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Say hello to my little friend.....

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Transcript of Matt Cooke's disciplinary hearing

March 21st, 2011 - New York - 10:31 am EST

Security Liason: Come right this way Mr. Cooke

Matt Cooke: OK, thank you.

Security Liason: Betcha can't eat just one

Matt Cooke: What?

Security Liason: Want to hang out with  Stanley Cup winner for a day?

Matt Cooke: I'm sorry, are you talking to me?

Security Liason: Hahah, it's ok, most people get kind of nervous when meeting me. You don't have to pretend you don't know me. I won't bite.

Matt Cooke: .....Who are you?

Mark Messier: Come on Matt, no need to be shy. You can say hi to your hero Mark Messier.

Matt Cooke: Oh......Mark Messier....I guess that IS you....

Canucks Wildly Run Wild over Wild Wild /#TSN Title

Kesler seeks position in government. Or he is stealing popcorn. Either or.

The Vancouver Canucks just keep rolling these days, their latest victim, the Minnesota Wild. The Canucks decided one periods worth of effort was enough as they jumped to a 3-0 lead quickly, and held on for the 4-2 win. Minnesota is in a tailspin as of late, and they were desperate for the points, making it all the more impressive that the Canucks once again have managed to take two points from a team so desperate to win. I am kind of torn of whether I enjoy squashing Minnesota's playoff hopes (Damn you 2003 playoffs....damn you) or whether I would rather have Calgary sweat it out more by having their opponents gain some points. Winning is always the best options in the end, though, so good on the Canucks for telling Minnesota to bite the curb. Is it too early to bust out an American X reference? Nah.

So for those of you who may have missed the game, or those who watched the game but are just on the edge of your seat wondering what I thought of the game, I present to you the highlights of the game. Due to lack of advertising, I don't have a cool name for this segment (Frito Lays Presents Wyatt's Hilights of the Game is not in my future sadly), but if I did, I'd like to think I'd enter a pretty graphic for it right about here.

-Raffi Torres scored what might have been one of the weakest goals in recent memory, as he unleashed a wrist shot from just inside the blue line that somehow managed to find its way behind Backstrom. As a goalie myself, I can break down Backstroms thought process for you. Imagine I am speaking with a Finnish accent, for full effect:

Backstrom: OK buddy boy, we can do this. God, I hate the Ikea. Long live the Finland! We are to be having an exciting time, ja? OK, here we go, game time. Time to make the saves, makes the ladies excited in the panties, and to reclaim all the glory for Finland. Ok, here we go, here comes the ginger man with no soul, here he comes, look at that pathetic soul patch of hair, you call that a beard, pfft. Oh, what is this, a wrist shot? He thinks he can beat ME with a wris-

NO! JA! NO! JA! NO! JA! NO!

My defenceman....he must have tipped it.....the puck....it isn't calibrated correctly....my glove....it has defect......the lights.....are too bright....is that a laser pointer.....it must have......I think......

Shit.

That is the life of a goalie folks. Scramble to try and lay the blame elsewhere before finally accepting the fact it was our fault, then drowning in self disgust. The truth is rarely pretty.

- At the begining of the year I thought putting Kesler with the Twins on the PP was  a terrible terrible idea. I stand firmly corrected, and I admit I am an idiot. This unit put on a PP clinic last night, passing the puck around like it was on a string. They kept the puck away from the Wild so effectivley that you almost felt bad for how stupid the Wild looked for thinking they could get the puck out of the zone. Until you remembered Darby Hendrickson scoring on Dan Cloutier in Raffi Torres like fashion from just inside the blue line back in 2003. Then you wanted Daniel to score, kick Backstrom to the ground, pull down his pants, and take a huge du-Wait, where was I? OK, in the end Kesler potted a goal, and much recjoicing was heard. 'Kesler Bomb!!!' was heard around the Province, and much giggling was had.

-Malholtra was a beast all night long. As games become more and more like playoff games as we reach the end of the year, you see a glimpse of which players might excel and which players might shrink away from the tight, hard nature of playoff hockey. And while I realize that last sentence was perhaps a tad bit erotic, it doesn't negate from the fact that Malhotra was putting his body on the line left and right to make sure the Wild didn't tie that game up. Come playoff time, you need players like Malholtra to win series

-Higgins also showed some moxy, as he too, played strong along the boards, and drove hard to the net. Said Higgins after the game "I eat pieces of shit like Minnesota for breakfast." thus bringing a rousing applause from Happy Gilmore fans everywhere.

-As for Shooter McGavin himself, Mason Raymond, once again he pulled off his mysterious magicians act that has stumped people for years. The Disappearing Raymond act that has people dying to know how he does it.

"Magicians never tell" smirked Mason Raymond after the game. "It's just something I was born with. My entire family has always been blessed with the ability to disappear during high stress situations. I knew at a young age that it was just something that came naturally to me. Playing dodegball in elementary school? People would think it was over, then BAM, I'd appear out of nowhere. People not even realizing I was gone. I'd of course be disqualified for leaving the playing field and hiding in the locker room, but the important thing is that rubber ball didn't hit me. It never hit me. Safety first folks, remember that. I just hope I can maintain that high standard and carry on the family tradition for this years playoff run. Fingers crossed, I won't get a single mark on me during this years playoffs."

When asked if that style of play might limit his effectiveness, Raymond laughed and responded "I have the shot of a two year old, I hardly think that will be missed" before his agent came rushing into the room to whisk Raymond away.

-Luongo played another really solid game tonight. He is quietly having one of the best seasons of his career, on par with his first amazing season with the Canucks. When asked if giving up the captaincy has helped him this year, Luongo responded "Yeah, I think it helped. Because I always know....that no matter what.....I'm still the captain.......of my pants. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah." before awkwardly trying to high five team mates around him.

-Chris Tanev on being able to play with someone else besides Aaron Rome "THANK YOU.....OH MY GOD.......*SOB*......THANK YOU KEITH.......THANK YOU......"

- Aarom Rome on having to be Aaron Rome and play with himself all the time: "Even I don't want to play with myself."

-Bieksa on playing with Aaron Rome "This is why I cut myself. To get away from Aaron. Now people finally know the truth."

OK, that's it for the recap, see you next time!

Canucks Game Day Preview: Vancouver Canucks vs Minnesota Wi...zzz.....

