Tragic Loss

Today should have been a where the attention of the hockey was on Game 4 of the Stanley Cup playoffs to be played on Saturday night.

Instead, it the hockey world turned its attention to a horrific tragedy, as Canucks defenceman Luc Bourdon was killed outside his home town in New Brunswick in a motorcycle crash.

Today, when our focus was supposed to be on a series just heating up in a business and that has started to gain interest again down in the U.S., we were reminded that hockey is, after all, just a game.

Hearing the news that Luc had passed away was a shock.  My dad phoned me while I was out of my office, leaving me a voicemail that told me the tragic news.  I didn’t believe him at first, but within five minutes of listening to that message, text messages and phone calls began to pour in and, in all honesty, I had to read about it four or five times on four or five different websites because I was in total disbelief.

From all accounts, Luc was a great kid.  Shy, perhaps even lost in a world that barely sleeps and moves so fast just like the game to which this lifestyle belongs to.

Through all the criticism he faced because of a slow development -keep in mind, he was only 21- the former two-time Team Canada World Junior Hockey Champion pressed on.  He re-developed his game and was poised to make a run at a starting position with the Canucks when training camp starts up again in September.

I remember his first NHL goal.  That booming slapshot we had all heard so much about.  That enthusiasm and raw emotion he displayed that only players with a true passion for hockey show when they score, especially on a beauty like that.

I think that goal demonstrated the passion he had for hockey and for life.  Enthusiastic and passionate.

Today’s news shook up the hockey world.  It was a tragic and unnecessary shake up.  Why did a kid, who loved life from all we’ve heard today, and who had such great potential as hockey player and a young man growing up in a city and a country that embraced him have to go like this?

Luc is my age.  When you’re young, you have a feeling of invincibility, and not to say that Luc thought that way and because I never even met him and it would unfair to say he thought that way, but things like this you never think can happen.

This tragedy puts things into perspective that hockey is just a game.  We rag on players, sometimes drive them to go crazy, and yet when something like this happens, we are reminded that hockey players are human too.  They have moms, dads, sisters, brothers. 

It is with great sadness that we will never see Luc progress to his full potential as a hockey player, but more importantly, to a young man.

The thoughts of The Sports Corner are with Luc’s family during this time.

Reading Between the Lines

When listening to the tone in Markus Naslund’s voice today when he was talking about the style of play of the Detroit Red Wings, he seemed happier to watch the Wings than playing for the Canucks.

He spoke of how he admires watching the Red Wings play a style of play that Naslund loves to play.  He also said Detroit has the world class players to play that puck possession style that is much a good offence as it is a good defence.

But here’s the problem with Naslund.  His goal totals were dwindling before the last two seasons.  He went from 48 goals in 2003 to 35 goals in 2004 to 32 goals in 2006 before falling even further down in goals with 24 in 2007 and 25 in 2008.

He can’t blame or even hint that Canucks coach Alain Vigneault and his defensive style of play is the reason for Naslund’s lack of goals in the past two years and, quite frankly, a lack of passion that is so blatently obvious when you watch him play or watch him in the media scrums after games and practice.

He can’t blame Vigneault because Naslund makes $6 million a year and if Naslund had the skill everyone still believes he has, he would be able to adapt.  Everyone in the league had to adapt when the NHL came out of the lockout.

Being a good player is being able to adapt to situations, whether it’s after a large hit, adapting a pass behind you in full flight, adapting to a different coaching style.

Naslund is soft.  Let’s face it.  He’s a poor choice for captain and if he does indeed come back, the first thing he should do is pass of the ‘C’ to Willie Mitchell, someone that will battle tooth and nail in the trenches, a place where playoff hockey is won and lost.

Naslund can’t do that.  If he wants to come back, he better learn to adapt, better figure out how to rekindle that passion and he better realize he got paid a crap load of money and he should put up or shut up.  Best situation possible is that common sense kicks in for Canucks GM Mike Gillis and he doesn’t decide to bring Naslund back, even for a pay cut.

Inject new life.  Naslund is not a winner, and even when he had Todd Bertuzzi and the West Coast Express, he couldn’t win.  It’s time to bring in a winner.  It’s not a matter of him being a European.  Take Detroit for example.  But Naslund isn’t the calibre of player that Henrik Zetterberg or Pavel Datsyuk are, in fact it’s not even close.

Seeing as how the Canucks organization feels it’s time for a change, then they should take that theory and not even offer Naslund a contract.  His time in this city is done.  Bringing him back will only prove that no one in this city has any kind of hockey sense.

