Things only get worse for the Canucks

November continues much the way October ended, as the Vancouver Canucks continued to struggle to find some positives from their on ice performances. None were forthcoming from game number thirteen on the schedule.

Thursday night saw the Vancouver Canucks drop another home game, this time a 3-0 loss to the Nashville Predators. It was a costly loss for Vancouver, who lost two key defencemen to injury during the course of the game.

Both Kevin Bieksa and Sammi Salo found themselves on the way to a Vancouver hospital with frightening injuries, Bieksa suffered a deep cut to his calf muscle after he was cut by the skate of Predator Vernon Fiddler.

Salo was hit in the orbital bone around the eye and his nose after taking a shot point blank from team mate Alex Edler. Salo had only just returned to the Canucks after missing the start of the season with a wrist injury.

The injuries are the last thing that head coach Alain Vigneault needed at the moment, his team has been playing poorly. A lack of scoring, shoddy play on the defence and uncharacteristically unfocused goaltending at times by Roberto Luongo, have all combined to send the Canucks on a losing skid.

The Vancouver talk shows have been on fire for the last few weeks now, anxious hockey fans calling for all sorts of changes to try and turn around their team.

Thursday’s result will only serve to hasten the path of panic in Vancouver, with the loss; the Canucks tumbled to last place in the NorthWest Division, only two points away from claiming last overall in the Western Conference. By the time Thursday’s match came to an end the remaining crowd at GM Place had taken to cheering on the Predators goals, an exclamation point to their thoughts on the state of the Canuck’s these days.

Thursday night’s game , just one night removed from Halloween; would prove to be worse than any horror movie could ever have produced.

Now the moves will have to come from the Executive offices. General Manager Dave Nonis will most likely have to start exploring some trade options. With a team that seems to have stopped listening to their coach and now suffers some serious staffing issues, there is a sense that a shake up is needed quickly in order to salvage the still young season. The last week has seen a visible chasm develop on this team, a frustration with the criticism of the coach and the rumbles of discontent from the fan base.

Nonis won’t be working from a position of strength; he’s down to key defencemen and has an offensive group that can’t accumulate points. The fraternity of GM’s around the league will be rubbing their hands in glee, mindful that they have the resources that the Canucks will need.

The price of negotiations just went up, what’s to be determined is if Nonis is willing to pay the price.

Bickering Canucks can’t keep it in the dressing room

Alain Vigneault isn’t very happy, last week he blasted a number of his forwards for their under performing ways. Calling their play too soft, timid and ineffective he impressed upon them the need to become more engaged in the play, more willing to suffer the costs of straying to close to the net and to start scoring some goals.

It was a rare display of frustration for the Canucks coach, but one that fell upon deaf ears for the most part as the Canucks continue to struggle in the early days of the NHL season.

Team captain Markus Naslund countered that talking point by asking out loud if the dump and chase strategy was really where the Canucks should be heading in this era of free wheeling hockey. By making his thoughts known in rebuttal, the captain and the coach appear to be on different pages, not a good omen for a long and successful run towards the Stanley Cup in April and May.

Sunday night Vigneault turned his attention to defencemen Willie Mitchell and Kevin Bieksa, suggesting that they have not been playing up to their own standards, and that the time to step up their game was at hand.

Mitchell, took his turn at the speaker’s corner, deflecting Vigneaults criticisms by claiming that on two on ones, “you're not going to get them all.” Bieksa, for his part didn’t have much to say other than he’s been playing hurt and is still not feeling 100 per cent, a situation that has been supported by his play of late, where he’s been far more tentative than in his more robust periods.

Clearly the losing is getting to the entire team; Vancouver struggling early on, has a record of 5 and 7 over twelve games. Making them closer to last place Phoenix, than they are to first place Detroit in the Western Conference. They have 32 goals for, 37 against and are having their trouble getting untracked at key moments of play.

More disturbing though is the simmering trouble from their leaders, when the Naslund’s and Mitchell’s begin to spend more time questioning the intentions of the most recent coach of the year, then the dressing room must be a very interesting place to be hanging around.

A few wins in a row and all of that anxiety will dissipate, but until they can improve on the ice there will most likely be more short tempers and tension off the ice. All great fodder for the newspapers, radio and television types who make sure that every move by this team is under the spotlight.

While they’ve been good for a quote or two over the last few weeks, Canuck fans most likely would prefer it if the team would do less talking and more scoring, and soon.

From the NHL catwalk: Canucks

As the NHL and Rbk release the new updated uniforms for the NHL this year, we'll provide a link to the NHL shop page and a preview of the new look. Here's the new clothing choice for discriminating Vancouver Canuck fans.
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Canucks shop page.

Retro Modern in Vancouver

Vancouver joined the ranks of the latest fashion trendsetters as they unveiled their new look today, showing off new uniforms featuring old school colours, the city's name across the top of the chest and the current killer whale logo from past seasons. The shoulder patches feature the first year hockey rink logo, which is also placed prominently on the pants.

The uniforms were modeled at a GM Place unveiling party, as a number of the Canucks donned their new duds, Markus Naslund, Kevin Bieksa, Willie Mitchell, Mattias Ohlund and long time Canuck and crowd favourite Trevor Linden showed off the new look.

Made by Rebok, the new uniforms are made of lightweight material that is designed to remain lighter even during the heaviest work out on the ice.

Canuck fans can pre-order their new jersey's on line at the Canuck's team store.

Aquilini with a blast from the point!

If the Canucks are looking to improve the power play on the ice, perhaps they should take some lessons from the team’s executive offices. In the upper offices it would seem that the power play is a finely tuned way of business.

