A "Rocky" Moment in Montreal?

Well well well......I think I've seen (and heard) it all now. In the ever-hostile Bell Center this weekend, Tim Thomas and the rest of the Bruins players (especially Chara, of course) heard a chorus of boos every time their names were mentioned, or they were shown on the jumbo-tron...or touched the puck.....whatever. I was surprised, and impressed to see the warm welcome Claude Julien received. Certainly well deserved. Habs fans were none too happy Saturday night, seeing Blake Wheeler win MVP of the Young Stars game. Then watching as Chara sets a new hardest shot record, winning this event for the third straight year (and, raising $24K for "Right To Play" in the process. Nice work Z). The they had to suffer through Mark Savard placing second in the elimination shoot-out event (aided, I must admit by teammate Tim Thomas....guess that's why you weren't supposed to shoot against your own goalie, eh?). But the thing that really has to stick in their craw today is, the sick feeling they must have woken up with....once they realized that they actually.....cheered for Tim Thomas? Tim "the flopping, most over rated, not an NHL caliber goalie" Thomas? The guy that allowed Alex Kovalev to ride off with a new Honda Ridgeline? Oh man, I'm telling you.....they must be sicker than the last time they ordered bad poutine and Mad Cow burgers from a sidewalk cart on Crescent Street. But it's true. Oh, they tried real hard to hate on him. They booed lustily, even after he made a few stops. But then, like a scene out of Rocky IV, the crowd slowly started to warm up to this "evil" Thomas. Through the frigid Montreal winter's chill, their hearts melted, at least for that moment, and they actually cheered every miraculous save Thomas turned in. Oh, it started slowly. But by the time he stoned Iginla with a phenomenal save, the crowd was in full throat, this time CHEERING FOR A BOSTON BRUIN! Mercifully, Thomas refrained from giving us the whole Rocky "If I can change, and you can change...the whole WORLD can change" speech (as far as I know). So, to all of you Ivan Drago fans up North, a sincere thanks from all of us Rocky Balboa fans down here. I'm sure the hate will back full force next Sunday. But deep down, you have to live with that dirty feeling you have inside. You know you cheered for the guy. You know you were impressed. It's ok. We all know it too. Let's just say we'll keep it as our dirty little secret, and we won't talk about it anymore? As far as the All-Star weekend goes, I thought it was well done all around (with the possible exception of VS's maddening coverage of the young stars game). I'm not really a huge fan of All-star games in general, but the skills contest was great. I really enjoyed the new elimination shoot-out. Nice touches by the canadiens organization, introducing former greats during the game. Well done, not too over the top. Although frankly, if I never hear the words "Canadiens 100th year" again I'll be perfectly happy. At times I think the NHL Network and VS forgot that this was the NHL ALL-star game, and focused a bit too much on the Habs history etc. But hey, that was expected, so no big deal. Now, if only the B's can get back a reasonably healthy team in time for this crazy busy week they have on tap, I'll be happy. Go B's-Kynch