 

Forsberg a Bust

The Colorado Avalanche  were knocked out of the playoffs last night at the hands of Johan Franzen and the Detroit Red Wings and, surprise surprise, Peter Forsberg was no where in sight.

He was injured.  Again.  In a series against the most lethal offence in the league, Forsberg was in the press box with a back injury.  He was plagued with a groin injury and a back injury in the playoffs, and as a result, missed almost the entire series against Detroit.

Now, having him in the line up wouldn’t have made much of a difference.  The Wings were going to win.  They have a more potent attack, they control the puck in every area of the rink and their defence are by far the best team in the NHL when it comes to making that first pass out of the zone.  Their goaltending is better too.  And yes, Chris Osgood is better than Dominik Hasek.

What is most troublesome about this whole situation with Forsberg is that the Avs put all their eggs in one basket.  They signed a guy with a long history of injuries that keep him in and out of the line up every three or four days, something that disrupts the evenflow of a team.

What was Avs general manager Francois Giguere thinking when he signed Forsberg for $1 million to play the last third of the regular season and only seven of 10 playoff games.  Why sign a guy who is the furthest thing from durable for that kind of money? 

Was the fact that he spent almost 10 months in his home country of Sweden while nursing a foot injury not a sign that his time as an NHL player has passed by?

Simply put, Forsberg was a bust.  His acquisition was stupid in the first place.  It was ill-advised, and there are more players out there who could’ve come into the Avalanche for less money and no one would have to worry about their durability.  Forsberg, in 16 total games with the Avs this year, racked up 19 points.  That’s not bad, but no one remembers how many points you get when you’re in and out of the press box because your constantly injured and aren’t in the line up when it matters the most.

Canucks former general manager Dave Nonis was canned for his lack of signing Peter Forsberg just days before the trade deadline and his lack of trading Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond, Alex Edler and a first, second and third round draft pick in this year’s draft.  He got fired for sticking to his guns and not relying on a plan that has as much chance to blow up in your face as it does to succeed.  Giguere should get canned today for his taking a risk on a player that can’t get into the elevator to go to the press box without tweaking a groin or hurting his back.

Bringing Forsberg back was the stupidest decision made this year by a general manager.  It was pointless.  It was a waste of money and a roster spot that could’ve been better spent. 

New Canucks general manager Mike Gillis.  Don’t sign Forsberg.

Keepin’ It Simple

Today, I’ve had a lot of time to listen to the radio shows and read the papers in preparation for tonight’s Canucks game against the Oilers.

The Canucks need to win their next two games combined with a Nashville loss to either to St. Louis tonight or Chicago on Saturday night to get into the playoffs.

There’s been talk of ‘this isn’t exactly a must-win game’ and there have been enough scenarios on who will get in depending on this and that to make one’s head explode.

So, I’ll keep this simple.

Just win.

If the Canucks want to make it into the playoffs, there’s a very simple solution.  All they have to do is score more goals then the Oilers tonight and then score more goals against the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

Too complicated for people?

Canucks vs. Oilers: Round 7

The last time the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers played each other was just one of those nights when apparently all of hell had broken loose in General Motors Place.

The two teams combined for over 190 penalty minutes and the last minute of the game took a lot longer to play than usual because of the one…no two…no three line brawls that broke out after Alex Burrows made it 4-2 Canucks with an empty-net goal to stop the Oilers.

 Don’t expect that type of game to happen on Thursday night when the Canucks and Oilers meet for the first time since that hockey game-slash-bar room brawl back on Feb. 16.

Now don’t get your knickers in a knot just because there won’t be three line brawls.  The only reason we won’t see a repeat performance of Feb. 16 is because, right now, there is just too much at stake for both teams as they head into the final nine games of the season.

The Oilers have won nine of their last 11 games, albeit most of them in a shootout, and have climbed back into the playoff picture quietly as most of the focus has fallen on teams such the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.  Not only are the Oilers just hanging around and going about their business with much of the hockey world oblivious to their shenanigans, but they’re doing it with the likes of 18-year-old Sam Gagne, Andrew Cogliano, Tyler Brodziak and a supporting cast of players that doesn’t include Shawn Horcoff -who’s out for the season with a shoulder injury- or Ryan Smyth or Chris Pronger, both have moved onto different teams in the west.

Give the Oilers credit.  They’re a young team for the most part, but they give you an honest effort every game and they don’t back down. 