In what will surely become one of the more popular of court events in Vancouver, the current owner of the Canucks, Francesco Aquilini is in the midst of nasty court case with two former business partners, who have gone to court claiming that Aquilini went behind their backs to purchase the Canucks, freezing them out of the purchase.

Ryan Beedie and Tom Gaglardi have taken their former friend and partner to court, providing a case that the Province covers nicely in the Vancouver paper.

From that article there is this bit of information: The key point of the debate revolves around the November 2004 deal that saw John McCaw sell 50 per cent of the team to Aquilini with a right for Aquilini to get the first chance to purchase the remainder, which Aquilini did last year.

But Beedie and Gaglardi say Aquilini had no right to enter into negotiations with McCaw on his own. And it is that point and some mysterious negotiations at the time between Aquilini and McCaw, that has sent the case to the courts.

We have no idea as to the success rate of the lawyers involved in this case, but hopefully they have had better luck than the Canucks Power play currently 1 for 20 in the playoffs. That would a statistic that would have most clients feeling a little nervous.

BC develops an outbreak of Canuck fever

The forecast is calling for rain for most of coastal British Columbia today, but in the hearts of Canuck fans it's nothing but a sunny day, with the promise of more to come.

From Fort Nelson to Cranbrook, Fort St. John to Prince Rupert, the Okanagan and Thompson valleys, and Vancouver Island to the Lower Mainland, the steps seem quicker and the smiles brighter. That after the Canucks eliminated the Dallas Stars in game seven of their opening round showdown.

To give those outside the province a sample of just how much Canuck fans have been longing for their heroes to move past a first round. We reprise an item we put together earlier today for our local portal, a town called podunk, our blog of items of interest to this part of the province.

Today, as the TV commercials go, it would seem that "we are all Canucks".

Cautious fans that they are, Vancouver Canuck fans had to make sure that the Stars were dead, before they could begin to move the bandwagons down the road.

They began to believe when Trevor Linden deflected that Mattias Ohlund shot for the go ahead goal in the third, they heaved a sigh of relief when Roberto Luongo stared down Stu Barnes and denied him a goal, and then they truly began to believe God was on their side when Mike Modano rattled a shot off the cross bar. They officially took the parking brake off the bandwagon with one minute to go in the game, when two empty net goals sealed the victory.

With the traditional handshakes signaling the start of the parade, across the province they streamed out into the streets to celebrate some long forgotten territory in BC, the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Vancouver police kept a wary eye on Robson street revelers mindful of a similar exhibition a few years ago, which got far too out of hand and stained that city for years.

Richmond RCMP, apparently not used to crowds, called in reinforcements from other lower mainland detachments when a crowd on the Richmond/Delta border grew from 400 to 700 strong. (We wonder how the officials in Richmond might fare during your average salmon season or all native basketball tournament both of which attract numbers larger than that, with much less in the way of local resources!)

Reports from all corners of the province have local residents honking their horns and waving their flags in celebration of the home province squad advancing in this years playoffs.

Here in Podunk the traditional caravan of the believers were finally secure in their hopes that they could hit the streets. Released from their personal shackles and now able to do the 2nd Avenue circle tour and wave their signs in rapture in front of Tim Horton’s.

It was a wise corporate buyer at Shoppers Drug Mart that stocked up on those Canuck flags and windsocks currently on sale (or maybe sold out by now). The bandwagon is officially underway now and anything with a Canuck logo is soon to be as good as gold, wanna make a buck this week, list your Canuck stuff on eBay or htmf, you’ll find a buyer.

The next step for the believers will be the corner gathering of young children with their honk for the Canucks signs, you can begin to watch for them to grow in larger numbers on Wednesday night on street corners city wide.

To get a true understanding of the relief of a near disaster turned to victory, here’s Ed Willes article from today’s Vancouver Province.

It’s a wonderful walk down the lane of disappointments past and a fine primer as to why the fever has struck again across the province. Podunkians will be intrigued with his shout out to Rupertites, steeped as it is in the oldest of Prince Rupert stereotypes…

We may be wet and soggy, but you can bet that there will be many waving those flags no matter what the conditions are!

Fans finally have Luongo to float their hopes

Trade with Florida was aimed at exorcising demons of Cloutier et al

Ed Willes

The Province

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Vancouver Canucks fans, who are preconditioned to expect disaster the way the citizens of Prince Rupert are preconditioned to expect rain, refused to believe it could happen this way because so many catastrophes are burned into their memory banks.

Why, just three years ago, they watched their team cough up a 2-1 lead to the Calgary Flames. And the year before that, they watched in horror as their team blew a 3-1 lead to the Minnesota Wild. And the year before that, they watched their heroes piddle away a 2-0 series lead to the Detroit Red Wings.

Did we mention on all three occasions the Canucks were eliminated on home ice?

So given recent history, to say nothing of a larger pattern of futility which has cursed this franchise since its inception, it's no wonder the faithful approach occasions such as Monday night the way a man approaches a proctology exam.

Right now, the image of Dan Cloutier or Johan Hedberg or Alex Auld fishing the puck out of the net is just a little more powerful than the image of Roberto Luongo at work. But give them some time. They might get used to this new guy.

On Monday night, the man who's changed so many things around this city changed the run of black luck the Canucks have endured since 1994, beating Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars 4-1 in a series that didn't provide much in the way of high art, but did produce one of the most mesmerizing goaltending duels in recent playoff history.

