Because we all love hockey players, terrible acting or not

Chicago Blackhawks presents... hockey players who will never pursue a career in acting!

"Soda"

I love how Havlat just looms over Kane. HAHAHA. Kane looks like a nerd. XD A super-awesome-at-hockey nerd. And Toews staring Kane down to get the soda. LOL

"My Goal"


Show off. XD

"Fifteen Years"


Way to rub it in. HAHAHAHAHAHA



Oh Seabiscuit.

Don't you just love the horrible acting??? The bad jokes??? I love it!!!! I miss when the Canucks did these types of commercials, but great for Blackhawks fans to finally be able to watch their team on TV, especially at this time when they have booming young talent.

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Gaborik apologizes to you. Yeah you.

Gaborik issues public apology

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Sportsnet.ca -- In an unprecedented move, Minnesota Wild forward Marian Gaborik has apologized to fantasy hockey owners for playing in a defensive system.

"When developing this team it is obvious that management paid no attention to fantasy owners, but instead selfishly decided that winning games was more important," Gaborik said in a "prepared statement."

The Slovak scorer has 13 points in 12 games this season, including a game-winning goal against the Calgary Flames. For his efforts the Wild are off to a 9-6-2 start, but fantasy owners are frustrated that Gaborik is not a Top 5 in every offensive category.

"I will continue to help you out when I can," Gaborik explained. "But I am afraid management is obsessed with giving Minnesota fans a Stanley Cup."

Gaborik will continue to do his best in Edmonton on Thursday night as the Wild visit the Oilers.

I suddenly have this renewed respect and liking towards Gaborik. Heh.

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Someone finally answered Bob Cole's prayers!

Somewhere, down in the hidden bowels of the hidden headquarters of the National Hockey League, some genius thought it would be genius to add a "phonetic guide" to a hockey players last name in their roster pages.

Somewhere, up in the hidden house of the hidden headquarters of Bob Cole, we heard some scream, "HALLELUJAH!"

Okay Bob, say it with me Bee-EK-Sa, not Bee-ES-ka.

(Crossposted to le blog)

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Roberto Luongo on MOD

To anyone interested, Roberto Luongo will be a guest in MuchOnDemand this Wednesday afternoon (5 PM ET/2PM PT).

I am just hoping someone out there will youtube it because I can't watch. (I'm going to school at that time :\)

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Tis the season to be signing players~ FA UFA RFA LALALLALA

The Vancouver Canucks are in a bit of a pinch this coming off-season. Before signing Ryan Kesler and Taylor Pyatt, they had a lot of roster spots (9-ish?) left to fill, and not a lot of money to do so. Of course, I'm sure everything will work out in the end, but the question this off-season is whether the Canucks would be coming back with a team similar to the previous season. Dave Nonis (Canucks GM) has already indicated that this might be the case, but icing a team like last season may have its advantage and disadvantage.

For one, it took the team a long time to come together after that major overhaul last season. As soon as they found the chemistry with each other, they played much better down the stretch and more importantly, played like a team. The one downside is whether you will see the same kind of offensive production coming out from the same group or not. Of course, after Christmas, our offense was much better compared to how we began the year, but most of the time it still wasn't enough.

In any case, here are the (long) list Canucks Free Agents with my small comments on them. (compiled by this website and Syntax @ the Canucks Offseason Movement Tracker)

