Keep Your Heads Up! Canucks-Blackhawks Preview
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 1:12 AM PST
in Game Preview
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GAME TIME: 7:00 PST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
The Mortal Enemy: Second City Hockey
UPDATE (1:28 PM): Joel Quenneville said this about any potential retribution from Chicago:
"Our priority will be to win the hockey game and nothing else," Quenneville said. "Getting even on the scoreboard is the best way to get even."
***************
I'm going to focus quite a bit on Jonathan Toews to start this preview. A lot of this game and even the Hawks' recent success has revolved around him. On October 21, Toews had just played over 13:00 of hockey in a home game against the Canucks. He took a pass as he came out of his own zone and BANGO! Willie Mitchell, who had just stepped out of the penalty box, rang his damned bell, causing the Chicago's captain to miss 6 games with a concussion. Prior to that game against the Canucks, the Hawks had lost to the Stars, but had won 4 straight before that. The Canucks beat Chicago 3-2 that night and we all felt pretty good about it. In the 6 games that Toews missed at the hands of Big Willie, Chicago went 3-3. When Toews returned to the lineup on November 9th, his team went on a 6-game winning streak leading up to tonight. To say Toews is valuable to the Blackhawks team is an understatement.
He scored 2 goals and 1 assist against the Oilers Saturday night in a 5-2 victory.
Many wonder if the Hawks are going to seek some kind of retribution against Vancouver tonight for the Mitchell hit on Toews. It is quite possible. So they had better prepare themselves for a potential war tonight. There is no love between the 2 teams that's for sure. The animosity continues to grow.
Vancouver has the "luxury" of playing a Hawks team that is playing in a back-to-back situation. However, from what I saw in the Hawks-Oilers game Saturday night, Chicago disposed of Edmonton with relative ease. The Canucks have to come out hard and play them consistently aggressive in order to win. They have to wear them down as the game goes on without taking too many penalties in the process. Chicago is 2-0-1 in back-to-back scenarios this season.
Marian Hossa will not play against the Canucks. He's due to return sometime next week. But the return of Daniel Sedin has to boost the Canucks, especially Henrik Sedin. Now we'll finally see the cycle again! Woo! Hat tip to Hank for putting up an admirable effort in his brother's absence. He, although the points came sporadically, scored 10 goals and 8 assists in 18 games without his twin. Not bad at all, Hank. Now we shall see how the Canucks perform with the rejuvenated Sedin-Burrows top line and the Kesler-Samuelsson-Raymond second line. The team cannot take Daniel's return for granted. They all have to work hard and contribute in order to be successful. Dank may be a little rusty after missing so much time.
Speaking of hat tips: A big cheers to Tanner Glass for stealing the 4th line spot from Darcy Hordichuk...for now. He's not going to put up a shitload of points, but he's getting the job done and it's being noticed. In 18 games played this season, he may only have 2 goals and 3 points, but he has only been a minus once. Of course, he's matched up against the other teams' 4th line, but still, he's a tough, reliable guy.
Comparative Stats:
Goals Per Game: Chicago 5th, Canucks 12th in the NHL
Goals Against Per Game: Chicago 2nd, Canucks 10th
Who's better 5 on 5? Chicago 3rd, Canucks 10th
Powerplay: Canucks 6th, Chicago 9th
Penalty Kill: Chicago 1st, Canucks 24th.
Shots Per Game: Chicago 4th, Canucks 13th
Shots Against Per Game: Chicago 1st, Canucks 9th
Faceoff Percentage: Chicago 2nd, Canucks 7th
Cristobal Huet played very well against the Oilers. If the Hawks play Antii Niemi against the Canucks...well he's not so bad either. He has started 4 games this season, holds a 3-1 record, a 2.22 GAA and a .900 save percentage.
