Canuck questions on the Team Marketing Report Fan Cost Index

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

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!

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

*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 Tanner 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"

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

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?

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?"