Vancity Canuck

Have you bought an apartment yet?

2010-09-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have always grown up thinking that buying a house was something you just did. I grew up in the suburbs of Vancouver where the majority of my friends all lived with their families in a house with a backyard. Not all the houses were big houses, or new houses, but everyone lived in a house. It was one of those things that just was.

Growing up I had always planned on buying an apartment and then a house later when I had kids. It just seemed like that was the obvious plan in my financial goals. Now that I've been working for a few years I get asked every so often (usually by friends of my parents), "have you bought a apartment/house yet?" or get bits of advice from people who hear that "the market is going to go down next year, it will be a great time to buy".

I'm not completely sold on requiring a house to raise a family because I've seen many people in Europe do it in flats in the city. If I lived in Europe, I think I would prefer to live in the city in a large flat as opposed to out in the suburbs in a small house. But the European cities that I'm thinking of have very good transit systems, apartments that were well made and a societal acceptance of apartment living with families. In North America, we teach our children that to be successful besides a career, you need to have to have a house with a yard when you have kids.

I think that there are definite pluses to owning a house with a modest backyard while raising kids. I loved being able to play in my parents yard growing up kicking around a soccer ball, playing road hockey under the porch (often was the goalie), and having the space to grow my own vegetable in my garden. In fact, one of the things I miss most is the garden, so much so that I go back every spring to my parents place to plant each year and make a few random visit during the summer to keep an eye before it gets too jungle-ly.

Looking at the number of apartments and condos being built every year in Vancouver, and new young families living in the trendy (now become trendy after a little cleaning up) neighborhoods, and our city running out of space to build more, I wonder if we will see a shift towards more compact living? Maybe the the house with the backyard ideal is becoming not affordable to the average young family? Maybe the stigma of not owing a house in the suburbs will not be so strong once the realization that a dream like that may be financially unrealistic?

Note: You'll notice I didn't say that I had grown up dreaming of a house with a picket fence since I was born when that was no longer the ideal for a family. I think my era was during the time the ideals for a family was to have a new (sometimes monster) house in the suburbs

Money matters

2010-09-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this is only something that occurs in my friend group, or it's just because I'm a twenty something that enjoys to read personal finance blogs, but I find it interesting that I never talk money with my friends. I'm not talking acquaintances, but long time friends that I seem to be able to share everything else that is going on in my life with, except talking about money. Yes we talk a little about how much we each make, or have a general idea about each others disposable income, but never talk about things like long term financial goals or financial tips that we can share.

Not that I have a background in finance or anything, but in my spare time I enjoy to read books or blogs about investing, the markets or personal finance. The reason came because I knew so little about it so I wanted to do a little self-educating. In the last two years, I have learned incredible amounts, but have yet to really scratch the surface. I have my blog favorites, like the Canadian Capitalist or Quest for the Four Pillars and a number of other blogs in my google reader that I enjoy to read through when I have the time. I do have a good friend who did graduate with a finance degree that I can ping and idea off of every so often which makes me lucky, but I don't have those same discussions with my other close friends.

Maybe I'm a little early on this since my circle has only been working for a few years after school has ended, and a few of them have also not finished yet because they have gone back for their second round of school. Or maybe I'm the only one with the interest in this subject, but I find it a little discouraging that this isn't a topic that we've been able to discuss during our get-togethers.

There's been so much that I've had to do to self educate to make an informed decision about financial topics that could have been made easier if I knew that someone else that I trust had already done some research about it. Things like RRSP strategies, whether you need or don't need a financial adviser or mortgages are topics that I would to love to discuss and share knowledge with, but find that no one does. It strikes me that we'll all encounter many of the same questions about it that if there was a discussion about what other people do that it might help you make a more informed decisions. Then again, maybe it starts with me, and I need to get the conversation going so that my close friends won't be secretly thinking the same thing?

On hockey blogging

2010-09-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, Puck Daddy wrote about a leaked a document that gave a rough draft about a proposal for a credential policy aimed at bloggers/web-based media. After this article was written, it was then discussed, and then written about because, well, bloggers tend to be opinionated.

At the core of the issue was whether hockey bloggers should be accredited in the same way that beat writers or other sports media reporters are accredited. A press pass that would allow bloggers to watch the game from the press box and give them access to get in on the media scrums/player interviews down in the locker rooms. It would give the blog a different angle at covering the game or their team than a blogger who is getting his/her news from beat writers/media.

First off, since I do write on multiple blogs about hockey, I do think blogs are an interesting medium that teams haven't fully understood how to use yet. Some teams, like the Washington Capitals are have been very good with their blogger outreach in giving press passes to some bloggers, which I think is great. For some other teams, their policy is a strict no blogger policy.

I ultimately think it's up to the team to say whether they allow bloggers the perks of having the same access or a modified access to the press box or media access. For some teams that don't get the same media coverage as other sports franchises in the city, bloggers can fill the hole or the need for information to the fan. But for other cities, like the city where I live (Vancouver) for example, the coverage is already so well done/over saturated that there isn't a pressing need for bloggers to pick up the slack.

If the Canucks organization never accredits a single blogger with a press pass, well it probably will not have any impact on how well the Canucks generate revenue. The bloggers that I know will still go on to blog about the team whether or not they get a press pass.

I don't feel like I need to have press access to the team. Sure it would be nice to be given the chance if it comes up to just see what it's like, but blogging is my hobby not my job. I already have a day job that takes up the majority of my time and funds the life I live. Blogging about hockey gives me balance in my life and passion for something other than my job.

I know that my blog will never be the site for breaking news stories or instant analysis because I'm only able to write at night in my free time. Maybe my blog will never be as great as it could be because of it but I think my readers understand that and frequent my blog despite me not having press credentials. I know I don't have the time to go watch practices, watch games in the press box or interview players post game day in and day out. There are media who do that as their job full time and as a blogger who uses their articles as news or a springboard for a topic of conversation on my sites, I'm glad that they do what they do.

It seems that bloggers who started out as being considered 'lowly' bloggers have gotten a bit of an ego these days. It's not a right that the NHL/team has to accredit you, so why were you so insulted by their rough draft? It is their loss to the organization and the fans if co-operation with you would be beneficial to their organization and they chose not to do so.

Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

2010-08-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

A few months ago on twitter, I was talking with another hockey blogger, Chris from The Hockey Program about our love of cooking. He already had a food blog that he had posted to and had at the time asked for suggestions of things to make. I had said that I would send some ideas, but then time passed and I never got around to it.

Then I spent over a month away from my kitchen this summer, and realized how much I missed it. So after a few e-mails I challenged my hockey blogger friend to make a recipe I suggested. Maybe he will, maybe he won't but this is my attempt at the recipe that was sent to him.

The recipe is from Nigella Lawson's book Forever Summer and the recipe is a Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova which can be found at the Food Network website.

When I think of pavlova's, I knew they were similar to meringue but more chewy in texture. This recipe is surprisingly easy, and if all pavlova's are similar, then despite the name's foreign sound making it sound complicated, well it's dead easy.

And if you are wondering where the name came from, a pavlova is a meringue based dessert that was named after a Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova.

So how did I do?

After whipping the egg whites and sugar into a meringue, chopped chocolate and cocoa powder was folded in.
Then the meringue was mounded onto a baking sheet with parchment.
And then smoothed out with a spatula before being put in the oven.

The finished product with fresh berries and juicy peaches from the Okanagan looked like this:
Which went really well with some of this:Or at least the ladies who enjoyed this dessert with me thought so...

A few changes

2010-08-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

After writing about hockey for the past year and a half, I have found a nagging urge to write about other topics on occasion. Not that I'm giving up my hockey blogging, but some days I'm want to write about more than just hockey. So I'm returning to where it all began before I moved over to Bloguin, the simple blogspot page.

Some people were surprised that when I ended up creating a blog it was a hockey blog and not a food blog. The reason for that really came because of how much light or actually the lack thereof there was in my apartment to take photos. I'm constantly in awe of the quality of how many great food blogs are out already, that the idea about blogging and taking photos about food that I make in my spare time was a bit daunting, so I started off with hockey instead.

Now that I've been blogging for a while, I'm becoming more comfortable with label as being a blogger. It's actually pretty cool but that stems from the amazing people that I've met because of writing. I love that some of my real life friends think that its neat that I blog about hockey, in fact I don't think I tell them enough how much I love that they are proud of me for it. I've even embraced twitter, even though in my real life circle my friends can't understand the use of it.

Since I'm switching up the focus on Vancity Canuck, I've changed the look of it. There will be more changes to come as I go, but this seemed like a more appropriate feel. Hope you enjoy the changes and if you don't, well you can still stick with my hockey blogs once the season starts.

Moved!

2009-12-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

The Vancity Canuck has now joined the Bloguin family!

I have a new name and new home at: http://www.benchedwhale.com

Don't worry the blog will still be the same as before, except for a site design change and a spiffy banner. I love my new banner...

See you all there!

Luongo v. Brodeur

2009-12-02T21:20:00.000-08:00

Um, the only place that headline mattered was in Canada. More specifically in Vancouver. Most hockey fans in Canada know Brodeur will be the starting goalie for Team Canada (barring some crazy losing streak or injury). Only delusional Vancouver fans think that Luongo should be the starter instead.

This is no knock on Luongo being a bad goalie, but Brodeur truthfully has the big game experience. He has cups. So when people in Vancouver start discussing who should be the starter, well isn't the answer obvious? Brodeur will be.

This really is only a story because media wants to make it into a story. Media like TSN, they want you to watch the game that they aired tonight, so they set it up to be a battle of the Team Canada goaltenders. Yzerman wasn't even watching.

What was nice about the game: Goals and speed. Even though the Devils choked out most semblance of good fun hockey watching in the neutral zone, the Canucks still prevailed. They were speedy, especially in the 1st. They had goals. They let a few in, took some stupid penalties (I'm looking at your Bieksa) but found a way to come back. Bieksa played like a forward on that rush with Hansen. Loved it.

Luongo will start in net again tomorrow night against Philly. It's PPV, so catch it at a bar on your way home or listen to it on the Team 1040. Let's hope the team brings their feisty game tomorrow and give the Flyers another loss. I hear the Flyers' coach's days are numbered?

This and That: O'Brien, Defensive Defensemen, Brodeur

2009-12-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

So the Canucks begin December with a little eastern roadtrip starting off in New Jersey. It begins 15 games in 30 days for the month of December which includes one back to back game (on the road) and one 10:30am PT start time (in Carolina).

Wednesday's game against the Devils will be on TSN, while Thursday's game against the Flyers will be PPV. Strangely enough, two of the Christmas shopping days for ticket holders fall on those days where they have a game. It's kind of lame of the Canucks to make us choose to either watch the game or take a photo with Santa Fin instead.

Anyways, links about Canuck related things:

O'Brien should get to play soon, either on Wednesday or Thursday because of the back to back games, with Schneider sitting out the game against the Flyers maybe? AV said to the press that O'Brien needs to play like Douglas Murray of the Sharks "There's a guy who, when he was on the ice, our guys knew it. He was physical, he was hard to play against. He was a guy, who if something happens on the ice you know he's going to be in there and he's going to defend his teammates," -AV to The Province
Mirtle put together a list of the top 25 defensive defencemen in the NHL so far (a little past the quarter mark of the season). Christian Ehrhoff and Willie Mitchell come in on that list at #22 and #25 respectively.
Brodeur was just named this past week's NHL second star of the week. Tommorrow's game could be great to watch for the goaltending alone. Brodeur and Luongo face each other in net on Wednesday for what is going to be the matchup of the starter and backup for Team Canada (with Fleury taking the 3rd goalie spot) (barring any crazy injuries or terrible play for either player).
Even though New Jersey had a coaching change this past summer, don't expect their games to have gotten any more interesting to watch. Their new coach is former Wild coach Jacques Lemaire. Yes, the hated defensive style Minnesota coach. Does this help Brodeur look better in net? Oh maybe. Though what Brodeur has going for him on his resume that Luongo does not is Stanley Cups and lots and lots of playoff experience
Brodeur just became an American citizen, actually dual citizen, but don't worry, he'll still play for Team Canada
Jeff Vinnick is on the road with the Canucks to capture their Eastern roadtrip, check out his first set of photos here. I love the candid one of the Sedins having lunch (click to enlarge, photo from Canucks.com). Feel free to throw captions in the comments.

