Habs’ Shaw has weird game ritual
Habs’ agitator employs unusual pre-game ritual as he prepares to irritate opponents
Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!
I was standing outside the Canadiens’ locker-room with Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas for a second intermission interview last Thursday night in Calgary when, suddenly, some startling noises started coming from the hallway behind us.
Then Andrew Shaw appeared. The Canadiens forward did some stretching, practised some phantom faceoffs, lunged out with his stick a few times and did some other bizarre things before his teammates came out to join him.
It turns out Shaw is always the first guy out of the locker-room to go through this choreographed routine before the start of each period.
“It’s something I’ve always done to just try to loosen up a bit,” Shaw said.
“I guess I started it about eight years ago back in juniors,” he added. “I just smash my stick on my shin pads seven times. Go down and get in the faceoff position, do two on the backhand, one on the forehand. Spin the stick to loosen up the wrists. Get a good stick going … just trying to loosen up everything.”
The routine ends with Shaw putting the knob of his stick on the ground and doing a 360-degree turn around it.
When asked if his teammates ever give him a strange look while he’s doing all this stuff, Shaw said: “Oh, yeah. But it’s what I’ve always done, so I’m not going to change it.”
Shea Weber said he’s never seen Shaw’s routine outside the locker-room, adding: “I don’t pay attention to that.”
But he has noticed something Shaw does on the bench.
“I don’t hang my stick over the boards while they get ready to drop the puck,” Weber said. “That’s the only one that I’ve noticed with Shawsy.”
Weber does have a few gameday rituals, which include eating the same lunch: chicken with pasta and vegetables.
“Nothing unusual,” he said. “Probably what most guys eat.”
Shaw faced his old team, the Chicago Blackhawks, Tuesday night at the Bell Centre and got a chance to go out for a nice steak dinner with some former teammates on Monday.
Joining him were Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Brent Seabrook, Andrew Desjardins and Trevor van Riemsdyk.
“They’re a good core group of guys,” Shaw said. “I played there five years with them. We shot the (breeze) and had some fun and I told them to keep their heads up out there.”
Then Shaw smiled.
“I’m sure I’ll get under some of their skins,” he added. “We’ll let the game unfold and see. But I kind of have that tendency to piss people off, so it should be fun.”
That tendency to “piss people off ” is one of the reasons Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin acquired Shaw last summer in exchange for two second-round picks at last year’s NHL Draft and then signed the 25-year-old to a six-year, US$23.4-million contract.
Bergevin felt the Canadiens needed more grit and character. The Blackhawks used the draft picks to select Boston University defenceman Chad Krys and Alex DeBrincat of the Erie Otters, a 5-foot-7, 170-pound right-winger who leads the OHL in scoring with 62 goals and 122 points in 60 games.
When Shaw was asked which player has the most bizarre pregame routine he’s ever seen — apart from his own — he pointed the finger at Seabrook.
“Every time the clock hit 5 o’clock he had this routine where he’d be in his equipment, get up, stretch, pound his hands … every time you’d see it,” Shaw said. “From five minutes on the clock (before 5 p.m.), you’d hear his feet just tapping away, waiting for the time to run out.”
Shaw seems to be well-liked in the Canadiens’ locker-room as a bit of a Dennis The Menace character. Heading into Tuesday’s game, he had 10 goals and 24 points in 55 games and ranked fourth in the NHL in penalty minutes with 101.
He’s come pretty much as advertised and Bergevin was willing to pay a steep price to get him. Shaw’s playoff experience, having won two Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks, should help the Canadiens in the post-season — if he can avoid taking dumb penalties.
When Canadiens coach Claude Julien was asked about Shaw’s role on the team, he said: “There are guys who can bring a lot of different things. There are guys who can set up guys, there are guys who are shooters, there are guys who are grinders. And sometimes you mix them up a little bit in those roles so that they can blend together. You look for players who can step in those positions when you’re trying to spread the scoring around.”
Max Pacioretty, who led the Canadiens with 33 goals heading into Tuesday’s game, was asked about Shaw’s between-periods routine.
“I’ve never seen it,” the captain said. Then he added: “Shawsy is weird.”
They’re a good core group of guys. I played there five years with them. We shot the (breeze) and had some fun and I told them to keep their heads up out there.