Apparently this is some witches brew of natural stimulants mixed in with beer or something. Leave it to the Quebecois...

Umm. These groups complaining have never seen Georgie-boy stickhandle, have they.

The problem in question is a group of sexily dressed women playing street hockey, with gratuitous T & A shots throughout the ad. All of a sudden Laraque shows up with these awful beer/red bull concoctions, and plies the girls with the drinks so he can have his way with them.

Aww yeah... wet T-Shirt night in Canada

Well, I made that last part up – but its sort of true, because there is no freakin way Georges could stickhandle his way through 5 people unless he got them hammered. Or rung their bells first and gave them a concussion. Check it out….

Seriously, ladies. The ad could have been way worse. Its extremely tame by today’s standards. If you want to complain about shows that objectify women, have Soap Operas cancelled. There’s more gratuitous garbage in those shows than this cheaply made low run ad that will get little to no coverage outside of Quebec. But guess what – now it has a National audience, and sales of Octane will probably go through the roof.

Sometimes complaining does more damage than good. I could understand if Georges busted through the door and started pummeling the girls – then yeah. Maybe you’d want to complain about that.

... and he has a trophy to prove it.

But its summer, the girls are wearing little clothing while playing street hockey in a deserted neighbourhood. But what about the kids in the area?

Who said hockey wasn't sexy?

Heaven forbid they see whats going on and one of them gets his first boner. The world will surely end. What boggles my mind is why the director of the vid or the marketing agency who came up with the idea or the girls themselves weren’t targeted or under fire?

Nope – lets go for the big hulking hockey player – because surely, he was the mastermind behind the whole thing and is a role model to kids and we don’t want them getting the wrong idea.

WHAT? THIS GUY BEATS PEOPLE UP FOR A LIVING! THAT IS NOT A ROLE MODEL.

If people feel Georges Laraque is a role model, they need to get their heads checked. Sure he may contribute to charity work and is a good media presence, but he’s an enforcer. He fights in order to send a message to other teams – not to other KIDS! “Hey kids – in order to send a message to your opponent, beat the snot out of him or her so they know who’s boss.”

Can we spend less time finding things to complain about and spend more time and energy focused on more important things – like trying to find a cure for stupidity?

I just trade stupid people away. Or send them to Hamilton with the rest of the donkeys.

Tell them how you REALLY feel, Pat.

Good riddance.

Last I checked, a team has players unified for a common goal. When you introduce personal needs and desires, you begin to lose sense of roles and duties. I believe we have a problem amongst some of our young Habs. Some feel they are an integral part of the machine, and this sense of entitlement clouds their judgment. Face it, Sergei – even Putin is doing the Russian equivalent of the facepalm after the public demands.

Ugh, this boy. He is smart like goat.

That takes balls – seriously. How many people have gone up against Gainey (one of the most revered Habs in the modern age) and won? Like seriously won, where hey have forced his hand and made him cave to their demands. Not a single one. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, he’s already felled the dreams of 3 other Russians looking to walk amongst the hallowed Habs greats. Sure, Gainey may not be well liked amongst the media and critical fans, but there’s one thing you don’t do to your team, and that is bite the hands that feeds. At this point, our friend is now sitting in suspended animation – unable to play for Hamilton and unable to play for Montreal. So instead of taking his frustrated forward show down to the AHL while his agent orchestrates a deal in some manner, he goes on the record and sprays shit everywhere like a spoiled dog who is left home alone while his master is out.

Darth Gainey speaks the truth.

Its all about receiving attention. Fragile egos need it. Weak characters crave it.

Well, if there’s any gift that Sergei will receive in the near future, you can bet it will be one of two things. A plane ticket to Siberia, or a chunk of humble pie.

This pie looks great, but will probably make you sick - like Kostitsyn

Pack your bags, Sergei. You’ve worn out your welcome. Maybe you can learn from your elder countrymen and get some tips on swindling North American teams out of money from Yashin. Oh, and tell Perezhogin that Drew Stafford says hello.

When he comes back, I'm going to knock his head clean off his shoulders and back to Russia.

Andre "Red Light" Racicot. Not shown in the image is the sunburned skin on the back of his neck.

I’ll give Andre Racicot credit – he didn’t play too badly against some of the hapless teams of the era (Hartford, Quebec, etc) but if you put him up against a team that had some decent firepower… wow. I mean, I’ve never seen such a lop-sided tandem in a long time. You have a Vezina and Stanley Cup winning goalie as your workhorse and star, and he’s backed up by a junior hockey bust.

There’s been some debate as to who coined the term “Red-Light” for our rubber-phobic friend, but most sources point to Don Cherry who used the phrase during an episode of Coach’s Corner years ago after an embarrassing shellacking at the hands of an inferior team. With some incredible displays of athleticism like this:

its little wonder why the nickname stuck. For a number of years, Andre Racicot served as the backup to Patrick Roy. The two of them had a good rapport, but many viewed Roy’s friendliness towards his less-skilled partner as a sign of known safety – that Roy was smart enough to realize that he could never be supplanted by a guy like Red Light.

It wasn’t until the cup run in 93 that Roy took notice, after the media slammed his performance leading up to the playoffs and in the first two losses of the Montreal-Quebec series. When the media and fans are serious about starting Racicot over Roy, you know that there is a serious problem. I think St. Pat was astute enough to pull his socks up and play better than expected. The rest is history. And apparently, so was Racicot’s chance of ever taking over the number one role.

He did however, achieve some moderate success in the minors – winning a championship in 2001 with the Bakersfield Condors, posting a respectable GAA and playing some of his best hockey. But he will forever be remembered for the moniker that brings back some funny, and often disastrous memories in the late 80s and early 90s.

As a Habs fan in the late 80s/ early 90s, you'll never look at one of these the same.