Canuck Brunch/ WJC Open Thread Dec 28
by Kent Basky on Dec 28, 2011 1:00 PM PST
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As much as they would like you to believe this is what we should be thinking heading into tonight's game, Canucks fans know different.
Yes, much like the Megalodon in that criminally underrated cinematic classic Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus, the notion that the Sharks should instill pants-wetting fear into the Canucks is highly unbelievable. That's not to say that the Sharks aren't a good team. They still have a talented squad. They are however not nearly the formidable beast, at least when it comes down to head to head meetings with the Canucks than they used to be. It's not just the 5 game playoff thrashing the Canucks handed them, either. This team used to dominate Vancouver, no matter how good the Canucks squad was. Those days are gone, and now it's San Jose who should be concerned if they can play with the defending Western Conference Champs. It's a California road trip to round out 2011, and the Canucks are gonna rip up the Bay Area. We're also gonna take a look at the World Juniors as Team Canada is back in action today against the Czech Republic.
The Canucks made the required corrections to their game Monday night after that dismal performance against Calgary. They came out strong against the Oilers, and though the score indicated a close game, that was certainly not how the game itself played out. Had Dale Weise not been tossed for his hit on Alex Plante. The outrage in Edmonton still hasn't died down, but the lack of even a phonecall from Brendan Shanahan proved what many had said at the time of the hit: it was not illegal, but a clean, hard hit that went wrong for Plante. So, moving on...
Chris Higgins once again finds himself out of the lineup with a mystery infection, this time in his hand. It makes one wonder if Mark Recchi has been advising the Canucks medical staff on how to treat this because it keeps coming back. Mark Mancari has been called up from Chicago to take his place, a positive nod to his solid play in his first call up before Christmas. Other than that we expect to see the same lineup tonight, and that could mean another game with Roberto Luongo in net. Cory Schneider will see action on this trip, my guess is he gets the start tomorrow night in Anaheim against Bruce F'n Boudreau's Ducks.
The Sharks are coming off a bit of a letdown loss themselves, having laid out a Boxing Day stinker at home against Anaheim, falling 3-2 to the aforementioned fowl. The Sharks will be missing an important key to their lineup as Martin Havlat is on injured reserve. They will however get noted Dan Hamhuis fan Douglas Murray back tonight. One thing that will be prominent tonight as always, is a lot of slashing, hacking and cheap shots after the whistles from guys like Joe Thornton and Ryane Clowe. The question is, can these clowns Sharks play their normal physical game and stay out of the penalty box against the Canucks lethal power play? Past history suggests otherwise. I have to be honest, I am stunned to have not stumbled across a series of quotes from the Sharks that completely diss the Canucks leading up to this game as we have seen so many times before. Could it be that Joe and his pals are tired of getting their words shoved down their throats?
Meanwhile in Edmonton, Team Canada looks to go 2-0 tonight as they take on the Czech Republic. Scott Wedgewood gets the nod in goal tonight as coach Don Hay looks to give both goaltenders a match against 'quality teams' before deciding who goes the rest of the way (in theory). The Canadians suffered a big blow losing Devante Smith-Pelley to a leg fracture in the game against the Finns on Monday, and it will be a test of this team's depth to see how they manage without him, as they cannot call up someone to replace him on the roster.
The Czechs are themselves coming off a 7-0 win over Denmark yesterday, and the Canadians will no doubt look to try and hop on them early and take advantage of any fatigue issues the Czechs may have. There's going to be some line shuffling to accommodate the loss of Smith-Pelley, but overall the approach to the game should remain the same. Another key is testing goaltender Petr Mrazek, who only had to face 12 shots against the Danes. I wouldn't be surprised if he faces more than that in the first period from a pumped up Canadian squad.
Though the Western Hockey League presence on the team is small, two of the WHL'ers led the way for Team Canada in that victory over Finland. Brendan Gallagher of the Vancouver Giants had a goal and an assist and the Dub's leading scorer Mark Stone had a hat trick to kick off the tournament in style. Tonight's game goes at 4:30 PST, and kicks off a nice TSN doubleheader, as the Canucks and Sharks follow, so make sure to stay here and hang with us for another great day of hockey.
BAND OF THE DAY- KREATOR
I was scanning through my music library recently when I came across a band I hadn't listened to in a while, but wanted to make sure to revisit: Germany's thrash gods KREATOR. Along with Destruction and Sodom, they were pioneers of the German thrash metal scene, and are still going strong today. I missed them when they hit Victoria a couple years back unfortunately, but hope to see them on their next North American tour. Here's some of my favorite tunes from a band that combined wicked high-speed riffs with politically aware lyrics.
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BradZiemer Brad Ziemer
“I’m glad they came back to me. I guess I did something they liked. This is where everyone wants to be, so I am pretty excited.” — Mancari
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@KentBaskyNM
Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
Finland takes a 1-0 lead over the USA
early in the 2nd. @twolinepass is busy crafting tweets about how it’s the fault of a Canadian referee I am sure.
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HC_WJC 2012 World Juniors
Goal! The #FIN team scores first ~ a beauty by #22 Miikka Salomaki. #2012WJC
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@TSNBobMcKenzie: DAL’s Andrew Raycroft is the only player (goalie, actually) on waivers today.
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I haven’t seen the Sharks much this season, but hasn’t Havlat been terrible? 2 Goals, 15 points in 26 games, playing with the likes of Thorton, Pavelski and co seem to be underwhelming, at best.
Frequent visitor to Nucks Misconduct.
he's still
a dangerous player, and always someone the sharks would rather have in their lineup…
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ouch...
HC_TeamCanada Hockey Canada
NMT – 6 unanswered goals by Davos leaves Canada on the short end of an 8-1 final. Quarter-final tomorrow vs. EHC Wolfsburg.
