Yay Willie!

A few good quotes from an article on Willie Mitchell on NHL.com:

- "I’m going to probably see that puck in my dreams for a long, long time," Luongo said afterward. "I saw the puck behind me, but I couldn't get to it because my leg was on the post. I’ll never forget seeing the puck trickling down the line. Then, I saw Willie come to the rescue. It was a great play by him."

- "I took figure skating as a kid, so I was a decent backward skater," Willie smiled.

- "Maybe your right," Mitchell said. "All I know is I know I don’t have a shot like Al MacInnis, skating ability like Scott Niedermayer or the overall skills of a Scott Stevens, but my attitude is that if I can shut down the other team’s great offensive players, I count that as being a 30-goal scorer -- because if you're shutting them down from scoring goals it's just as good as scoring."

So how was the game?

Hmm.. well, I went out for a family friend's birthday dinner so I missed the game except for the last 2 minutes. I caught the score, 3-2 Ducks. That's about all I gathered though. =S Although, I experienced the quiet streets around Vancouver during playoff hockey time. That was cool. haha!

Oh no! Just saw this picture of Ohlund who looks like he got checked pretty hard. He wasn't hurt, was he? We don't need another injured dman, although maybe that's what Anaheim is intending. grr..

Our Blueline is Mattias Ohlund.. literally

Well, pretty much literally. Tremblay's been called up now. Man, I also feel sorry for the Moose. Here's their scratch list, partially due to us: Wade Flaherty, Julien Ellis, Alex Edler, Nathan McIver, Marc Chouinard, Michael Grabner, Jannik Hansen, Nathan Smith, Tyler Bouck, Patrick Coulombe. So who've we got? We've got Krajicek, Sopel, Edler and Ohlund anchoring the D. Mitchell and Fitzpatrick didn't skate today. Mitchell may skate Sunday but not Fitzy. Gosh, it seems similar to last year when major injuries took down our blueline. Ohlund was left holding up the fort while everyone else fell to injuries. And what was the thanks he got for being so well conditioned that he was able to play through his injuries? Fickle fan flack for being slow and ineffective against other forwards. psha!

I love these guys..

God, when you think of how much hockey our guys have been through to get to this point.. You just know they're running on reserve energy and pure determination. Last night's game went on to a double OT and they played a great first 2 periods. I was so proud. I was out watching with friends and when I saw one close up shot of Lukas Krajicek, I just thought, wow, these guys have been through a lot and they're tired and banged up but they're still competing. Can't help but get choked up.

Here's to the guys out of commission - we know you want to be on the ice and help out your team.

Here's to the guys out on the ice - we know you're hurting and tired and are carrying the expectations of tens of thousands.

Vancouver loves you guys, no matter how you do from here on out.

A couple of Articles..

A couple of good articles..

Trevor Linden in the Prince George Gazette

Bob Goodenow and the whole NHLPA lockout and Saskin scandal in Sports Business Journal

Game 1: Duckies clobber Nuckies

Err.. 5-1 Ducks. Man, I missed Salo, Cooke and Kesler... and Jannik Hansen! Why wasn't he there tonight?! Boy, Anaheim sure is fast.. and big. We just kinda bounce off of them when we try and check 'em. *Boing!* It would be kinda funny if it weren't so frustrating.

Round 2! Canucks v. Ducks

Helllloo Brian Burkie!

Well, gee, we had absolutely no rest at all and here we are playing in the first game of round 2 already. I told myself that I wasn't going to have any expectations for this round and so far I'm not and yet, my stomach is still churning. OK! Let's send some gGood feelings to our boys while playing at the Pond! Stay healthy guys!

The Canucks work better without high expectations

The win was obviously THE topic of conversation today. My coworker mentioned that the Canucks liked being the underdogs. HMMM.. she might have something there. No one had any expectations at the beginning of the season of really doing well and here we are: division champions and the only northwest team to get to round 2. When we were up 3-1 and the fans started dreaming of the Cup, they took us down a few notches until we didn't even have confidence that we could win game 7.

