I may have been the only person planted firmly in my seat amongst a very exuberant crowd at the Bell Centre. Habs fans erupted with emotion, wildly cheering and chanting the name of Louis Leblanc every time he touched the puck.
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The Montreal Canadiens had chosen their projected future number one centre with the 18th pick overall of the 2009 NHL Draft. In my chair, it was hard to hide my disappointment that Trevor Timmins and crew had chosen to leave Chris Kreider on the draft board, in favor of a homegrown talent from Kirkland, QC. I had been told by a trusted NHL amateur scouting contact the he felt the "Bust Alarm Meter" was on high for Leblanc in his opinion.

These were early days for Rocket Sports. Less than a year after launching this new media company, we organized a memorable experience for 50 members of our audience to attend the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal. The highlight of the weekend was meeting our community and witnessing the two days of the draft in the Bell Centre with tickets provided by the NHL.

It was also on this occasion that the very first collaboration between HockeyBuzz and Rocket Sports took place. After reaching out to HockeyBuzz, Dwayne (AKA "Eklund") generously agreed to sponsor a ball hockey game as part of the Rocket Sports draft festivities in June 2009. A Canada vs USA game for the participants was arranged at McGill University. Eklund not only sponsored the event but manned the pipes for Team USA in full goalie gear.

Fast forward a few years and we are collaborating again with the HockeyBuzz team! Rocket Sports is very proud to announce tha we will provide comprehensive coverage of the Montreal Canadiens for HockeyBuzz throughout this season.

Our content will include blogs on the Canadiens, the Laval Rocket, the Trois-Rivières Lions, and
prospects in hockey leagues around the globe. You'll also find links to our trusted weekly podcast, the Canadiens Connection, now in its seventh season, and our Rocket Sports YouTube channel.

We are excited to share news and updates from senior writer Chris Galanopoulos (Chris G for short), engaging content from Emmy- nominated video producer Amy Johnson, and, I hope and believe, insightful analysis from our founder Rick Stephens.

With introductions out of the way, you can now expect us to focus on the start of the regular season, with reporting on Lane Hutson, Ivan Demidov, Juraj Slafkovsky and the rest of your favorites!

We welcome our Rocket Sports community to our new home and we look forward to engaging with the lively HockeyBuzz audience this season. Drop the puck!

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