Urban Vancouver

From Brad Ziemer at the Vancouver Sun:

Mats Sundin will travel to Edmonton with the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, but won’t decide until after Wednesday morning’s game-day skate whether he will play that night against the Oilers.

Sundin participated in his first full practice with the Canucks late this morning and will work out with the team again Tuesday before travelling with the Canucks later in the day to the Alberta capital.

Another step closer to actually playing hockey game this season *knock on wood*.

And in goalie-related news, C. Sanford is ready for bench/net duty, J. LaBraBra is holding up nicely, and C. Schneider has been sent back down to Manitoba. (Although despite all this fairly good news, R. Luongo’s photo has been spotted on milk cartons throughout the lower mainland with the message: “Have You Seen This Goalie? Please call 1-888-HURRYTHEHELLUP”).

If all that news isn’t exciting enough, take a tour of the Canucks locker room, lounge and equipment area. Video below:

Continue reading "Sundin Commits to Getting on a Plane"

From Brad Ziemer at the Vancouver Sun:

Mats Sundin will travel to Edmonton with the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, but won’t decide until after Wednesday morning’s game-day skate whether he will play that night against the Oilers.

Sundin participated in his first full practice with the Canucks late this morning and will work out with the team again Tuesday before travelling with the Canucks later in the day to the Alberta capital.

Another step closer to actually playing hockey game this season *knock on wood*.

And in goalie-related news, C. Sanford is ready for bench/net duty, J. LaBraBra is holding up nicely, and C. Schneider has been sent back down to Manitoba. (Although despite all this fairly good news, R. Luongo’s photo has been spotted on milk cartons throughout the lower mainland with the message: “Have You Seen This Goalie? Please call 1-888-HURRYTHEHELLUP”).

If all that news isn’t exciting enough, take a tour of the Canucks locker room, lounge and equipment area. Video below:

Continue reading "Sundin Commits to Getting on a Plane"

The last couple games of Canuck hockey (Canada’s Canucks, not those belonging to Vancouver) have been gems, which anyone with a pulse and a functional television can certainly tell you. Team Canada’s World Junior Championship wins over the USA and then Russia were rife with emotion, edge-of-your-seat action and ecstatic highs and lows for both sides. Great hockey for all… and stupifyingly-awesome hockey if you’re a fan of the Canadian team in particular.

And thank goodness for that, because Canada’s emotional, all-heart performances are about the only thing that rescued me from cheering for other teams this year, simply to shut up the drone of hockey-arrogance that eminates from this country at times.

Continue reading "Cheering Team Canada Without Being a Douche About It"

The last couple games of Canuck hockey (Canada’s Canucks, not those belonging to Vancouver) have been gems, which anyone with a pulse and a functional television can certainly tell you. Team Canada’s World Junior Championship wins over the USA and then Russia were rife with emotion, edge-of-your-seat action and ecstatic highs and lows for both sides. Great hockey for all… and stupifyingly-awesome hockey if you’re a fan of the Canadian team in particular.

And thank goodness for that, because Canada’s emotional, all-heart performances are about the only thing that rescued me from cheering for other teams this year, simply to shut up the drone of hockey-arrogance that eminates from this country at times.

Continue reading "Cheering Team Canada Without Being a Douche About It"

Welcome to 2009.  It’s time for the Canucks to stop worrying about the issues that they had in the month of December and focus on the goal at hand for the balance of the season.  They picked up Jason LaBarbera from the Kings and he’ll get the start tonight, so we’ll see how that plays out.

First Period

19:30 - And Jordan Tootoo wants to go with Alex Burrows right from the opening draw, and AB obliges him.  Gonna be an interesting night, methinks.

17:50 - Penalty for the Preds, and the Canucks go the powerplay.  This would be a good time to get this thing going, as the Preds are pretty good at home lately. 

