The Vancouver Canucks

Ok, I know what you’re going to say. People are having fun with it, so what’s the big deal?

The Canucks game presentation folks recently came up with a new goal celebration, with a recorded “Woo!” being played after every Canucks goal and the fans then repeat the recording.

Now having grown up with the growth of the WWF/WWE culture, I can’t help but hate this post goal celebration. This isn’t wrestling, it’s Canucks hockey. I’m such a wet blanket.

Now the folks at the Canucks assure me it’s David Lee Roth from Van Halen fame in the recording and not the wrestler Ric Flair, which makes me hate it a little less being a fan of the band, but I digress. Flair could likely be  considered the father of “woo”, and as he states his “wooing” came to be born in th 70’s. It’s 2010  people.

Now to get some idea what it sounds like in GM Place after a goal these days, watch this video:

Now this doesn’t just happen after a goal, it’s starting to happen during the play. It’s happening in the washrooms, in concession lines and as you walk back to your car after the game. It sounds like your surrounded by a bunch of cats in heat, or by hyenas.

I say no more “WOO!”. Hey, we could mock our opponents after a goal with Nelson from The Simpsons!

Or wiggle our thumbs along with Mr. Burns:

But no, I shall not “wooo!” I can’t do it, and I don’t want my fellow Canucks fans to do it! Do we want to be lumped in with wrestling fans? Surely as Vancouver hockey fans we can come up with a better celebration, after all, we are the creators of towel power!

Thank you for your time…we now return you to your regularly scheduled WWE event.

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Welcome to today’s live blog of the World Junior Hockey Championship game between Canada and Latvia.

Canada Latvia Live Blog

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Merry Christian!

Christian Erhoff – Photo: Canucks.com

One could argue that the biggest news of the off-season was the signing of Roberto and Luongo and of course the Sedin twins. And while those players are having good years, there is a newcomer to the team that is making the trade that brought him here highway robbery.

Christian Erhoff and Brad Lukowich were sent to the Canucks from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for defenceman Daniel Rahimi and forward Patrick White. Lukowich has been sent to the minors, and both Rahimi and White were no longer in the Canucks plans and neither are playing for the Sharks. Erhoff has been the jewel of the deal and has fit right in with the Canucks. In his previous season with the Sharks he recorded eight goals, 34 assists (8-34-42) and 63 penalty minutes in 77 games. This season he’s leading the way on the Canucks blueline and has easily been their most steady defenseman. After 34 games this year Erhoff is just one goal off last years total, has 18 points and leads the team with an impressive plus 16 rating.

At 27 years of age, Erhoff is in the prime of his career, and his addition has more than made up for the departure of Mattias Ohlund.

Hordichuk’s Expiration Date

My friend over at Canucks Hockey Blog, Richard Loat posted about the effectiveness, or lack thereof of Darcy Hordichuk this season.

“Hordichuk is not on this team for his speed or his offense. His offense is a notch above Shane O’Brien. Actually, half a notch. Gillis said he brought him onto the team because he was a tough guy and a heavy weight, but also because he was not one dimensional. He could skate, had some hands, and could also use those hands to pummel opponents. I remember the Hordichuk that played for the Predators and Panthers. That’s the Hordichuk that I thought this team was landing. Unfortunately we’ve seen the complete opposite of what we expected.”

I have to agree. As far as giving the team any spark, it’s been a while since I can think of Hordichuk pumping up his team with any momentum changing bouts. All one needs to do is look at the much smaller Rick Rypien to get that rush. Tough guys have to play their role, and if they don’t bring anything else to the table, they are dead weight. Hordichuk is a light heavyweight at best and as Richard suggests his expiry date as a Canuck is approaching, or may have even passed.

Henrik For The Hart And The Rafters

With Henrik Sedin just one point back of the league scoring league with 43 points, discussion has begun amongst the media and fans as to whether he deserves consideration for the Hart trophy as we approach the midpoint of the season. The answer should be a resounding yes. Henrik is not only having a great year, but with brother and line mate Daniel missing 18 games, Henrik carried the team in the offense department, proving that that twins do not need each other to be effective players. Of course together they are even more dangerous, but Henrik is certainly deserving of being in the company of any Hart trophy discussions. He’s certainly been the Canucks MVP so far, and as a duo the Sedins look like they are going to take another step to becoming among the leagues elite stars an I’ll even go one further. At this rate is there little doubt that if the Sedins retire Canucks, 22 and 33 will be hanging in the rafters next to 12 and 16?