The Canucks still remain the biggest mystery in the NHL’s Western Conference because they can go from a group of tough, ornrie, focused hockey players with one common goal to a team that looks better suited for the exhibition season.  The last two games for the Canucks have been some of their best hockey.  In a 4-3 win in Dallas on Saturday and a 3-1 home victory over Phoenix last night, the Canucks have looked in sync, they have played tough hockey and haven’t backed down from their opponents.  Compare that to the two losses in Phoenix and Anaheim last week where the Canucks looked demoralized and scared of their opponents.

For the Canucks, they have nine games remaining against nine Northwest Division rivals, so they basically get a three week head start on playing playoff hockey.

To make the playoffs, the Canucks need wins.  Thank you Captain Obvious!  The Canucks also need courage.  These next nine games are going to be the toughest hockey of the season because there is very little room for error and the price will be paid physically and mentally.

For both teams, the next game and the eight that will follow are going to be what tells us what either team has.  The Canucks have had their leadership, their grit, their character questioned almost everyday since the All-Star break, so Thursday in Edmonton will be a good way to test their metal.

There won’t be 192 penalty minutes again because neither team can afford to goon it up.  Don’t kid yourself though.  Thursday will be a hard-hitting, nasty dog fight where the winner will be determined by how badly that team truly wants to win.

Saddle up, buckle your seatbelt, get strapped in, use whatever cliche you want for Thursday’s tilt, because it’s going to be a doozie.

Outdoor Game at Yankee Stadium?

Yankee Stadium.  It is one of the magical kingdom’s of baseball.  It is known as ‘The House that Ruth Built’  and can be lubed in with Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago as one of baseball’s most sacred stadiums.

That very same Yankee Stadium is now being discussed by the New York Rangers management and New York Yankees management as a venue for an outdoor NHL hockey game.

The big issue with this notion is that the time frame for this game between the New York Rangers and an opponent to be named later is sometime in 2009 and it would look to be the final sporting event in the historic stadium.

As NHL broadcasting legend Howie Meeker always used to say. “Stop it right there!”  The final sporting event in Yankee Stadium, where the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Roger Maris -to name a select few- turned that stadium into a city icon as recognizable as the Statue of Liberty, might be a hockey game?

I love hockey, and I sincerely believe it to be the greatest sport ever invented, but I can appreciate and cherish the history of another great game in baseball.

Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium.  It would be sacrilegious to have a hockey game in that stadium in the first place, it may very well prove as the apocalypse of the sporting world if a hockey game is the final sporting event in that cathedral.  It would show disrespect to the Yankee greats who played the game of baseball in that stadium and turned it into what it is today. 

Could you have imagined if the Toronto Blue Jays wanted to play an indoor baseball game against the New York Yankees in the old Maple Leaf Gardens?  The City of Toronto and all the Maple Leaf greats -and yes, even though the Leafs are a despised organization, they have had greats- would be up in arms in disgust at this notion. 

I am all for playing hockey outdoors.  The NHL was lucky in Edmonton and Buffalo that the climate allowed for somewhat favourable conditions, and no one can argue with the success of both outdoor games in the new century of hockey. 

Should there be more outdoor games in the NHL?  Absolutely.  Should the NHL, the New York Rangers or the Boston Bruins or the Chicago Blackhawks play a game in some of the legendary ball parks of our time that where helped built by the great legends of the game of baseball?  No.  Not a chance.

As mentioned before, it would be sacrilegious.  If you believe in the Gods of Baseball, who they might be is up to you, they would find a way to make a hockey game in Yankee Stadium a disaster.  If you thought the Curse of the Bambino was bad for all the Boston Red Sox faithful, could you imagine his wrath should hockey be played in the house that He built?

Forsberg Back in Colorado

For all that it’s worth, Peter Forsberg has come back to the NHL after spending three-quarters of the season in Sweden nursing an injured foot.

The lucky, or unlucky, team that Forsberg has sided with is the 10th place in the Western Conference Colorado Avalanche.

The following is nothing against Forsberg, because he was great, and nothing against the Avs because they have won a Stanley Cup in the past decade, while the Minnesota Wild, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks have not.

This move by Colorado may look good on paper, but in reality, this deal makes absolutely no sense.

Around this time last week, Forsberg and his agent both said that it was unlikely that the Swede would return to the NHL this season due to his injured foot that has caused him nothing but trouble while trying to rehabilitate it with the Swedish national team earlier this NHL season.  Now, all of the sudden, after seeming hell bent on not coming back this season, his foot is suddenly good enough to withstand competitive hockey for the next month-and-a-half and maybe the playoffs.

