Blogging About The Montreal Canadiens and Canadiens Hockey

I’m sure most of you have come across this already, but I received an e-mail the other day that I would like to share with you.

Hey Justin!

I thought you’d be interested to hear about this story, we’d love for you to share it with your readers! As a tenacious forward for the Montréal Canadiens, Georges Laraque is known for his toughness on the ice, but he has a soft spot for animals-especially those raised for the meat and dairy industries. As he says in the new PSA he did for PETA, “Out on the ice, things get pretty rough. But it’s nothing compared to what animals on factory farms and in slaughterhouses go through. … I’m Georges Laraque, and I’m a vegan.”

Laraque joins a growing list of professional athletes-including Ron Artest, Michael Strahan, Tito Ortiz, Mac Danzig, Carey Hart, and many more-who have starred in PETA’s ad campaigns.

To celebrate his brand-new vegan testimonial, Georges has donated a signed hockey puck and a glossy photo-which are now up for grabs in an exclusive contest run on the PETA blog. We’ve also got a behind-the-scenes interview with Georges and much more! To see the PSA, interview, and check out the contest, please visit http://blog.peta.org/archives/2009/10/georges_laraque.php?c=pfglvts09.

So if you’re interested in winning a signed hockey puck and photo of Laraque then head on over to the PETA blog and leave a comment.

You should follow me on twitter here.

Josh Gorges does not seem to have a concussion after passing medical tests. He will play tonight. He suffered an undisclosed injury which is why he did not return to Saturday’s game against the Kings and sat out Sunday’s game against the Bruins.

Patrice Brisebois is out tonight with a “lower body injury”.

Both Mathieu Dandenault and Georges Laraque were on the ice, we could see Laraque as soon as Friday and Dandenault next week.

You should follow me on twitter here.

Very good news on the injury front as every single player has been on the ice today for the practice in Brossard. Georges Laraque was on the ice an hours before regular practice with Strength and Conditioning coach, Scott Livingston. Everyone else was on the ice for the regularly schedule practice.

Carey Price should be in one of the two games played this week, hopefully New Jersey, and it looks like Saku Koivu and Chris Higgins will make a return shortly after the All-Star Break. It will be so nice to get these guys back.

Alex Tanguay and Mathieu Dandenault should make a return in mid-February.

I’m not even sure where everyone is going to go? It’s unfortunate by I can definitely see Matt D’Agostini, Max Pacioretty, and Kyle Chipchura all being sent back down to Hamilton but it just goes to show we can have guys in the Pro’s next year when all of the UFA’s bolt.

You should follow me on twitter here.

With all of the injuries occurring this year, and the crazy speculation from the media and fans alike. It seems that the Canadiens’ organization is going to be a little more forthcoming about long term injuries beginning with Georges Laraque’s apparent “groin” injury. It turns out that it’s actually a back injury which has sidelined the 250 lbs left-winger, and that his groin has been fine since training camp.

Get used to this new, open-door policy, Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau explained, at least when it comes to long-term injuries. No sense hiding the truth, he continued. Certainly not in a hockey-crazed city such as Montreal, where no news isn’t necessarily good news, and only leads to countless stories being concocted.

Georges Laraque’s take on his injury status:

“To be criticized … when I’m hurt is stupid. You can’t control your body,” he continued. “I’ve been fighting for 11 years and playing a physical style. Injuries are part of the game. It’s nothing I can change.”

The main reason that the Canadiens didn’t discuss specific injuries and will continue not to discuss short-term injuries is because it gives opposing players an idea of their opponents weaknesses, which is understandable. It’s like the old saying, “Hit a man while he’s down”.

With long-term injuries, however, the player has the opportunity to recover completely before returning to the ice which doesn’t give the opposition that same advantage.

The policy of non-discussion makes complete sense, but it’s nice to know what long-term plagues are keeping key players out of games. Read the full story here.

You should follow me on twitter here.

Lots of news from practice today. Along with updates on many players, the Habs have decided to release more information on long term injuries. Instead of using vague discriptions like “upper and lower body injuries” the nature of the injuries will be released to the media.

Carey Price, Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev did not practice today.

Price doesn’t appear to be coming back any time soon and may miss the All-Star game. Carbonneau told the media if he doesn’t play a game with the team before the All-Star game, he should not participate. There is 4 games between now and the All-Star game on January 25th.

Saku Koivu, who practiced with the team Monday, suffered a “setback” in his recovery and may return for Saturday’s game against Ottawa.

Alex Kovalev missed practice because of a sickness. No word if he will miss tomorrow’s game against Nashville.

Mathieu Dandenault (broken arm), Chris Higgins (shoulder) and Georges Laraque (back, I’ll get to that below) all skated today. With the new injury policy, we learned today that Laraque is suffering from a back injury, not a groin as was speculated. He has been skating and hopes to join the team in practice next week.

Yannick Weber has been sent back to Hamilton. He only played one game with the team since being called up January 1st.

**Side Note: I wish they had kept him up, the schedule the this week is pretty light with the Predators and Senators. He only played one game, that mess against Toronto, not really a good chance to see what he could do. I liked what I saw though.**

You should follow me on twitter here.

Andrei Kostitsyn recieved clearance to play in tonights game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He left during the Habs 5-2 win against the Phillidelphia Flyers on December 18th after a knee on knee collision with Scott Hartnell. He is expected to be on his usual line with Alex Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec bumping Sergei Kostitsyn to the fourth line with Ben Maxwell and Steve Bégin.

As was suspected, Georges Laraque will not play tonight. He will be placed on Injured Reserve and won’t stay with the team on their four game road trip.

After being recalled from Hamilton both Kyle Chipchura and Max Pacioretty missed the morning skate and are not expected to play tonight.

You should follow me on twitter here.