Wednesday Morning Coffee- The Ballad of Bruno Halakaloogie or How I went to Montreal and didn't get a win

When was that season when SJ was ranked 8 and beat Detroit who were ranked 1? This year could very well see the exact reverse happen. Detroit just got Holmstrom back from being out a month, will be getting Franzen back next week (having been out since early October), and Lilja is skating again and should return within a few weeks. They’re making the playoffs for sure, and I bet they climb higher than 8. If calgary wants in, they’re gonna have to knock off another team.

Bernier is, according to his coach, an emotional guy, so I doubt he’s just coasting. More likely he’s over-analyzing and trying too hard:

Willingham calls that “implicit learning”—learning that takes place outside of awareness. These two learning systems are quite separate, based in different parts of the brain. Willingham says that when you are first taught something—say, how to hit a backhand or an overhead forehand—you think it through in a very deliberate, mechanical manner. But as you get better the implicit system takes over: you start to hit a backhand fluidly, without thinking. The basal ganglia, where implicit learning partially resides, are concerned with force and timing, and when that system kicks in you begin to develop touch and accuracy, the ability to hit a drop shot or place a serve at a hundred miles per hour. “This is something that is going to happen gradually,” Willingham says. “You hit several thousand forehands, after a while you may still be attending to it. But not very much. In the end, you don’t really notice what your hand is doing at all.”

Under conditions of stress, however, the explicit system sometimes takes over. That’s what it means to choke.

If he wants to score he needs to relax and just let it happen, but that’s tough to do when you’re in a slump and it’s gnawing at you. Best he can do is practice his ass off and keep shooting.

For a really good illustration of what I think is Bernier’s problem, try this test. Try it for real at least once. You’ll waste about 5 minutes of your precious life, but you’ll never forget the lesson.

Good post. I agree with pretty much every point.

If not for a few defensive gaffs by the whole team, that game was very winnable based on dominance of the puck/play.

I think Ryan Walter must be the assistant coach in charge of offense, he was running the power play meeting the other day on canucks gallery. That might explain his departure from the defense-first mantra usually adhered to by AV and Rick Bowness.

The thing is Attila, you can bring up the refs, as long as you couch it in terms of “he didn’t cost us the game…”, or…“we had our chances too”, or…“yes, they got the winning goal on the power play, but we had a 5 on 3 in the second that we failed to cash in on…”

That is what passes for good reffing in the NHL. Giving both teams a fair amount of PP time. Its supposed to be some balancing act. I for one, knew that after all the penalties the Habs got called on them ( mostly for not moving their feet, being tired and making mistakes with their sticks )…that Vancouver was going to get something called on them. To even it up.

I was a bit surprised on the Kesler call. I like how he came out right afterwards and said " he got me in the ’nads". No guile in that guy. I have only one idea on why Hordy got called for getting steamrolled from behind. Well, two…he was chatting up Halak and co. in front, but that too was a “rep” call.

I was a bit more surprised at the two calls on Burrows. The first happens half a dozen times in a game, when guys are going on and off the bench. When they could actually find a replay minutes later, it was incidental contact at best. Away from the play, with no bearing on the game, puck possession, or a scoring chance.

Ok…sent a message Mr Rooney. Gotcha. But really, did you have to drive it home with a kinda iffy ( especially in the last two minutes ) goalie interference that could easily not have been called? That seemed a lot more iffy. Burr did mention afterwards that it was a smart play by Halak to meet him at the spot and let everyone know he was touched.

Its not so much the calls, as when and for what. Both calls on Burrows were just plausible enough. The one on Kesler was what can only be called a “rep” call. They contributed to the game ending the way it did…but weren’t preceded by skating around with, or obvious anger.

OK..thanks guys. I assume it was a test. If so, the Canucks passed. To a man in the post game interviews, they did not mention the refs in a disparaging way.

I am…but I am just a fan. It wasn’t a raping like the Auger thing…but it was a more effective way of sending a message. Hopefully it is the last, as it seems the Canucks are going to give the calls the silent treatment. Maybe that is the secret.

Hope so…or get used to reading the refs assigned to our games from now on. I always found it funny that some U.S fans I have chatted with on here know which refs and when “screwed” their team…how many times.

Maybe all NHL referees should go back to ref school and re-learn reffing. Still too many mistakes for the fastest game on two feet.

My money is on L.A.

That’s so not relevant I’m not going to bother.

Maybe not better, but way cheaper ;)

sounds like more of a beast fetish than a gorilla fetish.

You bastard. Leave the Canuck fan women for us!!!!!

I would be interested to see the stats for how many scoring chances each team got. I felt the Canucks had a lot of scoring chances but we just had no finish whatsoever on the majority of the plays. The Habs on the other hand did a good job of burying their opportunities.

If the Canucks finished on even a fraction of their chances, the game could’ve been 7-2 easily. Halak was good but was also lucky. A few posts and shots were definitely giving him more trouble than they should’ve like the shot from Salo from behind the blue line.

I think he peaked with Rear Window.

I’m surprised it didn’t happen back in December when they had something like 1 win in 15 games.

It was Parise that Phaneuf went after with an elbow (as per usual).

Kotalik boards Alberts unintentionally. Alberts is laying on the ice

darn, stajan nets hist first as a flame.

Due for a letdown. Canucks are due for a rebound.

Good looking, but too expensive.

isnt Kariya a UFA? I think as a rental, this may not be the worst idea I’ve ever heard…