One issue that makes this deal look like nothing more than a team trying to grab the headlines away from Mats Sundin and the Toronto Maple Leafs is that Forsberg simply doesn’t have the juice anymore to compete in the NHL.  If it’s not his foot, it’s a shoulder or back or wrist or hand injury that keeps the former superstar on injury reserve and thus disrupting the chemistry or flow that the players in the line-up have by bringing him in and out of the line-up.

A week ago, Forsberg believed his foot just couldn’t hold up in the NHL.  Was that not a red flag with sirens sign from the Hockey Gods that this guy is untouchable by his own withdrawal?

By signing a guy like Forsberg, the Avs have put all their eggs into one basket.  Whether or not Forsberg stays healthy and plays well – which in itself is a question mark for a guy who has missed three-quarters of the season with a foot injury (for those that don’t know, you need healthy feet to actually hold you upright on the ice and help propel a person in any direction on the ice) – won’t hide the fact that Colorado doesn’t have the defence or the goaltending to make a serious run at the Stanley Cup.

The Avs have 172 goals-for this season, despite missing names like Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth and Paul Stastny.  Not bad.  Okay, here is where the old cliche kicks in.  Defence wins championships.  Well, Colorado has allowed 174 goals-against this season.  Jose Theodore and Peter Budaj have, for the most part, platooned the goaltending duties in Colorado, and although their numbers combined are terrible, they’re not good enough to compete with the likes of Roberto Luongo and the Marty Turco in the west.

Instead of looking for a quick fix and short-term inspiration by signing Forsberg, perhaps Avalanche vice president and general manager Francois Giguere may have been better off by picking up a goalie or a defenseman to help this team keep pucks out of the net.  They don’t need scoring, they need a defender.

Forsberg isn’t either, not anymore.

Good Ol’ Fashion Hockey

The Anaheim Ducks rolled through last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, losing five games through four series and physically dominated just about every opponent.

Another thing the Ducks led the league in, aside from being the best team in the NHL when the dust settled in mid-June, was fighting majors.  Last season, the Ducks dropped the gloves 71 times.  The team with the second highest amount of fighting majors last year was the Phoenix Coyotes who had a whopping 47 when the regular season ended.

Last year’s rendition of the Anaheim Ducks was a great example that hard-nosed, old school hockey can still win – in fact can be downright dominating – in an era of the NHL, which is known more its speed and unwavering skill without toughness.

Now, this year, the Ducks still lead the NHL in fighting majors with 54 as of yesterday.  But this year is different.  The teams closest to the Ducks in terms of the amount of fighting majors are already surpassing the 50-fight plateau, including the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames.

Vancouver’s total number of fights skyrocketed after Saturday night’s fight-filled affair against the Northwest Division rival Edmonton Oilers in a 4-2 victory on home ice.  The final 40 seconds of the game took almost half an hour to play because there was one post-whistle scuffle and two line brawls, and guess what?

The crowd loved every second of it.

Two teams, desperate for points and not willing to back down at any point in the game clashed in one of the more entertaining hockey games of this year’s NHL schedule.

Seems to be the way of the game right now.  The playoff race is so incredibly close, with maybe only two or three teams that can be unofficially counted out, and with such a close race to get into the post season, no team is willing to back down one little bit.  That’s the way it should be.

A lot of people have been skeptical of the ‘New NHL’ because of the high number of phantom or weak calls on the smallest of infractions and are quick to suggest that the powers that be in New York and Toronto are trying to take the rough stuff, the battles and the scraps that give hockey its edge right out of the game.

Skepticism aside, right now, the edge of hockey has seemingly returned.  There is just too much at stake and players are learning that they better be willing to do just about anything to give their team the competitive edge on the ice.

Take Dion Phaneuf and Shane Doan for example.  Two big boys, former members of the WHL and two former Team Canada World Juniors had a spirited scrap in last night’s Flames 4-1 victory over Phoenix.  You want to get your team fired up?  Getting into a 30 or 40 second bout of fisticuffs with a willing combatant seems to be the way right now and it is adding quite the thrill to a game, which seems to need a punch in the face every now and again to get people’s interest.

If you don’t like fighting in hockey, if you think hockey should be a faster version of golf, then perhaps you might want to change your channel when hockey comes on.  The way things are so close in both conferences and with the high intensity and high competitive level that every player has, this trend of ‘Fistianna’ is going to keep going strong right through to the final game of the playoffs.

Good.

Cookie Made of Chicken

In a game full of fights, line brawls, big hits, beauty goals and more fights, did anyone else notice that Vancouver Canucks forward Matt Cooke did not drop his mitts?

