Canucks Win Games 1 and 2 At Home, Head To ChiTown Up 2-0

For the first time in the past three series against Chicago the Canucks have won both Games 1 and 2. They've actually won Game 1 each time, but this is the first time they won Game 2.

What's that about the Hawks being in Lui's head? He got a shutout in Game 1. Suck on that, Hawks! Good game, Hawks.

Hansen has been a friggin' BEAST so far in this series. He's got 2 goals in 2 games, he's hitting and forechecking and creating chances and working hard.

In the first game the Sedins were shut-out, but you knew that in the second game they would be better. They were. Daniel got 2 goals and an assist, and Henrik picked up 1 assist.

Edler has also shown the quality of beastiness in this young series. He had I believe, 7 hits in Game 1, and scored in Game 2 with 12 seconds to go in the second, to make it 3-1 Canucks. A crucial goal.

Now we head to the Windy City, where the Hawks and their fans will be blown away by the speed and skill of the Vancouver Canucks. Let's just end this as quickly as we can, alright? (Now, I'm not suggesting anything... but it is a possibility, right??)

Holy Crap, I Haven't Posted In Forever. Many Apologies!!!

Some news that occurred while I was lazy gone.

The Canucks won the Presidents' trophy!!! For the first time in franchise history by beating the LA Kings 4-1.

Daniel Sedin locked up the Art Ross despite a late push by Corey Perry. The hugeness of this accomplishment cannot be understated: Twin brothers on the same team winning Art Ross trophies in back-to-back seasons with the potential to also both win MVP. I'm pretty sure this will never, ever happen again.

And... the playoff matchup that you've all been waiting for... yes, we're facing Chicago. AGAIN. Chicago lost on the last day of the regular season giving Dallas a chance to make it into the postseason simply by beating Minnesota. But they failed to do it and now, despite all odds, we're facing the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round. What better way to start off a long playoff run than by beating the defending champs, the same team who happens to have knocked you out in the playoffs two years running? (Just make sure we don't lose...)

I think we can definitely beat them, because due to the cap, Chicago lost a lot of their depth players which had a huge impact in the playoffs last season. (Ladd, Eager, BYFUGLIEN.) But it's just a matter of the team playing its absolute best. And EVERYONE needs to contribute.

Also... Cody Hodgson and Victor Oreskovich get called up. The latter is not a surprise, the former may perhaps come as a bit of a shock, due to the fact that he has the worst plus-minus on the Manitoba Moose. In the AHL. Not so good. He'll be centering the third line while Raffi Torres serves the remaining two games of his suspension. (Yes, he got suspended 4 games for his hit on Eberle. I think that's ridiculous, but that's a whole other story.)

Signing off, and hoping to post more regularly. (I KNOW nobody reads this blog, but don't remind me!!)

Canucks Beat Wings, Virtually Lock Up West

Eight games left in the regular season and the Vancouver Canucks, my Canucks, have virtually locked up the number-1 seed in the West. They're now 10 points clear of Detroit and 11 clear of San Jose to lead the conference. So we'll have to play whatever 8th seed there is.

Even Daniel Sedin's brand-new baby girl wants him to win the Art Ross. She cooperated and was born on Monday night. Daniel flew out by himself to Detroit on Tuesday night. He participated in the game-day skate on Wednesday and played. And boy, did he ever. He got the Canucks' only 2 goals and almost got a third, ringing one off the iron in the third period.

Daniel continues to lead the league in scoring with 95 points now. He's 7 clear of Henrik (who is now 2nd in league scoring) and 9 clear of Stamkos, who's hit a bit of a dry spell here at the best time (for Henrik and Daniel). I don't think it can be understated how amazing of a story this will be. I mean, I dreamt about this happening at the beginning of the season, but you're just thinking, "What if?" Now it's actually, truly going to happen, barring a huge cold spell for Danny and a red-hot spell for Stamkos. But seeing as Daniel's longest point drought of the season was only 3 games, I think it's a foregone conclusion that he's pretty much a lock for the Art Ross as of now.