Pizza Shark Time

2009-11-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

People eat pizza, but sharks eat people. Protect your pizza by shaping it like a shark.

Maybe if I shape a pizza like a whale, do you think that gives the Canucks better odds to win tonight? The photo is a screen cap of one of my favorite websites called F-ck Yeah Sharks, if you need some time to waste, do check them out. For your enemy blog needs, check out my friends over at Couchtarts for your Shark needs.

I don't think there is a team that I fear more than the Sharks. I keep up with the Sharks quite a bit since I know the biggest Sharks fan in Vancouver. They win with efficiency, and in a way that is entertaining to watch (not like Detroit). When they lose, then tend to do it in blow out fashion, see last game against Chicago, but then they bounce back and look like they didn't even miss a beat.

Of course, they haven't had success in the postseason, which if you need to make fun of a Sharks fan is your fall back conversation ender.

If I was a hockey player, I think San Jose would be my choice of the team I would play for. They have a great fanbase, great weather, great looking jerseys (love the black armour) and have teal, black and white as their colours. The only thing that they have going against them is that they play the Ducks 6 times a year.

What will happen tonight? Me and Nate were talking last night and could agree that the final score would end up being 4-2, well 3-2 with an open net goal. Nate thinks the Canucks will win and I disagree and think the Sharks will take it (I'm just being a realist here). Last year they took 3 out of the 4 games that we played. Currently the team is the best of a ton of categories: best team in the league, goals, in the top 3 of the PP, the PK and my current favorite fantasy player leads the league in points, Joe Thornton.

This is the first time that Christian Ehrhoff will face his old team. And though I don't think I've written about Ehrhoff yet, I love this guy on our team. Due to this years' weird schedule, after this game, we won't play them again until March, where we will face the Sharks 3 times in the last 24 days of the season.

On the San Jose team, the tandem of Thornton (set up guy) to Heatley (finish man) has been on fire, what a great trade for the Sharks for Heatley. Oh, and Cheechoo has how many goals these days? Yeah. Anyways, I can't wait to see those two play on Team Canada (maybe together?). Patrick Marleau, who was stripped of his C during the summer (it was given to Blake who is currently out on the IR) is having a great year with the lowered amount on pressure on him. The Sharks also have great goaltending, who if you ever get a chance to see, give great interviews on SharksTV. The only thing the Sharks are lacking, to me, is a really good checking line.

Tonight will be a great test for the Canucks, who with Daniel back, are now healthier. Up against a great team, it will show us how good the Canucks really are (or aren't).

Meet 2 Young Swedish Prospects..

2009-11-25T21:40:00.000-08:00

...that will probably never crack the Canucks roster.

Meet Anton Rodin and Peter Andersson. They also don't have the best interview skills, even when being interviewed in Swedish. Some answers of "Nope" and lots of "Yeah, me too"s in there. Their answer about contact with the Canucks training staff elicited a peculiar answer (see below), it makes me want to know what kind of e-mails Dave Gagner send them, sounds...um a little weird. Elaboration clearly is not their strong point, for their sake, I hope they are better at hockey.

How much contact do you have with the Canucks training staff and do they provide you with tips or advice on how to improve your game?

AR – I usually talk to Inge Hammarstrom because he lives almost where I live and I have also talked to Dave Gagner a few times too.

PA – Dave Gagner has sent me some emails.

This and That: Another Stupid Break

2009-11-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

What is with these stupid breaks? Did whoever design this schedule not look what December looks like? One more sleep until the game tomorrow night against the Kings, oh and it's PPV btw.

Since I don't want to write stuff about how Demitra is still not better (though apparently wants to be able to play) or how we haven't taken enough games to OT, so that if we lose we'll still get a pity OT point, which would thus make us look better in the standings, I've decided show you a video that I think you may enjoy:

Miles Fisher's (not Mike Fisher) music video for his cover of This Must Be The Place. If you have watched American Psycho, you'll love it. If you haven't, go watch the movie, it's priceless.

-The video is NSFW

Mason Raymond Autograph Session

2009-11-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

Want Raymond's autograph on a Pharmasave Calender?

Sure you do. He'll be at the Canucks Team Store tomorrow between 4-5pm, click here for, well not much more than what I have already told you.

This and That: Stuff from last week

2009-11-22T21:14:00.000-08:00

Yes yes, most of this is old news, but some of you have missed it, so that's why I'm posting this link dump.

Down Goal Brown identifies the 10 types of Leaf fans, and how to deal with them
Hockey Goal Celebration FAIL:

Anaheim fans get in a brawl over Niedermayer's stick

Two possible goal of the year possibilities:

Stamkos' Goal:

David Perron's Goal:

Burrows toughs out his injuries

2009-11-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

Late story by Botchford on The Province website tonight about how Burrows has been playing through an injury. He was injured by Drew Doughty during the Kings game on October 29th, but since the Moose don't really have any players left to call up, he's been playing through a nagging groin and hip flexor injuries.

This is not an excuse for the lack of scoring or anything, just something interesting to note. With regards to the lack of scoring, well I think to evaluate that we'll have to wait for the return of Daniel Sedin before we start calling out Burr. And while we're on that topic, Daniel's return has been pushed to Sunday against the Blackhawks.

Naslund comes out of retirement, will play for Modo

2009-11-17T07:54:00.000-08:00

So, the rumor that I wrote about yesterday was true, Naslund will come out of retirement to play with Forsberg. The two have previously played four seasons together for Modo.

Interesting tidbit out of the story on TSN: "According to reports, Naslund and Forsberg have both turned down salaries with the team will play for free"

Forsberg to remain with Modo

2009-11-16T18:45:00.000-08:00

Mike Gillis today ended speculation on whether Peter Forsberg would return to the NHL (this season).

From The Province:
"My understanding is Peter is going to stay and play in MoDo and he won't return to the NHL this year," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said. "He made it [the decision] because it's more of a day-to-day thing with his foot as opposed to a situation where he's confident he can play.

"I think it's a tribute to him that he didn't want to put himself in a position where he's taking a roster spot and not being an everyday player on an NHL team."

Rumor has it that Naslund might come out of retirement to play with Forsberg as they have wanted to play together during the NHL...could this come to fruition? We'll have to wait on and see on this one as it's still a rumor, but they two did have dinner together on Thursday night at the NHLPA's Goals and Dreams program...writing this I suddenly feel more like US Weekly...

Off the Schneid

2009-11-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

Last night during the CBC broadcast, Mark Lee said that the Canucks were "off the Schneid" after Schneider scored in the 2nd period. I didn't understand his reference, so I looked it up and am delighted to share the meaning with you.

The basic meaning of phrase means is to end a losing streak'.

In baseball (according to Wikepedia), to get off the schneid is:
To break a scoreless, hitless, or winless streak (i.e., a schneid). According to the Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the term "schneid" comes to baseball via gin rummy, and in turn comes from German / Yiddish "schneider," one who cuts cloth, i.e., a tailor.

So with that 8-2 win over Colorado, I hope that Vancouver is now off the schneid.

Wellwood - No goals in 17 games

2009-11-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Now that we have a few days off, maybe like 6 whole days without a Canucks game, we have a few days to ponder different topics about the team. You may also call it over analyzing, but I don't like to apply labels to everything, so my first thought will be about Kyle Wellwood and his lack of production.

Kyle Wellwood (C) has had no goals in the 17 games he's played this season. He only has 1 assist.

Let's compare that to...

Matt Pettinger LW - 1 goal and 1 assist in 6 games played this season
Jannik Hansen RW - 1 goal and 1 assist in 2 games played this season
Tanner Glass LW - 2 goals and 1 assist in 17 games played this season

Now, I'm not saying that they are all interchangeable for the same player position, but you gotta think that with 6 more days of rest, Daniel Sedin could come back, and if he does, who will be bumped?

Not just Canucks, NW Division Links

2009-11-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

Hello readers,

As you know, in the past I have written a few things for Cycle Like the Sedins, and well, I'm back at it again.

Last week was the first week in a brand spankin new series on CLS. James has invited bloggers from around the league to write up weekly links from each Division. So far, there have been contributions from Sens at Land's End for the NE Division and Laura from Wazzupwitchu for the Central Division; the other divisions will be represented soon at this becomes more regular thing with each of the writers (understandably we all have busy lives so we're all trying our best).

I have been representing the NW Division each Thursday morning. Each week I look for posts by bloggers about the NW Division that I feel deserve some attention/love. I try to find something to represent a blogger from each of the 5 teams, it obviously won't always happen, but I try.

So:

If you have a blog and have written something that you would like to get featured in my weekly links post, e-mail me at thevancitycanuck [at] gmail.com

If you are not a blogger, but have read a story that you think is funny/interesting, also hit me up by e-mail or make a comment on my blog and I'll check it out.

I promise to check out the post, and see if it fits my weekly roundup, even if it doesn't at least I'll check out your blog and keep you in mind for the future. If you have a link for another division, feel free to let me know, and I'll pass your idea along to the blogger in charge of that division.

If you don't have a blog, but would like to try your hand at blogging and would like write something, hit me up by e-mail and I can feature you as a guest post on my blog and link to it through CLS. This would be a great way for people who think that they can write a blog, but haven't tried or are hesitant to get started. It's also very non committal, kinda like a one night stand*

So again, feel free to drop me a line by e-mail at thevancitycanuck [at] gmail.com

*Note: One night stands need not apply. But you can check out my 1st links roundup here, and this week's is here.

This and That: Daniel sent home and other links

2009-11-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

Have you listened to the Team 1040 recently? There's a commercial for an event at the Kingston Tap House this Friday, where Rick Ball is supposed to eat Pratt's shorts because he lost a bet regarding a return of Printers to the BC Lions or something.

This supposed to be a big deal, but like I said to Kevin, you can't trust the Team 1040 with these advertisements, Rick Ball will probably just back out of this one like Don Taylor backed out of getting a gentle vasectomy.

And on to your Canuck news:

Daniel Sedin was sent home to Vancouver today, this pushes his next possible return date to the Nov 20th home game.
Jannik Hansen is expected to be back in the lineup tomorrow
Good read on WHL scholarships for players who go through the Dub instead of the NCAA
According the Forbes, the Leafs are at the top of something, they are the NHL's most valuable team coming in at $470 million

And if you haven't read Down Goes Brown's post on the NHL's top secret flow chart for handing out suspensions...well you haven't lived this week.

Raycroft led the lead in GAA, but not anymore

2009-11-10T20:44:00.001-08:00

This was before the St. Louis game tonight:

And this was after the St. Louis game.

Well it was nice while is lasted, at least it looks like Luongo is back for Thursday night. Too bad when Raycroft gave the quote "Don't get hurt" to The Province today, he should have told himself and the team, "please don't suck tonight", maybe that would have helped.

On a sidenote, fans in Scottrade Center got free big macs from the Blues scoring over 5 goals on the Canucks tonight...Insert Kyle Wellwood joke here.

Luongo has the flu? Daniel & Jannik skating again

2009-11-08T21:44:00.000-08:00

News from Ben Kuzma is that Luongo missed practice today because he didn't feel well. Here is what Vigneault said:
"He's a little under the weather and stayed back at the hotel," said Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. "He started not feeling well yesterday (Saturday) and we'll see how he's doing tomorrow. If he's not better, we'll fly him later into St. Louis."

It was possible that Luongo could have started as early as Tuesday in St. Louis, but perhaps it will be the Detroit game on Thursday instead.

In other news, Daniel is back skating again with his brother and Burrows. Daniel made a joke about Henrik missing him saying he called "Every night," chuckled Daniel. "He cried himself to sleep."

Jannik Hansen was also out on the ice, but isn't ready to go quite yet. He will need contact practices before being ready to play a game.

Shane O'Brien pokes Avery with stick, gets suspended

2009-11-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

You knew it was coming. You knew that Shane was gonna get just for getting involved. You knew that Shane couldn't hold back from getting involved.

