Earlier this week, former NHL player George Laraque and his co-host Stephane “Gonzo” Gonzales discussed the possibility of challenging Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender Samuel Montembeault to a contest on the BPM Sports airwaves. It came from the fact that the Habs’ top goaltender had shared on a podcast that he has a photographic memory and that he was automatically learning, without even trying, if a player was a right or left shot and which color of tape they used.
Gonzales, like Montembeault, claimed that he, too, was automatically learning whether a player was a right or left shot by just watching hockey, and that’s why he thought it would be fun to take on the Habs’ netminder in a “righty or lefty” quiz. Within minutes, the Tricolore vice president of communication, Chantal Machabee, replied to Laraque’s text message that she would try to set it up, and lo and behold, not even a week later, the duel happened on Friday.
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On his day off, Montembeault took the time to appear on a radio show, which was also broadcast live on YouTube, to battle it out with Gonzales. Laraque had put together a list of 40 lesser-known players, and each contestant had to state if they were right or left-handed.
Who came out on top? It was a tie, neither contestant making a single mistake, but Montembeault even added almost every player’s tape colour. The way Canadiens players accept doing stuff like this these days is brilliant for the fans.
About 10 days ago, Montembeault was attending a card show, and he agreed to open some Memorable Authentic boxes with fans. He even bought one for himself, opened it, and had the contents raffled off.
As for rookie Ivan Demidov, on Wednesday, he stopped by the Card Chaser card shop in Laval to sign autographs for fans buying the latest Upper Deck release on launch day. Unsurprisingly, the event drew quite a crowd. At a time when the Habs have once again become an exciting team, they appear to be closer to their fans than they’ve been in years, and that’s refreshing.
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