Humble Huet
by PDiggy on Jul 27, 2010 3:04 PM CDT
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PrintJust read this interview with Huet from a French magazine, where's he quoted as saying (translated it for you guys)
"I won't ride on the success (of winning the cup) because I don't feel like the architect of this win. I was sick during the season and the coach had to alternate with the other goalie. Then I had a poor showing and the door slammed on me. I experienced this win on the bench..."
Say what you want about him, at least there's no hubris. He still wants a chance to compete at the highest level (read: NHL) again, something he had said in an earlier interview. The drive is there.
Just figured I'd share this with you all since things are pretty slow news-wise...
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He's considered a real decent guy here
He puts on summer hockey camps for kids and he sponsors a charity that raises money to fight against a neurological disease.
And you won’t hear me complain one bit about his being on the team last year because, as a result, he’s bringing The Cup to his hometown on August 8th, which is about an hour away from me. I thought about going to Paris and seeing it under the Eiffel Tower the next day too but I can’t get off from work.
541 goals. 1467 points. Stanley Cup. Hall of Fame. All hail our man Stan.
you need to go see Huet and The Cup!
Don’t you get like 26 weeks of vacation time over there in France? Certainly you haven’t used it all up already :)
Oh, and when you go, take some photos to share with us. Thanks.
‽ ⅋ ‽
It's not lack of vacation, I just have too much going on that day
There will definitely be pictures taken. I still can’t believe my luck.
I’m not going to say how many weeks of vacation I have, but if I had to count it up, I’d run out of fingers and have to start using my toes. Say what you want about the French, they have this “work-life balance” thing alot better figured out than Americans do.
541 goals. 1467 points. Stanley Cup. Hall of Fame. All hail our man Stan.
Do it !! DO IT !!!
You will regret it if you don’t take advantage of one of these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Just think about this for a moment: One of sports greatest symbols in the same picture as one of man-kinds greatest symbols.
Just win the next game...!
Stanley Cup under the Eiffel Tower?
cool. gotta be a first.
June 30, 2010. We will rue this day.
by cliffkoroll on Jul 28, 2010 12:32 PM CDT up reply actions
Yeah, he's the first player from France to ever win the Cup
The thing is, in the sporting world here, hockey is about as popular and well-known as curling is in the US. You might get an occasional blip on the radar every 4 years when the Olympics rolls around, but that’s about it. Literally no one could name a hockey team even in the FRENCH pro league, let alone has heard of the Stanley Cup. I imagine the Cup being at the Eiffel Tower won’t draw much of a crowd – mainly only kids who play junior hockey who can get their parents to take them to Paris on a Monday.
541 goals. 1467 points. Stanley Cup. Hall of Fame. All hail our man Stan.
regardless
two major cultulral icons, together at last. the ultimate cross-over.
It’s like Archie Bunker doing a walk-on for Cheers.
June 30, 2010. We will rue this day.
by cliffkoroll on Jul 29, 2010 12:14 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Huet's play may not be all that stellar
I don’t doubt his drive though. I give him credit for busting his ass trying to do the best he can. Of course I’m going to get frustrated, but that happens with any player in any sport.
But the one thing that does make Huet stand out is his relentless drive to give back to the community. That alone earns big kudos. Like furryogre said:
He puts on summer hockey camps for kids and he sponsors a charity that raises money to fight against a neurological disease.
Guys like this are special people, whether or not they play professional sports. It’s as simple as that.
I see it's "no criminal record" night at the ballpark -- billyok before a game against the A's
I have witnessed the 2005 World Series championship, Mark Buehrle's perfect game, and the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup championship in my lifetime.
Well said
Lord Stanley's new address: Sweet Home Chicago!
by ChicagoNativeSon on Jul 28, 2010 12:09 AM CDT up reply actions
The first place that he is bringing the Cup is to the rink where his former junior team plays
Granted this is my first brush with the Cup and player’s personal days with it, but my first thought was that that is pretty cool and down-to-earth.
541 goals. 1467 points. Stanley Cup. Hall of Fame. All hail our man Stan.
I think most everyone has grown to appreciate Huet much more
since he was benched. I’m not being a smartass either, for once. One could see his enthusiasm and support for Neemo and the team and the lack of sulking that many other goal tenders might exhibit. I’d like to see him still on the team but obviously his salary can’t be maintained.
