Will I write about the Molson Cup every month? Maybe. Certainly if it keeps providing interesting story lines I will.
To start the season, the Habs entrusted the selection of the game's three stars to the wider fan population - well they thought it would be wide. Since that time, a few home truths have been reproven: the voting Montreal fans are tenderphiles (that is they have a goalie fetish) and most Montreal fans don't care enough to vote.
Last game, Carey Price was awarded with the Molson Cup for December. It is debatable whether he was the right choice, but the Molson Cup doesn't score bad games, only good ones. The award was accompanied by a press release announcing the feat and a dubious headline: "Carey Price earns Molson Cup in December".
Usually these press releases aren't worth reading, so I'm sure you may have all spent your time doing other things. But in not reading, you may have missed a very interesting tidbit - that is the number of votes.
Carey Price "earned" the Molson Cup by bringing in just over 3,000 votes in his 13 starts (or 235 votes a start). His biggest rivals were Cammalleri and Gionta who managed an embarrassing 165 and 120 votes per game, respectively.
The embarrassment doesn't lie with the players though. Rather it lies with the people that thought charging people to text in their choice for player of the game would catch on like wildfire.
Based on the published numbers, the absolute maximum number of people that could have voted last month (assuming some amount of reason) is about 30,000 - and that would require a 12 way tie for fourth one point behind Gionta. When I plugged in some generous guesswork, I came up with about 1,200 per game joining in this Bell promotion. A more realistic expectation is that less than 1,000 people care enough to vote.
This is less voters than some websites get comments during a game. Trust me, thousands care about these results, just not enough to go on the Habs own website and vote. Now this wouldn't matter in the least if this was a website to website affair. It isn't. The Canadiens still ceremoniously trot out the Cup and its "winner" on the first home game of the month and lavish on a ceremony. Personally, I think the ceremony embarrasses the team given the basis on which it is built this year.
Maybe it's just a matter of time and I'm jumping the gun here. What do you think?
Price has won the Molson Cup for the season
Looking through the votes, the history of this Cup and the trends, I feel I have enough evidence to say that Price will win this Cup for the season. He has taken it in three straight months now. His lead in absolute votes can be no less than 8,000. So unless he never gets a vote again and the forwards stop splitting the spoils (the highest possible forward total is 8,373 right now, and much more likely to be significantly lower than that), then there's no other possible result. This is especially true given that Price can win the month with a month like he just had.
Maybe the team should just get all the embarrassing ceremonies out of the way sooner rather than later. Next game, Cups for February, March, April and season?
This isn't a very bold prediction in my books. I made it nearly 3 months ago as well. He nearly won the Cup last year!
Showing posts with label votes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label votes. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Vote Tim Thomas: A Vote For Montreal
Two seasons past, Canadiens fans embarrassed themselves and their city by voting Mike Komisarek onto the starting lineup of the All-Star Game. Komi was one of four Canadiens voted to the line-up that year, only one was without question deserving.
That same year, Carey Price was voted to the mid-winter "Classic". He was deserving of a look at the time, though perhaps not deserving of eclipsing Tim Thomas in his sensational Vezina campaign.
Well, karma it seems doesn't take kindly to being cheated by Montreal voters. Following their All-Star appearances, Price, Kovalev and Komisarek (the usurpers) all tailed quite drastically. Kovalev was benched; Komisarek managed to use those months to lose the team's and city's confidence, and Carey price couldn't stop a first period shot for a while.
I'm a bit of a superstitious fellow. And to see Carey Price go from second year unquestioned reliability to such depths right after the All-Star game didn't sit well with the less logical of my hemispheres. The moment that sticks is his dismantling at the hands of Blake Wheeler high shots during the All-Rookie game - an effective sign post for the rest of the league.
Here we are again in 2010.
Just today, I was going to write about the blessing in disguise that was Carey Price's omission from the All-Star ballot. It was to be no distractions, no unwanted ego trips and an All-Star appearance that he was set to earn at the behest of the Eastern Conference coaches.
Instead, the afternoon brings news of thousands of Price fans who have so much unbridled passion for this guy that they've been writing in votes for the past 2 weeks.
Price is a most deserving candidate, that's true. And in any other year, he's the most deserving candidate. But this year, Tim Thomas has had a start for the ages. The Vezina winner who never got his start at the game is currently harbouring obscene statistics on his profile page. Yet Thomas sits at third in voting behind two write ins and barely ahead of the undiscerning Pittsburgher choice of Marc-Andre Fleury.
If you vote, rather than priming your pen for paper, I suggest Tim Thomas.
This will be good for karma. It will be good to deflect from the fact that many Montrealers are blatant homers. It will recognize Thomas' standard. And most importantly it will mean that Price, if he is an All-Star will have earned his selection this season.
A vote for Thomas would be doing the Habs a favour in so many ways.
Plekanec write ins
While we're at it. Do people realize that Crosby, Ovechkin and Stamkos have this thing locked up. Not only are they already the fan favourites, they all three are also having amazing starts.
Save your writing hands people. While Pleks must be flattered, he's not one to require this kind affirmation. If he plays like he does, he'll be an All-Star, but not because you voted for him, but rather because he is one of the 9 forwards selected by the coaches.
That same year, Carey Price was voted to the mid-winter "Classic". He was deserving of a look at the time, though perhaps not deserving of eclipsing Tim Thomas in his sensational Vezina campaign.
Well, karma it seems doesn't take kindly to being cheated by Montreal voters. Following their All-Star appearances, Price, Kovalev and Komisarek (the usurpers) all tailed quite drastically. Kovalev was benched; Komisarek managed to use those months to lose the team's and city's confidence, and Carey price couldn't stop a first period shot for a while.
I'm a bit of a superstitious fellow. And to see Carey Price go from second year unquestioned reliability to such depths right after the All-Star game didn't sit well with the less logical of my hemispheres. The moment that sticks is his dismantling at the hands of Blake Wheeler high shots during the All-Rookie game - an effective sign post for the rest of the league.
Here we are again in 2010.
Just today, I was going to write about the blessing in disguise that was Carey Price's omission from the All-Star ballot. It was to be no distractions, no unwanted ego trips and an All-Star appearance that he was set to earn at the behest of the Eastern Conference coaches.
Instead, the afternoon brings news of thousands of Price fans who have so much unbridled passion for this guy that they've been writing in votes for the past 2 weeks.
Price is a most deserving candidate, that's true. And in any other year, he's the most deserving candidate. But this year, Tim Thomas has had a start for the ages. The Vezina winner who never got his start at the game is currently harbouring obscene statistics on his profile page. Yet Thomas sits at third in voting behind two write ins and barely ahead of the undiscerning Pittsburgher choice of Marc-Andre Fleury.
If you vote, rather than priming your pen for paper, I suggest Tim Thomas.
This will be good for karma. It will be good to deflect from the fact that many Montrealers are blatant homers. It will recognize Thomas' standard. And most importantly it will mean that Price, if he is an All-Star will have earned his selection this season.
A vote for Thomas would be doing the Habs a favour in so many ways.
Plekanec write ins
While we're at it. Do people realize that Crosby, Ovechkin and Stamkos have this thing locked up. Not only are they already the fan favourites, they all three are also having amazing starts.
Save your writing hands people. While Pleks must be flattered, he's not one to require this kind affirmation. If he plays like he does, he'll be an All-Star, but not because you voted for him, but rather because he is one of the 9 forwards selected by the coaches.
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