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It’s been a strange ride since our last episode. We’re without J.J. on this one while he is out east for work, but you can expect to hear about some of his adventures as a Canucks fan in the land of… well… out there. However, it’s strange in the terms of watching a team that gives us great highs and puzzling lows. Click here to listen to the episode.
Because I’m on the road, I missed the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. I’m not complaining (it was probably a good thing). Still, here are some random thoughts on what has transpired so far this week. On the injuries: It took all of two weeks before Sami Salo and Pavol Demitra suffered their first injuries of the season. Like Alanah said, only Kyle Wellwood benefits from those injuries. And maybe Jason Krog (Gordon McIntyre, Vancouver Province). The scary thing is, the top part of the Canucks lineup is already becoming reminiscent of last year’s. Darcy Hordichuk...
There’s a lot of chatter the last few days about the very cryptic message the Canucks have put up on their website. Who else suffered rejection for an NHL franchise, but never quit? Who else turned a symbol of tradition into a passionate tradition copied all across sports? Who else survived the insults of the Flying “V”, the Plate of Spaghetti and the Skate going down? Who else turned a symbol of surrender into a passionate tradition copied all across sports? October 25th, 2008 General Motors Place 7 There is, of course, speculation about what it means and Mike, Sean...
We’ve been having fun spotting the crew on various posters and buses around the lower mainland, so feel free to look through The Crazy Canucks Pool on Flickr to see some of them. We’re also six games into the 2008-2009 regular season, so we take some time to reflect on what we’ve seen and parse through what we think about what we saw. Click here to listen to the episode.
Well, that didn’t take long, did it (Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun)? Kyle Wellwood is an easy guy to ridicule. He is slow, pudgy and played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Insert punchlines here. However, the Vancouver Canucks didn’t waive Wellwood on Friday for any of those reasons. He was waived because the National Hockey League team found younger, better players at his position and needed to protect its depth on defence. In the preseason, Wellwood showed exactly why the Canucks picked him up from waivers. He put up 4 points in 5 exhibition games and demonstrated his soft hands and...
Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports I was watching the Vancouver Canucks try and kill a penalty against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night when I noticed the players Alain Vigneault threw on the ice. The first group included Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows and the second group included Jannik Hansen and Rick Rypien. I then looked at the box score (NHL.com) at the end of the game and noticed the list of goal scorers – Hansen, Kesler, Burrows and Mason Raymond. And I got to thinking… Since when did we have the Manitoba Moose on our roster? In fact, the...
Photo credit: icethetics.blogspot.com John sent me a link to Icethetics, who apparently has a leaked version of the Canucks third jersey the team was planning on unveiling on November 15th. It was never a secret that the team wanted to bring back the vintage stick-and-rink logo – Chris Zimmerman has said as much at the past couple of State of the Franchise events – and this jersey certainly fits what’s been said all along. Personally, I’ve always liked this logo though I admit that it looks a little awkward from this angle. Plus, there’s already chatter that the Johnny Canuck...
Last night’s ceremony to honor Luc Bourdon was simple and touching. With the entire Canucks team surrounding them on the ice, members of the Canucks staff behind the benches and Canucks fans standing in their seats or watching on TV, Luc’s family stood on GM Place ice. They fought back tears while remembering the life of Luc, one that was too promising but too short. Alex Burrows and Roberto Luongo presented them with Luc’s last game-worn jersey and Tom Cochrane came out and played “Big League” alongside a video tribute showing highlights of Luc’s life. Like Chris Zimmerman promised, it...
There is a much higher sense of optimism in Canucks land these days, not just because they finished the preseason with a 6-0-1 record, but mostly because of a new kind of energy on the ice. The team looks reinvigorated. They look bigger and faster, and at least through the exhibition games, they seem more confident with the puck instead of playing hot potato with it like they did near the end of last season. Can they keep this up over 82 games? Perhaps, but really, their success comes down to how they respond to the following questions. Can the...
At this point, we’re undefeated. Sure, it’s the pre-season, but we’re not complaining about a 6-0 record thus far. New faces are impressing us, a new coaching style seems to be working well, and the new lines are producing better than anyone has really expected. We also got our answer about who will be captain this season, so there is something to be said about that. Rebecca is a not so healthy scratch for this one, but the rest of the crew gathers with their homework in tow on some new faces on our lineup. Click here to listen to...
