Canucks Finally Score First

Jannik Hansen celebrates after scoring shorthanded

Scoring the first goal of the game.  What a concept.  For the first time in a long time, the Canucks were able to score the first goal of the game and as a result they were able to control it for long periods of time.  Florida is a team that isn’t going to beat you by scoring goals in bunches and will look to get leads and sit on them.  Think of the Minnesota Wild for the last decade or so.  When the Canucks jumped ahead they were able to force the Panthers away from what they generally like to do and on the road it becomes even more important to score the first goal.  Tonight was a perfect example as the Canucks were able to get a lead, sit on it a bit by leaning on their goaltender and when the opportunity presented itself, pad the lead.

The top line finally broke out of their slump and opened the scoring early in the second period.  Burrows scored one of his signature tip ins off a pass from Henrik Sedin.  It was Sedin’s first point in five games after falling behind Alex Ovechkin in the NHL scoring race.  The line wasn’t too dangerous the rest of the way but at least they were finally able to get back on the scoresheet and the Canucks won.  The Sedin twins are always much better performers at home but it was time for them to make a big impact on the road with this trip not even half over yet.

Roberto Luongo appears to be back on his game after sitting one out.  It’s looking more and more like fatigue was the reason his play dropped off a little bit.  I think he’s made a strong push to be the top goaltender for Canada next week and that’s not just the Canucks fan in me.  Brodeur has struggled down the stretch and Fleury isn’t really a candidate to start any games.

It’s also great that the Canucks are finally getting some consistent secondary scoring.  Hansen had a nice snipe shorthanded.  It was a goal that the Canucks really needed because they had spent quite a bit of time in their own zone killing penalties towards the end of the second.  Ryan Kesler is finally starting to score on the road (see a trend yet) which will be so important come April.  He has disappeared away from home at times this year but his goal to make it 3-0 gave the Canucks more than they needed.

Ryan Kesler scored late to make it 3-0 Vancouver

Now for the bad parts, the Canucks spent far too long in the penalty box tonight and some of the penalties were far too careless.  I realize Shane O’Brien is playing out of his class right now with all the injuries but he has to find a way to cut down on the penalties.  There is really no reason to reach around a guy with your free hand when you know the referees  are going to call it every time.  For my daily rip on Samuelsson, his slashing penalty was simply undisciplined and selfish when the Canucks had a great opportunity to take an early lead.  The referees were all over everything tonight and its pointless to try and get a way taking shots at people.

The bottom line is the Canucks won 3-0 and it was a solid effort all around even though there are plenty of things that need to be worked on if the Canucks are going to be a consistent and good team on the road.  We’ll get to see if they can keep it going tomorrow night against Columbus.  Playing back-to-back is never easy but they should be up to the task considering the Blue Jackets are not that great of a team.  The game is being broadcast on PPV and I’d love to see how terrible the ratings are when you factor in that the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics starts about the same time as the third period.

Olympic Torch Relay comes to North Vancouver

It was a very awesome day in Deep Cove today as the Olympic Torch Relay made it through the neighborhood.  People lined the street roughly an hour before the torch came through and after it left Cates Park at 10:36am, it made its way down Dollarton Highway were I was waiting to snap my pictures.  After the cops drove down the street as an escort, promotional vehicles were the first to drive by.  RBC and Coca Cola had people dancing on trucks and giving away free stuff.  I was able to get a few Torch Relay bottles of Coke and Coke Zero.  Luckily, I staked out a sport that was right next to the hand off and was able to get some pretty good pictures.  My mom actually talked to the parents of the kid and needless to say they were pretty excited about what was to come.  Like before, be sure to click on the link for bigger pictures.

It might have been raining but these guys where feeling good.

The Coca-Cola truck armed with free stuff

A very patriotic vehicle

An Olympic car telling us the torch is getting close!

The RBC promo car complete with dancing people

Day 104. Just 2 to go!

It was Coke's turn to do their thing.

More Coke

The torch runner waiting to receive the flame

Here comes the flame

A shot of the women who ran from Cates Park to Deep Cove Road.

The exchange!

The kid is ready for his 5 minutes of glory

But first he poses for a few pictures

A new guy runs up Mount Seymour Parkway

I Feel Very Olympic Today

Well it was really yesterday, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use that quote.  On Sunday afternoon it appeared as if the Penguins had the Capitals in the bag and I could use the time before the Super Bowl started to check out the progress in Vancouver for the Olympics.  Well, clearly I made the wrong choice as the Capitals came back and there wasn’t as much to see downtown as I thought there would be.  But for those interested here are a few pictures that I thought were worth enough to post and will also give you an idea of what to expect next week.  For those people reading that have not been to Vancouver you might be interested in seeing what some of the venues look like from the outside and from afar.  Click on any picture for a larger view!

