A Canucks Fan

Canucks 4 - Avalanche 3 (OT)

2006-04-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

The last game of the season for our Canucks was a win. We couldn't watch on our big TV as the lamp for the rear projection blew last night and there's no way to get in touch with Toshiba over the long weekend. Argh!

The season's over for the Canucks (as well as that other team from the arsehole of Canada). What's going to change in the off-season? Dunno, but the team has plenty of time to work on their golf swings. My bet is there are no shake-ups at all. If we see any changes at all it will probably be saying goodbye to Mark Crawford. Who knows?

I'll keep posting as Canucks news happens.

Canucks 3 - Sharks 5

2006-04-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

Oilers won.

Bye bye playoffs...

I'm too sad to say much else right now.

Canucks 4 - Sharks 5 (OT)

2006-04-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

I couldn't watch or listen to the game at all. That's a very rare thing and it showed. I was going nuts last night at work. I think I need detox from Canucks hockey. I'm Mike and I'm a Canuckaholic. I had to get the scores from the Transport Captain, Cam, who being an Oilers fan was taking glee in the Canucks struggle. Bastid!

This OT loss, even though it garnered them a point, leaves the team's fate in the hands of those rotten Oilers. The Oilers have to lose for our Canucks to make the play offs. Ugh. Things aren't looking good even though the team isn't giving up, which is a bit of a shock considering some of the who cares play we've seen this season.

Tonight sees Vancouver in the shark tank in the final of their home at home with the Sharks. It's a must win game and again due to work I won't be watching or listening.

Go Canucks Go!

Canucks 2 - Ducks 4

2006-04-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Waaah Waah... not posting after periods as I was working for most of the game. The Canucks didn't play badly at all but they just couldn't get it past Ducks goaltender JS Giguere enough to win. Shit!

On the upside, the Canucks for Kids telethon has raised over $800k already. All proceeds go to Canuck Place.

See, there is a silver lining.

Bert smokes Phaneuf

2006-04-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a video highlight from last night's game:

Bertuzzi's huge hit on Phaneuf in the third period. It's about time Bert started throwing his weight around again.

Canucks 3 - Flames 2 (OT)

2006-04-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

After the first period
Jovo's back! Yay! And creates the play that got a powerplay goal for Brendan Morrison. It's a relief to see Ed Jovanovski back with the team.

Mattias Ohlund also scored on the powerplay giving the Canucks a 2-0 lead going into the dressing room after a very spitied first period that saw Burrows thrown into the Calgary bench by Flambés goon, Simon.

After the second period
No goals, but lots of chances for the Canucks. The puck spent the majority of the period in the Flames end of the rink and the 'nucks had some close calls on Kipper who was doing everything but build a brick wall to keep the puck out of the net. Todd Bertuzzi's charging to the net seemed to rattle him a bit but still no dice.

Greg Millen, the know-it-all asshole CBC announcer, seems to be completely out of his mind on methamphetamines again this evening. I must say I hate Millen as much as I hate the Canadian Tire Guy who has thankfully been shit canned. Could Millen be next? Please hockey Gods.... please!

After the third period
The Flames were all over the Canucks, who were trying to protect their lead, and charged back with 2 goals in the third. Argh. Weinrich sucks... !!!

To OT.

OT
Jovo scores! What a welcome back game for him. The Canucks get the two points they needed against their arch-rivals and the Flames get the one they needed to clinch a play-off birth. Everyone's a winner. Awesome finish.

Game day!

2006-04-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Finally after a break that seemed like forever the Canucks are playing the first of their last five games of the season. These couldn't be more important. The Clagary Flambés come to town looking for one point to cinch a playoff point and our Canucks are two points out of the play-offs. Its do or die time.

Go Canucks Go!

Canucks 0 - Kings 1 (Final)

2006-04-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

I'd love to be able to watch the hockey game I paid for but apparenlty Shaw the cable monopoly has only one channel dedicated to PPV game. So I'm stuck watching the Oilers beat the living shit out of the Coyotes and will join the Canucks game 'in progress'. Great! Assholes... The radio doesn't quite cut it.

