Good Signs

After a all out great effort by most of the team Saturday VS. the wild. The Vancouver Canucks still managed to lose in OT. This was really a heart breaker, The Vancouver Canucks deserved to win this game. There was a couple of questional calls by the refs, highlighted by horrible call in OT for hooking. After the Canucks played so hard and fought back into the game, to force it to OT, the refs literally handed the game away. At least we got a point out of it. We had 40 shots in the game. But here is a stat worth taking note of. Out of the 40 shots we took, 36 were blocked, saved, missed the net, or hit the post. We need to improve there! Taking lots of shots is good but not when there is a man or his stick in the way. We also need to improve by having some better goaltending. Roberto Luongo should have saved the first goal, but he also made some huge saves. Daniel Sedin had 8 shots himself, that is all good but he should have scored some with that amount of shots. Our give-a-ways are costly every time, I liked putting Mike Brown in on the 4th line, it made it complete, but he had a bad give-a-way, and so did Elder (as schedualed) and some other players. Our PK was better but our PP should have capitalized on the 5 minute major. Ryan Kesler had a great game, and if everyone played like he did we would have blown the wild out of GM Place.

The Vancouver Canucks Show They Have Some Life

In practice thursday morning more than a few Vancouver Canucks got heated. This comes in the middle of a 7 game losing streak. It all began when Willie Mitchell hit Mason Raymond. Suprisingly Raymond came after Mitchell in the corner and gave him a shove. This was not liked by Mitchell who then gave Raymond a punch to the head and then a stiff cross check. This was not liked by Shane O'Brien who came over and challenged Mitchell to fight, all this was then interupted by players and coaches. I beleive that this is good to see. It shows that our players are wanting to compete, they are wanting to win (who doesn't). It shows that they are frustrated as well but it is carrying over in to practice and they are all playing really hard to get out of this slump. Most the players did agree that this was good to see and what Captian Luongo said, "What happens in practice carry's on in the games." Luongo strives for this, he plays 100% in practices to make himself better and to carry the momentum on to the games. Shane O'Brien disagreed however saying that he thinks that hitting in practice does not matter, he thinks that the physical play needs to be better in the games only. I am interested to see if this will spark the Canucks on Saturday VS. the Wild.

Line Combonations

I think that AV should pick some lines and keep them that way for 10 games and see what happens and see what chemestry the players will get with each other. Heres what i think the lines should be begining on wednesday.

Left Wing Center Right Wing
Line 1: Daniel Sedin Henrik Sedin Taylor Pyatt
Line 2: Steve Bernier Mats Sundin Pavol Demitra
Line 3: Alexandre Burrows Ryan Kesler Kyle Wellwood
Line 4: Darcy Hordichuk Ryan Johnson Mike Brown

Healthy Scratches: Mason Raymond, Rick Rypien Janick Haansen
If injury's occur or this does not work out, i would juggle the top two lines and only line that would have a healthy scratch come in would be the 3rd line. Mason Raymond, Rick Rypien Janick Haansen, would be my order of apperance if they got back in the line up.

Left D Right D
Defensive Pairings: Mattias Ohlund Sami Salo
Willie Mitchell Kevin Bieksa
Shane O Brian Alex Edler

Healthy Scratches: Rob Davidson, Lawrence Nycolat
If injury's occur or this does not work out i would put Rob Davidson in b4 Lawrence Nycolat.

Vancouver's Goals for the remainder of the Season?

I would think that Vancouver's main goal would be to make the playoffs. But what will they need to do this? We will need to keep our scoring high, lots of goals will give us a better chance to win. The whole team needs to come together and play together. Defence should be our proirity, because in the recent losing streak the Canucks have seemed rather slow and unaware on the back end. Roberto Luongo as always we expect him to be fairly solid, a few more shut outs from him would be nice! I think that our dumping the puck in and chasing it does not work all the time and is quite predictable. We should mix it up alot more, dump the puck in and forecheck sometimes, carry the puck in sometimes. If we carry the puck in then we have posession of the puck and do not have to work hard to win it back.

I think the main think however is we need to play SIMPLE!

Pass the puck! Trust your teammates, don't try to do it all yourself,

Shoot! Nothing bad can happen when we shoot, gives us a chance to score, makes the goalie work, and tires him out.

Play Tough! Finish our checks, and play the puck to take a hit, To many times i see Edler not playing the puck becasue he sees a player coming so he braces himself for the hit instead of moving the puck.

Play as a Team! Move up and down the ice together as a unit, this will make is hard for other teams to break you down and easy for Vancouver to break down opposing teams plays.

Have Fun! Having fun out there will make our team play alot better, joking around after goals will settle everyone down and mold them closer together.

