Every twelve years, or is that seasons!!!

Well that was a good game yesterday. I wonder what all those people who thought the Canucks were dead and buried after game one are today. Last nights game got me thinking about the every twelve year thing. 1982,1994,2007- What?
Last year Canuck fans thought they were guaranteed a spot in the cup final. Not because they had a good team. Fate was on their side. The Canucks first trip to the Stanley cup final occurred in 1982. they were heavy underdogs against the Islander Dynasty. Potvin, Bossy, Smith and the Islanders took the Canucks out in four games.
The next time the Canucks went to the cup final was 1994. This was twelve years after the first run in 82. Oddly enough the Canucks would loose to another New York Team. This time it would be the Rangers. Messier, Leetch and Richter were going to bring the Cup to the Big Apple and the Canucks did their best to stop them.
So when the NHL came out of the lockout, Canuck fans were all over the fact that it had been twelve years since the last trip to the final. It was their destiny no matter what. The hype was that they had the team to go the distance. Why. They played an up tempo game and with the new rules the Canucks were going to be great. Well a funny thing happened an the way to the final. The Canucks struggled with their number one goalie going down early in the season. Then there was talk of the dressing room disturbances. Meanwhile the faithful kept saying don’t worry it is our destiny to go to the final every twelve years. We will be there and this time we will win.
Maybe Canuck fans were just wrong about the twelve “year” thing. I am here to give hope to all Canuck fans that this is the year. You see it is not twelve years since they last went to the finals. It is however twelve hockey seasons. For Canuck fans the lockout may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. If the Canucks make it to the finals this year then they can say well it was not twelve years but twelve season that we were suppose to go to the finals.
Puckhead

Good Night Already

Well the Stanley cup playoffs are underway. Here in Vancouver we thought it would be a long and boring series with Dallas. The first game was very exciting for the first three periods. The second game they played was more like the match up we thought we were going to see. I must admit that I went to bed after the third overtime. I am not interested in seeing the shootout in the playoffs. Having said that I do think the league needs to find a way to eliminate these really looonnng games. This was the sixth longest in history and the longest in Canucks history. I sure hope the next game does not go this long. I really liked the play of Modano and Naslund last night. I thought they were the two best players on the ice. The Sedins were very quite in the first four periods. They did pick it up in the overtime sessions. For Vancouver’s sake the Sedin’s need to be productive or they may not go very far in the playoffs. Having said that if Luongo and Turco play like they did last night there will not be much scoring from here on, in this series. What can you say about Jeff Cowan? Matt Cooke goes down and he comes in and hits people like crazy for all the overtime periods. This guy could be a great asset in the playoffs for the Canucks.
Playoff hockey is the greatest.
Puckhead

The Holy Grail…

The second season of the NHL begins this week. They play eighty two games to get to the real hockey. What is the prize at the end, The Stanley Cup? In my opinion this is the best trophy in sports. When you win this trophy your name is permanently etched on to it. That is just great. No other trophy puts every players name on the trophy. With Gary Bettman’s idea of parity in the any one of the teams in the playoffs has a legitimate chance to make it to the Stanley cup final. I guess this is good for fans in all the cites participating. In years past many teams did not stand a chance to get past the first or second round. You were excited if your team won one or two rounds. You knew when the playoffs started that one of four or five teams was going to win. I must say I like it better the way it is now. I live in Vancouver and with Roberto Luongo in net the Canucks have as good a chance as every other team in the playoffs to get to the finals.
They also have the ability to get knocked out of the first round because the team they are playing Dallas, is just a good. If Marty Turco can win in the playoffs then Dallas could go a long way. Aneheim has the two big defensemen to carry them deep into the post season. San Jose has been playing well and has more depth on the forward lines than many of the teams. Detroit is always a threat especially if Hasek plays like he can. Then there is Nashiville, Calgary and Minnesota, who all have good teams. The west is going to be a real battle field. I think the east is weaker than the west though there are some teams in the east that could win the cup. The Sabres, Devils and Senators stand out for me. These three teams seem to be a step ahead of all the other teams. You can not count out the youth in Pittsburgh. Crosby has been everything people said he was and more since he came into the league. I am surprised they have become this good so quickly. I do not think they will get there this year. They will get there soon. All the other teams in the east also have good chances to go all the way. Every team is one or two serious injuries away from winning the Stanley cup or going out in the first round.
Over the past few years I have been cheering for many different teams during the playoffs. Last year I went back to my boyhood team of the Buffalo Sabers as my second choice to cheer for. This year there is the possibility of the Sabres and their expansion cousins the Canucks to meet in the cup final. That would be great to see. I am not sure who is going to make it to the finals this year. I do know that I am sure going to enjoy the ride.

