Vancouver Canucks Hockey Stuff

The Vancouver canucks have gone 2-0 in the pre-season after beating the Anaheim Ducks last night in a 3-0 shut-out.  Roberto Luongo was in net for the Canucks for the first two periods and stopped all 19 shots tossed his way, while Cory Schneider took over in goal for the third and stopped all 9 shots to preserve the shut-out.

Canucks goal-scorers included Steve Bernier, Kevin Bieksa, and Aaron Rome.  Bernier looked great on the ice, having lost 20 pounds in the off-season, he appeared to be in mid-season form.  Kyle Wellwood was buzzing around as well, and looks like he wants to be cemented into this organization for a long time to come.

The Canucks play again tonight in their 3rd preseason game, this time against the San Jose Sharks, in san jose, and the puck drops at 7:30pm.  You can watch the game live online at Canucks.com.

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Mike Gillis, GM of the Vancouver Canucks, announced today that the Vancouver Canucks have re-signed Canucks forward Steve Bernier.  Bernier, 24, would have been a restricted free agent come July 1st.  He made 2.5 Million this year, and it’s reported that his new contract is a 2 year deal worth 2 million a season.  Along with the contract, the Canucks have challenged Bernier to improve his hands, skating and conditioning over the summer break, providing him with a nutritionist, and a specialized coach to help with his skating stride.  They also have designed a conditioning program for Bernier to follow, that will include game-play like situations that will hopefully improve his awareness and finishing touch around the net.  Steve Bernier had 15 goals for the Canucks this past season, but had a countless number of chances around the net, missing or fanning on great scoring opportunities.

“We all would’ve liked to seen him scores more goals with the opportunities he had,” Mike Gillis said. “But he got those opportunities and he generated those opportunities. We’re hoping he will be able to relax and capitalize on those chances”.

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Towel Power was alive in GM Place in Vancouver tonight, as the streaking St Louis Blues came to town to play game one of the playoffs against the also red hot Vancouver Canucks.  Each seat in the arena had a white towel draped over it, and the atmosphere was electric after Vancouver failed to make the postseason last year.

In the first period, the Canucks played a solid hard hitting game.  They exchanged penalties with the Blues, and they both couldn’t score on their power plays.  On a delayed call, Pavol Demitra passed from the side boards to Daniel Sedin who was open in the slot, and he didn’t miss on this opportunity, deflecting the slap-pass into the net to make it 1-0 Vancouver Canucks.  Later in the period, the Canucks got into penalty trouble, ending up two men short for just under two minutes, but the canucks killed it off with some great antics by Ryan Kesler.  The Canucks ended up finishing the first period ahead 1-0.  Johnson and Hordichuk were both assessed 10 minute Misconducts at the end of the period. Johnson got the extra 2 mminutes.

Canucks start the second period on the penalty kill.  And kill it, they did.  A few minutes later and the Nucks are back on the power play.  5 minutes into the second, Henrik and Daniel combine together deep in the St Louis zone, pass it back to salo at the point, and he slaps it towards the Blues net.  it sails through the air and is deflected in by Steve Bernier.  2-0 Vancouver.  The canucks had another powerplay but they couldn’t capitalize on it.  Henrik Sedin took a penalty for hooking with a couple minutes left in the second.  The Blue capitalized on their chance, and put one in past Luongo.  The period ends with the score 2-1 Vancouver.  You knew with this much drama in the second period, that the third would be exciting.

The Canucks came out a little flat to start the third, but they picked it up soon enough.  Both teams picked up their game and started hitting back and forth.  There was a bit of an after the whistle foray behind the St Louis net, and coincidental minors were called.  During the four on four play, Mason Raymond had a chance to bury on while streakin in on the right side,  he beat Mason but couldn’t beat the post, and it rattled of and into the corner.  Alot of hitting back and forth by both teams throughout the period. By the halfway mark of the second period the Canucks were outshooting the Blues 11-2 in the 3rd.  Mats Sundin missed the net on a shot halfway through the third on a play deep in the slot.  I don’t know how  many times Sundin has missed the net this game, he seemed to to be struggling out there. Pavol Demitra had a better game on this line, but it was Ryan Kesler who carried them as usual.  With just under four minutes left in the third period, Henrik almost made it 3-1 after a nifty pass from Burrows from behind the net, but his shot sailed just wide of the net.  A huge flurry ended the third as the Blues pulled their goalie, but they couldn’t get the equalizer! 

CANUCKS WIN!  They lead the series 1-0.  The Vancouver Cannucks play the St louis Blues Friday April 17th at 7pm in Vancouver, it will be the 2nd home game in this series, and live on CBC, and live streaming online on internet radio at Team1040.ca

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Game in Anaheim, Can They Make up for Monday’s Loss to LA?