UFAs
Jan Bulis, (III) - Bulay, Bulay, Bulay. I've always been neutral with him... I don't hate him, nor do I love him unconditionally, but most of the time I think I've always liked him. Towards the last half of the season, he definitely improved his overall game, through some encouraging from his father. I wouldn't mind seeing him back so he can finish what he started in the last half of the season and prove himself to the Canucks fans that he isn't so bad after all.
Jeff Cowan, (III) - Became a cult hero after the "bra" incident and I would only really want to see him stay because of this, otherwise, he's pretty replaceable.
Rory Fitzpatrick, (III) - Another cult hero because of the all too famous "Vote for Rory" campaign. Again, see reasons for Cowan, except he's a pretty reliable 6th/7th d-man, too, who plays for league minimum.
Wade Flaherty, (III) - with the plethora of goalies in the system, I wouldn't mind if we don't resign him. I feel bad that we weren't able to give him a chance to play for the big club though.
Lee Goren, (III) - Definitely not going to re-sign with the Canucks.
Josh Green, (III) - Again, replaceable but a good depth (?) player to keep. Pretty reliable in the PK.
Trevor Linden, (III) - Dave Nonis and Alain Vigneault has been vague about whether they want Linden back, both refusing to comment saying they don't want to influence his decision about retirement with their comments. He will probably be back for another season, the problem really is the $$$ part. He already stated last year that he will be looking for a raise once he proves himself. The problem there is, he is not exactly #1 in the FA priority list and would most likely get the last piece of the pie. I'm sure he will consider taking another paycut to stay. He's still brings valuable experience to the club, so it won't be so horrible to see him re-sign.
Mika Noronen, (III) - Gone. X(!
Taylor Pyatt, (III) - Re-signed for $3 million-ish / 2 years. ($1.5 m-ish / year)
Sami Salo, (III) - Re-signed for $14 million / 4 years + NTC.
Bryan Smolinski, (III) - I don't think he will re-sign with Vancouver. He has always expressed his desire to remain in Chicago, where his family is.
Brent Sopel, (III) - At first, there were happy feelings when Sopes was traded back to Vancouver. He's saying he's willing to negotiate (possibly take a paycut?) to sign with the Canucks again in the off-season, but now he has changed his tune, etc. We have good depth at defence already, especially with a good crop of young ones coming up. It won't hurt if we don't re-sign Sopes. I'd miss calling someone "Sopes" though.
Yannick Tremblay, (III) - He's a bit scary in the defensive zone, but he was a key cog for the Canucks farm team, Manitoba Moose. I doubt he'd re-sign with Vancouver (probably with the Moose), and as I said, we have a pretty good depth for defencemen already.

Josef Balej, (VI)
Jason King, (VI)
Brad Moran, (VI) - Probably going to Europe, he has signed with a German team already, but I wouldn't mind seeing him return.
Brandon Reid, (VI) - Also signed with a team in Europe, not sure if it's the same team as Moran, but I believe it's still in the German league.
Prestin Ryan, (VI)
Dany Sabourin, (VI) - Sabby. Good ole Sabby. Despite his poor start, though I hardly blame it on him as the Canucks couldn't score for the life of them in those losses, he ended his season in spectacular fashion. Replacing Roberto Luongo in that famous Game 5 OT against the Ducks, he held the fort for Luongo who was using a different kind of fort. Definitely want to see him back, but I also want to see him get the ice time he won't get with the Canucks so he can prove himself as a great back up goaltender in the league, and possibly more.
Tommi Santala, (VI) - Yeah... No. The legend of Santala has come and gone.
Nathan Smith, (VI) - We have no depth at center so I'd like the Canucks to keep him.

RFAs
Juha Alen, (II)
Tyler Bouck, (II)
Artem Chubarov, (II) - Don't think he'd be leaving Russia anytime soon.
Ryan Kesler, (II) - Re-signed for $5.25 million-ish / 3 years.
Kirill Koltsov, (II) - Just signed with a RSL team, and with the non-existent transfer agreement with Russia, it's harder to get him to come here than before.
Lukas Krajicek, (II) - Good, young, mobile defenceman who I wish we'd re-sign just to see him given more minutes and develop his game.
Drew MacIntyre, (II) - Never really saw him play, but I know he was pretty effective for the Moose.
Rick Rypien, (II) - Injury-prone. Yeah sure he brings grit to the team, and it is kinda sad he's #1 in our "center" prospect depth charts, but he is fragile.
Jesse Schultz, (II) - People were speculating that he might be the one to replace Anson Carter in the Sedin line after a wonderful season in the Moose for 05-06. Sadly that didn't come into fruition as he only saw time in the big club during a call-up and Taylor Pyatt was the one destined for the third twin slot. Also, he wasn't able to replicate his "performance" in 05-06 for this past season in the Moose. Again, I don't know enough about him to say whether I want him back or not.

I think that's it for the Canucks free agents. :B Now I just can't wait for the draft!

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Mmmm... Cup Cooties!

Because it's a good image to plant on our head everytime we will ever think of kissing the Cup.

D: Just kidding. Congrats to the Ducks. (*grumble grumble*) Just thought I'd share this hilarious gif of Parros making Stanley shiny using his 'stache which I saw on someone's sig in the Canucks forum.