Like a true tourist I hopped on the Seabus in North Vancouver around 10:30.  As you can see by the sign I made it with just 5 minutes to spare.  I then hopped on the Skytrain and took it down to the BC Place/GM Place stopping hoping to see some cool stuff on the outside of the buildings.

Taking public transit like a loser

Yay! I made it.

I then made my way down Beatty Street towards BC Place and then came back towards GM Place, or “Canada Hockey Place” as its known during the Olympics.

The Cops have all roads near venues blocked off.

How often can you stand in the middle of Georgia and not get killed?

When you get to the event areas you’ll meet these tents where you’re likely to get an anal probe.  If you’re part of the Olympic family then you can wave goodbye to the rest of us suckers and go though your own special entrance while the rest of us continue to wait.

The Olympic Family entrance at BC Place Stadium

The way in for the rest of us

I’m also including a few pictures of BC Place for no other reason than because I took them.  Yay for ugly cement buildings.  Hopefully it doesn’t disappoint too many people who have traveled long distances to see the opening or closing ceremony.

It is what it is

BC Place from Georgia

Next I headed next door to GM Place trying to get a good view of something.  Instead I was just met by a bunch of fences.  What suprised me was that there is still traces of Canucks type things on the building.  I’m wondering if they’ll take those down by Friday.

The side of GM Place from along the Georgia Viaduct

There is still a trace of the Vancouver Canucks at GM Place

Expo Blvd decked out in Olympic designs outside GM Place

A good shot of the security check point outside GM Place. Complete with bag scanner like at the airport

Next I decided to head up Dunsmuir before walking up to Georgia and to Pacific Centre.  Live City is apparently a place for entertainment and creating a lasting impression with family orientated entertainment.  I assume its a good place for families to go spend money when they can’t get into something like the Molson Canadian Hockey House.

Side view of Live City Vancouver from Georgia

Front entrance of Live City

Next I kept on traveling up Georgia.  The further up you go, the more people there were.  I saw a couple waving an Australian flag as well as two women in Russia tracksuits.  I considered taking their picture but I thought that that might be a little too weird.  Nonetheless, here are some pictures from along Georgia.

Hey look, it's the renovated CBC building

Canada Post has the Olympic Fever

As does a new hotel going in at Georgia and Howe

I still don't know how the Olympic lane is different than a regular HOV lane

At “The Bay” at Pacific Centre there were A LOT of people inside buying the latest Canada Olympic gear.  I was going to actually buy something but I didn`t have 15 minutes to stand in the lineup to pay.  The VISA advertisements on The Bay building has been up for about a year but they’re still pretty cool and worth posting.

A few great Canadian moments

A few more

We were made for this!

Is there anything more Canadian than The Hudson's Bay Company?...

...Well maybe this picture of CPR trains that I took is.

Some good looking people

On Granville street there was some sort of Cultural Olympiad thing going on.  I’m not sure exactly what the point of it was but I look pictures anyway.

The money shot down Granville?

You typical totem poles at the Cultural Olympiad.

I have no idea what's going on here

Japan and Hole in the Wall invades Canada.

Next up was the final stop in my short trip downtown.  Naturally I had to get a shot of the countdown clock at the Art Gallery like everyone else

What`s a day at the Vancouver Art Gallery without some sort of protest?

All these people wanted to see the time tick down on the start of the games

We`re almost there!

Now it was back to the Seabus to pickup my car and head to a Super Bowl party. While waiting for the Seabus one comes to realize that London really wants you to come visit them.  Only 2 and a half years until they get to host the Summer Games!

Visit London for the 2012 Summer Games!

I Blame Mikael Samuelsson

Shane O'Brien can't keep Jason Spezza's pass from going into the net.

Hopefully Kyle from Babcock’s Death Stare sees the blog title since he’s one of the few people who seems to share my furor with Mikael Samuelsson.   It’s the first minute of the game with a goaltender between the pipes making his first start in months.  Plus, you’re playing the hottest team in the league outside of perhaps Washington and what does Samuelsson decide to do?  You guessed it, take a penalty.  Before Raycroft even has the opportunity to feel comfortable in goal, the Senators get a power play and quickly a goal off the tip in from Milan Michalek.  Samuelsson also had the balls to bitch to the referee on his way to the box as he always does.  It’s a growing annoyance of mine that NHL players, even when taking the most obvious penalty in the history of hockey, will still bitch and moan on their way to the box.  Sometimes sucking it up and skating to the box is ok!

Is there seriously anything else to really take out of this game other than the massive letdown by Vancouver?  Understandably, the Senators took their pedal off the floor when they built up the 2-0 lead.  The Senators played a close and hard fought game the night before in Buffalo and getting the early lead and sitting on it was certainly part of the agenda.  The first part probably wasn’t that difficult either when you consider that the Canucks have given up the first goal in nine of the last eleven games.