But is was great to watch non?

So Shane will miss the 1st game in Minnesota of the 5 game roadtrip that the Canucks have left on.

Sometimes when I see him getting involved I just have to shake my head. I don't want him to end up in AV's doghouse again, but he just can't help himself. He was already sequestered to glue his ass to the bench after taking a double-minor penalty late in the second period. Then, he thought it would be a good idea to poke Avery with his hockey stick from his bench! Aaaaah! And on the video, you see AV having to restrain him from jumping off the bench.

"You never want to be suspended and I don't think it deserves one, but I'll take my punishment," said O'Brien, who won't be eligible to play Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild.

"I got sucked in a little bit. Avery was chirping and he cross-checked me in the first period for no reason.

"He was saying stuff to [Darcy] Hordichuk on the bench before it happened and I just felt that was over the line. I just let my emotions take over. It was a heated point of the game and it was getting a little physical." -The Province

He crossed the line because Avery was saying something about Hordichuck??? Seriously?!?!?!

Oh, it really doesn't stop there. O'Brien was like a quote machine today.

"I know there was part of me that wanted to hop the boards and get in it," said O'Brien. "And I know Hordi did too and Ryp [Rick Rypien] was licking his chops. But you've got to be controlled."-The Province

I just keep picturing Rypien licking his chops, can you?

Anyways, the Rangers have been fined $10 000 and Dane Byers (who picked a fight with Tanner Glass in the last 5 minutes of the game) has been suspended 1 game as well.

Video of Canucks v. Rangers scrum

2009-11-04T08:13:00.000-08:00

I was gleeing with excitement over Bieksa being a forward, he makes a feisty one...but this video has angry Bieksa also...and I love angry Bieksa.

Canucks sign Pettinger

2009-11-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

The Canucks have realized that Aaron Rome, who is still fights for a defensive spot on the roster, is even less of a winger. So the Canucks have gone out and signed Matt Pettinger to a 1 year, two way contract for the league minimum of $500 000.

Now, let's remember that Pettinger is really not a good winger, in fact during his time in Vancouver, he was a pretty unspectacular, we eventually lost him to Tampa Bay last year through waivers. The Kuz says it best: "He is best known for accomplishing little when acquired in a trade for Matt Cooke on Feb. 26, 2008" Pettinger is just an average winger who is getting to be old by NHL standards (he's 29), thus there weren't any offers for contracts this year, not even from Tampa Bay.

Instead of heading to Europe, he elected to play for the Manitoba Moose and since the Canucks are forwards and being decimated by injuries or needs some time playing in the AHL (Shirokov), Pettinger is expected to play on the 4th line with Hordichuck and Mario Bliznak.

Is the NHL celebrity trendy these days?

2009-10-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

So, Zac Efron started off little trend when he showed up with his young costar, Charlie Tahan, from The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud at a Canucks game a couple of weeks ago. Click the link for lots of photos. And I know that you are rolling your eyes at the name of Zac Efron, but please read this story by Lainey before you judge him.

And there was photos of Twilight's Taylor Lautner at the Stanley Cup Finals game supporting the Detroit Red Wings. He is from Michigan so I'll let the Detroit supporting slide.

And then, Taylor Lautner flew out of Vancouver this weekend after finishing up filming Twilight: Eclipse to LA to attend a LA Kings game with Taylor Swift.

And then photos show up of Claire Danes (albeit, she's not very relevant as a celebrity these days) with Hugh Dancy at a Rangers game.

There's tons more sightings from last year, obviously the Kings' website has a ton of pics, there also some of One Tree Hill's Chad Michael Murray and True Blood favorite, Alexander Skarsgard with Mats Sundin at a Rangers game (while he was still deciding for which team he would play for). Photo from HockeyExpressen.se

So it makes me wonder, is going to an NHL game trendy for young stars these days?

Now it has to be noted that this is different from appearances of say Hillary Duff, Carrie Underwood or Elisha Cuthbert, as they date hockey players. A hockey girlfriend appearance at a game is not really a shocker, cause you are there to support your man.

But the appearances of Zac Efron, T. Lautner and T. Swift show young hollywood attending regular season hockey games to check out the game. I wonder if this will be a continuing trend with these young celebrity powerhouses and if so, who will we see next?

This and That: Kesler, Burkie and the Monster!

2009-10-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

So because Tronna fans can't stay up late at night, and they want a 7pm game, CBC has scheduled the Canucks/Leafs game to start at 4pm PST. That's right, the game starts at 4pm. I would advise just to get over the start time, our bitching really won't matter, Toronto will win this round.

This game on Saturday really has no great benefits to the Canucks, besides 2 points. But could you imagine if Vancouver loses? Can you imagine the Toronto fans then? I don't want to imagine it, so instead, enjoy your news about the Canucks:

Kesler Contract Talk
Kesler's agent spoke to Kuzma of The Province about the contract that he feels that Kesler deserves to sign. It's gonna be big money, because Kesler is the type of player that is the heart and soul of a great team. In my opinion, Kesler is captain material. If he wasn't in his last year of his contract, I would be saying that he should be the captain instead of Luongo. Overhardt brings up an interesting statistic that the Canucks "won 74.36 per cent of their games (26-10-3) when the twins had less time than Kesler."

Schneider Ready to Go...
...But he's gonna have to wait until Sunday's game against Edmonton before he'll be able to play because of IR regulations.

Burkie acts like a 5 year old
In a phone interview to The Province today, Brian Burke talked about how he wasn't going to make a big deal of the tampering accusations that were made by the Canucks, but in the end, well you know that he is Brian Burke, and he's making a big deal of it. As per usual, Burkie has some gold quotes:

“I’m certainly not going to pour any gasoline on a fire that as far as I’m concerned doesn’t exist. When other organizations talk or complain about the Leafs, I ignore it by and large.”
“We weren’t copied with any of the correspondence or made aware of it so when all this talking was going on we were mystified, it was like, what are they talking about?” Burke said. “If we were going to bring a tampering charge against a team we would copy the team on it, make them aware of it. That wasn’t done so we were kind of in the dark on this.
“If I didn’t see Mike, that wouldn’t be a snub,” Burke said. “In my building, I always go down and talk to the visiting GM, ask him if they need anything. I don’t know what Mike does. If I see him, I’ll say hi to him, but if I don’t see him I wouldn’t consider it a snub. . . . I’m not jumping off a bridge if I don’t see him and I’m not going to order a cake if I do.”

Now the last quote, it's like trying to figure out a girl is trying to say when she says "I'm FINE". Is he trying to guilt trip Gillis into hanging out with him? It's also kinda like when my mom says "Do what YOU think is right". It's just the ultimate guilt trip, you're so damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

The Monster!

"The Monster," Beauchemin said, offering up his best scary voice, albeit with a distinct Quebecois accent. "The Monster!"-Globe and Mail

My favorite addition to the Leafs this year is definitely Jonas Gustavsson.
Why?
Well he's Swedish, his name is Jonas, and his nickname is The Monster! (with the exclamation mark!).

Rawr!

Those are three perfectly good reasons to love The Monster!

Reports out of Toronto that say that he might be ready to go for the Vancouver game on Saturday afternoon. It's not likely, but it would be nice because Mirtle saying that Schenner might be a healthy scratch, and really Schenn and Gustavsson are the only two things that I like about the Leafs.

Grabner gets his first NHL goal!

2009-10-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Squee!!!

If I didn't have 3/4 of a pumpkin pie in my fridge I would be so on making the kaiserschmarrn right now. But true to my promise, I will be making it to celebrate Grabner's first goal, soon. I'll have to pick another Austrian dessert for goal #2, maybe some Apfelstrudel next?

So this game, was pretty awesome non?

The Canucks get a powerplay goal from Steve Bernier, who if I may say, looks great with his new haircut and physique. More importantly, he was finally able to stuff in a puck from a rebound. The Canucks penalty kill looked pretty good too, keeping Chicago from taking many shots. Then, Mitchell had a fantastic legal open ice hit on Toews, who got smoked. Please enjoy the video:

Then, Kes takes a hit while bringing the puck into the offensive zone, but manages to get the puck to Grabner, who nets his 1st NHL goal! Woooo! Even better that the Moose was there in the crowd to cheer him on! And for the win, Samuelsson with an unassisted goal.

We did also did get some help in the end there by Antti Niemi, who really should have had Samuelsson's shot, but whatever, Hawks lose. Oh, and Luongo looked better, all big in his net and stuff.

Next game: Leafs at 4pm in the m-f-ing afternoon!

Grabner Called Up

2009-10-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

The Canucks announced today that Michael Grabner has been recalled from Manitoba.

Grabner is 22 and is one of the few hockey products out of Austria. He played in Austria until coming over to the Dub to play for the Spokane Chiefs. He was then selected 14th overall in the 2006 Entry draft by the Vancouver Canucks.

This year, he has had 4 goals in the last 7 periods of play with the Moose, which made a strong case for why he was to be the one called up for Friday night. He took the red-eye here, and found himself practising on the top line with Burrows and Henrik. He was practising on the 2nd powerplay unit with Kes and Wellwood. This is going to be Grabner's NHL debut for the Canucks and there's a lot of pressure on him to prove to the Canucks management and fans that he was a good draft pick as opposed to a bust. It's good to see that he knows what is at stake for him here: "They're great set-up guys and should be a lot of fun to play with. It just up to me to make the most out of it. It's been a long time coming."-The Province

I'm really hoping that he'll do well. In addition to wanting him to be play well to because he is a Canuck, I have another reason that I want him to succeed.

Bear with me here, I'm gonna go off on a tangent, then attempt to tie it in to hockey.

So back in the day, Austria and Hungary used to be one joined together called the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Now after WWI, the dual state was dissolved following their military defeat. Anyways, during the dissolution, the empire got chopped up into tiny countries, and their boarders re-drawn. So the effect of the re-drawn boarders, treaties that were drawn up by the Allies (very one-sided) caused devastating political and economic effects on the new countries.

So some of my family is from the different little countries in the former empire, ie. Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia and I've had long discussions with them about the impact of the the changes on sport, specifically hockey. Hockey is an expensive sport. Not only do you have to pay a ton for equipment, but you also have to have the location, ie. rink to be able to play. It is not like football/foci (soccer to you North Americans) where you can play anywhere, no hockey is a sport that required money, and the building to do it in. And those countries didn't have either, money or facilities for sport. That's why you don't see a lot of Austrian, Hungarian, Croatian etc players, because those kids didn't have the opportunity to play hockey growing up, but a lot of them really do love the sport. So for me, it's great to see a young Austrian getting a chance to play in the NHL. It was also awesome to see Hungary make an appearance at the World Cup last year, even though their team was made up of players that also had day jobs. They ended up losing to Canada 9-0, but they were just happy to be there and play.

So, the point to this rambling is to say how proud I am to see young kids like Grabner with talent and a shot at a chance to be in the NHL. It shows how far hockey has come along in places like Austria or Hungary and makes me hopeful for the future of hockey in those countries. So I'll be pulling for Grabner on Friday night hoping that he does well in his Canuck audition and maybe, if he scores, I'll make some Kaiserschmarrn to celebrate.

I'm pretty shameless...

2009-10-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Here is some shameless cross promotion:

I have wrote a few words for Cycle Like the Sedins' season preview feature called "The Sore Thumb" for the Vancouver Canucks. Click here to read my submission.

I may have spoken too soon when I wrote up my thoughts about the fragility of our team since Salo is now joining Demitra and Schneider on the injury list. Care to agree/disagree with my thoughts?

Tanner Glass love

2009-10-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

Glass had been getting some media love these days. First there is was some love from Kuzma of The Province here, and then yesterday he got some from the Vancouver Sun.

So who is this guy?

Tanner Glass, 25, was born on November 29th 1983 in Craven, Saskatchewan. He was played in the BCHL for Penticton before being dealt to the Nanaimo Clippers. He was then drafted in the 2003 entry draft by the Florida Panthers at 265th overall. He then went on the play for Dartmouth College for 4 years and even earned a History degree while he was there.