Anaheim last played Minnesota on Sunday night, and lost that game 3-2.  They are a struggling team right now and are looking very fragile.  The Canucks, on the other hand, had a very dissapointing first two periods against the LA Kings on Monday night, but came out hard in the third, but not hard enough to tie up the game.  They lost 3-2.

The Ducks haven’t won yet this month, so the Canucks definitely have that statistic in their favour.  Vancouver has lost two consecuitve road games, so hopefully by the end of the night tonight they can snap that streak and not have it continue to a 3 game skid.

The Canucks are going to have to shut down Corry Perry tonight, as he leads all Anaheim Ducks players with seven points aainst the Canucks this season.  Likewise, Steve Bernier leads the Canucks with 4 points against the Ducks this season.

Tonight’s game starts at 7pm PST in Anaheim, and is available on Canucks TV Pay Per View.  You can catch the game on the internet via live streaming online radio at the Team, team1040.ca  Let’s see if the Canucks can mae this trip .500 and make it 13-3 ion their last sixteen.  The playoffs are JUST around the corner.

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Columbus Blue Jackets 4 – Vancouver Canucks 2

The Canucks could not pull out a win in Columbus tonight, after falling behind 3-1 after the first two periods, and down 2-0 only 7 minutes into the contest.  They came out very solid in the thrid, throwing twelve shots at Columbus’ Pascal Leclaire, though leclaire stopped 11 of thoe to seal the victory, with Columbus netting an empty-net goal late in the third to make it 4-2.

Kyle Wellwood looked impressive in his first game back after being recalled from Manitoba, scoring a goal and assising on Kevin Bieksa’s marker.  Things to note during tonight’s game was the impressive third period play of Steve Bernier and the Sedin twins, however they could not put one in the Columbus net, and therefore Daniel Sedin is now pointles through his last five games.  On the other hand, Ryan Kesler’s point streak has gone onto four games with 2 goals and 2 assists within that time.

Both teams finished with identical power plays, going 1 for 4.  The Canucks came close on the power play late in the third period but couldn’t pull the trigger.

Tonight’s goals were scored by Kyle Wellwood power-play goal (Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond), and Kevin Bieksa (Kyle Wellwood).

Also today, after attempting to recall Matt pettinger from the Manitoba Moose via re-entry waivers, and having him picked up by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Canucks recalled Jason Krog, and he is now playing with the big club.

The Canucks next game is on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers at GM Place starting at 7pm.  They play two home games before hitting the road for another road trip.  Saturday nights game will be televised on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada in HD High Definition, and you can also listen to it live online streaming on Team1040.ca

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Canucks lose another one on the road 4-2

After Pavol Demitra scored 9:32 into the first period to open the games scoring, the Canucks could not muster any more offence until late in the third period, as the Chicago Blackhawks scored four unanswered goals to win the game 4-2.

Two of the Blackhawks goals came on the power play, as Taylor Pyatt sat in the box for both callas when Chicago scored, once for hooking and again for boarding.  Not a good game for Pyatt tonight, that’s for sure.

Tonight’s two Canucks goals were scored by Pavol Demitra (Mason Raymond, Ryan Kesler), and Henrik Sedin (Steve Bernier).

The Canucks went 0 for 4 on the powerplay, failing to take advantage of their opportunities.  The Blackhawks were 2 for 5 for their powerplays.

Luongo stopped 22 of 26 shots for the loss, and Chicago’s netminder Cristobal Huet stopped 28 of 30 shots for the win.

The Canucks wrap up their last and final game of their 6 game road trip in Columbus to face the Blue Jackets  on Tuesday at 4:00pm.  The game will be televised on Sportsnet, and streamed live via online radio at team1040.ca

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Canucks Lose in Buffalo to go 3-2 on Season

After a disastrous first period, the Canucks couldn’t seem to crawl out of the negative column to beat the Sabres in tonight’s game at Buffalo.  The Sabres came out fast and quick with three goals in the first 13:10 of the first period, after the Canucks had some serious troubles with penalties, including a double-minor for  roughing against Shane O’Brien that cost the Canucks one of Buffalo’s early goals.

Penalties haunted the Canucks all night, with Buffalo going 2 for 5 and the Canucks being ousted with a miserable 0 for 3 on the power play.  Thomas Vanek buried the Canucks with the Sabres 5th goal of the night mid way through the 3rd period, on a beautiful goal with NO defence anywhere around to help Curtis Sanford out.  Sanford played his first start of the season, without a W to show for it.  The night contained a bucketful of defence errors, with Willie Mitchell playing a mediocre game, and several other mistakes all around.  A bright spot again was the Kesler Burrows Hansen line, however they couldn’t pull anything together in the third after Burrows was given a 10 min misconduct half way through the third period.  One bright light on Defence was the play of Alex Edler, who looked good all game long while he was on the ice.  The Sedins were broken up this game half way through, and didn’t play as linemates through the end.  Will Vigneault pair them up again?  We will have to see in Chicago on Sunday.