OK, this win had as much to do with the Sedin twins, a Canucks power play that picked an opportune time to climb out of the deep freeze and a Dallas Stars lineup depleted by the loss of diabolical defenceman Sergei Zubov. But the Canucks have been in this position so many times before and always found a way to break their fans' hearts.

This time it wasn't going to happen. More to the point, Luongo wasn't going to let it happen. He made that his mission statement when he arrived here from Florida via a trade of incomprehensible good fortune for the Canucks. On Monday night, he made good on his promise. He also had considerable help from his teammates.

With the 172nd straight GM Place sellout whipped into a frenzy, the Canucks came out in the opening 20 and played tighter than the skin on Joan Rivers' face. They handled the puck like it was radioactive. There was no purpose or confidence in the game.

The Stars, admittedly, weren't much better, but when rookie Joel Lundqvist scored -- he of the three regular season markers -- beat Luongo with a laser, an eerie sense of foreboding descended upon the throng.

And then it happened. Early in the second, whatever fog the Canucks were in dissipated and they started to carry the play.

The precise turning point came during a 48-second 5-on-3 in which they didn't score, but pelted Turco with five shots and engaged the crowd. From that point to the final horn, the ice tilted towards the Dallas goalie with Henrik Sedin, on a seeing-eye pass from his brother Daniel, finally beating Turco after he'd blanked the Canucks for almost eight periods.

Old-folk Trevor Linden then scored a goal for the aged, tipping in Mattias Ohlund's power-play point shot seven minutes into the third period and from there the Canucks turned to the shutdown game, which keyed their regular-season success.

It helped that the Stars, who were clearly whipped and a step behind over the final 40 minutes, were forced to take a series of penalties over the final frame.

It also helped that Mike Modano's fluttering one-timer went off the crossbar with four minutes left. But Luongo also provided the defining save of the game when he robbed Stu Barnes from the kill zone midway through the third and even threw in saves off Trevor Daley and Stephane Robidas in the final two minutes for good measure before empty-net goals by Taylor Pyatt and Bryan Smolinski inflated the final score.

The heartbreak hotel was closed for this night. For once, Canucks fans unconditional level for this team was returned.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

A Big Save, a goal post and a much desired victory.

The scoreboard doesn’t correctly identify the drama of a Monday night in Vancouver.

With a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars, the Vancouver Canucks have advanced in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but make no mistake this was a nail biting, nervous tic, no trip to the bathroom 2-1 victory. The two empty net goals in the waning minute of play, a mere closing door for the Stars season.

For Vancouver fans it was a roller coaster ride of emotions, the Canucks once again coming out in the first period and playing far too tentatively, afraid to take chances, not taking the Dallas zone, in fact it was a first period that resembled far too much of this series, a plodding, boring affair that threatened to do the unthinkable put an audience to sleep in a game seven showdown.

Dallas once again got off to an early lead, and in a series that produced few in the way of goals, there were many no doubt thinking that a 1-0 lead thanks to Joel Lundqvist was all that Dallas would require to put away the Canucks for another season.

It was the second period that proved to be the turning point of the series, a welcome change of attack for Canuck fans with a much desired result posted after sixty minutes. It was careless penalties that proved to be the downfall of the Stars, allowing the Canucks to begin to untrack a power play that had been held off the board for far too long.

The Sedin’s not only had been held scoreless for most of the last three games, they had been rendered almost invisible, with the Stars parading to the penalty box in the second the twins began to find the room that makes them effective and the result was a Henrik Sedin wrister that beat Marty Turco, tying up the game and returning the GM Place crowd back to its boisterous best.

From that point on the Canucks seemed for the most part to take control of the flow of play, the bulk of which seemed to be in the Turco end of the rink. The Stars goaltender who had been under the microscope for most of the series, had nothing to be ashamed of after his game seven appearance. His goaltending was the only thing left in the Dallas arsenal to at least keep them close for 59 minutes, time and time again he was called on to knock down a blast from the point, deflect a streaking puck for the corner or rescue a dribbling puck goal line bound.

If anyone in Dallas is tying the can to the Stars goaltender for the series loss, then they probably haven’t watched too many hockey games. If they feel that Turco is to be a scapegoat in Dallas, we’re pretty sure that there are at least 26 other NHL teams that would be drooling at the prospect of him donning their colours for next season.

The Stars lost when they spent far too much time killing penalties and not near enough time directing shots at Roberto Luongo. The Canucks who took their own share of pointless penalties at inopportune times, seemed to fare better when it came to keeping the Stars at bay, and when they failed Luongo was there to bail them out.

In the third period, Luongo became a Canuck of legend with his nerves of steel save on Stu Barnes, a Star left alone in the slot with a gaping upper right piece of net waiting for his shot, a shot which Luongo somehow snared much to the disbelief of Barnes.

Moments later, Luongo would hear the re-assuring clang of a cross bar hit and a puck deflected out and away from the nets, an oh so close miss that pretty well defines the margin of victory in a game that was everything a playoff game could be for two of its three periods.

Trevor Linden the long time workhorse of the Canucks and perhaps one of the teams most popular players added to the fan club on Monday, his redirection of an Ohlund shot from the point would be the winning goal, a fitting candidate for perhaps one of the more important game seven goals in his long and illustrious Canuck career.

The two empty net goals late in the third, were but the siren call for Canuck fans to breathe again, the Stars tired, frustrated and defeated could only watch on as the clock ticked off the final seconds and they prepared for their game end handshakes.