And yes, he also has a VERY good chance for the Hart trophy. He has 40 goals now on the season, only 3 behind Stamkos, so he could conceivably pass Stamkos and win the Rocket Richard! Now, with 8 games left (I don't know how many for Stamkos) it's highly unlikely that will happen. But, it's not impossible. And if you'd asked anyone 4-5, even 3 years ago about the possibility of either Sedin winning the Art Ross or the Hart, they'd look at you like, "Are you crazy?" Anything's possible, never underestimate the skills of the Sedins.

Hockey Hottie of the Week

I know... lots of guys may hate me for this (and some girls, too) but Sidney Crosby is just hot. You can't deny it. He's out with a concussion right now, but he's skating again, so that's good. Get well soon, Sid! But not too soon, I want Daniel Sedin to win the Art Ross. :)

For Once, Salo Is Okay

On Monday night (Harold Snepsts' ROH induction night) Sami Salo's left arm was hit with a puck near the end of the first period. Canucks fans everywhere were torn between sighing or just laughing about the ridiculousness of it all. Pass it to Bulis had a great stat: Salo has averaged one injury per 16.6 games over his career. That was his sixteenth game back. Right on target. But it wasn't broken, and Salo is scheduled to play tonight vs. the Colorado Avalanche. Canucks fans, breathe a sigh of relief. For once in his career, Sami Salo is okay. Savour this moment, folks; it may not come again soon. SALO'S OK!! WHOOOOO!!

Hockey Hottie of the Week

Today's HHOTW is Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens. The fans had little faith in the young goalie when playoff superstar Jaroslav Halak was traded during the offseason, but Carey has played his way into the hearts of Habs fans, and even in to Vezina trophy consideration. BC-born Carey has proved that he is up to the task of backstopping the Montreal Canadiens. He's also the first goalie we've had on Hockey Hottie of the Week. Congrats Carey!!

Nice muscles there Carey!

Last Night's Game

Last night's game was the first time this year's Canucks came back when trailing after 20. Shocking, ain't it? The Coyotes got their first goal when Sami Salo lost the puck between his skates in front of the net. Belanger goal. Bettman must've had something to do with this. Anyways, then the Coyotes got a power play on a Daniel Sedin penalty. (Interesting stat: both Sedins had a minor penalty in this game.) Canucks killed off most of the penalty really well, until they got scored on. It went off Tanev's leg and in. The camera panned to Tanev's face after the 2-0 goal and his lips were faaaaar too readable. Let's just say the rookie has a potty mouth. A couple of times over.

I had the game on the PVR, so after the 2-0 goal, I skipped a bit. Seeing Canuck fans cheering, I skipped back and lo and behold, 17 seconds after the Phoenix goal, Dan Hamhuis had opened the scoring for the Canucks! What a good response. After that, the Canucks were able to generate some more scoring opportunities, came close, but didn't score again in the opening frame.

Coming out hard in the second, the game was tied on a goal by Henrik Sedin after a crease clearing attempt by Adrian Aucoin landed right on the stick of Henrik. (On the power play.) The next thing it hit was the back of the net. Not more than 3 minutes later, Sami Salo threw the puck at the net, a shot going way wide hit Rozsival in front, banked off him like in a pinball machine and put the Canucks up 3-2. But with 43 seconds left in the 2nd period, Alex Burrows got beaten to the puck and Lauri Korpikoski chipped it up over Luongo. Tie game.

Third period was filled with lots of chances for both teams, but the score stayed the same. So it was off to overtime we went. Less than a minute into overtime, Alex Burrows got around Michael Rozsival and got pulled down. Penalty shot. In overtime. But the backhand was predictable and Bryzgalov knew where he was gonna go all the way. Deflected wide off Bryzgalov's pad. But it didn't matter, because a couple minutes later Hamhuis scored his SECOND goal of the night (!!!) to win the game 4-3 in OT. Asked after the game when his last multi-goal game was, he couldn't remember. It was his first 2-goal game in the NHL, and his 5th and 6th goals of the season. 3-game winning streak for our beloved Canucks!