The problem with the Cookie Monster not scrapping out there against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night’s mock-up of the UFC was that he should have.

In the second period, Cooke threw a vicious hit-from-behind on Oilers defenseman Mathieu Roy that had the Oilers’ trainer come running out onto the ice to tend to Roy, a player who has had concussion issues throughout his career.

Following the hit, at least two of the Oilers came after Cooke to confront him about that chicken-s**t-hit-from-behind and the Canucks most over-paid should-be fourth liner didn’t feel he needed to be held accountable for his actions.  The Canucks forward escaped a penalty because the referees both missed a Matt Greene elbow on Ryan Kesler and had to level the playing field.  

Usually if a penalty is not called on a hit that is regarded as cheap, then the players on the other team administer their own brand of justice. In hockey, that’s the nature of the beast. When Greene almost decapitated Kesler’s head, Brad Isbister moved in and dropped his gloves with Greene who, to his credit, was a willing combatant for his hit.

When Cooke was confronted by the Oilers, I’ve never seen a player duck out of a situation like that so fast.  Not only did Cooke get the hell out of there as quickly as possible, but he skated away with that same old smart ass smirk that truly hides the coward within.  

Look tough, look like you run the show, but inside the only intuition is to run away, and Cooke has been doing that for years. Cooke plays with an edge, no doubt about that.  But when you go over the edge and throw cheap hits like the one he threw on Roy, as well as dozens of others through out his career as a Canuck, you have to be ready to be held accountable and the way Cooke has run away or failed to drop the gloves, it can be hard to have true justice done upon him.

My advice for the Cookie Monster: Play your game, run around, throw hits, get in people’s faces, but if you are going to go over the edge and throw cheap shots … stand up and be a man about it.  Face the heat and drop the gloves like you are supposed to in situations like that.  Get rid of that stupid, smart ass, cowardly grin and have some honor about what you’re doing before someone smacks that smile clean off of your face. 

If you’re afraid of getting hurt in a fight, just take some lessons from Mike Weaver. 

Trade Rumour A Source of Hilarity

As I was driving around Port Coquitlam, B.C. today, I found myself in absolute hysterics, laughing so hard that I am sure the people in the cars beside me thought I was crazy.

What made me laugh so hard? 

Are you ready for this?

The newest trade rumour has the Vancouver Canucks trading Ryan Kesler, Luc Bourdon, Cory Schneider and a first-round pick in this year’s NHL Entry Draft to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Mats Sundin.

I’ll pause until you finish laughing…

Okay time is up.

The most ridiculous thing is, according to the poll question on the Team 1040 this afternoon, is that 13 per cent of people out there believe the Canucks should actually throw away four prospects to the Leafs for a 36-year-old center. 

It looks good on paper but paper does not do reality any justice.  If we were to look at the difference between how good a team is on paper compared to reality, lets look at the 1997 Vancouver Canucks roster, which included the likes of Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure, Mark Messier, Alex Mogilny and Kirk McLean, just to name a few.  That team fell apart half way through the season and the Canucks failed to make the playoffs. 

Difference between paper and reality.

Reality.  As much as Luc Bourdon has failed to impress those in Canuck land despite having played well for a kid in his position, you need him right now.  Why?  Well, incase you haven’t noticed, the Canucks defence corps can’t seem to stay healthy.  If and when the Canucks defence gets healthy is the grossly overused phrase in the city today.  Even if they did all (Kevin Bieksa, Willie Mitchell, Aaron Miller and Lukas Krajicek) come back, Sami Salo is almost a sure bet to go down, and that’s not a knock him, that’s just the reality of it.

And why on earth would you want to rid yourself of Kesler?  Okay, so he doesn’t have the offensive numbers that everyone expects out of him, but he does a whole helluva lot for this hockey club.  Next to Daniel and Henrik Sedin, he is the most reliable forward on the Canucks. 

Now, Sundin is a good center for the Maple Leafs.  But this guy has never won anything in the Stanley Cup playoffs, in fact, since he came to Toronto, the Buds haven’t made it to the Stanley Cup finals.  He won gold with Sweden at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, but no team in the NHL could be as good as Team Sweden was.  That team could’ve run the show on the Anaheim Ducks from last year with the talent they had.  The Canucks, or any other team in the NHL, isn’t Team Sweden from 2006, so we can throw out the Olympics.  The Olympics aren’t the NHL, and you don’t need a maximum of 16 wins in a maximum 28 games to win in the Olympics, you need three wins in a maximum of eight games.