Canucks WIN round ONE!! Linden is clutch!!

WOOOOOTTTT!!! I was sooo friggin nervous today. Apparently so was Trevor Linden, who felt almost sick before Game 7. But man, did the Canucks ever show up tonight~! Section 102 row 22 sitting between equally nervous fans but man were we ever jumping and high fiving when Ohlund and Linden scored that game winning goal. Man, oh man, thank you Lord!

4-1 Canucks!!!!

I know we're going on to play Anaheim next but I don't give a crap now about our chances now.. I just wanted to get past Round One!!

Game 6: Silence...

Boy, was that game ever BAD! Totally blindsided me because I thought the first 2 periods of the previous game were awesome. The lot of us in front of the television were alternately groaning and shaking our heads. I don't understand how we can look like 2 completely different teams within a span of just 2 nights.

Anyway, Dallas shut us out: 2-0. Off to Game 7 we go. I'll be soo choked if we choke tomorrow. So we better not!!! We can do it!! All we need to do is win tomorrow's game. I won't have any further expectations.. just tomorrow's game!

Mattias Ohlund's dog, Eros, is missing his master

Haha! Thanks to A. for the tip on this footer on Elliott Pap's article in the Sun today:

QUIET TIMES: The Canucks are spending the night before each home playoff game in a local hotel. They also have the rooms for game-day afternoons, all in the interests of maximizing their rest.

"Obviously everybody is different, but the team made a decision to do it this way and that's fine," Ohlund said. "The wife and kids aren't seeing the dad too much, but they understand it's playoffs."

There was no word whether the Ohlund family dog, Eros, understands the post-season as well.

Game 5: Dallas emerges victorious

Wow! What a great game last night! I was so impressed with how well the Canucks were playing in the first two. They maintained puck control, they challenged the points when they were on the PK. There were times that I thought some of them could have taken the puck if they had just skated a bit more but for the most part, they played with confidence while Dallas was the one chasing. Roles reversed in the 3rd, however, and Dallas came out victorious in OT.

We better win in the 6th game though because I do NOT want to go to Game 7..

Series tally: Canucks 3 - Stars 2

Ottawa's taken out the Kid and Pittsburgh. =( The Rangers annihilated Atlanta and the Ducks finished off the Wild. If we win our series, who do we play next?

A closeup of Mattias Ohlund's playoff beard

Hahaha! A whole new post just for this picture! *grin*

Game 4: Van Wins! Goals: Ohlund, Linden

Josh Green was back in the lineup in today's game but he must not have had too much time on the ice because I didn't notice him all that much. Today's game was all about, well, first, Ohlund's sweet goal in the third, and then Trevor.. Wooo, Trevor! And Willie Mitchell's great stint as a goalie in his timely rescue of the puck before it edged over the goal line.

Mattias Ohlund: 2 playoff goals

In other games: Minnesota won their game against Anaheim: 4:1.

Game 3 was a stressful... WIN!

Story on game 3. "Pysie" I guess is Pyatt's nickname. So Pyatt won the game winner which was so fast, we needed the replay to see it. Yay! Here's a pic of Pyatt that I liked a lot. Shmooshed!

Game 2 goes to Dallas

Hmm.. not such an exciting game. I missed both of the Dallas goals so pretty much was just witnessing the good ole Dallas trap and got bored. I noticed Jannick Hansen and so must've AV, since he got more minutes than Mr. T. Santala. I heard they were showing the game in Denmark, since it was the first Dane playing in the NHL??!!

Haha.. anyway, so remember the "Little Ohlie" nickname for Edler? Guess what number Alex Edler wears while he's with the Moose? You guessed it! Number 2!

So how will tomorrow's game fare, I wonder?! Apparently Dallas ice is pretty shoddy and there's a game hours preceding the Vancouver/ Dallas game too.

