Happy Birthday!

So it's one of my friends b-days today and I think we're gonna go watch the game! ..on tv at somebody's house, that is. lol.

It's the Canucks' second attempt to steal 2 precious conference points from the Wild and by jove, if they have to play boring hockey, they'll do it! *roll eyes*

Auldy on the previous Minny game:

"Ace [Anson Carter] was wide open and I was hoping they'd find him because he doesn't miss.... Tonight's game was a lot of fun in a lot of ways. They are so patient and you have to try and stay in the game any way you can against them."

FUN??!!! Uhh... ok there.

Anyway, here's to hoping Dallas trumps Anaheim. Edmonton shut out LA last night 4-0. (Yay). Calgary and Colorado are at it tonight too. Just cause I despise Calgary, and I'd rather meet Colorado in the playoffs, Go Colorado!

Canucks Win with 7 Seconds to Go..

What a yawner. Glad I didn't buy a ticket for this game. I was kinda hoping for a shootout but Carter scored, making it 2-1 over the Wild with 7 seconds left in the third. Mattias Ohlund didn't have as much ice time as Carney who gave away the puck away during the 1st? 2nd? 3rd? I probably took a nap sometime in between so I couldn't quite tell.

Canucks Tied for 7th in Western Standings

Oh what a tight race.. tied for 7th in the standings.. I have faith. Must have faith!
Can't say anything much about the game cause I had class. I did, however, catch the last period which was fairly exciting.

Carney was the leader in minutes for this game by a few seconds. Ohlund had three assists and was a plus 3.

Other western scores:
Minn 3 - Edmonton 2
Colorado 4 - Anaheim 3
San Jose 1 - Columbus 4

Colorado is now first in the Division with 88 points (73 games), then Calgary 86 points (71 games), with Van and Edmonton tied at 84 points (73 games)

Naslund looked sad on HNIC

Well I think watching the game wasn't as much a downer as seeing the facial expression on Markus Naslund's face when he was interviewed on HNIC. He answered everyone's questions alright but boy did he ever look sad/tired. I think that's the feeling amongst all of the team really. Just a long reality check that next season will bring change.

Mattias Ohlund on Georges Laraque (picture). He was an even plus/minus again tonight and didn't have a stellar night IMO. I wonder why he isn't logging in less minutes now with Carney, Weinrich and Brown in the lineup? Maybe Crawford is less uneasy about working a tired Ohlund than giving a Moose more minutes? Baumgartner has been a healthy scratch for the 3rd(?) night in a row (along with Richard Park).

Edmonton won tonight in regulation 3-2.

Observations: Mattias Ohlund seems close to the Sedins but closer to Henrik. He doesn't seem all that chummy with Alex Auld. He also was not at the Canucks Dice & Ice Event.

Time for a Mattias Ohlund moment

Ohlund portrait civ
Originally uploaded by t_professionelle.

Mmmmm... Mattias Ohlund

YES!!!! Canucks win in Shoot out March 24, 2006

Mattias Ohlund logged in 31 minutes and it showed that he was tired. In OT, his stick handling and slow skating started the whole scramble. Ohlund is a -7 still but I still love him.

To all of those people who didn't get to a PPV paid tv, you have my sympathies. Last night's game, as the one previous to it, was filled with entertaining, playoff style, sit on the edge of your seat hockey!

After a Canuck driven first period and the Canucks scoring twice, the Oilers scored 3 in a row with ugly goals. Naslund and Bertuzzi paired up for the tying goal in the third which brought on a scary OT. How the Oilers didn't find the net during that 5 minute scramble was a blessing from above.

Shootout
Edm, Hemsky - failed; Van, Naslund - scored
Edm, Smyth - scored; Van, Ruutu - scored
Edm, Peca - scored; Van, Bertuzzi - scored

World Cup photo. This almost feels like a mugshot. Kinda scary. When I was in Authentix, I was tempted to buy an Ohlund Team Sweden jersey. Then I remembered that I was a victim of marketing and walked out. Ha!

Seesaw of western standings in the NHL..

Winning in Edmonton last night was a great thing. 4-1 Canucks. Ohlund took a hooking penalty but had 3 shots on goal. Linden scored and had a terrible interview (I take my previous post back that he was eloquent during interviews). Auld had a more informative one though, saying that they [the Canucks] value their locker room and things that happen there, stay there.

Rant: I don't know how people can have such double standards. They realize how debilitating office politics can be in their own workplace but won't stand for it with the Canucks. The problem is not lack of skill or their lack of motivation in their game. Losing games is a symptom of a bigger problem just like employees constantly calling in sick. The solution isn't to point out that they should be happy with their salary and play to earn it. Management taking that kind of action will likely exacerbate the problem. So what IS the root of the problem? Only the players know. And it looks like it's not open for discussion from either side: players or management.

I find Canuck fans to be equivalent to bad management. They should be fired.

The players have my sympathy. They get flack from both sides: management, whose job it is to screw them financially, and the fans who don't appreciate them and boo them! Not only that, they have no one to complain to.

Mattias Ohlund giving a little girl a kiss..

Ohlund Kiss
Originally uploaded by t_professionelle.

This is a great pic.. too bad there's a hockey stick in the way.


NOTE: By the way, I didn't take this pic.. I can't even remember where I found it. I think the little one is actually his daughter too.

Ohlund's 10th goal ... minus 4 though

Highlights from yesterday's game on NHL.com. (Windows Media Player 300K) They haven't posted Mattias' last goal (in the individual player section) but they do play it in the highlights... Brief recap: We won!! 3-2. Ohlund, Carter and Morrison (finally) scored. Was surprised to see that Bertuzzi was quite effective as center. It's funny what the press notices. Here's a quote from the Sun, "After the morning skate, [Bertuzzi] informed a reporter that he'd be eating lunch with Morrison and loudly asked for a volunteer to join him on a walk back to the team's hotel because it would be inappropriate for he and friend Markus Naslund to be seen together."

