Muscle spasms are a pain... in the neck

Ohlie missed another game due to continuing neck muscle spasms. The Canucks found a way to win another one without him, however. Luckily, we capitalized on the 5 on 3 PP and Luongo held on to that lead to give us the 2-1 win.

Naslund and Mitchell in the post game interviews both described it as a "weird" game. I wonder what they meant. Weird.. in that the Ducks played a very defensive game? .. in that the Canucks didn't play so hot but won anyway?

By the way, if I forget, Happy New Year everyone!!

Man, I love watching good hockey

Ok, I enjoy a good check and a good fight every now and again but give me end to end play making hockey please. Sometimes you get lulled into boredom and it's only when you see the flashes of exciting hockey that you realize that you've been watching boring hockey all this time. I want offense! I want pretty plays!

Sigh. But I still love my Canucks. Luongo's saves and our occasional goals are still pretty exciting.

Aside: Does watching hockey give you an unexplainable joy in your heart? "Hockey, you complete me." hahaha! No, seriously, one of the biggest offenses that my ex-bf committed was to tell me (while we were at a game), "Look, this is mandatory for all people that I go to the game with. You have to stand and cheer whenever they score." Man, was I EVER PISSED OFF. Obviously didn't know me very well.

Another aside: Here's an article on Mattias Ohlund by Jason Botchford that I'd been meaning to post.

Daniel Sedin - Oh what a beautiful goal!

So Ohlund's still out of the lineup with his headaches and neck spasms and is indefinite in his return. The Sedins had family in the stands at the last game against Calgary and Daniel and Henrik once again worked together to produce a pretty goal. Whee! If players play better when their families are present, then maybe that should be more of a regular occurrence, eh? Good to have Sami Salo's weight taken off his shoulders about the whole scoring issue too. So far I haven't found the Luongo save on Edler yet but eventually...

So injuries still are a problem for the Canucks:
Kesler - concussion symptoms
Mitchell - back
Cooke - ankle

Merry Christmas everyone!

Snippets from the Dec 23rd article byEd Willes - The Province

Mattias Ohlund and his wife Linda have two kids: eight-year-old Viktor 8 and six-year-old Hannah. This year they'll be joined by 21-year-old Canucks defenceman Alex Edler, who's spending his third straight Christmas away from home.

"But it's good I'll be with a Swedish family," says Edler. "Hopefully they'll serve some good Swedish food."

The Swedes big-dinner and present-opening gala actually takes place on Dec. 24. Their traditional holiday feast includes ham, assorted Swedish delicacies and, of course, pickled herring.

and Morrison on his kids:

"We told them they had to be good because Santa's elves were watching them and my son said he saw the elves in the backyard.

"I think I saw them too after the painkillers from my surgery."

There were only 2 Canucks thongs left!!

Heh heh. So after a fairly non eventful 1st period, we ventured into the Canucks store to check out what merchandise was being pushed. I thought that I had ventured into the kids section and was shocked to see a Canucks thong. :| Then a woman behind me exclaimed to her partner, "Look, they have thongs!!" I turned around and said, "and there're only 2 left!!" Her partner muttered, "and they both belong to Matt Cooke."

We all guffawed.

Anyway, we won 3-2 against the Stars. Raymond's top shelf wrap around was a beauty! I need to see highlighs. And I need a better camera. Either that or they have to stop skating during practice so I can take a decent picture. hahaha!

Mattias Ohlund - you know, the whole playoff look TOTALLY works for you. lol

Wanna buy a Trevor Linden condo?

Here's an old interview with Trevor Linden exploring his side project as a condo developer.

On a developers note, here's a little bit on view cones, (if you're not an engineer, city planner, city councillor or architect). They are height and location restrictions imposed by the City to preserve the beauty of the Vancouver skyline. Unfortunately, city council approved the intrusion of the Queen Elizabeth view cone in '96 for the One Wall Center. The Shangri-La, on the other hand, was able to go through on a technicality - it was designed on a triangular base so as to bypass the view cone restriction.

Mattias Ohlund scores for the 84th time

I wasn't expecting too much from last night's game.. The Oil got some scary chances and it was amazing that they didn't put it away in regulation or OT. Sanford was GREAT and it was pretty exciting (if not nerve wracking) to see Willie Mitchell's acrobatic goalie impersonation.