The Canucks are monsters at GM Place this season, with an 8-2-0 record. Chicago knows damned well that they need to work on their 4-3-1 road record. Kicking the Albertan teams' asses in their last 2 games is a great start. The Canucks still sit in 1th spot in the West, with a 12-10-0 record, now 4 points behind the Flames, who have played 1 less game, and 5 points behind the Northwest Division-leading Avalanche, who have played 1 more game than us. There isn't much room for error right now.
Let's go Canucks! Bury these bastards once again!
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i was over at SCH during their 3rd period tonight, they want revenge for that hit on toews. they’re also looking forward to that game.
a fun stat here is the number of goals each of our teams have scored in our last 2 games:
canucks: 13 goals
hawks: 12 goals
yeah, both teams are on a roll right now….
i mean no harm. i come in peace. unlike shane o'brien or kevin bieksa........
watch out for the Rypper too, he can whip anyone.......
GO CANUCKS GO!
Boo to you!
and your snivelling, whiny little Windy City team of whiny whiners!
Last year’s playoff was a fluke, and tonite we’re going to prove it.
BOO this.....
Hey Canuklehead…… no revenge no fluke—- just another win as we march thru the GREAT NORTHWEST
Yada Yada Yada
Nucks strategy= knock out Toews and win game. Wow, that’s got “Gonna win the cup this year!” written all over it. If either team thinks retaliating against Willie is of the utmost importance, than neither is focused enough for a cup run. Bully for you Willie, you knocked out someone who didn’t see you coming with a clean hit, did you get a congratulatory call from Phaneuf? I hope the only retaliation Toews dishes out is a couple of goals while we take two points and move on to something we really care about, namely the return of Hossa and beating SJ at home.
If you are seriously going to compare Mitchell with Phaneuf
then I think you ought to watch a few more highlights of Leapin’ Dion and his Flying Elbow Circus.
They’ll be a fight or two, without question, but no one can possible argue it was a dirty hit or a cheap shot.
Bringing up Phaneuf's name
tends to get me riled up. Several times he has elbowed or lept at opposing players in a most un-clean manner. Didn’t mean to put words in your mouth.
Though I am glad Hossa won’t be playing tonight.
Yeah, the Hawks’ revenge will definitely be best served by winning.
God, I hate Byfuglien, not because of his personality, but because he’s just too damned big and he parks his buffalo ass in front of goalies all night long. I wish we had Billy Smith in net.
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 10:25 AM PST up reply actions
Check out this clip of Smith. Lindy Ruff was screening him, Smith gives him a few whacks and then….Dirty Billy.
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 10:49 AM PST up reply actions
He's cheap
and dirty too, how many times did he “fall” on Luongo and still manage to get his stick into him in the playoffs last year? Did the same thing to Osgood several times as well.
I am a firm believer in handling that shit old school.
Fuck it if he doesn’t want to fight. Bieksa should go all wild eyed and apeshit on him the very first time he gets in front of Bobby Lou and accidently “falls” on him…pick him up and rag doll him if he doesn’t want to go.
Sorry to go all primeval on you guys…just think he needs a lesson.
Buf usually turtles, but maybe we can goad his big ass into the bout.
The earliest use of the word with the spelling we recognize today is found in "L'Acadie: or Seven Years' Exploration in British America" by James Edward Alexander, published in 1849:
We also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck"
Not sure
there’s a Nuck big enuogh to pick him up but SOB could fall on him elbow first.
Really though, Lu needs to get a little mean on, create his own space, fell the fcuker like a Doug -fir with a Paul Bunyan to the ankle.
True Dat…
The earliest use of the word with the spelling we recognize today is found in "L'Acadie: or Seven Years' Exploration in British America" by James Edward Alexander, published in 1849:
We also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck"
Dan and his old school anger! I agree with you 100%. Paul Bunyan his ankles. Just can’t get away with it nowadays with all the video and extra refs. Buffy winces in pain from a Lou shot, and Chicago goes to the PP = lost war.
