More Ohlund photographs

Here are a couple of recent Mattias Ohlund photographs I've found.

Here's a link to audio of Brian Lawton on Mattias Ohlund.

Brian Lawton on Mattias Ohlund:

"The one thing that I heard from one player which really stuck with me was that this is a guy who goes about his business everyday in such an efficient manner that his previous team probably isn't going to know what they lost until he's not there everyday."

Sigh. Brian, I fear you are completely correct. :,(

"Or maybe it just hurts when you pee" - Salo

God, this guy is soooo funny when people actually notice him. Apparently Sami Salo was questioned about his lower body injury and he responded with, “Maybe it’s an ankle… or maybe it just burns when you pee, who knows?”

Ohlund spoke to the media today and this was a mysterious line on the cbc playoff blog: "He is very obviously sick. He also suffered through the flu in first round." Does that mean he's still sick with the flu or is he sick but with something else now? In the playoffs everything is so obscure.

Oh yeah, so the series is even at 2. So much for the ressurection of the infamous Vigneault trapping system. Although, I have to say that Luongo had no chance on that tipped in winning goal tonight.

Canucks 5- Blackhawks 3

So what the heck? Good on the Blackhawks for coming back from a 3 goal deficit but if they would have won, Vancouver would have been pissed. I loved Sami Salo's reaction to his game winning goal though. Good job for getting it done everyone!

Ohlund quote: "Being tough is not going out and slugging it out for a minute with another guy. Being tough is going and getting the puck in the corner when a big guy like Dustin Byfuglien is coming to get you."

Ohlund's 1st shootout goal!

Who's your daddy?

Wow. A 13 goal game; a bizarre game in which everything seemed to find the net. It sure was exciting though.. for a change. It took Mattias Ohlund, in the 13th round, to win the game on a slapshot high glove side on Hiller.

Ohlund, the growing comedian: "I was actually upset they didn't put me out there earlier." =p

Aside: It looks like Whistler's Intrawest is having a hard time finding refinancing.

Congrats A on winning Daniel Sedin's jersey!

A, a fellow Canucks blogger won two tickets and Daniel Sedin's jersey off his back. Details and pictures are on her blog post. If the families of Markus Naslund and Trevor Linden are present, can you conclude anything like Scott Oakes tries to in the HNIC interview (below)? They're probably all in the same boat of not knowing but 'better to seize the moment if it's the last'.

If you missed the Trevor Linden Hockey Night in Canada interview after the Calgary game.. Part 1 and Part 2 are posted by trekkie604.

And lastly, thanks cdc for putting up a "We miss you Mattias" video.

Whew! Canucks still in there with a 3-1 win against Phoenix

Some interesting snippets from recent articles:

MacIntyre & Pap:

SMART, OR WAS IT?: Dallas goalie Marty Turco, who relieved Holmqvist after the first period Saturday, made a heads-up play in bolting to the bench for an extra attacker after Canuck Jeff Cowan knocked the Stars' net off one of its moorings. As is the rule, Dallas was allowed to continue with the puck until a change of possession.

But what if Cowan, who was slow to get up, decided to take five seconds and reset the post on its peg? There would be no automatic whistle if the Canucks got possession and Turco would be stuck on the bench if Vancouver attacked the open net.

Pap on Ohlund:

"It's tough," he said Monday, meeting with reporters for the first time since the operation. "You're pissed off for one day or two and then you move on and accept it and try to do what you can to get back in the lineup as fast as you can."

Here is a CDC interview Re: Alexander Edler:

So apparently we didn't do so well last night..?

I've missed the last two games but heard they were painful to watch..

Re: Ohlund.. Iain McIntyre's article on Ohlund does give a bit more information...
Nonis:

"It wasn't the pain; Ohlie's a pretty tough guy and he never complains about that. It was the fact the swelling wasn't going down. It was getting worse and it was affecting his ability to play. We thought with rest and icing, playing every second day was a possibility. But the swelling was getting worse and it was looking like he might play only every third or fourth or fifth game. And that didn't make any sense."

Ohlund:

"It's not a big deal. There are a lot of guys who go through this. There are probably guys [on the Canucks] who have, maybe not exactly the same thing, but go through similar stuff with injuries. It's part of the game and I think every team is the same."

Hey Mattias, did you know you're on Jim Robson's LIST??

Josh Plummer's interview of Jim Robson had some interesting tidbits:

Jim: I don't think there is a set criteria for retiring a player's number. Look at all the players the great Montreal Canadiens have honoured. I think the next Canuck number to be retired should be Trevor Linden's #16. I don't think a player has to play his whole career with one team but longtime service should count for a lot. The Canucks have yet to have a Hall of Famer, so I don't expect many retired numbers.

Jim: I was afraid you would ask for my "All-time Canucks" (laughs) The list has changed somewhat over the years and I always have a problem with it. It’s difficult to compare eras. But here goes.

GOAL: Roberto Luongo gave the Canucks the finest single season in team history and he'll probably become the Canuck's all-time best but considering longtime service, I would currently go with Kirk McLean.

DEFENCE: I think Mattias Ohlund is the best defenceman the Canucks have ever had. My second defenceman is tougher to pick. As much as I admire Harold Snepsts and Doug Lidster, I think I would go with Jyrki Lumme.