Props to 'egatti' from Canucks.com for the awesome kesler bomb

As Jeff Goldblum would say "Life.....ah.......ah.......ah.......ah........ah..........will find a......ah......ah.......ah........way." Or in this case, Ryan Kesler will find a way, to get in another photo. Apparently Keslers photo bombing is all the talk in the dressing room.

(Read more at

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/hockey/canucks-hockey/Interview+Bomber+talk+Canucks+room/4433412/story.html )

Why do I talk about Kesler's photographic antics you ask? Why start off a gameday preview with Ryan Kesler's interview antics being the main focal point? What about the game, Wyatt, the game??

Because quite simply, there aren't many constants in the world, but one of those constants is the fact any Minnesota game will be 'shoot me in the head now, please, dear god, now' boring. Minnesota Wild games make you feel like changing the channel to Nascar. Never will the beauty and grace and understated brilliance of Nascar be as clear as when watching it right after a Minnesota Wild game.

There are a variety of ways this game could play out, but they will all end with the same thing.

Yep.

Uh huh.

You must be getting it by now...

Well that one confuses things a bit....

Assuming you followed that picture trail to its conclusion properly, you will notice that I think this game will end up with that beautiful gift of Jacques Lemaires that keeps on giving, THE TRAP.

Minnesota scores first? Get ready for neutral zone hockey at its finest. Nothing says hockey excitement like chipping the puck off the glass and lining up in the neutral zone to defend that lead.

Vancouver scores first? Get ready for neutral zone hockey at its finest. Nothing says hockey excitement like chipping the puck off the glass and lining up in the neutral zone to maybe get a lucky bounce to tie the game up.

Vancouver opens up a multi goal lead? Neutral zone hockey. Chip off the glass. repeat.

So yes, I am not expecting much in the way of an amaing game tonight. Add in the fact Vancouver just Blitzkrieged their roadtrip, reeling off 5 straight wins, add in Minnesota needing these points FAR more than we do, and add to the fact Vancouver is probably feeling pretty good about themselves, don't be too surprised if Minnesota kills us this game. And by kills us, I mean they generate 4 shots to our 1 shot in the first period in what will be described as "barely viewable even for someone in a coma".

With that said, let's try and generate some keys to the game.



Keys to the game...in this case HHH, who is known as the Game...get it? This works, right?

Key #1: Don't let Minnesota score. Now I know this is on par with John Madden telling us that getting touchdowns helps you win games, but this isn't so much a key to the game for Vancouver to win, so much as a key to the game for the fans not having to watch an even more torturous experience known as a Minnesota Wild game. The Wild trap enough as it is, but when they get the first goal? My god. It's like having a fat kid stuck in an elevator with you, with both of you not having eaten for 8 hours. You know if any food is found, the fat kid is going to fight you for it. But if that kid gets a whiff of a smartie before any food is found, well, that kid is going to ramp up his game ten fold. Don't let the Wild score first!

Key #2: Apparently play Aaron Rome more than Keith Ballard? I do not understand the man love AV has for Rome, but apparently putting Rome on the PP and playing far more minutes than Ballard seems to be a key to....something. A game I like to play when watching Aaron Rome play hockey is "When will dumbass get off the ice after staying out way too long." Seriously, Aaron Rome can average the same amount of shifts as Keith Ballard but still play 2-5 more minutes in a game because Aaron Rome has no idea how to get to his bench.

Key #3: Try not to fall asleep. As stated previously, the Caucks are coming off 5 straight wins from the road, but before that went .500 on their homestand. So they have a tendency to let their guard down at home as of late. Add in that all the teams they are facing are vying for a playoff spot (Except Edmonton. Sorry Edmonton. You got officially eliminated last night), it usually means the other team will be busting their ass, playing a tight road game, to try and beat you.

Key #4: Feed Danny the puck. Daniel needs his two trophies. The world will not be right until Daniel has an Art Ross and Hart trophy. Keep feeding Daniel!

That's about it. That's all the interest I can drum up for this game. Honestly, the only thing exciting for this game from a Canucks perspective is the fact this win would break the 100 point barrier, that it is another game in which Daniel can try and keep his lead on the Art Ross and Hart trophy chase, and it is another 2 points to try and put between them and Philly (Or Washington, who has won 8 in a row).

So how do you end a blog on the Wild and get people happy again? Why, with random quotes from the post game thread from the official Calgary Flames forums from last Saturdays game. Because if that doesn't put a smile on a Canucks fan face, I don't know what will. My comments in italics.

"Barring the clinching of a playoff spot, this season is a complete failure." - Reasonable enough

"I hate Kesler " - I feed off of the tears of your suffering.

"sigh* depressing loss...It sucks having to watch the Flames lose when you're sitting in a room full of Mexican exchange students who are all converted Canuck fans." - Viva la Mexico?

"MOD EDIT: Don't insult other posters." - This was repeated many times.

"Somehow I expected a wee bit more. It's like the hot girl that leads you on all night, and then doesn't want to do the dirty deed she's been teasing you with."  -  In Calgarys case, I am sure a burning sensation worthy of the Flames accompanies that 'dirty deed' most of the time

"You know how crappy of a poster you are when you are more annoying than a Canucks fan." - They are turning on each other. It won't be long now before they start eating their own young...

"one more post...im frikking sick of losing to the canucks....please STOP ... wow the flames really piss me the frick off. you know how many god-damn messages and calls i am getting because of these incompetent losers?? seriously this team can go to hell." If I knew any Flames fans I would text them as well.

"Not sure what game you watched tonight, if thats the Flames battling then god help us." - Winning. Duh.

"It's tough coming to the realization that the Canucks might get their first cup this year. If there is a God, that will not happen. Does anyone have a first born male they would be willing to sacrifice to the Gods to stop it? Even a calf, or some sort of sheep might due in a pinch." I hope we win just for the reactions in Calgary alone.

Back on track

Alright, time to get back to my blogging ways.

So a lot has happened since I stopped posting about the Canucks. There is a lot less anger nowadays. I have had a somewhat pleasant experience watching the Canucks. I no longer have the urge throw the remote control at the TV as often as I used to. It has gotten....dare I say it....a bit boring to be a Canucks fan these days. Having no place to misdirect my rage towards (Didn't get that raise at work today? That is Aaron Rome's fault! God damnit Rome, if you didn't give away that puck in the slot that raise would have been mine!) means I often have to find other things to get angry about. I'm looking at you Safeway. No longer stocking Raspberry Gingerale? Jerks.