Then again, Luongo seems more keen on diving and whining than anything else. He acts like a soccer player
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 12:11 PM PST up reply actions
Worth it sometimes though
if he’s thinking about his ankles even a little he’s not concentrating completely on the game.
seriously...
if you watched him more then just a couple games you would realize that last season Big Buff fell often without any help. You guys are giving him way too much credit.
John Madden is a stud!
http://twitter.com/hawksfansince08
by hawksfansince08 on Nov 22, 2009 12:40 PM PST up reply actions
Falling is one thing
but he always seemed to land with his stick into the goalie somehow.
And I watched Buffalo in junior, he’s not that bad a player.
Hawks fan is right though…Buf has watched Holmstrom in Detroit and learnt to just get brushed by a defenseman and “fall” into the goalie…not just Luongo from some of the WGN games I have seen in addition to the usual ones.
One way to break that is just make sure both refs are well aware of it from before the game.
Maybe gets away with one, but the second will be called closer…
The earliest use of the word with the spelling we recognize today is found in "L'Acadie: or Seven Years' Exploration in British America" by James Edward Alexander, published in 1849:
We also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck"
Yep…thats what happens when you are on the ice.
Look, some of you guys have tried that one, that he “ambushed:” him out of the box.
He was in front of him, not from the side. So, don’t say…“I said it was clean” when you infer it was an ambush…sheesh!
Must be a lawyer! ;-)
Brouwer should have never made the pass, and Niemi should have slapped his stick on the ice.
I hope the Hawks are not focused and go for the retribution myself. Give us some PP time.
Love the dismissive tone too there NKLHD…perfect. Yeah, the Hawks don’t really think the Canucks are “worthy”. We really want the Sharks…you guys are just the appetizer.
Sure, that’ll work!
The earliest use of the word with the spelling we recognize today is found in "L'Acadie: or Seven Years' Exploration in British America" by James Edward Alexander, published in 1849:
We also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck"
Glad I found the right tone
All opponents are worthy but the reality is that at this point in the season all games are worth only two points at best. Win or losing tonight is not going to decide either teams fate. We’ve waited a long time for Hossa to return and arrogant or not, I have to say I’m a lot more excited to see that then potentially seeing someone take a poke at Willie. You guys sound a lot more excited for potential violence then you do having the other freaky looking twin back.
Naaah…may have misunderstood your intent is all.
That makes sense. Hope the Hossa curse doesn’t take effect…he is talented, I can see being excited for his return.
All kidding aside, most of us are excited that Daniel is back…It gives us two lines that can score, and a third that can put the pressure on too.
The fact is, I think, that Hawks.Nucks games have a bit more oomph because the players think so too.
Not just the Mitchell thing, but the playoffs thing, the Buf falling on Luongo thing, the Burr and Kieth thing…the Bieksa Eager thing…jeez…lots of things!
The earliest use of the word with the spelling we recognize today is found in "L'Acadie: or Seven Years' Exploration in British America" by James Edward Alexander, published in 1849:
We also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck"
My guess
Chicago will run Luongo to retaliate, besides that’s what they did in the playoffs last year…
lol
not likely, I’m a Wings fan too, they tried that crap against Os too, but didn’t do them much good.
You are almost everything I hate Internet personified.
Say you’re a Packers and Cardinals fan and you’ll have it down.
Chicagoan in the Lou.
Yankee, or anyone else for that matter, are you going to the Nucks-Devils game down in jersey on Dec 2?
by Beantown Canuck on Nov 22, 2009 10:20 AM PST reply actions
I’m going to try, yeah. As long as the timing works with all my moving crap.
'Nucks Misconduct - Housing Swedish Millionaires Since 2000.
by Yankee Canuck on Nov 22, 2009 10:53 AM PST up reply actions
Will look for you when they pan the crowd for the Blue of Canucks Nation. Seem to end up in all the arenas these days.
Which # will you be sporting Yank?