Hockey Hottie of the Week

So last week Sunday, I was really busy and forgot to do a Hockey Hottie of the Week. This is the first one in two weeks!! You're dying for some sexiness, aren't you? Well, today's HHOTW i-is... Alex Edler of the Vancouver Canucks!! Alex Edler is Swedish and has great hair. He wore skinnies to the Canucks jeans day. He's currently injured because his back has got ouchies, but he's one of the Canucks' best defensemen and has a flair for the offensive.

More LOLHockey

'Cause you know how much you love it!

Sorry, not as many this time. But I think they're also funnier, so it all evens out.

(By the way, I know I'm supposed to do Around the League today, but I can't look at Nhl.com because the Canucks game is on the PVR and then I'll see the score. So I'll do it after I watch the game. If I have time!)

Why Do Non-Canucks Fans Hate The Sedins?

While surfing the Internet, I obviously come across hockey blogs by non-Canucks fans. That's to be expected. But why do they say things like, "They're gay", "They're creepy", and other (inappropriate) nasty comments. Why do people say that? They're brothers for goodness sakes! How could they be gay?

And what's creepy about twins? If you see a couple of adorable twin girls toddling about at the beach, you would be all over them! Henrik and Daniel are two brothers who look exactly the same and share all their DNA. There's nothing creepy about that. Twins are all over the world.

And so, they do everything together. How does that make them gay? They've known each other all their lives, and are not only twin brothers, but best friends. I don't think it's right to call the Sedin twins gay.

And how about this sisters thing? Sure, when they first came into the NHL they were a little weaker, needed to put on some muscle still. Even now, they're not real big hitters, they don't agitate or frustrate. But you know what, haters? You have to be tough to play hockey. And you have to be tough to fight through numerous crosschecks to the back, punches, hits, high-sticks, and all other sorts of should-be-penalties that the refs don't notice, because the twins are such good sports.

Plus, the twins are genuinely nice guys. They lead the team really well, the do a lot of charity work and have even donated over a million dollars to the BC Children's hospital. They're not cocky or proud, in fact they're unbelievably humble.

And finally, to all you haters out there, last year Henrik Sedin beat out Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and all the other elite players in the league to win not only the Art Ross, but also the Hart as the league's MVP. This year, Daniel's leading the scoring race with 18 games left to play, beating Ovechkin, Stamkos, and an injured Crosby. So don't be hatin' on the Sedins.

Hockey Is The Most Exciting Sport: When It's Exciting, That Is

That. Was the most boring hockey game I've seen in a very, very long time. And there wasn't even the satisfaction of a win by the Canucks.

LOLHockey

Have you ever heard of LOLCats? Yeah, it's those silly looking cats with poor grammar. Well, I now bring to you... duh duh duh duuuuh... LOLHockey! Silly hockey pictures explained by myself. Some pictures just defy explanation, so of course I have to try! Without further ado... the first ever edition of LOLHockey!

Well, there you have it. Enjoy. I'll admit, I'm having second thoughts about some of them. Some of them don't seem quite as funny as they did before. But seeing as there's nobody around to laugh at my jokes (sniff), it should be alright. Welcome to LOLHockey; I hope there shall be more in the future.

Why Are The Sedins So Futile In The Shootout?

Last night's game went eight rounds of the shootout, and surprisingly, Luongo played very well in it. Even more surprisingly, the Canucks won in shootout. (For just the third time this year.) Even more surprisingly, Raffi Torres scored the shootout-winning goal. Shocking, isn't it? Well, not really. You forget that Torres played parts of 3 seasons with Columbus. He had inside information on Steve Mason.