I thought the decision to start Andrew Raycroft was a big weird.  According to Jason Botchford of “The Province”, the Canucks made the decision to go with Raycroft after the game in Montreal.  I’ll admit that Luongo has been a little bit off is game lately and perhaps fatigue has started to set in a little bit but in a game against a team that has won ten in a row  you have to go with your number one guy.  Additionally, starting Raycroft against his former team in Boston for a morning game might have made more sense.  I probably don’t have to mention when Luongo injured himself last season in Pittsburgh because his routine was thrown off by the early start.  Either way, Raycroft was not the reason the Canucks lost the game.

Shane O’Brien made some insanely strange plays as well tonight.  I can’t wait for him to go back to being the number five or six guy, he’s really not cut out to be a top four.  Not that were didn’t already know that but it’s horrible at times right now.  The moment that really sticks out is when he tried to go backwards with a pass after the Canucks had been running around their own zone for at least a minute.  For the love of god man, just get those pucks out.  The Canucks were getting away with having a less skilled defense at home where Vigneault could work the match-ups, but I think that we’re starting to see the opponents match their best players against defenders that can’t handle them.  Christan Ehrhoff has had a few problems on the penalty kill and playing against the other team’s top line so hopefully he can get back to how he was playing ten games or so ago.  In hindsight I’m starting to believe that his plus-minus was inflated because he didn’t always have to play against the best.  However, he is still the best the Canucks have right now.

Brian Elliott was beaten only by Kyle Wellwood

Somehow, the Canucks managed to outshoot Ottawa 30-20 and 27-9 after the first period.  It really didn’t seem like the Canucks had 16 shots in the third period but apparently they did.  Other than the breakaway save off Steve Bernier in the dying seconds of the second period I can’t think of a time where Elliott had to make a great save.  Far too many shots from Vancouver came with no traffic in net or were shot right at the goaltender.  Sometimes that just means that the opponent’s goalie is on his game as far as rebounds and angles go, but the Canucks really didn’t challenge Elliott much in my opinion.

What is most troubling about the offensive effort is that Daniel and Henrik were pretty much ineffective for the entire night.  I don’t think they got the cycle going at all and even resorted to taking slapshots from the top of the circle with no traffic a number of times.  Definitely not a game to remember for the top line.  Ryan Kesler was also invisible for most of the night.  For a guy that wants to be paid in the five million a year range, he has to find a way to get it going more often on the road.  That might be was separating him from being a great player in the league right now.

What to expect Saturday?  I’m not really sure at the moment.  It seems like the Canucks have rekindled the problems that they were having earlier in the year.  Luckily for them, Boston isn’t the greatest team in the league this year, let alone home team.  They lost in a shootout to Montreal tonight.  Tim Thomas did have a shutout over the Canucks the last time they played so we can expect Thomas to play opposite Luongo – a possible Olympic matchup as well.  The Canucks need to find a way to get things going because there is still eleven games left on this road trip.

The Olympics Are Coming!

8 Days to Go!

I have to stop neglecting this place for long periods for time.  Lots of good stuff has happened since I last posted.  The Canucks went on a 7 game winning streak with their patchwork defence and some less than stellar efforts all around but winning when you don’t play your best is what good teams do.  It was too bad that they lost in Montreal because they were the better team for pretty much the entire game.  Poor personnel on defence finally caught up to them at times  as a few of the goals had some serious blown coverage.  The real reason they lost though was their inability to figure out Halak.  With forty plus saves he definitely stole the game.  But that’s old news.

I’m really looking forward to tonight’s game against Ottawa.  I really think that the Canucks have an excellent opportunity to be the ones that break up the Senators winning streak.  The Sens played a hard fought game in Buffalo last time and are bound to be tired while the Canucks had the day off and are waiting there for them.  The line-ups haven’t come out yet but I would hope Tanner Glass draws back in for Darcy Hordichuk now that they’ve lost a game.  Glass brings so much more to the table than Hordichuk but we’ll see what Vigneault opts to do.  Hopefully Henrik is on his game as well because Ovechkin has pulled within a point of him in the Art Ross race.

Now the big news is that I’ll be going into Olympic mode within a day or two.  Since the Olympics are in my city it’s my goal to bring a firsthand account of all the happenings that might be going around Vancouver in the lead up to the game and of course the games themselves.  The torch is being run through my neighborhood on Wednesday so that’s going to be exciting as well.  I’ll be unveiling my hockey predictions during the next week or so and when the games officially start I’ll be discussing other sports other than hockey when relevant.  Of course the Canucks are still playing through to next Sunday so they obviously won’t be forgotten.