Oh! and Mattias Ohlund finally did it! With his 6th goal of the season, and his 84th in his career as a Canuck, Mattias is now the sole name in the record books for "Most all time goals by a Canucks defenseman". Now get that Stanley Cup! :)

What's with the suits?

Why do the guys have to travel wearing blazers and suit pants? Wouldn't you want to be comfortable? What's the point of dressing up?

Anyway, completely unrelated to the aforementioned question, here is a photo..

Hey, the Canucks won tonight 4-3

Yep, it seems like we always have to have major adversity in order for the club to pull up their socks. Luongo's out with bad ribs and Morrison's out with a bad wrist requiring surgery, finally shattering his 7 (?) year continuous game streak. It's not even after christmas yet.

Poor Sidney Crosby

Yseterday's home game against the Penguins was exciting and fast! We kinda looked a bit slow but we've been doing lots of travelling.. I'll be happier come next year when eastern teams do more of the long flights too. Sid Crosby impressed me, not with his skating, but rather, with his off ice maturity, sincerity and ability to articulate. It was sad to hear that people were semi-stalking him and that he didn't go out with teammates because he didn't want to ruin their experiences of a new place by being a public distraction.

So ticket prices were nutso for this game. I was looking to see how tickets would be like for the Winter Classic in Buffalo - the first US NHL regular season game outdoors (Sabres and Penguins) on New Year's and the ticket prices are equally stupid. $150 for ticket in the 300 level in a stadium that seats 73,000??!! Hellooo??

Aside: Here's an article on how the cute toque of Jose Theodore from the Heritage Classic came to be.

Yay! A win for the Canucks against Preds

Sanford did another great job tonight and got us a 5-2 win against the Nashville Predators. Trevor got some decent time and scored an open netter with a ricochet off of the boards!

So last game against the Blackhawks gave Mattias Ohlund his 83rd goal as a Vancouver Canuck, tying him with Jyrki Lumme for all-time goals by a defenceman. I remember looking at that stat last year and wondering, wow, I think it'll still take awhile to get there but look, here we are.

I found this youtube vid of the moments when Mattias got booed during the Minnesota game:

Aside: Yay for the change in the NHL schedule starting next year!!

Now for a little Danny Tidwell and So You Think You Can Dance indulging..

Yes, and now a little love for Danny Tidwell.. Drove down to Everett to watch the 2nd to last stop on the So You Think You Can Dance: Season 3 Tour. As expected, the show was fantabulous! I seriously could watch Danny Tidwell dance all day. He is such an amazingly fluid dancer, it's mesmerizing. I was also very impressed by Shauna Noland's intensity and heart in her solo. Though Lacey still had the knee injury, she performed that contemporary piece with Kameron as well as the hot samba with Danny (thank you!). Meeting them during the meet and greet was pretty fun too! Though they were all very friendly and accomodating, Pasha, Anya, Jaimie, Kameron, Sabra and Danny, (of course) stood out for me. They all have such distinct personalities!

My next trip is going to go to wherever Danny Tidwell is doing a show so you dance institutions better sign him up because I don't think I'll be the only one to travel just to watch him!

I'm surprised Alex Edler doesn't have a bevy of young female fans yet

It probably is because the majority of his photos have him looking 'not there' or with that awfully red mouth protector hanging out of his mouth. But.. it also may be a case of that shy, geeky guy you've always known, growing up hot overnight.

Aaron Miller on Edler: "He doesn't have a heartbeat.. Hell, I don't have one either, but it's because I'm old."

In recent news, the Olympic mascots were unveiled this week and hbc.com is sold out of the plush toys because they flew off the shelves. As usual, a lot of different opinions came out on the designs. Yes, they are very oriental but isn't that Vancouver?? Anyway, I'm liking MukMuk the marmot and the voice of Quatchi.

Return of the Canucks to the Wild

Tomorrow's game is yet another divisional game. I don't understand why they choose Minnesota games to make ppv. *shrug* Anyhoo, here's the Jeans day shot with Mattias and Trevor (and Naslund, Sedin and Sedin).
Plus, here's another 'allstar'esque NHL commercial with Luongo getting his hair done and Iginla plucking his eyebrows. Chuckle. It takes a man VERY confident in his masculinity to do this. Go Jarome!