With that being said, if anyone is able to find things to criticize about a seemingly uncriticizable thing, it would be me, so I will still be able to find things to question/ponder/shake accusing fingers at. So I will be back to my usual posting ways over the next while, and if I can't find anything to get angry about the Canucks at, well, I can always resort to photoshop pictures and making up fake articles.

A quick recap of what has happened since I last posted, though, to get us all up to speed:

-Remember that joke we made about how Daniel was going to try and get his two trophies this year to match Henrik? We all laughed at how witty we were. "They're twins, they HAVE to do it, tee hee!" before we ran away to have tea and crumpets. Well don't look yet but....

-Ryan Kesler has become an interview bomber. For those unaware, Kesler has decided to make cameos in many players interviews as of late, creating endless amounts of joy for those of us on the internets. Case in point:

If Kesler wasn't already quickly becoming my favorite player due to his on ice play, now his off ice play has really ramped it up to a whole new level. I'd like to think him not having the C allows him to do this kind of stunt. That way I feel better about not having him have the C. Not that I think Henrik is a bad captain, but there is something about cheering on your captain who you know would take a shot to the nuts to keep the puck out of the net.

-Remember Desbiens? Either do I. Well my new whipping boy is Aaron Rome. Get ready for months of hatred sent his way! Why does he get power play time? Why???

-We have ridicilous depth now. Lapierre and Higgins on our 4th line? Bieksa and Edler coming back into the lineup soon? What in the hell.......Best team we've ever had.

-Cory Schneider is the real deal. Not in the Joe Rogan "Houston Alexander is the real deal!" kind of way, but in the "Oh shit, please trade him to the East so he never comes back to bite us in the ass" kind of way. Almost in the "How much does Luongo make? And Schneider makes.....hrmm....." kind of way.....

-Kesler is still awesome.

- Raymond. Raymond Raymond Raymond. I think a 5th grader has a harder shot than you. He drives me nuts but actually played really good last night, so I will reserve my rant on him for a later time. I am an opportunist.

-Luongo is having his best year to date with us, and inching into vezina nomination territory.

-I still hate Tanner Glass' mullett

-I despise a certain blog that has become famous because well, damnit, they got to live my dream through hard work and dedication. Damn you.

- Cory Schneider does the best impression of Jannik Hansen ever. That alone should bump up his contract a million or two

- Chris Tanev is playing amazing. If you had told me he would be an integral part of our season at the start of this NHL campaign I would have laughed at you, kicked you in the stomach, spat on your face, screamed at you to 'NEVER LIE TO ME. NEVER DO THAT. I HATE YOU." then run away crying.

- I still can't figure out if Charlie Sheen is in on his own joke or not. The fact remains, however, he would be a better player than Aaron Rome.

OK, that's it for the first update back, look forward to more updates as this season of joy rolls on!

-W

Christmas comes early - Canucks douse Flames #tsntitle

Puppies.

Ice Cream.

A first kiss.

A mother****ing double rainbow.

There are just some of the things that compare to a win over Calgary.

1998 called. They want their Canucks back.

Don't know who this is? Don't worry. Steve Washburn doesn't even remember playing for us.

Darby Hendrickson. Steve Washburn. Harry York. Brandon Convery. Bert Robertsson. Mark Messier. Those are just some of the names of the Canucks who played for our 1998-1999 team. One of the worst Canuck teams of all times. These are a bunch of forgetable players who we had to rely upon to get us into the playoffs, and to win us a Stanley Cup. Not surprisingly, they failed more times than Mark Messier pretending to be straight at a strip club. Zing. Yes, I still hate you Messier. I always will.

Canucks take a giant dump on my face. Twice.

Yup. This works.

Sigh. How times have changed. One week ago we were on top of the world. The Canadian dollar was on par with the American dollar. I had done some laundry. And I got a couple of a goals in ball hockey. Life was so good. And now? Well now I have laundry to do, I hit the post twice at hockey, and the dollar is no longer on par. And to top it off, the Canucks are doing their usual first half tailspin that seems to happen every year. The kind of drop in play that leaves the Canucks bleeding out points left and right. It's only November we say, it's all good. But it's not. It's not a good idea to drop games to teams we shouldn't be losing to. It just means we will have to watch the Canucks do another usual hard finish to the season to ensure they make the playoffs. God damnit Vancouver. Every year I believe you've changed only to find out you're still drinking and don't have a job yet. Why? Why do I let myself believe you every year?? You'll never change! *sob*

Anyways, I did a live action blog of the Chicago game, so I will post that, and then I will go over the Phoenix game, which I just finished watching. On my VCR. Never has the fast forward button been so useful.

Chicago vs Vancouver

6:55 - Getting ready for the game. Beer, check. Canuck hat, check. Texting everyone I know to tell them not to ruin the results of the UFC PPV for me, check.

Vancouver VS Toronto

Remember this Toronto? We sure do.

When: 4:00 pm Saturday the 13th

Where: Centre of the Universe, Toronto

Why: Toronto fans wanted to see a team with real centers

Ah Toronto. Our games against you used to be so much fun back in the late 90's, early 2000's. Back then, you actually had a good team. Back then, you could actually beat us, and did so many a time. Back then, your fans used to show up at GM Place and annoy the hell out of us with your loud cheering.

A tale of two games; Catching up on the road trip

(Would you like some pancakes?)

Two for the price of one! Yes sir, step right up, do I have a deal for you. Sorry about missing my game recaps, real life cares not about my blog, so sometimes I won't be able to get them up on time. So today I offer you a bonus 2 for 1 special, I will go over both games and talk about the road trip so far. If all goes well, I will even have a Toronto game preview up later. Yesssss. Alas, I do not have a TSN title today. If I did, it would probably involve the term Double Trouble or When Doves Cry.

Put your sticks in the middle boys

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=340505



The NHL is debating having the All-Star teams be 'drafted' by the captains of the All-Star game (From what I understand the starting line ups would be selected by the fans, then the hockey operations department would pick a pool of players for the rest of the all-star slots, then the captains would pick out the teams.)

I thought of doing a mock article about this in someway, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, this idea is just far too cool. I am on board with this and I hope they go through with it.