I'll make my "Free agents" post later.

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We are all NHL!

Boston Bruins
Carolina Hurricanes
Columbus Blue Jackets
Edmonton Oilers
Florida Panthers
L.A. Kings
St. Louis Blues

These 7 teams are the first to relaunch their official websites under the NHL's more streamlined layout design, mostly modeled after the NHL's official website. If your team hasn't gone through its makeover yet, you can probably expect a redesign before the new season begins. As for the Vancouver Canucks, it looks like our redesign will occur sometime in July (according to a forum admin).

I don't know whether I like this new style yet or not. It feels like most websites would lose a bit of their individuality since all the team sites now look the same--minus the team colors. I also don't like how the photos are stored and presented using Flash. If you've visited Canucks.com before, you'd notice that all the pictures can be saved as they're not in a Flash slideshow, and most Canucks fans, especially those who enjoy making graphics, or those who just like keeping those photos, really liked this feature.

You may also notice that most teams, especially those with already existing message boards, may have switched to Invision Boards for their forums. Personally, I love the Invision boards. It has a lot of fun features to play around with, i.e. posting comments on member profiles, and it's great on a very active forum. Love the multi-quoting, quick edit, quick reply options, too. The previous board software Canucks forum were using did not have any of those.

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Loooooooooo

Some of you who watched the Ducks vs Canucks Game 5 might have noticed that Roberto Luongo didn't start in goal for the Canucks during the first overtime. The Ducks fans probably thought Luongo has thrown in the towel. Some Canucks fans probably thought the same, especially after that display of effort shown by the team in front of him. Some believed that it was indeed an equipment problem.

Others thought he had diarrhea.

Others were probably right.

Roberto Luongo revealed during the Canucks' locker room clean up that it wasn't an equipment problem that kept him from the beginning of the first overtime period. "It was an illness and nothing serious," he said. When asked if this illness involved using the bathroom, he replied by laughing a bit and saying "I don't know."

I guess "LOOOOOOOOOOO" is the new "LUUUUUUUUUUU".

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The View From Your Playoff Seat

Just plugging this blog entry to those people watching the playoffs. :D Send him photos of the view from your playoff seat.

As for mine, I would post my playoff game photos here, but I took too many, so I will just link to the blog entry where I posted my photos.

I was totally inexperienced at taking photos during warm-ups, so I had to resort to using the "multi-shot, 16 fps" function of my digicam since the players move too fast. It probably took me 10 times before I got an actual photo of Markus Naslund. Before that, by the time I click to take the picture, open ice is all that's left.

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So it begins!

Got my tickets today for Game #1 of the Dallas Stars vs Vancouver Canucks playoff series. I'm very excited since this is my first ever playoff game, and I've been saving up for those tickets since... Christmas. :D I'm kind of jealous of the Canucks season ticket holders. They get customized playoff tickets:I wish my tickets were as pretty. :(

Anyway, is anyone else going to any playoff games this year? Does your team have any cool slogan or something to pump the fans up?

The Canucks have "Believe in Blue" going this year, along with the more traditional "Towel Power". I think they're trying to start the "Believe in Blue" tradition because I've heard that we're permanently switching to a predominantly blue (vintage blue!) jersey next year. I guess they've also decided that the Vancouver fans need a more permanent color now, after our jersey colors must have changed 3472347823 times over the years.

Good luck to the hloggers whose teams made the playoffs. :D I would have made predictions, but I don't want to jinx any team.

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NO DON'T SAY THE S-WORD!!

"Ahh! Don't say the s-word!"

I'm pretty relaxed when it comes to superstitions or pre-game rituals. Throughout the season, especially by the middle of the year, I must have gone through several "rituals" or "superstitions" believing that it's that certain ritual that's helping my team win (not that they made it hard for me to believe).

Pre-game Shower - this is not really a ritual, but more of a coincidence. I consistently shower before a Canucks game start and having them win that same game, but I don't believe this is one of those "superstitious" things. Most Canucks game start at 6-7 PM and end at around 10 (including the post game show), so it's just more convenient for myself to take a shower before a game rather than doing it late at night.