CENTER: Much like defence, the Canucks have never had a dominant offensive player at this position.(Discounting Mark Messier, who only had three years in Vancouver near the end of his great career) I would still pick Thomas Gradin as the Canuck's best all-time center.

LEFT WING: No question here; it's Markus Naslund, who will soon own most, if not all, of Vancouver's scoring records.

RIGHT WING: The Canucks have been blessed with some very good right wingers, including all-time favourite character players like Stan Smyl and Trevor Linden but my choice still has to be Pavel Bure. For my money, he’s the best player the Canucks have ever had. The fans who booed him when he left town forgot what great thrills, skills & excitement he provided.

Henrik Sedin and Mattias Ohlund

Man, I don't think I have problems telling the Sedins apart when they're together but when they're apart, it's a little harder.. Here's a great photo by Jeff Vinnick of a Sedin and Mattias Ohlund during the father/son road trip (apparently neither the Sedins nor Ohlund had a family member present). During my search as to visual clues to tell the difference, I found this 2006 article by ESPN's David Amber which had some pretty funny quotes.

Q: Last season, you played with Anson Carter on a line affectionately called "The Brothers Line." How did he influence you on and off the ice?

Daniel: He helped keep us focused. He told us to have fun, but he was also really prepared, he would always watch loads of tape before games, working on the power play and things like that.

Henrik: Off the ice, he tried to get us into hip-hop music and things like that. We tried to do our hair in dreadlocks like his, but it didn't work out [laughs].

Edit: I was pretty sure it was Henrik and now I'm EVEN MORE pretty sure. hahahaha.

Our poor, poor blue line!

So Willie Mitchell has fractured vertebrae, Salo's got a problem groin and Krajicek's shoulder is on the mend. So who's left on the blue line? Edler, Miller, Ohlund, Weaver... :| Geez, and look at their minutes from last night. 24, 18, 30, 12 respectively. Salo put in his 22 despite the groin.

Quote from Brent Buttt from Corner Gas (during cameo appearance on Canucks radio) right after Ohlund scores: “I guess it turns out Ohlund is a better NHL defenceman than I am. So you can stop arguing, everybody.”

Quotes from Mattias Ohlund:

"We thought we got away from our identity.. We're not going to be the highest-scoring team in the league... If we try to press too hard to create offence we are going to sacrifice our defence. I don't think that's the way we should play. Hopefully we can turn that around and start playing better defence and then we will be fine."

"To be honest, when you play 82 games, not every night do you have that energy that you need... You do get a big boost when instead of playing in front of seven thousand people you are playing in front of nearly 19,000 very passionate fans. That makes a big difference." from Brad Ziemer's article

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.

Mattias Ohlund's reflections on Mark Messier

With Mark Messier's induction into the Hockey Hall of fame came several articles. One of which included an Ohlund quote on Mark Messier (Elliott Pap's article yesterday):

"I came in the same year as Mark and, with him being the high profile guy he was, he obviously took a lot of the blame for the stuff that went on here," current Canuck Mattias Ohlund said this week.

Ten years later, Ohlund chooses to recall Messier's positives rather than the many negatives of the day. He also remembers his first time meeting the Moose.

"Was I intimidated? Absolutely," Ohlund smiled. "I was 20 years old and just over from Sweden. I remember our first training camp in Whistler, the first day, he invited me to play golf with him, his dad and his brother. Mark was someone who really looked after the younger guys. As a teammate, he was very classy and I'm honoured to have played for one of the all-time bests. I have nothing but good things to say about him."

Now that they're the veterans, Markus Naslund and Mattias Ohlund have continued that class and support in their treatment of the younger guys too.

I found this Swedish blog posting which also showed that Messier had positives to say about Ohlund too.. (I can't quite determine the source though. By the way, a translation would be nice if anyone has the time.)

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.

Ohlund and Luongo have their groove on

A snippet from Iain MacIntyre's article today:

"It's hard to say anything more about Roberto than what we've seen on the ice," Canuck Trevor Linden said after scoring against the Oilers. "He has been everything we've asked for and more.

"But it's his professionalism, his hard work, his presence in the room -- the stuff that maybe people don't see -- that makes him so special."

Defenceman Mattias Ohlund, who logged 27:02 of ice time and was plus-one, said: "He has brought something to this organization that we have not had in a long, long time. He has such a presence. He's so well-liked. He's not a typical goalie -- by that, I mean he's as normal as anyone can be."

Wow. Can you believe that Roberto's got 42 wins (or is it 43?) and there're still 9 games left in the season?

I was afraid that Ohlund and Luongo wouldn't have a good relationship but it seems to be good. I didn't think Ohlie and Auldy got along. It always seemed like Auldy thought Ohlie was screening and same with Luongo early on in the season. I guess Roberto is a better communicator... and a better goalie. He doesn't mind that one forward in front of him and has said that he doesn't need his defenceman to take him out. I think Ohlund has much improved from last year. He's more disciplined and not taking the penalties that he took last year with the first year of the 'new NHL'. He's also still so conditioned that he's not injury prone. Either that or he just sucks it up and plays through. Probably a bit of both..

94 Points!

94 points now after the 2-1 win over Edmonton. The Oilers sure had a lot of scratches. Poor Edmonton. Now in rebuilding phase after going all the way to the Stanley Cup finals just last year.

Well, with an assist tonight, Mattias just needs 3 more Assists to get to his 200 career assists mark. Jim Hughson, "Ohlund got hit in the seat of the pants.."