After the first period
The PPV finally relieved us of the Oilers pounding the living daylights out of Phoenix, but not before just pausing for 5 minutes on the Oilers logo on our TV. I think the TV's broken now. We started by watching Brian Allen chatting about the game so far and then a very boring interview with Nazzy's dad. Sigh... I want to watch some hockey dammit.

After the second period
The Canucks aren't looking so hot. The Kings outshot and outplayed them in the second. Demitra scored on a shot that just trickled in behind Auld. Vancouver spent most of the period on the penalty kill due to stupid penalty after stupid penalty. I forgot my jersey. I have to put that on before the third period starts. How can they win without me on the team? :)

After the third period
I got nothing... neither did the Cancucks. The Hockey Gods left them high and dry tonight. The only reason the game wasn't worse for the Canucks was due to the stellar performance of Alex Auld. Honestly we've never seen that from Cloutier as long as this fan can remember. Maybe Clouts is out. Auld has only one more win to tie Cloutier's best season and 5 games left to do it in. Methinks it will happen.

So the result of tonight's game was not good. The team has to win at least 4 of their remaining 5 games or its golf season. Argh!

GO CANUCKS GO!!

Media Filp Flop Parody

2006-04-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

I found this video on Google Video a few weeks ago but have been waiting to post it. This should cheer up Canucks fans: Todd Bertuzzi is awesome / crap

Canucks 2 Ducks 6 (Final)

2006-04-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

After the first period
The Canucks came out looking good. Both teams were playing quite cautiously. At 8:54 of the frame after a penalty to Anaheim Todd Bertuzzi scored the first goal of the game on passes from Markus Naslund and Keith Carney.

This period was about efense breakdown for Vancouver. Things went sideways at 11:36 when the Ducks Teemu Selanne scored poking the puck through Alex Auld's legs. Then 12 seconds later Samuel Pahlsson put in a second goal for Anaheim.

Near the end of the period Jarko Ruutu took a triple minor (yes 3) behind the Ducks net and put Anaheim on the power play, but not before taking a Duck with him. The Ducks power play ended on a high stick to Alex Burrows.

The second period will be better. Bertuzzi and Naslund are looking great.

After the second period...
Apocalypse! The worst period played by the Canucks. The ducks scored two more goals on Auld. One due to limp defense again and Auldy, looking sorely disappointed, was pulled. The first shot, yes the first one, on Mika Noronen went right in.

I HATE Eric Weinrich. What a shitty defensemen. It's like he doesn't give a shit or he's playing for the other team. He actually scored for the opposition tonight. Old fart.

Speaking of old farts, Tom Larshide needs to shut the hell up. Thank God the Canucks are going to Team 1040 next year and that old goof can be put out to pasture. I'm tired of him flip flopping on players and his negativity is really frustrating. I know he's been doing this for a long time, but I don't think he even understands the game. The language he uses makes him sound like the senile old man he is... "Roll up the rim to win!" ... "That's a feather in your bonnet." When were you born? In 1836? Enough! I'm considering turning the sound down.

After the third period
Mattius Ohlund scored. That was pretty much it for the Canucks until the Ducks' Selanne scored his second of the game on one of the few shots on Noronen in the third. The team looked like they were just trying to finish without crying. Ugh!

The team has to win tomorrow or things are looking bleak. They sure did shit the bed this afternoon.

Scrappy Canuck Fans

2006-04-01T12:10:00.000-08:00

Apparently the teams were not the only folks wound up in GM Place last night. Here a story from VANCOUVER / CKNW (AM980):

Fighting in the stands at the Canucks game
Apr, 01 2006 - 11:40 AM
The fists were flying at last night's hockey game at GM place-- only the brawl was in the stands, not on the ice.Vancouver police inspector Eric Grummish says a fan with a bit too much booze in his system got unruly with the wrong people.

"The party was being ejected for being drunk and disorderly inside the arena, and he resisted staff's attempts to remove him, and when he was approached by an off-duty RCMP member who identified himself, he punched that member in the face and he subsequently assaulted the Vancouver police members who were attempting to arrest him."

Charges are being recommended against the man.

story link

It's all fun and games until you punch some cops at a hockey game. I'm surprised we haven't heard how this gentleman "accidentally fell down" on the concrete numerous times head first while being taken into custody.