While I would honestly get a kick out of watching Henrik and Sidney going to center ice and tossing sticks from a pile left and right at the All-Star game, the NHL could get some easy media exposure by having the captains either select the teams on TV (yay source of revenue) or have an on ice event at the skills contest where before they start, the captains choose the team, do the skills contest, then next day, play the all-star game.

Honestly, the all-star game is boring as ****, so it's nice to see the NHL actually do something smart here to liven it up a bit. Aside from having the Stanley Cup champion take on the league all-stars (with the amount of money involved in todays game we will never see that, could you imagine a 4th liner playing against league all-stars, just running around trying to take off heads in a meaningless game?), this idea is at least on par with the SC Champs vs All-Stars idea. This not only connects the NHL to its fans (because who hasn't lined up and picked or been picked for a team when you were young? Unless you're the kid they always picked last. Then this could be a potential nightmare scenario for you as you re-live your failed childhood. I was always picked first or second, I don't understand your pain.....), but it also makes the game more interesting as we could potentially have some interesting lineups take place, rather than just the usual East vs West lineups.

In the end, let's face it. The All-Star game is nothing more than a glorified game of shinny. We will never be able to make it that interesting because real hockey, true hockey, that requires some intensity. Something an All-Star game will never have, now that Jeremy Roenick is no longer around to throw the one body check per all-star game that he used to do. So to the people who claim that this is just a gimmick, or that the captains will have a bias in picking, oh well. The entire game is a gimmick, so we might as well spruce it up a bit. It's like if we had a circus, why bring out just the clowns? We might as well bring out the flaming elephants while we're at it. Remember, bringing out the gimmicks brought us this:

Think about it, when was the last time you were really excited about an All-Star game? You never go to an All-Star game thinking "Oh man, I can't wait for slowed down NHL hockey, a game that lacks intensity, has no hitting, no defence, and we play a goal horn no matter who scores!!!". No. You go into an All-Star game thinking, maybe not consciously, but sub-consciously, you are thinking "Oh man, Ovechkin is going to deke out 5 guys, put Crosby through the glass (who cares if he is on the same team, you can't stop All-Star Ovie!), soccer kick Luongo in the face, then elbow out two of Henriks teeth before moonwalking in all alone on Kipper and scoring a goal with his face." You are expecting amazing things. What usually ends up happening is Chris Pronger scores on a wrist shot that gets tipped in by an unguarded Stamkos and we are forced to politely applaud their efficient if not boring goal.

This is why for a game desperate for personality, I think we can afford to let the All-Star game get a bit out of hand. Besides, could you imagine the articles that would be written if Henrik had to pick teams and he didn't choose Daniel? That sort of thing would keep the Vancouver media in business for months.

Canucks looking to beat Montreal in a whimsical way #IHadNoTSNTitleDamnit

Red Light Racicot remains the best nickname in the history of hockey.

When: 4:30 pm

Where: Rogers Sportsnet

Why: Because Eastern fans want to see what real hockey looks like

Vancouver vs Montreal. This will be a shorter post because I have real work to do. As much as it saddens me to let everyone know, I do not in fact get paid for this blog, and in fact, I have to make money through a different source. Pimping ain't easy!...

...

I'm sorry, I'll never do that again.

So, what do we need to know about this game? Well first off, the Canucks are on a 6 game win streak, and actually managed to win 2 road games recently. And as of late, the Canucks have done quite well on their Eastern road trips, meaning the Canucks technically should do pretty well on this trip. Add into this that Luongo always seems to show up against Montreal, and we should have a recipe for easy success.

Which of course means the Canucks will fail miserably. They have to. I just wouldn't understand a Canuck team that would go out and dominate on this road trip. It would mean we were off to a decent start, the October blips aside, probably one of our best starts to a season of all time. Now I know November is usually "GO TIME" for Vancouver, but it's still wierd to see Vancouver winning these games based on the strength of our 3rd line scoring, the Sedins scoring at least once a game, and having no help from our 2nd line at all. It's odd to see our team not fully in the zone managing to put together such a winning streak.

So I shall be watching this Eastern trip very attentively, as I am excited to see if the Canucks fail horribly, or if they somehow exceed expectations, something that happens once every 12 years or so.

I couldn't think of a better picture, and I just NOW finished watching Lost, and the series finale was god awful. So I chose to rant about it here. Lost series finale, **** you.

Storylines of the Game

-Carey Price vs Roberto Luongo. Luongo always seems to enjoy playing well in Montreal (All French Canadiens seem to be deeply insulted that Montreal didn't draft them, so in return, they play their best hockey against Montreal) and the ongoing show of Halak vs Price will always be going on in the background, so this should be a fun matchup to watch. Will we see fat, smoking, drinking and partying Carey Price beat crying, angry, depressed Roberto Luongo? I give the edge to Luongo in this one, due to the angry french Canadien factor. For some reason BC players don't really give a crap about playing the Canucks, so Price has nothing extra to motivate him.

Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, and Mike Cammalleri.

'They taste Blue' notes Andrew Alberts.-The Smurfs vs Andrew 'A-Train' Alberts. I will be running a 'Smurf Kill Count' on tonights game to see how many Montreal Smurfs Andrew Alberts kills in tonights game. Montreal's love of having forwards under 5"10 should make this a fun game to watch as AA wanders all over the ice in an effort to quell his 'unending desire for human blood'. True quote.

Rick Rypien "Gretzkys" Hal Gill. In the face! In. the. faaaaaace.

- Hal Gill is 6"7. Rick Rypien is 5"11. Rick Rypien beat up Hal Gill in Vancouver. I don't care if Gill isn't much of a fighter. I don't care if this fight is over-glorified by Canuck fans. The fact remains nothing is more amusing then watching a small dude beat the crap out of some big dude. I am excited to see if these two go at it again tonight. Watch their first fight if you missed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XxMmYvarCg

- Bieberts vs Montreal. This isn't really a match up, I just really really enjoy calling Bieksa and Alberts 'Bieberts'.

-Though speaking of which, Hamhuis is back in the lineup, albeit on the bottom pairing. How will he do playing with Ballard you ask?

-I HAVE NO IDEA. We are scratching Ballard and playing Rome over him. WHAT THE F***. Seriously, sometimes AV does the weirdest freaking things with his roster. His unquestionable man love for Rick Rypien leading the charge on that one. But without a doubt, this is one of the odder ones I have seen. Scratching our 4.2 million dollar d-man who is trying to get back into game shape, yes, lets put in Aaron Rome and let Ballard have more time away from game time. Yep, makes perfect sense to me. Who cares if Ballard has been a top 4 d-man his whole career, who cares if his ceiling is way higher than Rome's, who cares if Rome playing 'ok' is condsidered vital to our lineup over letting Ballard find his groove.....

