Saku Koivu’s Homecoming

The ads that start with “If Sidney Crosby lights the lamp…” and “If Roberto Luongo stands on his head…” need to be followed up with “When Saku Koivu’s skates hits the ice at Centre Bell, will the ovation exceed eight minutes?”

You can’t go anywhere around hockey sites and not read about how excited the Habs fans are about Saku Koivu’s return to their ice tonight. In fact, a trio of fans started a Facebook page dedicated to getting everyone to vote Koivu one of the three stars of the night so they can give him another ovation.

The last ovation Saku received upon his return after recovering from cancer lasted eight minutes. (quality ain’t all that great, but just listen to the fans!)

Of the possibility that he will receive a similar ovation tonight, Koivu recently said “I feel like I should be the one standing at the red line and applauding for them.”

He played for the Canadiens for a total of 13 years, wore the big “C” for 10 years and was loved by pretty much everyone.

The Ducks are fortunate to have a player of such integrity and talent on their team and I just love being able to call the Selanne/Koivu line “the WonderFinns”.

Koivu hasn’t been in Habs-land since he became a Duck a couple years ago, so this should prove to be an interesting night.

The press conference can be found here and the Los Angeles Times article is here.