farber, and Pierre Houde.  In addition, hockey journalists representing the other Original Six cities were invited to participate. 

The series is slated to debut on January 7.  (The Windsor Star, via the Montreal Gazette)