These big deals aren’t always the answer.

If the two big trades of last year (Peter Forsberg to Nashville and Keith Tkachuk to Atlanta, both for role players and draft picks) taught us anything, it is that the big, sexy trade isn’t all it is cracked up to be.  Nashville went out in six games, Atlanta in four.  Gamble the future away for a first-round exit.  Yep.

The future for the Canucks is now.  You can’t disagree with that.  But to throw away three good, young players for a 36-year-old unrestricted free agent who may not resign here in the summer … come on people, get with it.  There is no guarantee that Sundin would be able to make a difference for the Canucks, and if he is traded here, there is nothing that says he will come back or not.  And if he doesn’t come back?  Well, then you’ve lost a second-line center, two prospects and a first-round pick and all for nothing.

You may as well go to the casino and throw down roughly $2 million on the number 13 at the roulette table.  Good luck!

Canucks Finally Get Two Points for Effort

At least for tonight, the Vancouver Canucks feel like they have had a massive load lifted off of their shoulders. 

Winless on a four-game road trip that saw them fall at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3, the Florida Panthers 4-3 in a shootout and then to the Dallas Stars 3-2 in another shootout, the Canucks limped into Atlanta to take on Ilya Kovalchuk and the Thrashers in an attempt to salvage four of a possible eight points on the road trip.

After two periods, it looked bleak.  Down 1-0, and having been outplayed in the second period, the Canucks found a way to score twice in the third period – both goals weren’t necessarily Highlight of the Night candidates, but beggars can’t be choosers – on a powerplay goal from Daniel Sedin and then a backhander from agitator Alex Burrows. 

Once the Canucks captured the lead, it turned into the Roberto Luongo show – with a little help from Mattias Ohlund, who saved the win with a toe save off of Kovalchuk in the dying seconds with the Canucks hanging onto that 2-1 lead like Maggie Simpson and that damned pacifier she always has – as Luongo robbed former Canuck Steve McCarthy from point blank range.

If you’re a Canucks fan who’s thinking of taking that leap off the Canucks bandwagon, you can’t help but feel a sense of relief and positivity for this team. 

They were down going into the third period, mustered a comeback and kept the electrifying Kovalchuk off the score sheet with the likes of Burrows, Ryan Kesler, Taylor Pyatt, Luc Bourdon and Sami Salo.

Hats off to the Canucks for coming back, getting the win and doing it with such a young and inexperienced defence.  Playing for the Canucks isn’t easy.  You are under the microscope of a lot of media and a nation of fans who seem to whither and fall more times in the winter then May Flies in the summer, and kids like Alex Edler, Nathan McIver, Bourdon and Mike Weaver have played admirably – albeit with very little to show for it in terms of the standings – in the last few days.

Is this one of those wins that could change the momentum of a season?  Well, if anything, it shows to the young guys on the team who may have been lacking some confidence having gone winless on this road trip before heading into Atlanta that they can win at this level, and winning is contageous, just like losing is.

When you find ways to win, when you play the next game, you can draw on what you did right last game and play with more upside and swaggar, and one or two wins in a row can turn into a 12-game winning streak.  Funny how it can work.

Now, just because the Canucks won a game against Atlanta, it does not mean they are out of the woods.  Far from it.  The Canucks can’t get complacent with their most recent success, because one win on a four-game road trip is hardly success.  However, what this win is a positive step forward.  Alain Vigneault has seen his team work hard, but come up short time and time again in the past two or three weeks, but with the win comes the idea that hard work will pay off, and this win should act as incentive to keep on winning.

Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

This Sunday could a monumental day.  On Sunday, the New England Patriots have a chance to win the Superbowl, and in doing so, going a perfect 19-0 on the season.

Sunday, if you think about it, could be one of those days that when we are all old and grey with back problems and several grandchildren, we can look back on and tell our families and whoever else will listen to our pointless stories of wisdom and bravery that we witnessed the best team ever in the history of professional sports.

I remember when I was 18-years-old and my grand-dad telling me about the day he listened to the fight between Cassius Clay – later to be known as Mohammad Ali – and Sunny Liston. It was when the true People’s Champ won the Heavyweight Championship for the first time, in what would be one of the most prominent and controversial careers in sports.

Listening to this story, I wondered if I would ever have the opportunity to bear witness to such a dominant athlete or team in my day and be able to share stories of how good they were to those who will want to listen to me yammer on.

When the NFL season began in September, who could have seen this?  A New England Patriots team going undefeated throughout the regular season and the playoffs.  No matter what you think of the Pats or their mad scientist for a coach Bill Belichick, you have to give them all the respect you possibly can.

