October 1, 2007 — “The Rest of the Story…”

You all know the story. It’s April 7, 2007, the last night of the season. The Habs are in Toronto, needing a win over the hated Maple Leafs to clinch a spot in the playoffs. It’s nearing the end of the second period. Michael Ryder has had the game of his life, scoring a natural hat trick to put the Habs up 5-3 and in the process, force Andrew Raycroft out of the game (admittedly, not the most difficult task). Carlo Colaiaccovo has put one back for the Leafs, but the game seems to be going Montreal’s favour.

But then Mike Johnson is called for tripping. And as the period ends, Steve Begin is assessed a double minor for hi-sticking giving the Leafs a two-man advantage to start the final 20 minutes of Montreal’s season. The Canadiens hold the Leafs long enough to kill of Johnson`s penalty, but as the five-on-three becomes a five-on-four, Brian McCabe beats Christobal Huet.

And it’s all square at five.

And Begin still has another two minutes in the box.

Then Saku Koivu is called for tripping. Another 5-on-3 for the Leafs. And the Habs again reduce the disadvantage from two to one without surrendering a goal. But it’s not enough. With 17 seconds left in Saku’s penalty, Kyle Wellwood beats Huet. 6-5 Leafs. And the Air Canada Centre goes wild. And the Leafs’ faithful know a win tonight coupled with a New Jersey win over the Islanders get their beloved Blueshirts into the post-season. And they get louder. And the Habs, even with another 16 minutes to play, know that the season is over.

But in Hamilton, all is not lost. The Bulldogs, the Canadiens` AHL affiliate, have made the playoffs with a 3^rd place finish in the Western Conference’s North division. It’s been a successful, though not great regular season. The Bulldogs finished with the 11^th best overall record in the AHL. But now, things are different. Now they have a kid named Carey Price between the pipes. Price, who’s only non-junior experience are the final two games of the regular season for the Dogs. But he’s the goaltender for the victorious World Junior Championship Team Canada. He’s been named both the WHL’s and CHL’s Goaltender of the Year. He’s two seasons removed from being selected 5^th overall in the entry draft. And on his first night of the post-season, he stops all 46 shots that the Rochester Americans can fire at him to lead the Bulldogs to a 2-0 win. And two games later, with the series knotted at one, he’s solid in both overtime periods as Hamilton win 5-4. And the Bulldogs go on to eliminate the Americans in six games. And it doesn’t stop. In their second round series, the Bulldogs defeat the favoured Manitoba Moose in six games, culminating in another overtime victory for Price in the deciding sixth game.

And Price goes on to backstop the Bulldogs to defeat the Chicago Wolves in five games to take the Western Conference and follows that up with another five game series victory, this time over the regular season Champion Hershey Bears and the Bulldogs are the best team in the AHL. And Price is named post-season MVP.

Which bring us to our date in question: October 1, 2007; the date that the Montreal Canadiens announced that Carey Price, 20- year old Carey Price, has made the team. And that was it. Development was over (though it actually didn’t). Carey, in the eyes of Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau and the rest of the management, was ready for the big time and well on his way to becoming the starting goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens. Just two years after being drafted and having played just two regular season games in the AHL, the  kid was going to take up the mantle of Georges Vezina, George Hainsworth, Bill Durnam, Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy. With the centennial celebrations just around the corner, the script was set for Carey Price to lead the Canadiens to its 25^th Stanley Cup in time for the team to turn 100.

You all know the story. You know how Habs fans spent most of 2008 calling him Jesus Price. You know that Huet (the same Huet was who had surrendered six goals to the Leafs) was shipped out to Washington. You know that the Habs won the Eastern Conference regular season title that April only to come crashing down to Earth with a second round loss to a more physical Philadelphia Flyers squad. You know that the next season, Montreal the scene of all-star game Price was elected the East’s starting goaltender. You know about the six straight loses after the All-Star break.. You know about the first round sweep to the Bruins and the mock cheers. You know that to start the 2009-10 season, Price was victorious against Toronto and Buffalo only to be benched for Jaroslav Halak, the next night against Calgary. You know about the seven goal fiasco in Vancouver and the six losses that followed it. You know how Price lost the starting job to Halak, how Halak led the team to the Eastern Conference final and of course, you know that number 41 was sent to St. Louis for his efforts.

You don’t know how this story ends. You don’t know whether Carey Price succeeds this season (no matter how much you might or might not want him to). You don’t know that a bad pre-season performance spells doom for the team. And you don’t know that goaltender that has “all the right stuff” is a guarantee to lead a team to greatness. What you do know is that is upcoming season is a referendum on Carey Price. And you know that this is how it had to be. There could be no Halaks, no Huets. Some have argued that Price’s fate was sealed the moment he was selected fifth overall in 2005. I disagree. His fate was sealed on October 1, 2007. The two seasons of junior and a memorable playoff run in the AHL were the necessary ammunition for Gainey and co. to declare that Price was going to be Next Great Habs Goaltender, regardless of whether he was ready. We all now must live with the decision made three years ago today.

Whether you think that this year will be a bounce back for number 31 or more of the same doesn’t really matter. Soon, we will know how the story ends.