The Good Luck T-shirt - For 95% of the time I've worn my "Markus Naslund" t-shirt while watching a game, or during the game day, the Canucks have won. I just say 95% cause I honestly don't remember if they've lost while wearing that shirt or not, and they might have or have not, considering I don't wear that shirt every game day.

Having the right company - As much as I like concentrating on a game, watching it alone so I can fully absorb it, I believe having the right company with me can affect the result of the game. Most of the games I've watched with my brother has ended up with a Canucks win, while the only time I watched a game with one of my friends at a bar ended up in a horrible loss. After that loss, I've been reluctant to invite her out to watch a game.

Do not predict the result! - "NO YOU SAID THE S-WORD!" Yes, I believe if you predict certain things in the game, like a shutout, it will always end up with the opposite result.

Becoming religious - The only pre-game ritual that has stuck with me since December. I'm not a very religious person, but it started as a casual thing, first thinking "Oh God, please let the Canucks win!" and they did start winning, so after a while it came to full-blow pre-game praying. I prayed a lot during the Canucks 6-7 game winning streak after Christmas. I remember praying the rosary for Markus Naslund to break his 17- game goal slump, and on that same night, he did break it. I forgot to pray during the Minnesota game, and our 7-game win streak was broken. Afterwards, "Please let the game against Toronto be a blowout and Naslund scores a goal!": Canucks win 6-1, Naslund scored the 6th goal.

So, I continue to do this, and it seems like God has listened to it so far :P since we've only lost (regulation/OT/SO) 10-or so games since then? My mom who is extremely religious thinks if I show this much devotion to praying for our own intentions (not Canucks related), we might have a solution to our problems. XD;;;

This is the first season I've really had "superstitions" and I doubt I'd change it up much for the playoffs, except maybe devote more time praying for them to win or something.

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All aboard!

Well, my team missed the playoffs last year, and I supported the Edmonton Oilers during their Cup run for the playoffs last year. It's not the case of bandwagoning for me, though. The Edmonton Oilers has always been my second favorite team, so it was just natural for me to cheer on them.

I used to think I have a "Canadian teams first" policy when it comes to playoff support, but this was proven wrong when the Calgary Flames eliminated the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the 2003-2004 playoffs. I really tried to cheer for Calgary to win their next following rounds using that "GO CANADA" mentality, but I found that I felt indifferent (bitter? :P) towards their team, and did not care whether they won or lose. In other words, I couldn't jump in their bandwagon.

So, generally, I just cheer for my next favorite teams during the playoffs.

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Moose call!

Over the course of the season, the Canucks have called up various players from the farm to fill up roster spots. So far we have recalled Alex Edler, Patrick Coloumbe, Brad Moran, Brandon Reid, Lee Goren, Jesse Schultz, Nathan McIver, Rick Rypien, Tyler Bouck and Yannick Tremblay from Manitoba Moose to replace players who has been injured, or sometimes to add some depth during a road trip or see if anyone can help with our depleted offense back in the beginning of the year.

I think most of those players were able to make the clear day rosters for the Moose except for Tyler Bouck (who I think was injured for most of the year) and Patrick Coloumbe who was sent to our ECHL affiliate, Victoria Salmon Kings.

Out of all those players, Alex Edler is the one that left the most impact in terms of how quickly he has developed and he gives the Canucks fans something to look forward to once his playing career in the NHL begins.

He is pretty solid for a rookie defenceman who has only had 1 season of experience playing North American style of hockey. On the first day he was called up, he had a rare shift in which he ended up on the same ice as Joe Sakic (Colorado Avalanche) and Edler played him as if he was a veteran defenceman by not giving him a scoring chance or making the rookie mistake of panicking and taking a penalty. Everyone was impressed.

In his first stint with the Canucks, he was good defensively and also showed that he can be an advantage offensively. He knew when to join the rush, made some great first passes out of the zone, and can just see ice very well and quickly analyze the situation to make a smart play. It seemed like Edler can do no wrong! He was almost perfect everytime he was asked to step up, and this did nothing but increase his confidence on the ice.

The down side of Edler's play, however, is his size. He may be tall, but he can get easily pushed around by other players. In the off-season, he definitely needs to add more muscle mass. Right now, I don't think he is used to the very physical side of North American hockey. He doesn't hit very often, instead, he's the one who receives those hits, but at least he compensates for his current lack of physical play by making smart plays.