Being someone who can only afford nosebleed seats at GM Place I have run into these beer-filled hockey hooligan types before. They're always so nice an polite... NOT! Such is the life of the joe-shmoe hockey fan. It's all part of the NHL experience. I love it when the novice hockey fans bitch about these folks standing up during the game.

It can get irritating when trying to watch the game on TV. Just the other night, during the PPV broadcast of the Canucks vs Wild at GM Place we had to contend with neanderthals and their fingers every time the camera would swing past them up in the very top row. Bastards! I wanted to drive to "The Garage" and thump them for my $10.95 plus taxes. I didn't pay to look at their fingers, whereas, at the game I could have just stood up and looked around them (or joined in).

Canucks 1 - Wild 2 (SO)

2006-03-31T19:43:00.000-08:00

After the first period
Canucks are looking not bad. They're chugging their way through the neutral zone (always clogged up by Wild players) and getting some pucks to the net. They've had some quality chances too. Still not a really exciting game although was concerned when Keith Carney took a rare penalty against the speedy Marian Gaborik. All's well though. Our Canucks killed the penalty off and went to the dressing room outshooting the Wild in the period 11-9.

After the second period
With Sean Brown in the box the Wild's Chouinard scored his thirteenth of the season. That woke the Canucks up. After that the second was all Vancouver. Vancouver had some of the best plays at keeping the puck inside the attacking zone we've seen all season. After two denied breakaways, one by Naslund the other by Carter, the hard work finally paid off. Anson Carter finally put one past Manny Fernandez with assists from Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Thank you Edmonton for giving us Anson Carter. We love him... Not Brokeback style.

After the third
Nothing... going to overtime. That's one point. Whew! Last few minutes kind of sucked as the Canucks protected the point.

OT
Vancouver goes for it. They had some great chances, but... nada. Shoot out time

Shoot Out
The Wild's Koivu is the only player to score in the shoot out. The Wild takes that point the Canucks needed so badly.

Even though it's a loss it was still a well played game by Vancouver. Not exactly the most exciting at times, but they didn't give off that "we give up" vibe. Next up is the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm. Pay-per-view again. Looks like Shaw's getting another $11 bucks. Make that $22 as the game on Monday in LA is pay-per-view too. Sigh.

Who said Leafs fans were mean?

2006-03-31T13:56:00.000-08:00

Too funny not to post... Thanks Paulie. Ya bastard.

Rituals of the Road

2006-03-30T22:02:00.000-08:00

As the Canucks prepare for a trip to sunny California (where I wish I was) this week's Inside Edge newsletter has a neat little article about life on the road with the team. Make sure you click on the images to see the full pictures of the team. Travelling looks like extremely hard work, especially on a private jet. Anyway here's the story. Enjoy: ROOMIES... A Fan's Guide to RITUALS of the Road By Kevin Kinghorn

Canucks 2 - Wild 1 (Final)

2006-03-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

End of first period
The Canucks aren't getting many shots at all to the net. The Wild are a great team defensively and don't look tired at all after their game in Edmonton last night. It's got to be frustrating to play against such a tight team. Markus Naslund looks particularly pissed off with the aggressive checking, especially by Wes Walz who he took a few swipes at. It doesn't make for exciting hockey. Hopefully the Canucks will get more pucks on Fernandez in the second and a bunch into the net.

Todd Bertuzzi looked like he had been injured and went to the dressing room. He did come right back though and played out the period. The commentators said it was just a charlie horse. The Canucks can't afford to lose another player to injury.

Matt Cooke isn't playing tonight as he's nursing a busted shnazz from the hit you can watch below.

End of second period
The Canucks came out a lot harder in the second period generating more chances right away. Naslund hit the post early on and Fernandez had to be alert. Hard work and some great passing got Daniel Sedin his 21st of the season - a career high. However, during the the next shift when Brian Rolston sent an off speed wrister at the net that was accidentally redirected by Eric Weinrich (not my favourite defensive aquisition) and trickled through an obviously frustrated Alex Auld and over the goal line. D'oh!

