Stanley Cup Favorite? Are you joking?

Dear Canucks Fan,

It's time to start seeing therapy now so that we are fine when the Canucks serve us another bitter disappointment this spring. After the weekend of hockey we were forced to endure, I can't see how anyone would consider them Stanley Cup contenders. Elite teams are not psychologically fragile, elite teams are not undisciplined, and based on the last couple games the Canucks are not an elite team. A quarter of the way through the season and I still don't see what the Hockey News was talking about when they picked the Canucks as a favorite to win it all. Chicago, the team which changed half their roster this off season, dominated the Canucks yet again. In doing so they embarrassed us all. To be an elite team you need elite players. Who are the elite players on the Canucks? Luongo had one good season when he first arrived here and since then, inconsistent. Sometimes he looks like the goaltender he was billed as and other times he looks like the second coming of Dan Cloutier. Dan wasn't very good with his stick, but Luongo is worse. I can't remember him ever poke checking anybody. What has Luongo done to justify he's huge ego? Oh yeah he's one of the most overpaid players in the history of hockey. The goalie isn't the only problem, how about the Sedins? They are great against weaker teams but rarely elevate their play against elite teams. Sure they are magicians with the puck, but their best trick against Chicago is their disappearing act. What have they really accomplished in games that matter? Do the Canucks have an elite defenseman like Duncan Keith, or Drew Doughty? I don't think so. The media have duped us again. Based on their play to this point the Canucks are not going to win anything, but there are lots of games remaining. Let's hope that the pundits based their prediction on something the rest of us can't see because come spring I'm expecting more of the same.

Luongo is really bugging me.

If he wasn't trying to make those stops look spectacular in the shoot out with Chicago, Luongo probably makes the saves. Can you say overplayed? For the longest time I left the goalie alone but not any more. Luongo is nowhere near the class of goalie Martin Brodeur is. At 41, Martin Brodeur continues to impress the league with his uncanny ability to stop the puck well into middle-age. He's a player that took less money to stay in New Jersey, and all he has done is play consistently good hockey every season. He deserved to be the goalie in the Gold medal game this last Olympics because if you ask me Luongo didn't look good in that game either. I can really only remember one season and one stretch during one season that Luongo really made an impact. The rest of his time with the Canucks he has been mediocre at best. In my opinion he is the most over rated goalie of his generation, and he is definitely way over paid. He hasn't proved a thing in over a decade of stopping the puck and quite frankly if he doesn't do something this year he's done in my books. If it was my job to choose the goalie for the Olympics my pick would have been Marty.

Vancouver Canucks

The True Story

The truth well set you free.

Cynical annoying fans?

As I sit here on vacation, I ponder the quarter pole of the Canuck's season. A team 185 games below five hundred since their inception into the NHL, but a franchise who's fan base is so passionate the team had the fifth highest revenue in the league last season at 107 million. When you can crack the original six teams in revenue you must be one healthy organization. Financially I would agree, but has somebody polled the fans? How healthy are they? how do do they feel about the product on the ice? It's been my experience that whenever I talk to a long time suffering fan about the team most of what I hear come out of the fan's mouth is negative or cynical. In fact, my Father, who rarely misses a televised game, has been watching the Canucks from the beginning. He's an avid hockey fan, who's Father played major junior hockey early in the twentieth century, and instilled the passion for hockey in my Dad. It's sad to listen to him sometimes while watching the Canucks. His expectations are so low even when they win he doesn't get overly excited anymore. I am sure there are many fans out there who have a similar story. If you think you don't just listen to the people around you the next time you are watching a game and then you tell me what was their state of mind while watching the Canuck's play? Listen to some of their comments and then judge if it's positive or negative.

Cable Reconnected.

Yes it is true. The cable has been reconnected, and I chose the basic cable package at 14.95 a month for six months. No Toronto Sports Network, oh darn. My family and I were without cable for six and a half months, but we didn't feel like we missed a thing. We just spent more time on-line. We had no choice, we had to reconnect. I have two students staying with us taking English and part of their studies requires them to tune in and write about something they watched. I have reluctantly reconnected because of them, but I swear if I start watching the Canucks again this season and they start frustrating the orcas out of me, I'll disconnect again students or no students. Welcome to Canada..

Canucks WIN Again!

Jubilant Canuckleheads filled the streets celebrating the Vancouver Canuck's Stanley Cup triumph last night. The team's third cup in a row, and as usual it was Cody Hodgeson who led the way. The brilliant captain visited the sublime with his efforts on a Pittsburgh 5-3 power play midway through the second period. Not only did he block three shots by the Penguin's super D-man, six foot seven inch Victor Hedman, which would have been enough to be classified as legend in itself, but what he did on top of that has never been done before in a Stanley Cup finals game seven. I doubt if it will ever be done again. He chased down one of those blocked shots, eluded the sprawling tree branch reach of Hedman, rocketed 130 feet towards Steve Mason and lasered a slap shot into the top corner of the net. A two man short handed goal for the winner...

I can dream can't I?