13:16 - 2nd powerplay, and the Canucks really aren’t doing a whole lot with the powerplay yet.  Even Darcy Hordichuk is playing on the PP for God’s sake.  Vigneault must really be trying to shake things up.

12:41 - Ohlund kinds of floats one at the net and it goes in.  It’s not a powerplay goal, but no matter.  The Canucks are up 1 - 0.

11:20 - Canucks are going back to the power play again.  They need to get going with it, although, I have a feeling that the Canucks are going to wind up taking an even up penalty pretty soon.

9:25 - Nice hit by Jason Jaffrey, but the Canucks are now 0 - 3 on the powerplay.  They should just decline any future penalties if they’re not going to do anything with them. 

4:52 - Not a lot of flash to this game.  Just going to be a long, grinding process it looks like.

0:50 - Alain Vigneault has to duck again as another shot goes into the Canucks bench. 

0:00 - Not a whole to say about the first period other than it’s good that the Canucks have the lead.  If the whole game goes like this, it’ll be pretty much a snooze all night long.  But a win tonight and a win tomorrow night over the Thrashers would go a long way to closing the gap on the Flames.  Stupid scheduling.  Two game road-trip to Nashville and Atlanta and home again to play the Stars.  Why did I think the scheduling was better this year?

Second Period

18:15 - Good pressure by the Canucks but they can’t capitalize.  One goal just isn’t going to do it tonight.

16:09 - Canucks seem to be taking it to the Preds tonight, but they’re going to have to pour it on and get another goal or two to avoid getting bit by the bad bounce of a random puck tying the game up.

14:30 - Hell of an attempt by Henrik and Demitra but a great save kept the game at 1-0.

14:07 - Bieksa takes a penalty and, amazingly, it’s the first one of the night.  Hopefully that’s a sign of better things to come in the new year. 

12:17 - Great save by LaBarbera.  Based on just tonight, he wasn’t a bad pickup.

11:45 - And the Canucks have surrendered the tying goal.  Not on the power play, but it doesn’t much matter at this point. 1 - 1.

10:00 - 3 on 2 for the Canucks but Hordy can’t put the puck in the net.

9:12 - Ohlund just leveled Tootoo and that woke them up in Nashville.  Looks like Olly got the rougher end of it, though.

5:00 - God this game is boring.  It’s like watching a couple of baseball teams who are 20 games out playing in late August.  Let’s go….

2:26 - And Henrik takes a lazy hooking penalty.  PK has to come up big here.

0:00 - Good bit of pressure to close out the period, when Hank came out of the penalty box and the Canucks wound up with a 3 on 2.  They need to come out fast in the third and end this thing.

KK Hockey posted this earlier but I’m noting it here as well—from Canucks.com:

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis announced today that the Canucks have acquired goaltender Jason LaBarbera from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 7th round draft pick in the 2009 Entry Draft.

While this provides the more experienced backup for Curtis Sanford that many expected, it also inevitably hints at more concerns about Roberto Luongo’s recovery timetable.

(Incidentally—and I’m not going to back this up with actual ‘facts’ any time soon—but it seems like Vancouver has made a disproportionate number of trades with California teams over recent years. Not that I have a point here. Just saying.)

KK Hockey posted this earlier but I’m noting it here as well—from Canucks.com:

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis announced today that the Canucks have acquired goaltender Jason LaBarbera from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 7th round draft pick in the 2009 Entry Draft.

While this provides the more experienced backup for Curtis Sanford that many expected, it also inevitably hints at more concerns about Roberto Luongo’s recovery timetable.

(Incidentally—and I’m not going to back this up with actual ‘facts’ any time soon—but it seems like Vancouver has made a disproportionate number of trades with California teams over recent years. Not that I have a point here. Just saying.)

