Patrik Laine hoped to avoid being booed at the opening match

Crédit: Patrik Laine of the Montreal Canadiens introduced in pre-game ceremony on crutches.

The first two episodes of the series “La Reconstruction” (season 2) were released last night on Crave. Have you had a chance to listen to them? I recommend it… because it’s really, really good.In the 1st episode, there’s a scene that really got to me. It’s around the 35th minute… when Patrik Laine says this:

I was hoping the fans wouldn’t boo me because I was already injured.

Patrik Laine

I’d like to remind you of one thing: not only did Laine not get booed… but the fans at the Bell Centre gave him a warm welcome when he was introduced to the crowd.His face in this video says it all:

[content-ads] When he arrived in town, Patrik Laine wasn’t 100% confident.

He’d just been through a difficult period before being traded to Montreal, he was injured at the start of training camp… and by necessity, it must have been tougher at times. But receiving the love of the fans helped him regain hisite confidence. He came back to the game in December, started doing what he does best by filling the net, and the fans quickly rallied behind him. Perhaps this also explains why the main man involved says he’s rediscovered his love of the sport. He’s been saying for a few days now thathe loves Montreal and wants to play for the Canadiens for the long term, and in all this, the love of the fans clearly has a role to play.I’ll let you in on a little secret, Patrik: the fans would never have booed you in the first game of last season. In Montreal, hockey stirs the passions… and the fans love to support the club’s players when they’re going through tougher times. But I can imagine he must have been surprised, a little, to see the crowd being so expressive towards him when he was perhaps expecting to be booed.

[spacer title=’Overtime’] – I can’t wait to see him in the NCAA.

– The

– Happy reading.