*****. *****. Dislike. I dislike greatly.

This is vexing. I am terribly vexed.

-Henrik Sedin's salary vs Scott Gomez's salary. Gomez makes 7.3 million dollars. Henrik makes 6.1 million dollars. While I give credit to Gomez for having a kick ass nickname ('The Glove'), a nickname probably isn't worth an extra 1.2 million dollars more than the reigning Hart trophy winner. Thank god none of our contracts were ever handled by Glen Sather.

-Alain Vigneault's smug look vs Jacques Martin's smug look. Homerism aside, AV wins this one hands down I think.

Smarm! Smarm!

Alright folks, that's it, see you tomorrow!

Canucks Soar Over Wings #Tsntitle

Bette Midler

Because she had a song lyric that said she could fly higher than an eagle? And the Canucks flew by the Wings? Am I reaching too hard here? Probably. But how often do you get a chance to use a Bette Midler picture on your hockey blog. Not often enough I say.

Random Stuff Before I Break Down the Game:

OK so this is the part where I ramble before I get to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the game. But before I get to that, I will first talk about the direction I will be taking the post-game posts I will be doing on my blog. The game previews, that is pretty easy, I ramble on about the team we are playing, add in some personal stories, some past history, and voila, off I go. If you are looking for tiny statistical details in your game preview ("Did you know that when Raffi Torres has 2 coffees in the morning, one with 2 sugars, one without, and he wears black socks, and eats frozen orange juice straight from the can, that he scores at a 2 point per game clip? Oh but ONLY if we're playing in the Eastern time zone and we've JUST come out of the Pacific time zone within the last 24 hours.") well then I leave that in the capable hands of all those number crunchers out there. While I like stats, I don't enjoy looking them up myself, nor do I like basing an outcome of a game on such stats. Why you ask? Because stats don't account for the Hockey Gods. And if there is one thing I know in life, it's that the Hockey Gods hate Vancouver with a passion. The basketball gods, well they gave us Big Country, so obviously it isn't just a one sport thing in this town.

Yep. This was the franchise center for the Grizzlies. I don't even need a joke here. Sigh.

So yes, the game day preview, I have that down pat. But what to do about the post-game stuff? Since this blog is for dedicated Canuck fans, and fans who sometimes don't have time to watch the game, I have a delicate balancing act to perform. On one hand, hardcore Canuck fans have already read everything there is to read about last night's win, they have read the papers, the online forums, they have cut their neighbours goat and looked through its entrails to further see what the future holds for the Canucks....they have basically engorged themselves on anything Canuck related. 

On the other hand, I have the Canuck fans who had to meet a friend, or had a party to go to, or had something...what are they called? Life responsibilities? Apparently those responsibilities supersede hockey to some people. Crazy. Anyways, these people don't have time or the desire to go through every Canuck medium out there to look over information and break down the Canucks games into the minute detail that I, and others will ("Do you think Bieksa's new jock strap affected his game? I swear his stride was .02 seconds off its usual pace. Here, let me break it down frame by frame....See how he grimaces there? I think that's the new jockstrap digging into Bieksa's 'little general'").  

So I have to decide what to write about to make both sides happy, all 13 of you. So I have decided to break down the post-game reviews into the usual Good, Bad, and Ugly, and then have the "Game Highlights" section where I will post YouTube clips, describe major events of the game, or toss up what the papers are talking about, just so you are in the loop. I will also have the "MSN Game Winning Goal" picture, which is an idea I have gleefully stolen from some messageboard, from back in the day (Possibly HF Boards? I have no idea. Regardless, the idea is awesome, so I am taking it.)

I will strive to not go into too much detail so you regardless of which fan you are, you can have a nice quick read about your Canucks, and then tell all your friends to read my blog. Or shake your head and tell yourself "I always told Wyatt he should have taken a trade skills course". Either or is fine with me.

And don't worry, it will be chock full of pictures. YAY!

Game Highlights

Why did I post a picture of Andrew Alberts dressed like videogame anti-hero Codename:47, the silent assassin? Because of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_zXj88usM8&feature=related

Or if you prefer the American commentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bhLZ-aFiOo

(I enjoy the American commentary on big hits. They are far more taken aback and shocked by them then Canadian announcers and plus they make funny comments like "He zigged when he should have zagged")

For those of you not paying attention, at some point during the summer Andrew Alberts turned into a good defenceman, one who is very very solid in the number 5 spot, but is currently playing in our top 4, and shockingly, playing alongside Bieksa (Yes, the Bieberts pairing) has managed to play pretty damn good.

So yes, last nights game was more of the same as Alberts has decided to light people up in anticipation of christmas, as he is laying people out at least once a game, which makes me very very giddy. Other highlights of the game included:

-Jimmy Howard vs Roberto Luongo trying to decide who could play worse. Howard won this game.

-Our PP continues to be a huge weapon in our arsenal, as even the 2nd PP unit is getting into the act now

-Edler and Ehrhoff continue to be our most important d-men on the year as they both logged 24 minutes plus on the night. Thank you Patrick White, thank you.

-Malholtra had 3 points on the night (2 goals and an assist, one of the goals was a shorthanded breakaway) and Torres and Hansen also chipped in a point a piece. This line has been our 2nd line on the season, as Kesler, Raymond and Samuelsson continue to struggle

-The 3rd period was probably the best period of Canucks hockey I have seen all year. For those of you who missed it, you missed playoff style excitement. The crowd was really into it.

-As for the papers, if you want to save your time reading them, this is what they are all talking about

"Good teams take over in the 3rd period"

"Canucks would have lost a game like this last year"

"Canucks showing maturity"

etc etc etc. Basically the same thing we say every year where we win a game against Detroit, then we go on to lose in the playoffs.

So yes, those were the highlights of the game. Basically the 3rd period was kick ass hockey that saw the Canucks lay the smack down on the tired Wings in the 3rd period.

MSN Game Winning Goal



As you can see, Edler scored the game on a point shot on the powerplay. As my drawing shows, Ryan Kesler provided the moral support Edler need to score the game winning goal, Daniel Sedin provided the screen, while Henrik Sedin cheered on from afar. Jimmy Howard, looking unusually concerned about the goal, had little chance on the shot. I have no idea what is going on with the Wings players face who is covering Kesler.