The final scene at centre ice post game was a moment that no doubt few in GM Place will forget, as Luongo and Turco met to acknowledge each other’s contribution to a low scoring and goaltender dominated series, which saw Turco record a remarkable three games of shut out hockey before the Stars surrendered the hard fought ice they had conquered in games five and six a remarkable comeback that came up just short.

There will without a doubt be many conversations about penalties in the wake of the game seven decision. The Stars will be feeling rather victimized by the NHL zebras, while the Canucks will counter that they to had some calls made against them that were not helpful to their cause.

If nothing else, the officiating of Game Seven will send a message to the league that penalties will be called, regardless of the timing, the flow or the criticism of the teams.

For teams like Anaheim and San Jose that have made regular pilgrimages to the penalty box in the opening round, the message is out there, transgress at your peril, if in doubt ask the Stars…

Stars not dead yet!

It was a one goal game and as many suggested it would be first goal won.

Dallas and Vancouver played out game five of their best of seven series and the Stars went home victorious with an OT goal by Brendan Morrow to put away the win and live to fight another day.

The game had many chances through the three regulation periods for Vancouver or Dallas to take control, but as has been the case through most of the series, tight checking and cautious play at times combined to make sure that this one like two others in the series goes on to extra time. Both Roberto Luongo and Marty Tucker played amazing hockey in their respective nets, featuring many game saving saves that forced the issue to overtime.

At one point in the game. the Hockey Gods seemed to be mocking the Stars, as a wild pass careened off the boards in a missed pass to the point, as it travelled down the rink it went just wide of an empty Dallas net, which had been vacated for an extra attacker due to a penalty call in progress.

Had it travelled into the empty net, it very well may have been the exclamation point on both the Canucks and the Stars seasons. As things worked out however, it was a matter of hard nosed hockey and stick to itiveness.

The Canucks still lead the series 3 games to 2, with game six scheduled for Saturday night in Dallas. While the home folk might be disappointed in the loss Thursday and the chance to celebrate in Vancouver's stadium. It's probably better for all concerned if the Canucks could put the Stars ways for good with the next game.

That's not Booing, but Louiing you hear

It used to be that Lui Passaglia was the toast of the town in Vancouver, back in the halcyon days of BC Lions Grey Cup victories, the crowd was known to chant the always popular LOUUUUIE whenever he took to the field.

Fast forward a decade or so and there's a new LOU in town, and this one hears the accolades whenever he leads his Vancouver Canucks onto the ice.

This season the Canucks have played a more consistent team game, no one player bigger than the other. It's an approach led by the even hand of Alain Vigneault that has led the Canucks to their third place finish and champions of the Northwest Division.

And while the team approach and subsequent success has been a welcome surprise, there is still one undeniable factor in each and every Canuck game. Roberto Luongo makes the difference!

The off season acquisition that should forever enshrine Dave Nonis in the hearts of Canuck fans, has long since paid for his top talent salary. When Luongo takes to the ice with the Canucks, there is a quiet confidence in the line up, players that know they can take a chance up the ice, they are a team that never feels that it's out of a game and a squad that thrives off the talents of its goaltender.

The possibilities for success for the Canucks in this playoff season seem brighter than they have in years, as goes Luongo so go the Canucks. He has proven this year to be one of the most talented goaltenders to come along in years, not a surprise for hockey observers who watched him in Florida and wondered what if he had a decent team in front of him.

We'll soon find out as the Canucks take on the Stars in the first round of the playoffs, the Stars had best bring earplugs, they'll be hearing a lot of LOUS on Wednesday.

Grant Kerr of the Globe and Mail has an interesting look at Luongo, as he prepares to take to his post season stage.

Luongo relishes the role of new sheriff in town
GRANT KERR
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER — There's a new flag-bearer on the West Coast about to carry the colours of the Vancouver Canucks and the orca whale logo into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Roberto Luongo has replaced Markus Naslund as the face of the franchise, rapidly rising in popularity with each victory during a season when he won 47 times and all but twice while the Canucks were taking the Northwest Division of the National Hockey League by storm.

The Canucks won 32 times after Christmas and Luongo had 30 of the victories, giving Vancouver its best goaltending since Kirk McLean took the Canucks to the seventh game of the 1994 Stanley Cup final against the New York Rangers.

Luongo has rewritten the club record book during his first campaign in Vancouver after not making it to the NHL postseason during his long apprenticeship, that being one season with the New York Islanders and six in a Florida Panthers uniform.

For the Canucks to have an extended playoff run — they've not been past the second round since 1994 — Luongo will have to carry the workload after appearing in 76 of Vancouver's 82 games.

Luongo claims he's up to the challenge, just as he was at the start of the schedule when he put making the playoffs ahead of individual goals. It didn't matter to him that he equalled the NHL's former record for wins in a season, which was surpassed by Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils.

Brodeur had 48 wins, one more than Luongo.

Luongo has been a godsend for a franchise that's gone through far more goaltenders than coaches since McLean retired in 1998.

The Canucks tried Garth Snow, Corey Hirsch, Kevin Weekes, Felix Potvin, Corey Schwab, Alfie Michaud, Dan Cloutier, Bob Essensa, Alex Auld, Petr Skudra, Tyler Moss, Johan Hedberg, Rob McVicar, Maxime Ouellet and Mika Noronen before landing Luongo.

General manager Dave Nonis pulled off the heist of the season when he got Luongo from Florida. He came with defenceman Lukas Krajicek for Todd Bertuzzi, Auld and Bryan Allen on the eve of the 2006 NHL entry draft.

Nonis massaged Luongo with a four-year contract that averages $6.75-million (U.S.), a sum that now seems reasonable after Luongo was 47-22-6, with a goals-against average of 2.29 and a .921 save percentage.