But both of the Sedins had a chance to win it in the shootout, and failed. And both attempts didn't look very good, either. Daniel is 4-for-21 in his career (a mere 19%) while Henrik is 0-for-4 in his career. When both of these twins possess superior skill, a knack with the puck, and overall Wizardous Sedinerie, why so futile?

I only have one answer. Daniel can only score when Henrik passes to him, and Henrik just feels lost out there without the guy he automatically passes to whenever he gets the puck. Why can't they both go at the same time? They're practically the same person anyway!

About Nicknames... Extended!

The second post I ever made was entitled, "About Nicknames..." In it, I gave players' current nicknames, and created some of my own. At the trade deadline, the Canucks acquired three new players. So it's my job to create some creative nicknames for the noobs.

Here's the original post:

Today I want to talk about... Canucks nicknames!! Some of them have nicknames, some of them need nicknames... and others, well, take some imagination to think of a nickname for them. I'm going to make a list of current nicknames, and for each player make my own suggestion. Unless, of course, I can't think of anything better. Some of them have really, awesome nicknames!!

Andrew Alberts- A Minor, the A Train, AHLberts. Mine: Double A.

Jonas Andersson- none. I got nothing. This kid played like 2 games for us.

Keith Ballard- Bally, Hips. Mine: Goalie Killer.

Kevin Bieksa- Juice.

Mario Bliznak- none. Again, 2 games!!

Alexandre Bolduc- Duke, Duker.

Alexandre Burrows- Burr, Frack.

Guillame Desbiens- none. Mine: Guillame "thumb-inside-fist" Desbiens.

Alexander Edler- The Ice Man. Mine: Eddy.

Christian Ehrhoff- Bobby Hoff, the Hoffster, Blast-Off Hoff.

Tanner Glass- none. Mine: Tanner "Scrabble Champ" Glass, Tanner "Fights-Bears" Glass.

Dan Hamhuis- Hammy.

Jannik Hansen- The Great Dane. Mine: Jannik "Hard-worker" Hansen.

Ryan Kesler- Kes, Frick. Mine: Kes the Mess, Ryan "I hate Canada" Kesler, Grumpy, Gold-medal Baby-maker. (If you read Pass It to Bulis you'll know what I mean.)

Roberto Luongo- Bobby Lu, LUUUUUUU.

Manny Malhotra- none. Mine: Manny "Faceoff" Malhotra. (That's the only thing he's known for.)

Ryan Parent- none. Mine: Ryan "The Other Ryan" Parent. Like I said before, I don't know anything about this guy.

Joel Perrault- none. Mine: Joel "Who?" Perrault.

Mason Raymond- MayRay, MayRay Go-Round. Mine: Mason "Put out the Flames" Raymond. (He gets lots of hat tricks against the Flames.) Speedy Gonzales, because of his speed.

Aaron Rome- Romer. I got nothing else. Maybe, Aaron "In n' Out" Rome? He's in and out of the lineup a lot.

Rick Rypien- The Rypper, Pitbull. There's none better than that.

Sami Salo- Sami Solo, the Finnish MacInnis. Mine: Sami "Piece of Glass" Salo, Sami "Ouchie" Salo, Walking Disaster. Sami "Ruptured Testicle" Salo... The list of testicle-related nicknames goes on. Knock yourself out.

Mikael Samuelsson- Sammy. Mine: Mikael "they can go eff themselves" Samuelsson, Mikael "no Team Sweden for you" Samuelsson.

Peter Schaefer- none. Mine: Peter "The Suit Guy" Schaefer. All I know about him is that he gets custom-made suits. And he's with the Moose.

Cory Schneider- Schneids, Ginger Lou, Schneiderman, Ginger Jesus. Mine: Cory "the Playmaker" Schneider. (He has 3 assists on the year.)