39 years of pain vaporized by one OT goal.
I've heard from numerous sources
that Huet and Hossa are the 2 nicest guys on the team and I have no trouble believing that. I wish him nothing but the best…
One more point (what can I say, I have access to French newspapers)
In a recent article about the summer camp he has going on right now, it stated that the French Hockey Federation offered to put him up wherever he wanted and he basically said he just wanted to bunk at the camp to be with the kids. It’s not just his name on the camp (as the most notable player in the country), he’s there as a coach.
I thought this quote from him was pretty notable: “I do not want to be an icon, at most an example. A role model. The NHL and its environment are things that children dream about reaching, but they must always hold onto their personal objectives and their values.”
And this is NOT a quote from him, but mere speculation from a friend of mine here. Based on the number of times Huet has already mentioned wishing that he could get the organization and the fans to have confidence in him again, that if contracts were voidable or renegotiable under the CBA, my friend speculates that Huet would do it just to have a second chance to prove himself.
541 goals. 1467 points. Stanley Cup. Hall of Fame. All hail our man Stan.
Agreed
I don’t doubt that if Huet had the chance to renegotiate his contract and thus take a pay cut he would – the man wants redemption, I wish we could offer him that chance.
I wish the CBA could be changed
to allow a PLAYER to initiate a lowering of his contract. I mean, I kind of see why this is not the case but still…
If he had his way, I’m sure Huet would not be exiled to Rockford but staying in Chicago to prove himself and I think most would be all for it. Heck, Campbell might even agree to play for less to stay put and a guy like Sopel would undoubtedly play for less if it meant staying in Chicago where his family will be for the duration of his contract with Atlanta.
even player-initiated renegotiations
sound like they could be used against the players by teams who would threaten to otherwise trade them or something. In theory it sounds good but, I bet, so did the CBA before all these throwaway years were added to contracts to lower cap hits, you know?
I’d love to see what everyone’s ideas are re: the CBA when it’s being renegotiated. How would people propose to solve problems that popped up in its current manifestation?
But when it was suggested to him that Toews v. Kane seems likely to become a sidebar to every future international hockey tournament, he smiled and said: "I'd like us to win something together, too." -- 2/28/10, so our Captain has said, and so it was done.
(Tweets @ChiBlackhawks and blogs at Blackhawks Down Low.)
by chiblackhawks on Jul 28, 2010 10:44 PM CDT up reply actions
You're right
which is, I’m sure, why they’re not allowed. Threats and intimidation could ensue and that would not be pretty.
Post Here
Some one here a while back posted a great story about Huet at one of their practices. He took a lot of time out to talk to the reader about goaltending and was real informative. I would find it, but you know that requires work.
I believe that was chevrier, or maybe gmh
Lord Stanley's new address: Sweet Home Chicago!
by ChicagoNativeSon on Jul 28, 2010 10:53 AM CDT up reply actions
Naw it wasn't me
Had I ever met Huet, I probably would driven him insane trying to converse with him in his native tongue by attempting to remember assorted french phrases from class in high school.
I rule at run-on sentences!
"Kane is skating as if his mullet is on fire." - 6/9/10, 10:06PM CST
that was spokeinthebandwagon
I remember because it got me thinking about what I would ask a player if I ever had the opportunity to talk to one.
Found it. Thanks ahnfire. From spokeinthebandwagon
I attended a game this year in North Carolina: Hawks @ Canes, last game of an eight game road trip (Hawks eventually lost). The game occurred the night after a blizzard, 12 inches of snow in a town that has no snowplows. The Hawks held a small morning skate anyway, and one of the big focuses was that both goalies attended. I met Wiedeman (he calls the Hawks for WGN, and of all the regular Hawks broadcasters is probably the smartest hockey mind) there, since he and I were literally the only ones who braved the uncleared roads to watch. We talked hockey through the practice, and my hero-worship of him was completely solidified; he was nice. After the skate and after the players took 20 min or so to change into street clothes, Huet came over to talk to Wiedeman, who introduced me. I asked a few questions about how goalies handle soft ice (the ice for the game that night was going to be soft; there was a basketball game at 2pm and then hockey at 7pm) and Huet literally sat down at the snack tables for the practice rink, gathered all of us around, and talked with me for 20-30 minutes about his strategy as a goalie on soft ice. Niemi hovered around the periphery and occasionally ventured comments, but Huet really sort of gave me a clinic, basically out of the goodness of his heart because he didn’t have to stick around. They were holding the bus for these guys, but he was really nice about talking to me about the specifics of his trade. He also earned himself a fan for life. I don’t care what people say about him, Cris is a fantastic teammate.
