From the August 20-21 edition of the Bangor Daily News ...
 
Montgomery traded to Habs for Carbonneau
By John Nash
 
Former University of Maine hockey player Jim Montgomery is going home.
 
Montgomery, heading into his second year playing in the NHL, was traded
from the St.  Louis Blues to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday for
veteran forward Guy Carbonneau.
 
Montgomery, who helped lead Maine to the 1993 NCAA national hockey
championship, is from Montreal.
 
"I'm tremendously excited.  I was elated when I found out," Montgomery
said in a telephone interview from his St.  Louis home.  "There's also a
little bit of shock.  I've enjoyed myself here in St.  Louis.  The fans
and the organization were great.  but at the same time, this is the
Montreal Canadiens.
 
"I grew up watching them win four Stanley Cups in a row," Montgomery
added.  "I'd like to be part of that."
 
Montgomery got the news while working out in a St.  Louis gym.  The
owner of the gym approached him and told him he had a phone call.
 
"I looked at my roommate (teammate Jim Hrivnak) and said, 'Oh, oh,'"
Montgomery said.  "I knew something was up, but I never expected it to
be that."
 
Carbonneau, 34, had been with Montreal for his entire career, after
being drafted in 1979, and led the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup in 1993.
 
But his age and run-ins with management may have made him expendable.
 
The Canadiens, meanwhile, were getting "a good young center" in return
for their controversial one-time captain.
 
"They're looking forward to getting him (Montgomery) in camp," said
Donald Beauchamp, director of communications with the Canadiens.  "He's
a good, young center.  They were impressed with the work he did at St.
Louis, despite not getting a lot of playing time."
 
Montgomery, 25, signed with the Blues as a free agent last year.  He had
20 points in 67 games.
 
"I just want to go into camp and prove that I can play," Montgomery
said.  "I'm in the best shape of my life.  I just want to go in and help
the Canadiens win games."
 
For Maine fans, Montgomery s best remembered by his third period hat
trick in the Black Bears' 5-4 defeat of Lake Superior State for the 1993
national title.
 
Carbonneau won the Frank Selke trophy three times as the NHL's top
defensive forward and was entering the option year of his contract.  He
had said he wanted to stay with the Canadiens long enough to move into
the new Forum which opens in 1996.