All Star Break

With the All Star Fun now finished, its time to get back to work. West lost the game 12-11 in a shoot out, this was quite and exciting game to watch. Looking at the task at hand for the Vancouver Canucks, well we have played 48 games. That leaves us with 34 games left in the season. Clearly the main goal is to make the playoffs. But it would be nice to be in a position where, with 10 games left we have already secured a position in the post-season. Mats Sundin will be with Vancouver for three weeks on Wednesday when they play the Nashville Predators. I think we can start to see Sundin playing alot better now, with no excuses for bad penalties and not having his feet moving. I would estamate that the cut off at the end of the season will be around 90 points. So Vancouver will have to get at least 90 points to make the playoffs in my opinion. I think and hope that they will be able to do this.

My Response to Richard.

Richard recently wrote a letter to The Province newspaper. This is his letter.

"My heart can't take it any more. I've been a Canucks fan for over 30 years. Every year we are fooled into believing this will be THE year or at least this year will be a better year.

"I fall for the hype every time, but after last night's game ... something died in me.

"I've never felt that disappointed by a loss in my life. I was so upset, in fact, that it carried over to my relationship with my wife. I snapped at her over the dumbest of things. She was an innocent bystander and not a hockey fan. That anger that was wrongly aimed at my wonderful wife was an anger so powerful I couldn't contain it. An anger expressed because of my emotional tie to a stupid sports team.

"I will never let that happen again.

"I proved to myself that watching, cheering and supporting the Canucks has finally come to an end. Period.

"The time I wasted watching the Canucks games I will now spend with my wife and daughter."

— Richard.


Here is my respose to Richard


I understand how Richard feels, but he is not a true dedicated fan. I feel horrible with what the Canucks are doing right now but i get over it and I am always looking forward for the next game and I cheer for them. I think Richard and all his followers are a bunch of wagon-hoppers who can't control their emotions or their life. These people combined with the media are who drove Markus Naslund out of town. Markus Naslund loved this city but he couldn't handle the pressure of angry, uneducated fans. "They would have never been happy with me unless i was getting the numbers I did in my best seasons." Is what Naslund said when deciding not to resign with the Canucks. What the Vancouver Canucks need right now is support, they need the fans to be behind them. They also need some more true fans, not the wagon-hoppers who are there when they are winning and not there when they are losing. These "fans" could determine if players want to stay in Vancouver or if future players want to come to Vancouver. Its time to determine if you are a real fan or not, if not then you should not be cheering them anyways. These wagon-hoppers will be cheering for the Canucks as soon as they start there winning ways again. Think of it this way Richard, if you were there for your wife and kid when things were good and happy but as soon as things got bad you were never around. Would your relationship last? You need to put effort into things to make them work. That's how life works. As fans we can put effort into showing support to Our Vancouver Canucks. It will make them more comfortable, secure, and will possibly make them play better. I would also like Canucks fans to BELIEVE. Last year Detroit had a big losing streak in the season and they weren't sure if they would make the playoffs. Well they made the playoffs and won the Stanley Cup. I am and will always be a Vancouver Canucks Fan!

Getting Better

The Vancouver Canucks played alot better in their last two games b4 the All-Star Break. I still am not to sure about the coaching of AV. But with the Canucks playing better i believe they will keep him around longer. This All-Star Break comes at a good time however, now the players get some time to rest and look at their task that will continue after the break. We all know how this Canucks team can play. I would love to see them return to their form earlyar in the season.

Hitting the Net

Hitting the Net seems to be a big problem with alot of our defenceman. Ohlund, Mitchell, and Salo don't have a problem with this but when our first defensive line on the powerplay is Bieka and Elder, well it would help to hit the net when we have a good oppertunity. There has been countless shots that have missed the net and even if we don't score it makes the goalie make a save and there is a chance of a rebound goal and there is also a chance of a save not being made by the goaltender. We all know that Bieka and Elder are good players and have got many points b4 so we need these players to hit the net more often to create more oppertunitys for chances and goals.

Kyle Wellwood

I don't no the exact stat but i no that most of Kyle Wellwood's Points have come with the Sedin's or on the powerplay. So i don't see the sense of Alain putting Kyle Wellwood on the 4th Line with Darcy Hordachuck and Ryan Johnson. Don't get me wrong Hordachuck and Johnson are both very good players, but they have different strengths, Hordachuck is a heavy weight fighter, and Johnson is a shot blocker and checker/hitter. This does not help out Wellwood because he is a scorer/playmaker. Now Alain is making Kyle Wellwood a healthy scratch. To me i think Wellwood would preform alot better on any of the other lines, the 4th Line so stay as a checking/fighting line. Then in tonights game Alain puts Kyle Wellwood in the shootout. Well first of all Kyle is not going to be very confident. Alain is giving him way to many mixed signals. What should be done with this problem?

With Luongo back the Canucks still suffer.