So. Good.

The Good

- The 3rd perod was a sight to behold. Actual entertaining hockey, who knew the Canucks had it in them? Sure glad I sold my tickets to this one. Sigh.

-Manny Malholtra had a huge game. TSN of course chose to run the headline 'Manny Being Manny', so congrats lasting all of one good Malholtra game before going to that one TSN. Malholtra has come a long way since being a failed first rounder who was supposed to bring immense offence, got his butt kicked by Hitchcock for a couple of years, and found his niche as a top end 3rd line center. If Manny can continue to add offence to his game, then his contract suddenly becomes a bargain

-Edler/Ehrhoff contine to play solid solid defence. Should be interesting to see what happens when Hamhuis comes back and where he slots in the lineup. Edler and Ehrhoff, I like them playing together, and Bieberts is playing well together, that would mean Hamhuis and Ballard could play together, but that would mean Ballard getting more than 12 minutes a game. I assume Hamhuis/Edler, Ehrhoff/Ballard, then Bieberts stays together, or if they really want, Ballard and Alberts play while Bieksa goes back to top 4 minutes.

So bad. So very very very bad. Painfully bad. Dan Cloutier bad.

The Bad

-Ballard. 12 minutes a game. Want him in game shape. Want him killing people. Want good Ballard.



-2nd line continues to be 'meh'. Glad Sammy got a goal but overall this line has been been pretty poor. Kesler looks good on the PP, but STILL cannot get in sync with Raymond and Sammy.

-Desbiens. I just wanted to mention his name.

-Luongo wasn't terrible, but he wasn't good and he wasn't ugly. So he gets put in the bad category. Still, a wins a win, but he did look awfully slow at times tonight. The goal that was off of a shot that bounced off the backboards and out in front, holy lord, if I had a 90 year old grandma I would use her in a joke to explain how slow Luongo looked on that play.

Really? 3D? Can this series just die already?



The Ugly

-Our 4th line. It feels like I should have a template ready to use for these post game breakdowns, they always stay the same....Once again our 4th line was on the ice for a goal against and shockingly they had no goals for. This 4th line needs to be fixed, they are statistically worse than last years 4th line, which I never thought was possible

-Our 4th line. Yes, it bears repeating!

-Our goal song. Holiday by Green Day? Surely we can do better than that.

-There wasn't a whole lot of ugly about this game to be honest, well, not enough ugly for me to go on a rant about, so that's about it.

Until next time!

Canucks look to fly past Wings #Tsntitle

This is the only picture I like of a Detroit player. Hasek = Legend. It was either that, or I put up a picture of the city of Detroit. And let's face it, its Friday, nobody wants to start their weekend with that.

Detroit wins! Detroit wins! Oh how I remember Bob Cole saying that back in the 90's. Back when I used to laugh and applaud Detroits victories. But something funny happened over the years. Detroit kept winning. And winning. And winning some more. Soon they won so much that they became the standard for winning amongst NHL clubs. All you heard was "We want to be like Detroit, we want to be more like Detroit". You heard this from fans. You heard this from the media. You even heard it from the management of the teams themselves. Detroit set the bar for winning in the NHL.

It was a far cry from the early 90's. Back then, they were like the Sharks are now. Regular season beasts who looked amazing during 82 games, but once playoff time came, they found any possible way to lose. You enjoyed watching them because they didn't make you feel bad about your team because at the end of the day you could just go "Oh well, they'll choke in the playoffs like usual."

Remember Osgood choking against San Jose in the 93-94 playoffs? Or if you're too young for that, remember googling Osgood's name and seeing how he lost in 93-94?

Osgood went out of his net and gave the puck away along the boards. San Jose scored. San Jose won the series in 7 games. Interesting to note, this picture was taken from a screen cap for the top 10 worst playoff goals ever.Guess who was number one? Come on. You know the answer. Dan Cloutier. Yep. Dan Cloutier.

Back in the day, Detroit was harmless. But somewhere along the way, they grew up, and decided to win the cup. Several times. Repeatedly. They made that step we wait for Vancouver to make every year. The one Chicago made last year. You know the step, right? The one where the team implodes during the playoffs but next year, vowing never to make that mistake again, they come flying out of the gates in the playoffs and make a respectable run for the cup? Yeah. That one.

But like I said, Detroit kept winning. And the thing is, when teams do that? They should be easy to hate. It should be really really easy to find things to dislike about them. A team that plays that well over a 10 year period, where they enter into the infamous "Dynasty" discussion, you will usally have the fans that LOVE them (mostly because they win and some people find it easier to follow a winner. Less chance of heart disease or stroke) and you have the fans that hate them and can't wait to see the champ taken down a peg. A whole peg.

"I've been taken down a peg... A whole peg!"



New England Patriots? Easy. Cheaters. They video tape your practices. Their coach is unlikeable. They can play a boring style of football.

New Jersey Devils? The trap. Trap trap trap. They ruined hockey.

Dallas Cowboys from the 90's? I'm sick of hearing about America's team. Over rated. Barry Sanders is better than Emmitt. Irvin is a coke head. Aikman has no flair.

Tiger Woods. He sleeps with random women. He gets hit in the face with golf clubs.

Winnipeg Jets. Ha. Just kidding.

It's very easy to find things to hate about winners. But with Detroit, it was always kind of hard. Their tough guys played the game right. Their stars played the game with respect and class. Their goalies were really bad so that would allow you to beat them on occasion. They were basically perfect hosts. When they beat you, you didn't mutter to yourself about cheating or a-holes or this and that. You usually ended up saying "Damnit I wish our team was more like Detroit."

Even their fans are decent. Sure you'll run into an occasional Detroit fan that no longer owns a house and loves to throw it in your face about how good their team is ("OSGOOD BELONGS IN THE HALL OF FAME BRAH, HE'S BETTER THAN ANY GOALIE YOU'VE EVER HAD. STEVIE YYYYYYYYYYYY. Can I borrow a dollar?"), but on the whole, their fans are pretty laid back. Could you imagine if Toronto had their team? I am pretty sure BC would have to seperate from Canada at that point to get away from the explosion of ego that would occur.