After Halpern got inder the skin of a few players and Bieksa took the bait, it made me miss Ruutu. =( Oh yeah, and our other annoying but absent burrs - Cooke and Burrows. Kesler is totally out for the postseason with that finger. So much for the secret weapon. Josh Green may be back soon though - as soon as tomorrow, but we'll see.

Anyway, here's a photo of Mattias Ohlund since we haven't had one in awhile.

Happy Birthday to Trevor Linden

Trevor was playing that first game on his birthday - April 11 - which marked his 37th birthday! Boy, it sure was a good thing to get the win on Trev's birthday.

Happy Birthday Trevor!

Vancouver takes Game 1 in 4th OT

Daniel Sedin, Mattias Ohlund, Markus Naslund and Brian Smolinski scored a goal in this hugely anticipated 1st game. The zero scoring didn't happen until the OTs (4 in total) since both Turko and Luongo were awesome in their nets despite great scoring chances. I'll bet people were sooo exhausted, not to mention the players. The game finally came to an end after 5 hours on a goal from Henrik. Haha, I had visions of that 13 OTs..

So the win did come at a price, however. Though everyone was surprised at the return of Ryan Kesler (Woohoo!), the cut on his finger looked bad - fracture bad. Matt Cooke also claimed injury and was let off the ice in an icing call - groin pull. Alex Burrows got slammed into the glass which dazed him - probable concussion. And Kevin Bieksa got hit again in the same foot that puffed up and was the reason he sat out that last game in Phoenix. Oh, and Sopel was out even before the game with back issues.

"I got all the experience I needed in one game," - Roberto Loungo
"It's a big relief. Personally I felt better the longer the game went, got my legs going in the fifth and sixth periods. It was a strange game but it was fun to play." - Henrik Sedin
Interviews of the guys after the win.

Edler as "Little Ohlie"

Since Bieksa and Krajichek were out for the Phoenix game, Edler filled in. It was kind of cute when Murph interviewed Edler at break and asked him about being called "Little Ohlie". Here's a suggestion: Mattias could then start calling him "Mini me"! Hahaha..

Edler looked completely different though. I was staring at the screen and going, Who the heck is that? With the facial hair he went from looking like he was 17 to a 23 year old Nick Carter.

Oooo... playoff time!! Sooo exciting!! I get so stressed out watching just the regular season games, I think I'll need antacids for the playoffs.

Playoff Round 1 Schedule

Here's the schedule from NHL.com:

Vancouver: Wednesday April 11 7pm
Vancouver: Friday April 13 6 pm
Dallas: Sunday April 15 6:30pm
Dallas: Tuesday April 17 5pm
Vancouver: Thursday April 19 TBC
Dallas: Saturday April 21 5pm
Vancouver: Monday April 23 TBC

Someone posted this comic strip that features the Canucks for a bit. Cute!

North West Division Champions!

I was going over the Oak bridge when Shorty said that Mattias Ohlund had won it in the PP in OT!! Man, I WOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOED!!!! Yeah baby!! 4-3 Canucks in a totally scary game against San Jose, a team that we are thankfully NOT playing against in the first round of the playoffs. Dallas, here we come!

This OT goal bring Mattias into third place in most OT goals scored by a defenceman.

SEO/SEM - a possible career?

Here's a little aside from the exciting world of hockey...

For those of you interested in developing marketable skills, the world of SEO - Search Engine Optimization seems to be a growing thing. I somewhat dismissed it as a flash in the pan, cool thing of the day for web guys and small businesses, but it looks like it's here to stay. So if your parents are poo-pooing your podcasting or blogging, tell them that you're preparing for your future career! It almost seems that there's not a lot of people knowledgable in the field at the moment according to this article.