“I am a history buff,” explained the 25-year-old Saskatchewan native in the Canucks dressing room following a practice. “I studied the history of imperialism, the Roman Empire, the American Empire. You look back at major things that happened in the world and it’s interesting to see what led up to them and what caused them.” -Vancouver Sun

He then played just 4 games for the Panther's AHL team, the Rochester Americans before being called up to play for the Panthers. He has some injuries to his shoulder in his 2008-2009 season, had surgery back in February and spent much of his time in the AHL, and thus didn't get a qualifying offer from the Panthers.

Here is where the Canucks come in to the story. We offered him a two-way deal worth $500, 000, so he's a nice cheap addition, and so far so good. He doesn't have a ton of skill, but he works hard, is scrappy and from what I've heard, has a ton of heart and soul.

This and That: Salo's injury,

2009-10-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

Still no hockey for another 3 more days...and this madness is apparently due to Gillis' request of less travel for the Canucks...

Now for your Canuck news:

After undergoing an MRI today, it has been confirmed that Salo has a sprained MCL and will be out an estimated 4-6 weeks
Demitra is not getting better from his shoulder surgery that he had in the off season to repair tears in his rotator cuff
The Canucks have reassigned Guillaume Desbiens back to Manitoba

With the reassignment of Desbiens, I think we'll see either Grabner or Shirokov back up to add some offence. As for the defense, I don't think we'll see any call ups since we still are carrying Aaron Rome.

Salo Injury Watch: We may have #38

2009-10-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

So, as everyone in Canuck nation feared when they saw Salo get in a collision with Jamie Benn during the Dallas game last night, Salo may be yet again injured. This would injury #38 if he misses the next game. But since to this weird scheduling of 1 game in 8 days, Salo still has a few more days of recovery time. If he's not ready to go by Friday for the game against Calgary, it is likely that Aaron Rome will dress, with Shane O'Brien getting more ice time again.

But this was expected non?

This and That: Stuff to keep you busy during the 4 day break

2009-10-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

Classy Montreal fans

No Canucks game until Sunday. Who designed this schedule? There is a perfectly good Friday or Saturday night that just begs for a hockey game. Alas, there is none, but there is an open practice the Canucks are having on Saturday morning, to tide your hockey fix over. You can find tickets on Canucks.com

Your Canuck news:

Hodgson has been told to stay off skates for a minimum of a month, maybe more as he deals with his back injury. He will be re-evaluted in Cleveland in 2 weeks and will undergo aggressive physiotherapy.
Shirokov has been assigned to the Manitoba Moose. I think this will actually be good for him to keep his play going since the boys will only be playing 1 game in the next 8 days. Gillis said that "He's not being shipped out on his own," added Gillis. "We're aware and want him to understand that this is part of a process and he's in it and we're very confident about him. And I think he knows that, based on our conversations." I think he will get another shot with the Canucks eventually, so let's hope he gets his play back while in Winnipeg.
According to Spike TV, Vancouver Canucks fans are 5th on his list of top 10 teams with the most annoying fans. Hate to break it to the writer, but has he not met a Leaf fan before?
Superfan Michael Bublé is interviewed by the Vancouver Sun and when asked about playing at MSG: “Madison Square Garden . . . it was a really wonderful night . . . [but] I kept looking up and seeing that stupid Stanley Cup banner, and all I could think was, f--- you.” Fantastic. Love Michael Bublé. He has a new cd out too, called Crazy Love.

And for your viewing pleasure, it's Rypien vs. the slow giant, USS Hall Gill

Canuck questions on the Team Marketing Report Fan Cost Index

2009-10-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

The new Team Marketing Report is out, which ranks, as the words of PD said "average cost for an obese, materialistic family of four to attend a game". The full pdf can be found here.

The prices for the Canadian teams have been adjusted to US dollars and the previous' years pricing to the current exchange rate.

Now if you can squint, no wait, look below, and look at the Pct. change in the Canucks average ticket for this year compared to last:

Are they are claiming that the ticket price for the Canucks have DROPPED 5.8% this year? Because I'm pretty sure they didn't. Back in March I wrote about how the Canucks are raising the ticket prices to 55% of the tickets, not dropping them. The only thing I can think that happened in their calculation is that in the adjusted of the price for last years tickets according to the value of the Canadian dollar last year vs. this years tickets, something was calculated incorrectly, or the value was compared incorrectly. Any thoughts?

In the end, while this report may be better for comparing the cost going to see US based teams against each other, I can't trust the dollar conversions for the Canadian teams.

Toronto fined for Wilson's comments, but cleared for tampering

2009-10-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

Toronto got a slap on the wrist today. In a media release today, Bill Daly issued a statement that said that said that Ron Wilson's comments during the summer about the Leafs' interest in the Sedins prior to their contract being up, violated provisions of NHL by-law 15. The Leafs organization is being fined for his actions.

Though, the NHL has cleared Burke of statements that he made while on Leafs TV. Gillis pursued the NHL to look in to the matter for possible violation of the NHL's tampering rules.

An excerpt from the statement:

"That while unfortunate and inappropriate, the inclusion of a brief reference to the names of a pair of current Vancouver Canucks players in a television segment that aired once on Leafs TV last week did not constitute a tampering offense under League rules, and that no League action will be taken, or League sanction imposed on the Maple Leafs' organization as a result.

The Maple Leafs have been advised that the League likely would impose discipline for any future inappropriate conduct on their part that may cause, or may reasonably be perceived to cause, damage to the Canucks' franchise, or its relationship with its existing players and/or employees."

So the Leafs got away with a warning from the NHL about future conduct. If we know what Brian Burke is like, this issue will come up again. But since the Leafs have deep pockets, if all the team will endure is a fine, will this really stop Burke at a future press conference or media interview?

Bieksa is a Daddy!

2009-10-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

Bieksa's wife Katie gave birth to a their second child, a baby girl named Reese today. He will play tonight if he's up for it, but since Cole is will be turning 2 at the end of the month, you can bet he's had no sleep. Hopefully he'll get the night off to enjoy the moment with the new addition to the family.

This & That: Salo missing from practice, Tanner Glass in for Shirokov

2009-10-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

*Updated*
Canuck news from today:

Clearly somebody gave Salo a high five or something because he missed practice today. No official word from the Canucks on whether he's injured, he was just absent from practice.

After losing 3 straight games, Coach V is making a lineup change with T anner Glass in for Shirokov on the 3rd line with Wellwood and Bernier. Mason Raymond, who was one of the best Canucks last game, is getting a promotion to the second line. I hope Shirokov takes the game off to regroup and then have a strong game if he gets another chance. Tanner Glass likes to bring energy to the line as well as liking to drop the fisticuffs to protect his teammates...kinda like another Rypien.

Bob McKenzie didn't like the hit on Jared Boll by Hordichuk last game. Lame how he keeps writing pussy(cat) throughout this article, which just drops his credibility about the whole arguement. And does TSN think it's less offensive writing it like that? Or did McKenzie have to do that to get through TSN's filter?

Update:

Hordichuck received a $2500 fine from the NHL for his hit on Jared Boll

TSN is reporting that the Canucks are pursuing tampering charges with the NHL because of the comments that Burke made public about a proposed Canucks trade with Tampa Bay

And because in Vancouver, if you couldn't get Olympic tickets and think it's a cool idea to watch the game at Molson Canada Hockey House, tickets are only $500 per day! That's right! $500 per day. But why stop there? You might as well buy yourself a "season pass" for the Olympics for $8500!

And the organizers consider that a steal: "Based on the Superbowl, Formula 1 or the Ryder Cup, we're cheap,". Right.

If you buy tickets, someone should remind you, that you are just watching the game on TV at Hockey House. Those aren't even actual hockey tickets. Though it is catered by Wolfgang Puck (no pun intended) and includes "all-inclusive" drinks. Personally, I'm holding out for the Dutch and their Heineken House.

Apparently, this was a "must win"

2009-10-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

VC: "Look! They're cheering for Raycroft!"

Tempocrew: "Yeah, that's because he actually made a save"

Luongo let in 3 goals on 3 shots. So I guess if you are paying $100+ dollars to watch Luongo not stop goals, you might as well start cheering for something positive, like Raycroft stopping a puck. Even with Raycroft's puck stopping skills, the Canucks lost 5-3 tonight to the Blue Jackets.

Jim Jamieson called this game a "must win". It's game #3, and he's calling this a "must win", which was a bit of a stretch. Though I wouldn't want to turn on the Team 1040 right now to listen to the callers talk how the solution to 3 straight losses is to trade away Luongo, or fire Vigneault, or a combination of both them. Relax, it's only the 3rd game.

Something to celebrate? Sami Salo played his 600th game of his NHL career tonight and in 3 games, he hasn't injured himself (yet). It's taken him a bit longer than others, 10 years in fact for him to hit this point, which may have something to do with the 37 injuries he's had in his career. Just don't congratulate him with a high 5 or something, because you might break his wrist.

Next game: Weds Oct 7th, vs the Montreal midgets

The Night Before Hockey

2009-09-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

Happy hockey eve everyone!

Clearly we all know that the Canucks are playing the Flames tomorrow night. Late game for Calgary, with a 7pm PT start. The summer felt so long, but finally hockey is back.

Enemy blog: Check out Kent, who I've met through the CLS re-draft at his blog over at Five Hole Fanatics

Some Canucks stuff:

Lukowich cleared waivers, and since the Moose have a plethora of defencemen (apparently), the Canucks are trying to find him a spot to play for the Texas Stars who are lacking defensemen
Lawrence Nycholat and Michael Funk also cleared through waivers and are assigned to the Moose.
Hodgson got sent back down to Brampton.
Henrik gets an A, and as usual, Daniel got a G. But seriously, how did Daniel feel about that? "[Daniel] cried a little bit the first night but it’s alright now,” joked brother Henrik. “It’s a great honor. We’ve got a lot of really great leaders on this team, so a letter doesn’t mean too much.” Sure sure Daniel, don't forget he's also taller and older than you.
The Canucks roster is set. Sergei Shirokov, Aaron Rome and Tanner Glass make the team.
Bieksa has tweaked his groin, and Rypien has the flu (hopefully not the "flu" he had until March of last year), but they are both expected to play tomorrow night.
Sundin finally made it official that he retired.
Brian Burke tells Leafs TV that Gillis shopped Burrows, Bieksa and their 1st pick at this years draft for Victor Hedman. Response? “There is absolutely no truth to it whatsoever,” Gillis Wednesday from Calgary. “It’s an absolutely preposterous idea."
Puck Daddy's staff predict Division winners, and have the NW down to the Canucks or the Flames. ESPN, with the exception of the Mullet, thinks it's going to the Flames, but they think the Vezina is coming down to Luongo or Nabby

Check out DGB's NW Division season preview. He has some great Wellwood and Raycroft bashing in a way that only a Leaf fan could.

Oh, and today the hockey world found out today that that the past few months of the Phoenix Coyotes court case was a complete waste of time.

But to cheer you up and get you excited about tomorrow, watch Rypien destroy Prust:

Where are my pants?

2009-09-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

I was offended by watching this, well maybe more disgusted than offended? I haven't made up my mind on that one yet. I warn you before watching this, that if you are a girl, you will be too.

Today off of PD, I found the Dallas Stars marketing dept has really sunk low on this one, with the cheesy 80's porn music, the slow closeups...and the "where are my pants?" script writing?

Are they for real? They really did say "Where are my pants?"

Big night for Shirokov in Calgary

2009-09-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

Sergei Shirokov is set to play tonight on the top line with Kes and Samuelsson, coming back from a knee sprain that had him out for the past week. This is gonna be a huge night for him. Gillis has already gone on record to the TEAM 1040 saying that "Right now, he hasn't demonstrated anything in my mind that indicates he's ready to play at this level based on this camp". Ouch. At least Gillis isn't being nice to his young hopeful by avoiding the assessment. I like the bluntness from Gillis about Hodgson. And Grabner, although I've been pulling for him, has not been impressive enough to crack the roster.

Shirokov on the other hand, had 2 goals in the 1st game in Terrace (against an AHL roster albeit) and a couple of assists in the 2nd game against San Jose before being sidelined by injury. I don't want to be too excited about his potential, but he could be a good replacement for Demitra, at least while Demitra is out with his shoulder injury (and maybe long term option for the rather expensive contract?).