The earliest use of the word with the spelling we recognize today is found in "L'Acadie: or Seven Years' Exploration in British America" by James Edward Alexander, published in 1849:
We also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck"
I’m going to be there wearing my Trevor Linden blue…. assuming I get out of work on time.
by Beantown Canuck on Nov 22, 2009 1:48 PM PST up reply actions
Watched the Hawks-Oilers game last night. Damn, Chicago was firing on all cylinders last night. All I want is a ’Nuck win and Eager with a mouthful of cherry chiclets.
I've seen enough to know that I've seen too much.
Pffft…It was the Oilers. With the backup.
I mean…come ON!
The earliest use of the word with the spelling we recognize today is found in "L'Acadie: or Seven Years' Exploration in British America" by James Edward Alexander, published in 1849:
We also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck"
Sort of like the Canucks made the Avs their bitch two games straight now?
Like that?
LOL
The earliest use of the word with the spelling we recognize today is found in "L'Acadie: or Seven Years' Exploration in British America" by James Edward Alexander, published in 1849:
We also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck"
Oh hell yeah! And we killed one of the League’s best goalies twice in the process. We have Anderson’s # now.
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 11:21 AM PST up reply actions
an interesting little fact for niemi: his one loss to far this year was against the canucks back on october 21st :)
i mean no harm. i come in peace. unlike shane o'brien or kevin bieksa........
watch out for the Rypper too, he can whip anyone.......
GO CANUCKS GO!
just tweeted by VanCanucks (the official canucks.com twitter feed) :
Daniel will play tonight!!!!
i mean no harm. i come in peace. unlike shane o'brien or kevin bieksa........
watch out for the Rypper too, he can whip anyone.......
GO CANUCKS GO!
Not surprised. They are slow to break news once again.
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 12:12 PM PST up reply actions
well, everywhere else is still saying that he “might” return tonight, so…
i mean no harm. i come in peace. unlike shane o'brien or kevin bieksa........
watch out for the Rypper too, he can whip anyone.......
GO CANUCKS GO!
I thought it was a pretty obvious “yes” when they put Pettinger on waivers 2 days ago.
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 2:50 PM PST up reply actions
yeah, the other media sites can be pretty dumb sometimes.
then again, they may have been thinking that hordichuk could be playing instead of daniel……
i mean no harm. i come in peace. unlike shane o'brien or kevin bieksa........
watch out for the Rypper too, he can whip anyone.......
GO CANUCKS GO!
A sad thought ;) I thought the Province was banking on it, or was I mistaken?
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 3:05 PM PST up reply actions
i don’t read the Province articles. i read yahoo!, NHL.com, hockeynews, ESPN and TSN. occasionally, i’ll also check out CBCsports and links from botchford’s twitter feed
i mean no harm. i come in peace. unlike shane o'brien or kevin bieksa........
watch out for the Rypper too, he can whip anyone.......
GO CANUCKS GO!
as well as canucks.com, of course
i mean no harm. i come in peace. unlike shane o'brien or kevin bieksa........
watch out for the Rypper too, he can whip anyone.......
GO CANUCKS GO!
ah, I see. Yeah, those sites are either late or not as in touch with the Nucks as the local papers/sites.
Botchford is great. Kuzma attends the practices as well. So those guys are on it.
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 3:18 PM PST up reply actions
yeah, for breaking news i watch the canucks.com and botchford twitter feeds.
canucks.com also has a facebook page that i’m a fan of, and they post the twitter feed stories there as well within minutes of posting it on twitter. it’s usually by finding 10-minute-old canucks.com posts on my facebook homepage that i get breaking news (such as the news for that trade for ehrhoff and lukowich in the summer) to post on here.
i mean no harm. i come in peace. unlike shane o'brien or kevin bieksa........
watch out for the Rypper too, he can whip anyone.......
GO CANUCKS GO!