Daniel Sedin- Brother Daniel, Danny, Dank. Mine: Daniel "Out for Blood" Sedin, Daniel "The Other Sedin", Daniel "Brent Gretzky" Sedin.

Henrik Sedin- Hank, Hanky. Mine: Henrik "Captain" Sedin, Henrik "Art Ross" Sedin, "Henrik "MVP" Sedin, Henrik "All-Star" Sedin. (Get the picture?)

Sergei Shirokov- Shiro. (What an original nickname.) Mine: Smiley. This guy smiles all the time, plus, it's way shorter than his real name.

Jeff Tambellini- Tamby. Mine: Teeny, Meanie, anything that rhymes with the last bit of his name... Jeff "The Third" Tambellini. (His dad and his grandpa were both in the NHL, and his dad is now a GM.)

Christopher Tanev- none. Mine: I would say Tanner, but Glass... Umm, he's played 2 NHL games, so I gotta get to know this kid a little more before I start pegging him.

Raffi Torres- none. Mine: Raffi "Bulgy Eyes" Torres, Raffi "Tattoo" Torres, Raffi "Don't mess with me" Torres, Raffi "Streaky" Torres, Raffi "Scores a hat trick in one game and doesn't score another for 15 games" Torres, Raffi "HIT SOMEBODY!!" Torres. (Man, this guy has a lot of possibilities...)

Aaron Volpatti- Peppermint Patti!! This guy has the best nickname on the entire team!! No way could I make another suggestion on this one. Hands down, Patti, you win.

Cody Hodgson- CoHo. Mine: Hodgepodge, Hedgehog. Just because his name reminds me of those words.

Well, that's it. If somebody has a better idea, then just give me a shout. I'd love to hear your ideas! (Anybody? Anybody? Are you out there?) 


Chris Higgins- none (that I know of.) Mine: Higgy, Gettin' Higgy wit' it.

MacGregor Sharp- none (that I know of.) Mine: Mr. MacGregor (you know, Peter Rabbit?), Sharpie, Mac, Big Mac, Greg.

Maxim Lapierre- Max? Mine: Perry, Lappy, Maxim "Laperriere"/Ian (since his name gets misspelled/mispronounced all the time and he gets confused with Ian Laperriere), Yappus Maximus, Maxim Yappierre , Yapper Extraordinerre, Yap to the Max, True Yappiness, Pursuit of Yappiness (he's a noted yapper), Maximum Awesomeness, Maximum Effort, Maximum Frenchness (even more than Alex Burrows?).

Well, that's that. All the nicknames I need to do this year. I found it quite fun to make up nicknames for Lapierre, but MacGregor Sharp was harder and Chris Higgins was near impossible. If I think of any more I'll add them, don't worry.

Canucks Trade Away Somebody, Acquire Somebody Else

What we gave:
Evan Oberg
Joel Perrault
A third-round draft pick for 2012 (Haha, hope the Mayans were right!)

What we got:
Chris Higgins (from Florida)
Maxim Lapierre (from Anaheim)
MacGregor Sharp (from Anaheim)

So apparently, Chris Higgins is a 3-time 20 goal scorer. Then how come we've never heard of him? Because he played in Florida. First of all, it's easier to get more ice time in Florida, because they have fewer good players. Second of all, nobody cares about hockey in Florida, whether you live there or here, no one cares, Mr. Bettman.

Maxim Lapierre is joining his third team of this season. He started with Montreal, was traded to Anaheim, and now we got him. Why would we want a guy like this if nobody else does? Beats me.

MacGregor Sharp has played 8 NHL games with the Anaheim Ducks. Could he be our fourth-line centre? Probably not, especially when we just traded for Lapierre, who, by the way, is a centre. Sharpie's probably just a depth-type guy.