"He's a smart hockey player and pretty skilled offensively and can find the back of the net."-Kelser. And we need players like those, the ones that can find the back of the net, unlike the Bernier of last year.

He has 2 back to back games to impress coach V and will face a mostly veteran line-up in Calgary tonight and tomorrow in Edmonton.

Hodgson and Grabner will also play tonight. Hear the game on the TEAM 1040.

Kesler, Bieksa and Hockey Moms

2009-09-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I've seen the NHL2K10 commercial twice tonight while watching the football game. Not quite sure what to make of it yet. Are they trying to make hockey moms sound like Newfies or people from Chicago? "Welcome to Ha-ckey Night"? Yeauch.

Two of our boys, Kesler and Bieksa, are in the commercial along with Jack Johnson. And our boys look good, non? And Jack Johnson just looks like he's trying to act hardcord like Mike Green, though I kinda like that Kings shirt he's wearing.

Please enjoy some photos from the video shoot (full gallery is here), and you'll find the commercial at the bottom.

And now the video:

Canucks News

2009-09-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

The Canucks announced a 3 year extension for Coach V today. It was only a couple of months ago that the majority of Vancouver was calling for Vigneault's head to roll, but hey, we have short term memories in this city. If he coaches the whole contract, he will have coached in Van for 7 years straight, though, coaches never ever 'finish' a contract these days do they? We'll see how it plays out in the future, and I can only hope he keeps coaching the boys in the faster more aggressive play like we saw this year.

The Canucks trimmed down their roster today. They sent Yann Sauve back to the QMJHL, and sent Evan Oberg, Taylor Ellington, PC Labrie and Eric Walsky back to Manitoba. Daren Machesney and Travis Ramsy have been released from their PTO (professional tryout contracts) and are going back to Manitoba as well. And not surprising, but the veteran players Ronald Petrovicky and Dave Scatchard have been released from camp with no contract.

And for an injury update, both Schneider and Demitra are going on the long term injury reserve to start the season. Schneider has been skating, but is not been able to have contact yet in practice, Demitra hasn't begun practising yet, and may be sidelined until November. This will give the Canucks a little cap relief at least, but don't you wonder how long it will take before Salo lands on that list as well?

Here is a look into the new Canucks dressing room which is said to cost between 2-3 million dollars. It looks sweet, especially the doors. Yes I like the doors. For a gallery check out this link here, and for an article about it, check out Iain MacIntyre's article here.

And from yesterday's Raise a Reader campaign, here is a pic of Shane O'Brien:

People at Pre-Season Games

2009-09-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

So your Vancity Canuck was at Saturday's pre-season game against the Oilers with R for the first pre-season game at home. During the game, me and R came up with a few thoughts on people that attend pre-season games.

Before I get right into it, I must say that GM Place announced that it was a sell-out, but the people that were there will confirm that the building was clearly not full. Obviously not everyone shows up to the pre-season, hell, I only show because I have tickets and I feel bad letting them go to waste.

Though, for those of you who have them and don't show up, perhaps next time you could just donate your tickets a local children's charity and then feel like you are a good person? It's really easy, all you have to do, if you have a pack (ice pack/half season/full season) is log into your My Canucks Account, then click Forward your tickets to charity. Then, presto! instant good karma. DO IT.

Now, during the various topics of conversation me and R had during the game, the topic of people who show up to pre-season games came up. I personally think there are far too many pre-season games, we should really just have 4, 2 home and 2 away, then right into the regular season.

Every year when you get a pack of tickets from the Canucks, you inevitably get stuck with a few pre-season games, and between the people I share my tickets with, nobody wants to go. We are all gung-ho about picking the tickets for the regular season, (grudgingly getting stuck with the multitude of Minnesota games) and then you get the pre-season tickets. Everyone just sits around being quiet and ho humming until we can take some ~~sucker~~ friend with 25 bucks extra to show up to a worthless pre-season game.

So the people who don't show up are obviously people that have more money than us, and don't mind for their tickets to go to waste while they enjoy their night at home. I haven't achieved that level of financial prosperity to waste tickets yet, even if they are only the pre-season ones.

Then, you get people who pay to go to the pre-season.

People like this guy.

He must have lost some bet.

I hope.

I wouldn't be surprised if the back of the jersey has Pyatt on it.

He was pretty happy about his jersey, and I do thank him for letting me take a photo of him.

So back to the question, who buys tickets to the pre-season? Maybe the same person who would shotgun a mickey of liquor, and then getting promptly kicked out because you are too drunk (so we heard). Or maybe you are like the couple that sat beside us. You might be on a date, drinking beer through a straw and looking like Stifler's mom (no joke). And if you are on a date, clearly the best thing to do, would be to dance every time DJ Dave plays a song, a song like "Get Low" (low, low, low...) by Flo Rida, though please, next time, keep to your own personal space, even if you look like Stifler's mom.

Ugh, preseason people.

So this year, this sucker was me and R.
ps. If that photo is of you and you want it taken down, please send me an e-mail

Tweetup, Pronounciations and Cuts

2009-09-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Tweetup
The Vancouver Tweetup community is having their first Canucks Tweetup tomorrow night at the Hurricane Grill.

I will not be in attendance, but since I'm talking about twitter on this blog, I do have twitter, though I haven't really gotten into it yet. I know most of your feel that twitter is dumb, but hey, I said that about Twilight, and look how far I got with that. So if you feel inclined to follow me, here it is.

Pronunciations
Cody Hodgson spoke to the press about how to really pronounce his name. Apparently we've all been saying it wrong. The G is supposedly silent, so it's like Cody Hod-son, not Hodge-son like we've all been saying.

Tempowcrew doesn't think it's gonna stick, at least not he cracks the lineup, but here's to hoping that he does: Ko-dee Hod-sun

Canucks Makes Cuts
The Canucks made some cuts with Dan Gendur going to the Moose, and Steven Anthony, Morgan Clark, Prab Rai and Kellan Tochkin (Silver Tips) going back to their junior clubs. Then they made some more cuts, sending Kevin Connauton back to the G iants.

Botch on the Defense
Jason Botchford wrote an article today about how a deep defense has players fighting for a roster spot. He asks "Can any team in the NHL afford the luxury of having that kind of money invested in their seventh and eighth defencemen?".

What he fails to point out, is that two of the players we have on our team are named old man Schneider and glass Salo, who really are not expected to be healthy enough to play the whole season. So yes, I do expect to carry 7 or 8 D all year, though I would have preferred for them to be not paid as much as they are getting.

This and That...

2009-09-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

I guess it could be called "news" that the Canucks beat the Isles 2-1 last night for their pre-season opener in Terrace, but really, it was just AHL team vs. AHL team. Though it is nice to have hockey feel like it is that much closer, the preseason, in my opinion is too long and until the last 2 games, really worthless. The NHL should really just start the season next week...but they're not, so here is some Canucks musings that I found:

Ed Willies writes today about the Sedins:
"Daniel and Henrik? You could give them each a million bucks, send them on the road with The Rolling Stones and a dozen Playboy bunnies and they'd come back telling you about the movies they saw in their hotel room."

The Sedins think that Samuelsson is a dirty Swede (which really just makes me laugh):
Henrik: "And he can be a little dirty. He's kind of a dirty player and not Swedish that way. He can play it all."
"You can say that," said Daniel. "He's more Canadian than Swedish. He's tough to play against and gets under your skin and can frustrate you because he's so strong. He'll fit in in a lot of different situations."

Not that I watched this, but it looks like Burrows, Hordichuck and Raymond made an appearance at the Canadian Country Music Awards. A french hockey player that likes country music? I may know a girl that we should keep that info from...

And now for some self-endorsement: After some bonding over True Blood over at Wrap's house of Tokarski, and obliging me with a photo in his episode a recap, HF29 asked me to give an intro about Curtis Sanford for their blog Four Habs Fans. It's stripperriffic, so please click here to read my submission here about the Sandman.

Canucks Training Camp: 57 Players Invited

2009-09-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

So medical testing starts today at UBC for the Canucks, followed by two days of training camp and then the first preseason game on Tuesday in Terrace, BC against the Islanders. For a list of who is invited to the training camp, see a post here on the CDC.

Mike Gillis has invited a bunch of journeymen to the camp, including Mark Parrish, Dave Scatchard, Ronald Petrovicky and Keith Carney. It seems that Gillis has a thing for older guys that are on the outs...but maybe one will be low cost surprise.

And something funny for the weekend:

Check out the KB for their Friday chat. This week's comments about Team USA's glamour shots are hilarious. The picture of Kane just cracks me up, "Grrrrrr...."

Click here for the full series of photos from PD.

Canucks tickets on sale today, 12pm

2009-09-12T10:03:00.001-07:00

Tickets for Canucks games are on sale today at 12pm on Ticketmaster.ca

Funny Things: Hating the Leafs, and Player Websites

2009-09-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

Leafs-hate:

1. I apologize in advance for not posting this link last week, but Five for Smiting had an awesome post about Leafsnation. It's starts off: "I despise the city of Toronto, and everything in it."

You know you want to read it.

2. Nice excerpt from Leafs Abomination: The Dismayed Fan’s Handbook to Why the Leafs Stink and How They Can Rise Again in the Globe and Mail last week.

Best parts of the excerpt: Wellwood was fat, out of shape and too lazy to do anything about it. He was waived in 2008 and eventually picked up by the Vancouver Canucks where he required three tries to pass the club- mandated fitness test in training camp.

Win or lose, Wellwood was out on Saturday night, hitting any number of downtown clubs where bouncers were more than happy to whisk some Leafs and their friends past the velvet ropes and straight to the VIP areas. “The minute you show up at the club you cut the line, get a table, get a few drinks,” he says. “As a young kid it was a lot of fun, I definitely miss it. If Tie [Domi] was bringing you out, you got a lot of attention, but it was nice. It was tough for the guys who were married or had a girlfriend. There’s always some one who wants a cell- phone picture taken and next thing you know you’re on someone’s Facebook page and there’s a girl kissing you on the cheek. You have to be careful. But if you wanted attention from the girls, you could definitely get it. I just think it’s fun for them to hang out with an NHL player in Toronto. And if they’d had a few drinks it was even more fun.”

Hahaha....oh Kyle. For the except, click here.

Player Websites:
So I came across Christian Errhoff's website today and found the FACTS link mildly amusing.

FACT: Christian Ehrhoff is not only one of the most talented young defensemen in the National Hockey League, he is also an interesting person. That's why we decided to give you a closer look at his personality and to offer you some more information.

Puh-leeze. Someone please get Ehrhoff a better writer. He's also an interesting person? At least he likes Entourage and Sprite.

Demitra is another 6 weeks for playing

2009-09-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

After injuring himself while trying to hit Brian Campbell during the second round of the playoffs, Pavol Demitra took himself out of the series. He had shoulder surgery in May, and according to him said this to The Province today:

"I'm not quite there yet, I still have another month and a half to go and we'll see how it goes," Demitra said after skating on his own Tuesday. "The shoulder is not quite strong enough yet."

This will give some other players a chance to try for the top 6 forward position during the beginning of the season while Demitra heals. Hopefully he recovers speedily and Gillis finds a ~~sucker~~ team looking for a winger to trade him to.

Thoughts about Re-Drafting

2009-09-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

Since there was no new True Blood to watch this week, I thought I would take some time to recap some of my thoughts on the CLS re-draft.

Next week will be the last episode of TB for another 9 freaking months! Sigh. At least there will be hockey to keep me busy (soon). I would like to say thank you to Wrap and the commenters on her blog for introducing me to Sookie Stackhouse and True Blood which has made this summer of no hockey pass by that much faster. I may have been swayed to start watching due to this post Alexander Skarsgard. By the way, True Blood is like tv crack...be warned...oh, and the books are pretty good too (I now have them all now). Love how Season 2 has more Eric in it...Love it.