Luongo looked a little rusty in his first game back in 24 games. The Vancouver Canucks Captian and leader started out slow but began to look like his old self in the third period again. B4 the game Luongo said B4 the game, that he could not be a saviour for the team and that they all had to step up. He was clearly not a saviour letting in at least 2 bad goals. I was personaly at he game, which was a bad game and a bad investment, to buy the tickets and go to the game. Luongo defanitly looked like his old self in goal in the 3rd period making a couple huge saves. Highlighted by one highlight reel save on shane doan. However the Canucks look somewhat uncomfortible with playing lately, after recieveing alot of boos for there fans in their recent home games, they must be a bit on edge and uncomfortible. Alex Edler seems like he does not remember how to skate. As he tripped over everyline on the ice that came his way. Also i noticed that the Vancouver Canucks failed to gain the other teams zone, time after time after time they continued to dump the puck in and change lines. Phoenix however seemed to gain the zone and keep posession of the puck, Vancouver needs to do this more often. Vancouver also gave away to many pucks during this game. During the game VS. the san jose sharks. Vancouver had 38 givaways. Vancoubver has alot of improvments to make to make themselfs and comtender in the playoffs.

Luongo back, Standford out.

The long awaited return of Vancouver Canucks Captian and leader Roberto Luongo should be thursday night against the Phoenix Cyotes. I am attending this game myself so i am very excited and i hope the Canucks team can step up there play and make it a good one. With Luongo coming back Curtis Standford is the odd man out. He has been with the Canucks for 1 and a half seasons and he has done just about everything that you can ask of from a back up goalie. Unfortunatly however he is on waivers and if no one pickes him up he will report to Manitoba Moose. Vancouver has promised to try to get him to another NHL team tho. This is the sad and bad part of the buisness. The Vancouver Canucks lost a team mate and very good friend in the process. Jason LaBarberra will now be the back up and he is a bigger goaltender. Lets hope the Canucks can finish the season on a very good note.

Vancouver Canucks Play

The Vancouver Canucks have not been playing to well lately they look tired slow and not energized. After their 5th straight lose at home tongiht VS. the New Jersey Devils, Canucks fans have reason to be worryed. Preformances like this will not win us important playoff games. However after the first period Vancouver looked better and almost made a game out of it. Vancouver Canucks got owrked at practice on Monday with the coaches swearing and yelling trying to show the players that this kind of play is not acceptible. If you ask me i beleive the Canucks will be getting worked on Wednesday again after a slow start in the game. A good thing to look forward to is that Roberto Luong o is expected to start on Thurday againbst the Phoenix Cyotes. This is very good news because after those first 3 goals let in by Jason LaBarberra an Curtis Stanford, it shows that there is an incredible difference between a starting goalie and back up goalie. Look for Luongo to be a little bit rusty. B4 Luongo got injured the Vancouver Canucks were first in the NorthWest and now calgary has only a 5 point lead over Vancouver and Vancouver has a 4 point lead over every other team in the NorthWest. So lets hope the Vancouver Canucks will be able to make up ground and regain 1st place in the NorthWest.

Mats Sundin, Roberto Luongo, and Alex Edler

We can expect Mats Sundin to slowly pick up over the next 2 weeks. I think that within 2 weeks he will be in full game shape and lost his last couple pound and flying around like the Mats Sundin of old. We can most probably expect to see Roberto Luongo back by the end of this week which may bring a end to Curtis Sandford with the Vancouver Canucks. I still can not tell you what i think will happen with the back up desision however. Now Alex Edler had a great break out season last year and we all expected alot from him this season. But game after game he is disappionting us. He showed us his shot that broke the glass tonight but we don't see alot of that shot during the games, and this is not him main problem. His main problem is his play in the defensive end. Once again tonight he gave the puck away which led to a san jose goal. and this is at the point now where Alex Edler is costing us goals and points. Now I am not 100% sure about Edlers contract but i would assume it is a one way contract so we don't really have the option to send him to Manitoba because we might lose him. But maybe it take Alain Vighneut keeping him a healthy scratch for a few games for Edler to get the message.

Vancouvers play as of late.