Anyhow, WHEW! A win.. When they're so few and far in between, it makes you appreciate them all the more. Dan Murphy interviewed Ohlund at break (or was it after the game?) and I have to admit that Ohlund is just not as eloquent as Linden or Carter at the mike.

Ohlundisms: 1."Well..." 2."..obviously.."

Powder power

Still no word on Salo's condition. Despite our 3 new dmen, Mattias Ohlund logged in 29.5 minutes in yesterday's disappointing game.

On another note, GM Place was put on temporary quarantine when some unidentified powder was discovered leaking out of a fan letter to #44 Bertuzzi. The powder wasn't deemed dangerous but wouldn't that have been fun and exciting?! =S Gosh, here's my cv, hire me now..

I never thought it would come to this..

Wow. Watching the game tonight was painful. I was on the couch grimacing and wondering how much worse it could get. As much as I hate naysayers, the losses have just been adding fuel to their fire.

I feel so bad for them. You can sense that they're so frustrated and yet, people are commenting on the lack of 'urgency' in their game. The frustration leads to short tempers, bad penalties and lousy shots. It's a bad cycle. Time for a motivational speaker to come in...

Canucks = 8th in western conference. Mattias -3 in plus minus.

It was kind of scary watching that replay of Ohlund's redirection of the puck to the crossbar behind Noronen. Lucky break there. If it would have mattered.. Ohlund got charged at tonight by skippy the squirrel (some tiny predator *roll eyes*). I'm glad that Ohlund's penalty days seem to be over. He's been able to stay out of the box, which was something he was leading in during the early - mid season.

New puppy

A Mattias sidebar..We lost.. again. Mattias Ohlund played his high minutes: 25:28. I didn't actually get to watch the game because I picked up the newest addition to our family: no name doggy.
Note: Still no word on Salo's condition. Park and Brookbank were healthy scratches since our 3 newest defensemen got some ice time for the first time last night.

Matty's back baby!

Went to the Nashville game last night. Whoa, did we lose our offense in the 2nd and third or what?? But I was so sure that we'd win especially if we went to shoot out. Unfortunately, 6 seconds into OT, that zinger found the net. Man! Me and the dudes beside me were still sitting and groaning while everyone was filing out of there..

Anyway, Ohlund is back on the ice! Now a minus 2. I don't think he did his usual minutes out there. He was taking it easy in terms of hard checks. (GOOD! No sense in making things worse)

One thing I like about being at the game is that you can see everything. From the intrateam dynamics to the awareness of individual players and their intuition for plays and puck position.

Ohlund was the sole defenseman when it was a Predator two on one. He read the play beautifully. He kept his head up and checked one of them so Auld could focus on the puck wielding one. When the puck was passed instead of shot, Ohlund was already there so it went into their skates uselessly. Haha!

Got a few camera shots from the pregame practice. At least I tried to. Damn, they do move around a lot! These have been cropped but they're still blurry. I kept em small to minimize the obvious bad quality.

Stupid Calgary and Colorado won their games last night. Friggin. Lower and lower we go in the standings...

EDIT: Actually Ohlund did 30:54 during the Nashville game. My bad. I wonder how I thought he did less minutes then usual.. weird.

Hey, how YOU doing? *wink wink*

Update on Mattias Ohlund - March 6, 2006

Thankfully to a forum poster, there's hearsay! The Swedish article in Expressen: "Guldhjälte - i efterhand" March 6, 2006 by GUNNAR NORDSTRÖM said that (roughing translating)...

"The olympic rules state that if you've played one game during the tournament you will qualify for a medal. The Sedin twins were prepared for drastic measures if Öhlund hadn't received his medal. "I would have given him mine and then Henke and I would share one medal," says Daniel Sedin, teammate to Öhlund both in Tre Kronor and on the Canucks. Niklas Kronwall too was prepared to give up his medal to Öhlund. The IIHF have put in an order for Öhlund's medal, although the exact date when he'll receive it remains uncertain."

Loss to St. Louis Blues

So. There's a pattern here. The 4 games in the last season between Vanoucver and St. Louis, St. Louis has always scored 4 goals agaisnt. Weird, eh.

Kesler to be added to the Injured List

The first period seemed dismal. There were three goals against Vancouver by the Chicago Blackhawks AND Ryan Kesler gets taken out with a knee/ankle (who knows?) injury. He skated off the ice on one foot while being supported on both sides.

We squeaked out with a win but holy beaten up lineup batman!

Note: I'm trying to tweak the blog look but am still unhappy with it. sigh.

So much on Ohlund

It amazes me how much coverage there's been on Ohlund and Salo. "Oh, will Ohlund get his medal? We're a writeoff team until Ohlund and Salo get better! When are those two coming back?"

Not that I am opposed to any of it, mind you.

So, an update: Mattias' injury looks better than feared because his ribs aren't cracked and are bruised at worst. "I'm going to do more tests, but it looks pretty good," Ohlund said. "I feel better every day. It's definitely better today than it was two days ago. I don't think it's going to be very long [that I'll be out]." He might even be back to play the last two game of the road trip. (I think that's probably pushing it, no??)

Salo doesn't feel any better and has been closed mouthed as to how long he'll be out. :(

As for Ohlund, looks like he still doesn't have his medal. (I guess the Sedins didn't bring it back home for him..) The Sedins arrived 4 hours prior to the Calgary game after partying it up in Sweden.

Well blow me away... :|

I was at the Vancouver Giants game last night and they announced that the Canucks had won 2-1 against the Flames. I was... stunned. Wish I could say more about the game but I didn't watch it...