The plane arrived at three o'clock in the morning, but the team that was scheduled to arrive never materialized. It was the final rehearsal for the big show, and the team was absent, despite the bodies parading around the ice at HP Pavilion in Vancouver sweaters. Did a flight from Manitoba accidentally get re-routed to Oakland because the Vancouver team wanted to get an extra day for the Christmas break? Did Mike Gillis send Canucks equipment manager Pat O'Neill to meet the Moose in San Jose so they had enough Canuck sweater to fit the likes of Michael Grabner, Alexandre Buldoc and Jason Krog?

Everyone knows that the Canucks are a third period team. Apparently they are a latter-season team as well. In 2006-07 they managed to be the best team in the league after Christmas but their pre-25th record was almost identical to what it is now. Last year was a write-off -- you know -- Gina and the baby and all. This year, one can only hope that with the gift of Mats Sundin (and a healthy Luongo), the team will finally be augmented by actual talent that will lift the team over the mediocre funk for which they have been embedded the last four weeks.

The Canucks looked punch-drunk last night. Surrendering goals with the generosity typically assumed by Gandhi, Jesus and Santa Claus, the Vancouver Canucks snuk into San Jose with bags under their eyes and snuck out of San Jose with their tails between their legs. A shameful, shameful performance by everyone!

Save Curtis Sanford.Corey Schnieder started the night in net and finished his tenure at the 20:43 mark, surrendering 5 goals on 15 shots before getting the mercy seat by Coach Vee. His timing was off. His positioning was off. And his teammates insisted on preserving their energy for Friday's tilt versus the Oilers, because they refused to come to the aid of the embattled rookie.

The Sharks looked like they were out for blood, but apparently rigor mortis had already set in on the Vancouver bench, as San Jose was content icing their fourth-line the rest of the game. So with the addition of freely handing San Jose their 18th victory on home ice (now a mindboggling 18-0-2) the Canucks succeeded in ignoring their own bell, choosing instead to sleep through the alarm and the holiday season.

The lone bright-spot in this comedy of errors was the relief of Curtis Sanford. He made some excellent saves and certainly gave his team the opportunity to reverse the 5-0 deficit if not so much erase it. There was an opportunity to save a modicum of face, but again the Canucks politely declined the opportunity.

Ray Ferraro, doing color for TSN, said it was the worst period of hockey by a professional hockey team he had ever seen. High praise for a club that once went 15 straight seasons below .500 -- a record in professional sports. I'm remiss to say it was also the worst period of hockey in Henrik Sedin's career, not to mention Willie Mitchell, Ryan Kesler, Daniel Sedin to name a few more. If the universe collapsed and dissolved into a microscopic entity of nothingness it would not be enough to remove the suck from this team and it's erratic history.

File this under bullshit and have a Merry X-mas. Let's just hope an X-factor is available when the team convines on the 26th. Home on Friday to bare the mantle, once again, of the Cardic Canucks: doing everything possible to flumox, enrage and bedazzle a fanbase since 1970.

The only thing missing from Mats Sundin’s arrival in Vancouver this week was a shot of Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham striking a pose for the cameras, and a few well-chosen celebrity guests on Entertainment Tonight sharing their excitement at the hero’s new gig on the west coast.

The local media is on an endless loop for the past 12-24 hours, working itself into a tizzy at the arrival of a new star in town. It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t played a game or even honored them with a sound bite.  It’s still the Christmas season and The Second Coming has arrived—he just happens to be a bald, 37 year old Swedish guy.

And apparently a pretty good hockey player, too.

I was watching TSN last night, where they were documenting David Beckham’s errr… Sundin’s arrival, and with the constant camera flashes as he jumped into the backseat of some SUV, it looked very much like the king had arrived. Or a Hollywood starlet.

So what is all the fuss about?

Continue reading "“Bend it Like…” Sundin"

The only thing missing from Mats Sundin’s arrival in Vancouver this week was a shot of Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham striking a pose for the cameras, and a few well-chosen celebrity guests on Entertainment Tonight sharing their excitement at the hero’s new gig on the west coast.