Luongo still has a ways to go before being recognized as the best goaltender in franchise history. Richard Brodeur in 1982 and McLean a dozen years later took the Canucks to the Stanley Cup final.

Brodeur didn't win a single game against the New York Islanders, while McLean won 15 times in the 1994 run before the Canucks lost the final game 3-2 to the Rangers.

Vancouver fans have anointed Luongo, 28, with the nickname Bobby Lu, just as Brodeur was called King Richard and McLean went by Captain Kirk.

The litmus test for Luongo will begin with the first-round matchup against the Dallas Stars and another top netminder, Marty Turco.

Turco has the advantage in postseason experience, appearing in 22 NHL playoff games. He has a losing record, 8-14, including a 1-4 log a year ago when Dallas was upset in the first round by the Colorado Avalanche.

Luongo has a blank sheet for NHL playoffs, with his last postseason exposure seven years ago in the minor leagues when he played for Lowell in the American Hockey League, going 3-3.

It will take more than the puck-stopping ability of Luongo for the Canucks to get past Dallas, starting Wednesday at General Motors Place. Vancouver needs Naslund to regain form after his worst goal-scoring season in eight NHL campaigns.

The team captain scored only 24 times and was relegated to second-line status with the rise of the Sedin brothers, Daniel and Henrik, as prime-time offensive players.

The whistling wrist shot of years gone by went missing and Naslund often showed his frustration by unleashing wild slap shots, hardly what local fans came to expect from someone who wears the captaincy letter.

The series figures to be tight — each team won twice in the regular season, all by 2-1 margins — leaving Luongo and Turco in the spotlight.

Bobby Lu wouldn't want it any other way as he experiences a dream come true.

Canuck's clinch division title

Roberto Luongo is going where he's not been seen before, the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Vancouver goaltender who normally can make his summer vacation plans by the middle part of April, is going to finally get to see what his fellow union members do with their time once the regular season comes to an end.

Vancouver won a 4-3 overtime victory over San Jose on Saturday afternoon, a hard hitting playoff style of game that saw the Canucks surrender leads and fight back to take the needed two points to secure their spot atop the Northwest division.

Mattias Ohlund's power-play marker just as overtime began clinched the division title for the Canucks, a goal that came as assistant captain Joe Thornton was sitting in the penalty box with an untimely penalty, one of a few he took on Saturday.

It was a game that featured a lot of hard hits, none harder than Thornton's boarding penalty assessed on a hit on Matt Cooke, at the time it left Cooke dazed on the bench and sent Thornton to the dressing room with a suspected broken nose. Which may or may not pose problems for him and the Sharks as they prepare for their playoff games later this week with Nashville.

The San Jose loss handed the Anaheim Ducks the Pacific title , which will now see them prepare for a visit from the Minnesota.

Back in Vancouver Luongo will barely have time to polish his latest award as the Most Valuable Canuck before he has to prepare for the arrival of the Dallas Stars in Vancouver Wednesday for his debut in post season play.

The MVP is a fitting reward for the Canucks goaltender, his play all season long has been the most improved aspect of the Canucks game and the most important ingredient to their success and a good omen of what may be to come for them.

Climbing Canucks making moves on first

A week ago Vancouver fans were content to be first in the Northwest, but after two consecutive wins against the top teams of the Western Conference, suddenly first overall in the conference isn’t out of the question.

The Canucks continued on their winning ways Wednesday night, with a convincing win against the Conference leading Nashville Predators. The 2-0 victory, gave the Canucks a bit of breathing room against the Minnesota Wild who are nipping at their heels in the Northwest Division, Vancouver leads the Wild by three points in the standings.

The trail the First place Predators by four points and if they dare to seek higher goals they trail the league leading Buffalo Sabres by six points.

The rise of the Canucks can be traced to a cohesive group of players that have bought into Alain Vigneault’s system, a team that plays a solid five man on the ice game, each player with a task and taking care of it.

The Canuck’s of a few years ago with Bertuzzi and Jovanovski and the rest of the high profile crew of the Brian Burke era were expected to win the Stanley Cup, interestingly enough it’s this collection of relative unknowns, role players and budding stars that may deliver Vancouver its long cherished Stanley.

Backed by the rock solid Roberto Luongo, every game seems winnable for the Canucks, never out of reach and should they give the MVP destined goaltender a lead and it’s all but over for the competition.

Luongo was awarded the Mark Messier leadership award for his solid example in the Vancouver nets and his presence in the dressing room and the community. While Messier’s name may not carry as much cache in Vancouver as in other cities, (his days in Vancouver not always fondly remembered) the award in his name does signify the important role that Luongo has played in Vancouver’s charge since Christmas.

They are perhaps the hottest team in the league, coming together at just the right time and showing little to no weakness along the way.

Quietly they’ve climbed the standings, an unassuming team that just seems to win night after night and rewards their coach with a solid effort in almost every game.

As the season winds down and the playoff pretenders and contenders settle their spots, the Canucks may be that one team that nobody wants to meet if they can avoid it.

Oilers at 11 and counting

The Edmonton Oilers who haven't won a game since Ryan Smyth was traded away, added number eleven to their list of misadventure on Monday night.

The illness depleted Oilers, featuring ten players out of the lineup due to various illnesses, gave it a game effort and from all reports played their best game in recent times, but still came up short on the scoreboard as the Canucks doubled them 2-1.

The loss leaves the Oilers three short of tying their winless streak record of fourteen, a record that they no doubt would prefer not to claim if they can help it.

