Price Lives up to the Hype as Fleury Wilts like a Flower

It would seem proving everyone wrong isn’t good enough for Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price. Now he has to rub it in our faces too.

"That was then. Now I only hang out with women dressed up sexily like angels!"

Indeed, as of Monday, Price leads all goalies in voting for the upcoming edition of the all-star game, as if to say “Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah”. Real mature, buddy. As if co-leading the league in wins (12) and shutouts (4) wasn’t enough of a vindication for the apparently reformed party animal. Now he gets the smug satisfaction of knowing the fans are on his side as well.

Of course, it remains to be seen how long things will stay as they are with the Habs’ faithful traditionally being as fickle as a horny teenager forced to choose between his girlfriend and that one sexy classmate in second-period English who’s been known to play fast and loose with social conventions of monogamy. It’s just really hard to choose. On one hand, it’s your girlfriend, with whom you’ve been through thick and thin, and, on the other, you get real weird feelings down there whenever you’re around Jimmy... but I guess college is really when you ought to be experimenting. Right now, stick with what’s safe.

And, in the end, Canadiens fans, deep down, anyway... really deep down, are guilty of doing just that. I mean look back to when they tried to stuff the ballot box two seasons ago and Mike Komisarek ended up a starter, which could really only have been the byproduct of some Make a Wish Foundation initiative to grant a mediocre hockey player the chance to see for one game what it’s like to actually be worthy of a five-year, $22.5-million contract (and then Brian Burke went and spoiled it all).

Really, hockey fans in general are insanely loyal and proof this year comes in the form of New York Islanders defenseman Mark Streit getting 2500 votes, despite being injured. Perhaps more outrageous? San Jose Sharks goalie Antti Niemi earning 18,695 votes despite doing his best to play dead in the crease on the odd occasion coach Todd McLellan goes against his better judgment and gives him another chance. Marc-Andre Fleury is actually in fifth place among goalies with 44,111 votes, causing speculation that maybe Pittsburgh Penguins fans are united in the belief that him giving up 20 goals in one period might actually do wonders for his game, which has actually been soooo awesome that it’s sparked the invention of the term “six hole” for the one between his ears.

These atrocities aside, sometimes the fans do get it right and Price’s 71,199 votes are proof of that. So, which other goalies actually belong in the all-star game (with votes or not)?

In the East:

Tim Thomas (BOS): The Boston Bruins may not have needed their back-up from last year to be this good, but with him leading goalies in three of the four main statistical categories they also need not complain all the same. Thomas has redeemed himself to the point that referring to him as Mr. Zero has become a sign of respect and no longer a shameful nod to the excess digits in his five-year, $20-million contract.

Sergei Bobrovsky (PHI): Everyone knows the Philadelphia Flyers are a good team, but no one knew they had a good goaltender in Bobrovsky. Hell, few even knew who Bobrovsky was, but he’s proven himself capable of being a bona-fide number-one starter in the NHL to the point that his team can only be considered a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and no longer the joke players tell each other behind the Flyers’ backs for fear of getting beat up (because they’re still big and mean-looking, no matter how many goals they let in).

In the West:

Jonathan Quick (LA): “White Chocolate” Quick as he’s been dubbed (by yours truly; it’s going to catch on, just you wait) has proven that last season, during which he posted 39 wins, was no fluke. While he does have the benefit of a strong team in front him (like Bobrovsky and Thomas), one has to assume he’s at least in part responsible for the Los Angeles Kings’ 13-7 record.

Jaroslav Halak (STL): He has stumbled lately, but if he can pull it together again and improve his stats enough to justify a spot, a period pitting him against Price would be something hockey fans would likely pay to witness, let alone actually take the two seconds needed to turn on the television to tune in at home. Make it happen NHL. Even if you have to rig the entire voting process and so-called draft.

Mathieu Garon (CLB): He may have only appeared in seven games with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but in principle Garon deserves to be in the game as much as anybody (only seven goals allowed in those seven games). He has three shutouts, a 1.08 goals-against average, and a .960 save percentage. What will likely keep him out of the game is the fact that he doesn’t seem to have gotten any votes at all (or not enough to justify the Herculean effort needed to add him at the end of the list at NHL.com)... that and the league will likely not want to draw attention to that fact and the indisputable evidence that there, really, are no hockey fans in Columbus.

"It's not that no one voted for me; It's that no one in Columbus voted for me. Man, my wife lives here!"

Honourable mentions go to Washington Capital Michal Neuvirth, Phoenix Coyote Ilya Bryzgalov, Detroit Red Wing Jimmy Howard, New Jersey Devil Martin Brodeur (for a brilliant career that’s likely done, or should be after this year), and Fleury for bringing a smile to everyone’s faces, because shouldn’t the all-star game be about having fun (41000 votes? Really?)!