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MONTREAL — Happy Hour at L'Hotel De La Montagne is a can’t-miss 180 minutes of the weekday.
From 5-8 p.m., a pretty Belarusian by the name of Larisa will serve up two frosty Canadians (not to be confused with Scott Gomez and Benoit Pouliot, who are two cold Canadiens) for the price of one that go nicely with the complimentary, stale chips.
Like most female bartenders in Montreal, Larisa knows way more about hockey than your average American guy. Or your average Canadian, for that matter. After sharing her take on the series, Larisa says she’ll be viewing Wednesday’s seventh and deciding game between the Canadiens and Pens on her laptop. She doesn’t much believe in TV.
“And if I don’t watch,” Larisa said, “the Habs lose.”
That’s not going to happen. Ask almost anyone around here. Fact is, Happy Hour was actually Happy 24 Hours in Montreal after the Habs evened things up with Monday’s victory.
Deliriously Happy.
“Miracles Keep Coming,” screamed a headline in The Gazette, which referred to Jacques Martin’s team as “unsinkable.”
“Whoever wins (Wednesday) is going to the Cup,” one guy told his buddies at Ye Olde Orchard pub.
“I have a good feeling about this one,” said his friend. “I had a good feeling about Monday’s game, too.”
“Me too, I called it!” exclaimed the first. “I said 4-3.”
“Lookit this,” said another, pointing at a photo of a whining Sidney Crosby in the paper. “He looks like my mother-in-law.”
Ouch.
Earlier, at The Sports Station on Ste-Catherine St., Bruno was saying how a Mike Cammalleri rush, and the growing crowd roar it generated, reminded him of the excitement and anticipation Yvan Cournoyer used to cause at the Forum.
At that point, I thought he was ready for my Danny Gallivan impersonation.
“Gathering steam ...”
Like that, Bruno turned from me and back to his beer.
At Hurleys, manager Rod Applebee (I’m spelling his last name right for a change) predicts the Habs will win 3-1 Wednesday. When I say they’ve already written the best playoff story in at least 30 years by upsetting Cup-favourite Washington and taking defending champion Pittsburgh to the limit, Rod agrees.
“I don’t even think they’d have to win the final,” he said. “Everything after is gravy. The Cup is gravy.”
The lovely Krista Zupka is also calling for the Habs to advance, even though she has the good taste to be a Boston fan.
“I have a weird feeling they’re gonna win,” said Krista, whose already putting out feelers for good tickets at TD Garden. “They shouldn’t, but I have a weird feeling they are.
“I’d love to see them get into the final and get swept by the Bruins again.”
Purchasing manager Mark Markies says the Habs have the Penguins right where they want them. At Mellon Arena.
“They play the best teams really well and the sh---y teams really bad,” said Markies. “And they’re a better road team than home team. Bell Centre can be a tough place to play.”
Bell Centre is going to be alive Wednesday, even with the Habs away. Team officials have decided to open the doors and put the game on the big screen, charging folks $7.50 to band together.
Personally, I’d rather keep the $7.50 and spend less than the $10 a beer they’re sure to charge in the rink by watching at La Cage Aux Sports, which is attached to the Habs’ home.
But maybe that’s just me.
“Only 7.50?” said Catherine, an employee at the bar. “There’s going to be so much energy inside that building. I’d go, but I’m working.”
Not everyone is tuned in closely to what’s going on with the Habs. Just everyone except the Guy I’ve given $60 to this week. He might have a French name, but Guy has a thick accent that is something other than French. He also has a parking lot next door to the downtown hotel I’m staying in.
And a foggy crystal ball.
“I’m nervous,” he said before Game 6. “But I think they’ll win. 2-3.”
Guy, I tell him, you say the bigger number first. You think the Habs will win 3-2.
“I’m nervous,” he said.
Since he correctly predicted a one-goal victory, I went back to Guy Tuesday to find out what he sees for Game 7 and give him more money to protect my car.
You were right last game, I tell him.
Guy seemed surprised. Like he hadn’t even been watching.
“The score?” he said when pressed for a Game 7 prognostication. “It will be 3-2.”
But for who, Guy?
With eyes that can’t stay still, he sips his soup, hesitates, then finally blurts:
“Come back Thursday and I’ll tell you.”
Clearly, this is a Guy that needs to put down his chicken noodles and get more involved in Happy 24 Hours.