I was also happy to see this, because it shows the respect that
Montgomery is getting to be traded for a Guy Carbonneau.  I knew the
Habs wanted to dump him too, but it still opens some eyes to be traded
for a big name.
 
Since his home is Montreal, I wonder if that offers some insight into
the trade.  I have seen many Montrealers really prove themselves as
NHL players when brought to the hometown team - perhaps more so than
any other NHL team.  The Habs may be hoping for this from him.
 
Montgomery is the greatest college player I have seen in my ~10 years
of following the game closely.  There are too many reasons, but I will
list some.
 
* If you want statistics, he is the all-time leading scorer in Eastern
college hockey.  No other Eastern player has ever scored 300 points in
his career (Phil Latreille doesn't count :-)).  Only two other DivI
players have ever done it.  Pierre Foisy asked for his stats; I have,
unofficially (Maine media guide is at home), 103-198-301 in 170 career
games.
 
* If you want leadership, I never saw anyone take charge of a team and
keep it focused the way he did in Maine's championship run.  He was
the consummate leader on a team comprised of stars, where the players
who sat in the stands could have played second line for many other
teams.
 
* If you want classiness, there was the time he walked into
Merrimack's sports information office after a hard-fought series
(92-93; Maine had outscored MC 25-3 in two games earlier that season)
and couldn't stop talking to us about what a great series it was and
how far Merrimack had come.  This is a good guy.  I think it was at
that point that I really hoped Maine would finally win it all - before
that, I was kind of ambivalent.  But I like to see good people do well.
 
* If you want classiness (#2), here is a guy who quietly played in the
shadow of Jean-Yves Roy and Scott Pellerin for three years at Maine,
then finally got to have the spotlight put on him for his senior year
as he made that run at the Eastern record - only to have an upstart by
the name of Kariya come in and steal the attention away again.  Kariya
won the Hobey as a freshman and Montgomery wasn't even runner-up.
Montgomery, Kariya's mentor, joined him at the acceptance table and
even helped Kariya hoist the award upon suggestion from his coach -
all the while smiling, but I felt terrible for the guy.  I don't think
at all that it's an injustice that Kariya won, but Montgomery was, in
my mind, the guy who should have won it.  (A bigger injustice is the
fact that Maine retired Pellerin's #8 - thus showing that they are
open to retiring numbers since some schools are not - yet I haven't
heard any plans for Montgomery's #19.)
 
* If you want a guy who will show up when the game is on the line, you
only have to look at the 22 points he scored during Maine's 7 playoff
games in 92-93, including the natural hat trick Tony mentioned in a
five minute span of the third period of the NC$$ championship game as
Maine came back from a 4-2 deficit.  He would not let his team lose.
 
If I was to start a college team today and could choose as my first
player anyone who I've seen play the game, to lead my team and get it
off to a good start, it would be Jim Montgomery.
 
Well, with former BU forward Ed Ronan and now Montgomery, the Canadiens
are making it difficult for those of us who grew up with the Bruins. :-)
 
Some folks say that there was a possibility that Montgomery could have
come to Merrimack instead of Maine (he is friends with former Warrior
star Dan Gravelle, they are the same age).  Every time I hear that, I
go looking for a handkerchief...
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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