For the Canucks it was a valuable two points, giving Vancouver a three point spread over the idle Minnesota Wild in the battle for first place in the North West division.

Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo collected his 42nd victory of the season, tying him with Martin Brodeur for the lead in victories in the NHL.

The Oilers have nine games remaining in this most disappointing of seasons, expect them to play determined hockey before the next four games have gone by, all it takes is one win in the next four games to take a bit of the sting out of what has been a season when everything has gone very wrong.

Every point counts in the Northwest

Vancouver dodged an embarrassing bullet Thursday night, grabbing back a win when it seemed they were more than likely to have thrown one away.

For most of the Blues/Canucks game, the play was all Vancouver, the early shot totals heavily in Vancouver’s favour, the flow of the play their domain and by the third period a healthy 2-0 lead seemed to signify that they had things under control.

On occasion Roberto Luongo was called upon to make a timely save, but for the most part it appeared that the Canucks were on their way to victory and to keep their spot atop the Northwest Division.

Then came word of another Minnesota victory, two points that put the Wild in first in the Northwest, all be it for only thirty minutes or so as thing would eventually turn out, but not for a lack of trying by St. Louis to help out Jacques Lemaire’s squad as best they could.

For whatever reason, the Canucks chose to coast through the third and allowed a gritty St. Louis team to claw their way back through the period, sending the game into overtime.

Thursday’s game was quite reminiscent of Tuesday’s game against Minnesota, when the Canucks not only allowed the Wild to build up their momentum, but eventually win the game, a costly missed opportunity for the Canucks.

As the overtime period got underway, Vancouver started play on the power play after Eric Brewer went after Matt Cooke towards the end of the third period. Cooke had bumped into St. Louis goaltender Curtis Sanford behind the net, for which Brewer was quick to temper to express his indignation at the affront. The only problem for Brewer was that there was no penalty call on Cooke on the play, and by driving Cooke into the glass and then coming up swinging, it would be Brewer who would be serving the time.

Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin continued his winning ways in OT by picking up the winning goal less than two minutes into the extra frame. Securing a 3-2 victory for Vancouver and allowing them to remain one point ahead of Minnesota and still in position to hold home ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs next month.

While a win is good and no doubt welcome, Alain Vigneault needs to find a way to have his team put away those teams they should not be having any problems defeating. By allowing St. Louis back into the game, the Canucks showed a breakdown in the game plan and in discipline.

Mistakes that they won’t be able to fix quite as easily once the playoffs get under way.

Vancouver brings home an old name and welcomes a new one

Vancouver was busy on the trading front on Monday, with Dave Nonis avoiding the need to get up particularly early on Tuesday morning by taking care of some business by Monday night.

Nonis cut a deal with Chicago to bring in winger Brian Smolinski, a much traveled forward who should help add some punch to the Vancouver attack. Smolinski must be getting used to the idea of having to pack up a bag and move on deadline day, he last endured the deadline day entertainment a few years ago when Ottawa picked him up for a run at the Stanley Cup playoffs. The run fell short, but not through the fault of Smolinski at the time.

The 14 year veteran is expected to centre a line with Markus Naslund, a player he once played with in Pittsburgh back in their early days, it’s hoped that by reuniting him with Naslund, the Vancouver captain will finally get back into a scoring groove that has eluded him for most of this season.

The cost of Smolinski was relatively small, a second round draft choice in this years draft, if he can help give the Canucks some extra scoring punch on the second line then he’ll be well worth the pick. On an anemic Chicago team this season, Smolinski was the second leading scorer with 37 points. Vancouver will be his sixth team in the 1071 games he’s played during his career.

The Canucks also picked up a familiar name for Vancouver fans late in the day. While the sports shows pondered the possibility of a return from Todd Bertuzzi to the West Coast (a most unlikely scenario) , it was a defenseman from LA that got the call to return back to the team he was once a major part of.

Brent Sopel will be joining the Canucks to try and shore up a defensive corps that is struggling at times, depending too much on their solid rock of a goaltender Roberto Luongo and not giving him as much help as they could.

Sopel was a 95 draft pick of the Canucks and played for them from 1998-2004, his arrival at the cost of a couple of draft picks will be a timely addition to the defense, there will probably be a little less room for opposing forwards to work with when Sopel patrols the blue line, a veteran acquisition that hasn’t come at a very high cost, nor caused any disruption to a line up that seems to be working well together for the most part.

Nonis who has been rather cautious at the helm of the Canucks this year, has been rewarded as the Canucks while not running away with anything, have managed to stay relevant in the challenging Northwest Division. His moves today add some depth to a team that doesn't seem too far away from returning to a place of dominance in the West.

The two moves on Monday probably take the Canucks out of the hunt for players as the deadline counts down Tuesday morning; maybe Nonis will just sleep in and watch the proceedings on television instead of from a Canucks war room.

Days of the under dogs

This has been a most unusual week for the Northwest Division’s would be leaders, seemingly intent on not seizing the moment, both Calgary and Vancouver have seen potentially good things slip through their gloves to the most unlikely of opponents.

Calgary kicked off the parade of surprises a few days ago when they surrendered a two goal lead and watched Martin Havlat lead the Chicago Black Hawks on to a 3-2 Overtime upset of the Flames in their own home.

The Canucks followed up that surprising result with one of their own, allowing those same Hawks to walk into GM Place and take two points away from an uninspired looking Canucks squad on Wednesday night. This after the Canuck’s had played perhaps their most intense game of the season the night before in Edmonton, ripping two points from the Oilers and setting themselves up for a run at the first place Flames. In the end, they squandered the chance and basically split two nights of the schedule, losing a perfect opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the lower teams of the Northwest.