So as some of you know, I have been participating in Cycle Like the Sedins' re-draft of the league. The process started as idea between James at CLS and some other bloggers after a post about NHL 10. The idea started back in July sometime asking bloggers "If you could choose one player to build a team around, who would it be? Then, through Twitter, it morphed into a re-draft of the whole league with 30 bloggers participating. The end result of this whole process will be entered into NHL10 and then according to simulation, it will tell us who had the best team. Like Stanley Cup winning team. Sounds easy enough huh?

The first pick was on July 28th, and now as of Labour Day, we are on Round 14, and slowly but surely, we are getting there.

During the past month I have come up with a few thoughts about the process so far:
1. With 30 bloggers (more now with Assistant GM's being added into the mix) it's been hard to predict when you'll actual pick. Clearly, every one wants to have the process move along, but of course we all have very different schedules in our lives. In addition we are also spread across different time zones. Thus some parts of rounds can zip on by, bringing your pick scary close or drag on and you think it may be another week before you get your next pick.

Now this is not a complaint about other bloggers, not at all, rather a comment on how it's rather unpredictable to gauge how fast your actual pick will show up. You really got to be always checking in to see the process.

2. Thinking you'll be able to pick a ridiculously amazing team. Yeah, not so much. With 30 bloggers picking, this ain't no small fantasy pool, hell no. I picked 2nd, picking Sidney Crosby, well that was awesome, but then the next pick doesn't come until #59.

3. The fantastic thing about having almost back to back picks, is that once you make a pick, you get a few days off.

4. The not so fantastic thing about having back to back picks is that you have to do a lot of catching up on who everyone else has picked between your picks.

6. Not having a crazy phone that can do stuff on the Internet, and crappy plans that Canadian companies offer due to a lack to competition in the industry. So to make a pick, I have to make a point to be able to access a computer on the day/night that I think I'll be picking on.

7. The feeling of frustration/momentary anger when you read that the player you wanted just got picked 3 picks before yours. This has happened so many times!

8. Help is greatly appreciated. I have had the help of Anaheim Calling in making picks for me while I was away in Chicago. I could not have done it without them. And I thank them for not drafting me Bertuzzi or Cloutier.

The key so far in making it this far, in my opinion, has been tons of communication. Like, behind the scenes of the picks, there is a ridiculous amount of e-mails being sent between each blogger. We are either tossing up new ideas, like deadlines, or defining the rules, like players that move to the KHL/retire, or paying forward the notifications of who is on deck to pick. Love the e-mails. If it weren't for the e-mails, I don't think I would have made it this far.

So we have a few more rounds to go, and I'm sure I'll have more thoughts as we finish up our picks.

Coyotes Sign Taylor Pyatt

2009-09-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, I realize this signing happened yesterday, but I didn't have time to post one last picture spam for L and T. Please enjoy girls.

Last picture is from the BC Children's Hospital Foundation, which is an amazing foundation that the Canucks support.

Canucks sign Luongo for 12 years

2009-09-02T09:32:00.001-07:00

This is such a big deal. Way more years than I expected. Love it. Read here for the info.

Canucks re-sign McIver, Burrows says funny things

2009-09-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

Two things Canuck related today:
1. The Canucks re-signed Nathan McIver today, adding another player to their blue line. Since we already have a ridiculous amount, I hope he enjoys spending another year winter in Winnipeg.

2. Check out this article from The Province. There were 9 Canuck players at UBC today skating, and Burrows gave some great quotes about the firing of Paul Kelly.

"Some guys just like to play hockey and they're not the smartest guys out there, but I like to learn," Burrows said.

"Right now, I still have to get a few more facts to make sure I can comment on what's going on," Burrows said. "For some reason, we haven't got all the facts."

The whole article is pretty funny, with lots of sarcasm sprinkled in liberally.

This and That...

2009-08-31T19:57:00.000-07:00

Just a few quick thoughts about stuff around the NHL

Sportsnet reported that the Canucks and Luongo will have a deal done before training camp. The Vancouver Sun interrupted Mike Gillis on his fishing trip to receive a 'no confirmation and no comment' quote for the story. I'll believe it when I see it confirmed, though I think it will be done, and in time for a nice press conference to kick off the season.
Another changing of the guard at the NHLPA. The contract negotiations are in 2011 and I have an uneasy feeling that that I better enjoy what hockey we have now, because there might be another hockey stoppage when the contract runs out.
The Canucks prospects camp starts Monday and it's at UBC. Here are the times if you want to go watch.
I know the acquisition of Erhoff and Lukowich is old news, but I would just like to say how pleased I am that Erhoff is on our team. During the CLS re-draft I was hoping that I would be able to draft him, but someone took him a couple of picks before me. Beside this being a salary dump for the Sharks, I can't believe we got we got Erhoff in exchange for Patrick White!

And because I think it's funny:
Mike Green launched his website today. Visit it. Apparently this is what happens when you grow up trying to be hardcore from Calgary. He ended his first blog entry with peace. Awful. With glamour shots in his wife beater. In sunglasses. And some bling. Such epic fail. Enjoy the pic.

Peace.

Brouwer skates with Willie Mitchell

2009-08-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Neat fluff story in The Province today about how the lower mainland hockey players were skating together at UBC today. Troy Brouwer of the Chicago Blackhawks, Willie Mitchell, Brendan Morrison, Shaone Morrison, Jason Garrison and Manny Malhotra all hit the ice today at UBC.

Luongo deadline for contract

2009-08-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

So not really "news", but today Luongo while speaking to the press said this about his contract:
"We're trying to get it done before camp," "If it doesn't happen before camp, I will not be negotiating during the season. I don't want to have that distraction," -from TSN.

So that puts a deadline of September 13th for the contract negotiations. Personally if its gonna happen I think it will be announced just at the beginning of the season. PR-wise there's not point to announce it now while we are still about a month away from the start of the season. Instead they will want to have a nice big press conference in September to announce the contract and get the hype going again about the Canucks.

Did you see that chic-ago?

2009-08-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I had to do it.

I am back from my trip to Illinois. It was a couple of days spent at a small university town and then a couple of days in Chicago.

And now I come back to hear that Paris Hilton has invaded Vancouver and supposedly wants both Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson from Twilight. Puke. She's here filming an episode for Supernatural where she plays a shapeshifter who shapeshifts into....Paris Hilton! Who wrote that?

Chicago was great. Love the city. Love the food; deep dish pizza, great Italian, cinnamon rolls at Ann Sather, pecan rolls, biscuits, fried fish sandwiches. Yum.

Thunderstorms and tornado warnings? Not so much.

I've never seen a Wal-Mart so large in my life before. I should have taken a picture of it since I took a picture of almost everything else.

Such as the bean:

And Wrigley Field:

But now I'm back, and hockey is just around the corner. I'll need another day or two to get caught up on the CLS: redraft, because so much can happen in a week and a half. But I'll update you once I figure out who Vancouver picked. I'm thrilled to have Anaheim Calling helping me out with the picks while I was gone, we'll see if they went for good players or comedy in their picks. Maybe I can convince them to help with out for a while with picks.

Team Canada's Jersey for the 2010 Olympics

2009-08-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

So Icethetics say they have pics of the 2010 Team Canada jersey. The official unveiling doesn't happen till Monday, and I think they go on sale around October, but they look nice non?

I think I'll be getting one of those and a 2010 hoodie from Aritzia (girls who watched the Bachelorette know which one I'm referring to.

Jannik Hansen re-signs with the Canucks

2009-08-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Canucks.com have confirmed that Jannik Hansen has re-signed with the Canucks today. Terms of the deal haven't been released.

Wellwood Signs for 1.2 Million

2009-07-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

So the Canucks.com has up today that Wellwood has signed with the Canucks for 1 year. As per club policy, terms of the deal was not disclosed, but as per The Province reporting policy, they can be found here. It's 1 year at 1.2 million.

Wellwood Arbitration

2009-07-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

The hearing took 4 hours today, with each side getting 90 minutes to present their case and then offer a rebuttal. No agreement has been made as of today, and the arbitrator will make his ruling by Thursday.

The Canucks are offering Wellwood a raise of $2500 to his salary of $997,500 salary last year. It kinda sounds bad when you say it like that, no?

They are actually just rounding up to a cool $1 million dollars. Fair I'd say based on his play from last year. Yes he did get 18 goals...but he also did go through a 21 game stretch with nada. It was frustrating to watch, kinda like watching Bernier not being able to bury those goals like he should have....but let's not dwell on the past.

So we should hear the news on Thursday from the arbitrator unless they somehow come to an agreement mutually before then. Hopefully no feeling or scales were broken at the hearing...

Wellwood Arbitration Tomorrow

2009-07-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

...and really that's all that is interesting about the Canucks these days. The Province feels the same way about this, heck, they're not even writing a story about it. They just posted a headline about the arbitration and told readers that basically "it's too hot outside so just talk amongst yourselves" . Priceless.

Cycle Like the Sedins' re-draft is well underway now, we're up to #26 with the Sabres taking Zetterberg. I didn't explain the point of spending the time re-drafting the league since it all started so quick, so, besides summer hockey boredom, we will use the NHL 10 simulation to see which team will will end up the best team. There is a salary cap of 57 million and the order is a reverse snake, so I will have picks 57 and 63 coming up next. I'll keep you posted as I get closer to the picking.

With the second pick, Vancouver selects...

2009-07-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

...Sidney Crosby. How could I not?

CLS Re-Drafts the League

2009-07-21T20:38:00.001-07:00

What do hockey bloggers do when there is no hockey to talk about?

We decide to re-draft the league. No joke. This is what hockey bloggers do when they don't have their daily fix of hockey. Check out the message board here. I can't wait to see the attempt at coordination that will occur over the next few days.

Vancouver has ended up with the #2 pick, which we all know in real-life that would never happen, because, let's face it Vancouver, we love mediocrity here. But let's step aside from our love of winning just enough to give the ticket holders a little hope that maybe next year is our year, and dare to dream a little.

Five Hole Fanatics (Calgary) had the first pick with Alex Ovechkin, so he's off the market...

So here's my question Vancouver fans: If you could pick any player currently playing in the NHL right now, who would YOU pick with your 2nd pick? Which superstar do you design your team around?

Apologies to readers...

2009-07-18T12:26:00.001-07:00

This is my half-assed attempt at an apology, that I'm only kinda sorry for.

So I have been a little MIA in the blogging world these days. There were some players transactions which were a little exciting for like 5 minutes, but that's over and done with now (for the most part). The schedule was released this week, and it looks like I will be attending a ridiculous amount of home games in December and January, interrupted by the Olympics (that I will be staying in town for, unless someone convinces me Mexico really is gonna be more fun than Holland House) then a ton more home games in March. But all in all, hockey has be well....not really happening. No?

Instead of hockey...I have been spending far too much time on Lainey Gossip....god I love her. She's the only gossip smut I can read, and is she ever good.

I've also been reading a ton of books. I love book swaps. Especially from L's bookshelf and maybe her roommates (who doesn't notice that I've taken anything). Tonight I'm going to go fanout over HP tonight. If you are anywhere near the Scotiabank theatre tonight...that will be me squealing in excitement leaving the theatre. You may feel free to pretend you don't know who I am if this embarrasses you.

So this post was mostly just to say that I'm not dead or anything...just not blogging madly like I was during the regular season. I'll blog when I find something interesting to talk about...

Canucks Schedule Released

2009-07-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no thoughts on it now, have to make this quick, but click here for the full schedule.

State of the Franchise Info

2009-07-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here's some info about tonight. You need tickets to go, if you don't have them, I think canucks.com will stream the event.

STATE OF THE FRANCHISE 09.10

Please join us for the 12th annual State of the Franchise, where you will have the opportunity to hear directly from our General Manager, Mike Gillis and other team personnel.

THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2009
GENERAL MOTORS PLACE
5:00PM-8:00PM

DETAILS:

5:00PM TO 6:15PM

Canucks Family BBQ – enjoy hot dogs, sides and non-alcoholic beverages. A cash bar will also be available.
Interactive Zone – shoot to win great prizes, test out your NHL hockey skills on Playstation and have your picture taken with FIN, the Olympia, Canucks Pay-Per-View TV sets and much more
Canucks prospects - Meet some of the future Canucks stars in town for Development Camp
DON’T FORGET TO BRING YOUR CAMERA!