This team has been dominant.  On both sides of the ball, there has not been a team that has come close to the calibre of football that the Patriots play.

You have to think that the New York Giants will be pumped up to compete and try to spoil the Patriots’ perfect season, and you almost want to see them win because they have been a tremendously good football team since their regular season loss to New England on Dec. 29.  New York lost that game 38-35 and it showed that they might be good enough to challenge for a Superbowl berth.  The Giants went into Tampa Bay and kicked the Buccaneers to the curb, then they went into Dallas and ate all of Terrell Owens’ popcorn, and finally they played in sub-sub zero temperatures in Green Bay and beat the Packers in overtime. 

By the way, that sub-sub zero was not a typo. I felt that it was so cold, the extra sub is justified.

But the Giants magical run through the playoffs, as heroic as it has been, will come to an end against the Patriots. Call it fate, but the Patriots have a chance to be recognized as the best professional sports team ever. And it feels like the gods of sport wouldn’t have it any other way.

As much as people might want to cheer for the underdog Giants, many people want to see the Patriots go perfect. Sunday could be the greatest day the sporting world has seen in quite a while, so enjoy it because this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Time is Now

For the Vancouver Canucks, leaving for the Sunshine State is anything but a mid-season vacation.

The Canucks sit eighth in the NHL’s Western Conference, just one point ahead of the Pheonix Coyotes and the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final playoff spot in the west.

But tonight’s game, and this roadtrip for that matter, may be the best thing to happen to this team all season.  Right now, it seems no matter what the Canucks do against some of the league’s toughest teams, they just can’t get a break or buy a goal.

It can be frustrating.  Just tell Alain Vigneault, who for the first time in his tenure with the Canucks was about as cheery as Oprah on a diet with a plate of brownies being dangled in front of her.  Okay, that would make anybody angry, so bad example.  All simile’s aside, Vigneault is irked with the results of his team.  Not the effort, but the overall result, and at the end of the day that is the bottom line.  Don’t win, you don’t get in.

But right now, the Canucks have a chance to get some wins, regain some confidence and climb back into the Northwest Division standings, because as of today, they sit four points back of the Minnesota Wild.

Tonight, the Canucks roll into Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning.  Right now, despite having two of the league’s top goal scorers in Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier, the Lightning are the second worst team in the NHL.  Even worse than the Leafs.

You have to give the edge to the Canucks in this game.  Savior Roberto Luongo makes his first appearance since the All-Star break after getting an extra day off to be with his wife during her “delicate” pregnancy.  Theoretically, the Canucks goalie should be rested, relaxed and 100 per cent focused on the stretch drive that will most likely see the star goalie play just about every game from here on in.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Tampa Bay may have more success if they strap a tie to the crossbar instead of starting an actual goalie.  If there is one major knock on the 2004 Stanley Cup champs, it is they have poor goaltending.

The Canucks, all Curtis Sanford disappointments aside, have strong goaltending.  You have to believe, that before the All-Star break, Luongo had more than just hockey on his mind leading up to his departure to Florida for a week.  Now, Luongo can focus on hockey, starting tonight in Tampa Bay.

The Canucks depend on Luongo and tonight they will need him to be the key in turning this season around.

Vancouver is slumping.  There is no question about that, and Vigneault’s body language for the past three weeks will show you just how hard it is to see his club lose.  However, tonight, Vancouver will have a golden chance to get back on track and whether or not they take this opportunity and run in a positive direction with it will tell us all in Canuck Land just what kind of a team we really have here.

Trade Talk Getting Ridiculous

Well, the NHL All-Star weekend has come and gone and now it is onto the stretch drive in the NHL regular season. 

With the stretch drive comes an all-too-familiar brand of talk: trade rumours.  Listening to the local sport talk shows on the Team 1040, all you hear now is “will the Canucks make a big deal?” “the Canucks’ time is now, so why not take a chance and land a big name?“

Canucks’ general manager Dave Nonis, maybe one of the more underrated GM’s in the NHL right now, has done his best to put to rest all the ridiculous and meticulous chatter of possible trades and all the other garbage dealing with trading players in the NHL.

Nonis, who was on the TEAM 1040 morning show with Barry MacDonald and Scott Rintoul, flat out said he was getting fed up with the talk trades.  He made a good point.  Actually two good points.  One was that you cannot force a trade to happen.  If a trade is there that fits what the Canucks actually need, which is to say that maybe the bigger names like Marian Hossa, Mats Sundin or Rob Blake may not be the best fit in Vancouver, then Nonis will go out and deliver a trade so long as it fits what he feels his club needs.

