Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Louongo, in or out?

So the time has come, Roberto will waive his NTC and Cory's contact is coming to an end.  This will be MG's most important decision as GM and will he pull the trigger on a trade to get the player/players that will be the future of the Canucks.
I am glad that I do not have to make this decision, as I have confidence in MG I know that he will do what is right for the team in the long run.

Update:
This topic in the hockey world seems to have cooled a little which I for one am glad,  This will be interesting to watch play out sometime in the next month I would suspect we will know what will happen.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Game 2 Canucks vs Kings 2012 playoffs

What the HELL was that?

The team played well but the Kings just played their game better.  The Kings PK was in a word amazing,  high intensity quick to the puck and overall a will to win.  With 2 short handed goals it was quite the display.  The overall play of the Canucks was good and at times excellent just without the finish.  The players that stood out for me where Raymond, Higgins and Booth,  these three have really elevated their games.  I did not include Kesler in the list even though he was outstanding he has always elevated his game when he needs to.  The only player that I really did not notice elevate his game so far is Henrik Sedin.

That is one thing about this season the Canucks have been much better team on the road.  I am not hitting the panic button yet, however I will not be doing any more polls until next year.

Now for the officiating I am not sure what was going on there was bad calls on both sides.  No call on Richards for the snow shower on Louongo in the first (I understand that it was not the same Ref's as game one but there needs to be more congruence between officials).  This is the same all around the league. No offside call on the Flyers ending in a goal.

While watching Sportsnet  before the playoffs started the overall consensus was that it would be the Canucks and Penguins in the final.  At this point in time both teams are down 2 games to none.

No panic yet here, I still BELIEVE.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Bitz out for 2 games and Weber fined.

Alright so Bitz is out,  it was not a good hit and should not have happened and he will have to do the time, fine. However Weber purposefully rammed Zetterbergs head into the glass twice and gets a $2500 fine, um I am not so sure about that.  He should have had at least a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. Please note that I am not disputing that there should not have been a suspension I believe that it should possibly have been 3 games but in the playoffs the standard has been set.

So each of them had an interview today to discuss the hits,  Bitz apologized for the hit.  On the other hand Weber made some noise about it being the speed of the game. So what now? The more a player gets paid the different the treatment will become? A hit to the head should be equal no matter who does the hit. period.

Shanahan has done a good job so far since taking over, it is going to take a lot of work to get rid of the double standard that plagued Campbell.

Next up game 2.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Round 1 Game 1 Canucks vs. Kings 2012

Well tonight is the night that we have all been looking forward to since July of last year.  The real season begins tonight.

Louongo will start tonight which is great he has proven himself in the first round of the playoffs to be a tremendous goal tender.   The slate is clean and we will see what the team is really made of.

The whole team is ready for the challenge and we should see what the next level of play will be like this playoff series.  The kings are no pushover team with Quick in net and a good defensive core as well as some size up front.  With Richards possible for tonight's game this could be good or bad for the kings as he has not played in a while and could be a little off.

As for the Canucks with arguably the best defensive core in the league and the possibly the deepest and most balanced forward lines, this should be a great series.

I for one BELIEVE!!!

update:  with only 2 votes on the poll Louongo wins!!! 100% of the vote.

Review:
Well that was painful, with all the penalties in the first and second periods with all of them crossing over the line.  With two, five on threes the score could have easily been much worse.  This was only the first game of the series and there is a lot of hockey left to play.  I still believe.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

2012 Playoffs

I always find it interesting that the teams are compared on past playoff experience even as far back as 1996or even 2001 as none of this has any bearing on what will happen in these playoffs so why do we talk or even read about it.  Well it is interesting and we hope that it has some bearing on this year.  So what is of note this year?


  • 5 teams have one the Presidents Trophy two years in a row (since it was introduced in 1985/86)
  • of those 5 teams 4 have gone on to win the Stanley cup in the second year.
  • the Canucks have met the Kings 4 times in the playoffs
  • out of the 4 times twice the winner has gone on the Stanley Cup Finals 
So what?  Well we will hope that both of these will be hold true the odds are on the side of the Canucks.

More to come...


Monday, April 9, 2012

Presidents Cup 2010/2011 achieved

Well the team has done it again, the first team to win the presidents cup two years in a row since the new CBA came in.  This is a true testament to the quality of the team that has been assembled.  The next step for Mike Gillis is the Stanley Cup, four year plan is now out the window I know that he has 1 season left now but it is time.  The fans of the Canucks have been waiting long enough and have been through enough, the team have proved themselves with winning the presidents cup twice and reaching the Stanley Cup finals (really only one win from the cup).  The team is ready and the stage is set, now for the Kings.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

President's Cup?

With two games remaining it is still a possibility that the Canucks could win the Presidents Trophy two years in a row giving the western conference home ice advantage in the finals.  Well lets just hope that they can pull it out again.

The odds at the beginning of the year for the Canucks to win the presidents trophy again where quite good 4:1 if I remember correctly. The rangers on the other hand where 18 or 19 : 1 so.

The Canucks schedule for the last two games gives good credence to the possibility compared to the Rangers.  With the Flames tonight and the Oilers on Saturday they odds are in their favor as compared to the Rangers with both Pittsburgh tonight and the Captials on Saturday (especially since the Caps are fighting for a playoff spot.)

With the news yesterday that Cory Scheider will be starting between the pipes tonight will add fuel to the "Goalie controversy" which I do not believe that we have until July 1st.  Other bloggers and journalists will be saying that the poor play of Louongo of late will make Scheider an easy choice to start in the playoffs how ever if past performance dictates after getting pulled he plays even better.  The better reason is that AV is resting Louongo prior to the playoffs so that he is ready to go.

Well good luck...