So Thursday comes along and it’s over to the Flames and their chance to recapture some momentum, Calgary arrived in Columbus aware of the underlying turmoil in the Ohio city, threats of trades have been made, Ken Hitchcock looking for a way to improve is underperforming squad has called out the leaders of the team to step up or step out. Thursday, they stepped up much to the dismay of the Flames, who probably had visions of easy pickings at the expense of the league’s third worst team. By games end however, it was the Flames that were looking rather frustrated with themselves after losing 2-1 to the Jackets.

Those were two valuable points that could very well come back to haunt the Flames in a few short weeks as they and the Canucks and Wild battle it out for the top spot in the Northwest.

Things won’t get any easier for Calgary as they continue their eastward trek, they next play the Sabres this Saturday night, and two points will be a little harder to come by on the shores of Lake Ontario than they should have been off the state that shares Lake Erie.

The Western teams have been making a bit of noise of late about wanting to see more of the eastern teams, weary of the inter divisional battles that live up to the term familiarity breeds contempt, however, if they keep losing to the lesser sisters of the league they may wish to just stay in their own backyard and battle it out amongst themselves.

Tuesday night trifecta for Vancouver

Spurred on by their Swedish twins, the Vancouver Canucks took the play to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night, capitalizing on the mental errors and discipline lapses of the Oilers to skate to a 5-2 victory in Edmonton.

It was a feisty game from the very beginning as the Oilers in the early stages took the body hard to the Canucks, trying to knock them off their game. As the night wore on however it became the Oilers who were rattled, as the Canucks took advantage of Oiler penalties and confused them with the heroics of the brothers Sedin, who combined for a 9 point night.

A physical game and chippy at times, the Canucks once again rose to the occasion when facing the Oilers a team they have had some remarkable success against this year, the win Tuesday was the fourth consecutive victory and marked the third victory in four matches while visiting in Edmonton.

The win was a key one for Vancouver who will take much momentum from the victory as they head down the playoff stretch, for Edmonton it was a key game that they needed but could not claim, one of those losses that could spiral them to the sellers market by the end of the month as opposed to a buyer for a run at the playoffs.

And while the victory in Edmonton was sweet enough, what with the offensive explosion from the Swedes, there was even better to news to follow later in the night. The Canucks put a bit more distance between themselves and the Oilers, while at the other end of Alberta the Chicago Black Hawks were preparing a surprise of their own for the Calgary Flames.

Martin Havlat brought the Hawks back in the third and in overtime to steal an Overtime win from the flames and help to make the Northwest Division that much tighter. Havlat figured in all three Chicago scoring plays as the led the Hawks to a 3-2 victory over the Flames. A rather deflationary end to a night dedicated to honour the exploits of Mike Vernon, who had his sweater retired prior to the start of the game.

The Hawks now travel on to Vancouver for a game with the Canucks on Wednesday, perhaps they’ll say thanks prior to the game, before they set to work to continue to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the northwest group

Running at Roberto

The Vancouver Canucks and their always involved fan base are getting a little tired of the liberties being taken with their all star goaltender, Roberto Luongo.

Game in and Game out, Luongo resembles a bumper car by the end of the sixty minutes of play as player after player, does their best to do a NASCAR demolition derby in the Canucks crease.

It’s been the topic of the sports talk shows in Vancouver the last few nights, 9-12 pm here and here, as the faithful call up to vent their spleens at the crude form of intimidation and less than frequent penalty calls when it happens.

It’s unfortunately for Luongo something that he’s going to have to endure for a while, most teams now realize that from the slot out Luongo is near unbeatable, his vision and reflexes are such that barring a fluke deflection, he’s going to make that save more often than not.

Thus the only hope that the opposition has is to crash the crease, bash at the puck (and goaltender it seems) and hope to score a junk goal that way. Both Columbus and Edmonton in the last three nights have taken to that approach, creating as much havoc as possible in the front of the crease and sometimes in and beyond it.

For Vancouver the key is to probably look to the trade market to bring in a solid stay at home defenceman more than willing to play the body and create a bit of space for Luongo to operate in. While there aren’t many the size of Zdeno Chara kicking around at the moment, someone of the same texture and spirit would do wonders not only on the defence but for team morale as well.

Once the Canucks can begin to show that their goaltender is not to be messed with, the more opportunities they will find at the other end of the rink as teams become a bit tentative in the Vancouver end.

Look for Dave Nonis to be scouring the roster sheets looking to see which player is up for free agency in the off season and which teams are in danger of capping out on their salary packages.

A solid addition to the D corps in Vancouver, could very well be the one key ingredient that finally helps them put some distance between themselves and the rest of the North West Division pack.

The All Star shined and the near star scored!

The Vancouver Canucks brought their traveling eastern road show in Ottawa Thursday night and gave a pretty good visual on why Roberto Luongo has been named to the All Star squad for next week.

The Canuck goaltender held off a continuous Ottawa attack to keep the Canuck’s winning ways on the road in the plus column as the Canucks edged out the Senators 2-1, Thursday night at Scotiabank Place.

Luongo was simply amazing as he knocked down and away 34 of 35 shots directed his way, including a 14 shot avalanche of Senator shots in the third period, a period which saw Vancouver cooped up in their own end unable to cross the Ottawa blue line and test Ray Emery.

