A first for First Nations hockey star - The Stanley Cup is in sight.
Category: News & Politics
Via: kavika • 3 years ago • 33 commentsBy: Dalton Walker (Indian Country Today)
There are two sports in the Great North. Hockey and LaCrosse and I love them both.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
NHL goalie Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup final Author: Dalton Walker
Vegas Golden Knights' Alec Martinez (23) tries to deflect a shot past Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price during the second period in Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup semifinal playoff series Thursday, June 24, 2021 in Montreal. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP)
NHL goalie Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup final
Dalton Walker
Indian Country Today
Veteran NHL goalie Carey Price is four wins away from hoisting hockey's ultimate prize.
The Ulkatcho First Nations star from Anahim Lake, British Columbia, has led the Montreal Canadiens to its first Stanley Cup Final in nearly 30 years. The Cup final is the first for Price, who was drafted by the team with the No. 5 pick in 2005, after reaching the semifinals twice in 2010 and 2014.
Price, 33, has 360 career NHL wins and is the winningest goalie in team history, multiple league goaltender awards, even an Olympic gold medal representing team Canada.
Sports Illustrated described Price's playoff run as "near-perfect," and "nobody" expected Montreal to reach the finals.
"If Montreal ends up winning the Stanley Cup, it's hard to think anyone but him would be the one holding the Conn Smythe when everything is said and done," the article read. The Conn Smyth award goes to the most valuable player in the playoffs
Hockey is known for its Indigenous talent.
Indigenous athletes have made an impact on the ice for decades. The late Fred Sasakamoose, Cree, considered the first Indigneous hockey player to reach the NHL, six-time Stanley Cup winner Bryan Trottier, Metis, and legendary coach Ted Nolan, Ojibwe, to name a few. Edmonton Oilers defenseman Ethan Bear, Cree, wore a team jersey in an exhibition game in 2020 that spelled out his name in Cree syllabics.
The Canadiens have been the lower seed throughout their playoff matchups, opened as fourth seed in one of the four four-team brackets. Montreal beat the No. 1 Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round, swept the No. 3 Winnipeg Jets in four games in the second round and took down another top seed, Vegas Golden Knights, in six games to advance to the Cup final.
Next, the defending Stanley Cup champions, Tampa Bay Lightning. And of course, the Lightning are favored. Price and his team open up the seven-game series in Tampa Bay on Monday before returning to Montreal on Friday for game 3.
Price said the team never considered themselves to be underdogs, according to a NHL.com report.
"Honestly, we wouldn't be here right now if we didn't believe," he said. "We've always stuck with it. No doubting ourselves."
Follow Price on his Facebook page and on his website.
Here's how to watch Price and the Canadiens:
2021 NHL playoff schedule: Stanley Cup Final (* if necessary)
- Game 1: Mon. June 28: Canadiens at Lightning, 8 p.m. ET (NBCSN / Peacock) (CBC, CBCSports.ca)
- Game 2: Wed. June 30: Canadiens at Lightning, 8 p.m. ET (NBCSN / Peacock) (CBC, CBCSports.ca)
- Game 3: Fri. July 2: Lightning at Canadiens, 8 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock) (CBC, CBCSports.ca)
- Game 4: Mon. July 5: Lightning at Canadiens, 8 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock) (CBC, CBCSports.ca)
- *Game 5: Wed. July 7: Canadiens at Lightning, 8 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock) (CBC, CBCSports.ca)
- *Game 6: Fri. July 9: Lightning at Canadiens, 8 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock) (CBC, CBCSports.ca)
- *Game 7: Sun. July 11: Canadiens at Lightning, 7 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock) (CBC, CBCSports.c
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When you consider that Carey has more wins than the all-time greats, Roy and Plante it puts him in rarified air as far as goaltending goes.
Click on ''Seeded Content'' to see the video of a young First Nations boy from the Carey tribe and hometown fly to meet him in Montreal with cards and well wishes from all the small villages young people.
Although I live in Florida I'll be rooting for Carey and the Canadians to finalize their Cinderella run to the Cup.
hockey makes all other professional sports athletes look like wimps.
I like watching hockey in person
Except for LaCrosse which is hockey without skates.
a whole different game in person. legal assault and battery, with a sports theme.
while both games are centered around beating the opponents with clubs, those skates can be lethal.
Mr. Giggles is glued to the TV during hockey season. It's his favorite sport after golf. I'll tell him he has to root for Montreal
Absolutely tell Mr. Giggles that.
Watch the video, it's a fun video and you'll see a First Nations little boy come out of his shell and connect with Carey Price.
slightly off topic.
Kavika , they had a question on a quiz show last night about
"what is rezball"
the contestant got it wrong, she said soccer.
Rezball is basketball, a very very popular sport on the rez.
does it differ at all from "regular" basketball?
It's a bit rougher a different style, faster and more shooting.
Like the basketball Mr Giggles used to play with his brothers in the back yard
Good luck Carey Price!
I prefer curling ... in the meantime Montreal stores around the Bell Center are buying up all the available plywood. Montreal has a tradition if the Habs win, Riot & Loot!
Curling, rock and sweep.
I like it when the ladies yell HARD, HARD!
LOL, they were yelling HARD ROCK, not ROCK HARD.
That's a café.
And casinos owned by Seminole Tribe.
And they can't blame it on BLM or ANTIFA. LOL
If just one black kid shows up they will.
LOL, I'm sure they would.
When some of us were kids Montreal dominated the NHL.
They had some great players in the 50's, 60's 70's...
I went often in the early 60's, the old Forum was full of smoke, beer puke and ladies who had temporarily abandoned their lampposts, an affront to civil piety that led to our mayor at the time, Drapeau, to close down all the Blues and Jazz bars. The city has never recovered.
What!! he closed down all the Blues and Jazz bars. That criminal, recall the bastard.
Lazarus was an object lesson ... never recall the dead.
Good idea, but let's have a recording of Robert Johnson playing ''Me and the Devil Blues'' repeatedly on his grave.
I suppose I should dust off my Canadiens jersey. Sorry Kavika, its a Brett Hull jersey.
You're forgiven for the Hull jersey. LOL
The dreamer in me hopes Montreal can do it, the realist in me suspects the Lightning in 5
I hope that Montreal can do it, but they have had a hell of a run even if they lose in the Cup.