Tonight’s goal scorers included Ryan Kesler (Alexander Burrows, Willie Mitchell), Steve Bernier (Henrik Sedin, Mason Raymond).

The Canucks continue the road trip, flying into Chicago to play the Blackhawks at 4pm on Sunday.  The game will be broadcast on TV on Canucks PPV ( Pay Per View ) and if you don’t want to pay, you can always listen to the game streaming live on the internet at team1040.ca

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Vancouver Canucks 6 – Calgary Flames 0

In a night that saw the Vancouver Canucks honouring the late Luc Bourdon with a touching ceremony at GM Place, the Canucks played a game that Luc would have been proud of.

The Canucks finally turned a tide of Penalty trouble, though they did give up a couple 5 on 3 power play chances to the Flames tonight.  The Canucks played a great offensive game, and hopefully this is what we’ll see throughout the rest of this season.  Bernier looked great with the Sedin’s getting a beautiful goal 23 seconds into the second period.  Mason Raymond showed everyone at the Garage why he is on this team, with blazing bursts of speed time and timagain, and Pavol Demitra looks very promisng as well.

The Canucks went one for nine on the powerplay, while the Flames were kept off the scoresheet on 6 powerplay attempts, including just over a minute of s on 3 powerplay time.  The Canucks lone power play goal was scored by Mattias Ohlund halfway through the 3rd period, making it 5-0, and the Canucks got a beautiful shorthanded breakaway goal on the Flames power play in the 3rd, scored by Rick Rypien.

Tonight’s goal scorers were: Henrik Sedin (Daniel Sedin, Ryan Kesler), Steve Bernier (Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin), Alexander Burrows (Ryan Kesler), Alexander Burrows (Ryan Johnson), Mattias Ohlund PP Goal (Taylor Pyatt, Daniel Sedin), Rick Rypien SH Goal (Mattias Ohlund).

The Canucks play again against the Calgary Flames on saturday night in Calgary, as the second game in this home and home set.  Game time is 7pm and will be broadcast on CBC and live streaming online at Team1040.ca.

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Canucks Beat Sharks, Make it Six Straight Preseason Wins

A 5 point night for the Sedin twins capped off a good night for the Canucks as they managed to keep the San Jose Sharks down and out to complete their 6th straight win and keep their preseason record perfect.  It was a see-saw game on the scoreboard again, with both teams trading goalsback and forth after the Sharks got on the board 17:25 into the first period.

Shots in tonight’s game were much more even as well as penalties.  The Sharks outshot the Canucks, with a margin of 33-20.  In the penalty department, the Canucks were able to keep the Sharks off the board while killing their penalties, making them go 0 for 7.  The Canucks, on the other hand, made good use of their power play time, going 2 for 6 on the power play.

Curtis Saford played in goal, receing the third star for his efforts, especially blanking the Sharks on the thirteen shots they put his way in the third period.

Goals were scored by these Canucks tonight: Steve Bernier PP Goal (Sami Salo, Daniel Sedin), Daniel Sedin PP Goal (Kevin Bieksa, Henrik Sedin), and Henrik Sedin (Kevin Bieksa, Daniel Sedin).

The Canucks next and last preseason game is on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks at GM Place at 7PM.

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Vancouver Canucks defeat the Anaheim Ducks 5 – 4 in Shoot-out

The Canucks have made it a perfect start to the pre-season.  They have played 4 games and have won all 4, with tonight’s win coming courtesy of a shoot-out victory. 

The game was a see-saw battle througout, with Anaheim scoring first 1 minute into the second period, with Vancouver replying back eight minutes later.   The teams traded goals right until the end, when Anaheim scored with just over two minutes left in the third period to tie up the game.

The Canucks spent alot of time in the sin bin, amassing 13 penalties totalling 32 minutes, and gave up two goals on 10 Anaheim power play opportunities, totalling 16:38 of power-play time.  On the other hand, the Canucks were two for four on the power-play, with only fine and a half minutes of power play time. 

Tonight’s goals were scored by Kyle Wellwood (Cody Hodgson, Sami Salo),  Sami Salo (Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin), Steve Bernier (Sami Salo, Kevin Bieksa), Daniel Sedin (Henrik Sedin, Steve Bernier),  with th shoot-out winner scored by Kyle Wellwood.

The Canucks were outshot by the Ducks by a margin of 38 – 23, with Curtis Sanford in net backed up by Cory Schneider.

The Canucks play again on October 1st against the Calgary Flames at GM Place at 7pm.  The game will be televised on TSN.

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