Vancouvers play started against St Louis on friday. What should have been a cake walk turned in to a 10 goal rather boring and frustrating game to watch. Vancouver seemed like they thought they could win the game no matter what happened and they played that way. Lawernce Nycolat got the call to play in replacement of Rob Davidson which always suprizes me. Nycolat had a quiet game and managed to give the puck away several time and one give-a-way which he threw the puck up the center of the ice leading to a goal for St. Louis. Vancouver gave the puck away again and again and had trouble getting out of there own zone and gaining the offensive zone. I kept waiting and wondering when the Canucks would wake up, they didn't. After either a couple horrible calls by the refs or some stupid penalties Vancouver ended up losing 6-4 to the worst team in the West. Tonight against San Jose, Vancouver came out way stronger getting all the chances. Yet they still found themselfs down one to the best team in the NHL right now. However with less than a minute to play Mats Sundin got his long awaited first goal and point as a Canuck. This brought the crowd to their feet. As Alain Vighneut said before, "We have 3 weeks of pre-season training at the begining of the season and that is to get us in game shape. Well Mats has only been with us for about a week so we don't expect him to be in full game shape for another couple weeks." I agree with Vighneut because Sundin if you have not noticed is a very big man and i am sure there is some pound he has not got rid of yet. You can see it when he skates he looks slow almost drowzy. But we can slowly start expecting to get more and more good play from him. Anyways Vancouver played fairly good getting unlucky on a puck that seemed to stick to the goal line and a couple quick rebound shots by Sundin that where saved. And San Jose seemed to be nothing but lucky with one goal defleted in off a skate and one goal that sandford should have saved. Late in the thrid San Jose got another lucky bounce off a skate and then added some insurance and won 4-2.

Ryan Johnson

Ryan Johnson will be playing in tonights game VS. St Louis. After missing over 6 Weeks with a broken foot and broken hand requiring surgery. He still has pain and stiffnes in his hand but he says this is something he will have to learn to play through. Janick Hannsen got recalled and will now be playing his 3 game in 4 nights. Jason Jaffery got sent to Manitoba but is currently on waivers for the next 24 hours. If no team picks him up he will return to Manitoba. Lawernce Nycolat will be starting his first game in 5 in replacement for Rob Davidson.

Sundin's Debut With Vancouver

Mats Sundin played his first game as a Vancouver Canuck on wednesday against the oilers. He started out with very short shift between 15-30 seconds. He also looked fairly slow and not up to game speed yet. As the game went on Sundin played better tho and seemed to be moving a bit quicker. He had a few chances were he took a little to long to take shots and the puck got blocked. But we can not expect him to be completely ready and up to the game pace yet. He finished the game with 15 minutes of ice time and 24 shifts. I would think that the next game he will possibaly have 20 minutes of ice time but we don't want him runnign out of energy. In about 5 to 8 games we can expect to see and Sundin who will look more like his old self. Anouther big right winger stepped up for the Canucks however, Steve Bernier had an assist and 2 goal that were 12 seconds apart. Edmonton did well in shuting down our top 2 lines but the 3rd line stepped up in a big way earning 8 points in total between the 3 of them. Steve Bernier, Ryan Kesler, And Alex Burrows was the 3rd line. Jason LaBarbera got the start again with Curtis Sanford as back up. LaBarbera played very good and came out on top with the 4-2 victory, Which leads to the question. Once Roberto Luongo is back what will the Canucks staff deside to do with the 2 back up goalies. Curtis Standford and Jason LaBarbera have been excellent when coming into goal. I honestly do not no what will happen with these 2 and i can not make my mind up which one will stay up, because they are both excellent back ups.

Canucks Re-assign Janick Hansen

The Vancouver Canucks Re-assighed Janick Hansen on monday morning to the Manitoba Moose. Does this mean a possible debut for Mats Sundin on wednesday Vs. the oilers?

Canada Wins Gold Again!

The Canadian Jrs. won Gold again in Ottawa. This is the 5th year in a row that they have won and second in a row that they beat Sweden. The Vancouver Canucks Prospect Cody Hodgeson had an amazing tournament and was the leader in points. It is unfortunate that he was not reconized for this as John Tavares was considered the MVP. But this is a player that the Canucks can look forward to having in the future.

Everybody has their say about Mats Sundin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXxg7msf22U

Watch Out For Alexander Semin

For those of you who missed this great fight by Alexander Semin, well here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6DjNKAAmPA
Now this is the player who said Crosby was not good at hockey, well crosby can fight and score and not to mention Crosby is ahead of Semin in points.

Sami Salo

I am sure Canucks fans are wondering what is wrong with Sami Salo, well when he is healthy he is a great help to our team. but if he is not healthy well...hes not worth the money in my opnion. I like Sami Salo alot but i am sure there is players we can get for the same amount that are not injured as much as he is. Sami is out 4 weeks with a Broken Rib.

December For The Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver ended december with a sloppy 7-10 record and that showed with them being 5 points behind the Northwest division leading Calgary Flames. Dec.17/2008 was a night in Cnaucks History. The Sweater of long time Canuck Trevor Linden was raised to the rafters and retired. In a one hour long celabration Linden was given gifts and "Thank You's" and memories were shown to remember all the great years he had given us. Vancouver won the game later that evening 4-2 over the oilers. Earliar in the day the employees gate at GM Place was renumbered to gate 16. With More good news for the Canucks and their fans coming the next day that they had signed Mats Sundin to a one year deal.