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
1-0 Finland after 2
This game is pretty tight even though the Finns are being outshot 24-8.
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
Yanks tie it up
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today in canucks history
HockeyLegends HockeyLegends
1977 – Vancouver’s Curt Ridley became the first NHL goalie to shut out a touring Soviet team when the Canucks beat Moscow Spartak 2-0.
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2 quick goals from the Finns
and the highly touted Americans are down 3-1 with just over 8 to go
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
3-1 Finland
"Playin hurt, baby that don't faze me. I don't got time for pain. The only pain I've got time for is the pain I put on fools who don't know what time it is!"
make that 4-1
bahahahahaha
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Just goes to show you
the Finns were nowhere near as bad as that 8-1 pasting to us showed. Opening game jitters plus once the game was in the bag it was probably a misery to play in. Clean ice, clean break. They looked really good today, a lot faster than the US, which isn’t what I was expecting at all.
Everytime I meet a new person, I figure out how I’m gonna fight them
-Jack Donaghy
by cyclone's ghost on Dec 28, 2011 4:29 PM PST reply actions
yup
and getting out of that first period unscathed was huge for the Finns, they got a huge confidence boost. The big play of the game? When the USA’s goalie ran the pick on the Finnish forward skating by his crease. Obviously trying to draw a penalty, it backfires and takes his team off the power play. The Finns pop 2 and it’s all over…
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that didn't take long...
Stone with his 4th, then Gallagher fires one into the pads of Mrazek with most of the net wide open.
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Yeah
I didn’t think it was such a fantastic save either
by Canuckelhead on Dec 28, 2011 5:18 PM PST up reply actions
yeah
good but not great. more about hitting him with the puck than anything else. gotta be good to be lucky though…
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True
It WAS a quick reaction. Just not as stunning as it looked from the first angle.
by Canuckelhead on Dec 28, 2011 5:23 PM PST up reply actions
Chicago_Wolves Chicago Wolves
GOAL! Steve Reinprecht with a PPG at 5:45. Reinprechtl with back-to-back goals in the last two games. #ChicagoWolves lead 1-0
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Is mark stone
Going to be the Canadian player that explodes in this tournament and announces his arrival as a future star? It seems there’s one almost every year. We all knew about huberdeau
Seems like it so far
scoring them every possible way it seems
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Marchand was one of those guys
But I still disliked him and I think he was the only Canadian player in history I disliked. I even liked tootoo! This is obviously per-bruins so my hate has only grown 1 million times
by Canuckelhead on Dec 28, 2011 5:36 PM PST up reply actions
http://tsn.ca/live/world_jrs/wjrs2012/?CPID=STPSSNACAFY12Q4000000163300002530028001PSS024
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it's usually in
a clickable banner on the tsn frontpage
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
yeah
this game ain’t a gimme by any stretch. big kill coming up here
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
4 goals on 6 shots!?
You know what the stats guys would say about that. But, what if he only takes good shots? Playing with some like huberdeau could it be possible? What was kurris shooting percentage while playing with Gretzky?
booing an opponent’s exuberance? that’s just pissy.
by Passive Voice on Dec 28, 2011 5:40 PM PST up reply actions
I would argue
That it is very Canadian to boo unnecessary showmanship and that was his second stupid display. Including waving off a goal that happened to hit his pad. He’s a goalie it’s his job to stop the puck especially in the first period. Thus, he is in fact the bitch
by Canuckelhead on Dec 28, 2011 5:44 PM PST up reply actions
heh, QED
I don’t think we’re going to agree on this.
by Passive Voice on Dec 28, 2011 5:58 PM PST up reply actions
Ahh of course
Self hatred. How very Canadian of you ;)
by Canuckelhead on Dec 28, 2011 6:27 PM PST up reply actions
yup
I think he waited too long, but give Mrazek credit for sticking with him
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
Minnesota/Nashville
scoreless after 1
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Kings get a 4 minute pp
in a scoreless game with the Hawks almost halfway through the first…
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
Weber's agent is a little miffed, you could say
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TSNResearch Kevin Gibson
Czech it out. Stone missed PS in EDM vs Czech. CANs only other missed PS in WJC hist. EDMs current GM (Tambellini) vs Czech Dec 25/77
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thenyrangers New York Rangers
Alex Semin scores on breakaway…#NYR down 3-1 with 6:58 to go in second
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just got back to Victoria.
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@NM_missy
what the hell?
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
Bruins already up 1-0
bloody coyotes
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Even better
Tonight is the highest attendance in this building.
"It doesn't matter where they put us. Everybody hates us."
—Henrik Sedin on re-alignment
by eightyseven on Dec 28, 2011 6:31 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Well the bruins have always been popular
Not really surprising it’s reaching new heights. I knew dads growing up that we’re bruin fans
by Canuckelhead on Dec 28, 2011 6:41 PM PST up reply actions
Canada has to start converting on the PP
Czechs with serious discipline issues and Canada isn’t taking advantage
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yup
and an assist for Wedgewood
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Connolly
with a huge goal to make it 3-0
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Whitney scores
and Phoenix is tied 1-1 with the scum from New England
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
LA-CHI still tied at 0-0. Minny and Nashville too.
The continents don't drift. They back away slowly from Ryan Kesler.
Minny is becoming less of a concern
Look at their goal differential. They’ll be lucky to be in the playoff hunt by seasons end
by Canuckelhead on Dec 28, 2011 6:48 PM PST up reply actions
Torres stirring it up
nailed a Bruin with a shoulder and then McQuaid jumped him. McQuaid got 2, 5 and 10 for instigating.
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