So overall, Detroit makes it hard to hate them. I try everyday, but man, Henrik Zetterberg is just so smooth out there. Pavel Datsyuk, while looking like he could be a serial killer in his off time, is an amazing two way player. Lidstrom, one of the best d-men to ever play the game. Stevie Y beat us on one leg, putting in the kind of performance we saw from Linden in 94, how can you not respect that?

Seriously, he looks like he just murdered somone and is thoughtfully pondering if he took enough time exploring the victims soul.



So while some may be counting down the days that Detroits age finally catches up to them (And I won't lie, I enjoy watching them lose in the playoffs occasionally), I will raise my glass and give a toast to the Wings for being a team I wanted the Canucks to be for so many years, and for them not rubbing it in our faces how much better they are then us.

And I still stand by my statement that if Osgood gets near the Hall of Fame, I will vomit several times.

Keys to The Game:

-Edler has become the backbone of this defence. He logs more minutes than any Canuck, and he is playing amazing. Has to remain consistent as we rely heavily upon him. He has kind of stalled in his development the last couple of years in my opinion, as he hasn't really made a leap forward like he did in his rookie years, but if he can keep up his consistency like he has so far, he will finally be closer to grabbing that official "#1 NHL d-man" we've all been waiting for him to do. (Number #1 d-man on a team, not the NHL, mind you)

-Goaltending. Rollie Melanson seems to have had a great positive effect on the Canucks, so it's nice to see some stability on our backend, regardless of who starts the game. I am interested to see how Luongo and the team handle the challenge of the Red Wings. Luongo needs to not flop and stick to his deep in the crease net play!

-Hank and Dank need to continue to provide the bulk of our offence, whether it's the powerplay or not. They have been magical so far, so now it will be fun to see if they raise their games agains the Wings

-Burrows has to get in game shape. He started off strong but so far hasn't found his groove yet, but that is to be expected

-Samuelsson. Wake the F*** up buddy. This guy only seems to play hard when he's challenged, but it gets a bit worrisome that it always seems to take a kick in the pants to get him going. Regardless, he needs to get it going as he is the weakest part of the 2nd line. Kesler was a beast last game, but Raymond seems stuck in speed racer mode, and Sammy, well, Sammy just looks like he is playing for  Canucks alumni already.

-Torres, Manny and.....Janny? 3rd line has been amazing. Keep up the good work!

-Ballard, get more ice time! More! More more more!

-I want to see the showdown of Kesler vs Datsyuk. I still think Kesler should have won last year, but that is based purely on blatant homerism. It seems Kesler is playing with a bit of an edge these days, so I hope he can piss a few of the Wings off.

-Fourth line as usual needs to stay off the ice.

Alright, see you at gametime!

Joe Thornton Suspended 2 games for hitting

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=339982

As first nocticed by myself when I refreshed TSN, apparently Joe Thornton has been suspended 2 games for daring to hit another player.

I for one am glad the NHL is standing up for the players who keep their heads down on the ice, who look behind them waiting for a pass, or stare into the corner trying to get a glimpse of the hot girl in the red low cut shirt.

For too long these type of players have been taken advantage of by annoying hockey players who somehow think it is 'fun' or 'good hockey' to lay out a player who isn't paying attention to the action on the ice. With todays suspension, the league is telling us that "YES! The bad hockey players who are weak and not very aware of what is occuring around them" can still have a career. It's about time the Harold Druken's, the Josh Holden's, and the Nathan Smith's of the world get a chance to play hockey without fear of being hit. Alex Daigle, come back to us! You don't have to worry about mean big old d-men hitting you!

Forget the fact that the new no interference rules let forwards have cart blanche to ram d-men into the boards which is probably a bigger cause of head injuries. Forget the fact that the games are called so inconsistently that it's impossible to gage what is a legal hit and what isn't. All that matters is that we react to any hit that looks bad when it's showed on ESPN.

So let's all celebrate the dawn of a new Era in the NHL. The dawn of an era we can only hope the NFL soon follows when they convert to flag football. NHL braintrust, I salute you.

Canucks slide by Avalanche #TSNtitle

Canucks win! Canucks win!

This is one of those odd nights where I don't have much to complain about. In fact, I have to struggle to come up with a selection from my "Ugly" part of the game, which means there probably isn't anything that was wrong with the game. This leaves me in a bit of a bind as to what to write about. I can't write anything TOO good about the Canucks or else the hockey gods will percieve that as smugness, and they will strike me down rather quickly.

So I will take this time to tell you all a little story.

I have met several Canucks over the years. I met Trevor Linden when I was young.

I use this picture because a) i don't have a picture from back in the day when I would have met him and b) I couldn't get a picture with him on this day because their was literally a giant crowd in front of him, so no one could really get near him.

Trevor Linden: *grunt*

Young me: Gosh sir, could you please sign my card???

TL: *grunt* *swipe* *sign*

Young me: Gee whillickers! Thanks sir! *prances off merrily*

I met Roberto Luongo several times.

We both look thrilled, I know. Maybe I shouldn't have given him those tips on how to stop breakaways.

Me: They should let you have a C on your jersey

RL: *grunt* it'd be nice

Me: I'm really excited to see you play for us, I'm glad the Canucks picked you up

RL: *grunt* yep. exciting.*

And I met Ohlund several times back when I worked at Blockbuster video.

Mattias Ohlund. No, he did not try and sleep with me.

Me: Hey man, great game last night. I picked you for my pool, so you have to play well this year!

Ohlund: Oh no. No no no. That was not a good idea.

Me: Oh come on, you get lots of points.

Ohlund: No no no. You should have chosen Jovo.

Aside from a lot of grunting (And Ohlunds brutal honesty), these interactions were mostly pleasant in nature, rife with small talk, and a tinged with a slight awkwardness as we both struggled to get through our interactions together with the least amount of weirdness of knowing that we were both grown men, yet one of us got paid millions of dollars, while the other one rented out videos.

And that is how most of my interactions with players would go. Small talk, lame joke, and move on.

Why am I telling you this? I tell you this because I don't 'hate' any player. I may rail on them, or scream about them, but I don't really hate any player.

Dan Cloutier, however, is the one guy I could see pushing those boundaries. As a player, I definately hate Dan Cloutier. I hate his style, I hate his mask, I hate his stupid face. I hate that we wasted years on this guy, trying to force him into a starting role that he was no good at. As a person, well, I don't hate him because I don't know him, but I know I definately wouldn't want to hang out with him due to my prejudice against him.

