Self-Isolate With Elias: Sunday, March 29, 2020

The Colorado Avalanche revealed that a 2nd player has tested positive for the Coronavirus yesterday:

And over in Ottawa, Sens longtime radio voice Gord Wilson has tested positive:

Important to remember this when looking at how it all happened:

And now the owner of the New York Rangers has tested positive:

Meanwhile, Budweiser has stepped up to help frontline healthcare workers in Canada:

While a lot of teams are running NHL20 streams to keep fans entertained, Canucks fans got some old school memory lane stuff last night on Sportsnet. First the heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the Flames from 2004, then a shortened look at Game 2 between Chicago and Vancouver from 1982 and the birth of towel power. They capped off the evening with a replay of Game 7 between the Canucks and Blackhawks from 2011, though they showed the Versus version from the US (and thus denied both of the great calls of the goal from CBC and TSN radio’s ‘They’ve slain the dragon!” call from John Shorthouse).

With time and distance from those days, it was fascinating to look back at that Canucks team. First thing I noticed? What an utterly dominant team defensively they were. Dan Hamhuis, Kevin Bieksa, Christian Ehrhoff and Alexander Edler in particular were just absolute beasts in this game, and on that whole run. Secondly, how incredible Ryan Kesler was at that point. He gave us the best hockey of his career, and had he not been completely broken in the finals (along with Hamhuis, whose injury sealed their fate) the end result would have been different. Third, was the physicality of that team. They dominated the Hawks for the entire game, and it was a huge factor in the win. Patrick Kane was hammered mercilessly all night long, and if not for a rare breakdown on a PP that game would have ended 1-0. It blows the narratives out of the water about that team not being tough enough, and lends far more credence to the fact that they were far too injured to handle the Bruins, who had a much easier path to the Cup.

Today we’re asking: Reading any good books? We want to know, for those of you taking advantage to catch up on some reading what’s on your list right now.