Imagine giving a verbal command to your tv to watch the Canucks game and it automatically searching and turning to the channel. The days of the remote hog would be no more. That's the vision that this author has as a result of the news that Microsoft bought Tellme - a company which provides automated operator services, similar to Telus'. Searches would turn a whole new tide. Whoa.

This article will make you a die-hard Trevor Linden fan

A long article on Trevor Linden.. with pictures. It's an emotional read. So be prepared. Here's a quote:

"Linden scored his first hat trick a month into his rookie season. Even so, he smashed his stick in the dressing room after the Canucks found a way to lose 7-6 to Minnesota. “This kid has a burning desire to win,” Pat Quinn told a Minnesota reporter at the time. “I think he finds it hard how some of our veterans can have a ‘Well, we worked hard but lost again’ attitude. He can’t accept that.”

Some other articles:
Tony Gallagher's article on playoff hockey strategy.. I thought that I was the only one somewhat happy that Ohlund had a minor injury to rest up for the playoffs.

Elliott Pap's article on Brendan Morrison. No one ever talks about Mo anymore! I hope that his back is doing ok though.. We need our versatile and effective centerman in the playoffs.

Ohlund's back and Luongo wants to fight

He's back! So Ohlund's back for tonight's last home game against Colorado. Pretty exciting for Colorado fans, considering if they lose this one, they'll be definitely eliminated from playoff contention. Tonight will also be the Jerseys off our backs and Canucks players awards. I wonder if it will be televised? I don't think Ohlund will get the Babe Pratt Award this year. I think it'll go to Kevin Bieksa, though I think Salo and Ohlund should share it this year. From Botchford's article:

Before Ohlund was injured, he was leading the team in minutes played, having yet another year in which he shut down the league's best forwards, but did so in his Ohlund-like way -- seemingly quietly and without much fanfare.

Throughout his Canucks career, he has been one of the team's most important but underrated players.

"Mattias is a very experienced defenceman and a great leader," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "He's been in our top-two pairs all year. He plays power play and PK. We're getting [back] a guy who logs a lot of minutes."

Aww.. I kinda miss hearing the AV insults from the beginning of the year.

As for Roberto wanting to fight, I was just joking. Or, rather, he was. Luongo joked that he intentionally let in a bad goal in the LA game to charge up his team. "It was either that or get in a fight," he said. To which Henrik interrupted and said, "I don't think he would have that big of a chance."

"Maybe I'll just fight [Henrik] in practice and see how that goes."

Hee hee! I can just imagine them fake glaring at each other(and Louie has that mean glare you know) and saying, "BRING IT ON!"

Dan Cloutier speaks

Pro sports is one tough business. Here's a bit on ex-Canuck, Dan Cloutier:

“They are definitely a lot more defensive-oriented and I find the team is playing more as a team, I guess. They’re doing all the little things. And they have enough skill that when they get their chances, they can score … It is different watching them because you are so used to them being a real run-and-gun team. Now, from what I am hearing, they are not as much fun to watch, but they are winning more hockey games. And if you are winning, no one complains.
..
“It’s not going to be easy,” he said. “I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy, but I am looking forward to the challenge of becoming a No. 1 goalie again and be where I was before. But I have to start all over and work my way up again.”

Oh yeah, Mattias Ohlund was still out for Tuesday's game against the Kings but the Canucks still managed to win 4-2. Big Bert scored a goal for the Wings. Minny shut out the Oil and got another 2 points. Grr.

Did anyone get fooled today?

Haha.. Here are a few articles from Jason Botchford that were clearly April Fool's Day jokes: Twins train for Dance Worlds, Pyatt - Next top model and Fitzpatrick for mayor?

Today I got a call from my boss. He said, "Did you hear the news today?" I said, "What?" "The Canucks were thrown out of the playoffs because of a doping scandal?!"

I told him, "Oh, nice try."

He was mightily disappointed that I didn't take the bait. I think if he had called me on a work related item, I totally would have bought it though. *shake head* I laughed anyway!