So were I to meet him, I imagine it would go like this.

This is literally the 2nd image that pops up on Google when you search Dan Cloutier. I am so proud.

 

Me: Oh hey, you're Dan Cloutier

DC: Yes I am!

Me: So.

DC: ....

Me: I have a bus to catch.

No lame joke. No small talk. I think I would just acknowledge that he is indeed a live human being, and then I would move on. I would imagine what it would feel like to push him off the sea wall into the water, or to drop him in one of those dunk tanks, but that would be the extent of it.

What is the point of all of this? The point is, I don't hate Desbiens. I have nothing against him. I fully acknowledge he is a way better hockey player than I will ever be. He has accomplished far more in hockey than I ever will. He could come out to ball hockey with me and he would probably kick my ass.

And as a person, he is probably a really good guy. A guy you could hang out with and grab a beer with.

So I don't relish in his injury on a personal level, in anyway. I generally feel bad for the guy, because his NHL career will probably be a short one. That being said, he gets to play hockey for a living, can probably carve out a nice career doing so in Europe, makes far more money than I ever will so....

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Desbiens broke his hand and is out of the lineup. Thank the freaking gods, there is a chance we might have a serviceable fourth line! YES! YES! YES! YES WE CAN!

BYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Woo!

Anyways, as you can see, Desbiens broke his hand in a fight last night. First off, I know, you're shocked he even managed to get into a fight. But yes, he did, and he decided that punching a helmet would prove some sort of moral point to Cody McLeod, which in the end only broke his hand. So Desbiens is forced out of the lineup for a bit.

For the record, that makes it Bolduc and now Desbiens that are gone, while Brendan Morrison still remains one of, if not the best, Flames this season. Just saying.

With that, we go to the Good the Bad and the Ugly of last nights game.

Best Ninja Turtle Ever

The Good

-Schneider. My god, this kid looks really good right now. In the past couple of years, he has looked shaky and inconsistent. But this year? Solid as a rock. So solid that you kind of want to throw him to the wolves against a Chicago type team to see how well he does. He is playing so well it makes you think for a quick second "Wait, what if we trade Luongo instead...." before you realize that's crazy talk and that you're getting ahead of yourself. Regardless, Schneider looks awesome. I don't know if this is a case of Schneider simply maturing (Schneider's calm demeanour has stayed with him at all levels of play), if it's a case of Rollie Melanson helping improve his game, or if it's simply the case of bringing a kid along slowly (Something we don't really understand or see much of in Vancouver) thus allowing a kid to achieve his true potential. Maybe it's all of the above? Either way, it's fun to have a backup goalie you want to see play in net instead of cringing everytime you hear Luongo isn't starting. Bob Essensa was the last backup goalie that I felt this way about. Anyways, Schneider only let in one goal, absolutely stoned Matt Duchene on a breakaway (he made it look oh so easy), and basically looked like a legit NHL starting goalie. He is going to break our hearts playing for another team one day.

-Sedins. I have a feeling the Sedins will be in the 'Good' category all year long. Henrik had a sweet goal where he banked the puck in off Budaj from behind the net. That has happened to me in real life. Most notably and often by my friend Kelly. I hate it when that happens. I feel for you Budaj. Forwards don't understand what an asshole move it is to bank the puck in off of the goalie. Still, Henrik and Daniel are the engine of this team right now as our 2nd line continues to struggle. Also, Kesler on the PP with the Twins is growing on me, even though I openly hated on this move earlier in the year.

-Edler is slowly turning into the Mitchell-lite that Hamhuis held briefly this year. Eating up tons of minutes and not making mistakes. I have always said the one thing that holds Edler back from being that $6 million dollar number one d-man is his consistency, and so far this year, he has looked remarkably consistent. (I still stand by my statetment that Salo, if healthy, would be our best d-man, and is, when he is playing un-injured, a $6 million dollar d-man)

-Raffi "F-ing Rights" Torres got another goal. Off of another wicked tip. Holy hell, this guy is blowing me away so far. Of course it's a hot streak, and it's bound to end sometime, but it's nice to know that if Raffi gets hot, he can lay out huge hits and be an annoying pest in front of the net. All last year we were devoid of a presence in front of the net from our bottom two lines (Oh wait, we had Bernier.....ha....ha.....sigh.), so it is very nice to see Torres fitting into that role quite nicely. At $1 million, he is one of the best value contracts in the NHL. Brendan Morrison being another. Again. Just saying.

-Desbiens. He had 2 seconds of ice time. That is perfect.

Triceratons? What the hell were they thinking.

The Bad

-As I said earlier, there wasn't a lot of bad in this game. In fact, the only really bad thing I can think of is Bieksa and Alberts paired together. It was a bit of a gong show at times. I know Bieksa is playing much better lately, but still, the brain farts, they remain. At one point Bieberts (Not to be confused with Justin Bieber fans and/or Justin Biebers parents) both screwed up and let Matt Duchesne walk in all alone on Corey Schneider. Almost cost us a goal. Bieberts needs to keep their head in the game.

-Tanner Glass. Now with Desbiens gone, Tanner Glass, step on up! Tanner "Black hole of any offence" Glass works really hard, I'll give him that. He plays as hard as he can. I just wish he had a tiny little bit of stick handling in him. If he could just manage a bit of puck control, that 4th line might be salvageable. As it stands now, Glass is basically useless with the puck, and should be avoided touching the puck at all costs. In fact, anytime he sees the puck coming towards him, he should drops his gloves immediately and fight the first person he can find. Even if its his own teammate.

Nothing against Beebop, but he is pretty ugly

The Ugly

-I only have one Ugly, and that would be the 2nd line. Once again they cannot seem to play well together. Kesler is having fun on the PP, but he cannot seem to mesh with Ray Ray and Sammy. I put a lot of the blame on Sammy, because I know Kesley and Raymond have some chemistry, it just seems Sammy is the Tanner Glass of this line. He isn't shooting from anywhere like he did last year. At the very least, last year, you could at least count on Sammy to put the puck on net. This year, he gets the puck and it just promptly dies with him. He either turns it over, or sends the puck inexplicably away from his linemates into some odd corner. Sammy needs to wake up. Hopefully that is what is holding Raymond and Kesler from meshing.

Alright, next game is Saturday, on the weekend, so god knows if I will get my game day preview up tomorrow. We shall see!