The local media is on an endless loop for the past 12-24 hours, working itself into a tizzy at the arrival of a new star in town. It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t played a game or even honored them with a sound bite.  It’s still the Christmas season and The Second Coming has arrived—he just happens to be a bald, 37 year old Swedish guy.

And apparently a pretty good hockey player, too.

I was watching TSN last night, where they were documenting David Beckham’s errr… Sundin’s arrival, and with the constant camera flashes as he jumped into the backseat of some SUV, it looked very much like the king had arrived. Or a Hollywood starlet.

So what is all the fuss about?

Continue reading "“Bend it Like…” Sundin"

This is something that’s more than a little rare around here - a post that isn’t about the Canucks, at least not directly.  It’s a post about Wayne Gretzky.

When I was a kid, playing both ice and street hockey, I had a white Titan 50/39 stick.  It was in tribute to Wayne Gretzky scoring 50 goals in just 39 games back in 1981.  Until I looked at the standings the other day, and the league stats earlier today, it really hit home just how incredible a feat that was.  So here’s the little bit of perspective.

Wayne Gretzly scored his 50th goal in just his 39th game that season.  The Canucks will play their 39th game on New Year’s Day against the Preds.  Barring any miracles tonight against Philly, Daniel Sedin will be the team leader in goals scored.  He has 17.  The league leader, Jeff Carter of the Flyers, has 26 goals after 36 games.  Most players trying to get their 50th goal of the season are usually in a race to get it done during the playoff chase in March.

Wayne Gretzky was in a race to get his 50th goal before New Year’s Day.

And the scary thing is, he did it.

He scored his 50th goal on December 30th, 1981 in a game which saw him score 5 goals.  One of the amazing things, though, is that this was one of his records that wasn’t set while the Oilers were playing the Canucks.  It was against the Flyers.  Gretzky finished that season with 92 goals.  In an 80 game schedule.  As much as I couldn’t stand the guy back then, I was hoping that he’d get to 100 goals, just to see if it could be done.  Alas, he fell short.  And the 100-goal season is something that will now never happen.  Because if Wayne Gretzky couldn’t do it, than it can’t be done.

At the end of that 1981-82 season, the Canucks got very lucky when the Los Angeles Kings knocked the Oilers out of the playoffs in the first round.  You all know what happened that year.  I know that I won’t ever forget it, because that was the year that we got the season’s tickets from my dad’s company for that whole playoff run.  I was at the Pacific Colisum for game 4.  I watched the Stanley Cup being presented.  Not to the team I wanted it to be, but no matter.

Anyway, that’s just something that I wanted to get out of my head tonight, so I thought I’d put it out there for CanuckNation readers.  If you were there, and were old enough to remember it, maybe it’ll make you reflect on just how special that season was.  And if you weren’t there, hopefully you’ll gain some understanding of what it was like.

The liveblog is on again tonight at the Canucks Fanzone, so stop by and talk about the game, or what you think about the Sundin signing, and the fact that it’ll now be next Tuesday before he makes an appearance in Vancouver.

"...[T]here is going to be that seventh game; we'll hope they can patch Linden up and get him in that one. He will play -- you know he'll play; he'd play on crutches! He will play, and he'll play at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night! The game is over!"

--Jim Robson, after Trevor Linden got hit my Mark Messier while crawling to the bench at the end of Game 6

It was the finest performance by the finest Canuck to ever don the "C" (not to mention every single Canucks crest and color) in the history of hockey in the City of Vancouver.

And I once made him soup and I once had a crush on his wife, although I didn't know it at the time. I used to work at a restaurant in Yaletown as a line cook. It was located right beside the store Linden's wife ran at the time. A clothing boutique called Basquiat. The other cooks and myself would often stand outside of Basquiat smoking cigarettes on break and generally talking shit about whatever topic available. I made a comment about Linden's wife (which I did not know at the time) which Toot's, our Sois Chef, has never let me live down. It was something along the lines of, "damn she's hot," and it may or may not have been made within earshot. Everyone laughed, flicked their cigarettes, and walked back toward the kitchen. Later on, Jordan the Chef, told me that the girl I had a crush on was none other then Christine Linden, Trevor's wife, and that the couple was -- in fact -- in the restaurant at that very moment.