Hay dios mio
Thats bigger than I figured it would be.
The preview button can be your best friend some times
How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?
It is reading stuff like this that makes me kinda bummed Huet is in the situation he is in.
It has got to be tough to know what lies ahead (AHL for 82+ games). Wanting to prove the Nay-Sayers wrong, but also knowing the chance of that happening is slim at best because of the economics.
But Hockey is a Sport and a Business where winning and making money, are more important than letting truly good and humble person get a second chance.
I have got to give Huet some huge Kudos for what he does for the community, and his drive to achieve ad not take false credit for how things were. I will take nothing away from him for how he is as a person, he seems to be very honorable and well intended. But I still want him in the AHL to make $5.6M more room, not necessarily better people (hopefully not bad people either) but better players.
ART.I§8-11; AM I-XXVII Not a suggestion, but an obligation.
Listen to the wisdom of James Madison!
by Toews-makes-funny-faces on Jul 28, 2010 4:34 PM CDT reply actions
If he really was ill - I feel even worse for him
Preparing my psyche for the coming Capocalypse
Confusion will be my epitaph.
i think he was talking about the time just before the Philly game
He was out because of the flu.
But when it was suggested to him that Toews v. Kane seems likely to become a sidebar to every future international hockey tournament, he smiled and said: "I'd like us to win something together, too." -- 2/28/10, so our Captain has said, and so it was done.
(Tweets @ChiBlackhawks and blogs at Blackhawks Down Low.)
by chiblackhawks on Jul 28, 2010 10:45 PM CDT up reply actions
It was after, wasn't it?
When we brought Crawford to California?
Go jump in Toews Lake.
Aubrey: old German for king of the elves. Huff: English for...huff.
by shinkicker on Jul 29, 2010 8:31 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
yep.
he played really well in the Philly game and was really frustrated by that last goal (he slammed his stick on the net). then Niemi started that Sunday against Washington and Huet got super sick on the west coast. I remember reading that he said he could barely get out of bed he was so sick. I don’t think he started again until the disastrous CBJ game and that was the end of that.
by Katherine215 on Jul 29, 2010 8:58 AM CDT up reply actions
Personally, while Huet was terrible at times.
Ye not forget how he almost single handedly kept the Hawks from elimination against the Wings two seasons ago.
When in Rome we shall do as the Romans, when in Hell we do shots at the bar.
by HolyBlackhawksBatman on Jul 30, 2010 7:52 AM CDT reply actions
Yes sir, if I’m not mistaken.
When in Rome we shall do as the Romans, when in Hell we do shots at the bar.
by HolyBlackhawksBatman on Aug 3, 2010 11:39 AM CDT up reply actions
So....
when and how often was he sick? Also, the door was slammed on him? Interesting way to word it but certainly can be considered accurate.
Just win the next game...!
he had
a pretty bad case of the flu the week after we lost Soupy and Johnsson when the team was in California. I think he was sick for the better part of a week. That’s when we saw Crawford.
by Katherine215 on Aug 4, 2010 11:56 AM CDT up reply actions
Prove himself in the AHL and then hes able to come back, I really liked that suggestion about players being able to renegotiate contracts but I would say that would have to be per their request only and it would have to go through the NHLPA with reasoning as to why they are doing it. I only add this stipulation because I would be afraid of some players who would be doing it because of some shady dealings like threats and such. I personally would love to see Huet, Campbell, Keith, Hossa, Kane and Toews bumped down a bit. Even though you can argue some to be good contracts I still think they are very very high especially when you want to keep a team together.
After looking at cap geek I’m kind of afraid of thinking about Seabrook next season being a RFA.
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