Taylor Pyatt put the Canucks ahead with a goal in the second period, breaking a scoreless period of play in the first. That goal was followed up at the thirteen minute mark when Rory Fitzpatrick scored his first goal as a Canuck, a timely show of skill that will haunt all star voters for at least the next two minutes or so. Fitzpatrick’s goal gave the Canucks a cushion that Luongo would parlay into a victory, sending the Senators off to their bench time and time again to shake their heads.

Only Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson could solve the Luongo riddle with the Sens only goal of the night with thirteen minutes to go in the third. His goal brought to an end a remarkable run of shut out hockey for the Canucks goaltender, who had ruled over 154 minutes 42 seconds of shutout hockey.

Despite the close nature of the score, the play was clearly in the control of the Sens who outshot the Canucks 35-14 on the night, an entertaining if somewhat frustrating experience for the sell out crowd in Ottawa.

The Canucks finish off their Eastern swing Friday night in Buffalo, a chance to feed a little further on their Eastern competition which sees Vancouver with a 6-1 record thus far against eastern teams.

They eventually have to give Luongo a rest, but few expect that it will be Friday night as the high octane Sabres will be looking to get back on track against the Canucks. Luongo will probably get the nod for one more night, have a week less a period of play at the upcoming all start game to rest up and then it will be back to doing what many a Canuck fan had prayed to the hockey God’s for, provide solid dependable and winning goaltending.

So far, he’s been everything advertised and much much more. Just ask the players of Toronto, Montreal and now Ottawa.

Suddenly the divisional scheduling is looking OK

You can count the Canucks as in favour of never leaving the division for the rest of the year, as the last week of December turned in their favour.With games against Calgary and Edmonton all registering in the win column over the last seven days, the Canucks are finding that staying close to home has its benefits.

The Canucks who have been rather inconsistent over the year thus far, have put things together over the last number of games and Saturday night’s thumping of the Edmonton Oilers showcased the newly confident Canucks at the top of their game.

The Sedin’s once away led the way, as they continue to take larger steps into the spotlight and become the scoring force for the Canucks game in and game out. Daniel Sedin in particular had a big night Saturday as he registered two goals and an assist on the way to Vancouver’s 6-2 victory over a struggling Oiler squad.

Roberto Luongo continued to play solid goal, knocking back a number of Oiler attempts, the goals scored on him on Saturday were more indicative of lack of attention than of any flaws. A shot that careened wildly off of the lively boards caught Luongo by surprise and provided the Oilers with a gift of a goal, but on the whole the Canucks’ goaltender shut down the Oiler attack quite well.

Sami Salo and Mathius Ohlund were strong on defence and played well into the offensive zone as well as Alan Vigneault’s squad began to shake off the tentativeness of the early part of the season and found the rhythm they need to take charge of the Northwest Division.

Vancouver has scored fifteen goals in their last three games a marked change from the lethargic ways of even a few weeks ago, while it’s possibly a bit early yet it does seem that they have finally turned the corner and may soon resemble the team that so many Vancouver fans thought they had at the start of the season.

The Canucks have New Years Eve off to celebrate and plan for a successful 2007, the Oilers and Flames will renew Auld Lang Syne one more time before the year is out with a New years eve battle in Calgary.

Canucks in need of roadside assistance

Vancouver wrapped up their road trip to the east with another loss, this one at the hands of Ken Hitchcock’s Columbus Blue Jackets. It marked the sixth consecutive road loss for the team, and the third straight loss that the Canucks have suffered in a row. Making for a slump that is beginning to make the faithful back on the West Coast just a little bit uncomfortable.

Friday night saw former Canuck Anson Carter come back to haunt his former team, Carter picked up a goal and assist and seemed to be involved in the play in all ends of the rink, something that couldn’t quite be said for his former team mates.

Once again the Canucks seemed dis-interested at times in the flow of the play, making errors that a pee wee team wouldn’t dare make as a lack of focus by the Canucks marked the play in the first period. Vancouver picked up not one but two too many men on the ice penalties in the first period, and another for good measure in the third, an unacceptable bit of sloppy hockey sense that seems to be indicative of where this team has its head at all of a sudden.

Vancouver gave up five power play opportunities in the first period, playing ten of the twenty minutes short handed, a definite advantage for Columbus, as it keeps the Sedins on the bench while the penalty killers do their thing, again and again. Surprisingly, the Blue Jackets only capitalized on one of their power play opportunities on the way to their 3-2 victory.

The untimely and dumb penalties are taking their toll on the Canucks, who feature the least amount of goals scored among the 30 lodge members of the NHL. Not a surprise when you consider how much of the time they spend killing off penalties and defending their own end.

And when they are in their own end, they aren’t doing Roberto Luongo any favours, sloppy clearing passes, they were a bit too soft in their own end, allowing the Blue Jackets to congregate in front of Lunongo waiting for second chances or obstructing his view.

The Canucks move on to the Christmas break now, a chance to get away from hockey for a few days and perhaps come back to the rink with a more focused approach to the games to come after Boxing Day.

They haven’t appeared ready to play in any of the games televised back to BC this week, a situation that hasn’t gone un-noticed by head coach Alain Vigneault. He’s tried shuffling the lines, moving the grinders up to a more frequent rotation in a bid to generate some enthusiasm, all to no avail. After yet another disappointing result, perhaps the time has come for him to turn the player stats in to the GM’s office.

Dave Nonis may find that his Christmas weekend will feature a bit of reading, a bit of thinking and maybe an updating of his blackberry, it may be time to make some moves, this team is spinning their wheels watching the traffic fly by as they sit on the side of the rink, they need either a tow truck, new tires or both and they need them soon.