Starfucking has always been a funny thing for me. People go ape-shit over celebrities all the time but it's never been my bag. It's an interesting phenomenon to watch, as people loss all sense of composure and personal class at the presence of another human being -- who happens to be famous. Which isn't to say I'm not immune to the surreal force of celebrities (I'm particularly vulnerable to local celebrities, see -- Tamera Tagert), but, when the Linden's order came in, I caved, I insisted on making the soup. Why? I'll never know. Perhaps so that one day, when I'm writing a hockey blog on the day-in-day-out ramblings of an obsessive Canucks fan I could mention with pride and bravado that I made Trevor Linden soup.

That's right, I made Trevor Linden soup!

And now here we are on the cusp of another dynasty -- you will be happy to note the small 'd' used in the spelling of dynasty. This week, with the raising of #16 to the rafters at the Garage and the signing of Mats Sundin, has be one of the most exciting weeks in Canucks history (to quote Don Taylor). And the winds of change are raging in full force.

But what, here in Vancouverdom, will this squad offer in the realm of real change and real hope apart from a full roster about-face? What, besides an inventory permutation, will this new face of the Canucks signal?

Most pundits argue the Canucks will now place a distant third in the conference and wonder if Sundin (and a healthy Luongo) are strong enough to topple through the battery of San Jose and Detroit. And let's not forget Chicago. Vancouver's surging power-play picked an awful time do go flaccid on Saturday night against the young gunning 'Hawks. Kane and Toews feasted on Canuck mistakes, despite being outplayed by Vancouver. Was that just a market aberration, or will our winning percentage correct itself the next time out? Vancouver has notoriously stepped up their game against a smaller Detroit team; they are also notorious for losing to San Jose, generously handing all four meetings last year to the Sharks. Going into HP Pavilion tonight, where the Sharks are a whopping 17-0-2, is going to be the real litmus test.

Let's face it, the Canucks cannot get swept in any season series this year by Western Conference opponents. Every year we do, we miss the playoffs by inches. Remember 2006 when Curtis Sanford and the Blues swept the season series and we missed the playoffs by three points? And last year versus San Jose, same thing. Ostensibly Vancouver needs to go .500 against San Jose to have a reasonable shot in the playoffs. Sundin aside, if they can pull a measure of confidence together when it comes to the Sharks then the Canucks will have no problem making to the playoffs.

Because let's face it, at this point nobody should be drafting a Stanley Cup parade route on GoogleMaps yet. With this notoriously fickle squad (see -- 1996 and the arrival of Alex Mogilny or 1997 and the arrival of Mark Messier) the arrival of a proven player does not necessarily herald a championship ring. What the Canucks need first and foremost is a leader. A Captain of Captains, to lead this team to the promise land on his shoulders. There has been cohesion in this group at times this season, but a lack of the force necessary to carry a team is still missing. Steve Yzermen in 2002 won the cup for the Detroit Red Wings on one leg, literally. After the 2002 Olympics, Yzermen underwent an MRI which revealed he had virtually no cartiledge left in his right knee. Knowing that surgury would likely finish him for the season, Yzermen soldiered on in one his best post-season performances to date, potting 6 goals and 17 helpers to lead the team with 23 points to a third cup in six years.

It was a legendary performance. Something each Canuck and potential leader can stand to learn from.