6:30PM

Formal portion of the event - fans will have the opportunity to ask Mike Gillis and other members of the Canucks organization questions about the team, next season, and any other topics of interest.

State of the Franchise Tommorrow

2009-07-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

The Canucks will have their annual State of the Franchise tomorrow night at GM Place. Season ticket holders will get to meet the Canucks prospects, check out some interactive zone do some family Canuck stuff like take a photo with Fin.

The formal portion of the event: fans will have the opportunity to ask Mike Gillis and other members of the Canucks organization questions about the team, next season, and any other topics of interest.

It all goes down at 6pm tomorrow night, you need tickets to get in, but I heard that Canucks.com will be streaming the feed of it. I'll try to take some pics and post them when I get back from it. If you are going, send me an e-mail.

Canucks Sign Tanner Glass and Mike Funk

2009-07-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

Props to Canadian vs. the Yanks, where I read that the Canucks have signed forward Tanner Glass. I don't know much about him, but she seems pretty excited to have the Canucks pick him up...you can read more about her excitement about Glass here.

The Canucks have also signed free agent defenceman Michael Funk to a 1 year, two-way contract. He has had a few concussions (2) and post concussion syndrome this year. He was supposed to become Buffalo's RFA this summer, but they chose not to offer him a contract. Funk had interest also from Calgary and Ottawa, but this home town boy (from Abbotsford) chose to sign a contract with the Canucks

Quick contract stuff about O'Brien, Raycroft and Wellwood

2009-07-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of stuff going on here....I spent an amazing 3 days up in the Okanagan this weekend with no internet. This weekend had great friends, campfires, lots and lots of wine tasting...oh and sun! Just a few quick things today, since my brain is not functioning properly from my exhaustion.

Guess what happened today? Shane O'Brien agreed to a 1 year contract extension! Wooo! The contract is worth 1.6 million. There were a few times this season that I thought that SOB's time was over as a Canuck...such as when he was in Vigneault's doghouse or the times he was yapping to the media about his discontent. But the Canucks were patient and didn't trade him... and he even got his first goal as a Canuck!

The Canucks also signed Andrew Raycroft...so we shall see what this means for Cory Schneider, whether he'll be traded or competing with Raycroft to be the backup. Whatever happens, the contract was super cheap at $500, 000.

And, Wellwood has filed for salary arbitratio n.

Are you disapointed?

2009-07-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

From Day 1 of the free agent frenzy:

I hear people are disappointed in Vancouver about Gillis' day 1 of free agency. I'm not. Maybe because it was expected that the Sedins would re-signed, so it didn't seem like a big deal, but it was. Gillis was able to convince the Sedins to work on much shorter term than they requested and still managed to re-sign them. The deals come with a no movement clause.
Mattias Ohlund is now a Tampa Bay Lightning, he signed a 7 year contract for 26.25 million dollars. Congratulations to him.
The Canucks have signed Aaron Rome. Who? Um he's just some defenceman that has been added for depth. Not much to talk about here.

I think we'll see more from Gillis tomorrow while he tries to fill in the holes for the Canucks. We still need a defenceman, a couple forwards (depending on how big of a role he is expecting Hodgson and Grabner to play next year) and a backup goalie.

Sedins in Vancouver for 5 more years!

2009-07-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

TSN reports that the Sedins have re-signed a pair of 5 year contracts at 6.1 million a year.
Vancouver fans now collectively exhale....

Vancity Canuck on CLS

2009-07-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've invaded Cycle Like the Sedins again...you can find the link for my post here.

To read more from Vancity Canuck, read her Vancouver Canucks blog as well as her work at The Hockey Bay. Thanks again, VC!

1. Which player, for the love of God, do you NOT want to see in your team's sweater in the 09-10 season?

Any player with a girl's name, namely Marian.

Gaborik: When he's not injured, he's a really exciting player to watch. But he does get injured, 27 injuries since 2000 injured. There's also a lot of obstacles when you play in Vancouver, he could trip and break his leg on the seawall, sprain his ankles on the Grouse Grind, break both legs snowboarding on the mountains...or just trip on some electrical tape.

Marian Hossa really might be the best in the litter, but I can't get over the feeling that he's cursed in the Stanley Cup Finals.

2. Conversely, pick a potential move by another team that would just crush your soul/favorite team's chances.

Bouwmeester in Calgary! Imagine having Jay Bo and Phaneuf shutting down Vancouver's top two lines six times a year. I want him on my team, and if we can't have him, I'd rather see him in an Oilers jersey than being a Flamer.

Jay Bouw to Calgary, Heaters to Edmonton....

2009-06-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

*UPDATED*

I will learn to hate you Bouwmeester

So I wrote something earlier for Cycle Like the Sedins for their Free Agent Special, (which I'll post the link once it's up), but one of the questions was: "What is the one thing that I did not want to see this free agency?" I think that would be Jay Bouwmeester signing a 5 year contract with Calgary! I shudder at the thought of Jay Bouw and Phaneuf shutting down Vancouver's top lines 6 times a year! I can only hope now that salary cap revenge will get you Calgary...please do enjoy that 6.6 million dollar cap hit.

On another note, "sources" tell TSN the trade for Heatley to Edmonton for Cogliano, Penner and Smid is all but done.

C'mon Mike Gillis. You need to sign the Sedins or pull off some miracles tomorrow. I want to be saying 'In Gillis I Trust' tomorrow....

Update at 9:30pm PT:
It now seems that Heatley has not waived his no trade clause for Edmonton...

21 hours to free agency...

2009-06-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

Gillis flew to Sweden (on the same flight as JP Barry)...
Met with the Sedins and gave his final offer...
Is on the way back to Vancouver...

and now we wait for the Sedins to decide...

CKNW is reporting that the Canucks have given Wellwood a qualifying offer and he will have until July 5th to accept.

Around the NHL...

2009-06-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well it's been nice to get back into hockey from my little mini hockey vacation. I'm excited to get some hockey news from now till the free agent frenzy is over in early July, because after that it'll be pretty slow in the hockey world until training camp...what is that, only 78 days away? (I'm so making that number up by the way). For those of you who haven't hear about the moves that were made before/during the draft, here's what you missed:

Pronger (with forward Ryan Dingle) was traded to the Flyers for D Luca Sbisa and Joffrey Lupul and two 1st round picks, and conditional 3rd round pick (if they win the cup). The Flyers overpaid. This is the second time that Lupul has been traded for Pronger. Pronger is in the last year of his contract, and this doesn't guarantee a contract extension with the Flyers, which makes the Flyers have a lot of pressure for this to be THE year. But Carter and Richards are still young, why is there so much pressure on this year being the year for the cup? Won't there be a few chances at it with this core? Whatever, that means Pronger is out of the western conference and now Lupul can party with Getzlaf instead of going to frat parties in Philly with Richards
Niedermayer tell the Ducks he'll be back for another season yesterday. Today, Selanne does the same.
J-Bouws rights have been traded to Calgary. Doesn't mean he'll sign there, but if he does, have fun with that salary cap there Calgary.
Luongo was at the Canucks draft table, he also made selection for Schroeder (and mispronounced it). Cue Luongo's agent denying whatever there is to deny.
TSN keeps writing stories about nothing. Gillis met with the Sedins' (and half of the league's) agent on Friday night. No news, this reminds me of the amound of 'news' they kept writing about Sundin for months last year.

I was hoping for more trades before the draft...only the Pronger one happened, but hey thats fun to write about, and now we can all hate the Flyers even more.

If you did watch the draft, was is not too freakin long? 4 hours? C'mon...enough with the speaches, just make the pick. I did have great girls to girl out over the selections with, but if I hadn't, I would have lost interest around #12. First 3 went as expected: Tavares, Hedman and Duchene.

If you didn't check it out, James at Cycle Like the Sedins had a Draft Preview from tons of homer bloggers (yes, even me), you can click on the link here. I'll be participating in his Free Agency Frenzy stuff with a Canucks take, so I'll throw up the link once it's up.

Canuck Draft Picks: Day Two

2009-06-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

The Canucks have finished their picks for Day Two of the draft
-Anton Rodin, Swedish RW, selected 53rd overall (2nd round)
-Kevin Connauton, D, selected 83rd overall (3rd round)
-Jeremy Price, D, selected 113th overall (4th round)
-Peter Andersson, D, selected 143rd overall (5th round)
-Joe Cannata, G, selected 173rd overall (6th round)
-Steven Anthony, LW, 187th overall (7th round). This pick came from a trade from Vancouver to Phoenix for Shaun Heshka.

I don't know any more about these players than you do. If you really are interested, check out their info at the the Canucks website.

Canucks Select Jordan Schroeder at 22nd Overall

2009-06-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

The Canucks picked a forward (C) from Minnesota. After John Moore was picked at 21 (CBJ traded up), Gillis selected the next best player available

-He's 5'8" and 180 lbs, which makes him look huge, but still short

-represented the US at the 2008 and 2009 IIHF World Junior Championships

-played for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers

-Bob McKenzie calls him a steal at 22

Oh and it's pronounce "Shray-der". For more info about him check out the Canucks website.

Luongo to long term contract?

2009-06-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

H/t to Wazzupwitchu for telling me first, ESPN's John Buccigross told Pratt and Taylor today that Luongo has agreed to a long term extension that will be officially announced July 1st!

Link to the Team 1040 story here.

Egads. I have no words. I hope this is for real.

Of course Luongo's agent has already denied it. But he also can't confirm it until July 1st....so I'm crossing my fingers.

Draft Preview

2009-06-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

**UPDATED**

Vancouver is picking at #22. I'm not going to do a draft preview for the Canucks because I have been lazy while enjoying my time off from hockey and blogging...and I will revisit that again in about a week or so, but right now some hockey stuff.

For draft stuff I recommend to check out Cycle Like the Sedins' draft preview. He has a blogger from almost every team to give their thoughts, which in true CLS fashion, has both insight and humour. I'll update this post when the one for the Canucks goes up.

So here is the link to my take on the Vancouver Canucks and the draft...CLICK IT! DO IT!

NHL Awards - Luongo and Kesler

2009-06-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

I turned on the NHL awards for all of 5 minutes...they had Robin Thicke performing...oh it was cringe-worthy in that 'cringe because I'm embarrassed for you way'... I couldn't bear to watch anymore...but Luongo wont the Fan Fav award!

Our boy Kesler didn't win the Selke, but he was a pretty dashing man in his photo:

Yowza...He does rock the suit rather well..

Do you know who else was looking rather cute?

That's the look he gives just be for he robs you....

Some more from the NHL awards:

And this one is of Kelser yesterday doing motion capture for NHL2K10 at Caesars Palace

Sergei Shirokov signed?

2009-06-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

Nothing confirmed yet, but the Bleacher Report is saying that the Canucks have signed one of their Russian prospects, Sergei Shirokov, to a two year deal. The Province is calling this a deal that has been agreed in principle. Shirokov led CSKA Moscow in points and was considered to be a steal in the 6th round of the 2006 draft.

More on this later when it has been confirmed.

Video's to watch during the summer...

2009-06-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

The 1st video has a little something for every hockey fan...

CBC 2009 Stanley Cup Playoff Video

SCF Game 7 Intro Video

SCF Game 6 Intro Video

Wooooo! Penguins WIN!!!!

2009-06-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

Wooooooooo!!!! Pens win! MAF=UNREAL. Woooo! Talbot=Superstar!!!! Woooo!!! sjklafjklda!!!! Stanley Cup Champions!!!! Woooo!

This and That around the NHL

2009-06-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

Just in case you live under a rock:
The Penguins won Game 6! Woooooo! Fleury was unreal tonight, and when he wasn't, Scuderi was.

Game 7 will be on Friday in Detroit. Dinner plans are postponed (at least till after the game). Now all I just have to do is get through another 2 day break without going crazy.

