Saturday, January 27, 2007

So... ah... Aebischer, you know what Swiss Cheese is?

(Sorry for not posting much - really. Your overlord is so sorry, will you accept her peace offering? Just lotsa work on the block recently.)

Before I go on any further, Huet's last name has always become a topic of debate to fans. Is it the Huet that all those darn yanks keep including? Or is it the elegant Ew-ay? Huet doesn't give a damn. You could call him Hewitt if you wanted to and he'll smile back with his great French charm.

Back onto the goalies. As Huet was already covered, I shall move onto Aebischer whom I assure you is every bit as interesting as that guy. This season, he unveiled his new mask with the feature of a Quebec license plate with the words "ABBY". I mean boys are getting Nickelback and stuff but aint this stylish?

Many people first think of Huet first before this young boy. Acquired in the blockbuster trade with Colorado where we offered an expensive bag of pucks and got this guy in exchange, Avs fans were patting themselves on the back for their recent acquisition. After all, players like Roy continued to sizzle after they left the Habs and Theodore was not by any means an old washed up goalie.

Leaving the issue of Theodore just at that, I have no wish to analyse why Habs fans did not enjoy Theodore or whether they are justified because of their reasons. The real topic is Aebischer. When this season started, people were still unsure on who was to be the starter. Ultimately it seems that we have created a goalie situation that some teams would envy. Huet could make stellar saves but what Aebischer lacked in flash, he made up for in what was consistency most of the time.

Recently, there were surveys of who Habs fans felt was ready to leave the team. Aebischer was one of the popular choices. But I have to ask you all, are you ready to give up a player who has once stopped 50 shots in a single game and bring it to overtime? Sure it's not always a quality shot - but eventually goals trickle in. Aebischer can handle the load of an intense game. And he doesn't need a lot of starts to be able to catch fire and go on a hot streak. For 1.9 million, he can be quite a steal.

With the Avs Aebischer has actually won a Stanley Cup, his name engraved in 2000-2001. What else can I say about this Swiss goalie apart from his accomplishments? I am not really one to explain whether he is insane or not, but he does have a great personality to match. However Swiss players are winners, Roger Federer knows.

2 comments:

Miss. Scarlett said...

To be fair, I think the 'Swiss Cheese' moniker belongs to Gerber now.

Sasky said...

I metioned to friend of mine in North America something about Roger Federer.

She asked me "WHO?"