Luongo has been out nearly a month and there has been little in the way of consistent leadership for the Canucks in his absence. Certain players have answered the call for periods, but then the aperture widens and the absence of leadership once again opens. Daniel Sedin has put his head down and gone to work, netting 12 goals in his last 17 games. There is much to his game that has improved over the years including killing penalties and going to the net to score the dirty -- crashing the goaltender -- type goals. There is no doubt Daniel (and Henrik) have a desire to win, they simply lack that je ne sais qois that past captains have immortalized. Ryan Kesler is the most improved of all Canucks, and his crash-and-bang style of play, with heart to boot, is exactly the type of play invented for playoff hockey. If we get to the playoffs, look for Kesler to step-up, but will this be enough enough to thwart the enemy?

Trevor Linden captained the Canucks to within a goal-post of the Stanley Cup. He wore his heart (and play) on his sleeve and desire to give (both to his team and to the fans) was congenital, inveterate and authentic. In a era where the payoff is measure by dollar amounts, it is the incalculable effort of leaders such as Linden and Yzermen and so many others in the history of the game which has propelled pretenders into contenders and contenders into winners. There is a small margin in this day-and-age and this "new" NHL, between these three characteristics and it is only a true captain that is able to close the gap.

Will Mats Sundin provide the needed adhesive for this unit that possesses promise, but is not necessarily promising? Will Roberto Luongo, upon his return, launch his career (and his team) into the contenders columns and, come playoff time, lead the the procession, Cup in hand? Win or lose, this team needs an identity that is sadly missing to date. Perhaps with the addition of these two all-stars the team that will the gains necessary to win. The gains are identity, consistency and leadership, three traits that Detroit is still commanding even after the departure of Yzermen. Traits that San Jose has spent the past three year learning, albeit byzantine in its approach, which has brought the team closer and looking more and more legitimate everyday. Traits that have Chicago on the fast-track to reshaping a crumbling hockey empire, with youngsters such as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews taking the reigns earlier then expected, they are making a strong argument this campaign for NHL domination.

But winning in Vancouver will only come when a true captain comes forward. Someone who can own this town once again.

Someone who I can make soup for.

This had to have been the worst game of the season for our beloved Canvouver hockey squad. There were bodies on the ice, but there was no soul. If the boys in blue, green and white where thinking of making a selling point for Mats Sundin, should he decide to take the money (and the travel) and head west, they failed with heart augmented by zero goals.

Now as a long time follower of the Canucks, I have to say it hurts slightly more losing to Edmonton then losing to Calgary, but Jesus if tonight did not feel like a kick in groin with a frozen Bauer blade. Every single one of Sanford's failures (3 to be exact) was the failure of the entire team. The was no speed, no skill and no upside (Coach Vee's favorite word when assessing talent). Sure this loss came at the tail end of a long, stupid road trip that saw Canucks playing 7 games straight on the road.

It was one of those typical (or is that stereotypical?) Vancouvers losses. The type of loss that makes you want to hurl your beer can at the television screen and scream invective at the fading signal until the police arrive and they commit you to the pysche ward at St. Paul's. For six days they have you on suicide watch, heavily medicated to the point of sedation, you slur various forms of scatological rambling at the nurses that come and go, but in the end they release you just days before Christmas.

Some fucking Christmas. Now you have all the time in the world (since you have now been fired from your job) to spend obsessing over Vancouver's favorite cock tease -- our local professional hockey franchise.

Send me back to St. Paul's. Maybe I'll have more time to spend reading The Russians and suffering over my various metaphysical barriers that can no longer be channelled through the insipid brutality of grown men on skates, beating the shit out of each other for the right to smack a tiny vulcanized-rubber disc into a 6x4 net. Yes, I find many of life's lessons in the pursuit of the game of hockey, vis-à-vis the Vancouver Canucks, and someitmes I think it will drive me insane. What came first? They might ask. Was it the insanity or the game? Maybe hockey is merely a trigger for a pre-existing condition. Well I can say this, hockey may be the single greatest joy and the single greatest disappointment in my life.

Perhaps my life needs a drastic overhall. Perhaps, so too do the Canucks. And medication for the pain?

Hint: rythmes with Fats Mundin.

Next Up -- Florida