When I was young, my friends and I often referred to the Stanley Cup as the wholly grail. We stole this from the Monty Python movies. In Canada the Stanley cup is everything to a Canadian hockey player. So let the quest for the cup begin.

Puckhead

The Old NHL

I am tired of hearing the term the new NHL. I have been a hockey fan since I was a little kid. I remember spending Saturday nights watching hockey night in Canada. My first favorite team growing up was the Buffalo Sabers. I loved watching the French connection. Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert and Rick Martin. These guys were great especially Pereault. He could skate like the wind.
I first must admit that when the NHL locked out the players in 2004. I was one of the people who said I did not care if they came back. What I did say was I did not care about how much money they make. The more important factor for me was that they fix the game. In my mind the game was broken before the lockout. The clutching, grabbing and interference in the game was not allowing the skilled players to perform. Since they have come back from the lockout the game is so much better. Crosby is making plays like Gretzky did in the eighties. Gretzky is the all time leader of assists for making passes to everyone one the team. He also made a lot of passes out of dump luck. He would throw the puck towards the net knowing that someone was heading there. I am pretty sure Gretzky was hoping that the pass made it to its destination. I have heard so many TV and radio colour commentators in the past ten years say the coaches would tell the players not to through the puck in front of the net unless they knew for sure that it was going to get to the other player. This year I have seen Crosby and others, make passes when they are not even looking at the net. These passes are going past the defensemen, getting through to the forwards who are turning them into goals. This is a great thing. We are now seeing all the skills of the best players in the league. This is not the new NHL. In my opinion it is the old NHL and I love it.
Welcome back Hockey

http://www.nhl.com/

Who showed up

I watched the Calgary Vancouver Hockey game last night. Actually I missed the first period. I was impressed with the effort by Markus Naslund. The Canucks lost this game but not for the play of their captain. The score was three nothing at the end of the second period. I do not know what happened in the first period. What I saw in the second and third was the Captain of the Canucks being the only player trying to win this game. Markus was making plays. Carrying the puck up the ice and getting shots on net. The rest of the team was sleeping through the second period. It was not until the Canucks scored their first goal in the third period when the rest of the team decided to join Markus with their effort level. I like the Sedin twins as players. They are not yet at that point in their play where they can win a game when they do not have their game going. When their game is not going, they really seem to struggle. Last night was one of those games. In the past Markus has had the ability to win games when he was not at his best. He almost did it by himself last night. That is the difference between good players and great players. Great players find ways to make it happen when they are having bad nights. It looks like Markus is getting ready for the playoffs. The last few weeks his effort level has been greater than most of the season. He is also getting better scoring chances. Eventually those chances will start to go in for him.
I really like Vigneault as a coach. Last night Markus was the best player on the ice and he moved Markus up to play with the Twins. I would like to see the Canucks put Naslund, Cooke and Morrison back together again leading up to the playoffs. This was tried earlier in the year and did not seem to work. A few things have changed since then Morrison has picked up his game. He seems to have his speed back. Cooke is playing Matt Cooke hockey again. He is hitting everything in sight creating a lot of turnovers. These two factors have changed since Markus played with Morrison and Cooke earlier in the year.
Go Markus go.
Puckhead