As for him being NHL-ready next year? Definitely. He is NHL ready this year, which no one expected. No one even knew about him except for Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings on the year he was drafted. Vancouver, apparently, had to trade up just to make sure Detroit wouldn't draft Edler ahead of them. If we weren't so packed with defencemen right now (Vancouver currently has 7), I'm sure Edler would have stayed with the big club after his first call up. But for now, we just have to wait for next season and hope he is a much more complete player by then.

Related articles:
Canucks call up gives rookie boost (Winnipeg Sun)
Edler's Moose career won't last (Winnipeg Free Press)
Moose gets promising rookie Edler for tune up (Winnipeg Free Press)
Edler has made long, graceful strides (NHL.com AHL update)

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This place needed a Canucks fan...

Hi all! New member here, but a long time lurker. I've been watching this blog since I've started seriously blogging about hockey, and for a while the 2 Canucks posters positions were filled so I haven't jumped the gun and applied to be a member. ANYWAY! The questionnaire!

1. Where you're from, what you do - basic things.
Originally from the Philippines, but moved to Vancouver in March 2000. Currently a student in UBC, studying Computer Science (and Vancouver Canucks 101).

2. Your team and why you like them.
Vancouver Canucks. And it's hard to explain... well not really. Not only were they the home team, at the time I started watching hockey/NHL, they were playing pretty darn exciting hockey, when the Naslund-Cassels/Morrison-Bertuzzi line started heating it up. It wasn't too difficult to get into the game and the team when it was really offfensive, and they were winning.

3. Your least favourite team and why?
Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs... Do I need a reason why? Well, a lot of the Calgary hate stemmed from the 2003-2004 playoff series, and the division rivalry between the Canucks and the Flames just heated up since then, and the Toronto hate I think just came naturally.

4. Your favourite player of all time & now?
I didn't begin watching hockey until 2000-2001, so all time would be Markus Naslund.

Now, I would still say Markus Naslund, but to be fair, Willie Mitchell and Sami Salo are tied in 2nd spot. As for favorite non-Canuck, it's Ilya Kovalchuk.

5. If you had to punch one hockey player or member of the NHL organisation, who and why?
Taylor Pyatt. He just seems punchable and pokeable, not cause I hate him... Or do I?

6. What you'll be looking forward in this group blog.
Being able to interact and talk hockey with other female hockey fans.

7. What you don't like in general?
In the hockey world, when "fans" say ______________ is a bad Captain because (insert reason: he is in a slump, he's not vocal on camera, doesn't show emotion when scoring, etc) when they don't even know how he is off the ice (i.e. in the lockerroom).

8. What role do female fans play in keeping the game alive?
They bring a different sort of emotion to the game, the sort that sometimes humanizes how the game is played. Of course, females can also be as rabid, sometimes even more, as their male counterparts when it comes to cheering for their favorite team, but most of the time, to female fans, there's more to the game than stats.

9. What role do female fans play in picking heroes for the community?
As I said before, female fans pay attention to the game beyond the stats. More often than not, they pay attention to what players do off the ice, and sometimes this raises their awareness of the different contributions that the team and the players give to their community. Not only do the acknowledge their greatness on the ice, they also promote (especially female fans with kids or younger siblings) their greatness off the ice.

10. Hockey just isn't the same without ... hitting.

11. If you were on a deserted island, which player would you pick to stay with you?
Willie Mitchell! He just seems like a fun guy to be around with. He's just naturally cheerful, and I'm naturally cheerful, so we can be both naturally optimistic about being on a deserted island.

12. Crosby, Ovechkin or Phaneuf (hey he tried!)?
Ovechkin. He's great and entertaining on and off the ice.

13. The player you'd like to take for a grand night out/a movie/a boring event
Grand night out: Willie Mitchell!
Movie: Willie Mitchell!
Boring event: Willie Mitchell!

14. If you could make your own team, regardless of whatever players, what would it be called and where will it be/how would it be like?
I'll start another team in Canada... I'll threaten Bettman if I have to, but damn it, I will have another team in Canada. Don't know what I'll name it yet, but I just know that it will get awesome fan support from the crazy, passionate hockey fans in Canada. :3 And we'll make the playoffs and Stanley Cup finals on our first year. :D

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