A Mattias Ohlund shot

Wheee!!! Friday is sooo far away. Here's a shot of Mattias Ohlund (and Kevin Bieksa) from the jersey launch. I noticed from one of the other photos of that day that their name plates are beside each other. I wonder whether that's permanent or whether it was just for that day.

Yay! New York Rangers owners have balls

Now I mentioned that I was disappointed at how the NHL has imposed their content management templated websites amongst the teams. I am SO GLAD that at least 1 team has the balls to stand up against it. According to this Bloomberg article, "According to the suit, the NHL is asserting authority over team Web sites, licensing agreements and advertising and sponsorship deals."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The National Hockey League is violating antitrust laws by seeking to control the Web sites that promote its teams, Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers, charged in a lawsuit filed on Friday.

The lawsuit seeks to block the league from imposing a $100,000-per-day fine on the Garden, which along with the Rangers, is owned by Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

The league promised to impose the fine, starting on Friday, if the Rangers did not hand over "virtually complete control" of the Web site nyrangers.com, the suit said.

The suit said the league had violated state and federal antitrust laws by planning to create 30 "cookie-cutter club Web sites" that it will link to its main site, nhl.com, according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York.

The Garden, which is not seeking punitive damages, said it had spent six years cultivating a sophisticated and popular Rangers Web site, which includes video clips from games and access to team merchandise.

"The NHL has no competitive justification for seizing the Rangers Web site, which MSG today uses as a competitive tool to generate and maintain fan interest in the Rangers in competition with other NHL teams," the lawsuit said.

A spokesman for the NHL did not have an immediate comment.

Earlier this year, the NHL fined the Garden $100,000 a day for using the Rangers' Web site to offer exclusive access to games and merchandise, the lawsuit said.

In that case, the Garden complied with the NHL's demands and removed the material from its site.

London NHL opener a surprise

So the LA Kings and the Anaheim Ducks opened the season in London, England this morning. After they dimmed the lights for the anthem, however, the lights wouldn't come back on to their full power. The players went back to their dressing rooms to wait. I came back to catch the last few minutes of the 3rd and was astounded to see the score. Amazingly enough, LA won the game 4-1 with their improbable 1st star - 19 year old goalie, Jonathan Bernier. I'll bet that was an awesome game to be at. Man!

Edit: Here's a funny bit from an article in the Windsor Star:
Ben Lane, 29, a Vancouver native who works at the Royal Bank of Scotland here, was seated a few feet away from the Slovaks when he managed to get the attention of former Vancouver Canuck star Todd Bertuzzi, now a Duck. Lane pumped his fists in encouragement.

"He winked at me and I blushed," Lane, wearing a Canucks cap, reported seconds later.

"I got a little choked up. I'll question my sexuality later but right now I'm living in the moment."

Err..

Well, even though SJ had a bunch of veterans in their lineup (nice for their fans), I thought last night's game was pretty similar to what we were seeing last year: our veterans out with injuries, the ones present not playing well and Luongo the one to hold down the goals against. Anyway, the score was 3-1 San Jose.

More Danny Tidwell stuff..

Heh, found a couple of articles on Danny Tidwell from So You Think You Can Dance:
New York Times and The Times Tribune (Pennsylvania).

Woohoo! First Canucks game on Sportsnet tonight!

YAY! Sooo excited! Sharks host tonights game at 7:30pm. The groin injuries so far in the preseason are a bit surprising. No more hernias please!!

In other news, the veteran Swedes of the Canucks made their appearance a couple of days ago to show support for the Swedish bid for the 2013 IIHF World Championship.

Ackroyd's article had an Ohlund quote:

"Hockey is big in Sweden, and I'm sure the fans would love to see hockey at that level. It's been quite a few years since we've hosted, so it would be a big thing if it happens."

Mattias Ohlund is a big guy...

The opening paragraphs of this article in the Province gave me a chuckle.

Jim Sharrow's frame would put many to shame, but the budding Vancouver Canucks blueliner would have a tough time wrestling the remote from his training-camp roommate.

"He's a really big dude," Sharrow said Thursday of the hulking Mattias Ohlund. "Of course, he had the remote, but I really don't mind. I'll watch anything."

Trevor's cycling summer

Dusted off my jersey yesterday in preparation for the season! Still not so much news on the Canucks yet as they're still in Victoria training. I found an NHL.com article on Trevor Linden though (with a couple of photos).

From the article on Luongo on there, here's a cute little quote:

So does anything scare Luongo?

"I would say heights," he said, blushing a little. "I never go on roller coasters. I'd never try sky-diving. I get scared of heights."

OK, last birthday post

Just a quick post of this photoshopped cake before heading off to work..

The perfect birthday cake for Mattias..

Chuckle. So, with a little bit of searching, look what I found! A Stanley Cup cake! (Originally a wedding cake but hey, we can be flexible, right?)Here's to hoping this is the year!

Happy 31st Birthday Mattias!

.. at least I think it's 31. Haha!

Happy belated to Sami Salo and Matt Cooke!

Luciano Pavarotti Oct 1935 – Sept 6, 2007

Sad news. Mr. Pavarotti passed away in his home country of Italy today of late stages of pancreatic cancer. He was an amazing operatic tenor and humanitarian. Here he is in concert with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. Together, they were the 3 Tenors. I love "Brazil" - it's such a happy song.

Canucks fan bridal attire?

Fading Fashion Trend?
Originally uploaded by Kyler Storm.

This was back during playoffs..

I thought this was someone's joke but it was on display at a North Van bridal window. Awesome.. Totally shows how Canucks mania is ensconced in our psyches though. In reality, I think only a couple hundred women would take it to this degree. ;-P

Mattias Ohlund photos...

Here're some photos from the Canucks/NHL website along with a Mattias Ohlund quote:

"They're quite a bit tighter," said defenceman Mattias Ohlund. "If you haven't been working out this summer, there's definitely no chance to hide it."