Bettman’s Boy

Our own Tom Benjamin recently posted about the appointment of Brendan Shanahan to the position Vice President of hockey and business development by the NHL. Tom suggests the job may be a little pay back to Shanahan for his work during the NHL lockout.

“He isn’t being rewarded for his behaviour during the labour dispute, is he? How many other players had lunch with Gary Bettman during the lockout? It may reek of corruption, but hey, nobody can say that Gary doesn’t take care of his friends.”

Perhaps a little harsh towards Shanahan, as none of us really know what his qualifications are for the job, and what’s expected of him in it. But it does raise eyebrows when a player retires and is promptly hired to such a lofty position of management within the league. Had Shanahan been named director of a competition committee there would likely be no issue, but the business nature of the job certainly makes things look a little fishy.

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The Vancouver Canucks are sitting on the outside looking in when it comes to the top eight in the Western Conference. Sure, it’s not crunch time yet, but the Canucks have to start making up some ground and moving up the standings. Regardless of what happens against Nashville on Tuesday, the Canucks can return home from this eastern swing no worse than .500, but with an eight game home stand coming up, now is the time to get on a streak.

The Canucks are going to be a busy team, playing eight games in the next fourteen days and a quick look at the standings show that now would be a good time get on a bit of a roll. With the NHL’s mediocrity point playing a factor early this season, a lot of teams are jockeying for playoff positioning, and are staying in the race. In fact the Canucks have not a single “loser” point this season to date which may explain why they are hovering around the eight spot. Making this home stand even more important, is the looming fourteen game road trip that starts at the end of January and ends on March 10th.

Roberto Luongo: Photo: Canucks.com

Roberto Luongo seems to be finding his groove, with big wins over New Jersey and a 38 save shutout of the struggling Flyers. Daniel Sedin should be feeling more and more comfortable, while the likes of Alexander Edler, Jannik Hansen, Alex Burrows and Kyle Wellwood have been better of late. At 10-4 on home ice this year it would seem the cards are falling into place.

Long home stands can be hard to deal with as well, so there will be challenges to remain focused. With the Christmas season upon us, the players will be with their families and have other expectations of them as well. This compressed part of the schedule will likely cut down on quality practice time as well, and that 0 for12 power play of late could use a little of that.

When you look at the standings, they aren’t in bad shape. Division leading Colorado has cooled off and are eight points ahead of the Canucks with one more win and the Canucks having two games in hand. But the Canucks have yet to really get on a roll this season, be it due to injuries or their weird and sporadic schedule.

Hopefully a solid win to end this road trip in Nashville, will set the team on the way to have some success at home and get on their first real winning streak of the season.

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Last night’s game between the Devils and the Canucks was just that – a regular season NHL game.  It wasn’t a “showdown” between Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur to see who should be the starting goaltender for Canada in the Olympics.  It was an opportunity to see two of the best goalies in the game facing off against each other.  Nothing more.  Nothing less. 

Hell, the way the game started, you’d think that Brodeur not only wouldn’t get the starting job, but would be dropped from the roster completely.  But then you’d think the same thing about Luongo if  you watched the last five minutes of the first period, too.  But that’s not the way that Steve Yzerman or Hockey Canada work.  And that’s not the way people should be thinking about it, anyway. 

Alex Burrows has settled in quite well with the Sedins again, picking up his 7th goal of the year.  The Sedins had four points between them on those first three goals, and it was sure great to see Sami Salo rip one in from the point.   Without a doubt, the Canucks outplayed the Devils for almost the entire first period, just having those lapses at the end to make the game appear a little closer than it actually was.

It was fundamentally sound, if not the most exciting thing to watch, save for the final outcome.  There were no obviously glaring errors that showed up.  Definitely a good thing.

One thing that kind of struck me was how empty the Prudential Center seemed to be.  I saw a whole lot of empty seats for a game against a decent team that doesn’t turn up too often in Jersey.  I mean, it’s not like it was St. Louis in town.  I checked the box score on NHL.com, and I wasn’t imagining it: 13,586 in attendance.   This for a team that’s 8 games above .500 and 3 points out of first in their division?  Or maybe New Jersey’s always like this?  I don’t know.

I think tonight’s PPV game against the Flyers will have a little more emotion in it.  Roberto Luongo will probably be starting tonight and then Andrew Raycroft will most likely be getting the start against Carolina on Saturday morning.  10:30am?  Jeez, it only used to be Sunday games in Boston that started at weird times.

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