On a sadder note (because nobody cares that Oberg, Perrault, and a 3rd-round draft pick got traded), Cody Hodgson and Victor Oreskovich have been re-assigned to the Moose. Sad, but true. I actually thought they played well together in the Bruins game, Resky was out there crashing and banging and CoHo got a couple really good scoring opportunities too. But I guess, there's always the option of recalling them again if these new acquisitions fail to measure up. Maybe next year is Cody's year. All I can say is, thank goodness Mason Raymond didn't get traded!!

Canucks Can Be Tough If They Want To

So, I've heard a lot of people calling for Mason Raymond's head. And more than that, calling for a tough, fourth-line, grinder-type guy who's gonna go out there and be physical. They're saying that the Canucks don't have that guy. But watching last night's game proved to me that the Canucks can be tough if they want to.

Sure, they lost. It was a bad break where Henrik Sedin got crosschecked by the tallest guy in the league, no penalty was called and the Bruins scored. That's just how it is. But the bottom two lines showed me something: they're tough. Raffi Torres was doing just what we want from him, Tanner Glass and Victor Oreskovich were throwing their weight around, Hodgson even had a couple scoring chances, and even Hansen was throwing a couple hits. Heck, Vicky even put Andrew Ference out of the game after absolutely destroying him behind the net. Just what we need.

This team can play any style of game. They can play that smooth, finesse, score-off-the-rush, amazing passing type of game where they're at their best. They can grind out a win against a defence-first team. They can even play a rough-and-tumble, hard-hitting, tight sort of game. And they can win. Any way.

Maybe we don't need a tough guy after all. Maybe they were just waiting to emerge.

This Blog Is Slightly Less Than Famous

Nobody has ever commented on a single post I've made. Seriously, I think I'm the only one who's ever seen this blog. So, why am I keeping it up, you ask? (Oh wait, you're not reading this. And if you are, THANK YOU!!)

The reason I'm keeping this up is mostly because I like blogging. I like feeling like I'm kinda like a reporter, keeping the fanbase updated with the latest Canucks news. But the other reason is in the blind hope that somehow, someday, someone will come to this blog and be interested. And read the previous posts. And comment on my articles. So, while this blog is slightly less than famous, someday, it will be.

You just wait. (Oh nevermind, you're not even there in the first place. But if you are, you are a valued reader. And probably my only one!!)

I shall be famous!! And in the meantime, shall keep up this blog.

Who's the Hottest Canuck?

The Canucks are probably one of the hot teams in the NHL. No, I'm not talking about winning games or scoring goals. It's all about looks, looks, looks. Maybe I'm biased, but there are a couple reaaal cuties. So, in alphabetical order, I'll recap the goodest lookers on the Vancouver Canucks.


1. Alexandre Burrows
Not the hottest Vancouver Canuck, to be sure, but hey, he's not bad looking.

2. Alexander Edler
Man I love this guy. Great hair, great sense of style, interesting personality. Look at those skinnies! Eddie!!!

    

3. Christian Ehrhoff.

Again, he's not the hottest guy on the roster, but I like him. He doesn't really get noticed for his looks, but his current haircut is a heck of a lot better than when he was on the Sharks. Just Google it. 

4. Kevin Bieksa.

Okay, love Bieksa. LOVE HIM. I have a friend who thinks he's ugly and looks like a "troll," but I just think he's the best.

5. Mason Raymond. 

Just looking at that face makes me go, "Awwww!" He's just so cute though. Like, he seems kinda shy and awkward. Just watch him dancing! He doesn't have any idea what to do, and it's adorable. 

6. Ryan Kesler.

'Nuff said. 

7. Sergei Shirokov.

He's only last because his name starts with S. Make no mistake: this Russian's a keeper. Look at that smile, it's always on his face! (His haircut has gotten a heck of a lot better since he was in Russia, though. Thank goodness for that!)

Well, there you have it. The hottest Canucks players in alphabetical order. In my opinion, of course. My apologies if I've left your favourite sexy Nuck off the list, or added someone who you think is the ugliest guy ever. Now, without further ado, go back and check out those pictures again. Yum yum!!