I wonder if Vancouver taxi drivers are taking a few hours off before game time
I hope someone gets Kane tonight or..just shuts him down. I think he’s on a 5 game goal scoring streak.
Should be a good game. I see the Nucks comin out and playin there best tonight. Chicago is a good team, and while they aren’t elite yet, they are on there way. The game will come down to Luongo VS Huet, and my moneys on Lou.
Oh, and hopefully Kazoo with this over sized helmet gets rocked instead of Toews. I can’t think of a youngish NHL’er who I dislike more than that drooling, mouthguarded pinhead Kane. The cab incident just reaffirmed what I already knew.
Nucks 6-3 and Mitchell with a fight.
Woohoo free legit streaming on Yahoo. I still don’t have cable in my new place (or a tv for that matter), so yahoo streaming is the best possible I can get! Woohoohoo
by Beantown Canuck on Nov 22, 2009 3:57 PM PST reply actions
well, as it turns out, i may not be on here tonight, let alone be able to watch the game. it’s my landlady’s birthday, so her family is all coming over for dinner, and i said i’d join them. it starts at 6:00. however, one of her sons is a hockey fan, so maybe we can get away with putting the game on at 7:00…..
i mean no harm. i come in peace. unlike shane o'brien or kevin bieksa........
watch out for the Rypper too, he can whip anyone.......
GO CANUCKS GO!
Hey Chicago guys,
When Hossa returns … where does that leave the Hawks on the salary cap front? Any insights on how your team plans to address that?
The opposite of serious is not funny; the opposite of serious is unserious.
I was going to post some big sarcastic post like
“OH MY GOD! WE FORGOT TO PAY HOSSA!”
Then I remember the RFA fiasco from this past summer and realized it’s possible someone actually did forget to figure Hossa into the math…
Chicagoan in the Lou.
No, its more a next year thing, isn’t it Mathew?
3-1 Canucks, last one an empty netter.
Winning goal by….Daniel…just for fun…
The earliest use of the word with the spelling we recognize today is found in "L'Acadie: or Seven Years' Exploration in British America" by James Edward Alexander, published in 1849:
We also met a lusty fellow in a forest road with a keg of whisky slung round him who called to us 'Come boys and have some grog, I'm what you call a canuck"
yeah..
it’ll get a little tricky next year. But evidently they’re close to announcing a deal with the Big Three. Then there’s a few other guys like Ladd and Hjalmarsson that’ll need contracts. It’s very likely that the Hawks will make some moves before long..
If the hawks are pushing for a cup this year, before they have to lose good bodies to the cap, why wouldn’t they wait till off-season to make their moves and keep this year’s team as strong as possible for as long as possible? Or are they looking for an extra goalie for this year?
The opposite of serious is not funny; the opposite of serious is unserious.
some of it has to do with having the cap space to announce the deals for the Big 3 – also they may want to make a move before they’re viewed as too desperate to shed money by other teams so they can get a better return out of it. I don’t know exactly what’s going on.. but we’ll see
Hmm. I wonder if you’re right. What the hell else could it be?
by Sean Zandberg on Nov 22, 2009 6:01 PM PST up reply actions
I still think that this year is Chi’s best shot at a cup and that the team next year will be somewhat weaker because of the cap. So why not go for it now? Unless … well, unless they do plan to go for it now, as would we all, but think they still need another piece to the puzzle. For the Hawks, my best guess is that that piece would be a goaltender.
But that’s just me speculating. I ain’t the GM. (If I were, the checks really would be in the mail!)
The opposite of serious is not funny; the opposite of serious is unserious.
No matter what happens, at least we don’t have to listen to “DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO!” tonight.
"But there is going to be that seventh game. We'll hope they can patch Linden up and get him in that one. He will play, you know he'll play! He'd play on crutches! He will play, and he'll play at Madison Square Gardens on Tuesday night!" - Jim Robson
by Capt. Kirk on Nov 22, 2009 6:15 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
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