Next Year 101

Carey Price hails the success of Opération cent-un. Canadian Press photo.

It was all in the cards, ladies and germs. We planned that glorious early rise to the top of the standings, the so-so All-Star performance and the following déconfiture of the team. Carey Price was instructed to be a wobbly, confidence-free mess for the latter part of the season. Robert Lang’s Achilles heel? Andrei Markov’s concussion-inducing encounter with the boards? All brilliant head office concoctions to purposefully stymie the team, along with the the coup de grâce: the Four-in, four-out embarrassment of the Boston Bruins.

Why? Because a one hundred year anniversary is nice and all, but in Quebec there is a number with far more significance: 101, and nothing will be sweeter than taking Lord Stanley’s chalice in the one hundred and first year of nos glorieux. Then, once properly drunk on success and good cheer, we’ll make our own country. It’s going to happen. Mark my words.