Around the NHL:

The Flyers have called a news conference for tomorrow to announce the one-year contract they have signed with Emery. I'm sure in addition to speeding tickets, we will be seeing many Emery appearances at frat parties at Temple with his new BFF's Richards and Carter.
Dany Heatley has asked for a trade out of Ottawa. CBC mentioned tonight during the idesk that he has requested a trade to the Western Conference. He has just finished the 1st year of his 6 year contract, which gets me thinking, why do teams/players sign long contracts only to want to get out of them right away? Anyways, may the bidding wars begin with the Kings, Oilers, Wild, Canucks...Sharks...who's team hasn't been thrown around today in the NW or Pacific division?
In court today, the judge decides that the NHL is entitled to a relocation fee if Jim Balsillie wants to move the team. The NHL could ask for a $100 million relocation fee...Balsillie's lawyer Freeman suggested that Balsillie will walk away if the $100 million is approved in court.
Oh, and Brent Sutter stepped down as head coach in NJ, and has traded the NHL for Red Deer, until he decides to go work for his brother in Calgary...

No Hockey = The Bachelorette

2009-06-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

Did anyone watch the Bachelorette tonight? I did. That's what happens when there is no hockey on Mondays....I start watching the Bachelorette... Tonight's episode was cool because it was in Vancouver....but that's not the point about why I'm writing about it.

Have you seen the the bachelor named Jesse? He's the winemaker from California. His pic on the abc website doesn't really do him justice...neither did the pageboy hat that he sported tonight with his purple shirt...but he looks remarkably like Bieksa....

well not 100% in that photo...I'll have to find a better photo of Jesse (with some chin scruff) to demonstrate what I'm referring to...but rest assured, Bieksa still rocks the snarl way better than Jesse ever could...

Side thought: Mike the Pizza Entrepreneur? Does that mean he is a pizza delivery guy? just a thought...

CBC SCF Game 4 Video...

2009-06-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

Because I'm in love with these videos...and so should you...especially that smoldering look from Letang...and that stick hit on bum of some red wing by Fleury...

SCF Game 4 = all tied up

2009-06-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

So great game tonight with the Pens taking the game 4-2

3 goals in 5 minutes and 37 seconds which included a shorty from JStaal
Beautiful passing that led to Crosby's goal (1 goal, 1 assist)
Fleury was a superstar tonight with 38 saves and a 0.949 save percentage

I'm currently looking for the cbc intro to this game...they have been doing a good job with their montages, so when I find it, I'll update this post.

Around the NHL:

Mike Chen has written a great read on What Does Gary Bettman Actually Do? It makes you actually think about who he's working for and how many of those crappy ideas are not actually his
The Avs have named Joe Sacco (who?) their coach. He was a coach for their AHL affiliate for the past 2 years. Good for him, but again, who? Based on what their roster looks like, good luck with that Sacco.
A 'mystery group' claims to have $1 billion in private financing, and will have a presser tomorrow, to reveal their 'vision' for an expansion team in Toronto...

All quiet on the Canucks front...

2009-06-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

So not much has happened in Canuck-world lately....since Rypien's extention, it's been pretty quiet in the Canuck camp. I expect we should be getting some news soon about contract extentions and such since we still have Kyle Wellwood, Shane O'Brien and Jannik Hansen as RFA's coming up to July 1st and a slew of UFA's that I think we'll hear about before or on July 1st.

I didn't expect that we would hear much this past week as Gillis was at the NHL combine in Toronto on the weekend and then was at the GM meeting in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The Vancouver Sun reports that the Canucks will begin contract talks with the Sedins in the next week or two...and Kyle Wellwood's agent says he expects talks to happen in late June.

But since there is no news, I would like to say Woooo! for the Pens last night....what a game. I felt like I was willing Talbot to score....and Letang! Marc-Andre Fleury played a solid game as well, which makes this now actually feel like a series. Loved the 20 seconds of 6 Pens on the ice and no call...good job refs.

News around the NHL:

The Moose have tied up the series against the Hershey Bears and it's now 1-1. The series now moves to PA for Game 3, 4, and 5
It's reported that Emery will be the starting goalie for the Flyers next season..which will be trouble if he starts going to frat parties with Richards and Carter next year...underage trouble, maybe with a speeding ticket or two. So the next question will be: where is Biron and Nittymaki signing?
Tony Granato has been finally fired as coach of the Avs

Malkin presser from today about Talbot (=superstar):

Canucks cap seats for season ticket holders

2009-06-02T06:50:00.000-07:00

So I missed this article that appeared through cbc news a couple weeks ago, but I saw a cdc post about it when I was on the Canucks website today so I figure better late than never.

It seems that the Canucks have sent advisals to some season ticket holders who have more than 4 seats. They have been advised that for the 2009 season they will not be eligible to renew all of their tickets.

The "ticket holder" that brought this "news" to cbc is a ticket holder who has 24!, count 'em, 24 seats! So he is a ticket broker, so this will take an effect on his business....but he says that he is doing the interview to help 'inform' the public about what the Canucks are doing to their season ticket holders. He throws around the word loyalty.

So what are the Canucks doing? The are capping the number of season tickets per person at 4 which would allow more of the fans who are paying to be on the waitlist an opportunity to get tickets. The waitlist is estimated to be a 6 year wait right now. This move looks like it is being done to reduce the number of scalpers who resell tickets, and you know what Mr. 24 seats ticket holder, I think it's freakin fantastic that you will only be allowed to have 4 tickets next year. I'm sure that you will find a way to obtain tickets again, but right now, with such a demand for tickets, this is the right move for the FANS.

If those ticket holders would like to splurge, maybe they would be interested in the Top Shelf Club tickets....prices starting at $230 dollars per ticket....which include all inclusive food, non-alcoholic beverages and a raw bar of food....which means it's gonna be a good bet there's sushi available...

CBC SCF intro video...

2009-06-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

Just in case you missed it, cbc had a great intro video on Saturday night for the finals...which was way better than their 'dos equis' intro that they had on Sunday....

Remembering Luc Bourdon

2009-05-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

Today it has been one year since the passing of Luc Bourdon. Take a moment to appreciate life before the SCFinals get underway.

Great read in The Province today with Jim Jamieson interviewing Luc's girlfriend, Charlene Ward.
There is a great video interview that Letang did with TSN and how he pays tribute to Bourdon
Check out Canucks.com for their tributes
Nucks Misconduct looks back at This Day in Canucks History

2009 Stanley Cup Final Schedule

2009-05-27T20:35:00.001-07:00

The NHL has finally come to their senses with regards to moving up the schedule. Here is the schedule which starts this Saturday:

vs.

Saturday, May 30 @ Detroit, 5pm PT NBC, CBC, RDS
Sunday, May 31 @ Detroit, TBD-Night NBC, CBC, RDS
Tuesday June 2 @ Pittsburgh, 5pm PT VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Thursday, June 4 @ Pittsburgh, 5pm PT VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Saturday, June 6 @ Detroit, 5pm PT NBC, CBC, RDS
*Tuesday, June 9 @ Pittsburgh, 5pm PT NBC, CBC, RDS
*Friday, June 12 @ Detroit, 5pm PT NBC, CBC, RDS

Canucks Sign Rypien to a Two-Year Extension

2009-05-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

The Canucks have given Rypien a two-year extension with the club through the 2010-2011 season. This keeps the 4th line of the Canucks intact as both Johnson and Hordichuk are under contract for next season. It's hard not to love Rypien when he's healthy, especially for fights like these:

Hell must have frozen over...I'm cheering for the Wings

2009-05-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

Just for today though, just for today. For the first time EVER, I am cheering for the Wings tonight. Why, you may ask? Well that's because the NHL might do something smart for once. As I have previously written about the NHL bowing down to NBC, and not starting the SCF till June 5th... ESPN reports that the NHL might move up the start date to this Saturday if the Pens and Wings can finish up their series' by Wednesday. Since the Pens swept their series last night...the Wings just have to win tonight...so Go Wings!

While I will be none to please to be sitting inside a watching hockey on Sunday for Game 2, which I assume, since NBC is airing it, will be at some ridiculous time in the afternoon, like noon PT.... Can we just start already? I'm freaking warm outside.

So much news around the NHL these days...

The moose are heading to the Calder Cup for the first time and will face the Hershey Bears.
Patrick Roy denies getting an offer, then declines the offer of coaching and possibly also GM'ing the Avalanche
The Oilers name Pat Quinn as their new HC and Tom Renney as the assistant coach...which blows my theory of Marc Crawford being the coach.....so I guess that means more CBC for Crawford?
A russian sports newspaper reports that the Canadiens have offered Kovalev the team's captaincy and a humungous raise somewhere in between 6-7.5 million....that strips Koivu of the C, which most likely means he plays somewhere else.
Sutter will coach the Flames
The Pens sweep the Hurricanes. Great recap here by the Puck Huffers.
Sad note: Peter Zezel who played for the Canucks has passed away due to a blood disorder

And I thought 68 hours of no hockey was bad...

2009-05-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

So yesterday the NHL announced two possible start dates for the Stanley Cup Final Game One: Thursday May 28th or Friday June 5th.

Now May 28th would have only been possible if both the Penguins and the Wings sweep the series, with Chicago's OT win last night, the sweeps didn't happen. So, regardless of when the conference Finals end, the Stanley Cup game one won't start will June 5th. Let's say the Penguins sweep their series, and the Wings win the next two, this series will end on Weds May 27th, leaving 9 freaking days of NO HOCKEY!

Thank you Gary Bettman.

Now I know that the NHL is most likely just bending to the networks request, ahem, NBC because they have nothing else to broadcast on Friday or Saturday night on June 5th, and will broadcast game 1 and 2 if Bettman succumbs to their demands. But if you are trying to keep the casual fan who has just jumped on the playoff bandwagon watching, you do not throw in a 9 day break. Casual American fans will start watching baseball, or go on vacations or watch So You Think You Can Dance.

Cam Cole of the Vancouver Sun estimates that if finals goes seven games, the final game could be on June 16th. If the NHL wants to stay within the June 15th written-in-stone pledge, they would have to play back to back games.

Not only is this bad for fans who are watching the game, I think this is just becoming too long for the players. The physical toll on the players for playing this late in the year and emotional toll from being away from their families even long will not bode well.

The only way this may help grow hockey is the possible avoidance of the NBA finals, which will not subject the viewers from having to choosing one over the other.

So Bettman, will having games 1 and 2 on NBC really grow the sport that much? Or perhaps the loss of fans who are already watching the playoffs and bail for the final series do to the absence hurt it? Couldn't you have got a deal with NBC that plays perhaps games 3 and 4?

Hockey is back! Some links from around the NHL...

2009-05-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

As tPB said today, Game One [of the pens/canes game] was four years ago. Stupid breaks in the playoffs. Was that for the Springsteen concert in Pittsburgh or for the TV? Neverless, we're back at it again tonight.

Chuck Fletcher will be announced as the new Wild GM tomorrow. I guess that means Pierre McGuire and his monsters will still be on TSN/NBC next year. He must not have impressed with his interview, for the "transcript" click here.

The KB would like YOU to rate the Mats Sundin Canucks Era or at least the 4 months he played in a uniform.

Another post by the KB about NHL Attendance with some (still) shocking photos of empty seat s in Phoenix during games.

So Kyle Beach, the #11 draft pick, that many Canuck fans thought that Vancouver should have picked him in the draft (at the time) signed a contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. Wrap Around Curl has a contest to mark this contract signing. She is giving away a Tokarski Saves t-shirt if you can guess how long Beach will last as a Blackhawk (until he is kicked out, demoted, suspended etc). Why is she doing this? Well when he was called up to the Hawks' AHL affiliate this season, he was kicked out after 3 games. Aren't you glad we picked Hodgson? Yes, yes you are.

No hockey for 68 hours...Please make it stop

2009-05-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

It is a long weekend in Vancouver and there's no hockey. I feel like I'm going crazy. It is Saturday, at 4pm PT, and no HNIC. I feel like I'm in withdrawl.

-If you haven't seen it yet, the Puck Huffers have the Staal v. Staal drinking game. Game 3 for that series is on a Saturday, it's too bad I don't get the Versus feed.
-Schedule-wise there will also be no hockey this weds, looks like I can catch up on life that day
-the Manitoba Moose won last night (Cody Hodgson got an assist and was the 3rd star, Schneider was the 1st star)