The second point is this.  Why sell out your team’s future for a big-name-rent-a-player?  Look at what happened last year with the Atlanta Thrashers and the Nashville Predators.

The Thrashers traded a roster player (Glen Metropolit), a first and third-round pick in the 2007 NHL entry draft and a second-round pick in this year’s entry draft for Keith Tkachuk in a bid to make a run at the Stanley Cup.  The Thrashers did win the Southeast Division, but were swept by the New York Rangers in the first-round of the playoffs. 

Wow.  Throwing away the foundations of a franchise for a rent-a-player and a quick first-round playoff exit.  Yep, seems worth it.

The Nashville Predators went out and landed Peter Forsberg from the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Ryan Parent, Scottie Upshall, a first-round and third-round draft pick in last year’s NHL draft.  Nashville was knocked out of the playoffs in the opening round to the San Jose Sharks in six games. 

The point of knocking the trades of the Thrashers and Predators is to illustrate that selling parts of the future of your organization for a player won’t necessarily help your hockey club make it to the finals, or anywhere in the playoffs for that matter.

Nonis knows this.  Does the Canucks general manager have assets to trade?  You bet he does, but he won’t play that card.  Sami Salo and Matthias Ohlund probably won’t be Canucks for more than a few more seasons, so when they go down, who’s going to fill their shoes?  Luc Bourdon and Alex Edler, who may be the best Canucks young defenseman as of right now.  Why trade a prospect for a player who may not even help your team win? 

The bottom line is this:  You can talk about trades all you want, you can say ‘hey go for the gusto and pick up a big name and let’s take a legitimate shot at winning the Stanley Cup’, but that doesn’t mean that everything will work out on the ice the way it should on paper.

Look at last year’s examples of major trades that went absolutely no where but to the golf course.

Courage Luongo’s Word

He had been called out by head coach Alain Vigneault on Tuesday following practice, he got agitated with reporters following today’s game-day skate and was the focal point of scrutiny after winning just once in the Canucks last seven games.

Even after all that, and two suspect goals tonight against the St. Louis Blues, the Canucks savior Roberto Luongo delivered a courageous performance as Vancouver beat the Blues 3-2 in a shootout.

The Blues opened the scoring in the first period as a D.J. King backhand found room through Luongo’s five-hole on a shot that the Canucks best player should have had. 

Brad Boyes notched his 28th goal of the season in the second period on a power play, another shot that Luongo probably should have stopped.

After that, Luongo settled back in. The true character of an athlete can be tested by how much adversity one faces over a period of time and then battling and fighting to find a way to overcome adversity. 

That is what Luongo, and his team did tonight.  The Canucks battled, and they were led by the man that the entire Canucks organization has deemed the best player on this team. 

Luongo, who will fly home to Florida after tonight’s game to be with his wife during the NHL All-Star break, did the job that he is counted on to do.  He kept Vancouver in the game when St. Louis was applying the pressure.  The biggest save of the night came in the third period with the score tied at 2-2.  After making the first save off of an Andy MacDonald wrist shot in the slot, Luongo kicked out his left pad to stop the rebound on Boyes, who had a wide open net. 

The crowd applauded furiously and the infamous ‘Louuuuu’ went on for at least 30 seconds while the play carried on up the ice.

Has Luongo been at his best the past few games?  No, and he will tell you that.  Has Luongo played poorly the past few weeks?  Not at all.  He has been good, but not great.  The Canucks, as Vigneault alluded to yesterday, need him to be great.  What should be pointed out is that teammates need to be there to pick each other up, something that had been absent during the Canucks recent struggles over the last seven games.

Luongo, as he did all of last season and through a majority of this season, has picked up the slack for his teammates.  Without him, the Canucks might be hiring John Ferguson Jr. to take over as general manager from Dave Nonis. 

What Luongo needed from his teammates over the past two weeks, is for his team to pick up his slack.  Louie wasn’t playing well, but neither was the team and their record in the last seven games illustrates that.  Tonight, was a team effort.  Luongo did his part by making the big save when the Canucks needed it and his team responded by tying the game up and then winning in the shootout.

Can the Canucks improve on this game?  Yes, you never stop improving until you are crowned Stanley Cup Champions in June, and then the process begins all over again in September when training camp begins.

Tonight was not a stylish win, but it shows a lot of positive signs that this team isn’t going to role over in the face of adversity.