There was lots of back and forth and many broken sticks but not much else. The best thing was that most of the period saw action in Minnesota's end.

Come on Canucks, let's kill 'em in the third.

End of the third period
More tight (boring) defensive play all through the third period. But the Canucks were patient and tight themselves getting a power play in the last minute and a bit of play. Just when it was looking as though overtime was imminent beautiful passes from Daniel and Henrik Sedin found Anson Carter wide open to the left of Wild net minder Manny Fernandez. Carter popped the puck up into the net with 6.1 sedconds left for his 30th goal of the year and 6th game winner of the season. Yahoo! That's 2 more much needed points for the Canucks! Thank you hockey Gods! Thank you. They actually listened to JJ over at his Canucks Hockey Blog. All is well this evening.

The Wild have the best penalty kill in the league and holding the Canucks to only 3 shots on the power play all night (they all came in the last minute). It was a tough loss for them as we saw by their refusal to leave the ice chirping at Bertuzzi and others after the final horn sounded.

The rematch goes ahead on Friday March 31, 2006 @ 7:00 pm at General Motors Place on Rogers Sportsnet. My guess is we'll see more of the same, but if the end of the game is any indication the Wild will bring a little extra emotion.

Brown hit on Matt Cooke

2006-03-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

Here's the nasty (but apparently legal) hit dished out to Matt Cooke from Dustin Brown during the game against the Kings the other night:

You can hear Sean Avery, the Kings' yappy little terrier, yelling, "How's your head Cookie? How's your fucking head?" What a class act. Oh well, like I've heard it said before, it's not curling. Hopefully Cooke will be able to play this evening. I don't see him scratched in the pre-game email. I guess we'll see soon enough.

Recent Canuck Milestones

2006-03-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

A number of Canucks have reached milestones of late:

Markus Naslund recorded his 700th career point versus Los Angeles on Mar. 27th.
Todd Bertuzzi played his 700th career game and reached 300 career assists versus Edmonton on Mar. 25th.
Anson Carter played his 600th career NHL game on Mar. 25th vs the Oilers.
Ryan Kesler played his 100th career game versus Edmonton on Mar. 25th.
Markus Naslund scored his 30th goal of the season on March 23rd versus Edmonton, Naslund's fifth consecutive and sixth career 30-goal season.

On the radar:

Trevor Linden is 1 goal away from reaching 300 scored as a Vancouver Canuck and 4 assists away from 400 recorded in a Canucks uniform.
Matt Cooke is 9 assists away from 100 career assists.
Brendan Morrison is 8 points away from 400 career points

First Post

2006-03-29T07:58:00.000-08:00

I've been posting about the Canucks on my other blog for some time now, but decided to root for my favourite (and home) team with a blog all to themselves. Sitting currently at 7th in the conference this 2005-2006 stretch drive is toughy for the team as due to injuries and some not so spectacular play earlier in the season.

Although I grew up in Bridgewater, NS I've been a Canucks fan for a number of years and reasons. I visited Vancouver when in 1976 with my folks on a veterinary conference my Dad was attending. I knew one day I'd come back to Vancouver to live and would watch Canucks games late into the night on the 12" black and white TV with the bent and broken antenna my folks had.

When I was taking Architectural Drafting at a technical school in Middleton, NS I had the pleasure of boarding with the Gambles, Pat and Bill who were the proud parents of then Canucks back up net minder, Troy Gamble.

When I finally moved here to Vancouver in 1993 it was an easy thing to cheer for the home team.

Don't get me wrong I have a place in my heart for other teams. I like the Boston Bruins as I went to high school with Glen Murray and was a huge Bobby Orr fan. Also, I've been a Philadelphia Flyers fan. I loved to watch Bobby Clarke and his Broad Street Bullies. However, I want to see the Canucks on top so I don't care if the Queen is playing goal for a team I'm cheering for Vancouver. Oh yeah and the Leafs suck (mp3 file - I know its about Ottawa but its funny anyway) and the Habs blow.

Tonight on pay-per-view the boys match up against the tight defensive team, those stinking Minnesota Wild. Let's start the chant now:

Go Canucks Go!

I'll post more on the game later.