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Old 06-02-2004, 11:03 AM   #1
gongzero
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Chapter/Region: E. Canada
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PWN3D NHL: The Hex Of The Habs

Looks like Calgary's gonna take the cup!

Quote:
Will Hex of the Habs strike?

By Michael D. Schaffer

Inquirer Staff Writer


What good would it do the Tampa Bay Lightning to beat the Flyers? They can't win the Stanley Cup because they've come under the (cue the spooky music) Hex of the Habs, a phenomenon discovered by David Bontempo.

Bontempo, 62, a retired social worker from West Springfield, Mass., has noticed a peculiarity about the NHL playoffs over the years:

Since the league expanded in 1967-68, 19 teams have beaten the Montreal Canadiens in a playoff round before the finals, and none of those teams has gone on to win a Stanley Cup. The Lightning swept Montreal in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Maybe the 19 teams knocked themselves out playing les Habitants, Bontempo speculated in a telephone interview yesterday. Or maybe they were so awed by the Canadiens' aura ( the Habs have won 10 Stanley Cups since '68) that the rest of the playoffs seemed anticlimactic.

Coincidence? Bontempo acknowledged the possibility without prompting, but only to discount it. Bontempo said he noticed the jinx in 1992 after his beloved Bruins beat the Canadiens in the playoffs, only to lose to Pittsburgh in the conference finals.

"I was always interested in the relationship between events," Bontempo said. "It sort of gives an order to things," he said. "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous."
Link to Article - Philly Inquirer

Apparently, it's the longest-running "jinx" in the NHL. Yeah, so it's about time a Canadian team brought Lord Stanley's cup home.


-A
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